# Fifteen > Creative. Digital. Marketing. ### Posts #### 'We Can Work It Out': How To Fix Your Love Life & IT Emergencies Imagine coming down to breakfast one morning to find your partner sitting solemnly at the kitchen table. "This relationship isn't working," they say. Then, rising to leave the room they add, "Let me know when you've fixed it." You're left dumbfounded. Your mind begins to race, wondering whether it was your habit of humming inane tunes around the house, the collection of Ally McBeal DVDs you watch over and over, or your signature dish of prawn vindaloo you insist on serving at every dinner party that caused this rift in your passions. But the fact is, without more information from your beloved, you won't ever know which of your annoying personality traits has caused your partnership to break down, let alone how to fix it. It is, to an uncanny extent that might seem far fetched at first, almost exactly the same with reporting errors in internet services (if you replace your kitchen with an automated support ticket portal) - if you don't go into detail, you can't expect any results. The only difference is that unlike your irritating partner, most online help desks don't take offence and flounce off in a huff if you start listing their flaws. Dedicated support staff didn't build the application, website or technology that is letting you down so won't take it personally when you tell it's letting you down, while if you're contacting a developer directly they will - if they have any sense - see it in their best interest to iron out the bugs of their product.* Of course, not every support desk operative or web developer will have the abilities and/or inclination to help you, just as some people will never change their annoying habits (I for one will probably never stop explaining things in extended metaphors, no matter how many times partners tell me it drives them mad), but whoever you are dealing with you've got to go into specifics to stand a chance of fixing anything. So, next time you find a broken page on your business website or a nonfunctioning function in a favourite application, make sure the person you want to put it right knows: Where you were when it happened (i.e. the page you were looking at, not the room of the house your computer is in, though I can see how my earlier references to kitchens might have confused that point); What you were trying to do and how you were trying to do it (it might... might... no offence, like... might... be user error); What actually happened when you tried to do the thing you were tying to do (even if that was nothing; there is a subtle technical difference between nothing happening when you click a button and your laptop catching fire, even if it seems tenuous to the layperson). If possible, provide links, screenshots and copied error messages too. If your relationship is broken you put yourself in the place of your partner to see it from their side, and likewise your tech support will try and recreate your actions and experience leading up to the error. However, empathy only gets you so far and sometimes you just need your lover to spell it out. (What's that, darling? The extended metaphor is really starting to grate on you now?) It may seem like a lot of hassle providing all this detail when submitting a support request, but the fact is you'll probably have to provide it eventually. If a developer could second-guess your issue, it wouldn't have made it into the code in the first place, so chances are this new error is a mystery to them and they will need all the clues they can get. The more guesswork you leave them with, the longer your issue will take to be resolved, which is especially bad if you are being billed for that time or the bug is costing you sales. 'Help me to help you' should be the motto of tech support staff everywhere, if uttering such a glib phrase wouldn't make them even more reviled by the general public than they already are. Let's just take it as read, eh? Ultimately, if you don't give enough details and can't follow up your cry for help by answering a few questions, the other party might - in spite of their deep desire to aid you - eventually conclude that you don't actually need their help all that much. Or at least that is the conclusion I came to after my last girlfriend left me over the breakfast table, ignoring my pleas for her to outline her gripes in a detailed email, ideally with illustrative attachments and hyperlinks. She just walked out of my life, muttering "...and I bet you'll turn this into an extended metaphor too." #### ‘Facebook Shops’ Arrives in the UK A few months ago we wrote about Facebook’s new e-commerce feature Facebook Shops. This platform helps businesses maintain their sales during the epidemic. The initial launch did, however, only cover businesses in North America, so aside from a “coming soon” section on the likes of Shopify, not much changed in the UK. But now the Facebook Shop feature is available to a selection of countries in Europe which includes the UK. While it’s not the smoothest set-up journey yet, it won’t be long until you can have a fully functional Facebook/Instagram Shop that offers more than the current shopping experience on the platforms. Over the past few months, most professionals and perhaps users may have noticed a number of changes to Facebook. Looks wise, there has been a quite significant makeover on desktop and a number of bugs in the backend are highly likely to be due to a number of other changes that could be related to this rollout. Facebook Shops New Layouts One of the main features is the layout of the new shops. A new tab features a directory where you can search for different shops. The layout within each shop has also changed. In the past, it has been pretty straight forward product listings page. Products are pulled from a feed such as Shopify (in most cases) that looks something like the below. Ie. quite basic. However, now the shop brings more of an experience and is reminiscent of an ecommerce website with more visual potential which Adidias shows on their Instagram Shop: Not Quite Ready Yet Now, everything is not up and ready yet. When we spoke to Facebook they told us that features like website checkouts weren’t available. We would have to use messenger as a way of securing sales unless we had a US bank account. “If you want to use onsite checkout you will need to have a US Bank Account.” Furthermore only North American users can check out onsite: “If you have the US bank account you will be able to set up Commerce Manager but only buyers from North America can experience the onsite checkout.“ That is quite annoying as many find securing simple e-commerce sales via messenger quite long-winded. However, we’re confident that they will introduce onsite checkout soon. A major selling point of Facebook Shops is that it is meant to make it easier to sell and buy on Facebook and Instagram. Eventually, users will be able to make a purchase without leaving the app at all. Other features such as live shops will be added, but the latter is most likely months away so we will keep you up to date. For help with your Social Media, get in touch with our team via hello@fifteen.co.uk #### "Hear me roar!" - 5 Famous Brands Featuring Lions The Premier League revealed their forthcoming new logo last week. It may look a bit like that scene in The Lion King where Simba’s father appears in the clouds (or is that just me?), but as we discover here, lions have been a staple feature of branding for centuries…   MGM A live-action lion was first featured in the titles of the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation in 1917. It was the brainchild of Howard Dietz, a lyricist better known for writing Broadway musicals, whose alma mater Columbia University had a lion as their mascot. Dietz also added the grandiose Latin motto Ars Gratia Artis (‘Art for art’s sake’). The moving logo was such a hit, it was retained when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was formed in 1924. The first lion didn’t roar, but merely looked around in a stately manner, as I suppose a lion is entitled to do. However, by 1928 and the advent of sound in cinema, a gramophone record would be played in sync with the beast’s bellowing for maximum effect. There have been various lions over the years, but since 1957 footage of the unimaginatively named ‘Leo’ has been used. In the 1960s, MGM experimented with a modernised lion logo – not dissimilar to the Premier League one, as it happens – but audiences missed Leo’s roar and he was quickly reinstated. Since then he has been digitally enhanced and even rendered in 3D, all for art’s sake.   Lion Bar The Lion Bar was created, according to various sources on the internet, either by a chocolatier from Fawdon, Newcastle upon Tyne, named Alan Norman, or Brian Sollit, a ‘real-life Willy Wonka’ who also invented the Yorkie and After Eight Mint for Rowntree’s. Launched in 1976, the bar was originally known as ‘Big Cat’ and kept that name in some regions into the 1990s. Nestlé acquired the brand in 1988 and updated the packaging slightly, with the lion appearing in various states of ferociousness through the years. The dark brown wrapper has occasionally been rendered orange or white for special editions. Lion Bar advertising slogans over the decades include ‘When you feel like a great big bite’ and ‘Only one of these is a real Lion Bar and that's the one to attack’.   Peugeot Depending on your point of view, Peugeot is the oldest car company in the world, having been founded in 1810. However, this is a somewhat problematic fact, considering the car wouldn’t be invented for another eight decades. A family manufacturing firm, Peugeot made coffee mills and dress-making equipment for most of the century, before making the logical leap into bicycles and then automobiles around 1890, shortly after Karl Benz registered his engine patent. The lion trademark was registered in 1858, although early historical depictions are unrecognisable to the stylised big cat we know today. It wasn’t until 1948 that the company adopted the rampant lion from the coat of arms of the Franche-Comté region, where they were based. In the 1960s, they reverted to a side-on lion’s head, before finally revealing the now-familiar outline logo in 1975. Peugeot’s lion has stayed in pretty much the same pose since, although in 2010 it noticeably stopped sticking its tongue out, unlike these fellas...   The FA The famous ‘three lions on a shirt’ are actually leopards according to heraldry nomenclature, if not Baddiel & Skinner (the rampant lion on the Scottish FA crest is a heraldic lion, though no one calls the Scottish team ‘The Lions’). The use of lions to represent England goes back to the Plantagenet king Henry II, the lion being the emblem of his Norman descendants (why France was so obsessed with lions is anyone’s guess). When England played Scotland in the first official international match in 1872, the two teams played in white and blue respectively and suitable crests – more or less as we’d recognise them now – were added to the jerseys to lend the occasion gravitas. While associated with the England team from this moment on, the crest did not become the official logo of the FA until 1948, when 10 red Tudor roses were added to signify the organisation’s 10 membership levels. The England cricket team wear the same crest with an additional crown.   Richard the Lionheart Richard I was one of history’s butchers, leading the third crusade against the Muslim world and slaughtering thousands of captured soldiers in cold bold. On the verge of conquering Jerusalem in 1192, he bottled it and set off back to England to deal with his brother John who was doing a rubbish job of ruling in his stead. En route, he ended up the hostage of an evil Duke for over a year. Finally returning to England after a king’s ransom was (literally) paid, he immediately went to war again, this time against King Phillip II of France over an unpaid dowry. All in all, it was a bloody (again, literally) shambles. But the nickname ‘Lionheart’, or cœur de lion in his native tongue, was earned thanks to his masterful conquests of Sicily and Cyprus (1190-91). From there he set his sights on the Holy Lands and it all went a bit wrong, but the brand stuck and his reputation as a great military leader survived, making crusading a fashionable hobby for European rulers for centuries afterwards. Not having a low opinion of himself, during his reign Richard added first one and then another lion to his father Henry II’s aforementioned crest, bringing the total up to the magic number of three. He also adopted the motto Dieu et mon droit (‘God and my right’) still used by today’s royal family. Richard I has been described by one historian as ‘a bad son, a bad husband, and a bad king, but a gallant and splendid soldier.’ He was also a pretty canny self-promoter, it seems. #### #FifteenXmas - Show Us Your Christmas Doodles! This Christmas, each member of the Fifteen team created their own festive doodle to go on the front of our #fifteenxmas Christmas card. We've had lots of requests from people who want to join in and create their own masterpiece and so, we're here to help!Download your own Fifteen Christmas fingerprint from here and get scribbling. Oh, and don't forget to share it with us on our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages using the hashtag #fifteenxmas. We look forward to seeing them all and filling up our festive gallery. #### 10 Black Friday marketing ideas. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are possibly the biggest discount and promotional days of the year and they’re approaching fast. The key dates you need to know are Friday 24th and Monday 27th November. Most businesses will have promotions running over the full weekend and possibly into the following week. With one of the biggest shopping events on the horizon, you might be wondering how you can promote your products or services effectively. Well we’ve put together our top 10 Black Friday marketing ideas that you can incorporate into your digital marketing strategy that is guaranteed to grab your audience's attention. Why is Black Friday so popular? If you aren’t aware of these days, Black Friday was originally created in America, and is the day following Thanksgiving. Many schools and organisations tend to take the day off on the Friday, to give them a long 4-day weekend, and so shops took this on board and started to make this day the big pre-Christmas shopping day of the year. Cyber Monday was established in more recent years, and follows the same idea of Black Friday, but with a focus on online retailers, rather than in-store. More on that a little later. This ‘holiday’ only really kicked off in the UK in 2014, and since then more and more brands have been getting involved. Each year, this promotional event grows bigger and bigger. Here are some interesting Black Friday 2022 statistics from Embryo: In 2022, an estimated £12.3 billion was spent during the long weekend, which is an 8.3% increase year-on-year 39% of people shopped the sales which is a 6% increase from 2021 A whopping 79% of online traffic for Black Friday came from mobile devices Over half of shoppers bought an impulse purchase Abandoned cart rates are usually at their lowest during Black Friday which shows customers want to complete their purchase before any promotions end So, if you haven’t already, it’s time to get involved and really focus on your Black Friday campaigns. 10 Black Friday marketing ideas you can implement 1. Offer a free weekend trial If you’re a brand that offers a service, rather than a product, consider offering a free weekend trial for customers to use during the days from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. Giving them this opportunity to try out your service, is going to make them more likely to consider purchasing your service fully in the future. 2. Launch a new product Planning on launching a new product in the near future? Black Friday or Cyber Monday are great days to do this. People are more willing to make purchases on these days, and you can feature an introductory offer during this time if you wish to entice people even more. 3. Create a gift guide Most people will be doing their Christmas shopping on these days, so you can give them a helping hand by creating a gift guide. You could feature a mixture of products that are on promotion, and those that aren’t, or you could feature a special promotion just on the products that are featured within the gift guide. 4. Run hourly deals Each hour or so throughout the day, think about releasing different offers and discounts. This way, you’re going to have your potential customers really engaged with your brand, waiting to see what the next deal might be! These deals could be released on your social media, as people will be able to set notifications for each time you post during that day, saving them from staring at their screens all day. 5. Offer mystery savings You don’t need to feature all of your discounts on your site, you could feature some that are specially for those loyal customers who are signed up to your newsletter. You could send a series of emails consisting of a teaser email, a launch email and finally a reminder email to keep them hooked throughout the weekend. 6. Save the best promotions until last A lot of brands usually start featuring their offers first thing in the morning, and by the time lunchtime comes around, everything has sold out! To make your brand stand out, you could save your best promotions until after lunchtime, when most people have had a good rest. 7. Put on an exclusive social giveaway You don’t necessarily have to use discounts and promotions during Black Friday, but instead you could be offering giveaways on your social media. Instead of just making sales, this way you will be able to increase your following and brand awareness. When offering out the giveaways, some of the terms and conditions should be that they have to be a follower, or signed up to your newsletter, or have to share your post. 8. Create a fun experience If you’re focusing on having your main discounts in-store, then create a fun experience for your shoppers! A lot of shops will be an absolute nightmare, and might be many shoppers' idea of hell. So ask yourself ‘what can I do to stand out?’ and this could be offering out snacks and drinks, organising a DJ or special guests in-store - whatever it is, be fun and creative with it! 9. Share some sneak peaks on your social channels Get your customers excited in the run-up to Black Friday by creating social sneak peaks. Let them know what discounts they might be expecting, or encourage them to sign up to your newsletter to receive extra discounts. 10. Offer a free gift with every purchase As mentioned before, customers will be coming in to buy mostly Christmas presents. So, you could be offering out free gift wrapping or a small treat for themselves, to make their lives that little bit easier. You could even have some products already gift wrapped, so they can just pick whether to have one pre-wrapped or not wrapped, at no extra cost! What about Cyber Monday? As mentioned previously, Cyber Monday is the much younger cousin of Black Friday. The event was a way for smaller businesses to compete with large chains, and by using e-commerce stores, they could reach a national and even international audience. Since then, countries and companies across the world have incorporated Cyber Monday into their sale calendars and extended offers over the entire Thanksgiving weekend. Purchases over Cyber Monday remain constant with some sectors outperforming others. According to Statista, the most popular purchases made in 2022 attributed to clothing and footwear (47%). Closely behind that was electrical items (45%), followed by toys (37%), health and beauty (32%), games, films and music (25%), alcohol, wines and spirits (18%) and confectionery and chocolates (17%). Need help with your Black Friday marketing? Whether you’re participating in Black Friday or Cyber Monday - or both - the key to making it a success is a digital marketing strategy and flawless website design. During this crucial promotional event, it’s important to ensure that you update your website, paid ads, online store and your social media channels to grab the attention of your market. If you need any help with your Black Friday campaigns, why not get in touch with us today? We can help ensure you’re fit and ready to tackle this key shopping event, reach your target audience and even do all of the hard work for you. #### 10 Content ideas if you are struggling. (Part 1 of 2) The idea is to keep a constant flow of content being produced. The more that consistently is outgoing, the rise in viewers and customers will increase. It's a useful tool to make conversions through such a simple method and maybe you are struggling for content ideas. Creating insight and integrity of your business, it can allow viewers to have an inside look at the 'going on's' in your business. It's a fantastic way to bring the customer and company together. The only resources that it requires, is time and intuition. If you're not sure of what content to produce, then read on and see the how’s/why’s of what different types of content you can produce.  In this blog, we will show 5 content ideas we consider to be incredibly helpful. You can view the remaining 5 in the future, so stay tuned in, with the possibility of bonus content. Part 1: 5 Content ideas you can use and why?: News articles A quick and easy way to get out content when you're in need, is news. You can take what's happening around you, how it affects you, and turn it into an article. Or maybe you had some new changes within the company you want to report on. Check out any news within the industry, maybe your company played a big role in that, share your side of the story. And of course, see what the competition is up to, who knows, maybe they have news on you. News articles are certainly a useful idea, it goes without saying. However, take this one-step further, and include trending keywords across your work, you can view our in-depth analysis in our keywords blog here. Guides and tutorials Are you selling products? Maybe you should create a ‘how to guide’, your product might be a simple one, but you can be sure some customers have queries. Make a step-by-step guide, run through a set up of a product, it's simple. If ever you have calls and queries coming through your contact lines, you have the ability to redirect them to one of your guides. Have an abundance available for your product range, and you will have the appearance of a reliable professional company. We've established it's great for the customer, but don't forget this is great for you and your team to learn more about your products or services. Creating a guide is also a learning experience for you too. Vlogs - video content Social media is available to everyone, even businesses. You can create videos, but what of? You can show products in use, maybe the before and after of a service you provided. Show employees at work, or the different types of banter you have to create a warm environment. Upload these to your website and social media platforms, it's not difficult at all. You can link these all with one another, and viewers will love it. After all, in today's day and age, social media is a huge part of people's lives, make use of that. With 2022 right around the corner, video marketing is more of a useful tool than ever, we elaborate on the reasoning in our blog here. Q&A’s - question and answers On the topic of social media, use those platforms to allow customers to open up, let them find out what they want. A great way to show off your connection with your customers, but also learn more yourself. You don't have to answer all the questions, just pick out the ‘sensible’ and create a list that allows you to provide some insight and positivity about your company. Tips and tricks The service you provide is probably great, but maybe if you had some advice for a service or product, you should say. Perhaps there's a step customers can take after your service in the future, another great content idea. You can just give advice on what you would do, had you received the service or product you provide to maintain in the future. It's simple and you already know what it is, or you can research and learn something you didn't know already. If you wish to see an example, we have been doing this time and again, providing useful tips within our industry.  Conclusion In today's blog, we have shown you five basic, but arguably most effective content ideas. Reuse these ideas in future content, (in moderation). However, you will need to bring something new to the table, in terms of the subject and structure. You can view our second addition to this series: 10 Content ideas if you are struggling - (Part 2 of 2) #### 10 Hidden messages in logos. Logo design is a subtle art. Not just in the way they show space but also in the way they hide little Easter eggs. Take a look at some of the greatest messages hidden in some of the most-famous logos. FedEx: FedEx is a well-established delivery service company, and its logo is seen on the side of trucks, planes and white vans. While the logo may look simple with the colours, within the type there is a hidden gem. Have you ever noticed the arrow hidden in the negative space between the ‘E’ and ‘X’? The arrow represents getting places with speed and precision, which sums up the FedEx brand perfectly. Toblerone Established in Bern, Switzerland, 1908, Toblerone is a world famous chocolate bar that is loved by millions. Their logo consists of a mountain that apparently represents the Matterhorn Mountain in Switzerland, which is why the bar is triangular shaped. However, according to the makers' sons, the triangular shape originates from a pyramid shape that dancers at the Folies Bergeres created as the finale of a show. Lastly, going back to where the chocolate bar was created (Bern, Switzerland) within the letters of ‘Toblerone’ the word ‘bern’ is hidden within them. The logo also has a bear on it, which is in the negative space of the mountain. This symbolises the coat of arms of Bern. The colours of the logo are even the same as the flag. Google Google is probably everyone’s go-to web search engine and the answer to every question ever asked. This makes it one of the most recognisable logos in the world. Google’s Mission is to “organise information and make it universally accessible and useful”. They are also known for their approach to the working environment, by not playing by the rules and simply having fun. I mean, they have a slide going from one office floor to the other (if that isn’t fun, I don’t know what is). With all that said, you may think there isn’t much to their logo? However, Googles logo is supposed to symbolise that they don’t play by the rules and know exactly how to have fun. They don’t have a crazy typeface or icon, they just simply relay their message with colour. The colours they have chosen are the 3 primary colours with an exception to the green which breaks this rule, representing breaking the rules. Coca-Cola This one might take a little time to actually see. Even Coca-Cola themselves don’t really associate the hidden image with their logo. Nonetheless, the hidden message in the Coca-Cola logo is actually the Danish flag. According to Coca-Cola, this wasn’t their original intention, but once they discovered that Denmark was named the “Happiest country on earth”, they even set up a media stunt in one of Denmark’s biggest airports and welcomed people with flags. For some reason, they didn’t hand out any free Coke though. Toyota Founded in 1937, Toyota is a widespread brand, that is popular for manufacturing cars. Although Toyota has been around for 82 years, their current logo as only been around since 1990. Toyota’s logo represents three hearts of the company: the heart of the customer, the product and the progress in the field of technology. Did you also know that Toyota’s logo consists of all the letters in the company name; if you separate the logo’s icon? Amazon Amazon is leading the way when it comes to shopping online, and they have made sure that their logo represents that. The yellow arrow in the logo starts at the letter ‘A’ and ends at the letter ‘Z’, hinting that they sell everything ‘from A to Z’. This also can imply that they get from ‘A to Z’, with the ‘A’ being the company and the ‘Z’ being the customer. The arrow also looks like a smile too, don’t you think?  This represents the customer being happy and satisfied with their service. My Fonts My Fonts is one of the most popular online font resources, allowing users to have access to a number of different fonts. Now, you probably noticed the hidden image right away and if you didn’t, like myself, The ‘My’ in My Fonts is stylised to look like a hand. This implies that the user can get their hands on whatever font they like. Baskin-Robbins Baskin-Robbins is one of the worlds largest chains of ice cream and cakes and is commonly known for its limitless flavours. When Baskin-Robbins was founded they began with only 31 original flavours. That number is hidden within the logo, between the ‘B’ and the ‘R’, acting as the shape of the ‘B’ and the stem of the ‘R’. Pinterest Pinterest is a popular social media application that allows users to find projects and recipes they like from across the web and ‘pin’ them to their online notice boards. With that said, let's get to the point (pun intended). Within the logo, the letter ‘P’ incorporates pin. Tour de France The Tour de France is an annual multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. To some, their logo may just look like a cool, creative font. However, the logo actually consists of cyclists, in the word ‘Tour’. If you look closely at the ‘O’, ‘U’ and ‘R’ you will see the cyclist on his bike, riding downhill with one yellow wheel. Conclusion Good logo design is a fine art with some of these examples lasting several lifetimes. If you're interested in designing a new logo or even just creating a rebrand contact us today and let us help you leave a lasting impression. #### 10 Low cost digital marketing strategies for your business. Whether you’re a marketing expert or you’re taking the first step into the digital marketing world, it can be daunting considering the amount of time and money you will need to spend in order to get your business off the ground, and in front of your customers. But you don’t need to invest in expensive marketing strategies in order to promote your business.  Keep reading to learn ten low cost digital marketing strategies that are easy to incorporate into your marketing strategy to help give it a boost. 1 – Start a blog Starting a blog is one of the most low cost ways of advertising your business. If you don’t already have a blog on your website, you’re missing out on a seriously easy and effective marketing strategy. A blog is fantastic for several reasons: SEO – Regular updates of content to your website are something that search engines look out for. They value websites that are regularly updated, as this indicates that the website is relevant to users. In addition to this, a blog allows you the chance to target more varied keywords, using each post to target a different set of keywords related to your business. Relevance – As with search engine bots, users are more favourable towards websites that are relevant to their search. Posting regular blogs shows that your business is current and up-to-date. There’s nothing worse than finding a website that hasn’t been updated for years. Knowledge – A blog enables you to show off your knowledge about your industry to customers, and they’re more likely to come to you when they’re looking for a service or product within your industry. It’s one of the core principles of content marketing. Engagement – Engaging with your users is very important, and a blog is a great way to start this interaction. Add a comments section or share to your social media channels, and reply to your customers. You’ll be on your way to building a loyal customer base. 2 – Utilise social media As well as being a great place to share your blogs, social media is a great place to keep the conversation going and get it started, as we’ve mentioned. And the best thing is, it’s totally free! Well, organic social media is free at least. If you’re using platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram you can invest in paid advertising and keep to a budget that suits you. Whichever route you choose, having a social media presence is a great place to represent your business, as well as providing customer support. 3 – Get creative with infographics You may have already heard about infographics and thought the best infographics that are online took hours to craft and cost companies a fair bit of money. Well, this is not always the case. There are a variety of free tools out there that will allow you to do this yourself. The most popular design platforms are Canva and Piktochart. They’re incredibly easy to use, and will have you creating your own infographics in no time. It’s said that users are up to 600 times more likely to interact with a piece of content that has a visual element, which makes infographics one of the most inexpensive marketing strategies to grow your audience. Check out these design tips if you’re planning to use Canva. 4 – Get onboard with videos As with infographics, you may have thought creating videos can be expensive to make as well as time-consuming. Also like infographics, they increase the chance of interaction with your content from your audience, so are a great marketing strategy. There are also some great free tools out there like Animato and Rawshorts, that let you create your own videos. Again, these are both really easy to use, and come with a wide variety of templates for you to drag and drop images, videos, and desired text into. Both do have additional features which you can pay for if you choose, but the free versions are great. 5 – Don’t be afraid to recycle content If you’re stuck for ideas for content, you can try recycling something you’ve done previously, which helps you get more out of your content. This particular low cost digital marketing strategy is actually favoured by Google following their Helpful Content Update last year.  You can recycle content by changing the medium (e.g. turn an infographic into a video), return to an old subject but cover it from a new angle, or add to previous content to enhance and update it. As well as recycling your own content, take a look at some of the things your competitors are producing, and build upon it. This is a great tactic if you need a little inspiration, but it’s extremely important to never copy content. Duplicate content will have a negative impact on your search rankings. 6 – Run a competition A great way to raise awareness of your brand, gain interest from potential customers, and collect first-party data, is to run a competition. Other than offering a prize, this easy marketing strategy is pretty low cost. You can set up a landing page on your website and include a form to collect data such as name, email address and phone number. Then you can promote your competition on social media - whether you do this organically or through paid means is up to you. 7 – Show off your awards Awards are another great low cost way of advertising your name, as well as being a great thing to show off on your website and email signatures. They also add credibility to your business, meaning people who visit your site are more likely to approach you when looking for your service or product. You can scour the internet for any recognised awards within your industry, and submit an entry.  Of course, there are a couple of things you need to consider. Firstly, there’s normally a small entry fee for some of the more prestigious awards (this may be different for other industries). Secondly, you need to be at a level where you feel you stand a chance of winning the award.  On the opposite side of the spectrum, it has been known for some companies have gone down the route of hosting their own awards in order to increase exposure. If you’re feeling a little creative, and think you’ve got enough knowledge within your industry to judge an award, why not make your own? As with a competition, you can set up a landing page for people to enter, and share it on your social media channels. 8 – Begin email marketing There are so many options available with email marketing, and it’s a relatively inexpensive marketing strategy to get on board with. Most businesses go down the route of paying for a designer to create them a beautiful mailshot, but there are other options available. For example, you could try creating your own email template using some of the design softwares we mentioned above. There’s only one expense you need to consider with this marketing strategy. You’ll more than likely need some kind of email marketing software, which normally comes with a monthly fee (or a credits based system). You can always weigh up the prices of different email marketing softwares against your budget before going ahead with this practice. 9 – Go old school with a business card Believe it or not, most people within a business have business cards, and these are a great way of creating brand awareness, building relationships and gently reminding customers you’re still here. They’re also a great tactic for lead generation because you can easily swap them back and forth at events, meetings, and any other business encounters.  Getting the design right on your business card is important and you can use one of the free design tools we’ve mentioned above to create your business card. Take a look at our top tips for designing a business card that won’t be thrown away. 10 – Try and encourage customer referrals It’s a well known fact that customers trust other customers' opinions over anything else. You can use customer referrals to your advantage, and turn it into an easy marketing strategy that has been used by companies for years. A simple tactic you can utilise is to offer your existing customers a nice reward for introducing a friend to your product or service, and they’ll help bring in new customers. You could send out a simple email with a promotional code for each customer, and watch the new customers come in. Want to learn more about low cost digital marketing strategies? We hope our top ten low cost digital marketing strategies have proven you don’t need a huge marketing budget in order to promote your company. If you’d like to find out more about how to get the most out of your marketing budget, or you’d like help with any of the above easy marketing strategies, get in touch with one of our experts today. #### 10 of the best plugins for Wordpress There are thousands of plugins for WordPress, but which ones are the best? In this blog, we explore the 10 best plugins for WordPress that will help you create a website that's just as professional and flexible as any other site on the web. 1. WooCommerce WooCommerce is an eCommerce plugin for WordPress. It's the most popular eCommerce solution for WordPress and is simple to use to add and customise a store to your website. Like any good WordPress plugin, it's open-source and free to use. If you're looking to set up your online store with a variety of features, WooCommerce is a great choice. 2. WPForms WPForms is a plugin that allows you to create contact forms and smart surveys on your WordPress website. It is very easy to use, and the design is very flexible, allowing you to create the form or survey that you want. 3. All in one SEO All in one SEO is a powerful plugin that will help you to optimise your WordPress website for search engines. It allows you to add meta titles, descriptions and keywords so that your content can be found by users on search engines like Google. All-in-one SEO also allows you to optimise your site for social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn by adding meta tags that inform platforms what your page is about. 4. LiveChat Live chat is a great way to interact with visitors, get feedback and increase sales. Live chat can also help you retain your customers by increasing customer satisfaction. It also comes with a mobile app, so you can help your customers in real-time. 5. Contact Form 7 Contact Form 7 is a free and open-source contact form plugin. It’s easy to install, configure, and use. Once you have it installed on your website, you can create contact forms that get sent directly to your inbox. The plugin can handle multiple contact forms at the same time and can integrate the Akismet spam-filtering plugin. For further security, it can also use CAPTCHA and Ajax. 6. Yoast SEO Yoast SEO is a free plugin that helps you optimise your website. It provides a free SEO score, feedback on your content and a link checker. It also has a function to create XML sitemaps. Yoast is very beginner friendly so could be a good plugin to start with. Yoast can help deepen your understanding of SEO by providing keywords, optimising images and helping you create metadata. 7. Adobe Fonts Adobe Fonts is a plugin that allows you to use fonts from Adobe Typekit and Google Fonts on your WordPress site. It allows you to choose from over 500 fonts, so there are plenty of options for any design. The great thing about this plugin is that it's free and also lets you embed fonts into your posts. If you want more control over the design of your site, then this is one of the best plugins out there. 8. Akismet Akismet is a spam-filtering plugin for WordPress. It automatically checks your comments against a global network of spam-fighting servers to ensure that only real comments are posted on your site. It can also be used to protect your blog from spam comments, reducing the need for manual moderation. This means you can spend more time creating and less time deleting unwanted content. Akismet is free, easy to install and requires no maintenance other than ensuring it’s kept up to date with the latest versions of WordPress. 9. Google Analytics Google Analytics is a free tool that helps you track your website traffic. You can see which pages are popular and which are not, which keywords are bringing people to your website, and even which countries your visitors are from. You can monitor all the stats from a single dashboard. 10. Jetpack Jetpack is a free plugin that adds a lot of useful features to your website. It offers security, attack protection and two-factor authentication, and can also integrate third-party platforms such as WooCommerce. Another great feature that Jetpack offers is the ability to add a custom site search option with this plugin. You can easily integrate Google Custom Search into your theme with just one click. These are just some of the many WordPress plug-ins that are available for your website. If you’re unsure if you need these plug-ins or if you’d like some expert advice from our web development team, get in touch with us today and we’ll be happy to help! #### 10 of the best web development courses for beginners. Learning a new skill is never a bad thing, especially if it compliments your existing skill set. Web development might seem like a daunting skill to learn on the surface, but it can be very easy to pick up if you choose the right beginners course.  The best web development courses for beginners will be those that provide a solid foundation in the basics of web development and they should cover topics such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as a minimum, as well as introduce other essential web development tools and technologies.  To help you decide which course is right for you, here are our top 10 best web development courses for beginners to get you started on your journey. Let’s dive right in! 1. The complete web developer course 2.0 If you want to learn everything there is to know about web development, then the complete web developer course 2.0 is the course for you. This course covers everything from the basics of HTML and CSS, to more advanced topics such as JavaScript, jQuery, Bootstrap, and PHP. You’ll also learn about popular web development frameworks like Laravel and Ruby on Rails. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to build and deploy your web applications. 2. The web developer bootcamp The web developer bootcamp is a great course for those who want to learn how to build web applications from scratch. This course covers all the basics of web development, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as popular frameworks such as Bootstrap and jQuery. You’ll also learn about back-end development, databases, and web hosting. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to build and deploy your own web applications. 3. Intro to HTML and CSS If you’re just starting your journey with web development, you’ll need to learn HTML and CSS. The intro to HTML and CSS course will get you up and running as it covers the basics of both languages, including how to structure your code and style your web pages. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to create your very own basic web pages. 4. Master HTML5 & CSS3 from scratch HTML5 and CSS3 are the latest versions of the HTML and CSS standards. The master HTML5 & CSS3 course does exactly what it says on the tin and allows you to learn HTML and CSS from scratch. It covers the new features of both languages, such as HTML5’s audio and video elements and CSS3’s animations and transitions. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to create modern, responsive web pages. 5. CSS – The complete guide CSS is a style sheet language that is used to style web pages and the CCS - The complete guide course covers everything from the basics of CSS, to more advanced topics such as CSS3 animations and responsive design. Not only is this a great course for beginners, but it’s also perfect for anyone who just wants to brush up on their CSS skills. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to style your web pages to look exactly how you want them to. 6. JavaScript – The complete guide JavaScript is a programming language used to add interactivity to web pages. The JavaScript - The complete guide course covers the modern basics of JavaScript from the beginning, all the way to expert level and covers more advanced topics such as DOM manipulation and AJAX. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to create dynamic and interactive web pages. 7. Learn angular 2 from scratch Angular 2 is a popular JavaScript framework that is used to build single-page web applications. The learn angular 2 from scratch course covers the very basics of Angular 2 for beginners and even covers more advanced topics such as creating components and using services for advanced learners. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to build your single-page web applications. 8. The complete react on rails developer course React on Rails is a very popular web development framework that combines the benefits of React and Ruby on Rails. The complete react on rails developer course covers the basics of coding on this framework, allowing you to learn how to develop apps in a logical way. It also covers more advanced topics such as using the Rails asset pipeline and creating reusable components. By the end of the course, not only will you have mastered the fundamentals of coding languages, but you’ll also be able to build web applications using React on Rails. 9. Node.js for beginners Node.js is a JavaScript runtime used to build scalable, real-time web applications. The Node.js for beginners is a great introduction to the basics of this runtime environment. You’ll learn the different parts that build the back-end of a website or web app. It also covers more advanced topics such as creating a REST API and using WebSockets. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to build your real-time web applications. 10. PHP with Laravel for beginners Laravel is a popular PHP framework that is used to build web applications. The PHP with Laravel for beginners course covers the basics of PHP and Laravel so you can create web applications and also covers more advanced topics such as using Eloquent ORM and creating REST APIs. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to build your web applications using Laravel. Learn more about the best web development courses for beginners These are just a few of the many web development courses that are available for beginners and a wealth of information and resources is available to those who want to learn more about the world of web development.  With so many web development courses to choose from, it’s important to find the right one that covers the topics you’re most interested in. No matter which course you choose, you’ll be sure to learn the basics of web development. If you’d like to learn more about the best web development courses for beginners, why not get in touch with us today. We can also support you with web development training and even help you with your next development project! #### 10 Point technical SEO checklist Introduction to technical SEO Technical SEO looks at all the elements that sit behind a website. These aren’t typically the bits that a typical user of a website will see, but they will see the benefit of through their overall experience. There are many elements to technical SEO optimisation. Some have a greater impact compared than others, but ticking each one off the list will help ensure your website is technically sound. This will work with your content, help you move up the rankings and increase your visibility in your chosen area of expertise. In part one of our technical SEO checklist, we look at some of the fundamental elements that will get you started. These include:   Sitemap robots.txt Internal linking HTTPS Migration Submitting changes to Google Broken Links Redirects Structured Data Clean URLs Submitting changes to Bing   Check your sitemap What is a sitemap? Simply put, a sitemap is a list of pages that exist on a website organised in a hierarchical order or order of importance. These are usually written in a format known as XML (eXtensible Markup Language). If you look at a sitemap, you will see the homepage at the top, with high level pages following on in the order of importance. This is the structure of the site as search engines see it. Why do you need a sitemap? The primary function of the sitemap is to aid with content discovery and provide a means for search engines to understand the overall structure of a website. If you don’t have a sitemap, it doesn’t mean you content won’t be discovered, it will just slow the process down and will mean important pages could be missed. For WordPress sites, there are a number of plugins including Yoast and All-In-One SEO Pack that can automatically generate you a sitemap Review your sitemap When you take a look at your sitemap, there are a few points to note to make sure it is optimised for search engines to crawl Keep it error free You will need to make sure it’s free from error, it doesn’t include any redirects and that they URLs are clear for indexing; so they don’t include any noindex, nofollow directives Does it include new pages? Does it include any new pages you have created? Have any old pages that no longer exist been removed? Only include what you need to It’s best to only have content which is useful included in your sitemap. Try to keep Authors and Tags out of the sitemap as they aren’t useful in the grand scheme of things. Submit it to Search Console If you haven’t already, add your sitemap to GSC (Google Search Console) and Bing Webmaster Tools as a priority. This will help speed up the process of content discovery and indexing. Referencing the sitemap in the robots.txt file is also best practice   Check your robots.txt file What is a robots.txt file? robots.txt is a small but mighty text file that sits in the root directory of a website. Its sole function is to instruct user-agents, web-crawlers or robots on if they can access a website and its content. The robots.txt file is also case-sensitive, so robots.txt does not equal Robots.txt or robots.TXT. This rule also goes for the content of the robots.txt, so any directories, URLs, etc need to match the site. Why do you need a robots.txt file? Basically, this can be the life or death of a website. In its most simplest form, this can be the difference between a website being crawled and content index… or not. The robots.txt file is flexible and versatile. It offers enough flexibility to allow a whole site to be indexed, through to blocking (or allowing) certain user-agents, directories, sub-directories or wild-cards through RegEx (Regular Expression) pattern matching. It is also worth noting that malicious (or spam-bots) will ignore the rules set out in a robots.txt file, so be careful with what you publish to the web. What does a robots.txt. file look like? Depending on whether you want your website indexing by search engines or not, you robots.txt file should look like this Robots.txt Disallow User-agent: * Disallow: / Sitemap: https://www.example.co.uk /sitemap.xml The * next to "user-agent" is a wild-card and means that any robot or crawler should respect the rules that follow On the next line, the / next to "Disallow" stops any of the robots from crawling, and ultimately indexing, your websites content Robots.txt Allow User-agent: * Disallow: Sitemap: https://www.example.co.uk /sitemap.xml Like above, the "user-agent" rule applies to all robots wanting to crawl your website. Unlike the above example, all crawlers are allowed to access your website, view and index your content. This is because the / next to "Disallow" has been removed. This one little change can make a big difference to your website in search, which is why it can be the life or death of a site. This is the simplest robots.txt file you should have on your site. If you don't have a robots.txt file, it will be assumed by search engines and other crawlers that they can access your site.   Internal linking Strategy What is internal linking? Internal links are links between pages or documents that all sit on the same domain of a website. This also includes content which sits on a sub-domain as long as it is a sub-domain of the main domain. These can be found in a number of places. Primarily, internal links can be found in the header and footer navigation menus of a website. You can also find links within the body content of a page. These are useful to link content together that might not be important enough to sit in a navigation, but is still useful to users (and search engines). Why is internal linking important? Having internal links helps for a number of reasons. From a user perspective, this helps provide additional information on the topic they are reading. This can expand on a point or provide another perspective they may not have considered For search engines, this helps build a picture of how content is linked together. The more information around a topic, the more authoritative a site will appear, especially when user metrics; time on site, bounce rate, pages viewed, etc. Internal linking also helps define the architecture and the overall hierarchy of content and should form part of the content strategy. As mentioned about, a lot of internal linking will be done automatically. This happens naturally as you build out the content on your site and is done through the site navigation. In addition to this, you can add links to the content of a page to other pages that are related For example, our SEO page on the Fifteen website. This page covers a broad range of sub-topics based around the broad topic of SEO. As a result, additional pages have been created which provide more information on each area, covering Local, International and Content Marketing. In this case, SEO is a content pillar. This pillar is supported by pages relating to the topic of SEO and expand on each point. As a result, there is a direct relationship between each page. How to build internal links? When it comes to adding links to your content, you need to add in the following into the HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language). A simple HTML link will look like this Absolute URL <a href="https://www.fifteendesign .co.uk/digital-marketing/seo/">SEO</a> An absolute URL includes the website protocol (https://) and the websites domain (www.fifteendesign.co.uk) - This is a requirement when adding links to content off your site or a sub-domain of your own site, but this is optional when linking to content on your own site Relative URL <a href="/digital-marketing/seo/">SEO</a> A relative URL does not include the website protocol or the domain. When this type of link is clicked, the assumption is that the page exists on the same domain. Using a relative URL keeps your code a little cleaner and if you migrate domains, your links will still work. This is assuming your site structure does not change. Adding a title tag to your link In additional to the link, it is best practice to include a "title". This is a brief description of the content on the page being linked to. It helps both search engines and assists with site accessibility for those who use screen readers. It can also help those who mouse-over a link to identify if they want to click the link or not. <a href="/digital-marketing/seo/" title="Overview of SEO">SEO</a> Migrate to HTTPS What is HTTPS? HTTPS stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure which is an extension of HTTP. It offers secure end-to-end encryption of data transferred between a website and your browser (and back again). This is done through either SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates or TLS (Transport Layer Security). Why migrating to HTTPS is important? There are a number of benefits to having a website served over HTTPS, but here are our top 3 Increased trust Having a secure website reassures potential customers that any submitted data will be kept secure and proves you are a responsible business Conversion rate boost Whether you’re a lead-generation or e-commerce business, potential customers are more likely to complete their desired action, knowing your site is secure and their personal data is secure Increases in organic traffic Whilst only small, search engines prefer a site to be secure. So, if your website is secure, there is the potential that you will see a ranking boost over a competitor who has an insecure website.   Submitting changes to Google We’re focusing on Google here due to it having the largest market share of all search engines and it being the largest traffic driver for most websites when it comes to Organic traffic. This does not mean other search engines should be ignored. The likes of Bing also provides results for other search engines, including (but not limited to) Yahoo! and DuckDuckGo. Each is a different avenue to find and discover your websites content. How do you submit changes to Google? To submit changes you have made on any of your pages to Google, you will need to ensure your site is verified in GSC (Google Search Console). Assuming this is something you have already done, simply paste the complete URL into the box at the top and hit "Enter" It will take a few seconds for Google to crawl the page to see if it can be submitted to index. Assuming there are no problems, simply click "REQUEST INDEXING". This process can take a couple of minutes, but once done, your changes should be re-crawled and cached within a couple of hours (usually, at most). Why should you submit changes to Google? Submitting pages to Google, either new or ones that have been heavily updated is a good thing to do, as it ensures the correct content is being served in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). If the content is out of date, when a user clicks the link in the SERPs and finds that it is different to what they were expecting, they are likely to bounce off your site. In Google’s eyes, this makes it look like the content isn’t relevant to the user search, so you are likely to lose ranking. From a user’s point of view, it could be potentially damaging to a brands reputation as they will lose trust in your site as a source of reliable information. So, rather than waiting for Google to re-crawl your pages, it’s best to submit them yourself to keep your content up to date. Check for broken links What are broken links? Broken links can be either; links to content that sit on your website. These can be either internal links, or links to other website. These are external links. Search engines see links; both internal and external, as a “vote of quality”. Too many broken links can negatively affect a sites performance from both a user and search engine perspective. Why do you need to fix broken links? Resolving broken links can enhance a user’s experiences of a website. They don’t necessarily need to know that content has been moved (or removed). Ultimately, they are looking for information or wanting to convert. Fixing a broken link will mean you will need to add a redirect; this is covered in the next point. How do I find broken links on my website? There are a number of tools which can be used to find broken links on a website. Google Search Console (GSC) or Bing Webmaster Tools, if linked to your site, are a good place to start. These are both free tools and let you see how search engines see your site. They also provide a wealth of other information. Other tools do exist that are free, but you could also look at paid tools. If you are looking for additional insight that covers more than just broken links, SEMRush, Ahrefs and Moz are some of the more popular tools. Check your redirects What are redirects? A redirect is a simple function that sends a user from one URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to another. These are usually set up on a website where pages have been removed or changed so that the user (or search engine) does not hit a dead-end - typically a 404 page. Types of redirects There are 3 types of redirects to be aware of: 301 - A permanent redirect. The page the user is being redirected from is no longer that and it will never come back. 302 - A 302 now means “Found”. The page is not currently available to a user, but will come back. The user will be redirected to the new page, but search engines will still keep the old URL the same. 307 - A temporary redirect. This is the spiritual successor to a 302 response code, but in essence, there is no real different from a user’s perspective. Why do you need redirects? Redirect are needed to ensure a user’s journey is not interrupted and they can find the desired content on your website. If no redirects are employed and content has moved (or been removed), a user is likely to hit a 404 page not found. 404's naturally occur, but too many 404 that are created through content disappearing and not being replaced in some way are detrimental to a sites performance. These will cause users to leave the site, also known as a "bounce". You will need to ensure the content a user or search engine is being redirect to is relevant to page that is no longer accessible. If this is a “service’, for example, the user should be directed to a similar “service” page. If this is not possible, they should be directed to a category landing page. This is a page which summarises all available services, so the user can then make an informed decision as to where to go next. Review your redirects When you look at adding redirects to a website, you will also need to check for redirect chains. These need to be eliminated, where possible. The reason for this is, after each “hop”, link equity starts to be lost after the first redirect. What are redirect chains? These happen when there are multiple redirects to get from one URL to another. This happens when one URL redirects to another page, then another redirect is added to the second page to lead to a third page, and so on. Here is an example Page A > Page B > Page C In this instance, it is best to remove the redirect to “Page B” from "Page A" to remove the "chain". You will then need to create a new redirect from "Page B" to "Page C". The update should now look like this Page A > Page C Page B > Page C This ensures any authority from Page A is passed directly to Page C and isn't lost through the extra hop. The authority built by Page B will also be passed on to Page C Check your structured data What is structured data? Structured data comes in a number of forms. These include JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data), Microdata and RDFa (Resource Description Framework in Attributes) and utilises Schema markup. JSON-LD is the recommended format both Google and Bing use for reading data. This adds extra information to a page or website. This can include opening hours, pricing and review ratings and is used by search engines to provide additional information in search results. This can help users make a more informed choice before they click through to your website. Extra tip: When creating structured data markup, the code needs to be added directly to the HTML of your website. This cannot be done through Google Tag Manager (GTM) for example, as it will not be loaded when the page is crawled. Why do you need structured data? Providing as much information about your business, the content on your website (articles or blogs) and the products/services on offer helps users make an informed choice before they click-through to you website. The important thing to remember is, it can also help with off-site actions too. The structured data on your website can help verify information in your Google My Business (GMB) listing, for example. It provides a link between your GMB page and your website. You can also increase your presence on search results page, by appearing in the lucrative “Position 0” by providing answers to user queries. This increases your overall visibility and trust. It can also help build your authority. Note: There is no guarantee that implementing structured data on your website will improve your search presence, but it will increases your chances. There are a number of factors which determine how and what extra information is shown. What does a structured data look like? Organisation Schema Example As JSON-LD is the recommended format, the below example shows and example of “Organization” mark-up { "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "name": "Fifteen", "alternateName": "Fifteen Design", "url": "https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/", "logo": "https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/wp-content/themes/fifteendesign/assets/img/fifteen-logo-square.png" } This can be enhanced further with contact numbers for the business as well as different departments. LocalBusiness schema example Here is an example of the “LocalBusiness” schema mark-up for Fifteen. This will help support users wanting to find the business address and is likely to trigger the GMB listing – bases on user query. { "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "LocalBusiness", "name": "Fifteen", "image": "https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/wp-content/themes/fifteendesign/assets/img/fifteen-logo-square.png", "@id": "https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/", "url": "https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/", "telephone": "0115 828 1835", "priceRange": "££-£££", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "Media House", "addressLocality": "Nottingham", "postalCode": "NG9 2RS", "addressCountry": "GB" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": 52.92794, "longitude": -1.1978960000000143 }, "openingHoursSpecification": [{ "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification", "dayOfWeek": [ "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday" ], "opens": "09:00", "closes": "17:30" },{ "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification", "dayOfWeek": "Friday", "opens": "09:00", "closes": "17:00" }], "sameAs": [ "https://www.facebook.com/FifteenDesign", "https://twitter.com/fifteenagency", "https://www.instagram.com/fifteenagency/", "https://www.youtube.com/user/fifteendesign", "https://www.linkedin.com/company/fifteen-design" ] } This can be enhanced to include a map, alternate business names; so Fifteen could appear for other user queries, multi-business locations and more. Schema structured data can be as flexible as you need it to be Create a clean URL structure What is a clean URL structure? Clean URLs have many different names, including semantic URLs, RESTful URLs, user-friendly URLs or search engine-friendly URLs, but there functions are all the same. They take a more descriptive, easy to remember form which are free from parameters or query string and file extensions, unlike a dirty URL. This does not include user-friendly files like PDFs, Word docs, Excel files, but more of the content files used to build the webpage. The “slug” is the readable part of the URL. The “slug” is the part of the URL after the websites domain. Clean URL example https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/seo/ This is descriptive and provides the user (and search engine) with an understanding of where the content sits on the website, but also the topic of the content on the page. This is also has added advantages from a usability and accessibility point of view too. Dirty URL example https:://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/products?category=12&pid=25 From a user perspective, they do not know what the content of this page holds. Ultimately, they both take the user to the same content. It’s not easily remembers, it’s not user friendly. From a search engines point of view, the page will be crawled and indexed just like any other. When a user searches for a relevant query, the page will be displayed. All things being equal with a competitor, a clean URL is likely to be ranked higher than a dirty URL. Why is a clean URLs important for SEO? There are a number of reasons to use a clean URL structure for your website, but here are our top 5 Includes keywords related to the page The shorter, more descriptive a URL is, the better Products/Service categorised easily Build topical authority Future proof your site Submitting changes to Bing Having covered “Submitting changes to Google” earlier, we’re now looking at how to submit changes to Bing As briefly mention in the last post, Bing also provides results for other search engines, including (but not limited to) Yahoo!, AOL, DuckDuckGo and Ecosia. Each is a different avenue to find and discover your websites content, which is why Bing should not be ignored. How do you submit changes to Bing? To submit changes to you have made on any of your pages to Bing, you will need to ensure your site is verified through Bing Webmaster Tools. This can be done in a similar way to Google, by adding a single line of HTML to your website. Assuming your website is already verified, navigate to Configure My Site > Submit URLs You can add multiple URLs at a time here. Simply paste each URL you want to submit on a new line. Once submitted, Bing will priories the crawl and the new pages should appear within Bing’s results pages shortly Why should you submit changes to Bing? Submitting pages to Bing, either new or ones that have been heavily updated is a good thing to do, as it ensures the correct content is being served in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). If the content is out of date, when a user clicks the link in the SERPs and finds that it is different to what they were expecting, they are likely to bounce off your site. In Bing’s eyes, this makes it look like the content isn’t relevant to the user search, so you are likely to lose ranking. From a user’s point of view, it could be potentially damaging to a brands reputation as they will lose trust in your site as a source of reliable information. So, rather than waiting for Bing to recrawl your pages, it’s best to submit them yourself to keep your content up to date. If you need any assistance with your SEO strategy, from Local to technical, outreach and link-building, get in touch with Fifteen's experts today. #### 10 signs it’s time to rebrand a company - and what to do next. Rebranding isn’t just about changing your logo or picking a new colour palette. At its best, business rebranding is a strategic move that brings your brand back into alignment with who you are, what you offer, and where you’re heading next. But one of the biggest questions businesses ask is: how do you know it’s time to rebrand a company? The truth is, rebranding doesn’t always come from a crisis. Often it’s the result of growth, change, or simply outgrowing what your brand used to be. In this blog, we’ll cover the key signs that you’re ready to rebrand a company, the reasons why it can be a smart move, and how to approach business rebranding in a way that feels intentional and commercially focused.  What does it mean to rebrand a company? To rebrand a company means to rethink how your business is presented and perceived, both internally and externally. That can include updating your visual identity (such as your logo, colours, and typography), tone of voice, brand messaging, positioning, and even your overall customer experience.  Rebranding a company isn’t always a complete overhaul. In many cases, it’s a refinement: a clear story, a more confident identity, and a brand that reflects where the business is today rather than where it started. A strong rebrand should always be rooted in strategy, not aesthetics alone. The goal is to create a brand that attracts the right customers, supports your growth, and makes your business easier to understand and trust. Why rebrand your company? There are many reasons why you should rebrand your company, but it often comes down to one thing: relevance. Your brand needs to reflect your current value, credibility, and market position. If it doesn’t, you’re likely losing opportunities, even if your product or service is excellent. Here are a few reasons why rebranding a business can make commercial sense: Your offering has evolved and your brand no longer fits You’re struggling to stand out in a crowded market You want to attract better-fit customers and higher-value enquires Your current brand feels dated, inconsistent, or unclear You’re planning to scale, expand, or launch something new A rebrand gives you the chance to reset perception and sharpen your message, helping your business look and feel as strong as it truly is. 10 signs you’re ready to rebrand a company If you’re unsure whether or not you’re ready to rebrand your business, here are some of the biggest indicators that a refresh is the right next step. 1. Your brand no longer reflects your business Businesses evolve, services expand, audiences change, and standards rise. If your brand still reflects what you used to offer rather than what you deliver today, that mismatch can lead to confusion and lost trust. You might have grown into a more premium provider, developed a stronger offering, or improved the quality of your work significantly, but if your branding hasn’t kept pace, potential customers won’t see that progress. In many cases, this is one of the most important reasons to rebrand a company because perception needs to match reality. 2. Your website looks dated - even if your work isn’t Your website is often the first impression people get of your brand. If it feels outdated, cluttered, slow, or inconsistent, it can undermine credibility instantly, regardless of how strong your product or service is. Even small issues like poor typography, dated design patterns, unclear navigation, or low-quality imagery can make your business feel behind the curve. In competitive markets, users won’t always give you a second chance, they’ll simply bounce and choose a brand that looks more confident, modern, and trustworthy. 3. You’ve outgrown your original audience Many businesses start with one niche, then expand into new markets. If your branding is still speaking to your original customer base, it might not connect with the audience you want to attract now. This can show up in tone of voice, the language you use, the types of projects you showcase, or the way you position your services. This is a common trigger for rebranding a business and one of the most commercially valuable reasons to take action, especially if your growth depends on attracting higher-value customers. 4. Your brand message isn’t clear If someone visits your site and can’t quickly answer: What is it you do? Who is it for? Why should I choose you? …then your brand positioning needs work. Clarity is one of the biggest drivers of conversion. If your messaging is vague or overly generic, people won’t feel confident taking the next step. Rebranding a company can bring clarity and consistency to your message, making it easier for customers to understand your offer, trust your expertise, and take action. 5. You’re competing on price too often If your brand doesn’t communicate value, customers fill in the gaps with assumptions and the default assumption is usually price. When businesses compete on price, it often isn’t because they’re the cheapest, it’s because they haven’t clearly communicated why they’re worth more. One major reason to rebrand a company is to shift perception away from being “cheap” and towards “worth it”. That might mean improving your positioning, elevating your visual identity, or sharpening your messaging so it reflects the quality of your service. 6. Your competitors look more modern than you Even if you deliver a better service, perception plays a huge role in buying decisions. If competitors look more established, more professional, or more up to date, they may win business before you even get a chance to prove yourself. Modern branding signals confidence. It suggests you’re active, relevant, and investing in your business, and that matters to customers. A rebrand helps you stay competitive visually, strategically, and commercially, especially if you’re in an industry where trust and credibility are key decision factors. 7. You have inconsistent branding across platforms If your website doesn’t match your social channels, your proposals look different from your sales decks, and your messaging shifts depending on where someone finds you, it creates friction. Inconsistency makes a brand feel less reliable. Even if your service is excellent, a disjointed experience can create doubt, and doubt kills conversions. Consistency builds familiarity, and familiarity builds trust. If you don’t have it, that’s a strong sign you’re ready for business rebranding, or at the very least, stronger brand guidelines and rollout support. 8. Your business has changed direction Maybe you’ve pivoted. Maybe your offer is sharper. Maybe you’ve moved into a different sector or changed your ideal customer profile. If what you sell has changed, your brand needs to change with it, otherwise it becomes misleading or irrelevant. This is especially important if your old branding is tied too closely to services you no longer offer, or if your new direction demands a more premium or specialist positioning. Rebranding a company can help reset expectations and attract the right audience faster. 9. You’re planning a growth push If you’re investing in digital marketing, launching new services, entering new markets, or building partnerships, brand clarity matters more than ever. A common mistake businesses make is scaling their marketing before they’ve fixed the foundations. If your brand doesn’t communicate your value clearly, paid ads become more expensive, SEO becomes harder, and conversion rates stay lower than they should. Rebranding a company can act as a springboard for growth, giving you a stronger foundation for SEO, PPC, sales, content, and conversion. 10. You’re no longer proud to share your brand This one is simple, but important. If you hesitate before sending someone your website, your team avoids posting content, or your brand feels like it belongs in the past, it’s time. You shouldn’t feel like you have to ‘explain away’ your branding before people judge the quality of your business. A strong brand should feel confident, current, and aligned with your ambition. And when it does, it makes business development easier because you’ll feel proud of what people see when they find you. What should a business rebrand include? Before you go ahead and start your business rebrand, it’s important to remember that a rebrand isn’t just a new logo, it’s a full alignment exercise. The exact scope will depend on your goals and what you want to achieve, but most effective rebrands include a combination of strategy, messaging, and design working together. A strong business rebrand process typically covers: Brand discovery and positioning to define what makes you different and where you sit in the market Audience research and competitor reviews to ensure your brand resonates with the people you want to attract Brand messaging and tone of voice to sharpen how you communicate and improve consistency across channels Visual identity including logo, typography, colour palette, and supporting design elements Brand guidelines so your team (and partners) can apply the brand correctly going forward Website design and content refresh to ensure your digital presence reflects the new brand and drive conversions Updated marketing materials and templates such as proposals, slide decks, social assets, email signatures, and print collateral The key is integration. Every part of the brand needs to work together and tell the same story - visually, verbally, and strategically. Ready to rebrand your company? Rebranding is a big decision, and it should never be done on instinct alone. A successful rebrand should always be shaped by user perception, commercial goals, and long-term growth so it becomes a strategic asset that helps your business move forward with clarity and confidence. At Fifteen, we help organisations approach business rebranding strategically, combining strong brand thinking with commercial focus. Whether you need a full repositioning or a refinement to bring your brand up to date, we’ll help you build a brand that’s clear, confident, and ready for growth. If you’re ready to rebrand your company and want expert guidance on what to change (and what to keep), don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today. #### 10 Tips on planning your new website design. Even for brick-and-mortar stores that don't do e-commerce, having an online presence is essential these days. According to studies, more than 95 percent of customers check for local businesses online, while more than 90 percent of B2B buyers conduct preliminary research online. Investing in a new website is a significant investment for any business, large or small. Your website is the online face of your business, the place where potential customers can learn more about who you are and what you do. A new website will function as a lead-generating machine, converting web traffic into quantifiable conversions if done correctly. If you miss the mark, however, you can find yourself in a can of worms – a never-ending loop of tweaks and fixes that eats up your time and resources. With the numerous website design resources available, creating a website isn't particularly difficult. Keep these 10 tips on planning your new website design concepts in mind no matter which applications you use. 1.   The aim of the website Like a mission statement, a website's intent explains why the site exists in the first place. The key objective of the platform will eventually inform design and content decisions, whether it is for education, activism, service provision, community organising, or other purposes. 2.   Audiences to target "Who is your target audience?" the answer to that usually is, "Everyone." Although I understand the reasoning behind that response, it's a simple fact that you can't build for "all" (which is why there are so many different types of vehicles, clothing, computers, and other devices). The site is more likely to achieve your organization's goals if you define and build for your top two audiences. 3.   The website's goals The objectives for your website, like the objectives of your organization's strategic plan, define the site's key goals. For each target group, you should ask your clients to respond to the following questions: When they visit your website, what actions do you think they'll want to take? When this group visits your website, what steps does your organisation want them to take? Ensure that the goals are met by revisiting them during the design and content development processes. A mobile-friendly, responsive interface A website's architecture automatically resizes to match the screen size on which it's being displayed, known as responsive design. Unfortunately, retrofitting an existing site with responsiveness can be challenging, and it's usually more cost-efficient to do a complete re-design. The days of having two different websites – one for desktop browsing and one for mobile viewing – are over. Constantly updated content Consider what would happen if museums never changed their exhibits. After your first visit, why would you want to come back? We frequent museums because there are often new exhibitions and programs to see. If we know the content on a website will change and there will be new content for us to access, we return to it. Create a marketing plan for your website that will keep visitors coming back. Choosing the Most Appropriate Content Management Framework If your company has had a website for a while, you might be familiar with the CMS you're currently using. Alternatively, you might be dissatisfied with your current CMS and want to experiment with something different. Due to its ease of use and fully customizable nature, WordPress is by far the most common and widely used content management system. However, each company has its own set of problems to address, and the best CMS for your company might not be the best CMS for anyone else's. Optimisation for search engines (SEO) A search engine is used by more than 50% of Internet users to begin their online experience. This means you'll want to make sure your website is search engine friendly. Although organizations specialize in SEO, their programs are usually out of reach for most charities. Fortunately, there are several SEO tasks that you (or your web developer) can complete on your own. Upkeep of the website The cost of site design and construction and ongoing site maintenance costs are the two critical costs associated with a website design project. Site construction is usually a one-time expense. Depending on the developer, site upkeep can vary greatly. Some create websites in Dreamweaver, and clients either learned how to use it or paid them to keep their sites up to date. Like time passes by, they switched to the open-source content management system WordPress to improve this paradigm. Some charity clients now redesign their websites independently, and they rarely need any help after the site is launched. Another aspect of site management to consider ahead of time is who will manage the site after it goes live. Will that person be in charge of uploading content created by others, or will that person be in order of everything? Convenience This refers to a nonprofit's website complying with Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Although all websites should be available, I believe that the nonprofit sector, in particular, has a moral duty to do so. Our industry's DNA is built on inclusion and social justice, which should be reflected in the design of our websites. 4.  Call to action (CTA) Since the call to action is one of the most critical aspects of your web, it's crucial to think about it before starting on wireframes and design. What do you want visitors to do once they arrive at your website? Request a quote, set up a free consultation, or give you a call to talk about your project? Once you've chosen a CTA, make sure it's at the top of the consumer experience and that it's simple for your customers to take action once they've agreed to work with you. If you'd like a hand crafting an amazing website design then contact us today. Our multi-disciplined team offers insights into design, SEO, content, and technical requirements and can help you create an effective and interesting website. For more information take a look at our blog on website design do's and don'ts or our checklist for launching a new website. #### 10 ways to instantly improve a website. Not every underperforming website needs rebuilding from scratch. In many cases, meaningful performance gains come from targeted, strategic adjustments. If you’re looking for guidance on how to improve your website, the answer often lies in improving clarity, structure, and usability, not a brand-new platform. In this blog, we share ten ways to instantly improve a website. Whether your goal is to generate more enquiries, boost sales, or gain stronger visibility in search, the below website improvements can help you make your website much more appealing to potential customers. 10 ways to improve a website Whether you’re running an ecommerce platform, service-based business site, or lead generation website, here are some practical ways to improve a website quickly and efficiently. 1. Clarify your core message immediately One of the biggest issues many websites face is unclear positioning. When someone lands on your homepage, they should instantly understand what you do, who you do it for, and why it matters. If your main headline is overly clever, vague, or filled with jargon, rewrite it. Strong websites prioritise clarity over creativity. A clear headline paired with a short supporting paragraph can significantly reduce bounce rates and increase engagement. Ask yourself: could a first-time visitor explain your business in one sentence after five seconds on your homepage? If not, refining that message is one of the fastest ways to improve a website. 2. Strengthen and simplify your calls-to-actions Many businesses assume traffic is the problem when, in reality, the issues lie in weak calls-to-actions (CTA). If users aren’t guided clearly towards the next step, they won’t take it. Improving a website’s conversion performance often starts by making your primary CTA obvious. That means placing it above the fold, repeating it naturally throughout longer pages, and ensuring the wording is direct and action-focused. You should avoid overwhelming users with too many competing buttons. Choose one primary action per page and support it with a clear benefit. Small adjustments to CTAs can deliver measurable improvements in enquiries and sales. 3. Improve page speed and performance Speed has a direct impact on user behaviour. Slow-loading pages frustrate visitors and reduce trust before they’ve even engaged with your content. Some ways you can quickly improve page speed include: Compressing large images Removing unnecessary plugins Enabling caching Minimising scripts Improving a website’s performance doesn’t just enhance user experience, it also supports SEO rankings, as page speed remains a core factor in search engine performance, especially on mobile devices. 4. Simplify your navigation structure An overcomplicated navigation is a frequent barrier to engagement. If users can’t find what they’re looking for within seconds, they’re likely to leave. You can improve your navigation by: Reducing the number of top-level navigation items Grouping related pages logically Using clear, descriptive labels Ensuring key services are easy to find A streamlined navigation structure not only improves usability, but also strengthens the overall website development process by making content hierarchy clearer for search engines. 5. Improve content structure for better readability Sometimes improving a website isn’t about rewriting content, it’s about restructuring it. Large blocks of text, inconsistent headings, and poor formatting reduces engagement. That’s why you should break content into shorter paragraphs, use clear heading tags, and ensure each page answers a specific question or addresses a clear need. By improving readability, you’ll notice more time is spent on your pages and bounce rates are reduced - all without changing your core messaging. 6. Add or enhance your social proof Trust is one of the biggest conversion drivers. If your website doesn’t showcase testimonials, case studies, or recognisable client logos, you’re missing an opportunity. Adding strong social proof is one of the most effective website improvements you can make. Real testimonials with names, roles, and specific outcomes carry far more weight than generic quotes. Case studies that demonstrate measurable results also strengthens credibility. If you want to improve a website's performance quickly, you should reinforce trust signals across your key pages such as your service and product pages. 7. Optimise for mobile experience Mobile usability is a major ranking and conversion factor, and with the majority of users browsing on mobile, improving a website’s mobile experience is non-negotiable.  You should check how your website performs on mobile devices and ask yourself: Is the text easy to read? Are buttons spaced correctly? Does the layout feel intuitive? Mobile optimisation isn’t just about resizing, it’s about prioritising the most important information for smaller screens. Optimising your website for mobile can instantly reduce friction and improve conversion rates. 8. Refresh outdated visuals Design trends evolve and if your website looks dated, users may question the quality of your service. Outdated visuals can also undermine strong content, and while you may not need a full redesign of your site, subtle visual updates can modernise it significantly. Clean, consistent design builds credibility and professionalism, so consider refining your typography, increasing white space, and replacing any outdated stock imagery.  When improving a website, remember that perception matters. A visually modern site signals reliability and attention to detail, which ultimately influences trust. 9. Strengthen your SEO foundations Your site’s SEO foundations are critical for improving your website’s visibility long-term. Without these, your potential customers won’t find you on search engine results pages (SERPs) and you run the risk of your competitors stealing that traffic. Some quick SEO improvements you can make to strengthen your foundations include: Writing stronger meta titles and descriptions Improving internal linking Optimising headings with relevant keywords Adding to existing thin content or updating outdated content to add value Improving a website’s SEO isn’t about stuffing keywords into existing content, it’s about ensuring clarity, structure, and intent alignment.  10. Refine your conversion journey Our final tip to improving a website is to step into your user’s shoes and complete the journey yourself. From landing on your homepage to submitting an enquiry or completing a test purchase, ask yourself: how smooth is the process? If you find there are road blockers, some improvements you can make include: Reducing any unnecessary form fields Making your contact details easy to find Adding reassurance messaging near enquiry buttons - these might include average response times or guarantees Adding guest checkout ability to reduce the need for creating an account - you can encourage this post-purchase In most cases, improving a website comes down to removing friction. Even the smallest of obstacles in your user journey can have a disproportionate impact on performance. Completing test form submissions allows you to see your user journey for your own eyes. Need a helping hand when making website improvements? As we’ve highlighted, improving a website doesn’t always require a complete rebuild, it just requires some strategic website improvements to increase engagement, search visibility, and conversions. If you’re unsure where to start, a structured review can quickly identify the highest-impact changes needed. At Fifteen, we help businesses improve a website strategically, combining UX insight, SEO expertise, and commercial focus to deliver measurable growth. If you’re ready to improve your website, be sure to get in touch with us today and let us help you identify the changes that will make the biggest difference. #### 11 Web development terms explained. Anyone trying to navigate the world of web development can often feel as though it’s like learning a new language. With web development terms like XML, robots.txt, and noindex being thrown around, it’s no wonder so many feel overwhelmed. That’s why we’re breaking down some key web development buzzwords. In this blog, we’ll explore 11 of the most common web development terms used in the industry to help give you a better understanding of what they mean. Whether you’re just getting started in your web development career or you’re simply looking to learn what these terminologies mean for an upcoming project, we’ve got you covered. 11 Web development definitions, from A-Z Here we breakdown 11 of the most used web development buzzwords from A-Z, helping you grasp these key terminologies in simple terms. 1. Application Programming Interface (API) An Application Programming Interface (API) is a set of rules that allows different software applications to speak to each other and share information. It defines the methods and data formats that applications can use to request, send, and receive information.  For example, APIs are typically used to pull content from other services across the web such as embedding Google Maps on your contact page. An API can also import visual elements, such as external fonts or libraries of interactive effects. It works by your site speaking to your desired service using a secret key, or password, to verify the request. Then the data will be returned in a raw format, like XML or JSON (which we explained in more detail a little later), by the API. APIs enable developers to integrate various services, elements, and functionalities onto a website or mobile app without having to build them from scratch. With an API, the data that is returned is usually customised and can be used in a less restricted way, which enhances the overall user experience. 2. Arrays In the most simplest of terms, an array is a data structure that stores a collection of elements, such as numbers and strings, under a single variable name.  If you’ve ever seen XML or JSON markup, you may have noticed that the data isn’t all on the same level - some lines are indented and enclosed within other lines by tags or curly brackets (a.k.a ‘braces’). This is how serialization formats indicate groups of data, which is then interpreted by a website accessing them as arrays. This allows developers to organise, count, rearrange, and manipulate related pieces of data efficiently. For example, an array can hold a list of names or numbers that can be easily accessed and modified using specific index values. You can also ‘nest’ arrays within one another to create a hierarchical structure. For example, you may have an RSS blog feed with a ‘parent’ array of 10 posts, each of which has a ‘child’ array of data entries for the title, content, and author. There is no limit on the amount of nested arrays you may have, but a good API will use a logical structure and compile the data in the most efficient way, so data structure is very important. 3. Crawler A crawler, also known as a web spider or a web robot, is an automated program used by search engines to browse the internet and index webpages. Primarily associated with SEO, a crawler bot will look over a webpage, analyse code, content, and hyperlinks to determine where the page should rank in search engine results. The beauty of crawlers is that they will continue to browse a site until they have followed every single link and they will return a few days later to check for any updates or changes to ensure their indexes are up-to-date. Crawlers take into account a number of different factors when ranking a website or webpage such as keywords, coding quality, and page speed. Its ultimate aim is to provide searchers with relevant information related to their search queries. However the vastness of the internet is immense which is why Google creates algorithms to prioritise the most relevant information.  4. ‘Disallow’ ‘Disallow’ is a command used in robots.txt files to tell search engine crawlers not to access or index certain pages or directories of a website. Adding this command allows web developers to control which part of a site is off-limits to search engines.  For example, you might have a webpage that has sensitive information or duplicate content that may affect your SEO rankings. It’s also a particularly useful command to use for account login pages or a website that is under development and is not ready for public viewing. 5. JSON JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a simple and easy-to-read example of a coding format that allows information to be shared between applications. It’s predominantly used by the JavaScript programming language to encode complex information so it’s safe for transmission as a single line of text - which is a process known as serialization. Its simplicity and readability make it a popular choice for APIs as it streamlines data transmission and allows for the data to be adapted however it requires. And if you’re a particularly seasoned web developer, you might just be able to read the text content, but it will be encased in tags or punctuation marks. 6. ‘Noindex’ Web development terms such as ‘Noindex’ are also important to know for your SEO strategy. It simply means you don’t want a particular page indexing and appearing in search results. It works by placing a piece of code in a webpage's meta tags, or header portion, and when a crawler reaches the page, it will abide by the ‘noindex’ request, meaning the page will not show up in search engine results, keeping it hidden from users who are searching for related content. This request is often used for pages such as thank you pages after form submissions or again, duplicate content that you don’t want to appear in search engines.  7. ‘Nofollow’ Similar to ‘noindex’, ‘nofollow’ is a value that can be added to a webpage’s meta tags that is assigned to hyperlinks to instruct search engines not to follow the link. Adding this essentially means that crawlers will not pass on any authority or ranking to the linked page. This may seem mean-spirited, but if you’re linking to a competitor in a blog and you’re comparing your products or services with theirs for example, you don’t want to inadvertently send crawlers to your competitors. 8. Objects Objects work in conjunction with arrays in that they are collections of data and functionality that are used to create a webpage. They encapsulate data and behaviour to allow developers to create interactive elements and websites. Each object has its own properties and methods that describe its characteristics and methods to define its actions.  With object-oriented programming, you can create real life objects. For example, you might create an author that can have properties like a name or a birthday and its methods can be to read or write.  9. Robot A robot, or a ‘bot’, a ‘web bot’, or a ‘internet bot’, is a program that is used by developers to automate repetitive tasks such as testing, deployment, and monitoring of websites. This allows them to save time and ensure consistency in their work. Some of the most popular robots include Selenium, Puppeteer, and PhantomJS which offer a range of functionalities to streamline workflow. Whilst most developers use robots for good, it’s important to note that there are a select few who use robots for bad purposes. The most common example of this are Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, where an army of robots are deployed to overload a server with repeated traffic, harvest email addresses for spam, and try to crack passwords. They operate by pretending to be as human as possible and the creators of these bots go to great lengths to ensure they appear as realistic as they can in order to fool website security systems. That’s why you often see reCAPTCHA implemented on online forms on many websites. 10. Robots.txt Robots.txt (a.k.a ‘robots exclusion standard’) is a small text file that developers create to instruct web robots on how to crawl and index pages on a website. It’s used to inform search engines what content should and shouldn’t appear on search engine listings.  This allows developers to control access to certain parts of a website. However with that being said, malicious bots will ignore your robots.txt file, so it’s crucial your site has additional security measures put in place to deal with these threats. 11. XML XML, short for “Extensible Markup Language” is a versatile coding language that can be used for creating and structuring content for websites. Unlike HTML, XML focuses on describing the content rather than the presentation of a webpage. It allows developers to create custom tags that define data relationships, making it easier to organise and share information across different platforms. The code works by telling the website or app reading the feed how the data should be structured, but leaves it up to the developer to decide how to present it, hence the ‘extensible’ concept. Using XML enables developers to ensure the data is well-structured and easily readable, which is what makes it so compatible across different platforms. This flexibility and interoperability makes XML a valuable tool for organising and transmitting data efficiently. Want to learn more web development terms? We’ve explained just some of the many web development buzzwords that often fly around in this industry. It’s easy to become overwhelmed with this type of terminology, but we hope we’ve been able to remove the perplexity surrounded by the above web development jargon. At Fifteen, our web development specialists use these kinds of terms everyday and provide clarity for our clients when working on their project so they understand every step of our web development process. We specialise in building flawless websites and mobile applications that are not only bespoke to your business, but also engages your audience effectively. Get in touch with us today to discuss your project requirements in more detail and learn how we can make your online success, our mission. #### 3 Fundamental digital marketing frameworks for effective planning. The digital marketing sphere is dynamic and ever changing. The advent of social media, mobile platforms and the traditional web have all created new opportunities for companies looking to reach customers online. It’s not surprising that new tools and metrics are emerging daily. With so many tools competing for your attention and trying to shape your strategy, it’s extremely helpful for every digital marketer to have a framework in place to use as a guide for planning. In this blog, we explore three key fundamental digital marketing frameworks every business should follow for effective campaign planning. First, let’s look into what a digital marketing strategy framework is. What is a digital marketing strategy framework? A digital marketing strategy framework is a comprehensive plan that outlines how a business uses different types of technology to achieve its goals. It’s a system that helps companies develop ways to use digital technologies to compete, innovate, and grow. This is especially crucial in an era where technology is fast changing. Below are three key digital marketing frameworks you can apply to your strategy. 1. RACE planning framework The RACE planning framework is centred on growing customers’ engagement with your brand across four key stages: Reach, Act, Convert, and Engage. Together, these form an acronym (R-A-C-E) that gives marketers a helpful way to think about the entire customer life cycle and how they can grow it over time. Let’s look at each stage in more detail. Reach The first stage of the RACE planning framework is about expanding your presence and making your brand known to more people. You can accomplish this by optimising your website for various search results, engaging on social media, or leveraging advertising or paid promotion for example. Act The second stage is where you want your audience to do something that will drive them further into your marketing funnel. You’ll focus on getting people to perform specific actions related to your brand and goals. This could be anything from signing up to your newsletter to clicking through to a specific landing page. Convert This stage is where you focus on trying to get people to become paying customers or leads. You can achieve this through various means including offering free trials of your products or services, sharing discounts, and any other types of offers. Engage The final step of the RACE planning framework involves nurturing the loyalty among your existing customers and to encourage repeat purchases. You want your customers to keep coming back for more instead of leaving for a competitor’s offer. 2. Marketing funnel framework The marketing funnel framework is one of the most common digital marketing strategy frameworks. It’s a great way to illustrate the path a potential customer takes from being unaware of your products or services, to making a purchase. The marketing funnel consists of four levels: Awareness, Interest, Consideration, and Action. Here’s a breakdown of each level. Awareness The first step in the marketing funnel framework is awareness - the consumer becomes aware of your product or service. Usually, this occurs when they are exposed to an online ad about your offering, so it’s a good idea to utilise paid ads or a social media campaign to spread as much awareness as you can. Interest After the consumer becomes aware of your products or services, they start to develop an interest in it. This might happen by reading more detailed information about your offering on your website or by visiting your social media pages and commenting on your company’s posts. It’s important to keep engaging with them at this point so you don’t lose their attention! Consideration The consideration stage is when your prospects start considering their options with regard to solving their problem. They’ve narrowed down their options to a few companies and are now deciding which one will best meet their needs and solve their problems. Your job here is to convince them that you’re the best choice among their options. Action In the final stage of the marketing funnel framework, your prospects have decided that you are their best option for solving their problem, and now it’s time for them to make a purchase or sign up for your services. 3. Flywheel model framework The flywheel model framework is an excellent framework for those just getting started with digital marketing. It helps marketers with planning by focusing on the customer experience beyond the point of purchase. The model consists of three parts which are Attract, Engage, and Delight. Let’s explore these stages in more detail. Attract In the attract stage of the flywheel model framework, your goal is to attract customers interested in what you have to offer. You can attract customers by creating content that’s useful to them like blogs or articles, or by offering them an exclusive discount on your products or services for example. Engage The engage stage is your opportunity to give customers a reason to return. This can be done through social media, email campaigns, or personalised messaging via chat tools. When customers feel like they are being listened to and cared for, they will return to your business and continue to invest in your products or services. Delight The final stage of the flywheel model framework is delight. Delighting your customers means you’re going above and beyond to give them a fantastic experience. This could be offering free samples of your products, providing coupons for future purchases or by simply giving them an outstanding service. Let us help with your digital marketing strategy There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to effective digital marketing planning. It’s a process that changes as your organisation’s needs change. Your strategic goals should dictate what processes are effective and which ones might need some improvement. If you need help with your digital marketing planning, speak to our experts today. We’ll work closely with you to understand your strategic goals and we’ll use an appropriate digital marketing strategy framework that works for you and your business and devise an effective digital marketing strategy. Be sure to get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help. #### 3 leading company rebrands in 2019. When a company rebrands it’s usually to renew or modernise their current brand. This ensures that companies stay current and with the times. In this blog, I am going to outline 3 of the best rebrands of 2019 so far. Volkswagen Volkswagen, a German automaker founded in 1937, is one of the biggest automotive companies in the world. Their logo is recognisable worldwide and this week they revealed their new visual identity. Taking a much more modern and stripped back approach, the new logo design is clear and simple. Replacing the three-dimensional chrome effect, the new logo has been changed to a flat two-dimensional design. To date the Volkswagen logo has always been blue and white, however, a new blue tone has been introduced, giving it a much fresher and modern look. In addition to that, for the first time in decades, the 'W' in Volkswagen logo has been isolated from the circle, making it a much more open and clean design, reducing it down to its essentials. Volkswagen through the decades: Volkswagen’s main mission is to have the new design work better across all digital platforms. Now that the logo is more simple and flexible it will appeal to a wider audience across all media. According to the Volkswagen newsroom “The new visual language of the brand will be very different from that presented by Volkswagen to date – it will be bolder and more colourful. The focus will be on people. Volkswagen will no longer concentrate on perfectionism in vehicle photography. In future, the main objective will be to present realistic situations that customers can identify with.” In addition, Volkswagen announced that the brand is now becoming female. Well, the voice of the brand that is. For decades Volkswagen has had a male voice present their vehicles for advertising purposes. With the aim to sell the vehicle for the vehicle specifications, they are now taking a different approach. Their main objective is aimed towards the individual. Their visual language is going to be much more colourful and bold moving forward https://youtu.be/aJACrBPpIg0 Energizer Founded in 1896 Energizer Holdings, Inc. is an American manufacturer and one of the largest manufacturers of batteries in the world. Known for producing the longest-lasting batteries around and of course the world-famous Energizer Bunny, they decided to rebrand this year! With all of Energizers competitors being all black, copper and extremely serious, the Energizer brand needed to display the opposite to stand out from the crowd. Designed by DDW (Sausalito, CA), they describe the rebrand as a bold, light-hearted design system. For example, on the earlier packaging, the Energizer Bunny was seen more “extra”. The solution? According to DDW “It was finally time The Energizer Bunny take centre stage. And that’s exactly what he’s done. The Energizer Bunny features larger than life. He’s finally taken his rightful place as the proud hero of the No. 1 battery brand.” Take a look at the Energizer brand story Android Developed by Google, Android is a mobile operating system that was initially released in 2008. Designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices, Android is one of the biggest of its kind. Since their initial release Android has had two rebrands. They started with a futuristic sans serif logotype from 2007-2014 and then rebranded in 2014. After rebranding, they introduced a new green and applied this to the Android robot and the typeface. Fast forward to 2019 and they have rebranded again. At first glance, it may not look that different. However, the typeface has been thinned down and stems have been added. Rounded corners have selectively been applied, all while remaining in lower-case. Additionally, Google has simplified the Android robot. They have done this by removing the body and just keeping the head. The curve radius of the bot has been adjusted and the eyes and antenna have been moved slightly too. The reasons for this is because Google has decided to have the Android bot a permanent fixture in the logo. Now that it is a permanent fixture, it needs to be able to fit in any scenario. They have accomplished this by customising their colour green by adding a hint of blue and accompanying this with a secondary colour pallet. This includes a blue, navy as well as tertiary orange, chartreuse and light blue. Although the changes may not seem that drastic, if you imagine the size of Android, with users all over the world, changing the colour pallet and removing the robot's body - this is a huge difference for the brand. What are your thoughts on these company rebrands? If you'd like to rebrand your logo or design a site from the ground up Fifteen are ready to help. Our dynamic team of designers, developers and digital experts offer unparalleled access to digital marketing and can turn your logo into your identity. Contact us today to find out more. #### 3 simple ways to improve your online form conversion rate. Anyone who owns their own website knows that online forms are a crucial part of capturing leads. They are the staple of almost every website, whether they’re placed on the homepage or contact page. They provide an instantaneous communication channel between motivated users and your brand. However, if your form conversion rate isn’t where you want it to be, it might be time to make some tweaks. In this blog, we share three simple yet effective ways to boost your form conversion rate so you can maximise the potential of your online forms and drive more conversions. First, let’s take a quick look at why online forms are so beneficial for websites. What are the benefits of online forms? Firstly, online forms are extremely versatile and can be placed in various places on your website. For example, you can place them on your homepage, your contact page, service or product pages, or your team page. Wherever you choose, they provide users with immediacy and access to information. A great use case would be if you own a mortgage company and users want to estimate what their repayments will be. Adding a form with a built-in calculator is a useful way to provide instant results and capture contact details for motivated users. Another benefit of online forms is that they provide an easy way for your brand to collect information about your audience such as name, contact information, and preferences. This data will enable you to get a better understanding of your customers and allow you to tailor your products or services and marketing efforts to meet their needs. Finally, online forms are one of the primary tools for lead generation and engagement, and these metrics can be easily measured as you can track the number of people who have contacted you through your forms. 3 ways to improve your online form conversion rate If you’ve noticed that your online form conversion rate has dipped, or you’re simply looking for some web form optimisation tips, here are three simple ways you can increase your form submissions on your site. Make your form visible This may sound obvious, but placing your online forms in the eye line of the user, or above the fold, when they visit your site is a great way to increase engagement and drive more traffic to use a form. In content hierarchy, content above the fold is your most valuable, as this is where users spend most of their time. If possible, ensure your online forms are above the fold and place the less important information like image galleries further down the page. This way you’ll have an instant call-to-action (CTA) that can be seen by visitors in a matter of seconds. It goes without saying to make your forms stand out with contrasting colours and bold fonts. You could also consider using sticky headers to your web pages to keep your online form in view as users scroll down the page. Combine online forms with CTAs CTAs bring about action in a user and when users land on your website, you want them to easily understand what action you want them to take next. That’s why you should strategically place your CTAs within your online forms so you can guide your users on your desired path and encourage them to complete your form. You can also do this in your forms intro text so you can explain what the form is, what it does, and the buttons your users have to click to complete the form. This is also a great opportunity to emphasise the urgency of completing the form. For example you could include phrases such as ‘Don’t Delay, Sign Up Now’, ‘Get an Instant Quote’ or ‘Download your Free Guide Now’. To really make your forms stand out, you could mix up your CTA button text to something like ‘Start Your Adventure’ or ‘Find My Dream Home’. Whatever your industry or service, there is often a need that users want to be addressed. You can tap into this with your CTAs, making it a great opportunity to increase your form conversion rate. Keep your online form clear and concise Keeping your online forms clear and concise is key to encouraging submissions. When a user reaches your form, the last thing you want is to confuse them with lengthy questions or unnecessary information, and you certainly don’t want to instruct them to go to another page. Instead you want to make sure your online form has a clean layout with clear instructions. You also want to ensure that you're only collecting the data you need and keep the amount of fields they need to fill out to a minimum. When you simplify the actual form-filling process, you can enhance user experience and increase the likelihood of users submitting the form successfully. Speak to our experts for your web form optimisation These are just some of the many ways you can increase your form conversion rate. If you implement these tactics to your online forms today, you can be sure you’re on the right path to driving more conversions for your brand. If you’d like to learn more ways you can boost your form conversion rate, get in touch with us today. Our multi-disciplined team of digital, design, and development experts can help optimise your site for success and streamline your online forms for conversions. #### 3 social media graphic tools to give your designer a break. Social media posting and blogging are a full-time job but to make them as successful as can possibly be you need amazing graphics. However not everyone is a professional designer so wouldn't it be nice if there was software that gave you some serious creative ability while not having to bother a designer for some creatives. Thankfully there are some excellent online tools that I would recommend giving a go next time you want to jazz up your socials or blogs. PicMonkey Picmonkey has a free version and a paid version that it calls Royale. As a standard, it allows you to quickly drop your images into the right dimensions perfect for socials while keeping the perfect resolution, but the real jewel in the PicMonkey crown is its editing ability. I have often been sat at the computer thinking I wish this image was a little more vibrant, how can I improve this picture without instantly baffling myself by opening up photoshop. Now with Picmonkey, I can edit the exposure of a photo, the colours, sharpen the image and even place effects on the image. A personal favourite feature is a touch-up feature that can turn any old night out photo into an airbrushed bonanza. http://www.picmonkey.com Canva   This is probably the most useful tool to have in a social media marketers arsenal. This tool is the quickest and easiest way to make creative images for both your social media and your blogs. This tool allows you to create a wide array of different designs and gives you, even more, capability for your designs. List of the different things that you can create include: Social media (Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest etc etc.) Presentations Posters Facebook covers Facebook posts Blog graphics Documents (A4, Magazine, Letterhead, Resume) Blogging and Ebooks Marketing materials (Menus, business cards, flyers, gift certificates) Canva’s different elements give you access to lots of logos and pictures to use in your designs and many of them are free. This allows you to create unique images steering clear of the dreaded stock imagery we have all grown to hate. https://www.canva.com Ezgif   Next we step into a different realm of imagery that is becoming more and more popular and that’s…….GIFS! These moving pictures may have us feeling like we are roaming the halls at Hogwarts but with this powerful little online tool we can create gifs for our everyday posts and blogs! Ezgif, like the clever little play on words, is true to its name, it is easy. All you have to do is upload certain images and watch the tool combine them into frames and from there you can share it or download it...boom ready made customisable GIFS! http://ezgif.com There are loads and loads of powerful editing and creative tools available online, the trick is finding the ones out there that have the most features before having to pay a premium or the ones that are the most user-friendly. We have gone a trialled a few for you and the top three seen above were our favourites. The other tools while all very good in their own right were pipped to the top three spots because of their amazing results, the huge array of features, and unbelievable straightforwardness! But hey, this is just my opinion so why don’t you go and try them all out for yourself? :) Go forth and be creative The other tools we trialled but didn't quite make the cut: Befunky Lunapic iPiccy #### 3 ways to incorporate Valentine’s design to your website. In the run up to Valentine’s Day, many brands will be putting a lot of focus into their Valentine’s Day campaigns, whether that’s sharing a special discount, running a competition or simply putting some extra love into their posts. But one area every business should be sharing the most love is their website. Your website is the backbone to your business and it’s most likely where your customers will be heading to from your campaigns, so why wouldn’t you put the same amount of love into it just like your campaigns? Keep reading as we share three really simple ways to incorporate Valentine's design to your website so it’s fresh and up-to-date with current trends. 1. Consider giving your website a Valentine’s makeover When we say makeover, we don’t mean a complete redesign of your website. We mean updating images and content across your website to give it a fresh look. You’d be surprised how a subtle change can make such a difference to your website, not only for users who might be visiting your website on a regular basis, but also for Google. The more you’re updating website content, the more it works in your favour. Google prioritises websites that are up-to-date and by simply updating a few images and some of your content, you’ll have a better chance of ranking much higher on the search engine. If you are looking for a way of shaking things up, focus on redesigning some of your key landing pages. For example, update a particular service page, an appeal page, or give your homepage a small refresh.  Making these kinds of changes on your website, and then testing these changes based on conversion rates will not only help to improve your website's user journey, but also your lead generation as you can see how your audience reacts to your changes and where they’re engaging the most on your website. 2. Change up your branding for Valentine’s Refreshing your branding in the run up to Valentine’s Day is a great way to incorporate Valentine’s design to your website. Again, this doesn’t mean undergoing a whole brand logo refresh, but simply adding some Valentine’s graphics to your logo. For example, you could add love hearts, or rose petals to your logo, or why not change up your fonts and colour scheme? Consider adding reds and pinks to your branding to really get into that romantic theme. However you choose to update your branding, be sure to update this across all of your marketing channels for consistency. This may include social media, email marketing and PPC (pay-per-click) marketing for example. It’s also worth updating your branding assets at least two weeks in the run up to Valentine’s Day, as this will allow for plenty of time for your audience to adjust to the change. 3. Don’t forget about your blog Incorporating Valentine’s design to your website isn’t just about incorporating creative designs, it’s also about updating website content such as your blog. There are so many benefits to blogging, the main one being adding another page of keyword rich content for both your users and for Google.  Posting regular content like a blog not only shows Google you’re updating your website which helps you rank higher in search engines as we’ve mentioned, but also helps position you as a thought-leader in your industry, which instils trust with your audience. The most common worry many brands have about blogging is finding the time to write a blog and finding something to write about. Seasonal events like Valentine’s Day are the perfect opportunity for you to show off how your brand is celebrating the special occasion. For example, if you’re an ecommerce business, you could write a blog about a limited edition product you’re selling and how your customers can use it. This will also give you an opportunity to share your blog across your social media channels and increase your exposure.. If you’re worried about finding blog topics, create a content calendar ahead of Valentine’s Day so you can clearly plan what you will write about and when you’ll post. You could also speak to your colleagues for some inspiration or take a look at our blog for tips for blog idea generation. Looking for more Valentine’s design advice? We’ve only really scratched the surface when it comes to Valentine’s design - there’s so much more your business can do to celebrate this holiday in style and enjoy all the benefits it can bring. If there’s one thing you take from this blog, it’s to never underestimate the importance of updating website content. If you’d like to learn more about how else you can incorporate Valentine’s design to your website, get in touch with us today. Our expert team of designers can create you flawless designs and our marketing specialists can devise you a killer strategy to ensure your brand stands out from the crowd. #### 30+ Photoshop shortcuts you need to know. Basic Photoshop shortcuts Let’s get started by going over the basic shortcuts that you should probably know before you even begin using the adobe creative suite. Now, these shortcuts are pretty self-explanatory so I am not going to go into any detail about them but please take a look at the list below to get you started before we talk about the shortcuts that will make working in a fast-paced work environment that much easier. Open WINDOWS: Ctrl+O MAC: Command+O New WINDOWS: Ctrl+N MAC: Command+ON Undo WINDOWS: Ctrl+Z MAC: Command+Z Redo WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+Z MAC: Command+Shift+Z Zoom Zoom In WINDOWS: Ctrl+(Plus Sign) MAC: Command+(Plus Sign) Zoom out WINDOWS: Ctrl+(Minus Sign) MAC: Command+(Minus Sign) Copy WINDOWS: Ctrl+C MAC: Command+C Paste WINDOWS: Ctrl+V MAC: Command+V Saving General Save WINDOWS: Ctrl+S MAC: Command+S Save For Web WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S MAC: Command+Shift+Option+S Help WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+? MAC: Command+Shift+? Layer shortcuts Now, when it comes to layers you are either the person who names each layer and is pretty organised or you are the total opposite and don’t name a single one and end up spending hours looking through every individual layer until you get to the right one (well, that was until Adobe introduced the auto select layer feature). With all that said, moving between layers is simple. Using the commands above you can bring a layer forward or move a layer back. You can also create new layers and group layers together. Additionally, you can also scroll through layers by holding Alt/Option and using the left and right bracket key; the right bracket is up and the left is down. This will without a doubt save you more time and make life that little bit quicker. New layer WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+N MAC: Command+Shift+N Bring layer to top WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+] MAC: Command+Shift+] Send layer to the back WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+[ MAC: Command+Shift+[ Bring layer forward WINDOWS: Ctrl+] MAC: Command+] Send layer back WINDOWS: Ctrl+[ MAC: Command+[ Group Layers WINDOWS: Ctrl+G MAC: Command+G Quick image fix shortcuts Whether you are wanting to change the tone of an image or simple make it black and white. These simple shortcuts will save you so much time when trying to execute these techniques. Even if you just want to experiment with your images, knowing how to adjust the hue, saturation, lightness, levels and curves quickly will make for a much more efficient work environment. Auto tone WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+L MAC: Command+Shift+L Levels WINDOWS: Ctrl+L MAC: Command+L Curves WINDOWS: Ctrl+M MAC: Command+M Colour balance WINDOWS: Ctrl+B MAC: Command+B Hue/saturation WINDOWS: Ctrl+U MAC: Command+U Black & white dialogue box WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+Alt+B MAC: Command+Shift+Option+B Shift + any arrow key shortcuts While you may or may not already know that holding Shift and pressing any arrow key on the keyboard nudges an object by 10 pixels (without shift the arrow key will move the object by 1 pixel). Did you know that holding the Shift key and using an arrow key in certain tools in Photoshop (and other creative software) will allow for 10% nudges? Try using the up or down arrow, while holding shift in any input field (like the font size input field for example). You will see that the digits will increase by 10%! Increase text by 2pts WINDOWS: Ctrl+Up Arrow MAC: Option+Up Arrow Decrease text by 2pts WINDOWS: Ctrl+Down Arrow MAC: Option+Down Arrow Increase text by 10pts WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow MAC: Command+Shift+Up Arrow Decrease text by 10pts WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow MAC: Command+Shift+Down Arrow Left align Text WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+L MAC: Command+Shift+L Centre align Text WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+C MAC: Command+Shift+C Right align Text WINDOWS: Ctrl+Shift+R MAC: Command+Shift+R Other Photoshop shortcuts Holding spacebar This is a quick life hack. By holding spacebar on your artwork this will reveal the hand tool, which will allow you to navigate around your artwork. This really helps when you have zoomed into your artwork and instead of relying on your mouse to scroll around, this allows you to have much more control of where you want to go. Additionally, holding spacebar + Cmd/Ctrl will have the same effect but with the zoom tool. Click on the area of the artwork you want to zoom into and then hold both keys and move the mouse up to zoom in and move the mouse down to zoom out. Text We have previously discussed how you increase/decrease text by 2pts or even by 10pts. Did you know how to increase or decrease the kerning or tracking of your text? Well, if you hold the Option/Alt key and then press either the left or right arrow key, this will increase/decrease your kerning or tracking. Additionally, you can also increase or decrease your leading too. You can do this by holding the same keys but instead use the up or down arrow. Remember to have your text selected. Conclusion When you start using photoshop (or any of the Adobe creative suite), it can be very intimidating at first glance when trying to get to grips with all the tools. With all that said, hopefully, all of the shortcuts that have been listed above will help you with your learning process and also speed up your workflow. Even if you are experienced in photoshop it’s always good to refresh your memory because let’s be realistic, unless you’re a photoshop guru, you’re not going to be able to remember every single shortcut there is. At Fifteen, we are very familiar with these shortcuts and have spent years designing killer websites for our clients. If you need a website designed or would like a full digital strategy created, contact us now. #### 4 Signs your website needs a refresh. Websites are the face of your business. With the past year of lockdowns behind us, businesses of all shapes and sizes have come to realise that to succeed you need a digital presence. Luckily, we've got a bit of experience in this and want to highlight some of the warning signs that your website may be due a refresh. Whether that’s a full makeover, or a tweak here and there, we’ll list 4 of the most common in this article. 4. Slow load speeds Unfortunately, an older site is often a slower site. If your site is slow to load it may be due to a number of things under-the-hood which can cause slowdowns. Whether that’s external linking to broken resources (such as CSS, JavaScript and Images) or simply that the way it was built is storing redundant data, which could be causing a bottleneck somewhere. Large image and video files can also be the culprits. Sites also need to keep up with user demands and the industry as a whole. Faster Wifi, quicker processors in computers and mobiles, and advancements in web browsers means that as a society we expect pages to load faster. Websites pages need to load in milliseconds now to keep the attention of the user, the longer the load time, the more likely they are to close the tab. 3. Extra unnecessary content Websites that have been around longer tend to have accumulated more virtual clutter. We’re not talking about the old blog posts you have. Some of the best-performing pages for SEO can be older blogs that are rich in keywords. The problem pages are the ones that no longer serve a purpose. Maybe a page advertising a one-off deal, a competition page, or a service that is no longer relevant to your industry. 2. Old fonts and out-dated graphical elements A website's design can often show its age. A few years ago it was the norm to have a lot of fancy graphics and imagery on your website, but the web has moved on to more of a flat design which relies more on colour than images. Updating your web design allows you to optimise the site for user experience while staying up with the styling users have come to expect from a modern website. 1. Responsive websites Fixed width websites are yet another relic of the past. They came at a time where web developers and designers did not have to worry about the mobile web. They had a content container which had their content inside it and did not have to worry about how the screen size affected it. Since then we’ve moved on to a more responsive field of view… which can only be fixed by responsive design.  That is, where you resize your browser and the website responds to fit the window or the device's screen. A few years ago Responsive Design wasn’t such a big thing as it is today, so we had websites mobile sites on .mobi domains, for those lucky users of the latest phone technology which came with WAP in-built. However, times have changed and so has the web. Responsive Design has prevailed over separate Mobile and Desktop websites, and we think the web is better for it. For some brands, it may even be beneficial to create a bespoke app for their service offering. Whatever the case, having a website that responds to the user is absolutely key and one of the biggest signs that your website needs a refresh. In conclusion These aren’t the only telltale signs that a website is outdated, but they do stick out like a sore thumb if you know what to look for. If you would like your website appraised or want to find out about how we can supercharge your site get in touch with the Fifteen team today. #### 4 Simple ways to promote your blog on social media. When you’ve put time and effort into writing a blog post, the last thing you want is it sitting on your website, never to be seen or known about. Promoting your blog is vital and social media is an integral part in driving traffic towards your blog and increasing your regular readership. So what can you be doing to link your blog posts into your social media strategy? Here are 4 simple ways your brand can be promoting your blogs on your social media channels. 1. Schedule social media posts The first thing you want to be doing when you’ve published your blog, is to begin promoting it on your brand’s social media channels by scheduling social media posts. It’s probably something you’re already doing, but ensuring you get certain elements right can help towards your efforts. For example, you want to make sure you’re promoting your blogs consistently across all of your social channels. The more channels you utilise, and the more frequent you post, the more you’ll drive people to your website to read your blog. You’ll also want to be mindful of the times you schedule your social posts. If you use scheduling tools like Hootsuite for example, it will give you recommended times to post, so be sure to go with these for maximum exposure.  And it goes without saying that you should make your social post as visually appealing as possible. This means including an image that grabs your audience’s attention and writing your post content that entices them to read your blog. Be sure to include relevant hashtags too, to further enhance your posts reach. 2. Include links for readers to share By integrating links into your blog so your readers can share your content, essentially allows your audience to help you promote your blogs across their social media. You want to be able to provide your readers with easy ways for them to share your blog with their friends, family and followers, so consider including button share links at the bottom of your blog. A good example would be the share links at the bottom of this blog. You can see we’ve included buttons for readers to share this blog on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ if they wish. You can include as many share options as you like, but be mindful that too many button links can look a little cluttered, so you may want to keep the number of share links to a minimum. 3. Get involved with blog discussions There are all sorts of blog chats and discussions on social media, particularly on Twitter, as these chats are monitored through hashtags. These are great opportunities to take time and talk to your readers, check out other brand blogs and focus on promoting your own blog posts. If your brand is industry specific, there are still plenty of chats and discussions you can get involved with. Do some research and don’t be afraid to get involved with these discussions because it shows your brand is invested in your audience’s opinions. It may even give you some inspiration for new content pieces you could focus on. 4. Build relationships with other bloggers Off the back of getting involved with blog chats and discussions, you could start to build relationships with other bloggers that are relevant to your brand and industry. You can also do this by simply reading and sharing other blogs you like, and don’t forget to tag and mention them in your social posts. You’ll be surprised how much this will be appreciated and reciprocated, with the favour will be returned by sharing your blogs. Another great way to achieve this is through guest blogging. Consider inviting other bloggers in your industry to write content for you and vice versa. Not only will this help you gain backlinks for your site, but it also gives you an opportunity to be featured on other bloggers' social media channels, thus increasing your reach. Want to know more about how to promote your blogs? We’ve highlighted some of the best ways to promote your blogs on social media, but there are so many more ways to take advantage of when it comes to sharing your content. So if you need help with incorporating your blog posts into your social media strategy, get in touch with us today. #### 4 tips to creating user-friendly lead capture forms for your website. Creating user-friendly lead capture forms for your website is so important for converting visitors into potential customers. They help generate genuine, high-quality leads and any business owner will understand the need for capturing these leads effectively to grow their customer base, as well as move them through the sales funnel. In this blog, we’ll share four essential tips to help you create lead capture forms that are not only user-friendly, but also optimised for maximum conversions, ensuring your lead generation process is seamless and efficient. What is a lead capture form? A lead capture form, also known as a lead generation form, is essentially an online form displayed on a website typically consisting of fields where users can input their information. They’re used to capture the contact information, such as names, telephone numbers, and email addresses, of potential customers who have shown an interest in a product or a service.  They should be strategically placed across different pages of your website to encourage visitors to share information for something of value, like a newsletter, a free trial, or a discount code for example. Using lead capture forms to collect valuable data on your audience allows you to follow up with them and nurture them into loyal customers later down the line. Common lead generation forms examples There are so many ways in which you can incorporate lead capture forms on your site, but it’s important to consider the type of information you want to collect and what you’ll do with that data once collected. Some of the most common lead generation forms examples include: Newsletter sign up forms - you can encourage visitors to subscribe to your newsletter by offering valuable content or exclusive offers in exchange for their email address. Contact forms - make it easy for visitors to get in touch with you by providing a simple contact form with fields for name, email, and message. Free trial sign up forms - if you offer a product or service with a free trial, you can streamline the sign up process with a clear and concise form that captures essential information. Downloadable content forms - you can gate valuable resources like e-books or white papers behind a form that collects visitor information. Registration forms - if you offer webinars, events, or premium content, registration forms can help gather attendee information and manage sign ups efficiently. Feedback forms - gathering feedback through easy-to-fill forms can provide valuable insights into customer preferences and help improve user experience on your site. These are just some of the most common examples of lead generation forms that can be used singularly or as a combination throughout your site. Which one(s) you use will ultimately depend on your business goals. 4 tips to creating user-friendly lead capture forms Ensuring your forms are user-friendly is vital for maximising conversions. Below are four simple tips to help you create an effective lead generation form and streamline your data capture process. 1. Simplicity is key There is nothing more frustrating than an overly complicated form. When trying to encourage potential customers to fill out your lead generation form, simplicity is vital. Including only the necessary fields you need to collect the data you want will make the form shorter and quicker to complete for your users.  By making the form quick to complete, potential customers are more likely to fill and submit the form on the spot, and less likely to forget to come back to it later. Basic information such as name, email address, contact number, and their enquiry is worth asking on the form, and any additional information you need may be better asked in a follow-up email or phone call. 2. Keep your layout straightforward Following on with the simplicity theme, you should keep your form layout as straightforward as possible. By keeping your form simple and easy-to-navigate, you can reduce friction and make it more appealing for users to complete it.  You should avoid overwhelming users with too many fields or complex instructions. Instead, focus on asking for essential information only, as we’ve highlighted previously, as this will help you qualify leads effectively. With a clutter-free design that has clear labels and easy-to-understand instructions, it can also ensure that no vital information is left incomplete. 3. Avoid error frustration at all costs It’s impossible to promise there will never be any errors when completing an online form. While encountering errors is out of your control, the way your users perceive these errors is however in your hands.  No one wants to feel like they’re talking to a robot, so you should ensure that your error messages are using accessible and easy-to-understand language, as this can help quell frustration. Filling them with technical jargon your users may not understand can easily frustrate them, and this may lead to them aborting your forms. Instead, opt for clear (and human-like!) error messages that will inform them of what the issue is. As well as this, using microcopies may avoid errors being made in the first place. Microcopies are small pieces of information used to explain what each field requires. In these microcopies, you can inform users of the layout something needs to be in, such as a valid email address, or add a small description of what information they should put. 4. Never keep your users guessing As we’ve mentioned through this blog, making things as clear as possible is essential. This can include several things such as being clear about what information you need and why, avoiding using confusing jargon or language, and providing easy-to-understand instructions. It also includes highlighting when fields have been completed correctly, incorrectly, or is missing essential information, and this can be achieved by using an inline form-field validation. This gives your users clear indication of successfully completed fields or if there are errors in real-time. Notifying users of potential errors as they go stops them from having to manually go back to search for errors. This will make filling out the form much quicker and result in less users aborting before completion. As well as that, positive validation also ensures users know they’re completing the form correctly. This gives them a sense of achievement, making them more likely to complete the form. Want more tips for your lead capture forms? Ensuring your lead capture forms are user-friendly not only benefits your website visitors, but also increases the likelihood of capturing genuine and valuable leads for your business. Implementing these simple, yet effective tips will enable you to create a user-friendly lead generation form while boosting conversions. If you’d like more tips on optimising your online forms, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Our team of digital marketing professionals and specialist web designers and developers can provide you with expert and tailored advice on how to maximise your form submissions. #### 4 ways designers can incorporate SEO friendly web design. The world of SEO can sometimes be a mystery. It’s an ever-changing set of rules that can affect your ranking in search engines, and every so often the formula will switch up. As a web designer, you may be focused on creating visually stunning sites, but integrating SEO-friendly practices into your designs can take your work to the next level.  There are a few ways web designers can help optimise their websites from the ground up. By considering how search engines interpret your designs, you can ensure your creations not only dazzle, but also rank well.  In this blog, we’ve put together four practical tips for designers to implement SEO friendly web design that not only create beautiful, functional websites, but also optimise them for search engines. 1. Ensure no duplicate content or pages When you begin to work on a web design, it’s important to create a sitemap. This is where you can identify key pages within your website, the structure and most importantly, eliminate any areas where ‘duplicate content’ is a risk.  Duplicate content is bad for SEO because a search engine can’t decide which version of that information will be most relevant for the user. A search engine needs to provide the user with the best search experience, and duplicate content is a huge road block for it to be able to do this.  This same rule applies to content that is duplicated from other sites. If you’ve noticed a new competitor in your industry has duplicated a lot of elements from your site - whether it’s layout, images, or copy - rather than challenge it, it’s wise to update your content. This will work in your favour because not only will you be refreshing your content, you’ll also avoid the risk of being penalised by Google. If you can identify an area where duplicate content will be a problem from a sitemap, it will save a lot of time that may have been wasted further down the line, and allow for more time to be prioritised on other important aspects. That’s why it’s vital for both web design and content writing to work closely. 2. Implement social and blog feeds If your business or client has an active social media platform, a good best practice for SEO and web design is to implement a feed into the homepage of your site. If you post regularly on your Instagram for example, an API can work in the background of your website and pull through your feed to your homepage. Search engines can then link your social media account to your website, showing that your site is regularly updated. Similarly, if you have an active blog section, this constant stream of fresh content will also give your site a boost in rankings. This is because search engines favour websites that update their content often, as they see your site as being relevant.  If you include these as standard into your site creations, you and your clients will benefit from a boost to your overall SEO efforts. 3. Help implement target keywords and call-to-actions While designers aren’t always responsible for content generation, they can certainly design for SEO and help with creating page titles, categories, and CTAs for example. Channeling your designer eye, you can help make improvements to these crucial elements and give your SEO efforts a boost. Getting involved with your digital marketing team, making suggestions, and sharing your ideas will always be welcomed. For example, if you’re a company in engineering that offers several services, such as honing, CNC machining, drilling, tapping, metal casting, and specialist welding, you need to think about how search engines can identify the specific services you offer. Simply putting ‘Services’ on your top level navigation is not enough. However, changing this slightly to ‘Engineering Services’ is not only going to help search engines identify your industry quickly, but also provide a positive user experience because your audience will understand straight away the type of services you offer. 4. Optimise your images Possibly one of the best SEO friendly web design tips we can offer is to optimise your images. If your website’s load time is too long, this is viewed negatively by search engines. While there are a lot of factors that can contribute to how long a page takes to load, one of the main culprits are unoptimised images.  Any images that are uploaded to a website must be fast to download, and this often means using an image optimiser, like TinyPNG, to reduce the file size. This will help your pages load much faster, helping to reduce bounce-rates and improve your performance rating.  Designers can also optimise their graphics straight from Photoshop, using the ‘Image Size’ and the ‘Save For Web’ options when exporting, also having a direct effect on your SEO performance. Are you in need of SEO friendly web design? As a web designer, you have the power to influence how websites perform and how easily they can be found by users. By implementing these four key strategies, you can design for SEO and ensure your sites are visually striking and primed for search engine results. If you’re looking to enhance your site with SEO friendly web design, we can help. At Fifteen, we specialise in crafting websites that not only look stunning, but are also optimised for search engines. Our experienced team of web designers work closely with our SEO specialists to implement key strategies to create seamless user experience while improving your sites visibility in search results. Get in touch with today to find out how we can take your website to the next level. #### 4 Ways to optimise your contact us page design. While you might think your contact us page isn’t the most exciting web page to design, it is the workhorse of your site. It acts as the gateway for first-time visitors and returning customers alike to reach out and connect with your business. A carefully planned out contact page design can make all the difference in converting visitors into customers, and when you factor in great user experience, it can make your contact page feel flawless and effortless. In this blog, we'll share four ways to optimise your contact us page design that will boost conversions and improve user experience. With this practical advice, you make the most of this crucial page on your website and turn those clicks into conversions. Let’s dive right in. 1. Ensure your contact page is visible and helpful Your contact page design should include more than just a traditional form. It should have all the important information a user will need such as your business address, contact number, email address, and any other important information you think your customers may need. Ensuring this information is easy to find also contributes towards a positive user experience. You should also make sure your contact page is easily accessible from every web page on your site. Whether it’s a static button in your footer or header, or you include regular links throughout your site, your contact page should be within easy reach when a user is convinced of your products, services, or brand. 2. Keep your contact page design clean and simple Your contact us page design needs to be clean and simple. This can often go against your thinking as you want to try and include as much information as possible, but a clutter-free layout makes it easy for visitors to find the information they need quickly and encourages them to reach out. If you’re including tools such as contact forms, an interactive map, or a review system for example, ensure these are prominently displayed with clear fields to complete. Make sure your call-to-action (CTA) buttons stand out and prompt users to get in touch quickly. Remember, a well-organised contact us page design enhances user experience and boosts engagement on your website! 3. Start a conversation When it comes to your contact page, it’s all about encouraging your visitors to start a conversation with you. Consider providing multiple communication channels, such as email, phone, social media, and a chat feature to allow users to reach out to you easily. This allows you to cater to different preferences and ensures visitors can get in touch with you in a way that is most convenient for them. Including a friendly message such as “We’d love to hear from you!” inviting customers to reach out for any enquiries or assistance can help create a welcoming and approachable contact us page design that encourages engagement. Including your reviews and trust signals can also build trust with users and signal that starting a conversation with you is easy. 4. Add a quick response to your contact page design Adding a quick response feature to your contact page design can greatly enhance user experience and improve customer satisfaction. By incorporating a quick response, it shows users that their message has been received and this can lead to increased engagement with your brand. As well as this, a swift response showcases your commitment to customer service and shows users their inquiry is at the top of your priorities. All of this helps build trust with your audience. Once you’ve received the enquiry, you need to make sure you respond to the user promptly! Need help with your contact page design? These are just some of the many ways you can optimise your contact us page design to boost your conversions, improve user experience, and increase engagement. Remember, a well-designed contact us page is not just about aesthetics but also about making it easy for users to reach out and engage with your business. If you’d like to learn more ways you can optimise your contact page design, or you’d like some expert help with your page design, get in touch with us today. Our web design team can design you a flawless contact page that ultimately leads to more conversions for your brand. #### 5 Christmas marketing campaign ideas to promote your business The run-up to Christmas is the perfect time to ramp up your marketing efforts and spread some festive cheer among your customers. This time of year is a key opportunity for brands to push their promotional campaigns for Christmas and connect with their audience in creative ways. There are many different promotional tactics you can take but in this blog, we share our top five Christmas marketing campaign ideas that will help gain optimal awareness of your brand, resulting in a boost in leads, conversions, and sales. Our top 5 Christmas marketing campaigns to promote your business As mentioned, Christmas is the perfect time to get creative with your marketing campaigns so you can connect with your audience and boost your sales. Here are our top five Christmas marketing campaigns to use as inspiration to promote your business. Create a digital advent calendar One of the most engaging and interactive campaigns for Christmas is a digital advent calendar. They provide you with an opportunity to showcase a variety of your products, services, or activities your brand has been involved in for the festive season. From offering exclusive discounts, unveiling new products, or simply sharing festive content in the form of your team's Christmas jumpers, a digital advent calendar gives you the chance to create excitement and anticipation amongst your customers.  As well as that, running a digital advent calendar is a great way to increase brand visibility and boost traffic to your site as your audience will continue to return for more. You don’t have to run it for the full month of December either, you could simply run it 12 days before Christmas. Host a social media giveaway or competition Everyone loves a freebie in the run-up to Christmas, as it can be such an expensive time of year for many people. This therefore means that people are far more likely to get involved in a social media giveaway or competition, which can help boost brand awareness and increase your following.  To ensure your giveaway or competition is a success, be sure to define your objectives - whether it’s to boost your sales or increase engagement - so you know exactly what you want to achieve from it. You should also choose an enticing prize that will encourage your audience to take part and state the rules for entering clearly. Running a giveaway or competition is also a good tactic to gain valuable first-party data too. You could collect customer data such as phone numbers and email addresses so you can communicate with participants at a later date - but make sure you gain explicit consent from your audience first! Run an email countdown This leads on nicely to our next Christmas marketing campaign idea - an email countdown. Email marketing is a great tool to use in the run-up to Christmas because, just like a digital advent calendar, you can create excitement for your customers. You could send out daily or weekly offers or remind your audience of the discounts that are currently running. You could also send a festive gift guide where you focus on a particular product each day - be sure to include testimonials to help add a personal touch. Even simply sending order and delivery cut-off times is enough to keep your brand at the forefront of your customers minds. Remember to craft enticing and catchy subject lines so your customers actually open your emails and incorporate festive visuals and compelling copy so your email campaign stands out from crowded inboxes. Collaborate with influencers Collaborating with influencers any time of the year is a great strategy, but can be a particular game-changer for your promotional campaigns for Christmas. By partnering with influencers who align with your brand and target audience, you can reach a wider demographic and add authenticity to your promotions. Whether it’s through sponsored posts, product reviews, or giveaways, influencers have the power to amplify your message and create buzz around your Christmas marketing campaigns. This is because they have a dedicated following that trusts their recommendations, which ultimately makes them valuable partners in spreading the word about your products or services. Donate to charity Christmas is all about the spirit of giving after all, and by combining your offering with a charity initiative, you’re on to a winner. Not only does it showcase your commitment to social responsibility, but it also creates a sense of goodwill amongst your customers and makes a positive impact that goes beyond just sales. There are a couple of ways you could do this, the first being partnering with a charity of your customers choice. You could create a poll or a survey for your audience and let them choose the charity you donate to. The second way is to organise a special promotion of selected products where a percentage of proceeds goes towards a meaningful cause. Remember to live up to your words and be sure to report on the charitable activities you’ve been up to in the New Year. You could create some eye-catching infographics that include some key statistics to share on your social media channels or write a corresponding blog to upload to your website so your audience can see the impact your donations have made. Speak to us for more Christmas marketing campaign ideas We’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to Christmas marketing campaigns as there’s plenty more you could do to promote your business in the run-up to Christmas. We hope we’ve given you some inspiration to help shape your marketing strategy for the festive season, but if you’re looking for more ideas, get in touch with us today. Our digital marketing experts, web development specialists, and talented graphic designers are all on hand to elevate your brand this Christmas. From crafting the perfect strategy to promote your offering and implementing seasonal visuals to your site, to creating flawless Christmas graphics that complement your festive message, we can help transform your marketing efforts. #### 5 Christmas PPC tips to help increase your sales. As a business, you’ll no doubt want to make the most of the Christmas period, and what better way to do this than with a little Christmas PPC marketing. You obviously want to make money all year long, but you can use the festive season to your advantage as people will be taking to the internet to shop online and fill their Christmas shopping carts. PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click, and is a digital marketing strategy in which you pay for advertising that takes your customer directly to your website to showcase your offering. It’s a particularly quick and easy way to bring new customers in, with little time or resources. But how can you make the most of this credible tactic at this time of the year? Keep reading for our five Christmas PPC tips to help increase your sales this season. Why should you optimise your PPC ads for Christmas? There are numerous benefits to optimising your campaigns for Christmas, for example, by adjusting your ads with seasonal trends, your campaigns become much more relevant to your prospects. You’ll meet your audience's needs and interests during this peak shopping period, meaning you’ll see a much higher click-through rate (CTR) and overall better campaign performance. These adjustments will also see your campaigns become much more cost efficient. As industry competition increases during Christmas, you can amend your ads and optimise your budget to simply target times with the highest potential return on ad spend (ROAS). This gives you a competitive advantage, particularly in PPC marketing, as you’ll be able to gain an edge over your competitors. By optimising your campaigns during this peak period, you can take advantage of the fact that other retailers might not have thought to incorporate seasonal trends into their PPC strategy, giving you a better chance of capturing a larger share of the market. Our 5 Christmas PPC tips to help increase your sales To find out more about how to increase sales during Christmas, here are our top five PPC campaign tips to implement into your ads. 1. Target Christmas related keywords With Christmas around the corner, many people right up until Christmas Eve will be searching for ideas on gifts for their family and friends, and this is why optimising your website and landing pages for Christmas related keywords is a must. Even if it’s only temporary, making the most of the festive time available is efficient. Your relevance within SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) will increase, resulting in an increased flow of customers and visits to your website. Your ranking will be higher without a doubt, so you’ll also want to optimise your website's SEO for Christmas too and that includes uploading Christmas themed images where possible. Include search terms such as ‘Christmas gifts for men’ or ‘gifts for mother’, anything that you can relate to on your site will help. You could use Google Trends to see what Christmas has in relation to your industry and company. 2. Target Christmas shoppers As with all PPC campaigns, you will be targeting a specific audience, and usually that means conducting the right research. However as it’s Christmas, there's little to no research needed - you’ll probably just need to fine-tune your audience to ensure you’re targeting Christmas shoppers. For example you’ll want to amend your audience’s interests and target those who are actively looking for gifts to purchase. You’ll also want to target those who have shown interest in buying your products, or you could create a custom audience based on those who search for the keywords you’re targeting. 3. Ensure you have the resources for your campaign Although it would only be a short campaign for the Christmas period, you’ll still need some killer assets. As well as resources and assets, you will need to agree on a budget to spend. This becomes a good opportunity to experiment with your budget, and figure out what works best for your brand for future seasonal campaigns. If you’re not sure where to start with your resources, conduct some research online and be sure to utilise different tools and guides, so you can create an effective plan for your Christmas PPC campaigns. 4. Create a Christmas theme for your website As we briefly mentioned earlier, optimising your site's SEO, including images and content, for the Christmas period is great, and adding new images that are optimised and Christmas themed is an easy tactic to adopt. You can simply edit your current imagery and add Christmas elements to them, upload images of your team embracing the Christmas spirit, and share images of the decorations that are up in the office. Doing this will make your website and your brand look the part and show your customers you are up to date. 5. Make sure your website is responsive Opportunity is immense at Christmas time, but it will always be competitive too, that means you need to make sure what you do works. It won’t work if your website isn’t responsive and it will quickly send your customers in the wrong direction…to your competitors! Ensure that you’ve optimised your site for mobile devices and the images you have uploaded aren’t too big to load, or too small and look blurry. Page load times are also key. Your campaign spend could be wasted if your customers leave your site before it’s even loaded. Let us help with your Christmas PPC campaigns We hope our Christmas PPC tips help your business increase their sales over this crucial period. If you haven’t already implemented and optimised your PPC campaigns this Christmas, the most important thing is to use this time as a learning curve and see what can be done next year. Think long-term and future proof what you already have. If you’re ready to launch your Christmas PPC campaigns, why let our PPC experts help? They’ll work closely with you to ensure you’re getting the most out of your ads and they’ll even do all the hard work for you. Contact us today and speak with our digital marketing team to see how else they can help your brand thrive this festive season. #### 5 Core PPC fundamentals to keep in mind for your campaigns. The fundamentals of pay-per-click (PPC) marketing offers huge opportunities for conversions and capital ventures. PPC marketing, also known as search engine marketing, is the process of paid advertising per viewer interaction. But it’s only when a viewer interacts with your ad payment is made. PPC is a very powerful tool for digital marketing that can not only elevate your business, but also lead to more potential engagement, leads and conversions for your website. But what are the core PPC fundamentals to keep in mind for a successful campaign? Keep reading to find out what these are.  Our 5 core PPC fundamentals to keep in mind 1. Importance of keywords Before setting up your PPC campaign, selecting the right keywords is crucial to reaching the specific audience that are already following you, or you hope to reach. It’s important to ensure that you are targeting keywords that are relevant and fitting to your business.  Remember that the keywords you choose, affect the probability of you increasing results searched for your products or services in your PPC campaign. Keep an eye on increasing popular keywords and ensure you keep on top of this regularly. This is also very important for your SEO efforts too. Learn how combining your SEO and PPC strategies can boost your results in this blog. 2. Consider your PPC ranking Whilst it’s good to have a PPC campaign set up and in place, it’s worth remembering you won’t see any results if you have no ranking in search engine results compared to your competitors.  To overcome this, you must bid for the keyword competition and that means you need to have a sufficient budget in place in order to allow for this. The higher the bid, the chances of your PPC campaign ranking higher increase and you become more visible to the online world.  3. Remember quality over quantity The quality of your advertising far outweighs how many campaigns you run, and this is a particular key PPC fundamental to remember. If you have a campaign that works, and is able to attract audiences efficiently, then of course success is inevitable. However, it’s important to try and not take the approach of a ‘copy and paste’ technique. This will affect conversions and potentially drive customers away. It can backfire and your results will rank lower overall, meaning you’ll potentially lose out on business. Keeping the cost of a conversion low however, will mean more conversion, a better rating and potentially increasing conversions for the future. 4. First impressions count on a landing page Landing pages are another key PPC fundamental. Having a unique and relevant landing page to your campaign prevents the hassle of your audience having to conduct further research or having to search through your website for more answers.  Make sure when customers arrive at your landing page, they have a clear, specific and easy understanding of your content. This will increase their confidence in you and your business, which should lead to a further increase of conversions over time. 5. Keep on top of your analytics Keeping on top of your website analytics allows you to usefully monitor the activities of the users who visit your website and convert. This analysis will help you identify any problems with your PPC campaigns and see if there are any areas for improvement.  With this knowledge, you can optimise your future campaigns and discover opportunities such as the audiences you target, new keywords you can target and the time of day you schedule your ads for example. Want to learn more about PPC fundamentals? PPC marketing proves to be an incredibly successful strategy, which will definitely increase your conversion rate by targeting you with specific audiences. If you consider our five core PPC fundamentals for your next PPC campaign, you’ll be sure to see a thriving outcome. If you’d like to learn more about the key PPC fundamentals, or you’d like to see how we can help with your PPC marketing, be sure to contact us today. Our PPC specialists can advise you on the best tactic and strategies to use to ensure you get maximum results. #### 5 CTA best practices to increase your click-through rate. Call to actions (CTA) are an important part of your digital marketing campaigns and can make all the difference in who visits your website, how many clicks you get and more importantly, who converts to a paying customer. You need to provide your audience with as much information as possible in a clear and concise way to let them know why they should take your call to action seriously, and what the benefits will be from doing so. Here are our top five CTA best practices that you should consider for your next marketing campaign which will help to increase your click-through rate, and ultimately result in higher conversions. 1. Stick to direct communication Whilst it’s essential to use industry-specific terminology to communicate directly with your audience, you can couple this with some general advice and tips to help give your potential customers that extra encouragement. However it’s best to get straight to the point and be clear and concise with your call to actions.  Being direct and informative with your choice of wording makes it immediately obvious to your audience what you want them to do, which in turn results in a higher click-through rate. If your call to actions are too wordy it becomes less enticing and more confusing for your audience to understand what to expect when clicking the link. 2. Try to motivate your audience You want to try and motivate your audience by letting them know what they’ll gain by clicking your CTA. This can be by telling them they can save money in a sale, or how you can increase your company’s value proposition to the customer. Whatever it is, you need to make sure they know the reason they should take the action. A good way to achieve this is to incorporate your company’s unique selling point (USP) into your message. Another call to action tip to motivate your audience is to create a sense of urgency. By placing a timeframe on a sale or promotion, it can help persuade the consumer’s decision. It will encourage them to not miss out on a deal, and so the sense of urgency will help sway them towards clicking on your CTA. 3. Don’t be afraid to use numbers Pricing and discounts are a valuable way of encouraging consumers to click through to your site. It’s a great way of enticing your audience in, and because the user has already expressed an interest in your product at the advertised discount or price, this has an increased chance of generating a conversion. This can also be used in conjunction with our previous call to action best practice by creating a sense of urgency on a promotion and including a time limit.  4. Tailor your CTA across multiple devices It’s extremely important that your call to actions work across multiple devices, including desktop, tablets and more importantly, on mobile. In a mobile-first world, you need to consider how your CTA will look on mobile over desktop and tablets. For example, you’d want to ensure your CTA stands out and is responsive to all types of mobile devices. It’s also important to make the number of clicks to checkout as minimal as possible. Implementing a checkout service such as PayPal, can help to speed up and simplify this process and makes a user more inclined to purchase right away. 5. Always test your CTAs Whilst it’s important to make your CTA direct and clear, this doesn’t mean they need to be boring and predictable. The best way to find out if they need to be improved is to test them. Performing an A/B split test is a good way to see how your audience responds to your call to actions, and how they are impacting on your click-through and conversion rates. Testing will allow you to make decisions on what needs changing in your CTA. For example, you might learn you need to change the colour of a button, or improve the wording as well as change the placement of your CTA. Do you need help with your call to actions? We hope our top five CTA best practices will help increase your efforts in improving your click-through rate on your call to actions. But if you find you need further expert advice or you’d like to learn more best practices, be sure to get in touch with our team today. #### 5 Designers to look out for at London fashion week. The 68th London Fashion Week is upon us! This £32 billion industry is at the forefront of fashion and is an integral part of London’s makeup. As celebs, models, designers, journalists, and fans take over the city we look at the must-see designers for London Fashion Week. Jenny Packham Jenny Packham Jenny Packham has been at the forefront of wedding design since 1988. She has been responsible for several revolutions in the bridal industry introducing contemporary styling and design to several collections including ready-to-wear, resort, accessories and lingerie. As one of the UK’s most successful independent fashion brands, Packham is always eagerly anticipated at fashion shows with this landmark event no different. Packham has flagship stores in London, Paris and New York as well as collaborative collections with some of the most discerning labels including Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Harrods, Net-A-Porter, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. Packham’s longevity has seen her dress some of the most iconic celebrities such as Uma Thurman, Kate Winslet, Taylor Swift, Angelina Jolie, Emily Blunt and of course The Duchess of Cambridge. This year marks Packham’s 30th year in the fashion industry and her show is not to be missed. Michael Halpern Michael Halpern Michael Halpern is a maverick who rides the line between what his critics call ‘tacky’ and his fans call ‘fabulous’. His glamorous aesthetic is the foundation for his brand’s quintessential mini dresses, flared trousers, jumpsuits and bustiers. “I always reference over-the-top glamour and juxtapose that with classic bustiers and draping that recalls Charles James, Lacroix, Christian Dior.” There is little wonder he draws on what Vogue call ‘good/bad taste doublethink’ with his pedigree not just from one but two prestigious alma maters. With both New York’s Parsons Art and Design School and London Central Saint Martin’s behind him he has found a niche all his own with one foot in loud American glamour and the other in couture fashion. Such is Halpern’s standing in the industry that he has consulted on the Atelier Versace collection and had his own collections bought by the likes of Browns, Bergdorf Goodman, Matches, Maxfield, 4510 and The Webster and Jeffrey. His brazen, hyper-feminine collections are not to be missed. Richard Quinn Richard Quinn Richard Quinn is a London-born designer who first burst onto the scene in 2016. Fresh off the back of a Fashion MA from the illustrious Central Saint Martins, his rise has been quick even by fashion standards. The Lewisham native’s debut show was a hit with the Queen in attendance to award him the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design. Since then the wunderkind has dressed the likes of Amal Clooney at the 2018 Met Gala and Thandie Newton at the 2018 Baftas. His bold and emotive creations are borne out of his unassuming art studio hidden away in a railway arch in Peckham. From here he has worked with celebs, offers students and young designers a space to print their own work and conspires with the likes of Debenhams and Liberty to create high-end fashion that actually ends up on the High Street. Quinn’s blending of high-end and the everyday make him a unique designer with a clear understanding of how concepts end up as everyday fashion. Be sure to keep an eye out for this unique artist’s collection. Alexa Chung Alexa Chung Alexa Chung’s eponymous brand was launched in May of last year following her meteoric rise as a fashion guru on social media. With an advanced contemporary design, this prolific designer produces four seasonal collections a year ensuring her fans have a wealth of items to fawn over. ALEXACHUNG challenges established rules on proportion, silhouette and design with everything from evening-wear to daywear, jewellery, denim and shoes. Chung is a London local and her show is sure to draw a huge audience. Chung’s vision is to create clothes that people want to wear. Her designs are a combination of Parisian chic, New York edge and the British sense of humour making for a truly global design aesthetic. Chung is not to be missed this year as she completes her metamorphosis from internet darling to fashion royalty. Matty Bovan Matty Bovan is another alum of the highly-regarded Central Saint Martins with an MA specialising in Fashion Knitwear. His raw and sometimes brutal knitted pieces push the boundaries of design with colours, textures, ridges, spines, fins and ‘off’ angles creating harmonious dissonance. Bovan’s first solo show came this February after working with the famed Fashion East collective for the past three years. He made waves with fluorescent touches, patterns and sequin shreds. Fans were also excited to see Bovan collaborate with Coach on a series of stunning bags covered in pearls, paint and glitter. This cutting-edge designer has been described as “normcore’s enemy’ and “vogueish vandalism’s friend”. He constantly blurs the line between art and fashion and this year looks no different. With names like these along with well-established labels like Burberry and Riccardo Tisci, this London Fashion Week is sure to be a watershed moment. This gravity is punctuated by the LFW’s decision to ban animal furs, making it the first fashion week to ever take a stance on the use of furs. Don’t miss this incredible event as it's designs are sure to be felt for years to come in everything from clothing to branding. Contact us today for more design insights or if you are looking for the team to make your brand catwalk ready. #### 5 Digital marketing mistakes to avoid. Digital marketing, as the name suggests, is the marketing of products or services using digital technology. Digital marketing can be executed using digital channels such as email, social media, search engines and websites. It is beneficial to learn about digital marketing before creating or launching a digital campaign. The following are five common digital marketing mistakes to avoid. 1. Not defining your target audience One of the most common mistakes businesses make with their digital marketing is not taking the time to define their target audience. Without a clear understanding of who your target audience is, it will be tough to create a marketing campaign that effectively resonates with your audience. To tailor your marketing messages to them, take the time to segment your audience by demographics, interests, and/or other factors. For example, research which social media platform your target audience spends the most time engaging with. This ensures you can focus your social media marketing efforts on the correct platform and don't waste time or money advertising on a social media platform that your target audience does not engage with. 2. Not creating compelling content Another common mistake businesses make with digital marketing is failing to create compelling content. To capture the attention of your target audience, you need to create interesting, informative and entertaining content. If your content is not compelling, people will simply tune out and you will not be able to achieve your marketing goals. Look at the digital marketing campaigns created by your competitors and consider how you can make your efforts unique and high quality. Many digital marketing channels are saturated with content so pushing the boundaries can help your brand to stand out and be memorable. 3. Not promoting your content Once you have created compelling content, you must promote it to your target audience. There are several ways to promote your content, such as through social media, email marketing or paid advertising. If you do not promote your content, it is very unlikely that people will see it and your engagement rates may be low. 4. Not measuring your results Another mistake businesses make with their digital marketing is failing to monitor and measure the results of their campaigns. It is important to track your results to see what is working and what is not. This will allow you to make necessary adjustments to improve your results over time. For example, if you find that your audience engages with your Instagram Reels and blog series more than your Facebook ads and email campaigns, you can adjust your future digital marketing plans to focus on the platforms and channels you have had the best results with. You can also use this data to examine your failed digital marketing efforts and work out what you could have done to improve them. 5. Not adjusting your strategy The final mistake businesses make with digital marketing is failing to adjust their strategy as needed. The digital landscape is constantly changing and evolving, so your marketing strategy must evolve with it. If you do not adjust your strategy, you will likely fall behind your competition, and you will not be able to achieve your marketing goals. For example, if a new social media platform emerges as popular, it is beneficial to make an account on the platform and become an established member of its community as soon as possible. This ensures that should the platform become incredibly popular, you will already understand the platform and be creating content there. Conclusion These are the top 5 common digital marketing mistakes you need to avoid. By defining your target audience, creating compelling content, promoting your content, measuring your results and adjusting your strategy as needed, you can avoid these mistakes and improve your chances of success. If you want to achieve success in digital marketing, it is beneficial that you understand the landscape and how to navigate it effectively. The digital marketing team here at Fifteen can help you to avoid these common digital marketing mistakes. From defining your target audience to measuring your results, our team will be with you every step of the way and offer you tailored digital marketing solutions to bring you the best results from your campaigns. Get in touch with us today to discuss in detail how we can help. #### 5 Digital Marketing Mistakes You're Probably Making Right Now In the grand scheme of things, digital marketing is relatively new. Gone are the days when it was enough to get a large ad put in your local phone book and newspapers, and then just wait for the phone calls to come in. The world now makes more and more searches online, with search engines presenting the most relevant and up to date information instantly to anyone who wishes to look for it. Previously, businesses could manage their marketing output quite effectively themselves. All you needed to do was contact the relevant publications for your ad, and you were ready to go. Digital marketing requires a whole other set of skills (and knowledge) though, so those managing their own could be making some big mistakes without even realising it...   #1 - You’re Not Tracking Results In the pre-digital days, you didn’t need to track things as much. Sure, you could ask your customers about where they’d found about you in order to get a better idea of how well your different avenues were performing, but there so many fewer to consider that there was much less incentive to do so. Now though, there are so many places your website traffic could be coming from that you’d be foolish not to track it. Whether your users come primarily from organic search, paid search, backlinks, social media (or a host of other platforms), will help you decide how best to precede with your digital marketing strategy. You can’t just set up Google Analytics and assume that it’s covered though. You need to use the data to get a better idea of how well your current strategy is working, what needs further improvement, and where your money is best spent.   #2 - You Don’t Have A Proper Strategy Of course, the reason you may not be tracking your results is because you have no digital marketing strategy in place. In an increasingly competitive market, you need a strategy in order to keep up the good results you’ve been receiving, or to build upon them. “I want more people to visit my website.” is not a viable marketing strategy either. You need to plan how you’re going to achieve this, what channels the traffic should be coming from, and how much time and money you’re going to spend on improving each of these. In it’s simplest form, strategies need to include “SMART” goals:     Specific - What pages are the most important? Do you value traffic or conversions more? Where should the traffic come from? Measurable - How many users do you want to visit your website? How much money are you aiming to generate? How many enquiries? Achievable - Is this strategy actually possible? Do you have the resources available to make your strategy a viable proposition. Relevant - Why is this strategy important to your digital marketing? How will it help you? Timed - What time period do you hope to achieve this goal within?     Once you have a clear strategy in place, you can use your tracking to start evaluating how successful you’ve been.   #3 - No Social Media Presence I regularly stumble across business Facebook pages that haven’t been updated for the last couple of years. You know what I do in that case? I find another company. This isn’t me being a marketing snob, unwilling to work with companies that don’t market themselves properly, or me making up a story to convince you that social media is essential. I click off because, honestly, an inactive social media profile implies that the business is no longer active. In the new digital age, without a social media presence, your business basically doesn’t exist to a large number of people. And an inactive social media profile is even worse, for the reason given above. In addition to being a great way of keeping your loyal customers up to date on what you’re doing, social media is now one of the most important customer service tools available, and it’s free! Make sure you’re catering to your customers’ needs, and you’ll start to see a positive impact. We promise.   #4 - SEO Is More Than Keywords I’ve spoken to a lot of companies previously who claim to already have done SEO, but to no avail. When we look into the strategies they've been implementing, it’s clear that by saying they’ve “done SEO”, they mean they’ve updated the onpage elements throughout their website. Unfortunately, this is no longer enough. Despite being a relatively new industry, SEO (and digital marketing in general) has changed so much, and so quickly, that even solid practices from a couple of weeks ago could be no longer relevant to you, reading this now. Whilst it’s true that one of the most important factors of a successful SEO campaign used to be onsite optimisations of your keyword, this is no longer the case. They’re still important, but now there are dozens of other factors that are just as, if not more, important. There’s now over 200 ranking factors for Google’s organic search algorithm, and you need to ensure that your website is optimised effectively for as many of these as possible before you can start ranking well.   #5 - Allocating Your Digital Marketing To The Wrong Person There are a lot of businesses that have realised the importance of digital marketing, but are unsure about how to implement an effective strategy. We’ve seen lots of companies before that have allocated their digital marketing strategies to someone with no qualifications, or absolutely no idea what they’re doing. Whether it’s handing your website over to the I.T. department to implement SEO, or asking the VP’s nephew to take a look at running your PPC campaign, incorrectly optimised campaigns can have absolutely catastrophic effects for your company. We’ve seen businesses lose large amounts of money on PPC campaigns that weren’t regularly monitored or tweaked, and companies lose all of their customers from an improperly optimised website. The best thing to do is approach a reputable digital agency (like Fifteen), or hire someone who is actually qualified to manage a digital marketing campaign. Whoever you choose, make sure they have experience or knowledge specifically geared towards digital marketing, as unfortunately knowledge of traditional marketing is a completely different thing. #### 5 easy ways to boost your Easter social media posts. The Easter weekend is the perfect opportunity to help boost your sales and conversions and with careful planning and preparation, you can truly make the most of your Easter marketing campaigns. One of the best ways to skyrocket your campaigns is to schedule a series of Easter social media posts to further showcase your offering and help you reach a wider audience. In this blog, we share five easy ways you can boost your Easter social media posts to help you get the most out of your Easter marketing campaigns. 1. Make use of Easter hashtags One of the best ways to expand your reach on social media is to use Easter hashtags in your posts. There are plenty of Easter hashtags floating around and they often have good search visibility because they aren’t too generic. Some hashtags you could include: #EasterTreat - this hashtag would work perfectly along with a special Easter offer you’re running. #EasterGift - same as above, or if you’re giving your customers a free gift with their order over the Easter weekend. #EasterIdeas - this is a great one to use for driving brand awareness and awareness of your products and how they can be used. #EasterIsComing - tease your audience with your Easter marketing campaigns with this hashtag a couple of weeks before you launch them. When social media users are searching for hashtags like the ones above, you know they are actively looking for content and offers around this time, so it’s a great opportunity to maximise your social presence. However, it’s very important to not overuse Easter hashtags and also not use them just for the sake of it! Be sure they’re relevant to the content you’re posting. 2. Use creative images and videos in your Easter social media posts With any social media post, your ultimate aim is to grab your audience's attention and to do that, you have to be posting creative images and videos to your channels. Videos in particular are highly engaging, so if creating a short and snappy Easter-themed video is a possibility, then you should be doing this. With your social media imagery, be sure to use classic pastel colour schemes throughout your templates, or add a few Easter-related icons to your images such as eggs, chicks, and bunnies. While it might not be groundbreaking, it shows your audience you’re staying up-to-date with current trends and adapting to seasonal changes. 3. Boost your most engaging Easter social media post As mentioned previously, social media can help you reach a wider audience and a good way to do that is to boost your posts, but only your most engaging post! For example, you might schedule a post to announce your Easter sale has launched, or you might share a special discount code with your customers - these are the kinds of posts you want to boost. It may be a slightly less targeted and detailed way of advertising, but it can still help spread the word and ensure your post is seen. Boosting posts, as opposed to setting up paid social ads, allows you to set a smaller budget to cover the Easter weekend, so there’s no need to break the bank. 4. Run an Easter weekend giveaway Running a giveaway over the Easter weekend can bring lots of engagements, new followers and potential new customers. The prize could be anything that you already offer, but promoted with an Eastery feel to it. A great way of organically getting a giveaway going is by asking people to enter by commenting and tagging a friend on your post. That friend may then tag another friend, and so forth. But make sure you don’t do this in a paid post as you may be penalised. You could then announce your winner on Easter Monday or the following Tuesday. 5. Create an Easter gift guide If you sell tangible products, creating an Easter gift guide is a great way to showcase your offering along with sharing your own product recommendations. You’ll want to showcase the products that have the most association with Easter.  For example, if you sell clothing, you could promote your pastel-coloured clothing. The same goes if you sell anything along the lines of home decor, accessories and toys. You could also showcase products that can be used in springtime as well. Whatever you choose to include in your gift guide, it’s a good opportunity to help boost sales and traffic to your website. Need help with your Easter marketing campaigns? We’ve shared just a few quick and easy ways you can promote your brand and Easter marketing campaigns on social media. Ultimately, the earlier you prepare your Easter marketing, the better you can create effective, well-rounded campaigns. If you need help with your Easter marketing campaigns, including social media, PPC ads, or SEO campaigns, get in touch with us today. Our experts can work with you to create a powerful digital marketing strategy that is sure to bring your business the rewards you’re looking for. #### 5 Easy ways to improve your website’s ranking on Google. Everyone wants to make it to the top of Google and in the world of online marketing making it to the top of the search engine can be difference between generating loads of business or no enquires. Google and other search engines work to keep online marketers guessing at how to hit the first page of the results, and they change the rules so often it doesn’t seem worthwhile trying to crack their code. Here are five simple and easy ways to boost your organic rankings within the search engines.   Check and recheck your keywords Don’t make assumptions and don’t just pick them and leave them unchanged without monitoring how they are working. Take advantage of the analytics tools available to see exactly how your keywords are performing. Are people actually searching for your keywords and is your website ranking on the first page for these terms? Since Google search has become encrypted a lot of the seach data is now unavailable, another good alternative is to try Bing Webmaster Tools to get a more detailed breakdown of queries.   Redirect duplicates One of the most common errors we see, when we do SEO audits is redirect errors. When another website links to you, you cannot control whether or not they list you as ‘http://websitename.com’ or ‘www.websitename.com’, and the search engines cannot tell these are one and the same. So you can look like two moderately popular sites instead of one wildly popular site, which is no good to you. This can be fixed by putting in place a permanent redirect from one address to the other. There are several ways to do this, if you would like any help please feel free to contact one of our developers.   Do good deeds Why not boast your search engine ranking while also boosting your contribution to a better world. Donate funds or time to a cause you support and see about getting a link from the charity’s site to yours. Not only will you boost your ranking by building links, you’ll get a great introduction to a group of potential customers. We recently helped raised some money for Cancer Research and were luckily enough to get retweeted by them.   Create events & local meet ups Never miss a chance to promote your business through any kind of event that can get mentioned elsewhere with a link to your site. Hold competitions, make special offers, promote new products and services and above all, announce them widely where they will link back to your site. One caveat here – never, ever spam anyone’s comment section with announcements. Use press releases and ask other sites to mention your event. Here at Fifteen Design we will be shortly be celebrating our 10 year anniversary, not only are we having our very own beer commissioned but also throwing a party for all of our clients.   Finding missing links Are you getting mentioned elsewhere without being linked back to your site? It is not as daunting as it sounds to find those mentions with missing links. Make it a habit to search your own name and your business name regularly. Google is not the enemy here; they actually provide a tool to look for mentions. With Google Alerts, you can set the parameters to search for mentions, and you’ll get an automated alert when it happens. You can then get in touch with the site where you are mentioned and request to be linked. None of these tactics mean you are off the hook for creating great content and an excellent product or service. But once you are doing those two key things, you can make sure you are getting the full benefit of your efforts with these five easy steps. If you would like one of our online marketers to carry out an SEO audit of your websites, why not get in touch. We would love to hear from you.  e. design@fifteendesign.co.uk  t. 0115 932 5151 #### 5 fundamentals to incorporate in your web design for accessibility. The internet should be a place where everyone can access the same information from anywhere in the world. Creating a website that is accessible to all users is not just good practice; it’s a necessity and it will become law in June 2025 as per the European Accessibility Act (EAA). While online accessibility has been around for some time, there can be many moving pieces to consider in your web design, such as high-contrast text, audio pages for the blind, and optimised media for example. Incorporating these kinds of accessibility features ensures that everyone can interact with your content seamlessly. In this blog, we share five fundamental principles you need to include in your web design for accessibility, along with tips to ensure you’re prepared for the EAA when it comes into force. With these key principles, you will be creating an inclusive online space that caters to all users and leaves a positive impression of easily accessible content. First, let’s take a look at the importance of accessibility in web design. Why is accessibility in web design important? As we’ve previously mentioned, accessibility in web design is crucial for ensuring that all users, regardless of any disabilities or limitations they may have, can access, navigate, and interact with your website easily. It’s also vital not just for people with disabilities, it’s also important for those with temporary or situational limitations, such as a poor internet connection. Incorporating accessibility features such as alt-text for images, keyboard navigation, and accessible forms on your website means you are making your site more inclusive and enhancing user experience. This can lead to numerous benefits for your business such as increased engagement, improved search engine optimisation (SEO), and a positive brand image.  As well as that, from June 2025, allowing for accessibility in your web design will become law for all EU member states. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) will apply to any business that offers products or services to consumers in the EU, and this will include UK businesses. This means that ensuring your website encompasses accessibility features will not only be a moral obligation, but also a legal requirement. 5 fundamentals of accessibility in web design When it comes to your web design, there are several key fundamentals that you should implement to incorporate accessibility to ensure it’s user-friendly for everyone. Here are some to keep in mind. Be mindful of colour contrast Colour contrast is a problem that is often ignored when it comes to web accessibility. People with low vision can find it difficult to read text against a low-contrast background colour. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment. With this in mind, it’s crucial to think about colour contrast on your site. You want to aim for a strong contrast ratio between text and background colours - for example, dark text on a light background or vice versa. You can use colour contrast checkers to help you determine if your colour choices meet accessibility standards. Doing this will make it easier for all visitors to engage with your content effortlessly. Use alt-tags on your images Including descriptive alt-tags in all of your images is a crucial component of web design accessibility. This is because they serve as text alternatives that are displayed when an image can’t be rendered or if someone is using a screen reader. They should provide a textual description of your image to allow visitors to understand the content and purpose of the image on your site. Not only can alt-tags provide context for your image, they also improve your SEO efforts as they also provide context for search engines to better understand the content of your webpage and determine where you’ll rank in search engine results pages (SERPs). Ensure your site is keyboard-friendly Ensuring your site is keyboard-friendly means implementing features like keyboard shortcuts, logical tabbing order, and visible focus indicators to your site. This allows for all elements, including interactive elements, on your site to be reached and activated using keyboard commands alone. You can quickly and easily test this by using the ‘Tab’ key on your keyboard to move between links and buttons on your webpages to ensure a seamless experience for those who rely solely on keyboard navigation. By making your site keyboard-friendly, you can ensure that users who have disabilities or cannot use a mouse can easily access and interact with your content. Be sure to transcribe videos If you utilise video across your website, it’s important to consider those who have hearing impairments will also be watching these. The WHO estimates that by 2050, nearly 2.5 billion people are expected to have some degree of hearing loss. That’s why transcribing your videos for those who are deaf, hard of hearing, or simply prefer reading over watching is so important. There are numerous tools online that can quickly and easily add transcripts to your videos, and doing so not only helps those with hearing impairments, but also improves user experience by allowing people to quickly find and reference specific information within a video. And just like alt-tags, video transcripts can also boost your SEO efforts by making your video content indexable and searchable.  Optimise your heading tags Heading tags define the hierarchy of your content on a webpage. When you optimise and structure your heading tags logically (from H1 to H6), you make it easier for screen readers to understand the information that is on that page. This is because screen readers allow those with vision limitations to listen to a list of all the headings on a page and skip to the content based on title categories, which is why it’s also important to ensure the content beneath them is relevant. Again, optimising your headings not only helps users navigate and understand the content on your webpages, but it also helps with your SEO efforts too. Including your target keywords in your headings can help search engines understand the content on your page and determine your ranking position in SERPs. How to prepare for the European Accessibility Act As we’ve mentioned, the European Accessibility Act will be coming into force in June 2025, meaning ensuring accessibility in web design will be a legal requirement. While it is becoming an enforceable law for EU member states, it will still apply to UK businesses offering products or services to EU consumers.  AbilityNet is a helpful online resource that explains the act in more detail and offers ways businesses can prepare to ensure they’re ready for when the act comes into force. Here are some of our tips to prepare: Check your eligibility - even if you’re a UK-based firm, be sure to check if you’re targeting EU customers or public bodies, as you’ll need to ensure compliance if you are. Audit your digital offerings - this includes your website, apps, and any other digital interfaces to ensure it aligns with the EAA’s principles. Prioritise key services - be sure to focus on making ecommerce platforms, banking services, transport-related apps or websites, e-books, ATMs/ticketing/check-in machines, and telephony and media services accessible, if they’re applicable to your business. Embed accessibility in development - ensure accessibility is part of your product lifecycle and not just an add-on. Use WCAG 2.1 (AA) as a benchmark - this is the best way to demonstrate compliance. Train your internal teams - from developers to marketers, ensure your staff understands digital accessibility requirements. Keep documentation - records of compliance efforts, audits, testing, and improvements may be needed for regulators. Need help with accessibility in your web design? If you don’t factor in these key fundamentals of accessibility in your web design, your website will only go so far. By designing an accessible website, not only are you creating a more inclusive space online and adhering to the EAA when the time comes, you’re unlocking the true potential of your site. Implementing accessibility features such as alt-tags, scripts for videos, and optimised heading tags, allows your site to be accessible to everyone, regardless of their limitations. For more information, take a look at our Web Design Do’s and Don’ts: Tips for Creating a Stunning Website blog. If you’d like more expert advice on web design accessibility, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Our specialist web design team can create a stunning website that is not only built for success, but is built for anyone and everyone. #### 5 guerrilla marketing tactics to elevate your brand awareness campaigns. When it comes to being seen by your audience, boldness wins attention. Multi-million-pound ad spots and banner ads still have their place, but consumer behaviour has evolved. People are savvier, ad-fatigued, and often immune to traditional advertising formats. That’s why embracing guerrilla marketing can give your brand a real edge. In this blog, we’ll explore exactly what guerrilla marketing is, why it matters, and share some practical guerrilla marketing tactics you can apply to your brand awareness campaigns that drive real results. What is guerrilla marketing? Guerrilla marketing is the use of creative, unexpected, and unconventional tactics to promote a product, service, or brand without relying on large-scale ad budgets. Coined by marketer Jay Conrad Levinson in the 1980s, the term originally only applied to small businesses using imaginative tactics to compete with corporate giants. But today, it’s just as relevant for digital campaigns trying to cut through the noise. What are some guerrilla marketing examples? There are numerous ways in which a brand can make an impact with guerrilla marketing. Some of the most common guerrilla marketing examples that brands use to surprise, humour, and engage their users include: Ambient advertising in public spaces - this involves placing branded messages in unexpected environments, such as pavement art, street decals, bus shelters, escalators, lamp posts, or even shadows and reflections. Flash mobs and live stunts - flash mobs (typically a large group of people following a public dance routine) and live events invite spectators into a spontaneous, high-energy moment. Pop-up installations and micro-experiences - short-term installations, such as murals, interactive booths, and temporary brand takeovers, help to create buzz and foot traffic. Projection mapping and building takeovers - this involves projecting visuals onto buildings or other surfaces to turn a certain area into a canvas. Surprise and delight giveaways - sometimes the most powerful guerrilla marketing tactic is unexpected generosity as it helps to create an emotional connection with your audience. Reverse graffiti (or clean advertising) - this involves brands using power-washing techniques to create eco-friendly ads by cleaning dirty surfaces into branded patterns. AR filters and immersive social experiences - augmented reality gives brands the chance to build interactive digital moments that users can try-out instantly. Why does guerrilla marketing matter for brand awareness? You might be wondering why these guerrilla marketing tactics matter for your brand awareness campaigns. Well, here’s why they deserve a place in your marketing mix: 1. They’re high impact, but low budget Because guerrilla marketing thrives on creativity rather than big ad-spend, you can compete with brands much larger than yours by being clever. A well-planned stunt, immersive experience, or a shareable moment can create organic reach for beyond its cost. 2. They’re built for shareability and word-of-mouth When people engage with something unexpected or memorable, they’re more likely to share it. That means you’re not only building awareness, but creating advocates who amplify your message for you. 3. They cut through the clutter Traditional ads increasingly struggle to stand out - but with guerrilla marketing tactics, they disrupt expectations and break habitual behaviours. This leads to higher recall and stronger brand associations. 4. They strengthen brand authenticity and emotion People feel less like they’re being sold to and more like they’re part of something interesting when you utilise guerrilla marketing. That emotional connection can translate into stronger loyalty, especially when the tactic aligns with brand values and audience culture. 5. They complement your digital strategy While the term ‘guerrilla’ suggests physical stunts, modern tactics often integrate digital platforms, like social media, AR/VR, mobile experiences, and live streams. This allows you to benefit from both offline surprise and online amplification. 5 guerrilla marketing tactics to utilise If you’re looking to elevate your brand awareness campaigns, here are five guerrilla marketing tactics that you can utilise for your business that mixes physical, digital, and hybrid ideas. 1. Ambient messaging in unexpected places Consider placing your brand message where your audience least expects it, such as lifts, pavement decals, or interactive street art (with permission of course). The surprise factor will make your brand memorable and encourage people to take photos and share on social media. For example, if you’re a coffee shop owner and you know the weather forecast is going to be miserable, you could have a poster in a bus-stop that includes a QR code for a free hot drink. A physical surprise like this makes your tactic more memorable with your audience. 2. Combine a live stunt with digital amplification A live stunt, like a pop-up event, flash mob, or interactive stall, combined with social media integration, like the use of a hashtag, can really engage passers-by and encourage them to create shareable user-generated content (UGC) that you could re-use at a later stage. A great example would be if you’re a sports apparel brand - you could set up a small obstacle course in your town centre where people compete for free clothing. You could live stream the event, or share pictures of winners across your social media with a relevant hashtag. 3. Influencer micro-activation (not traditional sponsorships) Rather than paying big-name influencers for generic promos, why not consider involving smaller creators in real, spontaneous experiences that are tied to your brand?  For example, if you’re a travel company, you could partner with micro-influencers who hide ‘mystery experience packages’ in local landmarks and leave clues on Instagram Stories. That way, your followers can join in on the hunt, which helps to create shareable moments across your social channels. 4. Random acts of brand kindness This surprise and delight tactic means executing unplanned, generous, or whimsical actions that align with your brand. Moments like these are great for generating strong emotional responses with audiences. For example, a local cafe, bakery, or sweet shop could include a ‘free treat’ voucher to community-facing posters with the message: “You’re doing great. Here’s a treat.” This will associate your brand with friendly generosity and boost your word-of-mouth efforts. 5. Host a pop-up experience Short-term pop-up experiences in high-traffic areas can create the type of ‘buzz’ that traditional ads struggle to match. Whether it’s a digital AR portal or a physical pop-up shop, the key is to make it immersive and worth talking about. For example, if you’re a gaming company, you could consider hiring out an empty space in the city centre to host an interactive multiplayer zone for your new game for a short period of time. Ensuring it’s on brand and free to play will allow attendees to share their experience on their social profiles, giving long-tail reach way beyond the event itself. Want more guerrilla marketing examples? When done well, guerilla marketing tactics like the ones we’ve highlighted become unforgettable moments that elevate your brand and reach audiences in ways standard ads can’t. By combining strategy, surprise, and shareability, you can craft campaigns that are lean, bold, and memorable. If you’re ready to inject some guerilla thinking into your next brand awareness campaign, or you’d like more innovative guerrilla marketing examples, we’d love to help. At Fifteen, we craft campaigns that don’t just follow the playbook, but rewrite it. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today to start planning your next memorable moment. #### 5 Homepage design best practices. Whether you’re a business just starting out with your website design, or you’re about to begin the process of redesigning your site, the homepage is one area you want to get right. That’s because your website homepage is often the first point of contact with your visitors, so it’s crucial to make a first good and lasting impression of your brand. People are quick to judge, and you can’t afford to send customers in the opposite direction, or worse, to your competitors. In this blog, we highlight five best practices to follow with your homepage design that will help you create a welcoming and user-friendly experience for your audience. From showcasing your testimonials, to strategically placing your call-to-actions (CTAs), these best practices will set you on the path to a homepage design that not only looks great but also drives conversions. The importance of your homepage design Your website homepage is the core of your whole website and without it, your customers will be unsure of what your business is about. With a well-designed homepage design, it can help increase user engagement, drive conversions and establish a strong brand identity. Think of your homepage as your digital storefront. By making it visually appealing and easy to navigate, it will encourage exploration of the rest of your site, and when you add clear CTAs, high-quality images and a responsive layout, you can help to drive conversions. Ultimately, your website homepage sets the tone for the rest of your website, so you must ensure it leaves a positive and lasting impact on every visitor. 5 homepage design best practices Here are five best practices to keep in mind when you’re designing your homepage. If you incorporate all of these factors into your website, you can be sure you’ll attract more customers to your business. 1. Make the purpose of your business clear When designing your homepage, you want to ensure your customer is informed about your business at all times. Visitors should be able to quickly understand what your business is about and what products or services you offer. Be sure to use concise and engaging language to communicate your value proposition effectively.  You should also incorporate clear imagery that accurately represents your brand and showcases your products or services. But be sure to try and to use your own imagery rather than licensed stock images, or at least use imagery that is related to your offering. You could also use banners with text to help show the purpose of your business too. By making the purpose of your business evident from the moment visitors land on your website homepage, you can engage them much more effectively and increase the likelihood of conversion. 2. Feature your news, blogs and social media To make your homepage design more engaging and interactive, you should incorporate your news or blogs sections and add a dynamic feed of your social media channels. This not only keeps your audience updated on the latest information, but also encourages engagement and interaction with your brand. News or blogs are a great way to keep your content fresh. It allows you to showcase your expertise and credibility and keeps visitors informed about your latest content. Integrating your social media feeds can also help drive traffic to your social platforms and foster a sense of community among your audience. Adding these elements means you're creating an engaging online presence that resonates with your visitors and encourages them to explore more of what you have to offer. 3. Display testimonials and reviews Reviews and testimonials will bolster your reliability as a business. It’s a simple section that provides more variety and depth to your homepage design. Potential customers often look for social proof before making a purchase decision and seeing positive feedback from previous customers can help reassure them of the quality of your offering. You can add any type of reviews and testimonials including text reviews, star ratings and even video testimonials if you wish. Showcasing your reviews and testimonials on your homepage shows you’re a trustworthy brand meaning your audience is much more likely to convert. 4. Ensure a clean and sharp design We’ve emphasised the importance of design, however it’s important to not over-complicate your homepage design. If you do, it can lead to an over-the-top design that is cluttered and confusing which can turn your visitors away before they even have a chance to explore the rest of your site. You want to keep each section clear and consistent. Aim to keep a simple colour pallet and keep to the same colours you’ll use across the rest of your site. Opt for easy-to-read fonts and use high-quality images as we’ve mentioned previously. Keeping your design clean and sharp ensures a positive user experience and encourages visitors to stay on your site longer thanks to your easy navigation. 5. Add plenty of call-to-actions (CTA) You’ll have certainly seen CTA buttons on other sites before and there’s good reasoning for that. You want to entice your viewers to navigate around your site and convert. Acting as visual cues, you can add CTAs across your homepage design to guide them to take specific actions such as signing up for a newsletter, exploring and buying your products or services, or contacting you. Strategically adding CTA buttons across your homepage is a best practice that can significantly enhance user engagement and drive conversions. Remember to keep them clear, concise and visually appealing to maximise interaction with your website. Let us help with your homepage design These best practices can be used to either improve your current homepage design, or they can be used to design your first website homepage if you’re just starting out. But we know the whole process of designing a homepage can be quite daunting, but we can help.  We’ve worked with countless businesses to design and develop websites that look stunning, work practically and most importantly, drive conversions for our clients. Be sure to contact us today to see how we can help take your web design to the next level. #### 5 Ideas to make your contact us page more engaging. Your contact us page is one of the primary methods of engagement with your customers. It’s the place where your audience goes to find ways of contacting you, whether that's by phone, email or via your social channels. In most cases, contact us pages get a lot of thought and consideration from a development standpoint, but not so much from a user perspective. User experience should be a high priority when it comes to your contact us page, and when implemented effectively, it can make a very simple page feel effortless. Keep reading to learn our top five contact us page design ideas that will make this key web page much more appealing for your customers. 1. Add multiple ways to connect Your contact us page should have more than just the traditional contact form, it should show your users multiple ways they can contact you. The most popular methods of contact include: Phone number - don’t forget that there will be people who would prefer to speak to a human over sending a message or email. Mailing address - if you have a bricks and mortar store, consider including your address and a map for anyone who wants to send something to you by post, or visit your premises.  Social media accounts - be sure to include a link to all of the social media platforms you have a presence on. Live chat - many businesses utilise interactive live chat because customers can get quick answers in real-time. By including multiple ways to contact you, your customers can choose a method that suits them, giving them a more positive and seamless user experience. 2. Provide your users with engaging content Instead of just including links to your social media accounts, you may want to consider adding in live feeds from those social networks, right there on your contact page. This allows your users to get a snapshot of your social activity and shows you’re active online and interacting with your customers.  Adding a live social feed also helps to keep your website looking fresh and expands your online network because it encourages users to follow you on those social networks. It’s also a great way to enhance your brand awareness as well as helping to increase your conversions. 3. Answer your frequently asked questions If your business often gets a common question asked all the time, or you have multiple departments that speak with clients on a daily basis, consider including options for people to find the exact information they need so their frequently asked question is answered instantly, or users can get in touch with the appropriate person and department. This helps contribute to a seamless user experience, and doesn’t frustrate your customers when they can’t find what they’re looking for, or they’re constantly being transferred to multiple departments. Not only that, but it also helps free up more time for you and your team answering those frequently asked questions. 4. Add images to your contact us page If you add images to your contact us page, you’re making a simple page become personable. There are multiple images you could add, for example you could add icons to replace text, you could add your brand elements on your contact form to enhance your branding or you could even add images of your staff so your users can put a face to a name and make them feel at ease if they ever meet you in person. 5. Don’t be afraid to showcase your work Your contact page should inspire trust and confidence in the person who is about to contact you. So, don’t be afraid to show off your talent and brag a little! For example, if you’re offering photography services, show off some of your previous work. If you’re an agency, include some of the clients you’ve worked with. You want to instil confidence in your abilities to your audience and by showcasing your work on your contact us page, you’re telling your customers the level of quality they can expect from your business. Let us help you with your contact page We hope we’ve given you some inspiration with our contact page ideas, but if you think you’d need help, then be sure to get in touch with us. Our web development and design experts can ensure this vital web page is functional and gives your customers the information they’re looking for whilst offering them a positive user experience. #### 5 important elements for good ecommerce website design. In today’s crowded online marketplace, your ecommerce website needs more than just good looks. It needs to convert. Whether you’re launching a new online store or refreshing an existing one, the right design choices can directly impact your sales, customer trust, and brand perception. Good ecommerce design needs more than bright colours and fancy fonts, it needs functionality, clarity, and a smooth experience from homepage to checkout. With that in mind, in this blog, we’ll explore five essential elements that make up the best ecommerce design, allowing you to create an experience that’s not only attractive, but commercially effective. 1. Clear product hierarchy and navigation If users can’t find what they’re looking for quickly, they’ll leave and it’s as simple as that. That’s why intuitive navigation is at the core of good ecommerce website design. A clearly defined product hierarchy allows users to explore your store with ease. You should structure your site using logical categories, subcategories, and filters. A good way to achieve this is to think like a customer: what would they search for, and how would they expect to find it? You could also consider incorporating a well-placed search bar with autocomplete functionality to further simplify your users end goal. As well as that, breadcrumb trails, sticky headers, and mega menus can enhance navigation, especially on sites with larger product ranges. When designing for both desktop and mobile, consider using collapsible menus and icon-based navigation to improve mobile usability while keeping your interface clean. Our top tip: always prioritise accessibility and simplicity. A clean navigation isn’t just about looks, it’s a vital part of conversion-focused web design for online store success. 2. Strong visual identity with high-quality images First impressions count, and in ecommerce, they happen in seconds. That’s why high-quality visuals are key to effective design for ecommerce websites. Your product photography, visual branding, and overall aesthetic should all build confidence and reflect your value as a brand. Aim to use high-resolution product images with zoom capabilities and multiple angles. You want to include lifestyle shots that show context to your products, as this helps customers visualise what owning your product would look and feel like. Videos and 360° views can also be especially effective, particularly for expensive products. Your visual identity - such as colours, fonts, and iconography - should be consistent across every touchpoint. This builds trust and brand recognition, both of which are essential when selling online. Our top tip: poor imagery is one of the quickest ways to lose credibility, which is why you should invest in good visuals right from the start. It’s a one-time cost with long-term returns. 3. Optimisation for mobile-first experience With the majority of ecommerce traffic now coming from smartphones, your site must be designed mobile-first. Mobile users expect fast, frictionless experiences, and if your site doesn’t deliver, they’ll bounce. Good ecommerce website design on mobile means: Responsive layouts that adapt perfectly to different screen sizes Large, tappable buttons that prevent misclicks Minimal pop-ups or interruptions Thumb-friendly navigation and intuitive scrolling Quick load speeds, even on 4G and 5G connections Even minor usability issues on mobile, like a hard-to-tap ‘Add to Cart’ button, can result in lost revenue. That’s why it’s crucial to test your design across multiple platforms and devices for a seamless user experience. Our top tip: mobile design isn’t just about shrinking your desktop site, it’s about rethinking how users interact with your store on the go. 4. Trust signals and clear conversion paths Trust is everything in ecommerce. With no face-to-face interaction, users rely on subtle design cues to feel safe about buying from you. That’s where trust signals come in. They help reinforce credibility and reduce hesitation at key moments in the buyer journey. Some examples of trust signals include: Verified customer reviews and testimonials Secure payment gateways and SSL certificates Transparent return policies and shipping information Detailed product descriptions and size guides Equally important is your conversion path, which is how users go from browsing to buying. Clear calls to action, intuitive product pages, and a distraction-free checkout journey are essential to guiding users towards conversion. Our top tip: show that you’re a real business run by real people, by including an ‘About’ page and behind-the-scenes content across your social media pages to help humanise your brand. 5. Streamlined checkout and fast loading times Your checkout is the final step to conversion and it’s important not to trip and the last hurdle. Abandoned baskets are usually down to unexpected costs or lengthy forms, so it’s important you don’t have any of these on your checkout page. Some ways you can optimise this final step of the user journey include: Keeping checkout forms short and to the point Offering guest checkout alongside account creation Displaying all costs upfront (including delivery and VAT) Adding progress indicators for multi-step checkouts Providing a range of payment options, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Klarna Site speed also plays a huge role in ecommerce success. Users expect pages to load in a matter of seconds, so you should compress your images, reduce the amount of third-party scripts you use, and optimise your hosting setup to keep things running smoothly. Our top tip: use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, or GTmetrix to test and improve your site’s performance. Let us help with your ecommerce web design When it comes to building or improving an online store, it’s the small design decisions that make the biggest difference. From navigation and imagery to trust signals and mobile usability, every element plays a role in driving conversions and enhancing your brand. By focusing on these key elements, you’ll create a shopping experience that’s not only easy to use, but easy to trust. And when your users trust you, they’re far more likely to convert - and come back again. Here at Fifteen, we specialise in creating powerful, user-focused ecommerce websites that blend creativity with commercial impact. If you’re looking to elevate your web design for online store success, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today. #### 5 Important factors to consider when launching a new website. Picture this: it’s coming to the end of the first week in your new dream job as a Marketing Manager. You know you've some great marketing experience under your belt and you feel confident and ready for the challenges ahead. Everything’s gone fine and dandy in your first few days; you know where the lunch room is, your PC is up and running, everybody is really friendly. As first week’s go, it’s been great. The final day of the week is here and your boss says to you, "Right, we’re going to need a new website." The calm and composed interior that started the week begins to fade into a bubbling ball of anxiety. You’ve never really worked on a full-blown web design and rebuild and your thoughts move to feelings of panic. If you find yourself in this position, then worry not. To keep it simple and help you remain focused throughout the project, I’ve put together 5 important factors to consider if you find yourself challenged with preparing to launch a new website.  Content It’s easy to underestimate exactly how much content exists in a website, particularly when you’re on the hunt for a new dress or the perfect wedding venue in your downtime. Once you’ve found the ideal dress, you’ve subconsciously scrolled through page after page of images, text and videos.  All of these images and words have been crafted to generate the most relevant content for the web user in order to increase traffic and increase sales. For this reason, you should ensure that content generation is high on your planning list for the project. Once you’re happy with your web designs it’s important to remember there’s no point writing reams of text if your new design will only allow for 50 words on your home page. Align your content with your brand’s tone of voice and new designs, and you’ll be winning. Successful web content also relates to point 5: Website Performance and how it connects with your audience. As your team prepare your content, you should consider your Golden Circle. The Golden Circle is like an onion; it houses layers to your branding story. In the middle layer is the ‘Why’. When writing content always consider Why you’re doing what you’re doing, then the How, and then What you’re doing. Creating your web story with images, videos, interactive tools and text starts and finishes with the Golden Circle.   Your launch PR Launching your website to the big wide world can seem like an overwhelming prospect so let’s start with the big picture. What are your business values and mission? Are these going to be showcased in the weeks leading up to your website launch day or have they been lost in the whirlwind of chaotic marketing activity? Will your values and mission follow through after the big push live? Think carefully about how you want your existing content to support this brand spanking new website and engage with your audience.  The lead up to launch could include a website count down on your social feeds. Each week you reveal a new product or an interesting fact about your business. Have you got leaflets for the exhibition you’re attending a month prior to launch? Getting the word out there as effectively as possible is the ultimate aim so it’s important to prepare and plan your surrounding launch activity in parallel with your website launch date. Testing Test, test, test and test some more! It’s important not to downplay the testing of your new website.  It’s easy to think it’s a relatively quick scan through of all pages to see if the content’s all there and looks spot on. You should be ensuring that your website looks great, but it’s equally as important to test what’s happening under the hood. Each and every aspect of the website should be tested to check that all functionality works. Does your contact form return emails to your admin dashboard? Does your payment checkout process work correctly? Is the website looking good and working on all internet browsers and mobile devices? With more devices on the market, the website testing plan should leave enough buffer to accommodate for a plethora of development tweaks and fixes. Your web development team are there to support you through this process so work closely with them to understand delivery expectations during the testing process. Website support With all of the pre-planning, reviewing and a hive of activity in the lead up to your website launch, it’s all too easy to push website support on the back burner.  With this in mind, it’s important to consider how you’re going to maintain the website after launch. Where do you go if a page on the site is broken? What approach will you take if you want to implement a new section to the site?  If you’re working with us, you can discuss website maintenance and support options open to you well ahead of launch, so get ahead and tick this one off your to do list! Website performance You’ve allocated a large proportion of your annual budget to this new website and you’re a seasoned marketing pro which means you’ll want to track your ROI. For better results, you’ll need to allow for a few months or so to give the new website time to breathe.  Check whether you’ve got Google Analytics set up to track how your new website is ranking in Google and look at websites like HotJar to discover how users are interacting with your website to help support future improvements. With so many avenues to explore in the digital marketing sphere, it can seem like a daunting area to delve in. We have a team of digital marketing professionals here to help support your every need. Hopefully, these 5 factors have helped to restore some serenity to your impending first website redesign and build project. We also have another blog which provides you with a complete checklist for launching a new website. #### 5 key Instagram updates to be aware of for 2025. Since its launch way-back-when in 2010, Instagram still continues to be one of the world's top social media platforms for brand promotion and engagement. Over the last 25 years since its launch, the platform has continued to evolve, which means staying on top of the latest Instagram updates is crucial for your marketing strategy. As we’re firmly into 2025, this blog will share five key Instagram updates that you need to be aware of, so you can keep your social media presence strong and your audience engaged. Let’s get stuck in. Your reels can now be 3 minutes long One of the biggest and probably the most beneficial Instagram updates is the extension of reels. Going from 90 seconds to three minutes, this update allows businesses more time to create engaging and dynamic video content. With this extended reel duration, you can delve deeper into your content, allowing for greater creativity and storytelling.  For example, you could share more detailed tutorials of your products, in-depth behind the scenes content, or simply connect with your audience in a more immersive way. Whatever you choose to share, taking advantage of the longer reels is a great way to captivate your followers and keep them coming back to your page for more. Profile grids are now rectangular Instagram has updated the design of your profile grid, which now features a fresh, new rectangular look. The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said on Threads that the redesign reflects on how the majority of their users post vertical content and that this new design allows them to better showcase their photos and videos in a visually appealing way. With this latest Instagram update, it allows for your profile to become more streamlined and organised and makes it easier for your followers to navigate through your posts. It also helps enhance the visual appeal of your profile and keeps your audience engaged with your content. There will soon be a dedicated tab for Story highlights Sticking with the theme of updating your profile, Instagram is currently testing adding a dedicated tab for Story highlights. Once displayed on your main profile as circular icons, these highlights will sit in its own section, with the aim to declutter profiles and enhance the visibility of new content posted. When fully rolled out, this new feature will display Story highlights in a vertical format and allow businesses to showcase their most important moments and content in a more organised and easily accessible way. Ultimately, this will make finding and revisiting Stories effortless, which will enhance overall user experience. Introducing: Instagram trial reels A particularly exciting Instagram update is the introduction of trial reels. The thinking behind this feature is that you can mark a reel as a trial, which means your reel will only be shown to users who don’t follow you. When you utilise this feature, your reel won’t appear on your profile, or on your reels tab, essentially making it invisible to your followers. This latest Instagram update is the perfect way to test the effectiveness of your content, and it’s particularly beneficial if you’re wanting to experiment with something like new branding or changes to your normal reel aesthetic and you want to gauge how it will be reciprocated. You can no longer follow hashtags One key Instagram update that came into effect mid-December 2024, is the ability to no longer follow hashtags. Instagram took the decision to not allow users to follow hashtags with a bid to tackle spam and irrelevant content that is often shown with trending hashtags. Users can still search for hashtags on the Explore page, however Instagram’s aim is to shift away from hashtags being the primary tool for content discovery, and focus on using advanced algorithms to give users a more personalised experience This latest Instagram update may come as a blow for some businesses who use personalised hashtags in their content, however in order to maintain your visibility on this platform, you should aim to create high-quality content and get into the habit of directly engaging with your audience on your posts. Want more specialist social media advice? Instagram is a platform that is constantly evolving, but we hope by sharing these key Instagram updates, it helps you keep on top of your game and enable you to engage with your audience better than ever before. Social media will also continue to be a powerful tool in your digital marketing arsenal, but good social media management is key to growing your online presence and driving conversions. If you’re looking for professional social media management services, get in touch with us today. Our experts can help you unlock the full potential of your online brand presence and help drive remarkable results for your business. #### 5 of the best 'Social Wall' plugins for WordPress website designs. Social networking is an inextricable part of our lives, a huge traffic source, and a vital component of every company's growth. Social feeds refresh your website regularly, keeping it relevant and up to date with new content. Displaying social feeds on your website will also offer visitors a more comprehensive view of your brand, as well as engage them and invite feedback. If you run a WordPress site, you're well aware that there are thousands of plugins to choose from if you want to add your social networks to your website using beautiful social media feeds. Some WordPress social media plugins provide access to even more social media platforms. No one has time to go through all of the plugins and test how well they work. That's why we've compiled a list of 5 of the best WordPress 'social wall' plugins, along with some of their best features in this article so that you can make the best choice for your website. 1. Walls.io Walls.io is an excellent plugin with a lot of features. One feature, in particular, stands out: it allows you to add social media feeds to WordPress without having to install a plugin for each one. You can not only view the content you've shared on social media, but you can also track and publish content created by other users who are interested in your brand. Other features include: Spam filters for text and images Funded places The style that is sensitive Show posts in the audience's native tongue. Reposts previously accepted content from your wall to the top regularly, making your wall look more interactive. Moderation by hand A wide range of topics is available. The style that can be changed Custom CSS is possible. 2. Jucier.io Jucier.io is a WordPress social walls plugin that brings content from multiple social networks together in one place. It allows you to create content using hashtags. You can generate social feeds from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, Spotify, LinkedIn, and other platforms using the plugin. Filters and rules can be set up in Jucier.io to remove inappropriate material. With a click of a button, you can quickly moderate and delete any social content you don't like. Infinite scrolling, auto-approving user-generated content, and advanced analytics to monitor your feeds' social media output are among the plugin's other features. Wordpress Example 3. Feed them social This is one of the most common plugins for adding social media feeds to WordPress for an excellent purpose. Feed them social has a rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars on the WordPress plugins website and is available in both free and paid versions. You can use the free version to show off your Fan page, Facebook albums, or album covers. Other social networks, such as Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube, are also sponsored. Feed them social is a simple to use app that is ideal for photographers and make-up artists. Additional features The social feeds can be shown on any message, website, or sidebar. Generator of shortcodes The colours of the font can be modified. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube share buttons Like and Follow Buttons can be added. With the Premium Extension, you can choose how many messages, images, tweets, or videos to display for each social feed. The choice to use the Load More Button and Auto Load functions The mobile-friendly style 4. 10Web social photo feed 10Web Social Photo Feed is a free and easy-to-use Instagram plugin. It allows users to share any Instagram message, whether it's a single picture, an entire timeline, or just hashtags, on their WordPress website. This simple social feed plugin can be customized and comes with a long list of features, including several layouts to choose from: Conditional filtering allows you to set up unique criteria to pick or exclude those types of posts. A powerful lightbox feature now enables HTML5 video, filmstrip, and transition effects. The user has the choice of using one of the default themes or customising and making their own. Options and display settings for each post may be customised. A sidebar widget that allows the user to quickly and easily view posts in the sidebar. 5. Arrow plugins' social feed Social Feed is a popular social feed plugin that lets you view your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and VK feeds. This tool allows you to create a single feed from one of your social accounts or create custom social feeds from the accounts' information. You can, for example, opt to display only photos from Instagram or Pinterest, allowing you to use it as a gallery. One unique feature of Social Feed is that it is the only plugin that allows you to delete social icons from your feed if you want a more minimalistic look. Additional features include: The number of characters that can be shown should be held to a minimum. Show images postdate, and caption texts may be seen or concealed. Show a certain number of social media feeds from your accounts. Shortcodes built-in There are over ten languages to choose from. Mobile-friendly and sensitive Final recommendations for adding plugins for WordPress website designs To summarise, adding social wall plugins to your WordPress Website will help you develop your company by and interactions and communication with your audience. Remember to work on them and keep them updated after you've added them. Aside from keeping an eye on the social media feeds, make sure the graphics and design of the feeds you incorporate fit your website's look and feel. The idea is that it's something that's built into your website rather than something you've included from somewhere else. Finally, use the analytics provided by both the plugin and your social media accounts to improve your digital strategy. This allows you to tweak the content you display to increase interactions and boost your online presence. #### 5 reasons to improve your online presence. Your website, social media, and online listings don’t just represent your business - they are your business. Whether you’re B2B or B2C, local or national, your digital presence influences how customers find you, how much they trust you, and whether they choose you over your competitors. If you’ve been putting off efforts to improve your online presence, now is the time to act. In this blog, we explore five key reasons why your digital presence is more important than ever, and provide you tips on how you can boost your online presence. 1. Your customers are online - all the time Consumer behaviour has shifted massively. In a 2024 report by Ofcom, UK adults spent over four hours a day online across smartphones, tablets, and desktops. Much of that time is spent researching products, discovering new brands, and reading reviews. Whether someone is comparing services, checking your opening hours, or evaluating your credibility, they’re doing it online, often before they ever speak to you directly. If your online presence is limited or outdated, it may not reflect your current services, values, or standards - and that can lead potential customers straight to a competitor. How to enhance your online presence: Ensure your website is up-to-date, mobile-friendly, and fast Audit your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, and directories like Yell or Trustpilot Invest in SEO to make sure you’re discoverable 2. A strong online presence builds trust and authority Customers are cautious. They want proof that you’re legitimate, experienced, and professional before they engage, and your digital presence provides that reassurance. A professionally designed website, active social media presence, recent blog content, positive reviews, and consistent branding all add up to trust. When done well, your digital presence doesn’t just showcase what you do, it tells people why they should choose you. Businesses that focus on enhancing their online presence are more likely to appear reputable, capable, and customer-focused. How to boost your online presence: Refresh your brand visuals and tone of voice across all platforms Share recent reviews, testimonials, or project case studies Regularly update your content to show that your business is active and informed 3. Your competitors are probably already investing It’s not enough to just have a digital presence, you need to actively grow it. More businesses than ever are investing in digital marketing, content creation, social media, and PPC advertising. If you’re standing still, you’re already falling behind. Whether you’re a start-up or an established business, your competitors are likely testing new platforms, optimising for voice search, producing educational content, or running ads to drive brand awareness and traffic. If your digital footprint isn’t keeping pace, you risk being invisible when people are searching for services like yours. How to improve your online presence: Benchmark your digital presence against your key competitors Invest in SEO, paid social, or Google Ads to maintain visibility Consider creating unique content that sets your brand apart like guides, videos, or thought leadership pieces 4. You can reach more of the right customers When you boost your online presence, you’re not just casting a wider net, you’re also improving your ability to target the right people. Digital platforms allow you to be highly specific with your targeting - by location, interests, demographics, intent, and even behaviour. Rather than relying solely on word-of-mouth or local visibility, you can reach high-intent audiences across the country, or even globally, with clear messaging and tailored content. Plus, with better targeting comes better data, which leads to smarter decisions about where to focus your time and budget. How to enhance your online presence: Use audience targeting tools on Meta, LinkedIn, or Google Ads to reach your ideal customers Optimise your website content for user intent and location-based searches Experiment with different platforms and monitor what works best 5. A good digital presence turns visitors into customers Ultimately, all of your marketing efforts should lead back to one goal: conversions. Whether that’s a sale, a contact form submission, a booking, or a newsletter sign-up, your online presence should be built to drive action. But if your site is slow, unclear, or lacking calls-to-action (CTA), visitors won’t convert, no matter how many people you attract. Every part of your digital presence - from your homepage to your services pages, blog content to your Instagram bio - should be optimised to lead your ideal customers towards action. How to boost your online presence Review your user journey across every digital touchpoint Use clear CTAs, short forms, and reassuring content near conversion points Set up conversion tracking to see what’s working and where people drop off Learn how we can help improve your online presence From visibility and trust, to traffic and conversion, your online footprint is often the first (and sometimes only) impression people get of your brand. That’s why improving your digital presence is the foundation of your business. At Fifteen, we help businesses just like yours improve their online presence. Whether you need a better-performing website, stronger SEO, sharper content, or a full digital strategy, we’re here to help you make an impact where it matters. Get in touch with us today to talk about what your online presence could be doing for your business. #### 5 reasons why the importance of social media can’t be ignored. Social media isn’t just a trend or a way of staying in touch with friends anymore - it’s a powerful tool that can make or break your business. You might be wondering why social media is such a hot topic and if it’s really worth the time and investment. Well, the truth is, ignoring the power of social media could mean missing out on incredible opportunities for your business. With billions of users scrolling through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X (Twitter), integrating social media into your marketing strategy is essential for success in today’s marketplace. In this blog, we share five compelling reasons why the importance of social media for businesses can’t be ignored and how it can give you a competitive edge. 1. It builds awareness and trust One of the most immediate benefits of social media is visibility. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and TikTok help get your business in front of new audiences every single day. According to Backlinko, over 80% of the world’s population is active on social media, and many users check their feeds multiple times a day. That’s a huge opportunity to make an impression, share your message, and stay front of mind with your audience. But visibility alone isn’t enough - trust is also key. People are far more likely to engage with and buy from brands they see regularly and perceive as authentic. Social platforms give you the chance to humanise your brand, respond to customers, and demonstrate your values, all of which builds long-term credibility. 2. It’s a powerful (and cost-effective) marketing channel For small and medium businesses especially, social media offers a level playing field. You don’t need a huge budget to get noticed - just a clear message, engaging content, and a bit of consistency. Running paid social campaigns can be extremely cost-effective compared to traditional advertising. You can target specific audiences based on location, interests, job title, and behaviour, ensuring your budget goes further and reaches the right people. Even without paid ads, organic content can go a long way. With the right strategy, you can build a loyal following, generate leads, and even drive sales directly through platforms like Instagram Shopping or TikTok Shop. 3. It strengthens customer relationships Social media creates a two-way conversation between businesses and customers. It’s not just about sharing updates and offers, it’s about listening, responding, and engaging in real time. This kind of interaction helps build trust and loyalty. Customers appreciate quick responses, helpful content, and brands that show they’re paying attention. It also opens the door to user-generated content such as reviews, testimonials, photos, and stories shared by your customers. These can be repurposed into your wider marketing efforts and provide powerful social proof to new audiences. 4. It drives traffic and sales From linking to your website in your bio, to running promotions that drive clicks and conversions, social media plays a direct role in your sales funnel. Features like Facebook and Instagram Shops, Pinterest Product Pins, and TikToks’ in-app shopping tools allow businesses to sell directly to engaged users - with no website needed. Meanwhile, consistent posting and valuable content can steadily increase traffic to your site and keep customers returning. It’s not just for product-based businesses either. Service-led businesses can use platforms like LinkedIn to position themselves as thought leads, promote webinars or offers, and generate high-quality leads. 5. It keeps you competitive and informed Even if you’re not active on social media, your competitors probably are. That means your customers are engaging with their content, their offers, and their voice - not yours. Staying active helps keep you relevant and gives you insights into what your competitors are doing. Are they launching new products? Offering discounts? Partnering with influencers? You’ll be the first to know and you can adapt your strategy accordingly. Social listening tools, like Hootesuite and Sprout Social, can help you track brand mentions, industry trends, and customer sentiment, giving you valuable data to inform future campaigns. Tips for getting started with your social media strategy Crafting a social media strategy can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re new to it, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are some tips for getting started: Identify your goals - ask yourself; do you want to build brand awareness? Drive traffic to your website? Increase your sales? Choose your platforms - once you’ve identified your goals, this will guide your platform choice, whether it’s LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok for example. Create consistent content - be sure to create relevant content that speaks to your audience, and don’t be afraid to show the human side of your business. Make use of scheduling tools - set some time aside to plan your posts in advance and respond to comments and messages. Analyse data - you should always track what’s working using insights and analytics so you can refine your approach if needed. It’s important to remember that your strategy will evolve and change over time, so be prepared to adjust your efforts to gain the best results. Let us manage your social media marketing The importance of social media for marketing goes far beyond likes and followers. It’s about being where your audience is, showing up consistently, and delivering value in every interaction. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re looking to improve what you already have, our team can take the stress out of your social media management. From strategy and content creation to scheduling and reporting, we’ll tailor a solution that fits your goals and brand tone. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to learn how we’ve helped businesses across the UK understand the importance of social media for their business and developed tailored social media strategies that align with their goals and resources. #### 5 Tips for bridal brand marketing in a digital world. In an increasingly digital world traditional businesses can find themselves drowning in a sea of hashtags, backlinks and SEO. The wedding industry is in no danger of sinking being worth more than 10 billion a year in the UK. However, with industry success comes immense competition between individual brands fighting for custom like bridesmaids over the bouquet. We have put together a few pointers to help your bridal brand marketing catch the eye of potential customers and woo them to the alter of conversions. Hook onto a trend or movement During recent years, the focus in the wedding industry has shifted from “doing what you should” to “doing what the hell you want”. Traditional white weddings, familiar set ups and predictable itineraries are a thing of the past. It is recognised weddings can be as individual as the people who are to be married. Ariel Meadow Stallings hooked onto this idea early with her Offbeat Bride wedding blog. The site refers to itself as “the world's most popular website dedicated to non-traditional weddings”. Now, the site can boast of one million monthly readers and over 200,000 social followers. Being controversial is always a risk, but it is great when your aim is to get people talking. If you already have an established brand and personality, try representing yourself from a different angle. If you sell classic style wedding gowns for example, perhaps invest in a quirky photoshoot that shows how adaptable a dress can be for different wedding themes.  In the UK, founder of Rock n Roll Bride Kat Williams, saw a gap in the wedding planning market for unique wedding inspiration, guides and ideas. Known as “The Ultimate Guide for Alternative Brides”, Rock n Roll Bride’s manifesto states “Don’t let the wedding industry define your day, let you define your day.” Focusing on uniqueness and creativity Kat is enjoying huge success and is inundated with requests for features and partnership proposals. If you’re starting out, identify those gaps in the market, the sectors screaming for something different and get involved. Personalisation and individuality is huge in almost every industry right now. David’s Bridal launched their “Be Your Own Bride” campaign earlier this year. New York based creative marketing agency YARD produced their TV ad including the taglines “Be Bold”, “Be Sweet”, “Be Wild” and “Be Your Own Bride”. Make connections and partnerships within the industry As we said earlier, the wedding industry is massive. That means there is ample opportunity to make friends with like-minded brands for mutual gain. Get yourself some bridal buddies, those who are willing to engage and not afraid to help each other out. Of course, we’re not talking about direct competitors, but those companies who are a part of the same industry and are thus targeting the same audience. Take just one bride as an example. She will need a wedding dress, a wedding cake, a wedding venue, a wedding ring… the list goes on. If you’re in the business of providing one of these products you may be able to forge a relationship with other companies that can offer the other products on the bride’s shopping list. Make recommendations for suppliers, knowing they will do the same for you. This could be simple as exchanging business cards and leaflets to advertising products on each of your website and shouting out to each other on social media. You may even choose to set up some form of affiliate system – where if you sell a partner’s product or service alongside your own you take a cut of the profits. One popular bridal brand marketing strategy is partnering with other businesses is to have an area on your website where you can make recommendations such as “Our Friends” or “Our Favourite Suppliers”. If you are a wedding photographer, perhaps you could suggest venues, make-up artists and caterers. Much like Nick Walker photography does here with his recommended suppliers section. Make the digital marketing world work for you Wedding planning is still deeply rooted in the traditional and physical process – like the long journeys to venue viewings and endless wedding dress appointments. Its only recently that brands are looking to create ways in which this process can be done digitally. Can the trying out of your product be done online? Perhaps with virtual technology for trying on dresses or accessories. For venues, maybe think of creating a video tour or an interactive exploration interface. Floravere presents an innovative concept for modern brides, whereby they can simply order their chosen dresses and a “Bride Box” then arrives at their home in order for them to create their own try on party with their friends. They even have a personal online stylist who can be available for their session. Floravere have recognised a planned trip to a wedding dress shop may not be so easy for those with busy lives, so uses an online platform to advertise and distribute its dresses. Social media can be another area of potential when it comes to bridal brand marketing. You want to aim to have an active presence on social channels and perhaps use platforms such as Facebook to advertise your products and services. But there are those brands who are going the extra mile when using the latest social media trends and technology. Meldeen specialises in creating luxury wedding stationary. The brains behind the brand, Kaleigh Wiese, came up with Pixel for Snapchat after recognising the “growing social need to document location as an event.” Wedding guests use Snapchat to show fun, food and their surroundings. Pixel is a bespoke graphic design service which creates a personalised Snapchat filter, so guests and friends can brand their own photos. Make use of ready-made content and case studies There’s no industry quite like the wedding industry when it comes to an abundance of content to dip into. If you supply any product or service for a wedding it is bound to be photographed numerous times on the big day. Some of these images are likely to end up on social media, so be sure to encourage the guests to tag you in their photos with perhaps a small card beside your product. Importantly engage with those who share photos to encourage more of the same. If you’re in need of images to use on your website or in your portfolio, most people will not object to their images being used – in fact, they will most likely be flattered. The professional wedding photographer may require a fee – but with a photoshoot ready-made and essentially paid for by the couple this is a small price to pay. The same applies to case studies – each wedding you cater for is a case study with accompanying images, personalities and testimonials. Most bride and grooms will be happy to feature on websites and give a few words of recommendation. Take advantage of this! Australian bridal brand Grace Loves Lace regularly features real life weddings to showcase their French lace wedding dresses. Write a blog as part of your bridal brand marketing strategy Hosting your own blog on your brand’s website has countless benefits. Not only will it boost your SEO and help you to build a professional reputation, it can act as platform to showcase your case studies and potential area for partnership work. Discuss key trends, changes and news in your industry. Feature real life weddings. Showcase another supplier’s work all as part of your bridal brand marketing strategy. The exploration of wedding ideas and inspiration is a business in itself. Something Emily and Jessica of Bespoke Bride know all too well due to the amazing success of their wedding blog Bespoke Bride. Colourful, bright and like nothing else out their this bridal blog present unique and creative ideas as a feast for the eyes! Similarly, Rock My Wedding is a beautiful scrapbook of “achievable and unique big day inspiration”. Now one of the UK’s most popular planning resources the site sees 330,000 visitors a month. Of course, if you sell a service or product a planning site isn’t where you’re aiming to be. But dipping your toes into the conversations and trends of the industry will only add more trust points and may gain you more website traffic. The digital marketing world is ever evolving, so it’s always a good idea to keep up to date with potential traffic driving, conversion making opportunities. Start out by trying these 5 tips for bridal brand marketing in the digital world. If you’d like more information or help with bridal brand marketing for your wedding business, Fifteen can ensure you grab the digital marketing world by the hand and skip romantically down the aisle towards your happily ever after. #### 5 Tips for building a trustworthy website. The internet is vast, and finding the right company can sometimes be a laborious task, especially when looking for a company you can rely on for your business. From credit card fraud to identity theft, the internet can be a bit of a battlefield in terms of trust. So we’ve put together some top tips from our web design team about implementing some simple techniques that can make the difference between a visitor lost or a visitor won. Client logos Your work speaks for itself, and who you work with speaks even louder. A great track record can seriously boost your reputation, especially if you can show that you’ve worked with some reputable clients. You are more likely to gain business if you can show off your portfolio of clients you have helped become successful. A lot of businesses aim to garner the same success as their peers, and if you can prove you have succeeded for a similar business, there’s no reason you can’t succeed for them too! Team pages You might not believe it, but some of the most successful pages on corporate websites are the team pages, especially if they’ve got your mug shots on display. People tend to like to do business with someone they can put a face to. Adding a personal touch to your website, like team shots, can really go a long way in helping build trust and ultimately winning over a client. Often, showing your face can help potential customers believe what you have to say, as well as familiarising them with the person they may be talking to. Our team pages are some of the most visited on our website. We’ve added some individual profiles so that our clients can get to know us a little better. It’s also an opportunity to add some content to the website, which is an added bonus for SEO. Accreditations, partnerships and awards If you’ve got an accreditation you want to shout about, display it on your website! We would recommend these sit in the footer. That way it will follow the user around your site and reinforce the credit it gives your company. In our case, we use our RAR accreditation and search engine partnerships (Google Partner and Bing Ads Accreditation) as a constant throughout the website. If you are an e-commerce company, we would suggest using the footer to show what payment methods you accept. If the user recognises your payment method or has used it before, it gives them that confidence in handing over payment details through your website. Lastly, think about showing off any recent awards you may have won. We make a big point of shouting about our award-winning work, as it highlights that we’re a trusted company with a notable reputation for our work. Not only do we have a page dedicated to our awards, but we also talk about them on our homepage and throughout our blog. What can we say? We’re proud of our work! Testimonials & reviews If your clients are willing to give up their time to write or even video a shining review for your business, it really attests to the quality of your work. Written testimonials may appear on your site in the form of quotes or even video testimonials. We use video testimonials which are also posted over on our YouTube channel for extra exposure. Another easy way to gather positive recommendations is through dedicated review websites such as reviews.co.uk or tripadvisor.co.uk. These websites will often have widgets that you can integrate into your website. Our footer contains a widget from reviews.co.uk that gives us a ‘star’ rating. Quality informative information When you provide a user with information that they find genuinely useful, such as a how-to guide or tutorial it will build trust with visitors to your website. Free information is a powerful tool. If a user comes to your site and learns from the experience, they are better for it and will trust you to provide them with more quality knowledge. Repeat traffic from visitors is always another opportunity for conversion and quality content can increase that. This approach focuses on a long-term relationship with the customer, building a trust and brand loyalty. Using these tools boosts your reputation and will ultimately show a user that you are a trustworthy business. You have a limited time to make an impression on a visitor to your site, make it count with these simple tips and you’re onto a winner. #### 5 Tips for creating a winning website content strategy. Creating a solid website content strategy is key to driving traffic, engaging your audience, and ultimately growing your online business. With the vast amount of content available on the web today, it's essential to have a plan in place to ensure your website stands out from your competition.  In this blog, we'll share five valuable tips to help you develop an effective website content strategy that resonates with your target audience. From defining your goals to creating content pillars, these tips will set you on the right path towards creating compelling and engaging content that drives results.  What is a website content strategy and why is it important? A website content strategy is a plan that outlines the creation, publication, and management of content on your website. It involves defining your target audience, determining the type of content you want to create, setting goals for your content, and establishing a schedule for publishing.  It allows you to keep your messages on brand and develop an identity that engages with users, conveys your message, and ultimately turns clicks into conversions. Having a clear content strategy is also crucial for guiding your website’s direction and ensuring your content is aligned with your business objectives. By investing time in developing a thoughtful website content strategy, you can ensure that your site effectively communicates your brand message, attracts and engages visitors and improves search engine rankings. 5 tips for creating a website content strategy Now that you have a better understanding of what a website content strategy is and why they’re important for any online business, here are five tips for creating a strategy for your brand. 1. Define your goals and objectives Before you start creating any kind of digital content strategy, you should start by defining your goals and objectives. It’s important to understand what you want from your content strategy before writing down any ideas or brainstorming unique content approaches.  Ask yourself the below questions: Are you looking to grow your online presence? Are you wanting to boost your SEO efforts? Do you want to market yourself as an industry expert?  Do you want to create some guides so you can answer questions you’ve heard from your customers? Whatever your goals are, it’s imperative that you set out realistic targets before planning out your digital content strategy. Be sure to take a look at your digital marketing KPIs to get an understanding on where your content needs to improve to help you define your objectives. 2. Understand your audience Once you have your own goals set, you then need to understand your target audience's goals. Your users will visit your website for a variety of reasons - for example, they could be searching for answers for a particular query, or they might be looking to complete a quick purchase with next day delivery.  Most businesses will understand the different demographics of their users that visit their site and what their goals are. If this is something you’re not sure about, you should conduct a full digital marketing audit or analyse key metrics in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to help you identify your audience, what devices they use, where they come from, and what they’re looking for. This kind of information can help you shape and develop your website content strategy. 3. Analyse the content you already have Before you create any new content, you should analyse the content you already have. According to Semrush, developing old content can help you save time, money and effort, so it could work in your favour to check and see if you already have content you could repurpose.  You should also study the way you speak to your audience by examining important content such as your landing pages and your blog content. This information will help you understand what your tone of voice is and how you can shape any new content to match your brand. You can also use this information to see what isn’t working and take a new approach that differs from the existing system.  4. Create content pillars Creating content pillars will help define the overarching themes or styles you will use to develop your website content strategy. For example, if you’re a builders’ merchant you may find you have content pillars dedicated to products (for e-commerce), customer education (with blogs and guides), and brand content (special events and news relating to your industry). If you’re an established brand, you’ll more than likely only need 25% of your content relating to your brand. A more e-commerce-focused approach would use around 60% of your content on product descriptions that drive sales. By creating content pillars, it will help you to understand this breakdown. The pillars will also give you a clear direction of the tone and reason for different types of content you create and allow you to see where you need to put more focus on your content. 5. Brainstorm content ideas Brainstorming sessions with your team can help generate fresh and innovative ideas that resonate with your audience. Content creation can come in the form of almost anything including quizzes, articles and blogs, interviews, videos, social media content, the list is endless! Whatever you create and publish, remember to keep your content relevant, valuable and engaging in order to drive traffic and conversions on your website. Let us help with your website content strategy As ever, content marketing is key to long term growth for any online business. If you find you need an expert helping hand with your website content strategy, get in touch with us today. We have a dedicated digital team that can provide a complete content audit that highlights your strengths and areas to improve, and then provide content suggestions relevant to your industry. Find out more about how we can help your brand today! #### 5 tips for creating and managing URL redirection. Mastering URL redirection is crucial for any website to maintain a strong online presence. Whether you’re migrating to a new website, restructuring your site’s architecture, or simply streamlining user experiences, understanding how to effectively create and manage URL redirects makes all the difference. In this blog, we share five essential tips that will help simplify the complexities of URL redirection, empowering you to optimise your website strategy and keep your visitors happy. First, let’s take a quick look at what a redirect is. What is a URL redirect and why are they important? A URL redirect is a technique used to send both users and search engines from one webpage to another. When a webpage is moved or needs to be renamed, a redirect ensures that visitors can still access the content without encountering a “404 Not Found” error.  There are three common types of URL redirects which are: 301, ‘moved permanently’ - this type of redirect is a permanent redirect that passes full link equity to the target page and is a best practice for SEO. 302, ‘found’ - this is normally used for short-term changes, like a holding page when building a new website, as it doesn’t pass any link equity. 307, ‘moved temporarily’ - this redirect should be used with caution as it signals to search engines that the webpage will be redirected for a limited time and this could impact indexing and potential rankings if implemented incorrectly. Redirecting a URL is important for many reasons. For example, if you’re moving or deleting a webpage, or you want to consolidate multiple pages into one, not only are you helping to maintain a positive user experience by removing potential frustration, but you’re also boosting your SEO efforts. This is because URL redirects preserve your search engine rankings, as they’re informing search engines about changes to your site's structure. As well as that, they also maintain the traffic and link equity of the original page. 5 tips on creating and managing URL redirection When building or refreshing a website, it’s not all about the coding and design - it’s about making sure everything is functioning like clockwork in the background. Here are five tips to help you create and manage URL redirects successfully and keep traffic flowing smoothly to your site. 1. Be organised and utilise spreadsheets Whether you’re redirecting 10 pages or even 1,000 pages, staying organised is key and that’s where spreadsheets come into play. A well-structured spreadsheet allows you to easily track all your URLs efficiently, making it easier to note which pages are being redirected. Ideally you want to be setting out all your current URLs side by side against the new ones. This will enable you to filter through any unwanted pages and have a clear layout of the old URLs, the new ones, and status codes, leaving less chance for any confusion. This level of organisation not only helps streamline the whole URL redirection process, but also aids in maintaining SEO integrity by ensuring no important links are lost or misdirected. Plus, having everything laid out in a spreadsheet makes it simpler to share with other team members for collaboration and transparency. 2. Ensure your redirects are relevant Redirects are there to improve the user’s experience so relevancy in your redirects is important. Even if there’s no direct match for a new page, it’s always recommended that you find a page that is most relevant. This ensures that users are taken to a page that closely matches the content they were expecting to see and minimises confusion and frustration. For example, if you’re redirecting an outdated product page, it’s wise to link users to a current version of that product or a related category page instead of sending them to your homepage.  If you don’t carefully analyse the old URLs' purpose and find a new destination that provides similar value, it can have a major impact on your SEO, as the irrelevant page could potentially get a lower engagement rate, lower traffic, and have a negative impact on your keyword rankings. 3. Keep on top of 404s There’s nothing more frustrating than being hit with a 404 error page when browsing a site. These errors occur when a user attempts to access a page that no longer exists, and not only can these impact your user’s experience, but they are generally undesirable for your SEO efforts as it can lead to a loss of traffic. To keep on top of your 404s, you can use tools such as Google Search Console, and using the Page Indexing report, you can see all of the 404 errors on your site. Equally, you can use dedicated SEO software tools, like SE Ranking or SEMRush, to conduct a crawl which will highlight any 404s on your site. Once you’ve spotted a 404, set up a redirect to guide users to the relevant content. You could also consider implementing a custom 404 page that provides a selection of helpful page link options so visitors can easily find what they’re looking for. This can turn potential dead ends into opportunities for engagement. 4. Avoid redirect chains A redirect chain is when multiple redirects are linked together, causing a user’s request to hop from one URL to another before reaching the final destination. Having redirect chains can make it more difficult for bots to crawl your site, and create a slower site speed which not only frustrates visitors, but also negatively impacts your SEO. Spotting a redirect chain can be difficult, so with that in mind, best practice is to aim for a direct one-to-one redirect wherever possible as this will mean each original URL will point directly to its intended final destination without any intermediate stops. You should also regularly check all your redirects to ensure they’re only pointing to one page. 5. Remove duplicates to avoid redirect loops Not every page needs a redirect. When two URLs are the same, there is no need to redirect the page. If two of the same URLs are redirected, this could turn into a redirect loop where the page is stuck between redirecting to URL A and URL B.  This can have a negative impact on your SEO efforts as search engine crawlers can become locked in the redirect loop and when they realise they’re stuck, they’ll stop following the redirect and never reach the destination page. It’s not an un-fixable issue, but it will often need a developer’s input to sort. Best practice to avoid redirect loops is to remove any duplicate URLs, which you can do at the very beginning of the URL redirection process when putting together your spreadsheet. Want more advice on URL redirection? While these tips may seem simple, correctly implementing redirects is often not made a priority when making changes to a website. But they’re essential for ensuring a website runs smoothly in the background, and the importance of how they can affect your SEO and user experience cannot be overstated.  If you’re experiencing URL redirection problems, or you’re looking for more advice, don’t hesitate to contact us today. Our SEO specialists are on hand to provide expert guidance to ensure you maximise your online presence and protect your SEO efforts. #### 5 Tips for designing the perfect logo. Modern companies rely heavily on efficient contact with prospective customers. Marketers formulate tactics that encourage consumers to communicate with a company in several ways. As a result, company owners invest a large amount of money in developing visual resources to communicate and connect with consumers. Today, a logo acts as more than just a business mark to distinguish an organisation and its products or services; it also assists in creating a strong brand identity. Logos designed by an online logo creator have the same essence as logos created by professional designers. In today's business climate, a logo performs several roles. A well-designed logo has the potential to turn casual travellers into long-term customers. A well-designed logo can benefit a company and its business in several ways. Here is the list of 5 tips to design the perfect logo: 1.   Recognise the brand Make sure you have a clear understanding of the brand before you start designing your logo. Bear in mind that the logo must interact with a specific group of people, namely the target market and target customers. So, make a list of what your business, brand, and target market are all about. Find out what the brand's philosophy is and what potential inspirations it has. Often, be mindful of the brand's personality. In terms of tone, is it a softer or a more rigid brand? What picture does it want to project to its target market and customers? All of this information must be planned ahead of time. You may use this knowledge as a reference when making your logo design. You'll choose your logo elements based on the details you have about your business. 2.   Look into the market Where is the best place to get ideas? You have a rival! Examine what's already available, what resonates with your target audience, and what you can avoid. Consider how you should highlight the distinctions between you and those other businesses in your logo design when stalking those other businesses. Make a point of separating yourself from the competition. If everyone else in your industry is going monochrome, you might want to use some colour to stand out. If everyone else's logo is traditional, maybe a fun and innovative logo would stand out. 3.   Keep it simple! This is something that any expert logo designer and graphic designer can tell you. They all lay extra focus on producing a simple logo design by their graphic design services. When we talk about a primary logo, we're talking about using just one or two colours, fonts, and other components. The message should be apparent from the first look at the logo. However, if the logo has too many confusing colours and fonts or a complicated shape, it can give the viewers a mixed message.  A distinctive style is a simple logo. Most of the global business is defined by its simple logos. Take the Nike logo, for example. The logo is a simple swoosh. The Pepsi logo is made of two colours only. There is just one colour in the Samsung logo. As a symbol of its business, the Apple logo has an application. Logos aren't the only thing that can benefit from simplicity in design. All of your graphic design items, such as brochure designs, should be plain, neat, and tidy. Many firms have their name in their logo, while some just have an image. Both of these simple logos can capture the attention of customers fully. Colours and photographs can be used in your logo, but the style must be understandable to the intended audience. Avoid using a riot of colours, fonts, or a network of lines to construct a complicated logo because the style would be too ambiguous. Note that a simple symbol is quickly remembered, and the viewer will not have to spend extra effort to comprehend the organisation and industry behind the logo. As a result, the simplicity of a logo contributes to creating a brand identity because customers can easily recall the company and its operations. That is why the vast majority of companies worldwide use logo design contest sites to find comfortable and minimal logos for their businesses. 4.   Make an adaptable logo design A logo design's flexibility goes a long way toward making it famous. Your logo will never gain popularity if it looks impressive on posters but looks bad on coffee mugs. Furthermore, if the logo is a slave to a colour scheme, it cannot be considered a good logo — this means that a logo should look good in black and white or a selection of colours that are not part of the original or actual design. For example, Apple's logo can be rendered to look nice in any colour scheme. This is an excellent example of logo design versatility! 5.   Engage your audience Your logo should, above all, entertain and engage your target market. It's essential to strike a balance between educating your audience about your company's activities and presenting a picture that appeals to them. At first glance, your logo should entice your target audience to learn more about your brand. It shouldn't be too vague or perplexing since you don't want them to disregard it altogether. Strike a balance. Color, contrast, font, and other design elements may assist with this mission. Vector Graphics are the best choice. Although 3D illustrations and detailed effects are pleasing to the eye, they are not the best option for a logo. A well-crafted vector-based logo can suit you better and be more flexible because it provides contrast and balance, both of which are key in logo design. Be Important, Memorable, and Avoid Fads – It is vital to building a logo that will last a long time and will not go out of style. It should be simple to update, unforgettable, and not focused on the current craze or fad. Using streamlined shapes and clean, straight lines. If you're not sure if your logo is memorable, display it to a friend and make them retrace it a week later. One choice for long-term success is to use a typed-based logo. The logo design preparation process allows you to consider your company's product or service's potential course. #### 5 tips to boost your SEO for Amazon. Amazon has a colossal presence in the commercial environment. Having an Amazon SEO strategy is ideal for sellers that wish to be successful, and need to devise a plan for improving their product listing rating. There are many tactics you can undertake that will enable you to stand out from the crowd in an ocean of competitors.  Our tips for a successful Amazon SEO strategy Here are our top 5 ways you can boost your Amazon listing using SEO. 1. Maintain control over your reviews Reviews are an essential aspect of any business’s success. They may be the deciding factor in whether someone purchases your items or chooses to go elsewhere. It is critical that you handle product reviews in order to improve your Amazon SEO strategy. In general, the items that appear at the top of Amazon’s search engine results page have received four or five star reviews. These are goods that have received positive feedback and are well-liked by customers. The goal is to get your audience to provide feedback on their experiences with your goods and services. You’ll almost certainly get unpleasant comments from your audience if they provide feedback. It’s important to take the time to reply to bad reviews as part of your overall review management strategy. It will keep you from scaring away potential consumers in the future. 2. Optimise your product listing for SEO Amazon product listing optimisation is a great way to improve your Amazon keyword ranking. Product information and bulleted descriptions provide another chance to write material that incorporates high-relevance keywords to improve your search engine ranking results. This tactic should be done in accordance with what the consumer is looking for, while also keeping the technology in mind. Your material should be succinct, understandable and not too loaded with keywords to get the best results. It is recommended that you use this part to anticipate any queries or concerns that may cause clients to search for alternative products. Make use of bullet points to make your text more digestible and to improve conversion. Don’t depend on the manufacturer’s standard description since this might result in duplicate material, which can have a negative influence on your search engine rating. 3. Note the picture requirements Images are very important throughout the purchase process and are a very crucial element of your Amazon SEO strategy. People need to observe items from a variety of perspectives in order to have a better understanding of how the items seem. Since your audience cannot literally see the products in front of them, it is critical to help them develop trust and confidence in your brand and product. The option to zoom in on a product or service might possibly enhance revenue for your company. People will be able to examine your items more closely and get a better feel of how they seem. Additionally, when you share many photographs from different perspectives, where an audience may use the various zooming functions, it becomes much more advantageous for sales. Often getting good quality and optimised images are a struggle, but our Amazon SEO services can provide support on this.  4. Include videos when listing a product As part of your Amazon product listing optimisation efforts, you should include short clips in your product listing that are less than a minute long. This will enhance your rating while also delivering crucial information about the product to your buyers. In addition to increasing conversions on Amazon, video optimisation has been believed to enhance overall sell-through rate as well. Product demos, customer testimonials and anecdotal stories regarding the product or business are all possible in video format. The A+ detail pages, improved brand information and customer reviews on Amazon are all places through which sellers may add video content. 5. Carry out initial keyword research to boost your Amazon keyword ranking When a buyer is searching for a certain product, they will type phrases into the Amazon search box, which will then be compared against the key phrases that sellers have included in their product descriptions to find the item. We can assist you in doing in-depth research to enhance your Amazon keyword ranking as part of our Amazon SEO services. Additionally, by using the appropriate keywords, you will increase the exposure and sales of your goods. It is essential for you to do keyword research in order to be successful. You will appear higher in search results if your product fits the search phrase. The title, key points and summary of your product will all influence the keyword relevance of your product. Learn more about our Amazon SEO services If you want to gain more exposure and rank at the top for your relevant, and converting keywords, then having an effective Amazon SEO strategy is extremely important. Get in touch with our expert team today for more guidance on optimising your SEO for your Amazon listings or to learn more about the Amazon SEO services we provide. #### 5 tips to improve your ecommerce checkout process. Your ecommerce checkout process, design, and encompassed features all impact the volume of sales you process, how satisfied your customers will be with your business and how likely they are to return. The ultimate aim is to make the checkout process as smooth and streamlined as possible so your customers experience a positive online shopping experience with your brand. There are many ways to improve your checkout process and below we share five tips to optimise your checkout process which can help to reduce cart abandonment and boost your conversion rate. The ideal checkout process for ecommerce One of the most effective ways to enhance your checkout process is to adhere to a logical flow. The ecommerce checkout process comprises a sequence of actions your customers must complete to purchase an item in their shopping basket. The best online checkouts will have a logical flow and will be structured so that the user experience will be seamless and frictionless. The way in which a logical checkout will flow will vary slightly depending on the product you offer. For example, digital goods will never require shipping information because the product will be downloaded directly. In general, whether you utilise a single-page checkout, a multi-page checkout, or a more complex process, you should follow a series of ecommerce checkout best practices, which we outline in more detail below. 5 tips to improve your ecommerce checkout process Here are five ways in which you can optimise your online checkout process to help reduce your abandoned cart rate and improve your conversions and revenue.  1. Prioritise a mobile-friendly checkout One the first ecommerce checkout best practices you should be following, if you aren’t already, is ensuring you have a mobile-friendly online checkout. Any design for a modern ecommerce checkout page should be mobile-friendly, so when designing your ecommerce website, keep in mind that the design should be mobile responsive. According to Zopa, 60% of total retail online sales are now conducted on a mobile device. If you don’t optimise your checkout page for mobile, you’re going to lose a sizeable portion of your consumer base. 2. Allow for a guest checkout process While it’s critical to acquire repeat customers and increase retention, you don’t want to completely alienate one-time purchasers. You want to assure customers they have the ability to checkout as a guest. You can still collect some first-party data, such as their email address, and still allow them to complete their transaction quickly. That way, you can still send them your newsletter - so long as they have consented to be contacted. Not all customers want to register for an account, so you should never create a barrier for them to purchase your goods; instead, you want to make it simple for them. This is where you should only collect necessary information to complete the transaction, thus omitting any unnecessary stages. These one-time purchasers may also not want to be contacted following their purchase and you have to respect that. 3. Provide appropriate payment methods in your ecommerce checkout process Providing as many payment alternatives as you can is always in your best interest. It’s best to prioritise the most widely used ways initially, gradually expanding your alternatives as you see fit. Many online businesses offer Buy Now Pay Later options at their checkout and some of the most popular include Klarna and Clearpay. Customers can be picky about which payment method they want to use. While many will choose the most advantageous payment method available, others will pay only through their favourite method. Be sure to explore your options and weigh out which payment methods you want to include on your ecommerce checkout page. 4. Include your security badges Displaying your security badges and emblems prominently shows your customers that your ecommerce website takes security seriously. These badges should be displayed during the checkout process to reassure customers of the system’s robust security measures in place. Customers rightly expect a secure and safe system to feel at ease, especially when they’re sharing such sensitive personal data. These security badges demonstrate the systems that are safeguarding them and encourage confidence to provide peace of mind. 5. Utilise a progress indicator to assist with checkout process Whether your ecommerce checkout process is one-page, multi-page, or multi-step, incorporating a progress indicator is always beneficial. This enables consumers to keep track of their progress, examine the steps they’ve done and see the remaining steps they have left.  It’s a good way to inform customers how much time remains in the payment process. It’s also convenient as it guides customers through the checkout process and makes it easy for them to complete. How else can I improve my ecommerce checkout process? As well as the above online checkout process best practices, there are a few other things you can do to optimise and improve your checkout process, for example: Eliminate unexpected charges - additional charges force buyers to abandon their purchase or, at the very least, doubt its value. Providing as much information as possible beforehand including subtotals, taxes, and shipping charges will ensure you’re being transparent with your customers and they know exactly what they’re paying for. Ensure forms are validated - enabling real-time form field validations means you’re collecting accurate information about your customers that will also aid with the validation of your transactions. Report any errors - if a customer highlights an error that has occurred, or you yourself spot an error, ensure these are reported and fixed immediately so you don’t miss out on any conversions. Enable a social login option - allowing your customers to sign in or register an account with their social media credentials, not only validates your customers identity, but also improves their shopping experience by eliminating unnecessary steps to sign up or sign in to their account. Save abandoned cart items automatically - doing this will encourage customers to continue where they left off and purchase their items without the need to re-add or search for the items they want all over again. Let our experts optimise your checkout process We hope our ecommerce checkout best practices provide you with inspiration to optimise your own and boost your conversion rate. The ultimate aim is to ensure your customers have a positive online shopping experience with your brand because not only will they shop with you again, they’ll hopefully recommend your brand to others, which in turn brings in more custom. If you find you need expert help to improve your ecommerce checkout, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Our talented team can design and build a flawless ecommerce checkout process that encompasses all of the above and more! #### 5 tips to improve your web design for mobile. We’ve said time and time again, mobile friendly web design is a necessity for online businesses. It shows that you are prioritising the mobile browsing experience as opposed to treating it like an afterthought. But even if you have adopted web design for mobile, is it providing an excellent user experience for your users? Many brands implement mobile web design and don’t make a strategic effort to optimise it for a continued positive user experience. That’s why we’re sharing our top five tips to improve your web design for mobile so you can ensure that your site not only looks great, but also functions seamlessly on any device. Let’s dive right in. 1. Ensure you have a simple to use navigation The navigation on your website should be intuitive and straightforward. If it’s too complicated, you run the risk of your visitors abandoning your site because they can’t figure out how to use the navigation.  You want to aim to have no more than seven items in your top navigation to avoid overcrowding. This should consist of your main service or transactional pages, your blog or news section, and your contact page. You also want to ensure they’re evenly spaced to avoid what is known as ‘fat-finger syndrome’, where users accidentally click the wrong link because of bad spacing between clickable elements. When users visit your site on a mobile device or tablet, they want to be able to easily find what they’re looking for without getting lost in a sea of menus and buttons. With this in mind, it’s important to use the most appropriate style of menu on your web design for mobile. A popular menu style is the hamburger menu, which gives your users streamlined access to different sections of your site. It’s also best practice to allow for a small amount of padding between the text and the screen’s outer edge on your mobile navigation. This not only helps to improve usability, but also makes the layout much more readable and cleaner. 2. Follow a simple and straightforward web design for mobile Following nicely from our previous tip, in order to help mobile users access your site easily and quickly, you should have a simple and straightforward design. This is because mobile device users are often looking for quick and easy access to information, so it’s important to ensure you have a clean and uncluttered layout. One way you can do this is by keeping to a legible and easy-to-read font size. As mobile screens are much smaller than desktop screens, you want to aim to stay away from broad headings and stylised typography so your users don’t have to zoom in to read your text. Another way is to ensure you allow your CTAs to stand out. A clear path to your desired CTA should be present on your landing pages, so you should also avoid using too many elements.  By focusing on a minimalist web design for mobile, not only are you prioritising user experience but you're also prioritising the most important information on your site. As well as this, streamlining your layout ensures quick page load times which ultimately helps boost conversion rates. 3. Make use of your white space to construct visual hierarchy Utilising white space strategically can greatly enhance the visual hierarchy of your website. White space on a website isn't necessarily literal white space - it’s how designers refer to these sections on your site. White space, or negative space, refers to the spacing in the left and right margins of your site, and the spacing between paragraphs or certain sections for example. Using this element allows your page to breathe and stand out, making it easier for users to navigate and understand your content on a mobile device. According to The Daily Egg, using white space actually improves reader comprehension by nearly 20%. You can incorporate ample white space around important elements of a web page such as headings, call to action (CTA) buttons, and images. Doing this allows you to create a clean and organised layout that guides users’ attention effectively, ultimately improving user engagement. 4. Keep your content short and sweet As we’ve mentioned previously, mobile device users are on the lookout for quick and easy access to information, which is why it’s important to ensure your content is short, sweet, and concise. Avoiding long paragraphs and opting for shorter sentences to help you get straight to the point is a great way of doing this. Another way of keeping your content concise is the strategic use of things like bullet points, headings, and clear formatting. Even utilising icons for certain actions such as calling and following your social media channels can not only save you prime real estate on your mobile web design but also improve your readability.  Keeping your content brief on your web design for mobile allows you to make sure your users can quickly scan and digest the information they need without feeling overwhelmed with lengthy blocks of text. 5. Ensure your forms are optimised for mobile We all know that filling out forms online can be a headache, and if you haven’t optimised your forms for mobile, then this will only add to the stress and turn your users away, meaning potential conversions missed.  There are some simple ways to optimise your forms including keeping your form simple with minimum fields to complete, ensuring large touch-friendly buttons and tickboxes, and enabling auto-fill and auto-correct for speed. It’s also vital to make sure you test all of your forms on different devices to make sure they work as they should and provide a seamless experience for all users regardless of the device they’re using. Streamlining your online forms for mobile minimises the effort and time for users to complete your forms, meaning they’re more likely to stay engaged with your site. This drives better results for your brand as well as providing an excellent user experience for your audience. Want more mobile web design tips? We’ve highlighted just some of the many tips for web design for mobile, which if you aren’t already implementing, you should be. These simple but effective design tips are easy to implement and will almost certainly bring a host of benefits to your site. For more information, take a look at our Web Design Do’s and Don’ts: Tips for Creating a Stunning Website blog.  If you’d like to learn more mobile web design tips, or you’d like to discuss your web design project with us, don’t hesitate to contact us. We specialise in creating stunning websites that look as good as they convert, so why not speak to our web design experts today to see how we can take your brand to a whole new level. #### 5 types of social media targeting. Targeting is key to the success of a paid social media campaign, but many are unaware of what sort of targeting criteria is available. Here are five of the most popular targeting options: Retargeting Retargeting is something I’m sure most of you are familiar with from the audience side of things. You look at a product on a website and for the next few days, the products or business you looked at appears everywhere. Now retargeting doesn’t simply have to be targeting everyone who visited your website, you can also target visitors based on their actions on the site. For example, people who initiated checkout or started filling in their details can be targeted specifically. Based on their actions, they were very close to making a purchase and they may just need that extra push, so a retargeting campaign offering 5% off may prove the deciding factor. Retargeting can be extremely effective when used right, but it is worth considering that volumes of traffic affect this.  As you can imagine, a global company with tens of thousands of daily visitors will have a much larger pool to target, and thus the campaigns have more chance of succeeding. Lookalike Lookalike audiences are dubbed the ‘Holy Grail’ of Facebook and it has been reported that they were used widely for political campaigns such as the Donald Trump election campaign and Brexit. Lookalike audiences are created by Facebook, based on data supplied to them. This data could be a customer database uploaded or website visitors. Essentially, Facebook takes the data source and finds similar people to who you’ve provided them with, ie. potential customers. So the stronger the data, the better the results. The lookalikes are based on numerous characteristics that only Facebook truly knows, but it is mostly based on online behaviour and has worked wonders for companies (and politicians). Interest-based Interest-based targeting allows you to target people based on things they are interested in. The list of interests isn’t endless, so we need to make sure that the interests that we can target for are relative to what we’re advertising. Facebook identifies who is likely to have an interest in something based on things they interact with, pages and groups they like and what they talk about. You may have experienced that after you clicked on a Facebook ad for a product, you all of a sudden are targeted by similar products. This is likely to be due to interest targeting taking effect. By clicking on an ad for, say, headphones, you are likely to be interested in headphones and earphones so other ads will try to capture you. Work-based LinkedIn is the most accurate when it comes to job-based targeting, as people list a lot more about their work on LinkedIn than they do on the likes of Instagram or Twitter. On LinkedIn, you can target people based on a plethora of work-related categories, from job title to size of the company to key skills. Facebook also offers work related targeting, although it is less common to list your job title on Facebook these days. If you are looking to target someone from a particular industry then interest targeting may still work. Someone interested in construction, or construction-related Facebook group/page, is likely to have some relation to the industry. Basic demographic based In some cases, a brand appeals to a broad range of people and sometimes demographics-based targeting can be effective. Say, perhaps, your service or product is targeted at married people, Facebook will allow you to target people who are listed as married. You do, however, want to be clever when your business appears to such a broad group of people, as you can still narrow the market down by catering the wording and artwork to each subcategory that can be targeted separately as part of the same campaign.  You may, for example, decide to target husbands aged 60+ with one ad. That will allow you to use more specific language such as mentioning the word 'wife', and you can add images of older couples to make it more relatable. We often find ourselves combining the above to find the most effective market for our campaigns. If you have a lookalike audience, you may want to narrow it down by age or gender (for example), based on statistics you find on the likes of Google Analytics. If 95% of people who purchase your product are female, then it’s probably worth only targeting the females in the lookalike. Whatever campaign you're interested in we have the skillset to improve your visibility and conversion rate. Contact us today to find out more about our paid social media solutions. #### 5 use cases of PPC and SEO working together. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising your website to achieve higher rankings in search engines, whereas pay-per-click marketing (PPC) involves keyword optimisation of different types of paid ads across Google and other networks. Both strategies are highly effective standalone, but together can actually improve brand visibility as well as conversions. SEO and PPC are often seen as two completely separate digital marketing strategies, however, some of the best results can be achieved by combining these two strategies together. Keep reading to see five use cases of PPC and SEO working together to give you inspiration for your marketing efforts. What are the benefits of SEO and PPC working together? There are multiple benefits of SEO and PPC working together, one being maximising your return on investment (ROI). Both tactics can inform one another, for example SEO can inform PPC strategies such as landing page optimisation, and similarly PPC can guide SEO tactics in relation to keyword research and insights. This therefore allows you to take an integrated approach in terms of investment and ultimately boost performance of each strategy. Another benefit is boosting your online visibility. As you have PPC and SEO campaigns running simultaneously, your brand is across all possible channels which boosts your visibility in search engines, which will help increase your chances of conversions in the long run. SEO and PPC campaigns can also help combat seasonality dips. Almost all businesses have their moments within the year where sales are at their lowest. By integrating SEO and PPC campaigns, it keeps your brand visible online during those quieter months and at the forefront of your customers mind. 5 use cases of SEO and PPC working together 1. Targeting and testing keywords Both SEO and PPC campaigns work when you target relevant keywords to your brand. Before you launch a marketing campaign, you should gather data and insights into relevant organic search terms and build a list of meta keywords to target. From here, you can implement the most relevant keywords for your SEO and PPC campaigns to help boost your visibility and rankings on search engines. If there is a keyword you are considering as using for part of your SEO activities, then you should consider using a PPC campaign to try and understand where your competition is at and how relevant your website is for that keyword. This insight into testing these keywords will help you to make a decision for your SEO campaigns. 2. More relevant content for users When analysing your results for your SEO and PPC campaigns, you can use the data to inform the content you use for each tactic. For example, PPC search ads allows you to utilise a variety of headlines and descriptions to test which of these lead to the most conversions. When you identify which ad copy, CTAs and descriptions resonate the most with your audience, this can be used as part of your SEO efforts. Vice versa with your SEO campaigns - by analysing which pages have performed well, you can identify what content has captured your audience's attention meaning this can be used for future PPC campaigns. This kind of insight is invaluable and can lead to higher conversion rates for your business. 3. Better audience insights Sticking with the theme of data, your PPC campaigns can provide you with valuable audience insights that can help you shape your buyer persona, thus allowing you to devise an engaging content strategy.  Thanks to Google Ads in-market audiences, you can analyse real-time audience characteristics along with the added bonus of the keywords and phrases they’re searching for that are relevant to your campaigns. Again, this information can be used for your SEO efforts and allow for more targeted, relevant content for your ideal audience. 4. Boost your SERPs coverage Combining your SEO and PPC marketing campaigns will help boost your Search Engine Results Page (SERPs) coverage. As your PPC campaigns are displayed at the top of SERPs and your organic SEO results appear below, when you integrate these together, the more they work together. This kind of integrated approach gives your brand the best value when it comes to your brand's SERPs coverage. If your customers don’t engage with your paid campaigns at the top, your organic results will still be displayed meaning you have a second chance of encouraging a conversion. 5. Optimisation of metadata information For both SEO and PPC campaigns, you need to fully optimise metadata information in order to achieve the top position. This means optimising meta titles, meta descriptions and campaign copy with target keywords that are relevant to your campaigns and your business. If you have a high click-through rate (CTR) for your PPC campaigns, you can extract copy from your Google ads and optimise your meta information and web copy for your SEO campaigns and vice versa with your SEO for your PPC campaigns. By doing this, you can improve your CTR and overall performance of your campaigns, whether you’re optimising a landing page on your website, or fine-tuning your paid ads. Want to learn more about how PPC and SEO can work together? We’ve highlighted just some of the ways in which SEO and PPC can work together and it just goes to show how powerful your digital marketing efforts can become if you combine these highly effective strategies together.  If you’d like to learn more about how PPC and SEO can work together, get in touch with us today. Our talented digital marketing team can provide you with expert advice and recommendations so you can supercharge your PPC and SEO efforts. We can also manage your SEO and PPC marketing on your behalf. Speak to us today to find out more. #### 5 ways to generate interest in your business. Whether you're a new start up company, or one that's been established for years, it's always essential to keep the public - and in particular your target audience - interested in what you're doing. More publicity will generally lead to more sales. Here we look at 5 ways you can generate interest. 1. Write a blog Set up a blog on your website and post regular articles. This has several benefits: It keeps your website up to date and dynamic - encouraging repeat visitors. It establishes your company as an authority on the subjects written about - good for PR. People can link into your posts which can help with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Also most blogs come with RSS feeds - these can be used in many beneficial ways by you or your target audience. 2. Make use of email campaigns There are 3 main types of email campaigns. If used effectively, these can create a powerful marketing strategy. Auto responders - these are emails sent out at specific stages from initial sign-up. E.g. 5 days after, 10 days after, 3 weeks after. This can reinforce your company's key messages in bite sized chunks after a person has signed up to receive emails from yourself for example. RSS - these are emails which contain content from an RSS feed. They can work as an automatic monthly update on your latest blog posts for example. Regular - a manual email sent out at particular times e.g. Christmas, Valentines Day etc. - ideal for advertising special offers. Why not set up an account with Mailchimp where you can set these up yourself? If you need some templates designing or these setting up for you let us know... 3. Try using promotions Everyone loves a bit of a 'good deal' and offering a special discount for a limited period of time will generate interest. Even if many people don't actually go for the special offer, it's an opportunity to show them what other goods/services you can offer. Why not get some advertising on some industry websites or run a pay per click campaign with Google or Bing? Whatever you do be sure to measure the impact of your advertising. Create a page on your website all about your promotion and ensure you add key selling points, messages and prominent 'calls to action'. 4. Be active on social media If you haven't got a company Facebook and Twitter page already then you should seriously consider setting one up. It's easy to do and even better it's a free way to market your company! With more than 75 million active users on Twitter and over 400 million active users on Facebook it's an area worth tapping into. Why not go one step further? We can set up Facebook and Twitter pages for you which are branded consistently with your company logo and if your website supports it, we can set up an RSS feed from your website blog to your social media pages. This will mean that whenever you post a new blog on your website - your Facebook and Twitter pages will automatically update with it. Now there's a bit of a time saver for you! 5. Create a viral video A good way to create a personality around your brand and get people talking about your company is to create a viral video and upload it to YouTube. Generally speaking it should be a fun video which is not sales driven. A video with a really good concept will generate a lot of viewers on YouTube and hence more public awareness of your company. We hope these ideas have got you thinking. If you would like some assistance with your marketing strategy why not contact us today? #### 5 ways to get the most out of your graphic design agency Partnering with a graphic design agency can be a game-changer for any business looking to up their brand and marketing game. These creative professionals can help bring your vision to life and create stunning visuals that resonate with your target audience. But how can you ensure you’re getting the most out of your partnership to ensure your message and visuals are being seen effectively? Keep reading as we share five ways to get the most out of your collaboration with your graphic design agency to help ensure a successful partnership that yields exceptional results for you. Let's dive right. 1. Create a mood board Whether you’re getting a new website design, conjuring up a new logo, or you’re working on your next brochure design, creating a mood board is a fantastic way to ensure your vision aligns with your graphic design agency’s understanding of your project. A mood board can help you convey the look and feel you’re aiming for, whether it’s through colour schemes, typography, or overall style inspiration. This collaborative tool not only facilitates communication, but also provides valuable insight to the graphic design team and serves as a point of reference to keep everyone on the same creative page throughout the design process. It doesn’t have to be a physical mood board either, you could simply create a board on Pinterest. 2. Share your aims Sharing your aims with your graphic design agency is crucial in ensuring that both parties are aligned and working towards the same goals. Even if you have no idea what the design needs to look like, you at least need to know your end goal. By communicating your objectives, desired outcomes, and vision for the project, you provide the agency with valuable insights that can help them tailor their designs to meet your specific needs. Whether you’re aiming to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or revamp your visual identity, clear communication about your aims will set the foundation for a successful collaboration with your graphic design agency as they can use their expertise to make sure the design meets your objectives. 3. Provide as much content as you can Many designers are often faced with the dilemma of designing something before they’re given proper content. It’s not the best way to go about things as designers can’t construct their best design based on rough ideas. That’s why the more information and materials you can share, the better they will be able to understand your brand, vision, and goals. From brand guidelines and logos, to images and text content, every detail you provide helps the graphic design team to tailor their designs to suit your needs perfectly. By collaborating closely and openly sharing your ideas and resources, you can ensure that the final creative output reflects your brand identity and resonates with your target audience. Remember, you want your design to work to the content, not the other way around. 4. Don’t treat your designer like a tool It’s important to remember that your graphic design agency is a valuable partner in bringing your vision to life. So remember to treat them with respect and as a creative collaborator. Your specialist graphic design team are there to advise, as well as undertake your project, so whilst you want the designer to know what you’ve got in mind, try not to be too specific and allow them room to play. Building a positive and open relationship with your designer can lead to better communication, increased creativity, and ultimately, more successful design outcomes. Share your ideas, provide feedback, and be open to their suggestions - after all, they’re experts in their field and can offer valuable insights to help you achieve the best results for your project. 5. Ensure thorough communication throughout Once your project gets going, ensuring thorough communication throughout the process is key. Clear and open communication between you and your graphic design agency can help ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding project goals, timelines, and expectations. If you like how the project is going, let your designer know. Not sure if it’s working? Let your designer know. Be proactive in providing feedback and asking questions to make sure that the final deliverables meet your vision. Regular check-ins and updates can also help keep the project on track and allow for any necessary adjustments along the way. Ultimately, communication is the most important element to any partnership and can help you maximise the results. Looking for a graphic design agency to partner with? Partnering with a graphic design agency can truly elevate your business to new heights. By harnessing the creativity and expertise of professionals, you can enhance your brand images, attract more customers, and stand out in a competitive market. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, be sure to contact us today. Here at Fifteen, we can create remarkable designs that will set you apart from the rest. Getting the job done right is at the core of every client relationship and we want your project to be the best it can be just as much as you do. Speak to us today and let’s create something amazing. #### 5 Ways To Increase Web Form Conversion Use them right and they will treat you right Forms. Love or hate them! However, it’s hard to think that 86% of us fill out a minimum of one web form per week. That’s crazy, right? I bet you’ve signed up for something today or even signed into your favourite app? Boom! You’ve filled in a form. I love forms. Can’t get enough of them. I’ve seen a fair few bad forms in my time and some amazing ones. Forms that break all laws of best practice conventions right through to a form with cracking accessibility. So I thought I would share my five ways to design optimised web forms that could create leads and convert customers and yourself to loving forms like me. The form is potentially the first thing someone sees and it’s a crucial step in a customers journey and also a huge opportunity. Forms are everywhere, from a simple sign up for a newsletter right through to a checkout process, any company will reap the benefits from helping people reach their goals efficiently. Simple, clear and really concise web forms could boost lead generations, conversion rate, and customer retention. But a big stickler is that if not done right then forms could take away from all the efforts you’ve achieved elsewhere on your site. Throughout my career, I’ve picked up on a few (that I believe) are the five best practices for designing sexy web forms: 1. Make form elements clear Make forms easy to use Minimise form fields (cutting the noise) A well thought out Call to Action (CTA) Using visual contrast in the form design Web Form Elements I feel that there are 5 fundamental elements that make a form more effective: Architecture: This includes how and where you order the fields of the form, arrange the layout of how you want the user to interact and connect between the fields. Something that so many companies get wrong is the ordering, and ordering a form in a logical way will result in better user experience (UX). The fields themselves: Fields are the areas we ask users to add in their name or phone number or a password, right through to checkboxes, radio buttons and even a captcha tool. Field labels: These are the titles for each field telling the specific user what they need to put into that field. Call to Action (CTA/Button): This is for when a user would like to press something for an action to happen for example submitting their details on a registration form. Last but not least and an important one (well they all are) is, Feedback: This will allow the user to see the result of their input. It could be as simple as a (“Thanks for signing up!”) or if there is an error with the form (“This entry doesn’t look right, please try again” ). This could also include any in-line validation you may want to present to the user to ease the entry process. 2. Make the form easy to use Being clear will result in great user experience and simplifying web forms, In the end, will result in near enough anyone could use it (dependant on the user requirements). Guiding the user in what’s required will allow them to calmly touch or click that final call to action. There are a few helpful ways to make this happen: Be specific for example instead of saying ‘Name’ say  ‘First name’. Try to use shorter labels which could help your users scan the form concisely, navigating them towards their end goal. Provide examples: if you think a field will confuse a user try adding something that might help them to fill it in correctly such as if it’s a CVC number (the three digits at the back of your bank card) give them a little bit of a helper text or even an icon showing them where it is. And finally three of my favourite discussion points: The use of asterisks/optional fields: Detailing to a user straight up with an asterisks * (fields marked with an * are required and not optional) will allow them to skim through the form to see what they HAVE to enter. But, I feel that if the form has more required fields and only have one or even two optional fields, then instead of complicating the form and having so many asterisks and a piece of helper text, then simply use the work 'optional' to the right of the field title. Not all users know what is implied by the required field marker. The use of sentence case: Readability of a web form is fundamental and by using sentence case – capitalisation only the first word in for longer phrases, will enhance this greatly, whereas Title case (“Sign Up Now”) can be functional for CTA buttons, however, if you want to make your CTA stand out more use UPPERCASE - but that’s another kettle of fish. Making the title of the form easy to understand: this should illustrate to the user straight up what they are letting themselves in for and also tell them what they get for filling this form in. Incentivising form completions will also help increase the number of forms and positive feedback. Making it a simple form, at first sight, will increase the chance of user conversion. 3. Minimise the number of form fields Designers always say “Less is more” and for this, it’s surely the case. Shorter forms allow for seamless user experience, historically, the standard has been that 3 is the optimum number of fields you want on your form to max your conversion rate. But recent research by Formstack looking at data for more than 650,000 of their customers found that lead-gen forms have an average of 11 fields and conversion rate of 17%. Something I have learned is to try and avoid overwhelming a user by requesting only the data needed to further the customer relationship. To potentially change the perception of a user conversion rate try a staggered entry method, dividing fields between several pages will reduce the effort for the end user and a create a sense of progress, allowing the user to understand very quickly where they are in the process. To quickly see if your forms on your website are too long, you can look at the bounce rate of that or those pages. If your bounce rate is high, think about reducing your fields. Similarly, the length of a field should represent what the user needs to do, such as a postal code entry field and phone numbers as these have a limited character length. 4. Add a well thought out Call to Action (CTA) The CTA is the button on your web form which Indicates to your user what is happening next. It should also tell the user both the intent of the form and also address the user’s end action too. For me, the text on the button and its parents are extremely important in the finalisation of the user's action for conversion. When designing your CTA button, remember to: Make the CTA button large and unmistakable on the page, with colour, shadows or even size of the right typography. I believe making the button inactive until all fields have been correctly filled in to be the most effective method. This prompts the user to click on the button. Using the right type of language here will help the user to know to 'click' or 'tap' this to move onto the next stage of completion. Language needs to be descriptive and concise to give the user a full understanding of what they are doing. For example, Sign Up vs Submit. This will, therefore, help the user know they are making the right choice when submitting the form.   Supporting a CTA button with helper text can help the user decide more if it’s what they are needing to do, such as ‘You’ll receive one newsletter per week’. 5. Using visual contrast in the form design I believe that visual contrast is vital to form design. Why? Because it indicates which areas deserve more attention to the user, but without these, it then may confuse your user and in this could create more bounce rate. Users often leave a web page between 10 and 20 seconds after landing on the page. The ability to rapidly make the users decide towards an action will have an impact on the conversion rate. These simple tips will help with conversion: The power of colour: Using the power a client's brand guidelines and common design sense such as primary and complementary colours together could help your designs stand out. Contrast: Using a lighter box on top of a dark object will make it pop – but too much will kill the design. Object limitation: Designing your form in a space where there is no competing noise or objects could catch the user’s attention. When the goal is a conversion, it’s best to limit all distractions. For example, Amazon uses a contrasting colour of their logo to help the user to navigate their eye to the CTA. And this example where a user will be confused as to where to click if the contrast of the CTA isn't right Plenty of white space allows the user to be at ease and comfortable to enter in their details. Web forms should be fast and easy to use - seamless through their journey through the page. So, to summaries; use labels efficiently and consist. Use contrasting colours to allow the user to easily find where they need to go and shorten the form down as much as you can (without it impacting on your user needs will keep the users from bouncing). Designing the form properly will move your users to the next step and hopefully a fantastic relationship between you and your user. Life can be short wasting time on filling long forms - who really has 5 minutes these days to fill in an online form. Let’s make them fun and be conversational where needed. Hopefully, this will convert you to make a great conversion rate form. At Fifteen we love watching visits turn into conversions. If you'd like us to help you realise your site's potential contact us today and we'll help you design a form that is functional as well as faultless. #### 5 Ways To Keep Your Blog Alive (How To Come Up With Blog Ideas) One of the first recommendations we normally give to our customers is to introduce a blog to their website. It’s a cost-effective way of adding growth to your website, targeting additional keywords, and improving your conversion rates. Whilst it’s a great addition to any website, and generally doesn’t cost money to run, one thing it does consume is time. You need somebody who is able to write consistently good content that is useful for your audience, on a regular basis. But, how do you keep the blog ideas coming? How do you know that you won’t just run out of ideas after a few months of blogging about your company? We’re here to give you some tips on consistently coming up with great blog ideas for your website. #1 - Keyword Research As we said above, blogs are a great way to target a more diverse range of keywords. So, in order to find out what keywords you should be targeting (and, therefore, talking about in your blogs), an initial session of keyword research can be really useful. Not only will it give you an idea of an array of topics related to your business, it can sometimes unveil popular conversational keywords that already represent a blog title. For example, when researching keywords related to content marketing, we saw that the keyword phrase “what is content marketing?” receives over 5,000 average monthly searches. Then we went and wrote this beginner’s guide to content marketing. Want to get a head start with your digital marketing? [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/contact/"]Ask about our Keyword Research package[/fifteen_button] #2 - Keep an ideas list “Why would I keep a list of blog ideas if I can’t come up with any ideas in the first place?” we hear you ask. Well, the point is that if you’re anything like us, you come up with your best ideas at the most inconvenient of times. By the time you’re sat in front of your screen, staring at a blank Word document, you’ve completely forgotten all the fantastic ideas you had throughout the day. Start making a list of all the ideas as they pop into your head, either on your phone, in a notebook, or a document accessible through the cloud. If you’ve got some creative minds in your office, give them all access to the ideas file on your server, and watch it grow. You can take these ideas as they are, or expand upon them further. Which brings us swiftly onto our next idea… #3 - Expand upon what you’ve already got Remember that one blog article (new bloggers, keep an eye out for it) that seemed to garner a lot more attention than usual? Use that. Check through your best content to see if you’ve left anything out, and then expand upon it. If you’ve actually been really thorough and left no stone unturned within your literary masterpiece (well done, you) then look at related subjects that can link back to the original. As well, you can look to your content on the actual pages of your website for inspiration. If any part of your content could be expanded upon, write a blog about it and link between the two. If neither of them works, you could try Tip #4... #4 – Expand upon what other people have got If you’ve checked through all your content and found nothing that can be expanded upon, try looking towards your competitors. We’re not saying you should go and steal their ideas, or straight-up copy their content, but you can use theirs to get inspired. At Fifteen, we do it a lot without even realising. All our team members are subscribed to various blogs from people in our industry (in addition to receiving updates straight from the source), and it inspires us daily. By reading content from other people, you can learn more about different aspects of your industry, and apply that to your blog ideas. Want to keep an eye on what your competitors are doing? [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/contact/"]Ask about our in-depth Competitor Analysis[/fifteen_button] #5 – Listen to your audience Nobody knows more about what your audience wants to read than your audience themselves. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback, or to ask users what it is that they want. Encourage comments and emails. Talk to your customers on social media. Scan through related forums, social media groups, and other online communities. Find anything that will give you an indication as to what your audience is talking about, and what questions they have. There we have it. Our 5 top tips for keeping your blog alive with great blog ideas. #### 5 Ways to Maximise Social Media Ah, social media. Is it just a land of questionable memes, internet trolls and pictures of people’s food which is almost definitely going cold and not being appreciated in its full, warm beauty? Well, some of it is, I can’t deny that. However, there is also a gargantuan opportunity to reach new customers, engage with long-standing patrons of your business and grow your brand across a wide range of platforms, creatives and different locations. I’ve outlined my top 5 tips below for getting the most out of social media: Identify your brand and your audience So, before you get too excited and start posting away on every social network available, you’ll need to decide what it is you’re going to be posting about. There is a lot of noise out there on social channels so it’s really important to decide what it is about your company that sets it apart from the competition. Ask yourself a few questions: What makes your brand different, exciting or engaging? What does your brand have to offer? Why are your customers (or potential customers) going to stop looking at pictures of cats on their Facebook feed and engage with your company? It’s also really important to decide on the tone of voice you’ll adopt on social channels and how this fits into your overall marketing strategy. Social media, as with any other marketing channel you use, is an extension of your brand. So it’s vital to ensure you have consistency across your website, social media and any other touchpoints a customer may have with you. Once you’ve decided on what you’ll be talking about, you’ll need to figure out who you’ll be talking to. One of the best ways to do this is to build out customer personas based on the data you have about your current audience. Information such as age, gender, location, interests, devices and occupation are massively valuable when putting these personas together. Give your customer persona a name too and get everyone at the company to buy into it – if everyone knows that your messaging is more ‘Margaret’ than ‘Melanie’ for a particular campaign then you can have faith that everyone is on the same page and you’ve got a consistent tone of voice across your marketing efforts. Audience data is readily available from a host of different platforms like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights and specialist customer data platforms such as Hitwise if you’ve got some budget to put behind your research. You’ll likely make a few tweaks to your personas over time as your audience grows and could end up with a variety of personas you look to target to suit your different business goals. Define a social content strategy Copy and paste just won’t work. Different platforms call for different content and will depend on the audience you’re looking to target. For example, if you know that your ‘Melanie’ persona tends to consume more visual content you’ll likely be looking to focus attention on platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest or YouTube rather than say, Twitter. Here at Fifteen, we advocate creating a ‘Content Calendar’ to map out your activity over different weeks or months to ensure you have a full picture on the type of activity you’ll be running per platform. As well as giving you a holistic view of your activity, it’s also a great way of ensuring that each different post or campaign is clearly linked back to your objectives – are you looking to raise awareness of your company, are you looking to focus on conversions or are you looking to use social media to provide service to your customers by way of answering questions and queries? Also, it’s really important to understand the specifications for content on each platform – image sizes, video length, text restrictions etc – to ensure that when you’re ready to launch a campaign, you have a full arsenal of assets at your disposal. And again, don’t just copy and paste, think about how that content is consumed on each channel. Don’t just shoehorn in all the elements you have on a landing page banner onto a much smaller image for social media or you’ll begin to dilute your messaging. Monitor your activity (and your competitors) Social media is definitely an ‘always-on’ channel so be prepared to speak to your customers on their schedule, or at least set their expectations on when you’ll be available to respond to them. If you leave a query (or complaint for that matter) unanswered for a few hours you could be at risk of losing a potential new prospect or upsetting an existing customer. Monitoring your activity is also a great opportunity to identify brand advocates, influencers and those valuable customers who can provide insight into the kind of messaging that works for your audience. Nurturing these kinds of customers is pivotal to growing your online presence and ultimately, your business. Depending on the activity you’re running, you may also need to monitor your activity to react to potential leads for your business. If you’re focusing on conversion, you’ll want to be keeping an eye on which type of messaging is working to drive people through to your website or increasing footfall to your stores and which messaging needs refining. There’s also the odd crisis you may need to be on hand for… Get involved in the conversation There are thousands of conversations happening on social media (some relevant, some… not so much) so our advice is to get involved where it’s relevant for your business. Platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are rife with hashtags which allow you to jump on hotly discussed topics and share some valuable insight. If you do take this approach, one thing to be very mindful of is how you can add value to that conversation. There are numerous examples of brands, and the general public for that matter, trying to jump on a hashtag without appreciating the context and falling hard on their face, which could make up a whole new blog post in itself (stay tuned for that one…). You may find that with your industry there aren’t many relevant conversations you can get involved in to raise awareness of your brand. If that’s the case, start the conversation yourself! Going back to monitoring your activity, you can utilise those brand advocates to join in the conversation and get people talking about your industry, your brand and your expertise. It’s also great practice to get everyone else at your company invested in your brand and to help support your activity on social media through their own profiles, whether it’s liking your latest post, sharing content or shouting about the great things you’re doing as a company. Darren Rowse (https://twitter.com/problogger) said it best: “If you want engagement, be engaging. Be conversational. Ask questions. Leave room for your audience to add their voice.” Measure your results I covered off digital marketing measurement in my last blog post, but seeing as I love talking about measurement and reporting, I’ll happily touch on it again. The key to measuring your results is to not be afraid of data – there’s a whole load of it at your disposal when running digital campaigns and social media is no different. You’ll most likely be using the same analytics platforms you would have familiarised yourself with when building out your audience personas such as Google Analytics and the insights you can get from each of the social networks you’re running activity on. It’s massively important to keep track of what activity has worked in line with your business goals and it’s equally as important to understand the activity that didn’t work. There will be some valuable insights into the kind of messaging, creative and approach that doesn’t quite resonate with your target audience, which will allow you to tweak and refine activity over time. Being able to tie your activity back to your business goals and KPI’s is vital for driving a long-term social media strategy and maximising the impact of your activity. If you’re interested in finding out more about how to maximise social media, check out our social media marketing page or drop us a line today.s #### 6 business new year’s resolutions for 2025. If you haven’t already, you’ll no doubt be promising yourself some new year’s resolutions, but have you taken the time to think about your business new year’s resolutions? Just like yourself, your business and website needs to be cared for in order to maintain smooth business flow. It’s therefore vital to give your business and website the care and attention it deserves. After all this is your creation, and not to mention your livelihood. Thinking about the ways in which you’d want to change or improve yourself is the same method and mentality you should apply to your business and website. Keep reading as we share six practical and achievable business new year’s resolutions that are designed to set you up for success for the year ahead.  6 business new year’s resolutions The new year brings a sense of renewal and opportunity for growth and with that in mind, now is the perfect time for business owners to reflect on their strategies and set new goals for the upcoming year. Here are six new year resolutions for business owners to consider. 1. Set some S.M.A.R.T goals and objectives A key business new year resolution to consider is setting some S.M.A.R.T goals and objectives. S.M.A.R.T is an acronym which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time, and is used as a method to define business goals and objectives. When you consider all the features of the acronym, it will ensure that you will create realistic targets. Whatever targets you have set, make sure they’re compatible with S.M.A.R.T, that all the points are met, and that they are practical. Think of your goals as a long term target, and your objectives as the short term target to achieve your goal. They need to be achievable if they are to work and by setting S.M.A.R.T goals and objectives, it keeps your targets consistent and in-line with one another. Without having any goals, it’s hard to progress a business and will likely remain in no change at all. However, after you’ve met all your objectives, you’ll notice the change in your business is positive and you’ll see more profitable results, not to mention keeping you to an up-to-date business model. 2. Optimise your website and ensure it’s mobile responsive It’s never too late to optimise your website. It’s crucial to ensure your website is up-to-date and effectively optimised because it shows search engines you’re accessible, engaging and most importantly, relevant to users. There are many more factors to consider when optimising your website, but we’ll focus on some of the most crucial to buckle down on first. Without having a user friendly website, your audience won’t stay on your site for long. Visitors want a clean and smooth experience, not to be left waiting and confused to navigate your site. There are many ways you can improve your website for mobile but first, make sure to overhaul and fix any issues you can find, no matter how small or minuscule they are. Ensuring your site is mobile responsive is no different, and probably the most important factor to consider. In today’s world, many businesses are moving online because users are now using their mobile devices to make purchases. With this in mind, it’s never been more important to ensure your site looks fresh and adaptive for all types of mobile devices. 3. Build a social media presence We know building a social media presence can take time, but this particular business new year resolution does come with many beneficial growths for your business. Plus, if you have the budget and resources to do so, you can speed up the process through the use of paid social ads. If you’re happy to grow your presence organically, creating video content for TikTok that is short and snappy is a useful tactic once understood and mastered. People are drawn to quick insights and videos and the trick is to keep them short but enticing enough to get them invested. Your videos can be about anything, such as the service you provide, or simply you want to show off the excellent work your team does. Maybe you have a product that you love and you want to show it off in action – this is a particularly fantastic way to get people looking for more. Images are also a great way to begin building your social media presence. You could post images of your day-to-day duties being carried out, sales or promotions you’re currently running, or updates relating to your business or industry. Instagram is the go-to platform thanks to its quick, easy, and simple set-up and will get your presence growing in no time. 4. Gather and share reviews It’s all well and good showing your audience what you provide, but allowing them to have their say is a business new year resolution all owners should be implementing. Did you leave your customers with a smile on their face? Is there a product you sell that your consumers love? If so, be sure to share these positive reviews with the rest of your audience through case studies and testimonials for example. This will bolster your company image and brand reputation.  As well as this, most review platforms offer the opportunity to share your reviews through widgets or graphic templates that can be implemented and used across your web pages and social media channels for example. Taking advantage of these is a great way to have in and out traffic, not only between your site and social channels, but also the review platform itself. Sharing your reviews not only improves brand awareness, but also keeps your target audience interacting on your website. 5. Keep up with the trends Keeping up with the latest trends is something that you may not be doing, or even thought it was possible in your line of work. However, there’s always a trend in every industry and it’s just a matter of finding that out and learning how to execute it.  There are many tools online including Google Trends that you can use to find this information out. This is a particularly great tool to see what’s booming and what users are searching for in your industry. Conducting this kind of research is highly beneficial to keep you in the loop and above your competitors. 6. Embrace AI technology Embracing AI technology into your day-to-day operations can truly revolutionise the way your business operates. AI continues to grow and evolve, helping businesses transform the way they work and enhancing efficiency.  You might have thought AI doesn’t apply to your business or industry, however there are plenty of AI solutions you can implement tailored to your industry. For example, you could incorporate chatbots to enhance your customer service, utilise AI-powered analytics for data-driven decision making, or automate repetitive tasks with machine learning algorithms.  By embracing AI technology, not only can you free up resources and reduce business costs, but you can position your organisation at the forefront of innovation and stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving business landscape. Find out how else you can improve your business These are just some of the many new year resolutions for business owners to consider and implement for 2025. Whatever resolutions you set for your business, the ultimate lesson is to simply take care of your organisation and website, just as much as you would yourself.  If you’d like to get more advice on how you can grow your business and improve your website for the upcoming new year, get in touch with us today. Our talented experts can support you with any aspect, from creating a stunning new website design, to promoting your business online. #### 6 digital marketing ideas for Christmas With Christmas just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about how you can make the most of this festive period for your business. Digital marketing plays an important role in reaching your target audience and potentially boosting sales during this very important season for many businesses. So with that in mind we share six digital marketing ideas for Christmas that will allow you to take advantage of this crucial time of year and spread some Christmas joy to your customers. From social media campaigns to email marketing strategies, we’ve got you covered with creative and effective ways to make this Christmas season your most successful one yet. 6 Christmas marketing ideas for the festive season The festive season is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to get creative and innovative with their digital marketing strategies. Here are six Christmas marketing ideas to help you make the most of this joyful season. Create a series of festive social media campaigns If you have a strong social media presence already, connecting with your audience will be pretty easy. Even if you’re a fairly new company and you’re still establishing your presence, social media is a great tactic for marketing at Christmas. There are lots of ways you can connect with your audience such as promoting your products, sharing deals and offers, and even sharing festive moments you and your team have been enjoying. Even if it’s sharing your office decorations or your team's Christmas jumpers, it’s a great opportunity to show behind-the-scenes content and resonate with your customers on a more human level. As well as this, there are plenty of ways to actively get your customers involved with your efforts. For example, you could share Christmas themed quizzes and questionnaires, or you could create a hashtag and get your audience to share images or videos of them using your products - which is also a great way of showing how real people use your products. Probably one of the best ways to utilise social media during the festive period is to run a competition or giveaway. Not only can this see a significant boost in engagement on your social channels, but it can also boost your following. Give your audience the chance to win a prize in exchange for them sharing their Christmas traditions for example. Send personalised emails campaigns Email marketing is a useful tool in itself, but at Christmas time, you can use it to send personalised email campaigns to really get your audience invested. People’s minds will already be thinking about the perfect gift to send to their friends and families, and by strategically landing in their inbox at the right time, you may just win over their business. The beauty of email marketing too is that it’s easy and automatic, all you need to do is create compelling content and nail the targeting. Obviously, you’ll want to promote your products and any seasonal offers you may be running, but some other Christmas marketing ideas for email include sharing your Christmas opening times, delivery cut-off times, or sharing Christmas gift guides for example. Remember with all your email campaigns, include personalisation where you can and be sure to segment your audience so you can target specific lists with relevant content and products - one of the many ways to boost your Christmas emails this festive season. Offer special discounts, sales, or gift cards Offering your customers special Christmas discounts or setting up an end-of-season sale is without a doubt one of the quickest ways to grab people’s attention. And when you make these discounts ‘limited-time only’, it can drive a sense of urgency and encourage your customers to take action quickly, especially for those who have been procrastinating for a while. Last-minute deals, countdown offers, and free gifts with orders are all powerful marketing ideas for Christmas that are perfect for promoting on social media and email, and for boosting sales for your business. Offering gift cards is also a great way to encourage sales for your business too. Every year, there will no-doubt be last-minute shoppers who are unsure on what to get for their loved ones, and gift cards are a quick and easy solution for these people. Another ideal promotion to share on your socials and in your email campaigns, you can include an option for last-minute shoppers to buy digital gift cards that incorporate customised Christmas-themed visuals. Create an interactive Christmas landing page If you’re looking for unique marketing ideas for Christmas, creating an interactive Christmas landing page can be a fun and engaging way to capture the festive spirit and attract visitors to your site. Adding dynamic Christmas visuals like snowflakes and twinkling lights will grab your audience’s attention and get them in the mood for the festivities. To really boost engagement and entertain your audience, you could incorporate clickable gift guides, Christmas quizzes to recommend products, or interactive games to make their visit more memorable. Adding these kinds of interactive features are also a great way to keep visitors on your site for longer. Turn your AI chatbot festive If your website has an AI chatbot feature, adding a touch of Christmas spirit to it can really enhance customer engagement and create a more personalised experience. Incorporating Christmas-themed greetings, responses, and even Christmas jokes into your chatbots dialogue can all contribute to a positive user experience for visitors. You could also program your chatbot to answer common festive questions around order tracking and delivery options to help free up precious time for your customer service team. Or why not also have it provide gift-giving tips to engage users in a fun and festive way. Turning your AI chatbot festive is one of the most innovative Christmas marketing ideas that can enhance customer experience, boost sales, and spread Christmas cheer. Enhance your loyalty programs with festive rewards Offering festive incentives to your most loyal customers is a fantastic way to strengthen customer relationships. If you already have a loyalty program, it’s worth enhancing your reward offering by including exclusive discounts, early access to limited edition products, or the chance to collect bonus points for example. You could also add expiry dates to certain rewards to ensure any purchases are made before Christmas, ultimately boosting your sales during this peak season. Doing this is not only a fantastic opportunity to show your appreciation for your customers' continued support throughout the year, but also encourages repeat purchases, especially during the Christmas season. You can also maximise participation from your loyal customers by spreading the word across other marketing channels like social media and email. Need help with your digital marketing at Christmas? When it comes to digital marketing at Christmas, it’s the perfect time of year to put some of your creative ideas to play, and to not be afraid of trying something new. Whether it works or not, it’s a great learning experience for future Christmas marketing ideas. If you’d like more Christmas marketing ideas, or you’d like some expert help with your festive digital marketing efforts, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Our specialists have a proven track record in creating innovative campaigns that drive real results. Whether you’re looking to increase organic traffic to your site or boost conversions, we offer a range of digital marketing services including PPC, SEO, social media, email marketing, and much more to elevate your Christmas marketing strategy. #### 6 key benefits of WordPress plugins. When it comes to growing the online presence of your WordPress website, you’ll find that there are several plugins for you to take advantage of. These are little blocks of magic that can transform your website from ordinary to extraordinary with just a few clicks. But truly understanding the benefits of WordPress plugins is crucial for the success of your site. In this blog, we’ll delve into six key benefits of WordPress plugins and take a look at how they can enhance your website’s functionality, improve user experience, boost SEO efforts, and streamline your digital marketing efforts. First, let’s explore what WordPress plugins are. What are WordPress plugins? WordPress plugins are tools that can be added to your site to enhance its functionality and customise its features. They can range from simple plugins for adding contact forms or social media buttons, to more complex plugins for SEO optimisation, ecommerce integration, or security enhancements.  One of the reasons why so many businesses favour WordPress is the fact that they can easily extend the capabilities of their site by using plugins without needing to have advanced coding knowledge. There are thousands of plugins available to use and you can almost guarantee you’ll find a plugin for almost any feature or functionality you can imagine, making it easy to tailor your website to meet your business goals and objectives. 6 key benefits of WordPress plugins WordPress plugins offer a multitude of benefits for businesses who are looking to take their website to the next level. Here are six advantages of utilising plugins for your site. They’re highly dependable Plugins have become so important for the growth of WordPress that many of them have been developed by reputable businesses that update them frequently to repair bugs and improve security. The plugins undergo rigorous testing too to ensure they work seamlessly with your WordPress site, giving you extra peace of mind that your website will run smoothly and efficiently. As well as that, many plugins offer different efficiency levels depending on your needs, with free versions available for basic functionality and premium versions for more advanced features. It’s worth noting that premium versions often incur a cost, but it’s usually significantly less than what you’d pay to build a particular feature on your own with a developer.  Free to low-cost options available This leads on nicely to the next benefit - there are plenty of free to low-cost plugins available. WordPress has a plethora of free plugins that can help you achieve your goals for your website. In most cases, plugins that offer free versions can meet your initial requirements, and they’re often a great way to see if the premium version will fully deliver the features you want for your site. Even if you find you have to invest in a plugin, they’re relatively affordable and allow you to enhance your website without breaking the bank. They’re SEO and content marketing friendly It’s no secret that Google likes a website that has fresh and up-to-date content, and with the right WordPress plugins, you can update the content on your site as much as you like in just a few clicks. This helps to streamline your content marketing and truly engage your audience effectively. As well as that, WordPress plugins that are designed for SEO can help enhance your efforts by optimising your site for search engines. For example, you have the ability to optimise your meta titles, descriptions, images, and more to increase your website’s visibility, drive traffic, and increase conversions. By combining the right plugins, you can strengthen your digital marketing strategies, take your website to the next level, and achieve your business goals more effectively. They’re time-saving One of the main reasons why so many web developers use plugins on a WordPress website is that they save a great deal of development time, which can streamline tasks and improve efficiency, as well as help reduce budget spending too.  Developers have access to plugins for almost everything they need, with over 59,000 readily available in WordPress’s plugin directory. These can range from adding complex features such as ecommerce or multi-language functionality, to smaller improvements, such as allowing site administrators to add monitoring for Google Analytics 4 (GA4) without having to touch any of your site’s code. They’re versatile As we’ve mentioned throughout this blog, plugins can enhance your website’s functionality in countless ways, from improving SEO to boosting security measures. Whatever your goals are for your site, there’s likely a plugin out there to suit your needs. And with thousands of options available, you can easily customise your site to ensure it aligns with your business objectives. Most plugins also allow for specific settings to be turned on and off, and styles to be modified to match the rest of your site, such as fonts, colours, and sizes, making them extremely adaptable. And if you ever want to remove a plugin, you can do so pretty easily. They enhance the security and protection of your site Website protection is essential to prevent cyber attacks and hackers from accessing sensitive information or confidential data on your website. One of the main reasons why so many businesses choose WordPress is because it’s renowned for its security and privacy features. With the right WordPress plugins, you can enhance your security and offer protection for you and your users from online threats such as malware attacks, hacking attempts, and unauthorised access. These plugins provide security features like firewall protection, malware scanning, login attempt monitoring, and more to safeguard your site’s data and ensure smooth operation. When you’re able to demonstrate this level of security on your site, users will continue to return as they have peace of mind that their sensitive information is secure. Want more advice on WordPress plugins? These are just some of the many benefits of WordPress plugins, but ultimately they have changed the way websites are created. They allow businesses to add the exact functionality and features they want to their site without costly investments, the need for coding knowledge, or the hassle. They also offer versatility that is invaluable for organisations navigating the online world. With the vast amount of plugins available, we understand it can be overwhelming to know which plugins are the right ones for your website. That’s why we’re here to help. Our knowledgeable team of web developers can provide you with expert advice and guidance to ensure your site is built for success.  We also offer website support services, meaning we can take care of installing and maintaining your WordPress website and plugins, leaving you with one less thing to worry about. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to learn more about how we can help your site thrive.  #### 6 key digital marketing trends in 2024 you need to be aware of The world of digital marketing is always changing and the tactics that work today won’t necessarily work tomorrow. With new tools, technologies and consumer behaviours emerging everyday, keeping up with the latest trends has never been so important for your business to stay relevant and ahead of the curve.  We’ve compiled six key trends in digital marketing for 2024 that all digital marketers and businesses need to be aware of. Let’s jump right in. 1. Focus on how your consumers are using your social media channels It’s no secret social media is one of the best places to market your business, engage with customers and build your brand. But it’s also a great tool for determining how your audience is using your social media channels. Whilst you want to engage with your customers and keep them up to date on new products or services, you should also see how you can leverage the way your consumers use your social media to your advantage. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook are seeing the rise of tactics like video content, influencer marketing and paid social that almost all businesses can utilise.  When you work on your digital marketing strategy, ensure you’re putting some thought behind how you’ll use your platforms and what you want to get out of them. Think about how it will affect every aspect of running your business, from sales leads, to customer service. This will ensure you’re getting the most out of your social media efforts. 2. Video content is king Videos are much more engaging than text, and therefore are more likely to be shared. They can be used to answer questions, explain complex topics, show off your product or brand – and help you rank better in search results. With current marketing trends, people prefer to immerse themselves with video content they can see, read and listen to. It’s the best way to catch your audience’s attention. Some tips on creating high-quality video content to market your business can include deciding on the social platforms you want to use and focus on and create a content schedule. This will allow you to understand the best time to create the content for the highest number of views. You should also monitor your metrics and analyse your views to see where the views are coming from. 3. AI and humans working in harmony 2023 saw the exponential rise in artificial intelligence (AI) tools and whilst these tools can help automate many of the mundane digital marketing processes, many marketers know that even AI has its limitations. AI tools are no longer seen as the all-knowing, all-powerful things everyone once portrayed them to be and as we move into 2024, AI and humans will have to work in harmony for true success. Anyone venturing into a marketing role will need to learn to adopt AI tools to help them work more efficiently as opposed to allowing it to complete their jobs for them. From content generation, to customer engagement, AI can help power marketing roles, but whatever you choose to use it for, it’s important to cast a human eye over the end results before putting anything live. 4. Continually conducting good-quality SEO Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising your website to ensure it ranks higher in search engines. It’s a long-term investment and you should factor SEO in almost every marketing piece you create online. It’s important to remember that SEO is a process and you should be constantly monitoring your site for things that could harm its rankings, such as duplicate content or broken links. It’s not a magic bullet and there’s no guarantee that conducting good quality SEO will get you top results on Google overnight, but it’s vital you stay on top of it to ensure it’s relevant to users and make any adjustments to your SEO strategy where necessary. Some examples include making sure you have strong SEO titles across all of your pages, you’re utilising strong metadata alongside this and you’re targeting the right keywords that are relevant to your business and your brand. 5. Ensuring mobile friendly web design With every website design, it’s important to ensure your website is built and designed mobile first. A responsive website will automatically reformat itself to function on different screen sizes. The majority of people access most of their content on a mobile device, as opposed to a PC or laptop, so it’s crucial that your site can be accessed from any device. Ensuring your website is mobile friendly will also provide your customer with a seamless user experience which will ultimately benefit your brand reputation. 6. Keeping up to date on the latest marketing trends One of the biggest digital marketing trends of 2024, is to quite literally keep up to date with the latest marketing trends. As previously mentioned, trends in digital marketing are constantly changing and evolving, so it’s important for marketers to keep up to date with it all to ensure you’re constantly engaging your target audience. There are simple ways to keep up with trends like signing up to marketing newsletters, attending webinars and reading blogs shared by reputable brands in the digital marketing industry. By doing this, you’ll start to learn what trends are effective enough to utilise and in the long-run, show your brand as a thought leader and that you’re in touch with society. Need help with your digital marketing strategy? Creating a digital marketing strategy whilst incorporating the latest trends can be a daunting job. However, our expert digital marketing team can do this for you, from creating a social media strategy to developing your SEO strategy. Take a look at our full range of digital marketing services today and see how we can help grow your business. Be sure to get in touch with us today if you have any questions. #### 6 key elements to consider for your next brand logo redesign Your logo is a vital branding asset that should represent your company values. As time moves on and as your company grows, your core values may change and this will need to be reflected in your logo.  Undergoing a brand logo redesign may seem like a daunting process, but it doesn’t have to be. When you take into account the below six key elements, this process will be an exciting time for everyone involved. 1. Understand your market It’s important to first understand where your brand is positioned in the market when it comes to your brand logo redesign. Are you a leader in your sector? Is your brand positioned for the masses, or are you targeted towards a more niche audience? This helps to establish how your brand needs to present itself, and what will get the best reaction from your audience. It’s all about getting your brand positioned correctly and playing to its strengths and what you can offer your customers over your competitors. 2. Research your competition Researching your competition can help you understand what has been done previously, and gain some insight into industry trends. However, just because something is considered a trend in your sector doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a trend you should follow. If you look at certain big brands, they don’t necessarily comply with trends and don’t look to be innovative and different to ensure that their brand stands out from the rest.  Researching your competition before you undergo a brand logo redesign is especially important as it can help you define a gap in the market and help you find a direction that your brand can grow in, and dominate a sector of the market. 3. Remember the what, how and why Remember to summarise your business in a concise and coherent way when it comes to your brand logo redesign so it defines what you do, why you do it and how you do it. This helps define what your business stands for and what your goals are. Once this ‘brand statement’ is created and understood internally, it can then be used to direct your brand logo redesign and can be a particularly useful tool when creating future digital marketing campaigns. 4. Don’t let your logo define your brand It’s easy to get confused and think your logo is a brand. However in reality, your logo doesn’t define your brand - it’s just one element that helps drive home brand awareness and brand recognition. A brand is built from the consumer experience of your brand strategy, the tone of voice and the marketing campaigns that help portray the personality of your brand. It’s therefore vital that the style of your logo is in keeping with how you want your logo to be perceived. However, it’s what you say at every touch point with your consumer that starts to give meaning to what your logo represents. 5. Start sketching When beginning the brand logo redesign process, it’s best to start with pen and paper and sketch your ideas before even looking at the computer. This is the quickest most effective way to convey an idea or concept, and you can easily see if an idea will work or whether to dismiss it. Don’t worry about getting your sketches perfect, this stage is to quickly get ideas down and a bad drawing will never overpower a good idea. 6. Keep your logo design simple A logo needs to work at all scales and in black and white. It’s therefore important to test the legibility of your logo at a small scale and ensure it can be easily identified. That’s why with your brand logo redesign less is more, and the simpler designs can sometimes be most impactful. Let us help with your brand logo redesign As mentioned, undergoing a brand logo redesign should be an exciting time for your business, and by keeping in mind these six key elements, you’ll be on your way to designing a new logo that is in keeping with your company values and more. But if you find you need a professional graphic design team to take on this task on your behalf, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today. #### 6 must-know Chrome DevTools tips and tricks. If you work in website development, there’s a good chance you’ve opened Chrome DevTools more times than you can count. Whether you’re debugging layout issues, checking performance, testing responsive behaviour, or inspecting front-end code, Google Chrome Developer Tools are one of the most powerful (and most underrated) tools available to web developers. But while most people know the basics - right click, inspect, tweak some CSS - DevTools has far more to offer. When used properly, it can speed up development, improve quality, and help you diagnose problems faster. In this blog, we share six must-know tips to help you get more from Chrome DevTools and make the most of these Chrome web development tools in your day-to-day workflow. What is Chrome DevTools? Chrome DevTools, also known as Google Chrome Developer Tools, is a built-in set of web development tools that helps you inspect, test, and troubleshoot websites directly in the browser. It gives you real-time visibility into how a page is built and how it behaves - from HTML structure and CSS styling, to JavaScript performance, loading speed, and responsive layouts. At a basic level, Chrome DevTools lets you right-click and inspect elements on a page to see what’s happening behind the scenes. But it goes far beyond that. It’s an essential tool for modern web development that can allow you to: Diagnose layout and styling issues quickly (without guessing what’s causing the problem) Test responsive behaviour across screen sizes and devices Debug scripts and front-end functionality more efficiently Audit performance and page speed bottlenecks Check accessibility and SEO best practices using built-in tools like Lighthouse Preview changes live before committing anything in your codebase Whether you’re a developer, designer, QA tester, or digital marketer, Chrome DevTools makes it faster and easier to understand how a site is working and what needs improving. 6 must-know ChromeDevTools tips and tricks Now that you know what ChromeDevTools can do, here are six essential tips and tricks to help you work faster and more efficiently. 1. Test responsive layouts instantly with Device Mode One of the most useful features inside ChromeDevTools is Device Mode, which is a quick way to see how a website behaves on different screens. Instead of resizing your browser window manually (and guessing breakpoints), Device Mode lets you simulate popular devices and test responsiveness properly. Here’s how to use it: Open Chrome DevTools Click the Toggle Device Toolbar icon (or press Ctrl + Shift + M) Choose a device preset (iPhone, Pixel, iPad etc.) or set a custom size Responsive issues are some of the most common problems in web development. But using Device Mode helps you spot any broken layouts, overlapping elements, awkward spacing, missing mobile navigation, or inconsistent typography. If you’re using Chrome DevTools regularly, this feature alone can save hours of time over the course of a project. 2. Use the Colour Picker to speed up design tweaks When you’re adjusting styles, colours are one of the first things you’ll edit and Chrome DevTools can make this task incredibly fast.  Inside the Styles panel, you can click any colour value (like #000000 or rgba…) to open a visual colour picker and quickly test new colours without touching your codebase. This is extremely helpful because: You can preview changes live on the page You can fine-tune shades quickly You can switch between formats (HEX, RGB, HSL) You can test transparency and contrast This is especially useful when you’re aligning UI elements with a brand palette or ironing out inconsistencies across components. It might seem small, but tools like this are exactly why Google Chrome Developer Tools are so valuable because they turn what would be a slow trial-and-error work into quick, confident editing. 3. Force hover, focus, and active states (without fighting your mouse) Interactive states like hover and focus are essential for good user experience (UX), but they’re also notoriously awkward to test manually. Hover menus disappear the moment your cursor moves, focus states vanish when you click away, and active states are difficult to inspect at all. Chrome DevTools solves this with forced element states. Here’s how you can do it: Inspect an element In the Styles panel, click ‘:hov’ Choose the state you want to force, such as :hover, :focus, :active, or :visited With forced element states, you can test hover effects on buttons and links, dropdown navigation behaviour, focus styles for accessibility, and active click states for UI consistency. If you’re building modern interfaces, this is one of the most practical Chrome DevTools features you can use. 4. Find and switch between files quickly in the Sources panel The Sources tab is where DevTools becomes more than an inspector, it becomes a debugging tool. If you’re working on a modern site with scripts, bundles, and stylesheets, finding the right file can be time-consuming. Here’s a simple but powerful tip to using quick file search: Shortcut: Press Ctrl + P (on Windows) or Cmd + P (on Mac) to open a search bar that lets you quickly find files by name. This is particularly useful when you’re navigating large projects, working with frameworks, or debugging complex issues where multiple scripts are involved. Bonus tip: You can also search within files using: Ctrl + F/Cmd + F for a quick find Ctrl + Shift + F/Cmd + Shift + F to search across all loaded source files When you’re working under pressure, small DevTools shortcuts like this make a huge difference. 5. Simulate slow internet with Network Throttling Performance matters, and if you only ever test websites on fast Wi-Fi and powerful machines, you’ll miss a huge chunk of real-world user experience. Chrome DevTools includes Network Throttling, which allows you to simulate slower connections like 3G or 4G. This helps you understand how your site performs under realistic conditions. Here’s how to use it: Open DevTools Go to the Network tab Find the Throttling dropdown (often set to “No throttling”) Select a speed profile (e.g. Slow 3G, Fast 3G) Through Network Throttling, you’ll learn which assets are slowing load time, whether images are too heavy, how long it takes for core content to appear, or if scripts or third-party tools are delaying performance. If you care about UX, accessibility, and SEO, this is one of the most impactful Chrome web development tools you can use. 6. Run Lighthouse audits to improve performance, SEO, and accessibility Chrome DevTools also includes Lighthouse, a built-in auditing tool that helps you assess and improve your website. Through Lighthouse, you can review pages for performance, accessibility, SEO, and best practices. You’ll receive clear feedback and actionable recommendations - from compressing images and reducing unused JavaScript, to improving meta tags and accessibility labels. It’s worth remembering that Lighthouse is not “the final answer”, but it’s a great starting point. If you want quick insights into improvements that could boost user experience and search visibility, this is one of the most useful features in Google Chrome Developer Tools. Do you need professional web development services? Mastering Chrome DevTools can transform how you build, test, and optimise websites, and give you the tools to streamline your workflow, solve problems faster, and deliver high-performing sites. At Fifteen, we’ve helped numerous brands improve their websites, troubleshoot faster, and enhance performance through our expert use of Chrome DevTools and strategic web development practices.  With years of experience and a portfolio of successful projects, we know exactly how to apply these tools to drive measurable results. Get in touch with our team today, and let’s use our expertise to transform your website into a high-performing, results-driven powerhouse. #### 6 of the best digital marketing reporting tools. Keeping track of performance is essential in any digital marketing strategy. But with so many platforms, channels, and metrics to manage, finding the right marketing reporting tool can feel overwhelming. Whether you’re monitoring PPC campaigns, analysing SEO performance, or tracking ROI across multiple channels, the right digital marketing reporting tool helps you consolidate insights, save time, and make smarter decisions. In this blog, we share six of the best marketing reporting tools that are well-suited to UK businesses looking to improve efficiency, visibility, and ROI. 1. Whatagraph Best for: agencies and in-house teams who want visual, automated reports. Whatagraph makes it easy to create visually impressive, automated reports by pulling data from over 50 marketing channels, including Google Ads, Meta, HubSpot, and LinkedIn. It’s ideal for teams that want to impress stakeholders without spending hours building slides or spreadsheets. You can fully customise reports, apply your branding, and schedule them to go out automatically. Some key features include: Drag-and-drop editor Pre-built templates for SEO, PPC, and social Cross-channel performance views AI-generated insights (beta) If you’re reporting to clients or senior leadership, Whatagraph takes the heavy lifting out of performance. 2. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Best for: businesses of all sizes looking for in-depth insights. Unlike Universal Analytics, GA4 focuses on event-based tracking, giving you much more granular insight into how users interact with your website or app - from page views and clicks to purchases and scroll depth. It integrates seamlessly with other platforms, like Google Ads, making it a powerful central source of truth for your PPC strategies, SEO, email, social media, and beyond. Some key features that make it essential include: Real-time tracking of cross-device and cross-platform activity Custom event tracking for conversions, engagement, and more Predictive analytics using machine learning Integrates with Google Ads, BigQuery, and third-party tools GA4 is a must-have for any business that is serious about data-driven growth because it provides deeper insights into the full customer journey across channels. 3. Google Looker Studio Best for: budget-conscious teams that want full control over how data is presented. Formerly known as Google Data Studio, Looker Studio is a flexible, powerful, and completely free marketing reporting tool. You can build interactive dashboards from multiple sources, including GA4, Google Ads, Search Console, YouTube, and many third-party platforms via connectors. While the interface takes a little time to learn, it gives you complete freedom over what you report on and how you show it. Some key features and benefits include: It’s completely free to use Live dashboards with real-time data Interactive filters for deeper analysis Ideal for internal and external reporting For businesses keeping an eye on marketing costs, Looker Studio offers big potential without the price tag. 4. Supermetrics Best for: marketing teams that already use Google Sheets, Excel, or Looker Studio. Supermetrics is the data bridge between your marketing platforms and your reporting tools. It pulls clean, reliable data from over 100 sources, including Facebook Ads, LinkedIn, Shopify, and TikTok, and imports it directly into Sheets, Excel, BigQuery, or Looker Studio. You can build your own dashboards or reports, and let Supermetrics do the data fetching automatically in the background. Some standout features include: Supports more connectors than most tools Ideal for building custom reports Saves time on manual data gathering Scalable for large accounts and multiple users If your team is juggling multiple data sources, Supermetrics helps you centralise your insights without switching tools. 5. Funnel Best for: medium-to-large businesses looking to unify marketing data. Funnel helps larger marketing teams collect, clean, and organise campaign data before sending it to visualisation tools like Looker Studio, Power BI, or Tableau. It’s ideal for businesses that work across multiple countries, brands, or platforms and need consistency in how they measure success. You don’t build reports in Funnel, you build data foundations that power your reporting. Some key features include: Supports over 500 integrations Automates data transformation and mapping Helps unify cross-channel reporting Works with your preferred BI tools If you’ve outgrown spreadsheets and patchy dashboards, Funnel helps you scale your marketing data operations properly. 6. DashThis Best for: SMEs, freelancers, and solo marketers DashThis is a simple, user-friendly digital marketing reporting tool that connects to your favourite platforms and helps you create clear, easy-to-understand reports. It’s great for smaller businesses that want a clean overview of marketing performance, without needing a data analyst. It includes pre-built templates for SEO, email, PPC, and social, so you can get started in minutes. Key features of this tool include: Easy drag-and-drop builder Time-saving automation Pre-set templates Ideal for non-technical users If you’re looking to streamline reporting without the learning curve, DashThis is a great fit for smaller teams and marketing consultants. Want someone to manage reporting for you? Whether you’re a small business just starting out or a large agency managing dozens of clients, having the right marketing reporting tools in place will save time, improve accuracy, and lead to better marketing decisions. These six platforms all offer something different - from automation and simplicity to scale and customisation. The best digital marketing reporting tool for your business depends on your setup, reporting needs, and team structure. As your digital marketing partner, we’ll take care of your reporting for you, delivering clear, easy-to-understand performance metrics every month. We don’t just send over dashboards and data; we walk you through the results of your campaigns and strategies, highlight what matters, and explain where your marketing is working hardest - and where there’s room to improve. If you’re ready to take control of your marketing performance, get in touch with us today and learn how we can help you make data-driven decisions so you can grow your business. #### 6 product page SEO tips to improve your conversion rate Product pages are the most important element of any ecommerce site, as it’s where your customers make that all important purchase. But unfortunately, they are regularly neglected when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Whilst you’ll no doubt be optimising your product pages for user experience, you should also be putting just as much effort into product page SEO. Luckily for larger ecommerce sites, there are a few simple product page SEO best practices you can implement to these all important web pages that can dramatically improve your conversion rates, as we explore below. Focus on your URL Your URL is one of the most important parts of SEO, and this applies to your product pages too. Not only does the URL signify what the page is about to search engines, but it can also have an effect on the click-through rate (CTR) to your page, and subsequently, your product page conversion rate. If you perform an online search for a product, you’ll more than likely see the majority of ecommerce sites opting for a short URL, and this can improve your CTR. The result of a long URL runs the risk of damaging your CTR, as it provides an uncertainty as to what the page is about. Long URLs with random characters also look untidy, which can impact the decision of the user at the search engine level. Ensure you keep your product page URL short, sweet and to the point, and try to include relevant keywords to further improve your rankings. Think carefully about your product title Believe it or not, there are a number of different tactics you can adopt for your product title, and it’s important to think carefully which one is right for you. One of these tactics is to include your brand name within the title. This strategy works if you have a highly recognisable brand name as it allows you to target your desired audience. However, if you’re lesser known, you may need to include a little more to convince users to visit your website. Another tactic is to incorporate certain words within your product title to help encourage trust. For example, including words such as ‘genuine’ and ‘real’ are words that customers might be looking for for certain products. You could also include words such as ‘Shop Now’ or ‘Iconic’ to specifically encourage a conversion or a response (such as a click) from a user. Whatever you choose to include in your product title, be cautious about the length of your title. An overly long title can cause your brand name to be cut off in search engine results and can also look untidy. Be sure to also keep customer trust at the forefront of your mind as this ultimately helps improve your product page conversion rate. Incorporate high quality images to showcase your product Now that you have a user on your page, you need to convince them to buy your product. In order to do this, it is important to have high quality images of your product, showcasing the different features available. A comprehensive visual representation of your product is essential in helping the user along the “customer journey”. By showing them all your product has to offer, they’re able to make a well-informed choice. Images are an easy way to show off your product, and allow the customer to gain a better understanding of what makes your product the better option compared to your competitors. You’ll also want to implement basic product page optimisation to your images in the form of adding image alt-tags for accessibility and resizing your images for site speed purposes for example. Provide a clear and engaging product description A clear and engaging description should be available to any customer that wants more information after seeing your product. This should include everything that your customer needs to know about the product before purchasing, such as sizings, colours, fit, features, and materials for example. Far from just providing a block of text, you need to make the information easily accessible, to improve your chance of a conversion. For example, you could split all of the relevant information into different sections, so it’s easy for your customers to find the details they need. Here are some important things to consider when creating product descriptions: Unique descriptions – each product should have its own unique description. As well as helping with SEO, this tailors all of the information to each specific product. With the most relevant information for each product, a conversion is more likely. Don’t use manufacturer descriptions – this can be a double edged sword. By using manufacturer descriptions you are implementing duplicate content on your product page, which is bad for SEO and user experience. Keep it short and snappy – unlike your informational pages (such as the blog), you want to provide the details as clearly as possible. Don’t make your customers trawl through paragraphs of text to get to the information they want. Get creative – if you’re in a competitive market, chances are your product description is very similar to your competitors’. Think outside the box to present your product information in an interesting way. Don’t be afraid to use product videos A creative way of presenting descriptions on your product page is through product videos. As we said with the images, buyers respond more to visual elements on a page, so a product video will help increase conversions. Be mindful that product videos might not work for every industry, so it’s important to consider whether this would work for your products. If you sell a technical product, it’s a perfect way to showcase how it works. If you sell clothing, this could also work for you as you can showcase how your product fits - ASOS is a great example of this.  If a customer is fully aware of how your product works and how easy it is to use, they are further along the customer journey and more likely to convert. Implement a review section to your product pages Sharing your reviews is the final tool in the arsenal of product page optimisation. If a user has seen all of the above, and still needs convincing that your product is for them, other users’ reviews may be all that is needed to sway them. Customers trust one thing more than anything when looking to purchase something - other users’ opinions. By implementing a review section within your product pages, you offer customers the option to offer their opinions on your products, thus improving the chances of further conversions. Let us help with your product page SEO We’ve worked with countless ecommerce websites to successfully optimise their product pages for SEO, which in turn has seen their conversion rate soar. If you own an ecommerce business and you need help with your product page SEO, get in touch with us today. Our digital marketing experts will provide you with practical advice that we can implement on your behalf to help boost your click-through rate and more importantly, your conversions. #### 6 Tips On How To Increase Page Load Speed If you’re setting up a business and want to advertise your products or services online to draw in new customers, you will need a website. However, the last thing you want is a slow, lagging site that people will simply leave after a few seconds. So, to prevent potential customers from going to your competitors instead, here are our six top tips on how to increase page load speed. How to optimise your website speed 1. Start with your images One of the biggest factors impacting the loading speed of your website is your images. Including high-quality images can really improve the presentation of your site, but if you have too many of them, especially really large ones, you’ll drastically slow down your loading speed. If you don’t want to reduce the number of images on your site, look into compressing and optimising them instead. This is much easier to do than many people realise, with plug-ins available that will reduce the size of your images without impacting their quality. There are also websites that you can use for this, which can reduce the file size of your images by up to 80%. 2. Use a CDN CDNs, or content distribution networks, are large networks of servers that work together to provide fast delivery of Internet content. The way this works is that duplicate versions of your site are saved across different locations at data centres. Thanks to CDNs, requests for data don’t have to be sent all the way to the host server and back, often through multiple networks across thousands of miles. This means that users can expect faster and much more reliable access to your website. 3. Minimise HTTP requests Reducing the number of HTTP requests can be very important for increasing the loading speed of your website. Each asset on your page requires a separate HTTP request to be made, which can take a long time to process. Every image, script or CSS file is linked to a separate request. For this reason, it’s best to keep the number of assets on each page to an absolute minimum. Another way to understand the root of this problem is to run a speed test, which we can do for you here at Fifteen. This can help to identify which of your assets are the most troublesome in delaying the loading time of your website. Once you’re aware of what elements are causing an issue, you can find better ways to combat them. 4. Avoid redirects where possible A redirect is when a user clicks on one page but is sent to another. This can add a couple of extra seconds to the time it takes for them to access your content, which can be crucial when trying to retain customers and improve user experience. There are times when it’s impossible to avoid using redirects, such as if you’re moving to a new site, but you should avoid using them altogether unless they are absolutely necessary. 5. Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML This might sound technical, but it simply means removing unnecessary characters, spaces and comments from your code to reduce file size. With cleaner code, a website can subsequently load much faster; however, it is a long and arduous job to undergo manually. If you want to minify your code, the best and most time-efficient option is to use a plugin which can do the job automatically. All you will need to do is configure it to your preferences. 6. Optimise your Wordpress website There are a few ways you can improve your website speed through Wordpress. The first place you’d want to start, and as we’ve mentioned above, is optimising your images. Oversized images are the biggest cause of a slow WordPress site. We recommend a WordPress plugin called Smush, as it allows you to compress images once they are uploaded.  Our second tip to improve your website speed on WordPress, is to enable caching which allows your data to be stored locally in temporary storage. You’ll also want to keep all your plugins up to date as they can reduce your site speed in several ways. Generally, it’s not the number of plugins that reduce the page speed, but in fact the quality of these plugins. How can Fifteen help increase page load speed? If you want your website to offer a good UX and avoid long loading times – which will increase your bounce rate and encourage potential customers to go to your competitors! – you should try one of these tips. These will allow your site to run much more smoothly and the effort will definitely be worth it. If you need a helping hand with reducing your website load speed, we can help. Our expert team can do all of the above and more to ensure your website is performing to its best ability. Take a look at our full range of digital marketing, web design and web development services today and get in touch with us with any questions you may have. #### 6 ways to fight designer’s block. Picture the scene, you’ve been given a project to lead the creative on, you’re ready and raring to go, but the designer's block hits you. As a professional web designer, you may know all too well the frustration of staring at a blank screen, waiting for inspiration to strike. Designers are expected to come up with something extraordinarily new every time, so when you hit a creativity block, it can be a struggle. However, it’s one that can be combated. In this blog, we dive into six effective strategies to help you overcome creative blocks and empower you to keep those ideas flowing and bring your designs to life. 1. Get away from the screen This may seem a little counter-productive, but one of the most effective ways to fight a creativity block is to simply get away from the screen. Whether you choose to step outside for a breath of fresh air, take a short walk, or engage in other avenues of design, it’s all available to you and can sometimes inspire something completely unrelated. Sometimes, designers can get stuck in a mindset when they live their entire career behind a screen. But by exploring other mediums of design, like drawing or painting for example, it can inspire fresh perspectives that reignite your creative streak. Give yourself permission to disconnect from technology for a short while and let your brain reset - this could potentially lead to more innovative solutions when you’re ready to return to your project. 2. Talk to your team If you’re lucky enough to be part of a team, be sure to utilise it. Talk and share about your ideas as it can spark and inspire creativity. When designer’s block hits you, it may be a case of being too close to a project and you begin to nit-pick at everything you do. Talking to your team gives your project a fresh pair of eyes and potentially brings different viewpoints to the table. Whether it’s through a casual brainstorming session or a more structured meeting, talking about your ideas can often help bring clarity and motivation. Plus, bouncing ideas off your teammates can create a supportive environment that encourages risk-taking, making it easier to overcome the mental hurdles of creative stagnation. 3. Think laterally Have you ever heard of the phrase “think laterally”? Essentially this means, don’t take the obvious route. Your first idea is probably everyone’s first idea, and the magic often lies in the second, third, or fourth idea you have. By taking this approach, it can encourage you to step outside the conventional boundaries of your design process and explore ideas from different perspectives. For example, a designer working with American Express could have focused on the usual benefits of owning an American Express credit card - accepted worldwide, great perks, and so on. But instead, they wrote “American Express is not for everyone”. That one line reportedly led to over a billion dollars in revenue because it sparked curiosity, created exclusivity, and stood out by doing the unexpected. By broadening your thought process and allowing yourself to play with concepts that aren’t directly related to your project, you may discover something completely wonderful. 4. Remember, inspiration is everywhere Keeping your eyes open to inspiration in even the most mundane of places can sometimes help you strike gold in a creativity block. From the colours of a sunset or patterns in nature, to the architecture in a nearby building or colour combination of a billboard, everyday things can help provide fresh perspectives and ideas for your web designs. You might also want to consider a variety of different mediums for your source of creativity too, such as books, art, TV, and even popular apps like Pinterest. All of these can inspire you to think differently and provide a wellspring of inspiration. 5. Put your phone down and try something new We touched on this earlier but a great way to overcome creative blocks is to try new avenues of creativity. Putting your phone down and stepping away from your computer screen can help you clear your mind and open up new streams of inspiration that might not have been noticed before. Try something completely different to what you’re used to - whether it’s picking up a paint brush, experimenting with a new craft, or trying out a new hobby. Engaging in activities outside of your usual design routine can spark fresh ideas. Plus, it gives your mind a much-needed break, allowing your subconscious thoughts to process and potentially lead to those “aha moments” when you get back to your project. 6. Attend a casual meetup Attending a casual meetup is a great way to combat designer’s block. Websites like Meetup allow you to find informal and relaxed environments where you can connect with fellow creatives, share ideas, and gain new perspectives. It’s also a good way to learn new skills and take advantage of a valuable experience where you’re surrounded by likeminded people. Whether it’s a local focus group, a public speaking event, or a co-working space meetup, connecting with fellow designers in a relaxed environment not only takes the pressure off attending a formal networking event, but can inspire new thoughts and approaches to your work. Many meetups are often free, so you really have nothing to lose and a lot of valuable insight to gain. Speak to us for your website design These are just some of the many ways you can combat a creativity block. Just remember, designer’s block happens to many professionals, so don’t panic if you find yourself struggling, you can overcome it, especially if you practice our above tips. If you’re looking to elevate your online presence with a stunning website, we can help. Whether you’re launching a new site, or revamping an existing one, our web design specialists are dedicated to bringing your vision to life. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to learn how we can design a site that not only meets your needs, but also captivates your audience. #### 6 ways to increase your e-commerce conversion rate. Optimising your e-commerce website is something brands should be doing on a regular basis to ensure their products are seen in a competitive world of online shopping. You may think you have a platform of users who visit your site each month, but those visits are meaningless if they aren’t purchasing your products. From simple optimisation tactics to make your online shop more accessible and user-friendly, to conversion rate enhancement modifications to encourage that all important purchase are some of the ways you can increase your e-commerce conversion rate. In this blog, we share six strategies on how to increase e-commerce conversion rate that will see more sales for your online store and take your brand to the next level. 6 strategies to increasing your e-commerce conversion rate When it comes to increasing your e-commerce conversion rate, there are several strategies you can implement to drive more sales and grow your business. Here are six of the easiest and most effective ways to boost the conversion rate for e-commerce stores. 1. Increase the visibility of your products Ensuring your products are easy to find and navigate on your site can help capture the attention of your customers and encourage them to make a purchase. Product discoverability and online searches are critical aspects to running a successful e-commerce business because your company won’t thrive if people can’t find your products. Adding a simple search function to your online shop where customers can locate what they’re searching for using keywords helps them find what they’re specifically looking for. For example, if you own an online perfume shop, a customer may be looking for a dark perfume. By merely typing in the words “dark perfume” into your search function, it should immediately lead the customer to the desired product, or at least a selection of products relating to that search term. Equally, optimising your product pages will help customers find what they’re looking for while also improving the overall navigation of your site and SEO efforts. Incorporating relevant keywords into your product descriptions, using high-quality images and optimising image alt-tags, and organising your products into categories are all tactics to implement for a seamless browsing experience for your customers.  This will also enhance your visibility on search engines too, thus increasing traffic to your site, drawing in new potential customers, and boosting brand awareness. 2. Make the switch to mobile According to 8th Dial, as of late 2024, 55% of all ecommerce purchases in the UK were made on a mobile device. This goes to show that people are increasingly turning to mobile shopping because of its convenience. With this in mind, it’s critical for ecommerce businesses to ensure they have a mobile-friendly online shop that is simple to navigate on a small screen. Ultimately, making the switch to mobile can significantly boost your ecommerce conversion rate because you’re making it easier for customers who are shopping on their mobile devices to navigate your website, browse your products, and make purchases. If you already have a mobile-friendly online shop, there are plenty of ways to improve your mobile design to further increase your ecommerce conversion rate. Whether you’re creating a mobile-friendly ecommerce store for the first time or you’re updating your mobile design, be sure to test your site on various mobile devices so you can ensure that the customer journey is functional and enjoyable for all visitors regardless of the device they use. 3. Ensure your checkout process is fast Streamlining your checkout process is a great way to increase your ecommerce conversion rate. If your current checkout process has too many steps and takes too long to complete, it can quickly frustrate your customers and encourage them to leave your site and abandon their cart before they’ve completed their purchase. This means you need a quick and simple checkout process with minimal steps to avoid losing potential customers. You may want to consider implementing features like guest checkout, auto-fill options for forms, and multiple payment methods to cater to different preferences. By ensuring your checkout process is quick and seamless, it will result in a positive user experience and improve customer satisfaction, which can potentially lead to converting first-time purchasers into returning customers. Here's our blog which provides more tips on how to improve your ecommerce checkout process. 4. Make use of high-definition visuals As almost all ecommerce business owners will know, your sales will not solely be guided by written text. Using clear, crisp images and videos that showcase your products in the best light will give your customers a better look at what they’re considering purchasing. You want your images and videos to provide your customers as much detail as possible  about the product you’re selling. Aim to simulate how they would feel if they were holding the object in their hands, or if they were wearing the piece of clothing for example. Videos work particularly well in this instance as you can showcase your products from all angles and demonstrate how it works.  Including high-quality visuals can enhance the overall shopping experience for your customers, as it builds trust in the product you’re selling and encourages them to make that all important purchase. But remember, quality is crucial. Hiring a professional photographer or videographer is well worth the money over taking pictures in your warehouse on a smartphone. 5. Provide a variety of payment options We’ve touched on this briefly but offering multiple payment methods as part of your checkout process is key to conversion. Assuming everybody will want to pay in one certain way is naive, especially with all of the different options now available. From credit or debit cards to digital wallets to ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ options, every customer will have their desired payment preference. That’s why you should consider offering as many payment methods as possible including card payments options, digital wallet options such as PayPal, Apply Pay, and Google Pay, and Buy Now, Pay Later options such as Klarna, and Clearpay. When you accommodate various payment methods, not only does it make the checkout process more convenient for customers, but it doesn’t act as a deterrent to people buying and reduces the likelihood of abandoned carts, thus improving your conversion rate for ecommerce. 6. Improve your page speed This is true for all pages on your ecommerce site, but speed is particularly essential at checkout. Google recommends a page speed load of two seconds or less, and according to a study by Semrush, pages that take longer than three seconds to load saw the amount of people that bounce off a site almost triple. You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to see how your ecommerce pages are performing and if there are any issues, you can see how to correct them technically. Other tactics you can use to improve your page speed include reducing clunky, data-heavy elements on your pages, removing unused plugins, and reducing the file size of images for example. A fast and responsive ecommerce website not only provides a better user experience and improves user satisfaction, but also increases the likelihood of visitors converting into paying customers, boosting your ecommerce conversion rate. Learn more ways to improve your ecommerce conversion rate These are just some of the many strategies on how to increase ecommerce conversion rate for your online store, and there’s no reason why you wouldn’t see a positive impact to your ecommerce conversion rate if you follow the tips above.  If you need expert help improving your conversion rate for ecommerce, don’t hesitate to contact us today. Our team of web design, web development, and digital marketing experts have a range of skills designed to help you maximise your sales, so speak to us to discuss your requirements in more detail and learn how we can help your business. #### 6 ways to turn your Christmas shoppers in to a returning customer Christmas is one of the best opportunities to build up your customer base. If you sell physical products, you’re more than likely going to have shoppers coming to your brand - who may not necessarily know your brand - to simply buy a gift from you for someone else. This is the perfect chance to turn them into a returning customer, who will repeatedly shop from you, whether that’s for others or for themselves. There will be customers who will prefer to do their Christmas shopping online, and others that prefer to shop in-store, listening to Christmas music. Whatever way they decide to interact with your brand, there are ways you can turn them into returning customers. Keep reading to learn how to attract loyal customers this festive season in six simple and easy ways. What are the advantages of customer retention? There are many advantages of customer retention and one of them is enhancing your social connections. Returning customers are invested in your brand and therefore feel secure buying from you. If they continually purchase from you and enjoy a positive experience with you, they’ll share this with others on their social pages which encourages people to follow your brand on your social media channels, thus improving your social connections. This kind of exposure also enhances your brand awareness, especially if you share a seasonal offer. Your returning customers will share your festive discounts with their friends and family which not only means more conversions for your business, but also widens your reach. Overall, by turning your Christmas shoppers into returning customers, you can generate a steady income long after the festive period. But to do this effectively, there are tactics businesses need to adopt, as we outline below. 6 ways to turn your Christmas shoppers into a returning customer Here are six effective ways you can encourage your seasonal shoppers to repeatedly shop with you. 1. Keep them interested This may seem pretty simple, but if your Christmas shoppers are only coming into your store to grab a few presents for someone else, and that’s the end of their consumer journey with you, then it’s unlikely that they’ll come back. You need to be grabbing their attention and keeping them interested throughout their journey. A couple of ideas you could put into practice are things like an exclusive in-store or online discount code or include a free small gift in every order for example. 2. Offer a loyalty scheme If you’re offering Christmas discounts, you could make it so they can only receive them if they sign up to your loyalty scheme, or they can gain extra discounts by signing up to your scheme. Once you’ve got them involved with this, they’re more likely to make repeat purchases to increase their future discounts and offers. This will also make them feel a part of your brand and build further trust with your audience. 3. Send regular newsletters If your customers shop online on your website, you’re more than likely going to have them on your database. Provided you have gained consent to send email marketing communications to them, you can send regular newsletters to them, which you can personalise and promote any new offers, deals or products in the run up to Christmas. This way of marketing is far more direct, and it can be done in mass - just make sure you don’t become spammy! 4. Deliver an excellent shopping experience Even in the mad Christmas rush, you still want to make your customers' shopping experience memorable, especially if they come in-store. They’ll have already come out in the masses of shoppers, waited in endless queues, and the last thing they want is a bad experience to add to it. Even in the busy periods, it’s still really important to deliver excellent customer service and many brands hire Christmas temps to be able to manage the influx of customers. You could set up a fun Christmas campaign, and make their experience interactive. Let them have some fun in your store or on your site during the festive period! Whether it’s in-store or online, get them to share their experience on your social media channels too so the rest of your audience can see your commitment to their shopping experience. 5. Collect feedback Collecting feedback is something that can coincide with your newsletter. It’s a good way to find out what you were doing right or wrong this Christmas, so next year you can improve upon this.  Customer feedback will give you the best insight into what the customers are thinking about your brand. It’s best to ask them this shortly after they’ve made a purchase with you and there are many platforms you could utilise for this including Trustpilot, Reviews.io or Feefo to name a few. As you start to gain a star rating, you can share this across your website, social media channels, email marketing campaigns and any other places your customers will see to increase your conversion rate! 6. Get them following you In our digital and connected world, getting these customers to follow your brand on social media is the perfect way to encourage them to become loyal. As they scroll through their news feed, you should be continually popping up, as long as you’re creating regular and relevant content. The more they see your brand popping up, the more likely they’re to click back onto your site or head into your store and make that all important purchase with you. Want to learn more about how to attract loyal customers? Turning your Christmas shoppers into returning customers is an opportunity you really don’t want to miss out on. By adopting the above six simple tactics, you’ll have your seasonal shoppers making repeat purchases with your brand long after the festive period.  If you’d like to learn more about increasing customer loyalty, get in touch with us today. Our team of digital marketing experts can share all the secrets you need to know regarding customer retention and how you can incorporate them into your existing marketing strategy. We can even implement these tactics on your behalf, leaving you one less thing to worry about this Christmas. Find out how else we can help today. #### 6 web design trends for 2024 As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, so too does the world of web design. What was trendy and cutting-edge a few years ago, may now be outdated and stale. That’s why staying ahead of the newest web design trends is crucial to creating a visually appealing and user-friendly website. As we approach 2024, it’s time to start thinking about what web design trends will dominate and in this blog, we explore six key trends that are guaranteed to make a big impact. From bold colours, immersive animations and dynamic typography, these website design trends will help your site stand out from the competition and leave a lasting impression on your visitors. Let’s dive right in! 1. Retro designs Retro designs are popular because they’re nostalgic. They evoke a sense of history and can be used to create a sense of the future or past. The reason why people love retro design so much is that it makes them feel like they’re connected with something bigger than themselves, like another period when everything was simpler and easier to understand. Some of these trends include using patterns and bright colours in excess on purpose. The move is often seen as a rejection of anything minimalist, which was one of the biggest trends in the last decade. Web designers often take inspiration from the ’80s or ’90s to achieve this style. 2. Headline typography Headlines are the most important part of your website, not only for SEO purposes but also a design aspect, so it’s therefore essential that you choose a font that catches the eye and conveys the message you intend. You can achieve this by using large fonts, with simple shapes, serifs or sans-serifs, monospaced (“fixed”) characters and typefaces with either a large x-height or cap height. Using oversized fonts can fit any style the web designer is trying to achieve whether minimalist or maximalist. Large fonts can also be used instead of filling a page with irrelevant images. 3. Interactive fonts Interactive fonts are a recent trend that has been rising in popularity over the last few years and continues to be a popular tactic graphic designers adopt in their website designs. They can be used to create many different types of interactive experiences, including games, music, art and even content. One the most common types of interactive font includes actions, like movement when you hover over certain words for example. Using interactive fonts in your web design is pretty easy if you know how to code, but if not you can always use some type of design tool such as Adobe Illustrator or Sketch so it doesn’t take too much time out of your day. 4. Optimisation for page speed To help your website rank higher in search results and get more visitors, it’s important that you optimise for page speed. This means using caching, compression, lazy loading, minification and browser caching. A cache is temporary storage space on a server that stores frequently accessed web pages so they can be retrieved quickly. Serving them from the cache instead of from the server that hosts your website, will save time because fewer resources need to be used by both the server and the visitor’s computer. Compression reduces the size of an image file or video file before sending it over the internet by eliminating redundant data. It also improves how fast images load on websites by reducing their file size without affecting quality. Loading only those elements on a page that are visible within its viewport when viewed through mobile devices rather than loading all content at once also speeds things up. 5. Interactive scrolling Interactive scrolling is a design trend that’s been around for years, but it has recently seen a resurgence in popularity. Interactive scrolling sites are defined as those with content that changes when you scroll down a page. This can be done using text and/or images that move or change in some way (e.g., zoom in or out), which gives the user more information about what they’re looking at without having to click on anything else. The main benefits of interactive scrolling include improved user engagement because adding interactive elements encourages visitors to explore your website further. It also highlights key pieces of your content and gives users quick access to information. As well as this, interactive scrolling gives your brand a boost and shows you as innovative and forward-thinking. 6. Abstract graphic design Abstract graphic design is a design that is not based on a real-world object. The word abstract means “not clear or exact” and it describes how these designs are usually not clear in their meaning. Abstract graphic design could be geometric shapes, lines and patterns, or they could be something more organic like leaves or flowers. To create an effective abstract graphic design, you will ideally need to have good knowledge of colour theory and colour psychology, so that you can create attractive visuals for your visitors. Let us help with your web design project These are just some of the latest web design trends that we think will continue to grow in popularity in 2024. It’s an ever changing industry so it’s essential to keep on top of these trends to keep your website fresh and up-to-date, and more importantly, to make a positive impact on your brand. If you’re about to embark on a web design project and you’re looking for some expert advice, we can help. Our extremely talented web design team will work closely with you to get to know your brand and advise you on what will work for you and your objectives. Get in touch with us today to see how else we can help and get the ball rolling! #### 6 web development and coding mistakes and how to avoid them Creating a website that is both visually appealing and functional is crucial for success, and the process of creating such a project can be complex. No matter how experienced a web developer may be, there are some common web development and coding mistakes that can be easily made that can hinder the effectiveness of your site. In this blog, we highlight six common web development mistakes and coding mistakes that should be avoided along with some practical tips on how to steer clear of them. Let’s get straight into it. 1. Naming things incorrectly This may sound trivial, but naming things is one of the hardest things to do in web development. When naming variables, functions, classes, or any other elements of your code, it's important for developers to choose clear and descriptive names that accurately reflect their purpose. For example, imagine you have a web page with a header, a footer, and a content area. On the outside, this sounds simple, however the content area features an image to the left and some text sitting on the right. Now imagine below the first image and text, you have a second row of image and text, but this time it’s alternated right to left. This is where things can start to get tricky. Header — text – image (row 1) image – text (row 2) — Footer In this case, you want to give CSS classes to each element in that web page, so the text would have a CSS class of “text” or “content” and the image “image”. However, this doesn’t differentiate the second alternated image and text. This can leave developers falling into the trap of adding a second class to the second image of something along the lines of “left” and this should be avoided. This is because “left” is an extremely vague name and could mean a number of things such as the image is on the left, or the image is aligned to the left. The CSS class name of “left” doesn’t actually specify that it applies only to an image and so can be very confusing. How to avoid this web development mistake: The best way to avoid this mistake is to adopt what is known as a naming convention in your code. A naming convention is a systematic method for naming files and data that make it easier for you to find and retrieve them at a later stage. There are many naming conventions you could use including BEM, SMACSS, KISS, and OOCSS for example. Adopting this organised way of working can help you quickly and easily manage and identify your web page elements and reduce confusion when building a website. 2. Using old code Using old code is one of the biggest coding mistakes a developer can make. Just because old code works doesn’t mean it actually works. Outdated code can lead to several problems with your site such as security vulnerabilities, compatibility issues, and overall poor performance of your website. With new technologies emerging all the time, the way developers code in today’s digital world is evolving and in order for your site to succeed, you should be staying away from old code. How to avoid this coding mistake: It’s highly recommended to stay updated with the latest coding practices, technologies, and frameworks to ensure seamless functionality with your website. Attending webinars, reading articles, and even connecting with online web development communities are all great ways of doing this. You should also regularly review and update your codebase to ensure that you are using modern standards and best practices. Using version control systems like Git allows you to track changes easily and efficiently. Doing this will keep your codebase fresh and up-to-date, which will enhance the functionality and longevity of your website while minimising potential technical difficulties down the road. 3. Copying and pasting code When it comes to learning a particular skill, many people learn by doing, and when you’re unsure on something, you’ll more than often not turn to Google for an answer. Whilst there’s nothing wrong with doing this, in the world of web development this can pose a few issues. Using Google or even Stack Overflow to find an answer to a particular problem is all well and good - especially when you find a nice chunk of code to go with it - but if you don’t do your research, you could be blindly copying and pasting code without fully understanding how it works. This could potentially introduce bugs, security vulnerabilities, and compatibility issues with parts of your website. How to avoid this web development mistake: The first thing you should do to avoid web development mistakes like this is ask yourself these questions: How do I know this code is safe and it’s doing exactly what I need it to do? Does the copied code clash with the style of coding I’m writing and naming conventions? Am I actually learning anything about how to solve my problem if I copy and paste that code into my project? As mentioned, searching for an answer is encouraged if you have a problem. However once you find the answer, you must ensure you read the explanation attached to it, rather than simply copying and pasting the supplied code.  Be sure you understand why it works the way it does and how it works, as this can allow you to tailor it to fit the specific requirements of your project. You could also make a note of how the particular problem was solved so the next time you experience the same issue, you should be able to solve it without assistance. 4. Saying “works for me” There’s no denying that almost every developer will have uttered these words, which can be a double-edged sword. While something may appear to function correctly on your end, it’s important to remember that other people will be using different devices, browsers, and settings that could affect how something “works”. As well as this, the developer knows exactly how their website was made, and therefore knows exactly how it is designed to work, which other people may not necessarily understand.  How to avoid this web development mistake: Instead of just dismissing a problem with a simple “works for me”, investigate further. Use browser testing services to see if you can use the website in a way it was not designed to work to try and replicate the issue. You could also consider getting feedback from a diverse group of people who use different technologies and platforms to ensure your site works for everyone and not just you. 5. Incorrectly implementing SEO Incorrectly implementing SEO best practices to your site can significantly hinder the success of it when launched. Many web developers believe SEO isn’t that complex and they know enough to be able to implement best practices when building a website. However, this isn’t true. With ever-changing rules and algorithms on how search engines index a website, page load times, clever backlinking, and crawlable site architecture to keep in mind, it would be naive to think a web developer can be both a developer and an SEO specialist. How to avoid this web development mistake: Work with an SEO specialist right from the outset when building your website. It can be mistaken that SEO doesn’t need to be implemented until after a website is created but this isn’t true. Speaking with a specialist that can advise you on best practices right from the start, allows you to combine your knowledge to create a powerhouse of a website and also removes the risk of having to make any changes to your web build.  6. Not properly testing code One of the most common coding mistakes is deploying code without properly testing it. Testing code is a crucial step in any development project and skipping this step can lead to a whole host of problems such as glitches with your site and functionality issues. By carrying out rigorous testing of your code, you can ensure a seamless user experience and that your site is functional and stable. How to avoid this coding mistake: The obvious answer here is to test your code! But there are a few ways in which you can do this. For example, you could consider implementing automated testing tools like unit tests and integration tests as these can help catch any bugs and errors with your code. Speak to other web developers too to gain valuable feedback and insight into your code. You should also make sure you test your code across different browsers and devices to ensure your website is responsive and offers a consistent user experience for all visitors, regardless of how they access your site. Looking for professional web developers? We hope that by highlighting some of the most common web development mistakes and coding mistakes, along with ways to avoid them, helps you create outstanding results from your next project - whether that’s a new website, a mobile app, or a bespoke CRM software. If you’re about to embark on a web development project and you’re looking for a professional web development agency, speak to us today. Our specialist web developers have a wealth of experience in creating flawless and functional websites, mobile applications, and more. Get in touch with us today to discuss your requirements in more detail and learn how your online success is our shared mission. #### 7 benefits of blogging for business and how to get started Blogs are written by various people for various different reasons. Many people choose to write blogs to express their opinion on matters they are interested in with no commercial intent. Blogging for business however, could result in a high conversion rate and its potential impact cannot be underestimated.  Writing a blog is a fantastic way for businesses to engage with their customers, as well as a whole host of other benefits. Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of blogging for business and how you can get started. 7 benefits of blogging for your business As well as helping your business to grow, developing your authority and becoming a go-to place for people to learn about your products, services and industry, starting a business blog can bring a variety of benefits including: 1 - Improved SEO rankings A business blog is an ideal way of driving traffic to your website because the content you include fuels SEO. Search engines like Google, look favourably on good quality content that serves a purpose for the users intended search, and this has become a particular focus following their ‘helpful content update’ in 2022. A blog gives you the chance to create relevant content for your readers, which is likely to drive traffic back to your site and increase the likelihood of conversions. If you are wanting to advertise a certain aspect of your business, you can drive traffic to specific landing pages on your site by including inbound links in your articles.  In addition to this, blogs can be the hub from which your social media content is formed. Posting links to the blogs on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc., will give readers a reason to click through to your site. Repurpose the introductions to the blog to ensure they are relevant at times where your topic is trending for maximum exposure. 2 - Builds relationships with customers Blogs are an easy way of gaining brand exposure and connecting with existing and potential new customers. Being a trustworthy source of information will direct readers to your site, and will allow them to get to know your business and brand. Blogs also allow for comments to be posted by customers, which is a great way of instigating a business/customer relationship and increase the chance of potential leads. 3 - Positions you as subject leader A business blog is a great way of demonstrating your knowledge within a certain field. A stream of informative posts gives authority to your brand and is likely to create a loyal following of readers. Whether you are writing a blog about a product or service, it’s vitally important that you build trust and show the customers that you are the hub of knowledge for that industry – this will gain repeated visits to your site. 4 - Gives your company a voice If you are wanting to show people what your company is all about, a business blog is the ideal place to do this. It offers you the opportunity to discuss a range of topics, including market trends, news items, company updates etc. on a platform away from your main website, offering the freedom to be more conversational and to display the characteristics you want your company to portray. This can be a very effective method of separating yourself from the crowd and really can help your business shine. 5 - Gives insight into your audience Analysing blog performance is an incredibly effective tactic as it offers you the opportunity to study the trends and patterns of your readers. Whether you are looking for what articles were the most read, which blogs received the most click-throughs, shares, comments etc., this data can be vitally important in driving future decisions that will maximise chances of customer interaction and subsequently conversions. 6 - It’s free! Business blogging is a cost effective method of maximising your brand’s exposure, so there’s really no excuse for not having one! A blog not only helps to build awareness and trust, but is also a long-term asset that will work day and night for you on search engines, like Google., ensuring your expertise, products and services can be found any time of the day. 7 - It works! According to HubSpot, companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website. Assuming this is true, and all the evidence suggests it is, business blogging is not an option; it’s a necessity. Ensuring you produce enlightened news from within your industry, will help you gain trust and a following as well as increase your reputation and links from other websites to yours. How do you get started with a business blog? The first step to starting a business blog is to create a content strategy. This allows you to understand what type of topics you want to cover and how frequently you’d like to post. From here, you can also look at the creative content you want to accompany your blogs such as video and graphic design for example. Whilst you’re developing your strategy, it’s also important to conduct some competitor research to see what your rivals are writing about and get a feel for their tone of voice. When creating your blogs, it’s important to be you, but you also want to ensure you offer content that serves a purpose and offers value for users. Here are some tips that can help you achieve this: Create unique, high quality content - you want your blogs to represent your brand and what you have to offer, whilst giving searchers what they want. Write for your audience - stick to topics that relate to your audience. If you want to talk about a related subject, keep it interesting and read-worthy. Answer questions - most people ask a question when searching, so be sure to answer them, or create blogs around commonly asked questions in your industry. Optimise your blogs for SEO - strategically incorporate keywords throughout your content, but make sure it flows naturally. This will help you rank better in search engine results and increase visibility. Share your blogs on your social media pages - maximise exposure and increase visibility of your blogs by sharing them across your social media channels. Speak to us about your business blog Don’t worry if you think starting a business blog sounds a little daunting. Get in touch today and we can help. We can create a content strategy that is unique to your brand and even create the content for you including copywriting, graphic design, video and more. #### 7 benefits of mobile apps for businesses Many businesses are now moving towards having their own mobile application because it allows them to expand their business and enter new markets. There is almost no industry where mobile apps haven’t proven their marketing value or their effectiveness at connecting with audiences - from ecommerce to food distribution to healthcare. Given the digital era we live in, consumers are embracing new technologies to access information and purchase products. This means businesses are playing catch up so they can showcase their products or services to their target audience without being left behind. The importance of mobile apps for businesses shouldn’t be underestimated as they provide a convenient way for users to gain immediate access to a particular brand. If you don’t have an app for your business, you could be losing out on a huge opportunity to reach new potential customers. But before you jump on the app bandwagon, it’s important to think about what you need and expect from the app. A good way to approach this is to look at the benefits of mobile apps and how you can use them to improve your digital marketing activities. Keep reading to learn seven key benefits of having an app for your business. 7 key benefits of mobile apps for businesses Mobile apps offer numerous benefits for businesses looking to enhance their online presence and connect with customers in a digital age. Here are seven key benefits of mobile apps. Increased brand awareness One of the biggest benefits of an app is increased brand awareness. This is because mobile apps are seen as a more effective solution for brand recognition than other traditional marketing strategies. They allow for more exposure and grab the attention of your audience who are engaged on mobile devices. With a mobile app, you can continually raise brand awareness in numerous ways including: Push alerts for new products, promotions, sales, offers, and discounts Adding information about your company and its products or services, as well as announcements about company events and activities Announcements of software updates or new features Quick access to information about loyalty programs The ability of the above means your users will have all the information and news they need about your brand, as well as access to your products or services within seconds of them opening your app. Provides a great customer experience platform Mobile apps for businesses are a great way of providing an excellent customer experience. Customers appreciate it when their questions and queries are addressed quickly and this is where mobile apps can play a vital role. With the help of online customer support services, such as help articles and AI chatbots, brands can maintain a happy audience, which leads to building customer loyalty. With over 70% of users now using mobile devices to shop online, a mobile app enables businesses to improve their accessibility to their brand and their offering, providing users with a seamless and convenient way to shop which contributes to an overall positive user experience. An effective channel for advertising When it comes to ads, there is so much going on and standing out from the crowd can be difficult. However if you have a mobile app, you can effectively reach your target audience in a much more personalised way. That’s because mobile apps allow you to implement personalisation features such as shopping and browsing history, meaning you can target your audience with customised ads and discounts that are relevant to them. Combine that with the fact that your users are already interested and engaged with your brand and your app, you’re likely to see much better performance with your ads, leading to a boost in your conversion rates. Keeps you ahead of your competitors No matter what industry your business is in, you’re fighting for your target audience's attention and custom and this can be a particular challenge if it’s a competitive industry you reside in. But investing in a mobile app can help you stay one step ahead of your competitors, as you’re providing users 24 hour access to your products or services. To truly stand out, you should also consider adding innovative features to your app like AI chatbots for customer service, augmented reality so your customers can ‘try-before-they-buy’, or voice recognition for search purposes. All of these differentiators give your brand a significant edge - especially if your industry is niche - giving users more reasons to choose your brand over your competitors. Enables you to utilise unique app features This leads us nicely onto our next benefit of having an app - utilising unique app features. We’ve mentioned a few innovative features you can add, but one of the best benefits of a mobile app is that you can truly tap into the capabilities of a mobile device that can enhance customer engagement and offer a user experience that desktops can’t match. Some unique features you can take advantage of include: QR codes - for quick access to your most important landing pages or promotions for example (using these also hold much more invaluable data on your customers giving you better insights). GPS functionality - provides your users with location-based services like precise mapping, navigation, or finding your nearest brick-and-mortar store. Contact list integration - this helps streamline the process of your users sharing your products or services with their friends. Facial recognition - this kind of authentication adds an extra layer of security to your app, further building trust with your audience. Taking advantage of these unique app features enables businesses to differentiate themselves in their industry and create valuable interactions with their target audience. In-depth analytics and customer insights One of the most valuable benefits of an app is the ability to gather in-depth analytics and customer insights. Mobile apps aren’t just an opportunity to sell your offering, they’re also a great tool for gathering valuable business insights. For example, you can track user behaviour (if the customer consents to this of course) to see which in-app features are most popular, or you can track where your users are most disengaged, giving you more information on how your customers are interacting with your app. This data can then be used to make informed decisions about marketing strategies, product offerings, and overall business growth. With the power of analytics and customer insights at your fingertips, you can tailor your mobile apps to better meet the needs and desires of your target audience, ultimately leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. Your app can work offline For many, Wi-fi connection can be unpredictable so the ability that a mobile app can function offline is a game-changer. This allows your users to access certain functionalities of your app even without an internet connection, providing a seamless experience and enhancing conveniency regardless of connectivity.  It also enables businesses to enhance user satisfaction because their app remains accessible and functional in a variety of situations. Whether your audience is travelling, live in areas with poor broadband coverage, or they simply prefer to use apps offline, you can enhance the success of your app by offering this kind of uninterrupted service. As well as this, offline capabilities reduce the amount of data your audience uses, which is an attractive quality for those who live in areas where data costs are particularly high. This is a particular USP businesses can promote to encourage downloads. Ready to create your own app? In today’s dynamic world, people use mobile devices to keep up with their favourite brands. Regardless of the industry you’re in, there are many benefits of mobile apps for businesses, enabling you to keep your organisation open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you’re ready to create your own app for your business, or if you’d like to learn more about how your brand could benefit from having an app, get in touch with us today. Our talented app developers will work closely with you to understand your brand, your audience, and your objectives and design an app that works flawlessly and elevates your business to new heights. #### 7 ecommerce trends in 2024 to watch out for The industry of ecommerce is always changing every year. Through every industry, different trends come and go all the time, and ecommerce isn’t any different. As more and more businesses move to the online world, it can be hard to make your brand stand out from the noise. In this blog, we share seven ecommerce trends in 2024 to watch out for along with ways you can implement these trends into your online store so you can grow your brand and offer your customers a shopping experience that is next level. Is your website ready for the latest ecommerce trends? It goes without saying that your ecommerce website is the most important thing to you and your entire business. It’s the backbone of your brand and you need to ensure it’s up-to-date and optimised so you can effectively implement the latest ecommerce trends. Your competitor's website may not have as many features as yours, however if their site is looking fresh and fleshed out, this can be a huge game changer that determines a customer's perspective of your competitor over you. That’s why it’s vital to ensure you’re not left behind and you’re providing a seamless user experience for your customers. There are many factors to consider when it comes to your website and providing a positive user experience. For example, your web pages should load rapidly, your products should be correctly categorised, and your whole website should be visually pristine. If it isn’t, you may need to consider a new website design before you implement the latest ecommerce trends. 7 ecommerce trends for 2024 Here are seven ecommerce trends for 2024 you should be considering. 1. Use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for personalisation Adding personalisation to your customers shopping experience is a fantastic way of providing a positive and seamless user experience, and one of the great ways ecommerce businesses can leverage this is through the use of AI.  Simply by learning your consumers' behaviours, your brand can provide more accurate and valuable product information for your customers. For example, you could show similar products to last purchase, show products relating to your customers clothing or shoe size, or show unique personalised offers. According to Shop Circle, 80% of consumers are more likely to make a repeat purchase with a company that offers a shopping experience that is personalised to them. With these kinds of statistics, it’s no wonder so many ecommerce businesses are opting for using AI for personalisation. As well as boosting your customer loyalty, you’re also improving customer satisfaction and increasing your brand awareness. 2. Introduce personalised products Sticking on the subject of personalisation, it’s been understood that offering personalised products can also make a whole lot of difference to your customers' shopping experience, because it opens up many more options for them. It also allows your business to target wider audiences and niches too. You can do this by allowing your consumers to create their dream product simply by customising your existing products. For example, give them the option to choose their favourite colour, or add images or text to your product. More and more people in today’s modern world want to have their own look, because it gives them a sense of uniqueness to themselves. By offering different product variations and the option to personalise, you’ll open up a whole new revenue stream for your business. 3. Implement voice and image search One of the biggest ecommerce trends to watch out for in 2024 is voice and image search. Thanks to AI software and machine learning, businesses can implement voice and image search to their website, allowing customers to quickly shop their site and tailor their own shopping experience to their needs. As expected, voice search enables your customers to search for a product through voice command and avoids the hassle of your customer having to manually type their search. The most used and recognisable voice search functionality is Apple’s Siri. As for image search, this feature lets shoppers search for a product using images. Your customers can upload an image of a product they’d like to purchase from you and they’ll then be shown a list of available products relating to the image. The exact functionality of image search can vary, but one of the best use cases is Google Lens. Implementing these two types of functionality to your website will not only give your shoppers a better user experience in terms of accessibility, but it will also boost your store's discoverability which can lead to more conversions for your business. 4. Provide an immersive experience with virtual reality Giving your customers the option to use virtual reality (VR) when shopping with you is a great way to offer an immersive experience. VR gives consumers a simulated experience and can allow them to virtually test out your products in their own home. There are numerous ecommerce brands that are utilising this functionality and the most notorious is IKEA. Consumers can use their app to see if a piece of furniture fits nicely within their room before they purchase. Clothing brands are also using VR to give people a ‘try-before-you-buy’ experience, allowing them to see if a piece of clothing suits them. This kind of technology helps build trust with your audience as they can see if your product is right for them and not feel the pressure of purchasing immediately. 5. Allow for more payment options Paying with credit or debit cards is the basis for any transaction system, but your ecommerce site should be more than just that. In today’s modern world, online retailers need to be offering multiple payment options for their customers including Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) options. Offering a variety of payment methods means you avoid losing customers at the key stage of the customer lifecycle. Some customers like the use of PayPal largely because it’s popular, but also because it’s safe and convenient. As mentioned, there are numerous BNPL options such as Clearpay and Klarna, that are certainly worth having on your checkout. Setting these payment systems are relatively easy and show you as a credible online retailer. If you’re not already implementing these payment options, they are definitely worth adding to your website.  6. Social media can also be part of your ecommerce store People are increasingly using social media to shop their favourite products from the biggest brands. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram now allow customers to purchase directly within their apps, giving businesses more opportunity for revenue. You are most likely using social media already as a marketing tool, but expanding your online store across these popular platforms, also presents a great opportunity. Whilst customers can visit your website to make a purchase, doing this on your social media channels can help boost your sales with ease. Online shopping through social media is a big ecommerce trend for 2024 because your audience are more likely to share what they find and purchase, which will only increase your chances of conversion and boost your brand's visibility. 7. Utilise email marketing automation It’s important to never underestimate the power of email marketing, specifically email marketing automation. By sending your audience a targeted email at the most important stages of the buying process, you’ll help to increase the chance of conversion. In almost all email service platforms (ESP), you can build automated email journeys where you can target your audience when they’re browsing your site, abandoning their basket and even after they’ve made a purchase. Within your email campaigns, you can share exclusive discounts, free shipping codes, or show similar products to encourage your customer to purchase with you. And because it’s all automated, you only need to build your email journey and campaigns and let your ESP do the rest. Want to be the first to know about ecommerce trends? It’s clear to see that ecommerce is constantly changing with new ways and evolutionary methods coming into the picture all the time. Staying in the know with these ecommerce trends for 2024 means you and your business can keep with the times and meet ever evolving customer expectations. We've got another great blog to read on tips for improving the ecommerce checkout process. If you want to be the first to know about new and upcoming ecommerce trends, get in touch with us today. We can help manage your ecommerce site and implement trends that will not only give your consumers a better shopping experience, but bring your online store success. #### 7 essential email marketing tips for ultimate success Email marketing is a crucial part of most digital marketing strategies and although many marketers know this, it’s sometimes hard to know exactly how to create an effective email campaign. But with these essential email marketing tips, you’ll know exactly how to gain the most engagement and interaction from your emails. But first, let’s take a look at some of the key benefits email marketing can bring to your business. What are the benefits of email marketing? There are a huge amount of benefits to email marketing for businesses large and small. The most notable benefit being the relationship it allows you to build and maintain with your audience. This regular and direct way of communication means your business stays at the forefront of your customers minds, which in turn can bring a high return of investment. Not only that, but it’s one of the most cost effective ways to reach your audience and is also a great way of automating your marketing efforts. Our 7 essential email marketing tips and tricks Here are our essential email marketing tips and tricks to set you on a strong path with your email marketing strategy and to help drive engagement as well as revenue. 1. Create an effective subject line This tip is vital because it’s one of the first things your audience will see when you send them an email. Your subject line needs to be as catchy as possible. You want to aim to include key elements that will encourage click through rate, whilst keeping it as short as possible. Also, don’t be afraid to use emojis if they’re relevant. 2. Utilise split testing Test different subject lines so you know which one is going to get the best results. With split testing, you can send a sample out to 10% of your audience to see what gets the best reaction. Then you can review the results and the best performing email can be sent to the rest of your audience. It’s a great way to see how your audience interacts with your campaigns. 3. Be sure to test your email It’s extremely important to ensure you do internal testing to make sure everything works how it should. Send test emails to other work colleagues as they might spot something you didn’t see in the first place. This will also allow you to see how your customers will view the email in different browsers, devices and mail apps. 4. Create target segments Creating various customer segments will allow you to communicate to the right audience, especially if you have more than one product or service on offer. You can provide a targeted approach and you’re likely to see much higher conversion. Customer segmentation will also minimise the number of unsubscribes because you’re sending relevant emails to people who are interested in certain products or services you offer. 5. Add a touch of personalisation to your content People respond more positively to emails that are personalised. By adding personalisation to your subject line or your main body of content, you'll see higher response rates. If you’re communicating with existing customers, this is a great opportunity to cross sell and show them related products or services that are similar to their previous purchase. 6. Keep a close eye on your results You should always be looking for ways to improve your marketing efforts, so closely analysing results of your campaigns is key. The beauty of digital marketing is that it allows you to be reactive, so if you see an email campaign that didn’t perform as well as you’d hoped, you have the opportunity to optimise, and the same also applies to campaigns that have performed well. 7. Figure out your frequency You may have asked yourself “how often should I be sending emails?” and there’s no one size fits all. Different industries require different levels of activity. For example, if your business is in the retail industry, you may choose to send emails on a bi-daily basis. However, if your business is in a niche market, you may only send an email fortnightly.  Need a helping hand with your email marketing success? We hope our essential tips for email marketing have helped you, but if you find you still need a helping hand, then why not get in touch today? Our talented digital marketing team can help you compile an email marketing plan and even do all the hard work for you from creating content, to scheduling your emails, to analysing your results for ultimate success. #### 7 key elements to consider in your digital business strategy As we firmly make our way into 2024, there’s no better time to fine-tune your digital business strategy. Whether you already have a strategy in place that needs a little more work, or you are starting completely from scratch, we share seven key elements that you should be considering for your digital business strategy.  What is a digital strategy? A digital business strategy is a plan that outlines a variety of digital initiatives to achieve business goals. This can consist of the technologies you may use and the channels you’ll utilise to accomplish these goals. It provides a consistent direction and allows for everyone involved to work towards the same goals and vision. Most digital strategies are created to help an organisation reach their audience, increase conversions and enhance their brand awareness. But devising digital business strategy requires expertise and experience to both plan and implement successfully. 7 elements to consider in your digital business strategy Here are seven key elements every digital business strategy should include. Know what you stand for This is the first step to creating your digital strategy - knowing what you stand for. This will include your brand and its mission. Be sure to clearly define this in your own mind and speak with your colleagues to get their point of view on what you stand for. Once you’ve done that, you can outline how you expect your customers to identify with you. Some key questions to ask yourself: What makes you different from your competitors? What is your tone of voice? What are your key USPs? Create your buyer persona Creating your ideal buyer personas allows you to create a story around your customers. This kind of audience research allows you to truly understand your audience - what they think, how they act and what they like and dislike. This means your digital business strategy can be tailored and your marketing efforts streamlined to your buyer persona. Some key questions to ask yourself: What do your typical customers look like? What motivates them? What are their challenges? Plan your buyer journey When you understand your ideal buyer persona, the next step is to plan their journey. Mapping out this journey allows you to identify the optimal times you can reach out to them. It will also allow you to understand any pain points your buyer persona might face within their journey, giving you a chance to fix them. Some key questions to ask yourself: Why is this person coming to your business? What problems would drive them to find you? How would they find you? How often would they need to visit you? Identify your channels With so many digital channels available for attracting your customers at your fingertips, like social media, pay-per-click (PPC), content marketing, digital PR and more, it’s important to understand which channel is right for you, because not all will be relevant to your business. Being clear about your objectives will help you understand which channels to utilise. Some key questions to ask yourself: What are you trying to achieve - generate a return on investment (ROI)? Drive enquiries? Increase brand awareness? Where are your audience - online or offline? What is your budget for using these channels? Conduct a competitor analysis Understanding your competitors is key in making your business stand out from the crowd. You should take your top 3 or 4 main competitors and research what they are doing - this will include analysing their social media channels, their search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts and even their customer ratings. This will allow you to see if there is a gap in their marketing efforts that you can take advantage of. Some key questions to ask yourself: What are your competitors doing well at? Where are you falling behind? Can you carve out a niche on marketing channels your competitors are not using? Plan your budget Some channels are more expensive than others, and some may have a stronger provable ROI. If you’re opting for PPC marketing for example, you’ll need to be able to put some money behind your campaigns to see any real return and similarly, if you’re opting for creating paid social media campaigns. You may even want to consider upping or decreasing your budget depending on campaign performance. Some key questions to ask yourself: What is my monthly budget? How much am I prepared to spend per campaign? Is there room for manoeuvre with my budget? Engage with your audience If you’re putting content out across multiple digital channels, you need to be prepared to respond to the reaction from your consumers - good or bad. Take time to engage and build a following, ensuring your content and comments are all in-line with your brand tone. Some key questions to ask yourself: Is there a plan in place for negative feedback? How promptly should I respond to customers? Can I solve this customer's query or do I need help from the rest of the team? Let us help create your digital business strategy We hope we’ve provided you with more insight into what you need to include in your digital business strategy. If you need more help with your strategy, or you’d like more advice, be sure to get in touch with us today. Our digital marketing experts can work closely with you to create a digital business strategy that will drive your brand to success. #### 7 of the best digital marketing jobs out there Digital marketing refers to the use of the internet, social media, websites, email and even text messaging to market or promote services, products and companies. Building an online presence and increasing awareness around a brand is becoming more and more pivotal to businesses and sellers. In turn, jobs in the above areas are becoming much more in demand. Here are seven of the best digital marketing jobs that you might want to consider if you’re looking to work in the industry. 1. Content strategist The fundamental role of a content strategist is to bridge the gap between the goals of the company and customers' needs. The role primarily involves planning content which is relevant to both parties and will therefore appeal to current customers and keep them engaged as well as reach wider audiences and broaden the scope of the business’s customer base. Content strategists will use techniques such as back-link building or SEO to try and increase traffic to a company’s website and therefore keep their online presence growing. If the team is fairly small, the content strategist may also be required to take part and help with writing, editing or publishing content. 2. Social media manager Another job that has become increasingly more important recently is the role of the social media manager. This job involves creating a presence across a variety of social media channels which aligns with the brand. In order to build a coherent brand, social media managers have to work alongside the marketing and sales teams to ensure everyone is on the same page and that all marketing efforts are cohesive. Social media managers must keep on top of trends and opportunities to make the company seem relevant and to promote them better. It's also part of their role to engage with the audience by replying to comments, for example, which helps to build interaction with the brand and therefore increases their reach and viewership. 3. Email marketing specialist Email marketing specialists specialise in writing persuasive email campaigns to engage and draw in customers. Due to this, they usually require some experience in copywriting and editing. One of the key parts of this role is understanding your database of customers and how to grow this without coming across as irritating or demanding, therefore creating a negative image around the company rather than positively promoting it. 4. Graphic designer A graphic designer plays an important part of creating a memorable and immediately striking brand. In this role, you will not only need an artistic flair but the ability to take a company's goals and create designs that meet these needs. Graphic designers are in charge of creating coherent visuals for the brand, usually across all platforms, including social media, email and websites. They must ensure the visuals they produce match the vision of the company and are powerful enough for customers to remember them. 5. UX designer UX, or User Experience, designers have the pivotal role of ensuring that every interaction or experience a user has with the brand is as smooth and positive as possible. This is important as it can play a big part in a potential customer's first impression of a company, whether they interact with a social media channel, blog or website. 6. PPC manager PPC, or Pay-Per-Click, managers oversee the launch, creation and tracking of an organisation's advertising campaigns on search engines like Google or Bing for example. They are responsible for every stage of the advertising campaigns and ensure they’re optimised appropriately to target as many people as possible.  Their main aim is to reach as many people as possible so customers click their advertising campaigns. PPC managers regularly monitor these campaigns in order to gain data and analyse the campaign's performance. With this knowledge, they’re able to develop and optimise future campaigns for optimal success. 7. SEO specialist A key part of online marketing is creating and designing ads that appear in web searches and on social media platforms. Search engine optimisation specialists are in charge of researching the keywords that will bring a company's content to the attention of those it's aimed at, as well as ensuring these keywords are added naturally to all content for boosting rankings in the SERPs. All of these roles are increasingly important within digital marketing and all play an important role of optimising the marketing efforts for a business. At Fifteen, we have an incredibly talented digital marketing team that can help with your company’s marketing strategy. From SEO to PPC, social media to content marketing, we offer a range of digital marketing services to help boost your business. Why not get in touch with us to see exactly how we can help? #### 7 SEO Myths That Need To Stop Right Now SEO is a constantly evolving practice. Because of this, there are many things that were once true that linger, and many things that were never true that become “common knowledge”. Here are some of the biggest SEO myths that we encounter on a regular basis. #1 - I "Need" To Rank For This Keyword This is the most common misconception that we have to address on a regular basis. A lot of people become fixated on a particular keyword that they feel will improve their website traffic. They feel that an SEO campaign cannot be truly successful unless they are ranking for this one particular “magic keyword”. Truth: For every high volume generic keyword out there, there are hundreds of long tail keywords that are not only easier to target, but also provide more focused traffic to your site. Keyword research can help uncover these opportunities, so is a very important part of SEO. We can’t just pick your keywords out of a hat and run with them. #2 - I Have To Put My Keyword Everywhere Keyword stuffing. It’s a bad thing. You will hear a lot of people talking about keyword density, and how often a keyword should be mentioned throughout your page, as well as within each element. Some people think you should include your desired keyword within every part of your landing page. Truth: Google doesn’t look at meta descriptions anymore, so your keyword is useless there. Alt text in images should be used to describe the image, not a place for extra keyword stuffing. And, there’s no magic percentage of keywords you should include within the content. Search engines now look at keywords that would be considered as synonymous with the relevant search term, as well as the actual key term. Ensuring your content is well written, and not filled with spammy mentions of your desired keyword is far more important. #3 - I Did SEO Once, I Should Be Fine This one speaks for itself. A lot of people think that if they’ve paid an SEO person to have a look at their new website before they launch it, it should be fine. Truth: SEO is an ongoing practice. Search engines look at a number of factors to determine the strength of your website, including relevancy. Unfortunately, relevancy also takes into consideration how recent a piece of information is. Has your website received no backlinks for a few months? It’s no longer relevant. Have you updated the content on your site? If not, it’s no longer relevant. #4 - The More Pages I Have, The Better If you want to start ranking for lots of keywords, you need lots of pages, right? Wrong. Truth: If you need a lot of pages, then don’t hesitate to create them. As long as each page is relevant to the topic it has been created for, and there aren’t other pages within your website talking about the same thing, then it makes sense. What we’re talking about are websites that are filled with pages that are near duplicates of one another. Not all the pages on your site are crawled every time, and not all pages that are crawled are indexed. So, by adding unnecessary pages to your site, you could actually be damaging your SEO. #5 - Good UX Doesn’t Effect SEO “SEO is all about keywords and backlinks.” It’s a common misconception that the sole purpose of an SEO campaign is to get users to visit your website. Truth: You need to cater to the users once they land on your page. Amongst the ranking factors for search engines is a host of factors related to UX; bounce rate, average session duration, conversion rate, page views, etc. All of these factors can be improved with good UX implemented on your website. #6 - Images Don’t Require SEO Expanding upon the keyword stuffing point made above, the main reason people feel they can fill alt text of images with keywords is because of the common myth that Images don’t require optimisations. Truth: Image optimisations (when done correctly) are a great way of gaining additional visibility, in addition to possible backlinks. By optimising the image to reflect what it’s actually about, as opposed to just your keywords, it can begin to surface in the rankings for search engines’ image searches, increasing the possible chances for your website to be viewed. #7 - SEO Is Easy Truth: It’s not. See above. #### 7 top tips for email marketing success Believe it or not, email marketing is still going strong and for many businesses, it’s one of the best digital marketing tools to use to see a high return on investment (ROI). It offers a huge amount of versatility from marketing your business and your offering, to building trust with your audience. But with an insane amount of emails being sent everyday, how do you ensure your brand is being seen amongst the noise? Well in this blog, we share our top seven tips for email marketing to help improve your open rate and click-through rate and ultimately bring your business success. Our top 7 tips for email marketing 1. Make your emails personalised One of the most effective email marketing tips we can give you is personalisation. Consumers want to feel valued and they don’t want to receive robotic responses from the organisations with whom they do business with. As a result, the traditional email automation process - which can appear overly robotic - must adapt. Not only should you demonstrate your knowledge in your emails, but also your personality and your passions. If you create a sense of connection for customers who read your emails, it will assist them in developing trust in both you and your brand. Additionally, you can employ automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to develop tailored emails that resonate with your consumers. For example, collect data from your customers and analyse their interests and preferences to send them more targeted emails that speak directly to their wants and needs. 2. Increase the interactivity of emails By making your emails more interactive, you can increase customer engagement. Your email’s interactive parts don’t necessarily have to be sophisticated. They can take the form of clear, clickable call-to-action (CTA) buttons, polls and surveys, brief quizzes, and carousels that highlight products or services for example.  With that in mind, you might want to consider the current state of your welcome emails or your order confirmation emails that you send to users. Ask yourself, ‘are there any changes that I can add to make them less robotic and more interactive?’. 3. Consider using AI to optimise your campaigns As previously mentioned in our first tip, using AI in your email strategy can help you analyse consumer behaviours and streamline your email marketing efforts. Bear in mind that if your consumers take the time to open your email, the content must be worthwhile; otherwise, they may delete it and not open the next one you send, and potentially even unsubscribe from your list. Therefore it is critical to understand your customers needs before sending them another email. To simplify this process, you might want to consider outsourcing it to a CRM system. For instance, by evaluating your consumer buying behaviours and interests, platforms such as Ongage can optimise email sending times, identify a more appropriate angle for your emails’ subject line and content, and ultimately increase open rates and sales conversions. You can learn more about how to increase your email marketing conversions in our blog. 4. Include user-generated content in your emails User-generated content (UGC) refers to any type of content created by your users with your goods and services. When consumers shop online, they rarely get to view or experience things in person before purchasing. Therefore the feedback of other consumers has such an impact on their purchasing decision. According to Exploding Topics, around 93% of consumers are swayed by other users’ reviews. You may just enhance consumer trust in your product and brand by incorporating UGC into your emails. And the best part about this type of content is that it’s completely free. Therefore, try to integrate customer reviews, poll results, and images of people using your product or service in your emails. You can also collect additional customer content by promoting your offering across your social media channels. Many people would be happy to see their reviews and content shared publicly by a brand (once you’ve been granted permission by the creator of course). 5. Be considerate to others privacy Nowadays, customers are more concerned with their privacy and the way their data is handled. And with GDPR regulations firmly in place, it’s extremely important that you’re complying with these in your email marketing.  You should regularly monitor GDPR legislation and ensure that you are adhereing to it. Additionally, you must advise customers of any changes to data privacy policies and how you intend to protect their information. This will almost certainly boost your audience's faith in your business. 6. Prioritise engagement The majority of marketers approach email marketing with a specific short-term objective in mind – to increase sales. And that makes sense; after all, the fundamental objective of your email is more than likely to boost sales. However, this is the opposite of what you should be doing.  You should maintain a strong emphasis on building a relationship with your audience. More often than not, people join your email list to learn more about your business, not to purchase things from you. Remember, that engagement is critical to achieving long-term success with your email marketing. 7. Remember to always adapt Email marketing has evolved substantially over the years and continues to do so. What may have worked in the past may no longer work now or in the future. And it’s important to always keep this in mind. That is why most email marketers believe that the only way to succeed is through continued education. However, they overlook the importance of unlearning what doesn’t work. If you want to convert your subscribers into consumers, be sure to keep an eye out for what isn’t working and avoid making common mistakes - like sending an email that is no longer engaging to your audience. Let us help with your email marketing We hope our above top tips for email marketing will help you when you’re preparing your next email campaign. Follow these tips and you’ll be sure to see an improvement to your engagement, open rate and click-through rate. If you need a helping hand with your email marketing, or you’d like to learn more effective email marketing tips, get in touch with us today. Our digital marketing experts can help put together an effective email marketing strategy and even take care of all the hard work for you. #### 7 ways a strong brand corporate identity can catapult your business to success. A strong brand is no longer a ‘nice to have’, it’s a critical part of how businesses grow, compete, and build long-term value. Whether you’re launching something new or evolving an existing business, your brand identity plays a central role in how you’re perceived and how effectively you turn attention into action. A well-defined brand corporate identity goes far beyond colour palettes. It shapes how your business communicates, how it’s remembered, and how confidently customers choose you over competitors. It influences everything from first impressions and trust, to internal consistency and long-term market position. In this blog, we’ll explore seven key ways a strong brand corporate identity can drive business success, and we share some practical advice on how to establish a brand identity that works in the real world. 1. Builds instant recognition A clear and consistent brand identity makes your business easier to recognise. In crowded markets, that recognition can make a huge difference. If people can instantly connect your visuals, tone, and messaging to your business, you’re already in a stronger position than brands that feel inconsistent or forgettable. When your logo, colours, and tone of voice all work together, customers begin to associate those elements with your business over time. This familiarity helps reduce the effort required for people to remember you and can increase the chances of them returning to your brand when they’re ready to buy. This is one of the most immediate benefits of building a brand identity. It helps your business stand out, become more memorable, and create a stronger presence across every touchpoint, from your website and social channels, to your marketing campaigns and sales materials. 2. Establishes trust and credibility First impressions matter, and your brand identity often forms those impressions before a prospect has even spoken to you. If your branding feels inconsistent, dated, or unclear, it can raise questions about the quality of your service or product. A strong brand corporate identity signals professionalism, reliability, and confidence. It shows that your business is considered, established, and serious about the way it presents itself. Even subtle details, such as consistent design, stronger messaging, and a polished visual identity, can influence whether a customer trusts you enough to take the next step. For many businesses, this trust factor is one of the biggest reasons to invest in brand design, because people are more likely to engage with brands that feel credible, and strong branding helps remove unnecessary doubt from the decision-making process. 3. Create clear positioning One of the biggest challenges businesses face is communicating what they do and who they’re for. Without that clarity, marketing becomes vague and inconsistent, and customers are left trying to work it out for themselves. By establishing a brand identity, it helps define your positioning and clarifies: What you offer Who your target audience is What makes you different Why customers should choose you When you’re building a brand identity, this level of positioning is essential. It allows you to move away from generic statements and create a much stronger connection between your offer and your audience’s needs. 4. Improves marketing performance A strong brand corporate identity makes all of your other marketing activities more effective because it gives every campaign a clear and consistent foundation. Without a defined brand, your marketing can feel fragmented, with different messages, visuals, and tones appearing across different channels. When your branding is consistent, your campaigns become easier to recognise and more memorable. This strengthens performance across channels such as: Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising Social media Email marketing SEO content By building a strong brand identity, you create a recognisable framework that supports stronger engagement, better recall, and more efficient creative development over time, rather than having to start from scratch with every piece of marketing creative. 5. Supports higher conversion rates Branding has a direct influence on how confident people feel when interacting with your business. If your website, sales materials, or campaigns feel disjointed or unclear, users are more likely to hesitate. A strong brand identity helps support conversion by creating reassurance. It makes your business feel established, thought through, and aligned. That confidence is particularly important when people are comparing multiple businesses offering similar services or products. Good branding doesn’t just attract attention, it helps turn that attention into action by making people feel more comfortable choosing your business. 6. Aligns internal teams Brand identity isn’t just for customers. It also plays a major role internally by helping teams understand how the business should look, sound, and communicate. Without that shared understanding, inconsistency can creep into everything from social posts and presentations, to proposals and customer communication. A well-developed brand identity gives your internal teams a clearer framework to work from and it becomes easier for them to: Create consistent content Communicate more effectively Align around shared messaging Deliver a unified customer experience It also helps guide tone of voice, messaging, visual presentation, and overall brand behaviour, which becomes even more important as your business grows. Remember, when you’re establishing a brand identity, you’re also creating a tool that supports internal alignment. 7. Creates long-term business value Strong brands build long-term value because they’re easier to recognise, easier to trust, and easier to remember. Over time, that can lead to stronger customer loyalty, better retention, and greater resilience in competitive markets. A business with a clear and consistent identity is often in a stronger position to adapt, grow, and launch new services because it already has a recognisable foundation. It can communicate more confidently, scale more consistently, and build equity in its reputation over time. This is why building a brand identity should be seen as a strategic investment rather than a cosmetic one. When done well, it supports not only short-term marketing performance, but the long-term strength and direction of the business as a whole. How to establish a brand identity that works Understanding the value of branding is one thing. Knowing how to establish a brand identity effectively is another. The most successful identities are not built on design alone - they’re shaped by strategy, audience understanding, and consistent application. When establishing a brand identity, you should: Define your brand strategy first - be clear on your audience, positioning, values, and what sets you apart before you move onto design. Create a consistent visual identity - your logo, colours, typography, and imagery should work together to create a recognisable and intentional look. Develop a clear tone of voice - the way your brand sounds should reflect your personality and stay consistent across every channel. Build brand guidelines - clear brand guidelines help keep your branding consistent across teams, suppliers, and future campaigns. Apply your brand across all touchpoints - your website, social media, emails, and marketing materials should all feel connected to create a stronger overall brand experience. Together, these steps help create a brand identity that feels clear, credible, and consistent, giving your business a stronger foundation for long-term growth. Ready to build a stronger brand identity? A strong brand corporate identity has the power to transform how your business is perceived, how your marketing performs, and how effectively you convert customers.  From improving recognition and trust, to supporting long-term growth, the benefits of building a brand identity are clear. But achieving it requires more than just good design - it requires a strategic, considered approach. At Fifteen, we help businesses define, develop, and refine their brand identity to ensure it supports real commercial outcomes. So, if you’re looking to strengthen your positioning, improve consistency, and build a brand that brings success for your business, be sure to get in touch with our team today. #### 8 Easy Ways a Blog Can Improve SEO results Any company can have a blog, however not every organisation can capitalise on their blog content to hold an advantage in the SERPs. Here are 8 easy steps to take your blog from the rest of the crowd and increase your sites visibility, traffic and results. The Name of Your Blog It’s important to be creative when deciding what to name your blog section if your website. It’s an optimization opportunity so don’t just stick with the standard “Blog”! There’s a variety of questions you should ask yourself when deciding the title: How can I compellingly describe my industry? Who is my target audience? What’s the overall theme of the blog? Am I able to bring SEO keywords into my blog title or name? By optimizing around a theme and a descriptive name it can lead to a significant amount more organic traffic. If you struggle to incorporate keywords into your blog name then at least make sure you include them in the page title as this is what’s visible in the SERPs. Audience Specific Posts Each blog post should be written for a specific segment of your target audience. This is the most efficient way to not only create but also optimise your content for specific customers. This also allows you to include keywords that relate to certain customers, needs and solutions. Effective URL Structures There’s a variety of benefits a strong URL structure can have for both website visitors and marketers. Firstly, it makes reporting a lot more straightforward and clear. I would recommend always including /blog/ in your URL syntax as this will help when it comes to tracking overall progress in Google Analytics. Next, ensure for each blog post the URL is user-friendly. Often people include every single word from the title in the URL when in fact the trick is to keep it short, relevant and still descriptive. ALWAYS leave out conjunctions such as “and”, “or” and “but”. Never Stop Optimising Content SEO improvements don’t always mean new website content. Recycling and looking for additional optimization opportunities in existing content can be just as effective. By using existing blog content you can save resources and time. Here are a few ways to further optimize a blog: Ensure title tags, meta descriptions are targeting and include keywords Discover more internal link opportunities Optimise existing images and add new optimised images Link together related posts Content Gaps! Blogs are a great way to fill SEO gaps within your website. Are there industry-related keyword opportunities that you currently don't rank for? Are you missing content on your site that’s related to these keywords? This then generates a variety of topics to surround your blogs on. Add Optimized Images & videos Images not only create a positive user experience but also can increase user engagement which adds to the SEO value. Always fully optimise your images from the sizing to the keyword-rich alt tags descriptions.  Mark it Up Structured data markup is added to your HTML to provide Google with information about your page. Schema markup ensures your post is fully optimised and can improve the way it's represented in SERPs. Take Advantage of Social media Sharing Sharing your blog posts on social media can have an array of benefits from keeping your audience engaged and your socials relevant. Additionally, it can increase referral traffic and also improve SEO results. This is because social signals are included in the ranking algorithm.  A blog is one of the quickest and simplest ways to improve a website's content and also overall SEO results. Therefore it’s crucial to implement the above steps into every blog that's produced to hold a competitive advantage in the SERPs. #### 8 of the best SEO tools to use for your business. When it comes to digital marketing, having the right tools at your disposal can make all the difference in achieving online success, and this is especially so for SEO. Different tools provide different qualities and with countless options available, how do you know which tools are truly worth your time and investment? Keep reading because in this blog, we’ll explore eight of the best SEO tools that can help you optimise your site, boost your search engine rankings, and ultimately drive more traffic. What are the best SEO tools to use? SEO isn’t just about keywords; it’s about strategy, analytics, and staying ahead of the competition. Below we share some of the best SEO tools to use that will help shape your strategy and improve your organic visibility. Screaming Frog Screaming Frog is a tool that is an SEO specialist's best friend and also considered as one of the best by experts. This user-friendly software allows you to crawl websites and analyse various SEO elements such as page titles, meta descriptions, header tags, and broken links. Its intuitive interface makes it easy for both beginners and experienced professionals to navigate through data. One of the standout features of Screaming Frog is its ability to generate comprehensive reports, which can help you identify areas for improvement in your site’s optimisation efforts. From bad redirection and duplicate content to general on-page errors, it’s extremely easy and straightforward to use and can save huge amounts of time where other SEO tools lack. Ahrefs One of the most recommended SEO tools to use is Ahrefs. With its robust features, it provides you with invaluable insights into your website performance and overall strategy. For example, it offers a vast database of backlinks, allowing you to analyse your own link profile as well as that of your competitors. This kind of data is crucial for identifying opportunities to improve your site’s authority and ranking ability.  It also has a comprehensive keyword research tool that helps you discover relevant keywords and assess their difficulty, search volume, and potential traffic. Its site audit feature is also a game-changer for many businesses as it provides insights into on-page SEO issues that could be hindering performance.  Whether you’re a seasoned SEO professional or just starting out, Ahrefs is an essential tool that can help elevate your overall digital marketing efforts. Google Search Console Google Search Console (GSC) is one of the best free SEO tools because it’s available to anyone with a website. All that’s required is to verify your website by adding some code in the backend, or you can submit your sitemap for indexing via Google Analytics 4 (GA4). With GSC, you can monitor your site’s presence in search engine results pages (SERPs) which offers you invaluable insights into how your site is performing. With features like performance reports that show you which queries bring users to your site, and tools for identifying and fixing issues related to indexing or mobile usability, this tool empowers you to make data-driven decisions. As well as that, GSC allows you to submit sitemaps and track the status of their indexing, ensuring your content is being effectively crawled by search engines. This tool allows you to get a better understanding of how users and Google view your site so you can optimise it for better performance. SE Ranking SE Ranking is a versatile SEO tool that caters to businesses of all sizes looking to enhance their online presence. It offers a range of robust features such as keyword research and tracking, website audits, backlink analysis, competitor research, and more. One standout feature is its Google AI overview report, which allows you to analyse your site for link presence and mentions in AI snippets. This kind of data enables you to streamline your content strategy based on what your users are looking for as well as find new opportunities to boost your SEO efforts. From optimising your content to improving your site’s technical health, SE Ranking equips you with the tools and insights needed to refine your SEO strategy. SEMRush An alternative to SE Ranking is SEMRush. This all-in-one SEO platform offers a plethora of useful features including keyword research and tracking, on-page checker tool, content marketing, competitor analysis, and more. With SEMRush, you can easily identify high-potential keywords for your niche, analyse how your competitors are performing, and uncover opportunities to improve your own website’s rankings. You can also get insights into backlinks, including tracking your link-building efforts and uncovering potential opportunities for growth. SEMRush is renowned for staying ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of SEO making it a go-to tool for many businesses looking to leverage powerful analytics to enhance their SEO strategy. Google Trends Another excellent free tool provided by Google is Google Trends. With the ability to search for keywords and search terms in any country, it allows users to explore the popularity of certain trends over time, giving insights into seasonal and emerging topics.  This allows you to identify what people are actively searching for and tailor your content accordingly, ensuring it aligns with current interests. It also gives your brand a competitive edge by capitalising on gaps in the market your competitors might not have done previously. Siteliner If your site is found to have duplicate content, you could be penalised by Google - but that’s where Siteliner comes in. It works by scanning your site for issues that may hinder your site’s performance, and one key feature is its ability to detect duplicate content. This free SEO checker tool also helps you find other potential issues such as page loading speeds and broken links, making it easier for businesses to optimise their website for better user experience and search visibility. It’s also very user-friendly making it accessible even for those who might not be tech-savvy. Majestic Named as one of the best SEO tools by many experts, Majestic has an army full of features that can enhance your SEO efforts. For example, you have the ability to track your ranking, find keywords, and see the ranking of the top one million websites. However, a particular key feature of this tool is its extensive backlink analysis. This feature provides you with data into link profiles, allowing you to assess the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to your website. With the Trust Flow metric, you can evaluate the credibility of your backlinks based on their authority, allowing you to tailor your backlink strategy. If you’re looking to perform a thorough competitive analysis or you want to strengthen your own link-building efforts, Majestic is an essential component of your overall SEO toolkit. Let us help with your SEO efforts These are just some of the best SEO tools out there that are designed to help you enhance your efforts and reach true online success. They can help you achieve just about anything related to your strategy and choosing the right tool is a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. If you’d like further advice on the best SEO tools available for your business, or you’d like expert help with your SEO efforts, get in touch with us today. Our specialists are on hand to help you reach the top spot in search engines and provide guidance on best practices to help boost your online visibility. #### 8 social media tips for your business In today’s digital world, almost every business owner uses social media to communicate and engage with their audience. When done correctly, it has the potential to boost your revenue dramatically. But with the ever-changing landscape of social media, it can be difficult to learn new ways to boost your online presence and engage with your audience effectively. In this blog, we've compiled a list of eight invaluable social media tips tailored for businesses. From crafting engaging content to maximising your reach through strategic posting schedules, these social media tips are designed to help you elevate your social media game and grow your business. Let’s dive right in. 1. Ensure you understand your target audience The world of social media is vast and varied. In addition to the most well-known channels like Facebook, X (formley Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, there are a slew of other platforms to consider, such as Snapchat and Pinterest. And there’s a plethora of forums and websites to think about where users can engage and communicate about an array of topics.  Trying to keep up with all of these platforms and networks, even for large organisations with dedicated resources, can be a daunting challenge. However, where you find your audience will be heavily influenced by the essence of your market and industry. To truly understand who your audience are, be sure to utilise analytical tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and study your audience demographics. With this knowledge at hand, you can then get a better understanding of the platforms you should be utilising. For example, TikTok and Instagram are a great choice for retailers that offer visually appealing products thanks to their image and video sharing capabilities. X and Facebook are a good match for companies that want to start a conversation and boost engagement. Similarly, if you’re a business-to-business (B2B) brand, LinkedIn is the go-to platform to opt for. However, it’s important to note that you shouldn’t just stick to a single social media channel. It’s vital to ensure you’re taking advantage of all the relevant channels to not only share your message far and wide, but to also maximise your online presence. 2. Set your goals before you launch your campaigns You can achieve many things with your social channels, such as providing customer support, engaging with users, enticing leads, expanding your audience, driving sales, boosting web traffic, gaining valuable insights and feedback, and so much more. However to accomplish this with some degree of success, you must first set the goals you will strive for, as you’ll need to devise a strategy to get there. For example, you may have a new product that you’d like to promote. With that goal in mind, you can determine how you’ll achieve that objective, whether that’s through paid social or organic social campaigns. You may even want to incorporate influencer marketing to your strategy. 3. Post regularly This social media tip may seem obvious, but it’s significant enough to include. Few things move as quickly as social media and as a result, you must ensure that your company posts regularly and reliably. If you don’t, you’ll quickly lose followers and find it difficult to gain new ones. To ensure your success on social media, you should first humanise your brand, which you can do by getting involved with your audience. It’s the secret to developing a deep emotional link with your audience, improving consumer relationships, and building a solid base of brand advocates. Similarly, when a customer or prospect takes the time to contact you online, you should treat them the same way you would treat them in person. If you don’t communicate with your consumers personally, the chances are that they won’t connect with your brand. Be sure to take the time to listen, engage in conversation, and answer. 4. Make use of social media scheduling tools Staying involved and being present on social media takes time and effort. However, there are various automation tools that can help you publish posts automatically and with many, you can schedule them up to a month in advance. Some social media scheduling tools include Hootsuite, Sprout Social and Buffer that can save you time by allowing you to plan and schedule several posts at once. It’s one of the best social media tips for business as these tools make it easier for brands to track their networks and respond to messages quickly. 5. Use engaging infographics in your posts The whole concept of social media marketing is to catch the interest of audiences, engage them, and encourage them to share and engage with your content. Infographics are a form of visual presentation of data incorporating images, words, and numbers that are easily digestible. They can effectively communicate a message or important data in a fraction of the time it takes to read long articles or white papers.  By using infographics in your posts, you can help increase engagement and boost brand awareness. Remember to keep your infographics relevant to your business and industry, use eye-catching colours and fonts, and make sure the information is accurate and valuable to your audience. Infographics are among the most shared content styles, making them a precious component of social media marketing.  6. Add your keywords in your company’s LinkedIn profile LinkedIn is an outstanding social media channel for meeting new clients and sustaining established business partnerships. Your current following will be able to find your company on LinkedIn with ease, however incorporating your target keywords in your company’s profile makes it easier for new clients to find you. When you incorporate keywords related to your industry, products, or services, you can optimise your profile for search engines and increase the likelihood of being discovered by potential customers or clients. Including these keywords in your company description, headline, and experience sections can help improve your visibility on LinkedIn, making it easier for users to find and connect with your business.  7. Allow the opportunity for your content to be shared To truly get the most out of social media marketing, you need to inspire people to share your content on their profiles and make it easy for them to do so. By adding CTA’s in your posts such as Like, Share and Repost, makes it easy for them to spread the word about your brand, allowing you to tap into word-of-mouth marketing. The same goes for your blog on your website. If you’re not already, you should incorporate a blog section on your website, whether it’s for news, alerts, sharing helpful information, or voicing an opinion on a particular industry subject. Whatever it’s for, be sure to include social sharing buttons so you can reach a wider audience and drive traffic back to your business. 8. Ensure all your channels are branded for consistency Ensuring that all your social media channels are branded is crucial for building a strong and recognisable online presence for your business. Consistency in branding helps to establish trust with your audience and makes it easier for them to recognise and remember your business across different platforms.  Be sure to use the same logo, colour scheme, and tone of voice across all your social media channels. This will not only create a cohesive look but also reinforce your brand identity in the minds of your followers. Remember, consistency is key when it comes to making a lasting impression on social media. Let us take care of your social media marketing We hope our social media tips will help you elevate your social media game and maximise your online presence. One of the best social media tips for business is to ensure you have a robust social media marketing strategy in place as this is an integral part of your digital marketing strategy. It allows you to interact with your audience in novel ways and also helps towards expanding your reach. If you’re new to the world of social media and you’re looking for professional advice, get in touch with us today. Our social media experts can devise a powerful strategy for your business that not only boosts engagement and reach, but helps towards increasing your conversions. #### 8 Timesaving Tips for Project Management What is time management? Time management is the ability to control and plan your time to successfully achieve the goals set for certain tasks.  Every person in the world uses time management every day. During the day you set certain goals and you plan your actions to achieve these goals. Whether you go to the airport 2 hours earlier to catch your flight or you boil your pasta for exactly 8 minutes to get the perfect consistency, you use time management.  In personal life, you manage your time and you are responsible for your results. But in a corporate environment, time management works differently. A work of a group of people should be organised in a certain way to achieve their common goal - efficiency. Why time is important in project management? Any company, big or small, usually has a project manager or a person with a special set of management skills. A project manager, or PM, usually helps the team handle the workflow they’ve been assigned and keep on track of deadlines. A project manager is responsible for the performance of the whole team because planning, time tracking and task management are controlled by a PM.  A PM’s everyday responsibilities include meetings, planning, estimations, and communications with clients and the team. This can feel like an insurmountable task if badly organised. Bad time management is a risk which should be considered very seriously. With poor organisation skills, it may be difficult to manage a team within tight deadlines. Any project delays directly influence the budget and resources. Moreover, poor time management can lead to stress and anxiety within the team.  The key to effective time management is not working more hours but using these hours efficiently. This means that your team should be focused on completing more tasks in less time. Here are some tips which will help you to manage your time effectively: 1. Plan ahead  When you have lots of things to do, the best way to organise yourself is to create a plan. Planning your next day tasks at the end of a day helps to structure your time. First of all, if you plan your day you do not need to spend time remembering things-to-do in the morning. And the time saved can be spent on completing some of the tasks, focusing or, simply, on good additional 15 minutes of sleep in the morning for example. :) But when you are managing several projects you need to create a project plan to be able to manage all the people involved in this project. Using such tools as a Gantt Chart or Logic network will help you to make different requirements, assignments, goals, deadlines, timeline and resources visible for the management and the team. 2. Prioritise tasks Everyone has days when things become a little overwhelming. You do not have time to complete any of your tasks and you keep getting notifications about more tasks assigned to you. Creating a prioritized to-do list can be a solution in this situation. Setting priorities will help you to structure your tasks according to their urgency, importance and effort you need to invest in them. Splitting small tasks which can be done from large ones which demand lots of concentration and resources can help you to complete them on time.  Below you can see an example of prioritising. This will help you to understand what you need to focus on. Before starting with your tasks, assign to them a relevant category from the list below: Important and urgent – you need to do them ASAP Important and not urgent – important to complete but can wait Not important and urgent – usually are delegated within the team Not important and not urgent – these tasks can be skipped or reviewed whether they should be in your list 3. Focus on one task Multitasking is a great skill but if you jump from one project to another one you can easily lose your concentration. We all are humans and our brain needs some time to switch from one task to another. Trying to do many things at the same time reduces your productivity. As a result, you can often feel like you’ve done so many things but made no headway. Another risk with multitasking is it increases your chance of making mistakes. Think of it as juggling. The more balls you add, the greater the chance you'll drop them.  Instead, try focusing on one of the tasks at a time and only switch to the other one after completing the first one. Do this and you will notice how quickly your schedule will run out of tasks. 4. Avoid distractions A big part of PM’s job is communication either with clients or team members that is why avoiding distractions can be tricky. Even though communications take almost 90% of the PM's time there are lots of other tasks which demand concentration and focus such as reports and documentation.  Set some time a day for yourself when you can focus on your own tasks. For example, you can ask your colleagues not to disturb you when you are wearing your headphones (if listening to music helps you to concentrate, of course). Also, try to put your phone away, snooze the notifications and especially stay away from social media when you need to concentrate. 5. Delegate tasks Learn to trust people. Most of the people in your team have the relevant skills to get the job done. Brief your colleagues about a task and make sure they understood what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by. Use this time to work on more important and urgent tasks.  6. Set shorter deadlines Setting a shorter timeline for yourself can help you to avoid missing deadlines. We all have this feeling when the deadline is far and we have all the time in the world to complete the task. But, the more time you have for a given task, the greater the chance that you’ll procrastinate instead of using that time to get your job done earlier. To avoid this situation, try to finish the task earlier. Plan your timeline and complete your project far before the deadline. The time you saved can always be used for additional checks and amendments which can improve your results. 7. Know your limits Learn to adequately estimate the amount of work you can do in a given timeframe. If you are overwhelmed with things feel free to speak to your supervisor or line manager. If you have a lot on your plate and your manager gives you more tasks to do, ask about priorities. Be honest with them. Only agree to new assignments when you are confident that you will be able to complete your old ones on time. 8. Reflect on your results At the end of the day, use 15 minutes and think about what you did today. Highlight what you’ve learned and achieved and reflect on what went wrong. Summarising will not only help you to keep on top of what remains to be done but also find some areas for improvement. However, if you want to make good use of someone’s time, make sure that you first organise your own time. Only people who can effectively manage themselves can manage a group of people. Managing people is a huge responsibility, especially if you need to deliver good results to a strict deadline.  Using these tips will help you to make the process of planning and managing your team easier. Implementing these strategies in your management will also make tasks, deadlines and resources visible for your team. Moreover, using these recommendations in combination with various project management tools will let you keep on track of your team’s workflow, timeframes and overall performance. Contact us to find out more about how we can project manage your digital marketing. We work with dynamic development, design and digital teams to create bespoke solutions that are agile and reactive.  #### 8 tips to managing a website project successfully. Managing a website project can feel overwhelming, especially for busy business owners juggling multiple responsibilities. With so many moving parts - from design and development to content creation and launch - it can be easy to miss crucial deadlines. However, with the right strategies in place, you can transform this challenging journey into a streamlined process that drives real results. In this blog, we share eight essential tips for successful website project management. Whether you’re launching a new site or revamping an existing one, our tips will empower you to take charge and ensure your web project runs smoothly from start to finish. 1. Arrange a project start meeting To make sure everyone is on the same page right from the start is to arrange a project start meeting. This allows you to take time to talk about the design and feel of your website, your aims and objectives, and work out any potential deadlines. It’s also a great way to identify who will be responsible for certain tasks during the project. During the meeting, you should encourage open communication and allow all team members to voice their ideas, concerns, and expectations. This not only helps identify potential issues early on but also fosters a sense of ownership among everyone involved. After your meeting, it’s wise to draw up a ‘Project Scope’ which outlines all the details of your website project such as a design plan, technical specifications, milestones, and other details that might get forgotten about such as logos, images, and content for example. 2. Be honest with your design When it comes to the design of your site, you should always be honest and voice your opinions. If you like something or don’t, or if you’ve got specific ideas on what you’d like to see, you should say something now before it’s too late.  But remember, you can’t please everyone and you have to consider what best serves both your site's objectives and user experience, and this may mean acknowledging limitations on certain aspects such as technical or functional capabilities for example. Being transparent allows you to set realistic expectations with stakeholders and team members alike, and creates an environment where constructive feedback is welcomed and can be put into practice. A clear vision that is grounded with honesty can lead to a more effective final product that resonates with users. 3. Create sitemaps and wireframes Creating sitemaps and wireframes is a crucial step in managing a website project successfully. A sitemap acts as a blueprint for your website and outlines the structure and organisation of your content. This helps to ensure that all necessary pages are included and logically arranged. It’s typically based on the goals and objectives of your site, as well as appropriate keywords. Wireframes on the other hand, serve as a visual guide that shows the layout of each webpage. It focuses on functionality and user experience without getting bogged down with design elements. This really helps to ensure that the journey for your users is effective and that they can reach their end goal quickly, whilst having as much relevant information as possible presented to them. Creating these documents helps to clarify your vision for the site and can significantly reduce the chances of costly revisions later on in your project. Think of sitemaps and wireframes as your project’s roadmap - they’ll keep you on track and help everyone involved understand how to navigate toward success. 4. Always design and develop mobile-first Designing and developing your website mobile-first cannot be over-stated. According to Statistica, over 60 million people in the UK alone use a mobile device to browse the internet. This highlights just how important it is to get the mobile journey right. Search engines like Google index mobile websites over desktop, so you should prioritise the design of your site for mobile devices before adapting it for desktops. This not only ensures a seamless user experience on smaller screens, but can also significantly enhance engagement.  Aim to use responsive design elements to create a visually appealing layout that functions well across all devices. Remember that mobile users are often on-the-go and expect quick access to information, so you should also optimise your page load speeds and make sure your content is easily accessible. 5. Prepare your content and images Content is a common pitfall of website project management as it’s often forgotten or not taken seriously. Well-crafted content not only enhances your site’s appeal but also plays a vital role in engaging your visitors and boosting your SEO efforts. Once you’ve created your sitemap, you should make as much time as possible to compile the content for your webpages. Start by outlining the key messages you want to communicate and ensure they align with your overall goals and target audience. As well as that, be sure to choose high-quality and relevant images to go with your content as this also contributes to a positive user experience. Having all your content and images ready for the final deadline of your web project will allow you to stay on track, meaning you can get your new website out to your audience on time as planned. 6. Test every element of your site When your site build is coming to the final stages, it’s crucial to test every element to ensure all functions are working as they should to provide an optimal user experience. You can start by checking all links take users to the correct pages as broken links can frustrate visitors and harm your site’s credibility. Be sure to also check that your forms are working correctly by completing test submissions to not only make sure you receive them fine, but also your visitors' expectations are met with successful communication with your brand. You should also ensure you have the correct tracking set up on your forms so you can keep an eye on conversions. As well as this, you should also check your site across different devices and browsers to make sure it functions and displays well in various scenarios, as inconsistent experiences can drive potential customers away. Pay attention to load times too - if you spot any slow loading pages, go back and optimise them to avoid users leaving your site before they’ve completed their goal. 7. Train relevant team members Training relevant team members on your content management system (CMS) is something that often comes after your new site has launched, but it’s still an important part of managing a web project. With a well-trained team, you can reduce the likelihood of errors on your site. Choose who will be responsible for updating and maintaining the site and provide them with comprehensive training that covers basic functionalities, best practices, and troubleshooting tips of your chosen CMS. Make sure they understand their responsibilities on the site and encourage them to ask questions if they’re unsure. When you take the time to provide training, your team will feel confident in completing their duties which in turn leads to a much smoother project execution and long-term success of your website. 8. Don’t forget about ongoing digital marketing When your new site is ready to launch, you want to launch it with a bang and ensure it continues to thrive long after. That’s where digital marketing comes in. Crafting a robust digital marketing strategy can help drive traffic, which massively enhances your visibility and engagement long after your site goes live. Some tactics you can incorporate include creating regular content, such as blogs or videos, that speaks directly to your audience's needs and interests, and implementing SEO techniques, such as technical or on-page SEO, to improve your search engine rankings and organic traffic. As well as that, utilising social media marketing to engage with your audience, creating and sending regular email marketing campaigns to share special offers, and investing in PPC advertising not only further amplifies your reach, but it can also help convert first-time buyers into loyal customers. Want us to manage your web project? Website project management is no mean feat and if you’re looking to manage your web project efficiently, partnering with an experienced agency, like Fifteen, can make all the difference. At Fifteen, we have a wealth of experience in managing website projects successfully for a multitude of clients across various industries. We’ll work closely with you every step of the way - from initial planning and wireframing to final launch and ongoing support. Our approach is to support you throughout the process and our expertise guarantees no detail is overlooked. Whether you’re starting from scratch or refreshing an existing site, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today and let us take the reins on your web project. #### 8 Ways on how to use Canva for ultimate design success. When you’ve created a blog post, or drafted up a social media post, chances are you’ll need a stylish design to go with it. If you’re not a graphic designer by nature, then Canva is your go to design tool to use.  This free to use, online graphic design platform is built for beginners and allows you to create all types of different designs including social media posts, presentations, posters, business cards, logos and much more. You can use illustrations and icons to give your design an animated feel, which is one of the many reasons why Canva is a modern, popular and simple tool to use. Keep reading for some Canva design tips and 8 ways on how to use Canva for ultimate design success. 1. Don’t be afraid of resizing Sometimes, manipulating the size of a certain element of your design can add emphasis, and highlight the key points that you want to get across. It can sometimes act as a visual onomatopoeia. This comes in useful when designing things like infographics, where you want to display a range of information in a way that is easy to understand and for your audience.  2. Use colours wisely When you're choosing your colour scheme, make sure you choose colours that relate to your topic. For instance, if you're creating a design about a happy subject, don’t use negative colours. All colours have a connotation and a meaning, so do some research before choosing your colours.  Fast food chains often use the colours red and yellow in their logos. With McDonalds for example, the golden arches can be seen from far in the distance which entices customers in because their minds are thinking about their food. The size, however, is not the key point in being able to see the sign. It’s the colour. Having a bright yellow sign draws you in even quicker than how big the sign is. 3. Use modern, relatable fonts Fonts can help you massively in getting your point across. Sans serif fonts are modern, whereas serif fonts (the older looking ones) are more traditional. The weight of the font can also have an impact on your design, so make sure the fonts you choose relate to your subject. If you're using multiple typefaces, try to choose fonts that are in the same family. This makes it easier for your audience to read and allows your design to have a continuous theme throughout. 4. Think simple One of the most successful brands in the world is Apple. They have one of the most basic logos around, but it’s instantly recognisable. The same applies to Nike’s logo too. Their logo is designed so simply, but it’s extremely effective.  Keeping fonts, colours and shapes to a minimum and simple, can make your design easily digestible. If you’re adding an element, ensure it has a reason to be in your design. Simplicity is key when it comes to creative designs, and especially so when designing logos. 5. Stay away from clichés Whatever you do in your work, don’t use clichés. Be unique with your designs and make your work different. If you use clichés, ask yourself, how many people will have produced something similar? And remember, you may not get the recognition you deserve.  Creative people think outside the box, so avoid using overused icons, symbols and elements everyone uses. There’s no harm in doing a little research before you create a design to get inspiration and help you create something new and unique for your audience. 6. Use grid layouts to look more professional Keeping text boxes, images and any other content you are using in an orderly form can work wonders for your design. Having images rotated all over the place can make it look messy, unorganised and you run the risk of people not taking your design seriously. If you want your audience to take your work seriously, then a grid-style layout will be extremely useful for you. 7. Embrace trying different things At first, no idea is a bad idea. If you think of something, make a note of it and don’t be afraid to try it out. If it doesn’t work, you can try something else. The beauty of Canva is if you create something new and you don’t like it, you can simply hit the ‘undo’ button. But remember, if you don’t try something, you’ll never know what the outcome could have been. If you do try it, and it doesn’t work out the way you wanted, you start to learn what works for your audience and it becomes a great learning experience. 8. Be unique with your designs We’ve briefly touched on this, but being unique with your designs is what will set you apart from the rest. You want to push your creative abilities to achieve unique, original designs. Try and avoid hopping on to a trend, and create designs that correspond with your brand styling. Being individual and true to yourself when it comes to your work, means you can put your own stamp on your designs and don’t simply end up becoming a sheep and follow the crowd.  We can help with your creative needs We hope we’ve provided you with some of the best Canva tips for your next design project. But, if you’re looking for a helping hand with your creative designs, get in touch with us today. Whether you need a new brochure creating, you’re looking to level up your packaging design or you’re simply looking for a logo and brand refresh, we can help. #### 8 Ways to improve your website security. Often the most straightforward approaches to any problem are the most efficient. You might understand the importance of keeping your website protected from hackers, but once you go down the rabbit hole of website vulnerabilities, you’ll be confronted with a host of complicated concepts and solutions.  However, there are some basic best practices that you can follow to strengthen your website security. Keep reading for eight ways you can improve the security of your website. What is website security? Any action, or application taken to ensure that website data is not exposed to cybercriminals, or to prevent the misuse of websites in any way is referred to as website security. Website security is a comprehensive, all-in-one, and simple-to-use tool that protects your website from malware, hackers, and other online security threats. Your website is the hub of your business, your brand, and all of the incredible things you’re doing in the world and it deserves total security. That includes all of the resources you’ll need to keep your company and customers secure online. You may not believe your website is valuable enough to be hacked, but websites are hacked all the time. The majority of website security breaches are attempting to use your server as an email relay for spam, or to set up a temporary web server. These temporary servers will normally serve illicit nature files rather than steal your data, or mess with your website layout. You may also be infected with ransomware. Hacking is often carried out by automated scripts that scour the internet, searching for established website security vulnerabilities in software. That means if you don’t have a particularly secure website, you’ll be a prime target. 8 website security tips to help secure your site from hackers 1. Updating your software is essential It might seem self-evident, but keeping all of your software up to date is critical to keeping your website stable. This refers to the server operating system and any applications you might have installed on your websites, such as a content management system (CMS) or a forum. Once website security bugs are discovered in software, hackers rush to exploit them. If you use a controlled hosting solution, like Fifteen, you won’t have to worry about implementing operating system security changes because the hosting provider will take care of it. If you use third-party applications on your websites, such as a CMS or a forum, you should make sure you submit security patches as soon as possible. Most vendors have a mailing list, or RSS feed that details any security problems with their websites. When you log in to WordPress, Umbraco, or any other CMS, you’ll be notified of any available device updates. 2. Implement a strict password policy It’s essential to use stable passwords. Hackers often use advanced tools to break passwords using brute force. Passwords should be complex, including uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numerals, and special characters, to defend against brute force attacks. The length of your passwords should be at least ten characters and you should emphasise this to everyone in your business and ensure they follow the same password policy. 3. Protect your login pages by encrypting them On your login pages, use a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. SSL enables encrypted transmission of confidential data such as credit card information and login credentials. Information entered on a website is encrypted so that every third-party who intercepts it has no idea what it means. This prevents hackers from gaining access to your sensitive information. 4. Malware detection Malware scans are essential for website security because although you can’t see the threat, it doesn't mean it isn’t there. Malware detection is a set of defensive techniques and technologies that can help identify threats and block and prevent any future malware threats.  You can avoid losing any of your precious files or sensitive details, just by doing something so simple but successful. The more often the scans are performed, the faster the issues can be resolved. 5. Invest in an SSL certificate As mentioned in our previous tip, a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption conceals the connection between a web server and a browser and makes it much more difficult to hack. An SSL certificate is well worth the money because it protects your login credentials and confidential data, such as customer information, from hackers and viruses. 6. Validate your browser and server site Validation should always be performed on both the browser and the server. Simple errors, such as empty mandatory fields or inserting text into a numbers-only area, can be caught out by the browser. This can be bypassed, so it’s important to make sure to search for this validation and more profound, validation on the server-side. Failing to do so may result in malicious code or scripting code being introduced into the database or undesirable results in your website. 7. Ensure your website is clean Hackers may gain access to your website via a database, programme, or plugin. All files, databases, or software that is no longer in use should be removed completely from your website. It’s also essential to keep the file structure structured to keep track of changes and remove obsolete files. 8. Make a copy of your data It’s extremely important to back up your website regularly. If your website becomes unavailable or your data is lost, you can keep all of your website files. While your web host provider can back up their servers, you can still back up your files regularly. Some CMS systems have plugins or extensions that can back up the site automatically, and you should also be able to back up databases and content manually. Need help with your website security? In today’s modern world, it’s now easier than ever to create a website, but security maintenance is essential. When it comes to protecting your company’s and customers’ data, you should always be proactive. Cybersecurity threats are on the rise at an alarming rate, but you don’t need to be an expert to take care of your website and we hope we’ve provided you with all the information on how to make a website secure. If you find you still need help with your website security, contact us today and we can help. Our web development experts can provide you with all the advice you need to protect your website and can keep on top of your website's security on your behalf. #### 8 ways to make your Valentine’s Day campaigns stand out on social media. Valentine’s Day is one of the most competitive moments in the marketing calendar. From retail and hospitality to lifestyle and service brands, many businesses look to capitalise on the emotional pull of the occasion. But with so much Valentine’s-themed content flooding social feeds, the challenge isn’t whether to run a campaign - it’s how to make yours stand out. Effective Valentine’s Day campaigns go beyond generic visuals and last-minute discounts. They’re planned, purposeful, and tailored to how audiences actually behave on social media. Whether you’re running a single promotional push or a broader seasonal strategy, the key is creating content that feels relevant, engaging, and on-brand. In this blog, we outline eight practical ways to elevate your Valentine’s Day marketing efforts and create a social campaign that cuts through the noise.  1. Refresh your visuals with purpose Visual identity is one of the quickest ways to signal that your content is timely and relevant. For Valentine’s Day campaigns, this doesn’t mean abandoning your brand guidelines, it means adapting them intelligently. Rather than defaulting to clichéd pink graphics, think about how Valentine’s Day can be interpreted through your existing brand. For example, you could: Introduce subtle seasonal accents into your usual colour palette Update your imagery with thoughtful, themed styling Create a recognisable visual look that runs consistently across posts, stories, and ads Consistency is key. When your visuals are clearly connected, your Valentine’s Day campaign feels considered rather than reactive, which builds credibility and brand recall with your audience. 2. Use Valentine’s Day hashtags strategically Hashtags still play an important role in discovery, particularly on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. When used correctly, they can help your Valentine’s Day marketing efforts reach beyond your existing audience. Instead of relying solely on high-volume hashtags, used a layered approach that encompasses core seasonal hashtags (e.g. #ValentinesDay, #Valentines), industry or niche-specific hashtags that are relevant to your audience, and branded or campaign-specific hashtags that reinforce your message. This balance helps your content appear in relevant feeds while remaining targeted, which increases visibility without attracting the wrong audience. 3. Offer more than just a discount Discounts are common during Valentine’s Day campaigns, but they’re also easy to ignore. When every brand is offering money off, price alone stops being a differentiator. Instead, consider how your Valentine’s Day campaign could add value in other ways such as: Limited-edition products, services, or bundles Complimentary add-ons or upgrades Exclusive early access or time-related releases Personalised elements that feel thoughtful rather than transactional By shifting the focus from ‘cheap’ to ‘considered’, you create a stronger emotional connection with your audience, which often leads to better engagement and conversion. 4. Get creative with competitions and giveaways Competitions are a proven way to increase engagement during any type of Valentine’s Day marketing, particularly on social platforms where interaction boosts visibility. With that in mind, you should think about how you can make your competition work harder for you. For example, be sure to keep the entry requirements simple and clear, and encourage meaningful interactions with your brand, like tagging friends, commenting on your post, or sharing it to expand your reach. You should also make sure the prize aligns closely with your brand and your audience's interests. Valentine’s-themed competitions don’t have to focus solely on couples either. Inclusive approaches - like celebrating friendships, family, or self-love - can significantly broaden the appeal and participation. 5. Personalise your messaging Valentine’s Day is an emotional occasion, and your messaging should reflect that. Generic captions are easy to scroll past; but personalised messaging is far more engaging. Some ways you can personalise your Valentine’s Day campaigns include: Segmenting content for different relationship types or customer needs Using conversational, empathetic language that feels human Referencing real-life scenarios your audience can relate to This approach makes your brand feel more aware, inclusive, and relevant - all of which contribute to stronger engagement and trust. 6. Explore alternative Valentine’s Day angles Modern Valentine’s Day marketing has moved well beyond the traditional ‘romantic couple’ narrative, and many brands have seen stronger results by expanding their theme. Some alternative angles you could consider include self-love and self-care, celebrating friendships (which is often referred to as Galentine’s Day), ‘treat-yourself’ messaging, or appreciation beyond romantic relationships. Taking on a different perspective allows your Valentine’s Day campaign to resonate with a wider audience and feel more aligned with how people actually experience the occasion. 7. Use short-form video to boost reach Short-form video continues to dominate social media, making it one of the most effective formats for your Valentine’s Day campaigns. Some ideas that work particularly well include quick gift or product inspiration videos, behind-the-scenes or day-in-the-life content, trend clips adapted to a Valentine’s theme, and customer stories or testimonials. Video content tends to perform better in crowded feeds and can help your campaign gain traction organically, especially when it’s paired with paid ads. 8. Plan your Valentine’s Day campaign early Timing plays a huge role in the success of your Valentine’s Day marketing. Leaving campaigns until the last minute limits your creative options and even reduces performance potential. By planning your campaigns early, you can: Develop stronger creative concepts Test your content and ads ahead of the peak competition Warm up your audience before key promotional moments Adapt your messaging based on early engagement signals The strongest Valentine’s Day campaigns feel seamless because they’ve been thought through, not rushed. Find out how we can help your social campaigns With so many brands competing for attention, the most successful Valentine’s Day campaigns are the ones that feel intentional, relevant, and on-brand. By focusing on strong visuals, thoughtful messaging, and creative formats - rather than relying on clichés - you can create a campaign that genuinely connects with your audience. If you’re planning a Valentine’s Day campaign - or any other type of social media campaign - and you’d like professional help with your strategy, creative, or paid social, we can help you build something that stands out for the right reasons. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today to start shaping a campaign that delivers meaningful results - not just seasonal noise. #### 9 Benefits of WordPress. WordPress was released to the world in 2003 and since then, it has become the powerhouse of website creation and management. It’s one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) in the world and is the go-to choice for bloggers, online retailers and some notable big-name brands. So what’s all the hype? Well in this blog, we share nine benefits of WordPress and why you should use the CMS for your website (if you’re not already that is!). With its user-friendly interface, customisable themes and extensive plugin options, we explore how WordPress can streamline your online operations and boost your brands visibility. Why is WordPress essential for web design? WordPress’s superiority has elevated it to the status of a must-have tool for almost any online business. It’s one of the most effective web design tools on the market due to its comprehensive interface and efficient applications, allowing you to ensure your website reflects your unique brand identity. As well as this, WordPress websites are responsive and mobile-friendly, catering to the growing number of users accessing the internet via smartphones and tablets. Its robust security features also help protect your website from potential cyber threats, giving online business owners peace of mind. Thanks to its versatility and functionality, it’s no wonder WordPress makes for an indispensable tool for creating stunning and effective websites. 9 benefits of WordPress The WordPress CMS provides individuals and businesses a plethora of benefits to help build a strong online presence as we outline below. 1. It’s simple and easy to use One of the key benefits of WordPress is its simplicity and user-friendly interface. Whether you're a seasoned web developer or just starting out, WordPress is an intuitive platform that makes it easy to create and manage your website. With its drag-and-drop functionality, customisable themes, and array of plugins, the CMS simplifies the process of building a professional-looking site without requiring extensive technical knowledge.  This user-friendly approach allows businesses to focus on creating great content that engages their audience, rather than getting bogged down in complicated website maintenance tasks. 2. It’s flexible and adaptable While WordPress was originally created to support blogging and other forms of online publishing, it now powers a diverse range of websites. Small businesses, multinational corporations, ecommerce retailers and other numerous brands use WordPress for their websites, making it one of the most flexible CMS’s on the market. Whether you choose a basic plan, or opt for premium features, by utilising their huge range of straightforward plugins and multitude of themes, the CMS can help meet the ever demanding needs of any company in any industry, making it highly adaptable. 3. You can quickly publish, revise and update your content Another benefit of WordPress is that it allows authors, artists, photographers, videographers, shop owners, and podcasters to publish their content without having to know how to code. Adding images to a blog post in WordPress isn’t any more technically challenging than creating a text document or a slideshow. Sharing videos and podcast audio is also simple when you use the right plugins. When you want to make changes to an article, you can simply go to the post in question, make your changes, and press the update button, making sharing and editing your content quick and efficient. 4. You don’t have to learn coding or programming languages Using WordPress for your CMS helps you quickly build online stores with a professional design, even if you have no prior experience with web design or programming. This kind of accessibility helped WordPress beat out rivals such as Drupal and Joomla to become the preferred web development platform worldwide as it removes the need to learn HTML, CSS, PHP and other complex technologies. However, in order to ensure optimal performance of your WordPress website and to ensure compliance, you should keep on top of regularly updating plugins. This area may require some web development knowledge to complete, so be sure to speak to us today if you need any expert help or advice. 5. It can lead to long term profitability for your business Because of WordPress’s ease of use, brands can build a professional and visually appealing website for a significantly low cost. And thanks to its huge variety of plugins and ecommerce functionality, businesses can enhance their website so it provides a seamless user experience that helps towards converting visitors into paying customers. As your business grows as a result, so does the CMS, making WordPress a scalable, flexible and cost-effective solution in the long run. 6. You have access to in-depth statistics and reports Another benefit of WordPress is that you get access to in-depth statistics and reports about your website when you utilise plugins like Google Analytics. You’ll have the ability to track important metrics such as pages views, audience demographics, popular content and more.  These insights can help you better understand your audience, tailor your content strategy to their preferences and make informed decisions to improve your website’s performance. By having access to this kind of data, you can effectively measure the success of your website and optimise it for maximum impact. 7. You have access to a diverse range of designs Thanks to their huge variety of Templates and Themes, WordPress gives you creative freedom when designing your website. WordPress are well-known for their wide range of templates and themes and each one can be tailored to your specific needs. With thousands to choose from, there's a choice for almost any business, all of which you can amend colours, backgrounds and structures, all without the need to know anything about programming. 8. Your website will be responsive at all times Following on from the range of themes and templates, each of these designs are responsive meaning your website will look great and function smoothly on any device, whether it's on desktop, tablet, or mobile.  This ensures that your visitors have a seamless experience no matter how they access your site, helping you reach a wider audience and enhancing user engagement. Plus, search engines like Google favour responsive websites, potentially boosting your site's visibility and ranking in organic search results.  9. One of the most crucial benefits of Wordpress: There’s a plugin for all! As we’ve mentioned throughout this blog, there are a plethora of WordPress plugins for your website. From SEO plugins to form plugins, security plugins to site design plugins, these applications can be applied to your site to enhance and upgrade features on your website. It’s important to note that some plugins are essential for website maintenance and compliance. Be sure to speak to our web development specialists to find out which plugins these are. Need help with your WordPress website? As you can see, choosing WordPress for your website comes with numerous benefits. If you’re just starting out with your new website, or you’re looking to migrate your existing website to WordPress, get in touch with us today. Our expert web designers and developers specialise in WordPress CMS web design and can create you a stunning website that takes your business to a whole new level. Speak to us today to learn more. #### 9 PPC strategies to maximise your paid search performance. The world of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is evolving faster than ever. Rising competition, stricter privacy regulations, and AI-driven automation mean businesses need to stay sharp to maximise ROI. If you’re searching for PPC marketing strategies that will maximise your performance, you need an approach that’s data-driven, adaptive, and customer-focused. In this blog, we explore nine of the best pay-per-click strategies that you can leverage to achieve better results.  1. Harness AI for smarter automation and optimisation AI has transformed PPC strategies from manual campaign management to intelligent, adaptive optimisation. Platforms like Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising now offer machine learning-powered tools like Smart Bidding, Performance Max, and Dynamic Search Ads to streamline decisions in real time. These tools use algorithms to analyse huge volumes of data faster than humans can, and they can automatically adjust your campaign bids and placements based on likelihood to convert. This results in better efficiency as it frees you up to focus on strategy and creative direction.  However, while automation is powerful, it still needs human oversight. That’s why it’s important to regularly review your search term reports, refine your audience segments, and control ad placements to keep your spends aligned with your goals. 2. Embrace privacy-first targeting with first-party data With third-party cookies being phased out, your PPC targeting strategy must evolve. Relying on first-party data - such as customer emails, purchase history, and website behaviour - helps you build accurate, privacy-compliant campaigns. Some best practices for first-party data targeting include: Using Customer Match in Google Ads to retarget existing audiences Integrating your CRM to create lookalike and similar audiences Combining Google Analytics 4 (GA4) insights with campaign reporting for a single source of truth With first-party data, you can ensure your pay-per-click strategies remain effective even as privacy regulations tighten. 3. Focus on multi-channel PPC marketing strategies Google Ads remains a powerhouse, but successful PPC marketing strategies now extend beyond search. To truly maximise reach and ROI, you should diversify across multiple platforms, such as: Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) - ideal for brand awareness and visual storytelling LinkedIn Ads - best for B2B lead generation and high-value niches TikTok Ads - perfect for targeting Gen-Z audiences and short-form video campaigns Amazon Ads - essential for ecommerce businesses competing for product visibility By running integrated PPC campaigns, you create multiple touchpoints along the buyer journey and reduce reliance on a single channel. 4. Use visual-first creative to drive engagement Today’s users expect ads to look and feel engaging, not generic. Visual content, video, and interactive formats are becoming critical for modern PPC strategies. Some ways you can enhance your ad creatives include: Creating short, vertical videos that are designed for mobile-first users Opting for carousel ads to showcase multiple products or features at once Using high-quality lifestyle imagery to create emotional connections Making use of interactive ads, polls, and augmented reality (AR) filters to increase engagement Blending creativity with data enables you to boost click-through rates (CTR) and improve conversion performance across campaigns. 5. Leverage keyword clustering and intent-based targeting The days of relying on a handful of “top keywords” are over. With search intent driving PPC success, keyword strategies must evolve.  One way this can be done is by grouping keywords into clusters based on user intent - whether it’s informational, commercial, or transactional - and building tailored ad copy for each of these clusters to improve the relevance of your ad. You could also combine broad match and smart bidding to let Google’s AI surface unexpected queries while still controlling costs. By mapping your ads to search intent, you can ensure you’re showing the right message to the right person at the right time. 6. Optimise for voice and visual search With Google Lens and voice assistants on the rise, PPC strategies need to adapt to changing search behaviour.  For voice search, you should optimise your keywords and ad copy for natural language queries like “where can I buy…” or “best local…”. For visual search, be sure to use high-quality product images and ensure your feeds are optimised for Google Shopping and Pinterest integration. Brands that embrace these emerging behaviours gain an early-mover advantage and capture audiences competitors are ignoring. 7. Refine landing pages for higher conversions Clicks are only half the story. Even the best pay-per-click strategies fail if your landing pages aren’t built to convert. The better your landing pages perform, the more efficiently your PPC campaigns deliver ROI. With that in mind, here are some of our top landing page optimisation tips: Keep your messaging consistent between the ad and the page Focus of clear, scannable layouts with a single call-to-action (CTA) Use social proof such as reviews, testimonials, and trust signals to increase credibility Be sure to A/B test headlines, CTAs, and imagery to maximise conversion rates 8. Measure full-funnel metrics, not just clicks Modern PPC marketing strategies are no longer just about cost-per-clicks (CPC) and CTR. To truly understand performance, you need to measure across the full funnel and this includes: Top of Funnel (TOFU) - these are metrics like impressions, reach, and video views Middle of Funnel (MOFU) - this includes metrics like engagement rates, time on site, and content downloads Bottom of Funnel (BOFU) - these are metrics such as leads, purchases, and lifetime value (LTV) Platforms like GA4 and attribution modelling tools now give deeper insights into how campaigns drive long-term business growth. This level of analysis allows you to make data-driven decisions on your campaigns to drive maximum ROI. 9. Experiment, test, and scale The best-performing PPC accounts don’t stand still, they constantly test new ideas, formats, and channels.  For example, you might want to try alternative bidding strategies, like Target ROAS or Max Conversions. Maybe you choose to launch Performance Max alongside traditional Search campaigns. Perhaps you opt to experiment with new placements on TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or Discovery Ads, or you test AI-powered ad copy generation and asset recommendations. Whatever you choose to do, you should use what works, pause what doesn’t, and scale your budget where you see consistent returns. Choose us for your PPC management It’s clear to see the most effective PPC strategies combine automation with human creativity, data-driven targeting with personalisation, and cross-channel campaigns with precise optimisation. Paid search is more competitive than ever, but with the right approach, it remains one of the most powerful drivers of leads and revenue. At Fifteen, we help brands navigate this complexity with tailored pay-per-click strategies that deliver measurable results. Whether you want to improve ROI, scale your campaigns, or diversify into new channels, we’ll help you create a PPC approach built for long-term growth. Get in touch with us today to see how we can support your PPC management. #### 9 tips for UX design for mobile Mobile isn’t just an extension of desktop anymore - it’s the primary way many users interact with brands online. It’s also not just about responsive layouts either - it’s about understanding the unique behaviours, limitations, and expectations of users on smaller screens. That’s where strong UX design for mobile comes in. By applying mobile-specific UX thinking, you can improve user satisfaction, boost conversion rates, and strengthen brand perception. In this blog, we share nine practical tips based on leading UX design principles for mobile to help you craft the best digital experiences for your users, while also making your offering more memorable, engaging, and efficient. 1. Make use of overlapping effects Overlapping effects, such as fonts, images, graphics, and UI layers, bring visual depth and hierarchy to mobile layouts. When used correctly, they create a sense of layering that feels modern, fluid, and intuitive. It also helps draw focus and simulate a three-dimentional experience without overloading the screen. For example, if you have a shopping app, you might want to consider overlapping a product image with pricing, CTA buttons, and a review score to focus attention without taking up more screen space. When it comes to mobile, space is limited, and these effects help prioritise content while still offering a rich visual experience. Just be careful not to overdo it - clarity and hierarchy should always come first 2. Incorporate branding illustrations Don’t be fooled into thinking illustrations are nothing but decorations. They’re an extension of your brand’s personality, and on mobile where attention spans are short, branding illustrations help humanise the experience for your users and guide them without relying on too much text. When incorporating branding illustrations, be sure to use a consistent illustration style across your interface, and tie in your colour palette and iconography into your brand guidelines. You should ensure your illustrations serve a purpose, so avoid using overly decorative graphics that don’t bring any value. Branded visuals can play a key role in both user onboarding and retention, especially when users associate your app or site with a clear, memorable aesthetic. 3. Use strong contrasting UX design for mobile is not just about aesthetics, it’s about usability for all users, including those with visual impairments. Strong contrasting affects how easily users can read and interact with your content, and on mobile, this becomes even more important due to varied lighting conditions and screen resolutions. Whether it’s light on dark or bold against muted backgrounds, strong contrast ensures legibility, improves tap accuracy, and helps users identify CTAs quickly. One way you could implement strong contrasting is to make your CTAs pop with contrast from background elements for example. You could also test light-on-dark and dark-on-light combinations on multiple devices to see what performs best. However you implement contrasting, just be sure to use contrast checkers to meet WCAG accessibility guidelines too. 4. Add progressive disclosure Progressive disclosure is a UX principle that reveals information as needed, rather than overwhelming users with everything at once, and on mobile this is a particularly valuable approach. For example, if a user is booking a flight, the steps may be broken down as follows: Picking a destination Picking a date Picking a flight Picking any extras By only showing what’s relevant in the moment and offering more detail on interaction (e.g. tapping an info icon or expanding a section), you help users focus and reduce cognitive load. It’s a more thoughtful way to guide people through complex processes or content-heavy experiences. 5. Take advantage of GPS and location awareness Modern mobile UX design should leverage the unique capabilities of smartphones, and GPS is one of the most powerful tools available. Whether you’re offering local services, personalised recommendations, or location-based content, designing with location awareness in mind can significantly boost relevance and usability. Some ways you could incorporate this include auto-detecting a user’s nearest store, showing location-specific offers or contact options, or streamlining deliveries or directions for example.  Taking advantage of GPS capabilities can help reduce friction, improve convenience, and simplify a user’s journey, especially for services that depend on real-world interaction. 6. Use buttonless controls Buttonless controls, like swipes and scrolls, have become a standard practice for UX design for mobile. That’s because as we’ve mentioned a couple of times, screen real estate is at a premium and gesture-based navigation reduces the need for large, space-consuming buttons. It also helps to keep your interface clean. Some of the most common buttonless controls include: Swiping to reveal additional options (like, delete or archive) Pinching to zoom Tapping and holding for advanced settings Pulling to refresh When done right, it creates a more immersive experience. Just make sure your buttonless controls are intuitive and discoverable. If you have hidden gestures, consider including tips or subtle visual cues so your users know how to operate your site or app. 7. Lead with hero images On mobile devices, hero images are integral because they do the heavy lifting of conveying your message, setting the tone, and capturing attention in the first few seconds. Whether you choose to use a carousel of images, a looped video, or an enticing graphic with a CTA, leading with a hero image can intrigue users and get them scrolling right away. When it comes to hero images or videos, best practice is to ensure your files are high-quality and relevant to the page content. Make sure they’re also compressed for faster performance and to avoid slow page load speeds. Think about including a short, punchy headline and a CTA to get your users engaged instantly. A bonus tip is to also consider A/B testing your mobile hero imagery so you can see which visuals resonate and engage your users the most. 8. Design for portrait video More than 90% of mobile video content is viewed vertically, so designing for portrait videos isn’t just user-friendly, it’s essential for engagement. With portrait video viewing, the users have no need to rotate their phones, making it easier for them to hold their device and consume your content.  Whether it’s an explainer video or a testimonial, designing for portrait video creates a smoother, more native experience. It also feels more natural for your users, loads faster, and keeps your audience engaged. You may want to consider adding subtitles for those who are watching your videos with no sounds (and this also helps with your SEO efforts too!) as well as offering skip or minimise controls. 9. Add functional animations and gestures Adding animations and gestures can make your app feel faster, more responsive, and more polished. But remember, they should always serve a functional purpose such as providing feedback after an action has been completed, like a success checkmark for example. They help to create an intuitive experience, one that feels like your site or app responds to your users in real-time. Some examples of this include an animated ‘like’ button with a bounce or a shake animation on a failed password input for example. Just remember - your animations should be fast, subtle, and never get in the way of usability!  Let us help with your UX design for mobile If you’re thinking about creating a mobile app, revamping your mobile site, or you’re looking to build user journeys that drive real results, get in touch with us today. We design mobile experiences that do more than look good, they perform for real users in real-world scenarios. We apply proven UX design principles for mobile that prioritises clarity, usability, and purpose. From wireframes and prototyping to user testing and motion design, we help brands deliver digital experiences that feel intuitive and friction-free. Speak to us today to learn more. #### A basic guide to PPC marketing. If your company is already developed or brand new, pay-per-click (PPC) marketing will help you expand your business and drive sales revenue. But suppose you've never worked with PPC campaigns before. In that case, the procedure may be daunting: you'll need to read about modern advertisement networks, master different terminology concepts, and suffer from the growing frustration of optimising marketing strategy by trial and error. It sounds overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be that way. Even if you're a small business owner with little knowledge of digital ads, active PPC campaigns are well beyond your grasp and will quickly become a powerful channel to reach new clients. Paid ads would help you climb to the top of a tough market and be heard by new clients who do not know you exist. It will help you boost the next campaign project, increase brand recognition, or score on challenging keyword words. In other words, PPC is your shortcut to getting to the top of your niche. And, if done responsibly, PPC can be an essential part of your inbound marketing plan. Here's a short beginner guide to help you with PPC marketing. What is PPC marketing? PPC advertisement is an auction-based system of acquiring digital advertising on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis on Google Ads websites. Advertisers only pay when someone clicks on or connects with an ad rather than paying when an ad impression is being served or shown on the website. This guide is an introduction to pay-as-you-go mechanics, techniques and methods to accomplish your campaign objectives. Specifically, it focuses on text advertisements that appear in the Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising search results. It is also called Search Engine Marketing or SEM. For illustration, this guide applies mostly to products, functions and processes directly relevant to Google Advertising. It is by far the dominant player in the industry and continues to lead new tools and features. Getting underway with PPC ads Once you determine that you are interested in running PPC advertising to support your business, you will need to define the network and resources you will use to run your PPC campaigns. You're not going to be stuck in using either of these options, but you're going to need to consider the pros and cons of different networks and resources to decide what works better for your company. What network are you going to use for PPC? If you start with a single PPC platform or plan to try a few different solutions to compare results, you would need to go through the various PPC network services to decide where to start. Here are some of the top types of networks to consider: Search-based networks: These include Google Ads and Microsoft Advertisements developed from Google and Bing search engines. These networks also maintain a vast network of screens and other PPC advertising forms, but search inventory is one of their most vital selling points. Google already has a much more comprehensive network than any other competitor, giving it an unrivalled opportunity to position the PPC ads in high-relevance areas. Google now has a much more comprehensive network than any other competitor, giving it an unrivalled opportunity to position the PPC advertising in extremely appropriate locations. But Google's success will also boost its prices. Bing can provide some companies with more affordable options. PPC marketing advantages PPC marketing can be costly, but there are apparent advantages to many people as this marketing technique. Data-driven data It's quick to calculate. As mentioned above, with these different words, you can see the metrics available for performance analysis. If you have a CTR of.03 percent, you know your advertisements aren't going to be perfect. Or if you're selling a low dollar item and paying $50 per key, you realise very quickly that there's a need for change. It's trackable Both PPC promotions should have an associated target. If you're in a new company, it can be as easy as getting people to your website. When you're in the retail sector, it may be to make staff fill in. If you're in the service sector, you may want customers to fill out a questionnaire to sign up for services. When your targets are reported on your website using a platform such as Google Analytics, you can track your campaign's success in detail. More recognition If you opened your company doors yesterday and have a real niche product, you need to get your name out there fast. Other techniques, such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), require some time to develop. With PPC, you can be noticed automatically, depending partly on the competitiveness of the sector. Visibility Speed findings have improved exposure. Ads are always accepted on platforms the same day they are made so that you can see an Instagram image ad, a Google Search text ad, and a YouTube video ad. Exposing the brand to diverse platforms across various networks improves exposure. Verdict Pay-Per-Click Ads is a paying choice that you may choose to boost revenue on your web. Many owners cannot bear PPC advertising because of the daily payments to pay to the platforms. If you're trying to conduct PPC marketing for your company or brand, focus on the PPC campaign elements. Still aim to interact with a team that oversees the PPC creation and all other things relevant to it. However, if you want to observe PPC marketing's effects, you need to evaluate the technique. You will review various features such as conversion rate, quality score, cost-per-click, cost-per-acquisition, return on and ad spending. The PPC company you chose will help you access your details. This data will not only help you understand the extent of PCC marketing effects; it will also help the PCC specialist team to take the appropriate action to ensure more traffic on your website. If you want to see the company improve quickly in terms of revenue and benefit, try to make PPC marketing work better. #### A beginner's guide to Google Tag Manager. Google Tag Manager is a tool that can be readily embraced by SEO folk. Once you get past the learning curve of all the terminology and the initial setup, you'll no longer have to bother a developer to implement some critical elements to your landing pages that can increase your visibility. What is Google Tag Manager? Google describes Tag manager as so: "Use Google Tag Manager to manage tags (such as tracking and marketing optimization JavaScript tags) on your site. Without editing your site code, you use GTM user interface to add and update Google Ads, Google Analytics, Floodlight, and non-Google tags. This reduces errors and allows you to to deploy tags on your site quickly." And, that's it. It's a way to deploy tags quickly on to your site. The reduction of errors comes from the fact that you can quickly test and undo any implementation. It's also very tricky to break your site via. Tag Manager - although give it a go and let me know how you got on. Setting up Google Tag Manager 1. Go to https://tagmanager.google.com/ I'd bookmark this for future use. 2. Sign in to a Gmail account. Preferably with an account associated with your website. 3.Create an Account If you've never used GTM before, you'll be greeted with this dashboard: Click on Create Account. 4. Enter your website details First, enter your company name as your account name, then select your country. Feel free to share your data with Google. Then, enter your website URL in the container name, does not need http:// or https://. Select Web under 'Where to Use Container then click create.  And, accept all the terms and conditions. (If you want) 4. Install Google Tag Manager Once the above is done, you should be greeted with a pop up with the code that needs to go into the backend of your website. This may look complicated and probably where you'll need a web developer with full access to install on every page on your site. However, assuming you're using WordPress, you don't have a web developer at hand then there is a solution in the form of a quick and easy plugin called DuracellTomi's Google Tag Manager for WordPress. Once installed all you have to do is head over to the plugin and insert your unique Google Tag Manager ID which you can find on the GTM dashboard. Select the appropriate container code placement, which will differ depending on your website build, and that's it. 5. Testing Google Tag Manager is working correctly There are two easy ways to check if Google Tag Manager has been installed correctly within your website. The first, if you're using Google Chrome, install the browser extension called Tag Assistant.  Once installed, go to your website and click on the icon for the extension, the dropdown should look like the below if installed correctly. If it hasn't then you'll get a red frowny face, its best to contact your web developer if this has happened. The other way to check is to go to your GTM dashboard and click on preview. Go back to your website, and if installed correctly you should see a Tag Manager Debugger pop up in the footer of your landing page. Don't worry, only you can see this, and it's where you can see whether a tag has fired, but we'll get into this late on. Google Tag Manager terminology Once you're all set up, you may be confused about what to do next or what some of the terms Tags are the snippets of code that you want to insert onto your page. Triggers are where and when you want the tag to fire. Variables is a Value or Element that you want to extract from your website. 1.Adding schema through GTM Schema or Structured Data is in simple terms, a way of compiling information on a page or website for search engine bots to easily understand. The more information you can provide to the search engines the easier it will be to understand what your content is about correctly. There's a whole host of different types of Structured Data you can add to your website. You can find all of this on Schema's official site.  I've picked a handful of Schema that are quite common and divided these into two sections, static markup and dynamically generated markup. Easy Static Markup This is the most straightforward kind of markup you can implement as all your doing is a copy and paste job. For example the LocalBusiness Schema Markup on Fifteen's site: <script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": { "@vocab": "http://schema.org/" }, "@graph": [ { "@id": "#MainOrganization", "@type": "Organization", "name": "Fifteen Agency", "url" : "https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/", "logo" : "https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/wp-content/themes/fifteendesign/assets/img/fifteen-logo-square.png", "sameAs" : [ "https://twitter.com/fifteenagency", "https://www.instagram.com/fifteenagency/", "https://www.linkedin.com/company/fifteen-design", "https://www.facebook.com/FifteenDesign", "https://www.youtube.com/user/fifteendesign", "https://plus.google.com/+FifteendesignCoUk" ] }, { "@type": "LocalBusiness", "parentOrganization": { "@id": "#MainOrganization" }, "name" : "Fifteen Agency", "address": { "@type" : "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "Media House, Padge Rd ", "addressLocality": "Beeston", "addressRegion": "Nottinghamshire", "postalCode": "NG9 2RS", "telephone" : "01159325151" }, "openingHours": [ "Mo-Th 09:00-17:30 Fr 09:00-17:00" ], "image" : "https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/wp-content/themes/fifteendesign/assets/img/fifteen-logo-square.png", "priceRange" : "£000 - £000", "description" : "Full service digital agency proving web design, creative design and digital marketing services.", "hasmap" : "https://goo.gl/maps/8USvkodWE2s" }, { "@type": "LocalBusiness", "parentOrganization": { "@id": "#MainOrganization" }, "name" : "Fifteen Agency", "address": { "@type" : "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "81 Rivington Street", "addressLocality": "Shoreditch", "addressRegion": "London", "postalCode": "EC2A 3AY", "telephone" : "02039032049" }, "openingHours": [ "Mo-Th 09:00-17:30 Fr 09:00-17:00" ], "image" : "https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/wp-content/themes/fifteendesign/assets/img/fifteen-logo-square.png", "priceRange" : "£000 - £000", "description" : "Full service digital agency proving web design, creative design and digital marketing services.", "hasmap" : "https://goo.gl/maps/d9sUaZUgsuw" } ] } </script> Looks complicated right?  It's quite simple, and it's just information about Fifteen as a company and its two alternate two addresses.  But, don't worry you can generate this using a few tools available for free online.  Schema Markup Generator (JSON-LD)  can help you create common Schema Markup, all you have to do is enter the right information into the boxes, and it generates the Schema dynamically.  The great thing about this tool is you can validate any Markup you've created through Google's Structured Data Testing Tool.This will tell you if the Mark Up is valid. As soon as you've got the valid Schema Markup that you want head on over to Tag Manager. Click on Tags and then New. Make sure the name of the Tag is something unique, so it's easy to understand what this is later on. Click on Tag Configuration then select Custom HTML. Now, copy and paste your Schema Markup into the box. Next click within the Triggering box. This is where you'll tell which landing page or pages you want the markup to be placed. For this example, we're using the Local Business Schema so we'll want to fire this on all landing pages, so we'll click on All Pages. Now, click off all of these boxes and onto the main GTM dashboard. Before we hit submit, let's just check in the GTM Debug that the tag is actually firing on the appropriate page. Hit Preview then go to your website. In the debugger, you should see the Tag firing. If you need to only trigger the Schema Markup on certain pages then all you need to do is create a new trigger. You can trigger on a certain group of pages or on one specific page. For example, if you were implementing event schema, you'd only want it triggering on that specific event page. To do this, head over to Triggers on the main dashboard and click New. Name your Trigger something specific, then choose a trigger type and click on page view. Under "This Trigger Fire on" click "Some Page Views" then enter the page path, which is basically the url outside of your main domains. This should then only fire on that specific page, remember to test this via. GTM's debugger. Once you've got all your Schema Markup sorted, on the main dashboard hit the submit button. You'll be asked for a version name and version description. Personally, I'd make these as descriptive as possible so if anyone comes in at a later date they know exactly what's going on. Google Tag Manager may seem complicated at first but with a little practice can become an important marketing tool. Our team is experienced working with Google Tag Manager as well as a litany of other SEO tools. If you'd like a hand with your SEO or digital marketing then contact us today, we'll help you realise your potential. #### A beginners guide to link building strategies for SEO. Link building can be a complex and time-consuming process. There are so many different tactics that can be used to get to your end goal, and this can be overwhelming for those who are new to it. However, link building is a crucial aspect for any successful SEO strategy as it can help improve your search engine rankings and increase your online visibility. In this beginners guide, we explore five easy-to-understand link building strategies for SEO to help you start building high-quality links to your site. If you’re new to link building, and you’re looking to enhance your SEO efforts, this guide has got you covered. 5 link building strategies for SEO Link building isn’t always about creating long form content, such as blogs, or interactive guides. As we’ve mentioned, there are numerous tactics you can utilise. Here are five straightforward link building strategies for SEO that are a great starting point for beginners. Outreach Outreach is a link building strategy where you simply reach out to different people within your industry and introduce them to your content - and this isn’t limited to just your content either. Your business, brand, personality, products, or services can also be features you introduce, just as long as it’s valuable and useful to them.  The best people to outreach to are those who have previously linked to similar content or brands as yours, or those that include your target keyword within their content.  Ahrefs Content Explorer is a great tool to use to find this information out. You simply type in your chosen keyword or phrase and it will pull up all the related web pages. Then to find people who have linked to similar articles, you can add a filter to Content Explorer which will filter pages with all the referring domains.  From here, you can find a relevant page and view all the sites linking to it. Once you’ve narrowed down your outreach targets, find their contact information and send them a personalised email. Remember, outreach is all about building relationships which means your first email needs to align with this. Guest blogging Guest blogging is a powerful link building strategy that involves collaborating with other websites in your industry to create valuable and relevant content. It’s one of the most notorious link building tactics, but it allows you to provide useful information to readers while having the opportunity to include backlinks to your own site. Either you or the website you’re collaborating with will create the content, and once published, it’s a simple case of linking to it. However, you need to be clever with who you partner with. Be sure to choose reputable websites with a high domain authority to ensure maximum impact.  As well as that, you must ensure that the content you’re creating is high-quality and engaging, and it aligns with both yours and the website's target audience. If the content is well-written, adds value to the reader, and it’s free, not only will it increase your website’s credibility and visibility, but it will also establish you as a thought leader in your industry. Broken link building Broken link building is a clever tactic that involves finding broken links on other websites in your industry and offering your own content as a replacement. It’s a win-win strategy as it not only helps other websites fix their broken links, but also allows you to gain valuable backlinks to your own site. Ahref’s Broken Link Checker tool can help you discover every site that has a broken link on it. You simply input the website domain you want to check, and it will provide you with a list of all the dead links on. Once you’ve found a broken link that aligns with your content, you can reach out to the organisation, introduce yourself, and offer your content as a replacement. This link building strategy often sees great results as you already know which sites are willing to link to relevant content like yours. This means the gain for more potential backlinks could be significant. Unlinked mentions There may be some occasions where other websites will mention your brand without actually linking to your site. These opportunities are a hidden gem and an easy steal. This is because the brand mentioning you will already be familiar with your organisation, so all that is required is for you to reach out and ask them to link to your site. Tools like Google Alerts or Mention are great to utilise as they can help you keep track of these mentions, giving you a chance to turn them into powerful backlinks and harness valuable opportunities to boost your site’s authority and drive more traffic. Link reclamation Links can be lost all the time for numerous reasons, such as a website rewriting their content and your link gets dropped. Reclaiming these links is far easier than looking for new back link opportunities. This link building strategy is a fairly easy process because all it requires is politely reaching out to the website and asking them to re-add or update to a more relevant link. Doing this will ensure you’re recovering valuable lost backlinks, as well as giving your site the credit it deserves, and ultimately boost your search engine rankings. It also helps maintain a healthy backlink profile, which serves as credibility in the eyes of search engines and boosts your domain authority. As well as that, reclaiming backlinks helps improve user experience as it ensures your website visitors are directed to the correct pages on your site. Let us take care of your link building strategy Link building is all about trial and error, as well as testing and assessing what works best for you, your strategy, and your business. We hope our guide helps you take on your link building strategy with confidence, whether you’re new to it or not. Once you’ve mastered the technique that’s right for you, you’ll more than likely find link building is a lot more rewarding and a lot less effort.  If you’d like more advice on link building, or you’d like our SEO experts to implement your link building strategy on your behalf, don’t hesitate to contact us today to learn how we can supercharge your SEO efforts and get your site to the top ranking. #### A brief history of Rupert Murdoch and social media. Rupert Murdoch hates social media and the internet in general. The ageing media mogul and purveyor of tabloid press has taken his ire at Facebook recently. It all comes down to Murdoch's belief that Facebook should be paying news outlets. An altruistic statement from a man who owns The Sun, The Times, New York Post, Wall Street Journal and other publications across the globe. This isn't the first time Murdoch has expressed displeasure with social media and the internet in general. Once upon a time... 2005 - News corp. buys Myspace The year Arctic Monkeys were huge, Myspace was the fifth most visited internet domain in the US. It was bought for a steal at £332.85m. News Corp acquired other web assets to a total spend of 1 billion dollars that same year. Murdoch wanted to use Myspace to direct traffic to his other brands including Fox TV. This was on the back of some of his negative predictions for the future of the press and dwindling ad revenue. “Certainly I don’t know anybody under 30 who has ever looked at a classified advertisement in a newspaper. With broadband, they do more and more transactions online.” He saw Myspace as a way to tap into the disposable income of the youth. But, also as an ad platform to rival Google who extended their display advertising plus auctioning for keywords. The ad revenue from Yahoo and Google was predicted to outgrow traditional forms that year. Who'd a thought? Meanwhile, fresh-faced college student Mark Zuckerberg (red cup in hand) talking about "The Facebook" 2006 - Rupert goes digital Rupert Murdoch speaks to Charlie Rose about the future of Myspace. Source: Charlie Rose Murdoch made a speech to the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers where he stated: "From the wheel to the web, from the printing press to fibre optic cable, it has always been technology that has driven history. Those in the driving seat have always been those who fully understood and used that technology. Today one of our great challenges is to understand and seize the opportunities presented by the web. It is a creative, destructive, technology that is still in its infancy, yet breaking and remaking everything in its path." The whole speech was a call to arms for publishers to move to digital platforms. It was also a way for News Corp. to set out its agenda and targeted dominance of the web. Myspace at the time had near 100 million users. In an interview with Wired he was coming to grips with what to do with Myspace: “You want to learn from MySpace,” he muses. “Can you democratize newspapers, for instance? What does it mean for how we do sports or politics? I don’t know – no one does. I just know we’ll figure it out.” In September 2006, Facebook launched to anyone with a valid email address. Source: Mashable 2007 - Peak dominance It was the year that saw Rupert Murdoch purchase Dow Jones for a whopping $5.6 billion. This meant he now controlled another news outlet, The Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, Facebook was a powerful rival against Myspace. It was bringing in 1 million new users per week and by August had 36 million under its belt. Zuckerberg had a vision for Facebook opposite to Myspace: Imagine if, every time you logged on, you weren't greeted by NYTimes.com or even a Google News like aggregator, but a collection of headlines and blog postings, written or handpicked by your closest friends and relatives. Facebook was valued by analysts at being worth $5 billion. 2008 - Facebook surpasses MySpace 2008 saw the year where Facebook overtook Myspace. Facebook had 123.9 million unique visitors whereas Myspace had 114.6 million. Rupert called Facebook a "flavour of the month" and dismissed a rivalry with Myspace. 2009 - There's no such thing as free news It appeared that the Murdoch empire gave up with its bid for a free and open internet. He announced that he'd be charging users to access his news sites. It was in a bid to spread awareness that journalism costs money. Taking aim at internet distributors for "stealing content". He even went as far as stating he would remove his news sites from the search engine indexes. This may have been because Myspace and Google in 2006 struck a deal for an exclusive deal which Myspace was falling short of search revenue. 2011 - Scandal of the century It was the year that the phone hacking scandal came to fruition. Murdoch owned News of the World, a newspaper which had existed for over a century was to shut down. To add insult to injury, it was revealed that Myspace had been losing 10 million users per month. In June Myspace was sold for $35m. Justin Timberlake purchased a stake in the company. The previous year Justin Timberlake played Sean Parker in the Facebook film; The Social Network. 2012 - Rupert shows his age Rupert Murdoch joined Twitter. So Obama has thrown in his lot withSilicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery. - — Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 14, 2012 During an annual shareholder meeting, he admitted that he wasted the potential of Myspace and spent too much time competing with Facebook. 2013 - A slice of vice Murdoch's 21st Century Fox buys a stake in Vice Media. Seen as a way to invest in alternative media outlets and influence a demographic that Fox has struggled with for the past decade. Vice has an incredible reach online especially via. Facebook. Yet it was only a timid share of 5% showing the companies new found apprehension to investing in digital companies. 2014 - "Dear Rupert..." Google published an open letter to Rupert Murdoch entitled 'Dear Rupert'. It's a fascinating read and rebuffs Murdoch's previous statements around the internet being a beacon for piracy. 2015 - Abdication from the throne Rupert Murdoch steps down as CEO of 21st Century Fox handing the reigns down to his son. Rupert also hints at buying the rest of his stake in traditional media outlet - Sky. In 2015 it was estimated that 60% of 16-24 year old get their news from online. Suggesting that the demographics of youth are abandoning traditional outlets such as Sky News. 2016 - Goodbye Rupert Rupert leaves Twitter and he hasn't been since. No more tweets for ten days or ever! Feel like the luckiest AND happiest man in world. — Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) March 4, 2016 Time Inc. pay an estimated $8m for Viant including all its subsidiaries, which includes Myspace. Facebook comes under fire for spreading Fake News through its ad service. It also may have been a proxy for Russian propaganda leading to having influence over the US general election. Many question the 'openness' of Facebook and the word 'Echo Chamber' becomes a major topic for internet critiques. 2017 - An old empire bought by an ancient empire Rupert ended the year with a dig at the dominance of tech companies in the marketplace. He specifically calls out Silicon Valley darlings Facebook and Google for taking massive chunks out of news outlets. He stated: "This is an era where publishers – and the economy and society at large – are affected by the behaviour of a small number of technology companies," Last year, 21st Century Fox was sold to Disney. This appears to be the end of Murdoch targeting alternative media and younger demographics. 2018 - Murdoch vs. Zuckerberg Here we are, an annual treat. Rupert Murdoch takes shot at Zuckerberg's new direction for Facebook. Stating that Facebook should pay media outlets for their content. At the same time, his takeover bid for Sky was ruled against by regulators. It's a dramatic tale of the old vs. new and how social media has completely rocked old media elites. History may have swayed a different way. David Fincher could have made a film about Myspace called The Social Network. Maybe Justin Timberlake could have played Murdoch, under heavy prosthetics of course. But, like the Justin Timberlake song goes: What goes around, goes around, goes around Comes all the way back around 2019 and beyond Source: The Simpsons (previously owned by Murdoch) #### A complete solution for Palmhive. We are proud to announce the launch of one of our latest websites for Palmhive Technical Textiles, part of the Nottingham Textile Group. About Palmhive Palmhive are one of Europe’s leading bespoke technical textile manufacturers. Having production and distribution facilities located in the heart of the UK, they are able to produce and deliver to almost anywhere. With a focus on developing and supplying technical fabrics for industrial applications, Palmhive pride themselves on their flexibility and ability to assess every customers individual needs. The task Fifteen were tasked with building Palmhive a brand new, modern website to replace their older existing web presence while keeping the familiarity of their existing branding. The website Palmhive wanted a website which challenged expectations, breaks the mould and sticks in the memory. This was achieved by using slants across all pages to create a unique effect and break up content with high-resolution imagery, keeping the potential customer engaged while showcasing their unique product on every single page. The team at Fifteen worked closely with the Palmhive team every step of the way to ensure that they were happy with the website and that it matched their company vision and exceeded their expectations. The website is fully scalable and focuses on the responsive versions of the website which are a key part to the website’s build and success. Built with a custom page builder inside a content management system the website is easy to update moving forward. We wish the team at Palmhive luck with the new website and look forward to a long relationship with them. What they said "We are so pleased to be launching an updated Palmhive website today. We know that people in business are incredibly busy so we set out to ensure that the website was simple to navigate and not too wordy. Working with Fifteen has been an absolute pleasure and between us we hope to have struck the right balance of letting people know what Palmhive is all about without taking up too much of their valuable time. It would be impossible for us to show everything that Palmhive can achieve in technical textiles. A most important aspect of the website design is that if readers like what they see about how we operate and how we can help, then they can find out how to get in touch with us easily. We are definitely not a 'click and collect' type business and Fifteen totally grasped this from the outset. Although we make high-performance fabrics we are essentially engineers. The web format really does feel right for us. The project has been so much more than a website update. Palmhive's signature hexagon logo has been reshaped into a fresh, modern design and our tag line has been replaced to succinctly tell of our main aim for customers. We would like to thank everyone who has been involved in bringing it together." — Adrian Wright - Nottingham Textile Group Who worked on the project? Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="http://www.palmhive.co.uk/"]Visit the new Palmhive Website[/fifteen_button] #### A day in the life of a content specialist. Morning My day usually starts with me checking my (currently) 5-week-old son, nature’s alarm clock. This can be pretty much any hour before 7am. Once he’s been verified, it’s onto more important things like reading all the internet. Then checking in on every social network you care to imagine (Instagram is my favourite by a country mile – 22% of my iPhone battery goes on it). I also use breakfast (scrambled eggs if you must know) as an opportunity to do a bit of personal blogging. Two pints of Yorkshire Gold later and I’m in the car. It’s a quick commute of ten short minutes to the office. Load up with coffee, read my emails (I’m pretty new here, so thankfully most of it concerns updates from sites like Econsultancy or Content Marketing Institute) and I’m good to go. I suspect most jobs require being organised and partitioning off time, but when writing content it’s especially true. For example, if you’re writing a blog post on a subject you might not naturally know much about, you have to do plenty of research into the topic. Then you have to put yourself in the perspective reader’s shoes and wonder, what would they want to know? A good blog post is often based on what readers want, and helping the find that as quickly as possible, so getting under the skin of this needs proper immersion. I mentioned that (at the time of writing) I’m new to Fifteen, so I’m also using the odd half hour here and there to understand different systems that we use to help plan time or to organise and record workload. From Float to Trello, there are some really useful tools out there. Lunchtime After staring at the screen all morning, getting some fresh air is massively important. When that combines with an M&S salad (balanced out by the office biscuits, then dealing with the ensuing guilt) then that’s even better. Afternoon Back into the content – though this time it’s optimising a webpage, which is a completely different style of content creation. For example, a page could need tailoring specifically to deal with a PPC campaign. The page needs to have relevant content displayed in an accurate and clear manner. If you’re dealing with a technical company that hasn't had the opportunity to update content for a while, then it can be quite a challenge unpicking it. It’s more than just editing a page, but tweaking the language to reflect what people are searching for (based on keywords of course). And also designing the content so that helps them do what they want to do as quickly as possible. Once that’s done, it’s time to help out with an onsite optimisation of a soon-to-be-launched website. This is a bit simpler, and is a case of helping out by checking things as simple as images using alt-tags, pages have the most suitable headings, meta description or focus keywords, or that redirected URLs will point to the right place. Evening Another quick drive back home, at which point I’m super hungry. I greet even hungrier (and grumpier) cats then eat dinner with my family in front of a roaring woodburner, which I have been known to light in August. Bath the baby, talk in stupid voices to him, and then pray he sleeps whilst I’m on duty so that I can finish off reading the internet, and then – because I’m sad like this – do even more writing. #### A day in the life of a designer - Dave Sloan. Before work It all starts around six in the morning, I’m normally the first to wake up but not often the first to get up! I always try to grab a few precious minutes before the mayhem starts. I read the news on my iPad for a short while, same old stuff Trump being Trump, Theresa spouting off about Brexit and Kim Jong planning his world domination with his arsenal of ballistic missiles, same old, same old, nothing out of the ordinary. Then I’ll perhaps read a couple of pages of the current book I’m reading. At the moment I’m reading a Stephen King classic called IT. I read this book for the first time years ago when I was a young teen and really enjoyed it so I thought I’d buy a new copy for my eldest son who is also a young teen. He took one look at how many pages there were and decided he would probably get round to reading it some other time. Likely story I think. It’s a great story about a group of geeky kids that band together to fight off an evil being who takes on many forms including a clown called Penny Wise. If you haven’t read it give it a go you’ll love IT. Then it’s the usual waiting to get in the bathroom to get ready, my two boys seem to think they can take as much time as they like in the morning, a little frustrating but after years of the same routine you kind of get used to it! This is followed by a quick breakfast, a round of ‘goodbyes’ and ‘I love yous’ and before I know it I’m in the car driving to work, a thirty minute trip where I can kick back and listen to some of my favourite tunes or tune into BBC Radio 4 and listen to current affairs with Jon Humphrys I love they way he debates with his guests. At work I arrive at work, turn on my Mac, check my emails and the day begins! Hold on to your seat peoples it’s going to be a fast ride! I’ve been working at Fifteen for two months now and I can honestly say it’s ace, every day is different and if you think you’ve got your day planned, think again as it can change on an hourly basis. I’ve worked on loads of great projects so far including illustrating a group of dogs for a website all with individual characteristics similar to ‘the secret life of pets’, I’ve also designed a great website for a music studio as well as designing a website for a company that designs and installs electrical systems. But it’s not all design work, I’ve worked on brand workshop projects too with Matt, our Creative Director and brand guru. Brand workshops are new to me but very interesting we get to go into companies and take them through a series of exercises to understand what their brand is all about, who they are as a company and more importantly why they do what they do. We also define who they are as a brand archetype which is really important as it helps to define their brand story, language and messaging. The vibe at Fifteen is really cool and there is always a buzz around the office, the team are very friendly and they’ve made me feel really welcome, It’s like I’ve been here for years. #### A day in the life of a digital PR executive. I’ve potentially said a lot of words there that mean little or nothing to you. No, I don’t read magazine’s all day and attend networking lunches with free Prosecco (although I will definitely be submitting that suggestion.) As Fifteen’s Digital PR Executive I seek to gain national coverage for both clients and ourselves as a brand. This doesn’t mean paying for ad slots, anyone can make that kind of call. This means targeting an audience, identifying gaps in specific markets and putting a brand voice in front of people who are actually listening. So here’s a comprehensive (and epic might I add) journey through my day as Fifteen’s Digital PR Executive. PR never sleeps Now for me, my day never starts at 9 am, I’ll admit I am a workaholic and as such, I have my iPhone surgically attached to my hand. Now, before you judge that statement, let me explain myself. As a PR executive, one of the main things I have to do is create compelling and more relevant campaigns. It is impossible for me to do this if I’m not up to date on current affairs and trends. So from news updates to the latest tweets, I am always online as I don’t believe you can be at the top of your game without staying relevant. Social for starters After I’ve updated myself with everything from Kim Kardashian’s latest selfie to the dropping rate of the pound, I’ll get stuck into the social schedule for Fifteen. I started my career in digital in the world of social, so I assist our Social team with the creation of content for Fifteen. This is, in essence, is the perfect way to start my day, I remind myself of our brand voice, ethics and tone- something which every brand should always do. Plus, to create effective PR strategies for us, I need to be sure of exactly the image we want to portray. Now, don’t take that the wrong way. A brand image isn’t something you cook up in the hope that pretending to be someone else will win you more popularity. In reality, it is the opposite, me along with our whole team think about what we stand for, if we’re stripped back (without our Macs and iPhones) what do we want people to see. I’ve got a bit deep, granted. Yet, it’s important to keep these things in mind to always stay focused and moving in the right direction. Dashboards, keywords, and monitoring I’d love to think it was possible to fire out press releases and keep on top of every media relation I’ve ever had all on my own, but I’m only one woman. Hence, we use an incredible PR monitoring tool to ensure nothing is missed. The tool gives us daily dashboards which enable us to track everything we do for a client PR wise. We use the tool to track keywords relating to each client, from here I look at every top story, mention or stream of content relating to those keywords. Once I’ve picked the relevant points from the dashboard I can analyse client coverage. We check everything from backlinks to social shares, meaning that our strategies have to be completely comprehensive- I have to consider every KPI the client has stipulated and hit every target. Through our platform we maintain superb relations with Nationwide media, we keep daily contact with a variety of top influencers in their chosen field. But, I am not firing out stories for the sake of PR probability. Many agencies will, if you send your press release to enough people you’re bound to get some coverage right? Well, yes. But are you putting it in the right place? Is that where your target audience even is? These are all questions that scope my day. By using our influencer contact manager, I pinpoint those talking about our client market the most, this is also where those keywords come back into play. By targeting the right people in the media industry, we make sure our engaging content doesn’t go to waste in trying to engage the wrong audience. Content is everything This blog may not be the perfect example of this but I am and always have been a keen writer, hence press releases, editorial and copy all excite me (yes, really.) We plan a lot of client content, from a 140 character tweet to 10,000 words on a website. So my typing speed as you can imagine, is lightning fast. I’ll often be drafting copy on paid social adverts, editorial pieces for the company or web pages. For me, I always put emotion into my words (I’ve gone deep again), I’ve always felt that some of the best PR campaigns, slogans and brand stories are the ones which strike a cord. You might say this isn’t always possible, but the emotive copy doesn’t have to reduce someone to tears to have the desired affect. It should have your brand values at its core, it should speak for you without doing so directly and in this way, I find my emotional loophole. If everything you say is a reflection of you, of course, you’ll think deeper and care more about what it is. This is at the forefront of every PR campaign I create, the brand I’m speaking on behalf of. Why I’m ready to do it all again tomorrow So at this point, I’ve got 25 different tabs open, Tweetdeck running over time and dashboards aplenty to keep me busy. And I wouldn’t have it any other way, I have to admit I’m a sucker for the fast-paced nature of agency life, most will moan about being glued to their smartphone (my Grandma does) but, I thrive off it. My job is different every day and I know that’s the classic work blog statement, but I can say that’s the truth. I work in a world where every day a new story breaks, a new topic is trending and a new gap in the media market has emerged- that for me is the part I love most about what I do. #### A Day in the Life of A Production Co-Ordinator - Josh Smith Morning at Home When the average human wakes up on a Tuesday morning, at 7am, they often want to roll up into a ball and shut the world out, for a few more hours at least! But that’s not me. I can’t wait to get to the office to see everyone and discuss everyone’s evenings and to see what the day has in store. After waking up at 7am I shove my dressing gown on and run up stairs, grab a bowl and spoon and pour as many Weetabix Minis into the bowl as physically possible. Has to be the Fruit & Nut Weetabix, of course. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day and gets everything kick-started! I scroll through social media whilst I’m munching on these little chunks of fibre-y heaven, seeing what funny pictures and videos I could find. I say morning to my mum, sister and the dog, (cant forget the dog or he’ll cry, literally.) After having a chat with them I grab my speaker, my clothes and my cuppa and go upstairs again, it’s a 3-storey house, which does get knackering! I switch the shower on, set Spotify up to blast out the speaker - usually Drake/Jeremih/Chris Brown, something along those lines. I hop out the shower, brush my teeth, get dry and put my clothes on, finish my tea, and head down the two flights of stairs. I say goodbye to everyone, including the dog, he’s an emotional wreck, and start my journey to work. I usually leave at about quarter past eight; it usually takes about 10 minutes to get to the bus stop in Kimberley, which gives me 5 minutes until the bus comes. The bus stop I get on at is hidden around a bend in the road so when the bus does come it always panics me because I always see it late! Anyway, after paying £5.30 for a return ticket, which is ridonkulous, I’m on my way. The bus is always quiet, with only 3/4 people on there every time. It takes 15 minutes to get to work, but over the past week or so the bus has had to take a diversion through a small estate with narrow roads due to road works, which is a pain in the backside! Morning at Work When I finally get off the bus and walk around the corner I end up at Room 18, Armstrong’s Mill, Ilkeston; home of the mighty Fifteen Design! I normally get here for quarter/ten to which gives me time to turn my computer on and say hello to the team! I whack my lunch in the fridge, kindly made by me’ mother, and ask everyone if they want a drink. Normally Ollie and Kate slip hints in left, right and centre, saying they could nail a cuppa or that they’re parched, so I know what they’re getting at! I make drinks, hand them out and sit back at my desk. The first thing I do once I’m logged into my computer is check my e-mails. This allows me to create a to-do list based on what clients/colleagues have sent me. I can structure my day around my schedule and order it in a way so that the most urgent jobs get addressed first. I check the Google Calendar to see what everyone is doing today so I know what meetings are taking place, what websites are due to go live. I always have this calendar open because there is always someone that rings, usually a client, and they ask for a certain person, who isn’t here. With this I know exactly where they are, who they’re with and when they will be back in the office. This allows me to give a rough estimation of when we can get back in touch with the caller or when the caller can ring us back because we know that the person they are looking for will be in the office! As my role is in the form of an apprenticeship at the moment, I normally sit down with Sophie and/or Ollie to discuss various things, from jobs and clients, to how I’m getting on, for example what I’m doing well and what can be improved. I love everything about this job so I enjoy these little chats because it helps me to improve and get better what I do, which can only be a good thing. My role is to take some of the weight off Sophie’s shoulders. Answering the phone is a key element of this. The first call usually comes in between 9.30-10am, and its normally asking to speak to Ollie, Natalie, Kate or Lofty! I put them through to whomever they want to speak to. Website My second port of call is to rattle through my to-do list. On the list I have various tasks to complete, from writing this blog, to testing clients sites that we’ve designed and developed, to working on my own website (COMING SOON TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU!) Normally at about 11am I receive a booklet on my desk containing amendments that we have received from clients about their website. Most of the amendments are just wording issues, or if the client has an e-commerce website then they normally send over some products to populate the site with. its something that requires the coding of the site being adjusted then I get in touch with one of the developers, hopefully the one that originally worked on the site, tell him what needs to be done and leave him to it. Lunchtime Lunchtime arrives unexpectedly, put I’m very grateful it turned up! I offer everyone a drink; take the order (I feel like a waiter!) and head to the kitchen. I make the brews, hand them out accordingly and then run back – literally – and get my lunch. Mums a star! I take it back to my desk, put my earphones in for half an hour and just scroll through social media and football sites whilst I’m on my break. Afternoon The seamless transition between lunch and working again takes place, and I crack on with more tasks that have crept up of the last half an hour. One of those missions is to create some images, in a cartoon-y style, for the blogs that go on the Fifteen website. To make these I either use Photoshop – standard – or a really snazzy site called Canva. This basically is a drag-and-drop site where you can create covers for various things. I get a message from India with the title and subject of the blog and I make the cover accordingly. This normally takes around half an hour, so when I’ve accomplished the mission I go round the team and have chats with certain members. On the agenda for today are Kate, Chanelle, Mikey and Lucy. This is just so that I can get to know everyone’s roles in a lot more detail. I can have a go at what they do so I have a wider range of skills that I can improve at. After a website has gone through the whole cycle of designing it in Photoshop, to the development stage with Pav, Chris, Mikey and Alex, it heads over to Natalie and her little crew of social whizz’s to optimize all of the content. SEO is a key point in the process; it’s what gets companies to the top end of the results in search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. They run various campaigns and use lots of methods to get a certain audience to go to the website they are working on. One of the key points in SEO is to use major, reliable, trustworthy sites rather than smaller spam-looking websites. If all of the cycle is complete then it comes over to me. I have to test the website and make sure that any developments are functioning correctly and are optimised to the highest standard. Using our test lab, consisting of Apple, Samsung and Nokia devices plus other cool products, and check out the website on all different browsers on all the items. If the website is faultless with no errors or changes that need making, then we are ready to go live! After Work When the working day draws to a close, and I’ve asked all the guys and girls about their evenings and if they are doing anything exciting its time for the bus journey home. The buses are every half an hour which is a bit of a pain, but we finish at half past 5 and the bus comes at quarter to 6, so it isn’t too bad. The bus, wrapped in an aqua and orange gradient (not the best, I admit!), rolls through Cossall, Awsworth, Giltbrook and ends up in the rural escape of Kimberley. Just when I think that my day couldn’t get any busier, oh boy it does. I when I get home its actions-stations and I need to get ready ASAP. I have to eat my dinner, designed, developed and deliver beautifully by my dear mother, then I have a driving lesson almost straight after for an hour. I started off lightly to jog my memory, but got well into the swing of things, and I ended up doing 60mph, I didn’t want to stop! I suppose it’s a whole lot easier when someone is telling you what to do… After I’ve driven home I grab a snack and head straight to my room to be anti-social for the rest of the night. I have a strict schedule to stick to. Play on the Xbox and listen to music from 8 until 9, until I am completely ensconced in Love Island at 9. As soon as that finishes I just lie in bed relaxing, listening to music and doing designs for my website, wireframes, navigations, layouts and all that shenanigans. The term ‘tomorrow is a new day’ has never been truer than in the design industry, as you never know what the day will through at you. Expect the unexpected is also a term that can be related to this line of work, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. #### A Day In The Life Of A Web Developer - Charlie Cammack As an apprentice, I split my time between attending the academy working on my certificate and coming to work at Fifteen, working on websites and other exciting projects. My course with the academy lasts up until January. By then I’ll have hopefully completed my certificate, meaning I can focus entirely on work with Fifteen. For this "day in the life" I want to talk about a typical day at work with Fifteen. If you want to read more about my course with the academy, you can read about my first week with 3aaa. Morning My typical working day starts around 7:30. I’ll first have a shower, get dressed and head downstairs to have some breakfast. The breakfast routine starts with an espresso, followed by either toast or coco-pops. Sometimes I’ll treat myself to fried eggs on toast but I normally save that for my weekend breakfast. After setting off for work at 8:30 and arriving for 8:45, the 15 minutes I have spare before the working day commences I spend chatting to everyone at work and organising myself for the day ahead. Being an apprentice means my days don’t always follow the typical developer tasks. I’ll quite often be doing a lot of different tasks as well as helping other developers out on projects their working on. Some days, I’ll spend the whole day coding websites or building emails and other days I’ll spend testing or working on some college work at my desk. With that being said, more recently my routine has been following the typical developers day as I have been building (and just launched) a website for a client. This means for the past couple of weeks it has been non-stop coding for me, which has been brilliant, as in this project alone I feel like I’ve learnt so much already. However, I always start my day off, like anyone would, by scanning any emails that have come through just to ensure that any urgent tasks are made well aware of. After this, I’ll normally carry on with any projects I was working on the day before up until the task is complete or someone asks me to do something else. Today I’ve been carrying on building an email newsletter for a client. Building the email has been a really enjoyable task as I’ve not only been practising putting my coding to use but also brushing up on my Photoshop skills. This is always useful when working in a creative environment as having a better understanding of the process your colleagues go through when they work will help you become a better member of the team. Afternoon When lunchtime comes around I’ll normally head out for some air by walking to Tesco with a few others. But I tend to always pack up sandwiches with me unless it’s the odd Friday where I’d probably buy a KFC. After lunch finishes I’ll carry on with working on any projects from the morning or any other tasks that get passed onto me. Sometimes when I get the time spare I like to do some internal learning. While most of the time I approach this by trying out code myself by building sites and getting input from the other developers, other times I like to take courses on CodeCademy and Lynda. Courses normally last around 1-2 hours and offer a hands-on learning approach whilst packing in a lot of useful information and resources. I took an awesome course in learning GIT the other week and I’m already really confident using it. You can learn a little more about these course providers and getting into web development in one of my previous blogs, ‘You are not alone web developers!’ . When 5 arrives, I’ll start closing off for the day and getting my work to a point where it’ll be easy to pick up the following day. This normally involves checking over and finishing my code and preparing a checklist of tasks for the next working day. After Work Around 5.30 I’ll head home and probably head straight out again to either badminton or ice hockey practice depending on which day it is. I also enjoy going to the cinema and playing games. After this, I’ll have dinner with my family or at my girlfriends house and we’ll then browse Netflix. We’ve recently watched Peaky Blinders and are we’re now making our way through The Walking Dead. Bedtime is anywhere between 00:30 and 01:30. I’m not a massive fan of sleep nor require a lot of it, just enough to get by. Most nights I get lost playing games into the early hours or watching YouTube videos which helps ease the transition of getting into bed and falling asleep. #### A Day In The Life Of An SEO Assistant - Abbie Brereton Morning My day starts around 6.30, but sometimes I have cheeky extra 10 minutes. Once getting out of bed I go and wake my 2 younger brothers up, which usually takes 5 attempts! Once I am changed I walk my chocolate Labrador, Seamus, around the block. Before leaving I make sure I make a flask of tea or hot chocolate. Around 8.35 I leave the house and my mum drops me off at work. I usually get into the office around 8.50. Once getting in I turn everything on and look on Float to see what is planned for me to work on today. Today I will be working on 2448 redirects (Yep there are loads!), which seems to feel like the list is never going to end. After spending most my morning doing redirects I decide to go onto something else for a bit, which is usually writing a blog post. Lunchtime By this time by belly is starting to rumble which means one thing… it dinner time! At 12.30 I set off with Alexandra to either walk to Marks & Spencer or to Tesco. While walking we chat about how the morning has been and what we have got planned for the rest of the day. Getting back at the office I go straight into the office and put my dinner in the microwave and grab a glass of water. After the microwave goes off i take my dinner back to my desk to sit down to eat. While eating I like to have a quick flick through social media on my phone to see what is going off. Afternoon Afterwards working on the thousands of redirects I am finally finished and the joy afterwards is something I haven’t felt before. Afterwards, I will ask either Kirsty or Natalie what they would like me to do next. Usually it will be a blog, optimising images and pages, keyword research, or write an infographic. After work The day at the office ends at 5.30 where I come out to try and find where my mum has parked to drive me back home. On the drive home I speak to mum to see what she has been up to in the day. When I get home dad usually asks me what I’ve been up to today at work. Afterwards, I take my dog out for another walk so I usually take him onto the park around the corner from me so he can have a good run. When I get I will wait for my driving lesson at 6.30, which is an hour. Once getting in the car my driving instructor will ask me what I would like to do today, which at the minute we have been concentrating on roundabouts, because I get nervous around them. But I am improving! After driving back home I will go upstairs and get my PJs on and eat my dinner. Finishing my dinner I will fetch my fluffy blanket and snuggle up on the sofa watching catch up Coronation Street and Eastenders with mum. I’m usually in bed around 9.30 as I am a very tired person all the time and love to sleep! Once I get comfy and warm in bed I hear a knock at my bedroom door, which will be my dog. I will finally fall asleep and be ready to do the day all over again. #### A Day In The Life Of An SEO Executive – Jade Hallam Morning: My day usually starts around 7.30am with the sound of my alarm followed by the weight of two lively puppies on my head (one is 32KG but still thinks he’s the size of my foot). After I have fought with them to let me out of bed I set about getting ready for the day ahead. Once I’m ready it’s the most dreaded part of my day… Attempting to wake up my boyfriend ready for work. Once I’ve awoken the beast it’s time to get to work which consists of a lovely, peaceful 10-minute drive… Normally accompanied by some unnecessarily loud dance music. I usually arrive at the office around 8.40 and enjoy a cup of tea and a gossip with all the other early birds. I then choose a Spotify playlist for the day whilst checking my emails and reading the latest marketing news from Moz. Once my bellies full of tea and my brain full of marketing ideas, it’s time to get on to some SEO! Every day is different as an SEO Executive as you never know what client you’ll be working on and you have to be able to think on your feet! I take pride in knowing my clients businesses inside out and have to become an expert on everything from asbestos to educational games! I usually start with an audit before getting my assistant to do some keyword research and look for outreach opportunities. Once I’ve done all the research possible it’s time to dive in and do all the optimisations before monitoring their success through different tools. Lunchtime:   Lunchtime is pretty much what my whole morning builds up to. After convincing myself all morning that I will have a healthy lunch I usually end up at KFC or grabbing a quick ready meal from M&S. After some “fresh air” and a little head-clearing walk, it’s back to the office to eat my dinner and scroll through pointless posts on Facebook. Afternoon: I usually start my afternoons by re-grouping with Abbie to find out what she’s discovered during the morning then I’ll make a plan of attack for the afternoon. A lot of the time the morning will be spent identifying on-page optimisations, then I’ll spend the afternoon implementing them all, being careful to monitor everything that I’m changing so we can track it’s success later. Once all on-page optimisations are done I use the keyword research that Abbie did during the morning and put a document together for my client suggesting why these would work better. After that, I may look at some outreach opportunities, or if I want a chilled afternoon I crack on with a blog. Evening:   After work, I skip out the office and try to find where my boyfriend's parked ready to chauffeur me home. Once home we take our two gorgeous puppies to the park to try and wear them out (I have not yet been successful in wearing them out… ever) and run around the field with them before the decide they want to cuddle you and cover you in mud. Nice. When I get home (after changing out my muddy clothes) I stick dinner on, feed the puppies and go and put my dressing gown on! Once we’ve eaten dinner it’s time to drag my boyfriend off his PS4 so I can watch my soaps. Once TV times finished I have a stupidly long shower then get into my fluffy pyjamas and dressing gown. I try to be in bed by 11PM, which I usually am but then I end up staying up all night watching documentaries about Aliens or just endless amounts of South Park. Eventually, I’ll drift off to the land of nod-ready to do it all again tomorrow… [fifteen_button link="http://blogawardsuk.co.uk/ukba2017/entries/fifteen#sthash.TSojl4Mw.dpuf"]Check out Jade's full profile[/fifteen_button] #### A Dynamic Website For Seaton Partners After working closely with Seaton Partners for the last few months, Fifteen are proud to announce the launch of their brand new website! About Seaton Partners Seaton Partners is a Microsoft Gold Competency partner for Dynamics 365, after starting in 2007 the company is on a rapid expansion programme and have a specialist team dedicated to dealing with Microsoft Dynamics. Their services include offering project resources, project recovery, dealing with new projects and offering managed services for those projects that have already been completed. Their services provide a full circle offering for all types of clients. The Task Working within the technical world, Seaton Partners understand that having a modern, fully functional and dynamic website was key to their future successes and the growth of their business. Fifteen’s task was to create a website that will allow Seaton Partners to grow over the coming years, add more team members, case studies, blogs and services, all whilst standing out from the crowd. The Website The Design We were given free creative rein with this project, and we came up with the solution that you see today. The website uses modern web design trends including a full-screen navigation, interactive team area, subtle image hints and hints of their logo throughout the website in key areas. The homepage has a large video which takes pride at the top of the page, the video highlights the team at Seaton Partners and showcases what they are about, really focussing on those who are so passionate about the company and about what they do. The site is tasteful and utilises the brands colours where possible, it's streamlined and not overcrowded, and we look forward to seeing what SeatonParters do with the websites look and feel moving forwards! Content Management & Key Features The website is built using WordPress, which allows the admin to login to manage the website’s content and images, meaning that it is really easy to keep the website up to date. The website uses a range of CSS animations to deliver content and offer a dynamic and interactive website for a user to play around with, the about us page allows the user to click and find out more about those who for Seaton Partners. The website’s navigation is unique and takes over the user's screen when they are navigating to another area of the website, highlighting and giving an overview of the different areas so the user can make an informed choice. The Case Studies on the website offer the ability to add a range of stats that cover the key facts of the project, a testimonial, those who worked on the project and what their role was within the project, allowing Seaton Partners to really showcase their expertise within the industry, and talk about the work that they can do no matter how bespoke it is to the clients requirements and needs. What They Said “The process, delivery and content have all been of the highest standard.  But what has been more important is that we have found a partner that has taken the time to truly understand what we are about, our culture and our philosophy; and that really comes through in the final product.” – Adam Seaton, Managing Director Who Worked On The Project?         Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="www.seatonpartners.co.uk/"]Visit Seaton Partners[/fifteen_button] #### A Guide to Claiming Your Google My Business (GMB) Page An Introduction to Google My Business You might be familiar with Google My Business (or GMB). It's Google's exciting FREE tool for business owners to make sure that their brand is represented properly across the Google search network. It makes managing your business much easier. It also pulls all of Google's business services into one handy platform, including: Reviews - Manage your reviews that customers post, which will be seen by people searching for businesses like yours. You'll also get those lovely stars you often see. Google Analytics (GA) - From one place you can quickly see all of your website's stats, including visitors, bounce rates, and much more. Insights - See some useful information about your visibility, engagement levels, and trends across your industry. Google Maps (GMaps) - Manage whether or not you appear on the most widely-used mapping system on the internet, and how you appear. How do I claim my Google business page? The first steps to taking control of your data on Google is by claiming your business through the GMB portal. There are three steps: Set up your Google account Add or Claim your business Verify your business Set Up Your Google Account In order to log in to the GMB platform, you must have a Google account. If you have an existing Gmail account you can use that, or create a new account. You can also set up a Google account with a business email address. To do this, simply click on the "Use my current email address instead" option Add or Claim Your Business Once you've signed into a Google account, you can Add or Claim your business. To do so, visit the Google My Business dashboard, and then search for your business by name or address. If your business then shows up in the menu, click on the listing. You can then claim it. If your business doesn't appear, you can click None Of These Match and then enter your business information for the first time. Verify Your Business Now that your business information has been entered, you can verify its accuracy and confirm to Google that you own it and represent it. There are three ways of verifying your business with Google, and they are: Mail Google will send a postcard with a code on it. When this arrives, add the code to your GMB dashboard Phone Google will call you on the registered business phone number and give you a verification code, which you can enter on the GMB dashboard Instant If your business' website happens to be verified with the Google Search Console then you might get verified instantly if your website was verified with the same Google account All done! Now that you're all done, you've got your business listed on Google and made it easier for people to find you - hooray! Google My Business optimisation should form part of you Local Search strategy. If you need any assistance, please get in touch with Fifteen's Digital Team who can offer help and advice on what to do next. #### A guide to PPC marketing for beginners. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can feel intimidating when you’re new to it. With so many platforms, acronyms, metrics, and moving parts, it’s no surprise that many businesses aren’t sure where to start. But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. When approached with the right strategy, it becomes one of the most powerful tools in your digital marketing toolkit because it helps you reach the right people at the exact moment they’re searching for what you offer. In our guide to PPC marketing for beginners, we’ll break down how PPC works, whether it’s the right choice for your business, and what you need in place to get started confidently. What is PPC advertising? PPC advertising is a digital marketing model where advertisers pay each time a user clicks their ad. Rather than relying solely on organic visibility, PPC lets businesses buy targeted traffic immediately. For a start-up, or a business looking to gain traction quickly, it can be the perfect place to start, especially if you have a decent budget. PPC is a core part of most marketing strategies because it: Reaches users actively searching or showing intent Delivers results quickly Offers measurable performance Scales with budget Can target very specific audiences No locked-in long-term commitment Cash-flow flexibility  PPC advertising is present when a user is searching for a product or service directly, giving them a higher intent of conversion. It’s a popular form of search engine advertising and can be used across numerous platforms including: Google Ads Google Ads is the largest and most powerful PPC platform available and includes features like Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display and Remarketing, Discovery, and Performance Max. As it’s the most popular platform, it does come with higher cost-per-clicks (CPC) and higher competition. Microsoft Advertising With Microsoft Advertising, you can run ads on search engines like Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and other partner networks. Although it’s not as big as Google Ads, advertising on Microsoft often comes with cheaper CPCs with lower competition. Amazon Ads If you’re an ecommerce business that sells tangible products, Amazon ads is the ideal platform. This is because customers who come to Amazon already have the high intent to purchase, and using Amazon ads effectively allows your product to be seen by hundreds, if not thousands, of potential customers. Is PPC right for my business? PPC provides a great opportunity to drive traffic to your site, but there may be times where it isn’t the ideal choice for your marketing goals or objectives. For example: PPC is ideal when: Users are already searching for your product or service You need results quickly You have clear conversion actions Your website is ready to convert You’re launching something new and need immediate visibility You’re in a competitive industry and need top positioning PPC isn’t ideal when: There is no existing search demand You don’t have a clear conversion path You have no tracking in place You need free, long-term traffic Your margins cannot support paid traffic costs Any business with the sole purpose of increasing revenue, requires a website with clear conversion actions. If your website doesn’t have a clear route to conversion - such as form submissions, products to purchase, or event sign ups - then there’s far less benefit in paying for your clicks.  Being PPC-ready means your business has a clear offer, a trackable goal, and a website that persuades visitors to take action. Key Performance Indicators in PPC Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a key element of PPC for beginners. KPIs are measurable numbers that show whether your efforts are moving in the right direction. They tell you if your campaign is working, if it isn’t working, and where you should focus next. Your KPI’s will vary depending on your business and goals, but there are a few typical metrics you should be looking out for on your PPC campaigns.  Primary KPIs Primary KPIs are key for revenue and profitability - which is the numbers that really matter. Some primary KPIs include: Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) - this is a metric that measures the gross revenue generated for every pound you spend in percentage.  Conversion value/cost - this is essentially the same as ROAS, but without the percentage. Profitability/margin alignment - this KPI helps you align your margins with your targets.  Conversion value/cost and ROAS are both very similar KPIs - the only difference between them is the way you calculate them. Conversion value/cost is calculated by dividing your conversion value by your cost. ROAS is calculated in exactly the same way, but multiplied by 100 and given as percentage. Ultimately, they both offer an important understanding of how your campaigns are performing. Secondary KPIs Secondary KPIs are centred on how your campaigns are performing towards the path of success. They tend to focus on engagement and market presence metrics such as: Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) - this measures the total cost of acquiring one new customer or achieving one conversion through a specific campaign or action. Conversion rate - this metric is the percentage of users who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. Cost Per Click (CPC) - this is the average amount a business pays for each click on their ads. Impression share -  this gives you the percentage of impressions an ad receives compared to the total number of impressions it’s eligible for. It’s important to note that this metric isn’t available for all campaigns. Quality score - this metric impacts your ad rank. The higher the score, the better the ad placement and lower CPC you’ll get. Contextual KPIs Contextual KPIs are your traditional metrics that measure campaign performance against your goals. They don’t typically influence campaign decisions, but they can certainly influence future data-driven decisions: Click-Through Rate (CTR) - this shows the number of times your advert was clicked vs. the number of times it was shown to users in total. Engaged sessions - this allows you to measure meaningful interactions, as it shows sessions that last longer than 10 seconds. Impressions and reach - impressions indicates the total number of ad views, whereas reach is the number of unique users who saw your ad. 5 steps to getting started with your first PPC campaign So we’ve covered what PPC is, the fundamental KPIs to track, and whether the channel is right for your business in our PPC guide for beginners. Now it’s time to look at getting started with your first campaign. Below are five key steps to help you on your way to success.  1. Set clear goals Before thinking about what keywords to target, your budget, and the content of your ads, you should first start by choosing the single goal you want your campaign to achieve. For example, do you want your campaign to: Increase website visits? Generate more leads? Boost sales? Grow brand awareness? Whatever you choose, make sure you start with one goal to begin with as this will help you make clearer decisions and achieve better results.  2. Determine your audience The next step is to be clear on your audience and who the campaign is meant for. The best way to determine this is to ask yourself these questions: Who is the ideal customer for this campaign? What do they care about? Where do they spend their time? What would motivate them to take action? The better you understand your audience, the easier it will be to choose your messaging, the tone of that message, the imagery you’ll use, and the platforms you’ll utilise. 3. Define your message Once you’ve set your goals and determined your audience, you can define your message. You want to ensure you craft clean headlines, compelling descriptions, and strong calls-to-actions (CTA) that encompass keywords that match user intent. Identify your audience's needs, pain points, or motivations and incorporate how you can solve these in your ad copy. Keep your messaging simple, easy to understand, and consistent throughout your site and landing pages. This will help build trust with your audience and increase the likelihood of conversion. 4. Set your tracking and budget Even the most creative campaign needs solid tracking, because data is just as important as creativity. You need the right tracking infrastructure in place before you launch so you can measure performance accurately and make smart optimisations. Some key tracking infrastructure to set up include: Tracking pixels and tags - be sure to install the necessary tracking pixels and tags for the platforms you’re using. These allow you to collect data on actions people take after seeing or interacting with your campaign. Conversion tracking - define what counts as a ‘conversion’ for your campaign, then set up conversion events using tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Google Tag Manager (GTM). This lets you attribute outcomes directly to your efforts. UTM parameters - add UTM parameters to all campaign links so you can track the source of your traffic, the medium users came through, and the campaign they interacted with. Dashboards and reporting - you can do this in your preferred reporting tool to help you monitor performance all in one place and track key KPIs like impressions, clicks, and conversions. When it comes to budget, this will determine how well your campaign will perform. The higher the budget you allocate, the better the outcome will be. The best way to calculate your budget is to work backwards. Start with how much you want to earn from your campaign, then calculate how much you need to spend to get there. 5. Launch your first campaign Once you’ve set up your tracking and allocated your budget, you’re ready to go with your first campaign! It’s important to monitor performance closely once you’ve launched your ad as you may need to adjust targeting, budget, and keywords depending on what’s working and what isn’t. Find out how we can help your PPC efforts Reading and learning about PPC is one thing, but launching a successful campaign is another. We hope our guide on PPC marketing for beginners has helped you understand this paid initiative a little better. However, if you find you need professional support to plan, launch, and optimise your paid campaigns, we can help. At Fifteen, we work with businesses to create data-driven PPC strategies that maximise budget and deliver results. Don’t hesitate to contact our team today and learn how we can ensure your PPC works harder for your business. #### A guide to understanding the buyer’s journey. When it comes to successful marketing, many professionals become so focused on day-to-day tactics and hitting targets that they lose sight of what truly drives results: understanding how people buy. If you step back and recognise how the modern buyer’s journey works, you can shape your marketing efforts to support it, not fight against it. Yes, tactics like SEO and PPC help increase visibility, but the real impact comes from knowing what content your audience needs at each stage of the customer buying journey. To help understand this, we take a closer look at what the buyer’s journey is today, and how consumers move from initial interest to final purchase through a multi-step research process. We’ll also share some actionable tips to successfully support your consumers across every stage of their journey. What is the buyer's journey? Put simply, the buyer’s journey is the process a customer goes through when deciding whether to purchase a product or service. Rather than being a single moment of decision-making, the customer buying journey is a sequence of stages. This typically consists of first recognising a problem, then researching solutions and comparing options, to finally choosing a brand they trust. These buyer journey stages help marketers understand the mindset of their audience at every step, making it easier to deliver the right content at the right time. When you understand what the buyer’s journey is and how it influences behaviour, you can shape your marketing strategy around real customer needs instead of assumptions. What are the buyer journey stages? As we’ve mentioned, the customer buying journey is the core to implementing a successful marketing strategy. When executing one, it’s key to focus on the customer needs for each stage to ensure success. Let’s take a deeper dive into the buyer journey stages in more detail. 1. Awareness The awareness stage is all about the challenges or aspirations of the buyer. In most cases, the consumer is experiencing a problem, but they might not know the exact cause of it. So, they actively search for answers around their problem. They seek to become aware of the situation they find themselves in. At this stage your job is simple - educate, don’t sell.  This is because the consumer is looking for understanding and your strategy should focus on informing and attracting these customers. You can do this through short videos, how-to guides, or problem-awareness messaging through your social media channels. Ultimately, you want to guide them through their issue and help them to develop trust in your brand. 2. Consideration Once the consumer understands what their problem is, they move onto the consideration stage. This is where they actively seek solutions to their problem, challenge, or goal that they want to overcome or achieve. They research, collate, and consider all possible solutions. At this stage, you need to adapt your strategy to help them understand how you can solve their problems.  This is where it’s key to position yourself as the best solution, and you can do this by sharing case studies, guides, or testimonials. Your consumers are online constantly, which is why it’s important to build up an online presence which represents your brand effectively. Essentially, you want to build the buyer’s confidence by sharing soft evidence. 3. Decision In this stage, the customer is armed with full knowledge of what they want to achieve and is ready to purchase. They have an array of potential solutions at their fingertips, and will decide the best course of action for their problem. They will shortlist types of solutions and then settle on a specific product or service. It’s usually during this final, third stage of the buyer’s journey that they will contact your business.  Here you need to provide clear information and proof that your brand is the best answer for their query. You can do this by including clear USPs on your product pages, ensuring you have strong calls-to-action (CTA) across your site, and making sure you have easy ways they can contact you - whether that’s by phone, email, or direct messaging on your social channels. How has the buyer's behaviour shifted? Compared with a decade ago, the buyer’s journey represents a huge shift in how consumers purchase products. Instead of being interrupted by companies outwardly pushing their offer on them, consumers choose when to engage. They do their research, and when they’re ready, they reach out on their terms. They come to us - not the other way around. This is why old methodologies no longer work. As modern buyers, they don’t want to be disturbed by advertising and messaging which is not relevant to them. As they go through the customer buying journey, it has to be on their terms. They want to be helped, not sold to. They want to be enriched with useful and relevant information which makes them feel smart, and helps them make a good decision for them, not a decision based on pressure. Creating a strong brand strategy can help you set the direction of your business and help modern buyers be drawn to your brand. Tips for supporting consumers at each stage of the buyer’s journey One of the biggest mistakes many marketers make is focusing solely on people who are already in the decision stage of the buyer’s journey. While this stage is important, limiting your strategy to buyers who are ready to convert means missing out on a much larger audience. To build a stronger, more sustainable strategy, here are three practical tips that support buyers across the entire customer buying journey. 1. Stop solely focusing on the decision-stage buyers Most marketing efforts lean heavily toward conversion tactics, but if you only target people at the end of the buyer journey stages, you’re competing for the smallest (and most competitive) segment of your audience. Instead, invest in supporting buyers much earlier in their journey. At the awareness stage, this means helping them understand their challenges and offering educational content that builds trust. In the consideration stage, guide them through solutions and frameworks rather than pushing your product too early. By nurturing them before they’re ready to buy, you become the brand they naturally turn to when they reach the decision stage - because you’ve already played a role in their learning process. This approach shifts your marketing from brand-centric to customer-centric and results in higher trust, better relationships, and ultimately, more sales. 2. Balance emotion and logic in your messaging People rarely make decisions based on logic alone. Understanding how they think and feel is essential. They want to feel understood, valued, and confident. Early in the buyer’s journey, emotion matters most. You want to tap into the customer's emotions and show them that you understand their pain and aspirations. In the consideration stage, your messaging should blend emotion with logic by explaining how things work, compare options, and demonstrate why your approach is effective.  By the time they reach the decision stage, they will look for proof that your product is right for them through reviews, case studies, and testimonials. This logical reassurance, layered on top of the emotional confidence built earlier, gives them the certainty they need to move forward. The key is to intentionally weave emotion and logic throughout all buyer journey stages, not rely on one or the other. 3. Maintain consistency across every touch point At its core, consistency is about building trust and confidence in your brand. Modern buyers jump between platforms and if they catch a hint of inconsistency you could lose them. Your brand should feel seamless so that buyers get the same story, personality, and value promise everywhere they encounter you.  This is why your website, paid ads, and social media are so important. Consistency builds familiarity, and familiarity builds trust. When buyers sense alignment at every stage of the customer buying journey, it reassures them that your brand is reliable, credible, and worth choosing. Let us help support your buyers Understanding the buyer’s journey isn’t just like any other marketing exercise, it’s the foundation of building meaningful, long-term relationships with your audience. This ultimately strengthens customer loyalty and drives higher-quality conversions. At Fifteen, we help brands map out their customer buying journey, create content that speaks to real needs, and design seamless experiences that guide buyers with confidence from first touch to final decision. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today to learn how we can build a smarter, customer-centric strategy that delivers real impact. #### A History of Bing Ask almost anyone to name a search engine and you’ll get one resounding answer: Google. But over the past seven years another platform has started to gain traction. That search engine is Bing. Bing has a colourful past, blended together from a mix of platforms. It has origins in MSN Search, Windows Live Search and the later redesigned Live Search. ‘Bing’ as we know it now was officially born on June 3, 2009. At the time of its launch, Bing was notable for a few features that we now take for granted in our search engines: including the listing of search suggestions whilst queries are being entered and a list of ‘related searches’. In July 2009 Microsoft and Yahoo! struck a deal to allow Bing to power all Yahoo! searches. Bing continued to trail behind Yahoo! but after this transition was completed in 2012, the platform finally began to gain momentum. Another win came in the form of backing from technology giant Apple, who announced in 2013 that they would drop Google as their web search engine in favour of Bing. In the past seven years Bing has seen two slogans: ‘Bing and Decide’ (2009) and ‘Bing is for doing.’ (2012). At the start of its conception Bing was a fresh format in a market dominated by Google. The rumoured origins behind its name (Bing Is Not Google) reflect its drive to establish itself as a serious rival to the search engine giant. Late to the game, Microsoft was the last of the ‘big three ‘search engines (Google, Yahoo! and Bing) to develop its own system for delivering pay-per-click. It wasn’t until 2006 that Microsoft developed its own ad system, and it was even longer (2012) until Bing Ads was born. So what now? Bing continues to grow. As of November 2015 Bing was the second largest search engine in the US, taking 20.9% of the search market share (compared to Google’s 63.9%) and powering a majority of Yahoo! Search’s queries, which account for 12.5% of the market traffic. As of September 2016, Bing was listed as 14th on the Alexa rank; a traffic estimate based on the browsing behaviour of a global sample of internet users. Bing Ads is performing even better. As of June last year the service had a 33% market share in the United States. A low cost-per-click and a niche audience (mature professionals with a mid – high income) means that for some businesses, Bing is now a preferred platform to Google Adwords. For help setting up your Bing Ads campaign, contact one of our team here. #### A New Brand and Website For Four Mime With a passion for business management, innovative frameworks and achieving results we worked with Four Mime to develop a brand and website that captured their expertise. About Four Mime Four Mime are business management and consultancy specialists, lead by their mentors, Ian and Andy. They work closely with SME businesses, owners and management teams to streamline business processes, develop strategies and implement systems or frameworks that are bespoke to your organisation and help drive your business forward to reach your goals. There are no magic formulas that work unanimously across businesses, and Ian and Andy’s approach is very hands-on, down to earth and delivered by getting to grips with the individual challenges and routines of each business. This approach allows them to really get under the skin of each project and allows them to develop solutions that combat challenges head on and build results for their clients. What we have been doing for them We worked closely with Four Mime to understand their meticulous process to the way they tackle each project, and how their personal approach builds a sense of togetherness and a partnership with their clients. The new brand and website will allow Four Mime to share their success stories, anecdotes and allow the website grow with the business. It was important that the design of the website was dynamic, engaging and displayed key content in a manner that was easy to digest and could be backed up by genuine experience and facts. As the website is going to be the primary interaction with their audience it was vital the design looked innovative and forward thinking to allow them to stand out within their industry and move away from a sector that can be saturated with cliché messaging. Their personal approach is reflected throughout the website with Ian and Andy being focal points throughout the design and content, and their experiences, skill set and thoughts being discussed. This helps break down barriers and portrays the elements of their personality and individuality, which forms a vital part of the way they work and how they get results. This website was built on a user-friendly content management system (CMS) that allows Four Mime to edit the website easily and upload additional content when needed. Who's worked on the project Take a look at their website [fifteen_button link="http://fourmime.co.uk/"]Visit Four Mime[/fifteen_button] #### A New Website For IT Solution provider Bluesource We are proud to talk about one of the latest projects to leave the Fifteen studio, a brand new website for Bluesource, a specialist IT solution provider based in London. About Bluesource Bluesource are I.T people, specialising in helping businesses modernise their IT systems listening to their business requirements and delivering the complete service to fulfil their needs. Focusing on a number of problems that companies may face in the world of IT, they are the company to turn to to make sure that IT works for their clients. The Task Working in partnership with McDonald Butler, we were tasked to create Bluesource a new dynamic and responsive website, that would help them stand out from their competitors. After identifying a number of challenges that companies face with IT, we worked with Bluesource and McDonald Butler to draw up a sitemap and website plan of action that would fit the new angle for Bluesource’s marketing. The Website The Design Being an IT company, we need to make sure that we moved away from the traditional ‘computer’ shutter stock images. After discussing ideas with the team, we presented Bluesource with a range of concepts that would work for them. Opting for a dynamic, stylistic concept which utilises their colour scheme, we moved forward to create a strong visually appealing website, that allows the user to navigate through the different challenges and find out more information about their IT services and to encourage users to get in touch. Throughout the website, images are used to either create a talking point for potential new clients who are interested in the service on offer, or to help better demonstrate the nature of the service that is on offer.   Content Management System Built in WordPress, the website uses the best coding practice and makes it easy for Bluesource to upload and manage content and images across the site. it is also fully scaleable and will respond to all devices and browsers as needed. Key Features While the new website is slick and well built to really focus the user on a journey, making information easy to find, there are a few key areas of the website that make it so special and unique. Homepage - The new Bluesource homepage uses a 100% height fixed scroll, which delivers information to the user in a dynamic way. Guiding them through the different services, case studies and latest articles, and encouraging them to click through to inner pages as they need to. Knowledge Hub - The knowledge hub allows Bluesource to upload a range of different categories from blogs to white papers and webinars. The knowledge hub also appears on inner pages, and delivers content that is specific to the page that the user is looking at to give them a complete and tailored experience. Menu - This website contains two menus, the homepage menu where users can access all areas of the website via the homepage, and the inner menu which appears on all inner pages of the website which allows the user to access pages within the challenge they are looking at or the main menu of the website which appears within another tab. What They Said “We love our new website. Traditionally bluesource websites have been flat and static, the new one is dynamic, fresh and engaging, we can really see how we'll be able to grow our marketing initiatives with the website as the lynch pin - evolving and growing over time with our business. We've not been the easiest of clients, and we had a very tight timeline, but the guys over at Fifteen have been partners and advisors during this entire process - rather than a run of the mill "supplier" - advising us on best practice and pushing us to step up our game, the results – an innovative website that's dragged us tenfold in front of our competitors and a platform that we're now proud to showcase to the world!” - Isobell Lawrence, Marketing & Alliance Manager, Bluesource Who Worked On The Project?       Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="www.bluesource.co.uk"]Visit Bluesource[/fifteen_button] #### A Smart New Look for Smart Living Fifteen have been busy working with the team at Smart Living on their new brand and website, which we are pleased to announce is now live. About Smart Living bring expertise to the build to rent sector, ensuring developments are ran seamlessly and efficiently, from conception to managing tenants and pride themselves on their ability to maximise returns for their customers. The Task Fifteen were tasked to create a visual identity for the new company along with a professional web presence where they could showcase their work. The Project Starting out with the brand, Fifteen were required to create an all-new professional image for the company. The final brand elements, including logo and colours, were selected for their connotations to technology and making connection. The device also had the ability to be used as a stand-alone element, which could also be used throughout any future designs that were required in order to strengthen the brand's image. Here's some of what we came up with. The team at Fifteen then worked closely to ensure the new identity rolled out seamlessly across the new website design. Staying on-brand with the use of colour, we were able to introduce the device element appropriately throughout the rest of the design. As part of the brief, a key requirement for the website was to allow Smart Living’s figures do the talking. Animated numbers help to draw attention to these areas and let them speak for themselves on the results that Smart Living can achieve. The new website is fully responsive, ensuring it is accessible on all device. Built using the content management system, the website remains easy for users to update and allows room for future growth. Who Worked On The Project? We wish Smart Living luck with the new website and look forward to a long relationship with them. [fifteen_button link="http://smartliving.apartments/"]Click Here To Check Out The New Site[/fifteen_button] #### A step-by-step guide to our website creation process. Creating a website isn’t just about good design, it’s about building an experience that works hard for your business and your users. Whether you’re launching a new site or redesigning an existing one, the website creation process involves much more than meets the eye. From initial planning to post-launch optimisation, each stage plays a vital role in ensuring your site not only looks great, but performs effectively. A successful website needs structure, creativity, strategy, and technical precision, and skipping key steps can cause major issues later down the line. At Fifteen, we’ve built hundreds of high-performing websites for multiple brands across numerous industries, and in this guide, we’ll take you through our web build process. We’ll explain each stage in detail so you can better understand what it takes to build a website that looks beautiful, functions flawlessly, and drives results. Step 1: Planning and strategy Every strong website begins with clarity. Before design or development even begins on your new website, it’s important to define the purpose of it, who it’s for, and what you want it to achieve. This starts by getting a true understanding of your goals and audiences by asking and answering these key strategic questions: What is the main objective of my new website - is it to generate leads, sell products, build awareness, or educate? Who are my core users and what are their motivations? What actions do I want visitors to take once they arrive on my site? At Fifteen, we often conduct discovery workshops and research sessions at this stage, combining analytics data with user insights to identify what’s working on your current site and what’s not. Another key element of the planning and strategy stage is competitor and market analysis, as your competitors can also reveal valuable insights. We analyse the digital presence of similar brands to understand where they succeed, where they fall short, and how your site can differentiate. This ensures that every decision - from navigation layout to content tone - is grounded in data, not assumption. The outcome of this stage is a clear project plan that defines your audience, goals, and success metrics, which forms the foundation for the rest of the website creation process. Step 2: Sitemapping A sitemap is your website’s architectural blueprint. It defines the structure, flow, and hierarchy of your content and ensures that users (and search engines) can easily find what they need. A well-planned sitemap isn’t just about organising pages, it’s about creating a logical journey that guides users through your site effortlessly. For example, an ecommerce sitemap might group products by category and highlight high-value items, while a service-based business might prioritise conversion-focused pages like “Book a Consultation” or “Request a Quote.” If you’re redesigning an existing site, you shouldn’t discard your current structure too quickly. By reviewing your analytics, you can identify which pages attract the most visits, where users drop off, and how they move between sections. That data can inform the new sitemap and help avoid repeating old mistakes. At this stage, we also plan redirects for any pages that will be removed, which is an often-overlooked step that preserves SEO authority and prevents broken links after launch. The result is a sitemap that outlines how every page fits together, giving both you and your development team a clear roadmap for the build. Step 3: Wireframing Once the sitemap is finalised, the next step in the web build process is wireframing - the point where structure meets usability. A wireframe is a simplified, low-fidelity layout of each page. It maps out where key elements like navigation menus, call-to-action (CTA) buttons, forms, and imagery will sit. Think of it as the skeleton of your site. Its purpose is to show how the site will work, not what it will look like - therefore is not supposed to be pretty Wireframes typically use neutral colours and placeholder content, focusing on layout and logic rather than visuals. For clients who are visually oriented, this stage can feel underwhelming, but it’s one of the most crucial parts of the process. Wireframes also allow designers, developers, and clients to align on usability and functionality before design work begins. Adjusting layouts or content flow here saves significant time (and cost) later in development. We often supplement wireframing with heatmapping and behavioural data to ensure our layouts reflect how users actually interact with websites. This user-first approach ensures that design choices are built on evidence, not guesswork. Step 4: Website design Once the wireframes are approved, it’s time to add visual identity, tone, and emotion. The design phase transforms your skeletal framework into a living, breathing representation of your brand. We typically start with the homepage because not only is it the first thing most visitors will see, it sets the tone for your entire site. A great homepage needs to make an instant impact while guiding users deeper into your content. It should communicate who you are, what you do, and why it matters within a few seconds. Using your brand guidelines, we apply colour palettes, typography, imagery, and UI patterns to create a cohesive look and feel. Each design decision will be made with user experience (UX) and conversion rate optimisation (CRO) in mind, as this ensures the website isn’t just visually appealing, but strategically effective. When it comes to designing your navigation, it should be designed around user behaviour. Since visitors typically scan from left to right, design best practice encompasses positioning logos in the top-left and main navigation to the right. High-value pages should then be strategically placed at the start and end of navigation menus for visibility. Footers should also be designed with purpose and contain essential information such as contact details, accreditation logos, social links, and policy pages. These elements reinforce trust and help users find key content quickly. Once the web design has been nailed, we’ll create a style guide outlining all key design components, including headings, button styles, colours, and forms. This guide will ensure developers maintain consistency throughout the website creation process and allows future updates to be made easily without rewriting code. Step 5: Content creation No website is complete without content. Compelling copy and visuals are what transform design into communication. We typically provide a content plan that lists every page, its purpose, and word count recommendations, as well as optimising them for SEO, clarity, and conversion. When crafting content, the focus should always be on user intent. Good content answers the questions people are searching for while subtly reinforcing your brand personality. When writing your copy, we’ll ensure: Copy is clear and concise with natural keyword placement Page titles and headings (H1–H6) are descriptive for an optimal SEO structure Engaging imagery, infographics, or videos are included to support your key points Strong CTAs are incorporated on every key page The ultimate aim is that your content attracts visitors, holds their attention, and moves them toward conversion. Step 6: Development Once your design and content are completed, the project moves into development, which is the technical heart of the web build process. At Fifteen, our developers begin by reviewing the approved designs, sitemap, and technical requirements. From here, they can identify reusable code blocks, define site logic, and plan how to integrate front-end visuals with back-end systems. The team typically works in sprints, and breaks the project into smaller, more manageable stages. This approach allows for regular feedback and flexibility with our clients, and helps us keep projects on time, within scope, and focused on quality. Throughout the web build process, our developers use version control tools which allows them to maintain a historical record of all code changes, allowing multiple developers to work on the same project simultaneously without conflict. This creates a transparent, organised development workflow. We always ensure that testing isn’t just left until the end either. Our developers continuously check functionality as they go, ensuring each section works before moving on. This proactive approach helps catch issues early and ensures a smoother build overall. Step 7: Testing, quality assurance, and bug fixing Before any site can go live, it must be thoroughly tested, and this is where attention to detail really matters. Every form, link, and interactive feature should be tested across a range of browsers and devices - from desktop to mobile. With over 60% of global web traffic now coming from mobile users, responsive performance is non-negotiable. Included in the testing process is bug fixing. In the development world, a “bug” is any unexpected behaviour that prevents a site from performing correctly. Our team purposefully stress-tests each page to uncover any issues before launch. By fixing these bugs at this stage, it will save both time and reputation later. Testing continues until every function, form, and animation performs exactly as intended, and when we know that has been achieved, we prepare for launch. Step 8: Launch and post-launch optimisation When all testing is complete and any issues have been fixed, it’s time to go live. During the launch phase, our developers will migrate a website from the staging environment to the live server, and ensure all links, redirects, and analytics tracking are working correctly.  But the website creation process doesn’t end when a site has launched - it signals the beginning of ongoing improvement. A few weeks after launch, our digital marketing specialists will closely monitor analytics and SEO performance. They’ll look at how users interact with the site, share any user feedback with the whole team, and look for ways to refine performance. This might include improving page load speeds or enhancing conversion funnels for example. This ongoing process ensures the website remains competitive, secure, and aligned with our clients business goals. Ready to start the web build process with us? By understanding our full website creation process, it gives you the confidence to make informed decisions, set realistic timelines, and collaborate effectively with our specialists. From early planning and sitemapping, to final testing and launch, every step plays a critical role in building a site that delivers lasting results. Here at Fifteen, we guide our clients through each phase with clarity, collaboration, and creativity to ensure the finished product not only looks great, but performs beautifully and meets your objectives. If you’re ready to start your next website project and you’d like to take advantage of our expert guidance at every stage, get in touch with us today to discuss your requirements in more detail. #### A Website Lion Haircare can Roar About About Lion Haircare Lion Haircare LTD is a global operator with 130 years of history. Their clients vary from sole traders to US Fortune 500. Their product range includes hairnets, beard snoods, disposable protective wear and products for personal use. Their goal is to make sure that every person who works in a food industry maintains a high degree of personal cleanliness and wears suitable, clean and protective clothing. The Brief Lion Haircare approached Fifteen to design and build a website using our best UX design and development practices and techniques. The client asked for a fully-responsible website which would be easy to manage in the Content Management System (CMS). They wanted their new website to be straightforward to streamline the funnel and make it easy for the user to easily navigate the sites. Challenges Our creative team completed a UX audit and recommended where the Lion Haircare could improve. We recommended: User experience / Website structure The user journey was one of the main issues we needed to improve. First of all, the product archive page had a lot of child pages which were linking to various categories. It was really difficult to navigate within these categories or to find a particular product.  Moreover, all the pages were displayed in a header. We used our best UX practices to find a balance between header and footer to locate the pages logically.  Call to action A call to action is an important part of any website. The old website of Lion Haircare didn’t have any visible CTA’s on any page apart from the section in the top-level menu.  Responsive on mobile The majority of online users have moved to smart devices like tablets and mobile phones. We suggested developing a mobile-responsive site to make Lion Haircare easier to navigate for mobile users. What We Did Website Our design team used the latest design trends and created a striking, user-friendly design. We also introduced some animation and hover effects on the Homepage to outline the key areas of focus. We put all of these changeovers over a new, straightforward structure which simplifies navigation and drives users to core pages and contact forms. Our Development team did a great job building the website from scratch. They made sure that all the website elements were flexible so the client would have the ability to create unique and personalised pages. Along with this, we used some interesting design ideas to make sure the user has the best experience no matter which browser or device they are using. The website has been built in a way that it can easily be switched to an e-commerce website. What They Said “ This is the second time that our Group has worked with Fifteen and, as usual, it has been a pleasure working with them. From the initial concept, through to the website launch, the team never disappointed and always responded quickly and with enthusiasm. They took the time to understand our business and what was important to us and we’re thrilled with the results - thank you. We can highly recommend them! Sara Robinson, Lion Haircare LTD #### A website that is at the heart of Nottingham hospitals charity. Fifteen have been privileged with working with Nottingham Hospitals Charity on their new website, and we are pleased to announce that the website is now live! About Nottingham hospitals charity Nottingham Hospitals Charity is at the heart of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, it supports the best health care for all patients treated at the City Hospital, Queens Medical Centre, Children’s Hospital and Ropewalk House. All the money raised by the charity through donations and fundraising is pumped back on to the NHS trust, working towards life-saving equipment, staff development, medical research and improved resources for our local hospitals. The task When looking at the previous charity website, it was clear that it needed some TLC, and work towards modernising the site to align it with the charities forward thinking in fundraising and how to increase donations through the website. Working with the team at Nottingham Hospitals Charity, we were set the task of copywriting, designing and developing the new website to improve donations and charity engagement across Nottingham. The website The charities brand has been developed over the past few months, and we have incorporated this into the site, utilising the colour scheme which is warm and inviting. The image bank that the charity has access to really showcase the impact that the charity makes to the hospitals it supports. The website design is sleek and modern and allows the user to navigate to the important areas of the website with ease, offering interactive elements and links to donate and find out more about events and how to get involved with the charity. Fifteen also provided copywriting services for Nottingham Hospitals Charity, working with the marketing team to get the basic content, as well as taking inspiration off their existing website we were able to write the content in an emotive SEO-friendly way that should draw users into the website and feel the heart of the charity, encouraging them to get involved with the causes that they are supporting. The website is built using Wordpress CMS which is a follow on from their previous site, meaning that the team at NHC already understands how the use the website. The websites shop is now fully integrated into the website and uses WooCommerce, so the charity can update and expand their product range as they need to without the need to go through an external third party system. Their donation process integrates with their CRM system and allows the charity to capture all important data from their donations in order to better improve their efforts moving forward. We really enjoyed working on this project with Nottingham Hospitals Charity and are looking forward to continuing to work with them in the future and fundraising with them! What they said "Nottingham Hospitals Charity had a high set of demands for our new website. Not only did it have to enhance the experience for our current supporters, but offer a dynamic first experience for new visitors, as well as engage our thousands of NHS Trust staff across Nottingham. Working with Sophie and the team at Fifteen we have achieved a clear, engaging, dynamic online shop front for our Charity. The website's design and structure is now successfully showcasing our appeals, highlighting our many fundraising events and putting the voice of our patients and staff front and centre. Together these have created a website with a compelling call to action which is to support our work, raising vital funds to enhance services for patients at Nottingham's hospitals." - Susan Littlemore, Nottingham Hospitals Charity Marketing Manager Who worked on the project?         Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="www.nottinghamhospitalscharity.org.uk"]Visit Nottingham Hospitals Charity[/fifteen_button] #### A week in the life of a designer: Joe's adventure. Joe has spent the week learning the ropes with our design team. He's kept us up-to-date with this interesting diary of his work experience.  Read on to see some of his impressive work and learn about what it takes to be a designer. Congrats Joe! With work like this, the sky is the limit. Day one On the first day, Monday 1st October, I was nervous when I woke up that morning. I had never done anything like this before. This was a new step of me figuring out what I would like to do when I finish school. I got into the office at 8:30 am with Sam Doyle, Head of Development, to be introduced to my place of work for this week. When the rest of the team entered the office, I was greeted by happy and smiley people wishing me the best of luck. This week I was working within the design team made up of Dave, Adam and Lucy. When the design team walked into the office they made me feel very welcome and comfortable.  All my nerves began to disappear. To start the week, we came up with the idea for me to create the promotional products for a musician’s tour, Lil Mosey. Firstly, I sketched out a few ideas on what I think would be the best way to sell a musical concert.  After brainstorming multiple ideas, I decided to do promotional products for Lil Mosey who is an American rapper. I was thinking of designing a poster, tickets, lanyards, his personal tour bus and a mock-up of what his concert would look like on Ticketmaster. Then I loaded up Photoshop and planned out the dimensions of his poster promoting the concert. I went for the theme of “glitch” as in I thought this is what I could call the concert. I tried to make this as realistic as possible and personally, I can say it looks great! Secondly, I designed the outlines for the ticket you would be given when entering the concert. I added different materialistic colours to each ticket making them stand out, then adding an image of Lil Mosey on each ticket to address that it’s his ticket. On the ticket, I made sure it had the price in clear bold text so that it would stand out easily. Day two When day one ended I was buzzing to just go back into the office and carry on with the work I had previously started. I managed to get to Fifteen at around the same time ready to start and pursue the ideas I had sketched out. I started with designing the card that would slide into the lanyards, I designed three different potential lanyards, each lanyard would be used for a different part of the world Lil Mosey would be performing at. On the lanyards, I added a background layer of the three different stadiums he would be performing worldwide. I also made sure the lanyard had the date and month and including an image of Mosey on it. I skewed all the images to make sure it looked as if they were all originally on the bus.   After finalising the tour lanyards, I started designing his personal tour bus. On the left side of the bus, I added an image of the music icons record label to show that this tour could possibly be sponsored by them. On the front bumper of the bus, I added his name in a graffiti brush font making it look edgy, representing the style of his music. Then on the middle of the bus, I found an image of the rapper to add to the design, I placed him on the bus with his head overlaid onto the window but he was a solid image. Therefore, to overcome this problem, I had to separate his body from the shoulders down and then managed to change the opacity of his head to give that ‘reflective window’ look. After creating the bus, I designed a Ticketmaster page of what the tickets would look like when being sold on Ticketmaster. I added a rectangular image of a graffiti background on the homepage of his Ticketmaster page and then added a few images of him to advertise that it is a Lil Mosey concert. I added a “buy ticket” button on top of the background, I also placed similar artists with the same genre of music in the recommended artists section to give it that realistic touch.  This was the final product I needed to design to finish off the campaign. Day three Day three, middle of the week, so far, I’m loving every minute of it. When I got in the office I thought to myself, this is what I could be doing this for the rest of my life. After having a discussion with the design team, we decided that I could try and design my own clothing range including designing multiple logos picking one and improving it, then create animated banners. Firstly, I put together a mood board full of existing clothing full of all different brands and colours to get inspiration for my own branding. I went into Photoshop and split an A4 page into four giving me four possible logo ideas after spending time on each individual logo I had to make the hard choice of which one to pick as they all looked as good as each other. After a hard decision, I managed to choose the logo I wanted to take and develop further. Since I picked what logo I personally thought was the best, I then improved and progressed this more than the original draft making it look 10 times better. To make the chosen logo better than the original I added more features such as drop shadow, stroke, satin and bevel emboss. These features are just a handful of many that can make your work better if you use them in the correct way. With my clothing range being called “KING” I added a crown on top of the “K” to add to the theme and so the crown relates with the text. Day four This day has been the best day of the week so far, Why? I learnt how to make animated banners which I had never heard of before I stepped into the office. Animated banners are made up of a series of frames that form an advert on the internet delivered by an ad server. Designers manage to make them move so the clients banner can be more eye-catching and this will then lead to more purchases and website visits. Lucy, a designer at Fifteen, spent most of the morning explaining how to make these animations, at first, I didn’t understand the process to create these. I then spent the rest of the day trying to create my own which was challenging but once I made one it boosted my confidence to then make more. The first thing I did was to find the dimensions all the banners I wanted to create. Then I went for a space-themed background and added a slogan matching the theme “clothing range out of this world”. I added a few planets, an astronaut, a rocket and a shop now button to all relate with my chosen theme. On the very top of the banner, I added the logo that I chose to develop. After I got the background and the text figured out It was time for the animated banner to become animated! I got all the text to slide in from each opposite side, I got the astronaut to look like he was floating in space also trying to make the planets moving. After managing to get all the individual images to move it was just missing one thing, the rocket needed to fly. Within an hour I had made my very first animated banner as soon as I was happy with it, I made two more. Day five Friday 5th October, my last day at Fifteen, I’ve enjoyed working here, showing everyone my skills in design and meeting all the smiley people of Fifteen. I finalised all my work so I can take it away with me and use it for my Record of Achievement and include it within my graphics coursework. Everyone who works here is very welcoming and happy to help, they’ve spared their time to answer my questions, they’ve spared their time to improve my work. Thank you Fifteen for a great week! #### Advantages to building packages within PHP frameworks. A PHP framework Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter and Zend; these are all types of PHP framework that are widely used for Web Application development. While there are multiple reasons for using a PHP framework, the most common and beneficial reason behind using a framework is extendibility. The ability to develop on top of the PHP framework, which can be achieved by using packages. Packages The term packages can be fairly confusing at first, especially for someone who is new to Web Application development. Packages are very much like WordPress plugins; the difference is that a package can vary in terms of scalability. For example, a package can solely be feature based such as blogging system or an independent package that can support API services, which can be extended by other packages. Build your own package In order to get started with building your own package, it's important to setup composer, which is a tool for dependency management. Packages are stored within a vendor file, which then can be used throughout the project. Composer’s default repository for packages is Packagist, this is where you will find all the packages. Let’s say we want to integrate Facebook SDK, simply searching Facebook will bring up the SDK package you require. Packages have two versions, one is “dev-master”, which is a recent built, also known as beta. However, it’s not always stable, therefore it’s important to get the most stable tagged version: require: "facebook/php-sdk": "3.2.3" Run the above command using the terminal in the root directory of your project. Alternatively, you can require the package like so: "require": { "facebook/php-sdk": "3.2.*", } Once done, you will have Facebook SDK package in your project’s vendor file. Follow the developers guide by Facebook in order to get started. Returning back to packages, there are quite a few steps when developing one, which may differ according to the PHP framework you are using: Create a package folder Set up a symbolic link Creates a clone of the package, which would automatically update on your changes, which is useful for development Create a composer file As shown above. Create a service provider A service provider would have on load settings for the following: Config Normally an array of settings that a package would have, example: urls, prefixes and general settings. Migration A blueprint of your database tables, eg columns, type, foreign and primary keys. Seeders At times, you want to automatically insert data on package installation. For example, countries, categories and other default settings. Views Front end templates. Create models Create controllers Set up views Run composer See if package is discovered Publish Package At first glance, these steps can be quite daunting and may urge you to give up or find an alternative. However, it's not as complicated, and all can be done very smoothly as long as you take your time, understand each step and not overcomplicate things. From here, its a simple process of building the package, just like you would build on top of any PHP framework. Package advantages There are many advantages to building packages, the most beneficial advantage is that you only have to build the package once. Once built, all clients would have the same package, which accommodates the developer as it creates a centralised management structure.  Furthermore, packages are modular which is perfect for maintainability as you can release packages in versions, which enables you to revert to versions or even extend on top. Overall, packages are good for everything and the advantages are endless. It's certainly something that every developer should look into, may that be a new or an advanced developer. Like to stay up to date with the latest from our web development team? Read the most recent post discussing the new Laravel Nova #### Advertising to Generation X isn’t all too different to generation Y & Z. When it comes to their response to digital advertising, Generation X aren’t all too different as may seem compared to Generation Y & Z Kantar Millward Brown recently undertook a consumer study where they tested different types of advertising, both digital and traditional to those within Generations X, Y and Z. If you aren’t already aware of who Generation X, Y and Z are, here is a quick break it down. Generation X are those who are between 35-49 years old and are the post-baby-boomers. Generation Y are those between the ages of 20-34 years and are often referred to as the millennials. Then we have Generation Z who are aged 5-19 years old, who have lived their entire lives so far surrounded by various technologies. There is often a misconception in the digital industry, that those in the upper end of the 35-49-year-old bracket aren’t worth targeting to digitally, but this is not the case! They may not be quite as into taking selfies and posting them on their profiles, but they're still actively using social media and other digital channels. Reach them digitally You might assume that Generation X may not be on their mobile phones as much as Y and Z. However, when it comes to looking at the results of the research, mobile display, online search and desktop display seem to be equally as good to be advertising towards all these generations. So, you may be able to reach Gen Y and Z on a more frequent basis, but don’t cancel out advertising to Gen X on their digital devices. Get the timing right Timing seems to be a key factor for all the generations. The best time to be focusing your adverts is during their time at home when they’re feeling most relaxed. If you have adverts running during the day, but perhaps not in the evenings, people may glance at them during work hours, but won’t be fully engaged or able to convert. They're spam-aware All of these generations are cautious about what they are sharing online, although the youngest are less concerned about privacy. We are all being taught from a young age and also reminded through adverts and more, about cyber safety. What may or may not be spam or what could cause personal harm to you. Just make sure that your adverts don't appear to be spam or make people think about approaching with caution. Get them engaged Generation Z are the most difficult of the bunch to advertise to, as they have the lowest attention span and are more likely to multi-task around adverts. However, Gen X and Y are able to be captured more easily and tend to be more engaged into adverts targeted at them. This includes being more likely to like, comment or share with their friends. They like similar visuals & concepts When it comes to the visuals of an advert, the more creative, bold and relatable, the better! It's really just human nature. They all like to see campaigns that stand out on their news feed from all the noise that is already across social media and online. They also like adverts that they can relate too. These would need to be altered between the age brackets, to suit what they may find relatable, but this should just be common practice for adverts anyway. Think about the things they may be going through at this point in their life, or do a throwback to things they used to know. They dodge adverts similarly There's always going to be people who avoid adverts like the plague. Overall, each of these generations favours just skipping the adverts if they aren't interested, over using advert blockers or physically closing the page. This allows you to creatively play around with adverts to stop them from just skipping. Make sure you're getting them engaged within the first 5 seconds before they're able to skip. This misconception that Generation X are so digitally different compared to the younger generations should be banished. Really in marketing, you should be using the term Generation C. It's all about the connected consumer, no matter their age, gender or whereabouts. These are those who are engaging online and are definitely not technophobes!  #### Aiming High for AIM Recruitment Yet another website has been launched by the team at Fifteen. This time, it's for AIM Recruitment! About AIM Recruitment AIM Recruitment is a recruitment agency, which specialises in filling roles within the Food industry. They have the knowledge and expertise to fill roles within Operations, Technical, Engineering, Supply Chair, NPD and HR spanning from managers and directors to project managers and general work. The team at AIM have an amazing success rate, and with their first-hand experience within the industry, it makes them the best choice for many of their well-known clients. The Task The project was split into 3 parts. The first step was to create a brand which reflected the company, and stayed true to their former logo, keeping the ethos and personality within its heart. The second was to create marketing material to go alongside the brand this included business cards, letterheads, folders, mugs and coasters to use within the office and to take to clients for meetings creating great conversation starters. The third was to create their website, which was to be fully responsive and enable the team to add and update jobs within the relevant specialisms. The Brand & Marketing Literature Wanting to keep the essence and company values close at heart, we worked closely with AIM to create a logo that was a natural progression of their existing branding. Keeping the 'A' shape as a device throughout the branding has played a key role in providing a clean, modern and recognisable brand for this well-known and respected company. Using the same 'A' device and circle motif throughout the marketing literature, we have been able to create coasters that are to the brand, business cards, letterheads, folders and a piece of direct mail that will encourage potential clients to get in touch with the team to talk about their vacancies. The Website The AIM existing website, need a bit of TLC and an update, we wanted to keep things simple and clean. We were able to produce a website, that caters for both the candidates and the clients, with thought out user journeys for both. As AIM Specialise with 6 disciplines within the Food Industry, it was important that users on the site are able to distinguish the 6 disciplines, and following the industry trend, we chose a range of colours that complimented the branding and colour scheme in order to roll these out across the website using subtle hints across the site. One of the key elements of the website is the ability for the team at AIM to add their own job vacancies to the website, and for the ability for candidates to apply via the website for the jobs listed. Another key element was bringing the team into the website, each member of the AIM team specialises in one of the disciplines, and in order to bring personality to the website, photographs of the team are used throughout, we've also utilised the individuals great reputation with their candidates and clients, and used testimonials across the website where needed. The site also has the use of a blog/news section, so that the AIM team can provide useful information for candidates and clients in regards to the processes that they take when hiring, and giving interview tips and tricks. Overall, the site has a fresh, fun and modern feel, it's easy to use and directs users to where they need to go with the encouragement to send an enquiry or apply for a job! What They Had To Say We presented Fifteen with a pretty much blank canvas in terms of what we wanted from a rebranding exercise and new website design, and then we held our breath. The team readily assessed what would best suit our business in terms of needs, character and aspirations and delivered us first a range of branding options of which certainly gave us pause for thought before we chose (rightly) the design they’d had their money on before taking the content of our existing website and totally revamping its presentation bringing a tired and dated website right up to date.  We are delighted with what Fifteen has done for us; the overall results are way beyond our original expectations and were achieved with a very short turnaround. - Alan Donaldson, Managing Director Who Worked on the Project? Ollie Piddubriwnyj - Managing Director Ollie's own personal experience with recruitment agencies, and after having previously worked on another local Nottingham brand before, made him the perfect person to talk to the team at AIM, understand their requirements for the website, and put these into action with the team at Fifteen. Sophie Kish - Digital Producer Sophie lead the project internally, working hard with the design team and development team to produce a fully functioning website which allows the client to list jobs, and allows for candidates to apply online. Working alongside the client throughout the course of the project, and understanding the sector, meant that Sophie was able to restructure the website appropriately and get some great images and content from the client to use within the website. Lucy Goodwin - Designer Lucy an experienced brand designer, worked closely with Ollie and the client to produce the AIM brand, marketing material and website concepts. Listening to the clients requirements and objectives for the business, really allowed Lucy to develop a logo that was a natural step forward for the company, without moving away too far from what they already had. Mikey Burton - Web Developer Mikey worked on the development of the website, developing custom elements to use within the site, including the team page, team call to actions through the website, and ensuring the website met Lucy's design, as well as best web standards. Sven Moss - Digital Marketing Strategist Sven was in charge of optimising the website with keywords and meta descriptions so that the site can be found well within Google's search engine. Researching into the industry, and understanding where the client wants to be positioned he was able to optimise the website accordingly. Why not take a visit to the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="http://www.aim-recruitment.co.uk/"]Visit The New AIM Recruitment Website[/fifteen_button] Interested in a Responsive Website? Speak to our Team today to find out more! Call 0115 932 5151 or email hello@fifteen.co.uk #### Altitude Adventure’s #DIYADVENTURE Launches as Fifteen Hopes To Help Children Earlier this year Altitude Adventure, a Sky Trail high ropes experience in Chingford, approached us to create a buzz around their course. As an agency, we were keen to create an idea that would strike a chord with Altitude Adventure’s audience. With Easter fast approaching and shocking new research showing that some children now spend less time outdoors than prison inmates, we worked with Altitude Adventure to come up with a competition that would inspire families to get some extra fresh air this holiday: by building their own #DIYAdventure. We’re asking children and parents over the country to get outdoors and create their own adventure course. These can be as challenging as you like – from lillipad steps to crawling through cardboard-box tunnels, to navigating cones or playing hop-scotch on your lawn. The competition helps families get outdoors, but the prizes will help them stay there – with a year’s unlimited family pass up for grabs and two free family-climb tickets (worth £35) available for runners-up. The sky’s the limit when it comes to creating your own adventure playground, but we’ve created a series of downloadable tasks to help inspire those dream ideas. You can get hold of each one, released weekly, over at Altitude Adventure’s Facebook, here. To take part all you have to do is get outside and have fun! Build an obstacle course, no matter how long, and take a photo or video of the course before posting it on social media and tagging us in on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. You can use the #DIYAdventure to share your course amongst the centre’s followers! The digital campaign will run online until April 31st, with the best three homemade courses being put to a public vote on Altitude’s Facebook page. If you’re London-based, look out for posters of the competition and coverage in news like The Chingford Times. Read more about the T&Cs over at the main competition page. Hurry now – you’ve only got until the end of April to get your #DIYAdventure built! #### An electrifying new website for Progen We're pleased to announce the latest website launch for Progen. They're a specialist service provider for integrated mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, control and automation operations throughout the UK. About Progen Progen is based in Lincolnshire and works all across the UK. They provide a one-stop-shop for businesses who are in need of expertise in carrying out mechanical and electrical operations in the safest and most efficient manner. The company prides themselves on their hard-earned reputation for quality, safety compliance and customer service and has worked with a range of amazing clients including Pipers Crisp, Siemens, Del Monte and ABP. The Project Progen tasked us with updating their brand and website to showcase their services and provide a better online platform. We were also challenged with writing fresh new copy for the Progen website, which was also created to benefit the organic search rankings for the business. We performed a logo upgrade on the Progen name, dropping the electrical, which has allowed Progen to enter into a more modern era for their brand and allowing them to branch out into their other areas of specialisms.You can see that even though we have kept the core colours, we 've changed the font-type and changed the squares to circles which are softer and helps represents the 3 core areas of the business. The website uses strong images and arrows to guide the user to various parts of the site, as well as using icons where suitable to demonstrate their key service areas and the individual services under each of them. Progen's new website was built using WordPress and is fully scalable, so it will work across multiple browsers and devices. It also allows the admin to easily edit and upload content to the website. Take a look at the new website, and let us know what you think. Take a look at the website, and let us know what you think. [fifteen_button link="www.progen.co.uk"]Visit Progen[/fifteen_button] Fifteen offer website design services to many businesses in Lincolnshire. #### An Introduction to CSS Flex and Browser Compatibility (Part 1) Without a doubt, Flex is one of the best advancements to CSS in the past decade. Flex marks an imperative milestone to CSS and the advantages of using this layout technology over the trivial method of floats and positioning is uncanny. So long to the days of tricky responsive hackery to get your website to reorder rendered HTML as with Flex, it’s a breeze. But this isn’t all the technology has to offer; you have complete control over your Flex items, meaning if you want to reverse or even change the direction of your elements you can easily. CSS Flex compatibility It feels there’s been a shadow cast over Flex amongst a lot of ‘old-school’ developers with the argument being that it is not widely supported across all modern browsers. But let’s quickly take a look at the compatibility scores from caniuse.com for Flex. As you can see in the screenshot above, the latest two versions for every browser support Flex, the darker green colour as seen on most browsers means that CSS Flex has complete support on all of its properties. The olive coloured green as seen on IE (Internet Explorer) and the older versions of some browsers mean it has partial support which means ultimately it works, you just have to put a few modifications & prefixes in your code to get it working properly, which you can find out about here. Let’s build a Flexible Header So now we know Flex is supported in all major browsers, it’s time to introduce it into our workflow. How do we do this? Pull up your CSS file or head over to an online editor (I’ll be building this in a JSbin which you can have access to) so follow along with this working example of building a desktop header menu in CSS Flex. What we will be building today. 1). Setting up our HTML We’re going to keep this example as simple as we can. In your HTML file, we’re going to need to add a few elements to get this working. Let’s talk about what we’ve done in the above file from top to bottom. • We’re using an HTML5 element called a <header> to define a header area to work within. This is a great semantic tag to use. • We’re creating an anchor, with a class of ‘logo’ which contains an image. Most headers in websites have a logo, so it’s only fitting ours does too. • Next, we have a div with a class of ‘nav-toggle’ which we don’t really need to worry about for now, but this will control our mobile-friendly version of the menu which will be built in Part 2 of this blog. • Finally, we have another HTML5 element called, a <nav> and with that, we have defined a list with a <ul> with some links inside them. 2). Defining our Flex items with CSS Here comes the part we’ve all been waiting for; but before we jump straight into writing some CSS it’s important we understand two key concepts of Flex. With Flex we can define a Flexible container, these are the elements that wrap all of our items that we want to make flexible. We can also define our flexible elements which are the direct children of our flexible container. Defining our Flex wrapper With this in mind, let's apply this rule to our HTML. Can you figure out what our Flex Container and Flex Children will be? We’ll be defining this later on in our CSS. The Flex Container, in our case is the <header> element and the flex children are the ‘logo’, ‘nav-toggle’ and <nav> elements. This is because the <header> is the parent element that all 3 of our children elements belong to. It’s time to define our flex container, we can do this by adding “display: flex;” If all is well, you should have seen some magic happen! Everything should go inline. The old-fashioned way of achieving this was either using “display: inline-block;” or “float: left” on each child element, with a specified width but all we have to do now is tell the parent container to make it flexy! Using the “display: flex;” property on an element defines it as our flex container. This means any children inside it have now become flexible. The reason your elements have gone on one line is that the default direction for flex is what’s called “row”. We can change this by using another property on our flex wrapper called “flex-direction: column” your items will now become one per line as this has now changed our flex grid from an ‘X’ axis to a ‘Y’. I’m going to cover more about our axis later on in this blog. You can think of the flex-direction property as a way of defining our direction in the flex wrapper. Do you want items to go horizontally (row) or vertically (column)? For our example, we want all our elements on one line, so let’s change it to “flex-direction: row;” or just remove it completely as this is the default value for flex. Working with flex children Now our children items are officially flexible and on the same line. We need to play around with the widths. By default, our elements widths are defined by their size, but our logo is far too big and we don’t need to work with the ‘nav-toggle’ so let’s hide that. • First, we are defining a set width on our ‘logo’, as we don’t want this any bigger than 150px; • We’re then telling the actual image inside our ‘logo’ to take up no more than 100% of the 150px width parent element. • We’ve also changed the image to display block. This makes it a block level element and it will force it to take up 100% width of the parent container. • As we aren’t doing responsive yet, we are just going to hide the nav-toggle for now. We can now implement flex into our actual listed menu as we want them all on one line. The trivial way of doing this would be to set each <li> to “display: inline-block;” but why not put our new skill set to use and define our parent element, the <ul> as a flex container, as well as adding a few more properties to tidy up some default padding & font styles. • As done previously, we are defining our flex container on the <ul> as this is the direct parent of the flexible items ( <li> ). We’ve also removed the default padding and margin and the list styling for the <ul>. I’ve added a border to my <ul> just so I know where exactly it starts and ends, this will be useful for later on when it comes to making it take up the rest of the space. • We’ve also added some padding and a font family to the anchor, just to space them out a little more. 3). Changing our Flex items alignment We’ve made great progress so far, but it’s time to introduce some new values that will change the positioning of our flex items. CSS Property Accepted Values What it does display: flex; n/a Defines our flex container flex-direction: Row, column, row-reverse, column-reverse The direction our flex items flow align-items: center, flex-start, flex-end The default alignment of our flex-container axis Justify-content: center, flex-start, flex-end The alignment of items not on our main axis   By default, alignment, we are talking the ‘flex-direction’ property, which we have touched on before. ‘flex-direction: row’ is the default direction of our flex axis. These means our items will go from left to right. We can make them go top to bottom by ‘flex-direction: column’. Makes sense, right? ‘align-items’ and ‘justify-content’ are the properties we use to align our flex children on the X and Y axis, by this we are talking about horizontally and vertically. We apply both these properties to our flex-container and not the flex children. By default, with using flex-direction: row, if we apply ‘align-items: centre’ to a flex container, it will centre the items vertically and if we apply ‘justify-content: centre’ to a flex container, it will centre the items horizontally. If we change it to flex-direction: column; the roles of these properties are then flipped, as our main axis has changed from a horizontal axis to a vertical axis, so then ‘align-items: centre’ will centre the items vertically, and ‘justify-content: centre’ will centre them horizontally. This will take some time to get used to! Let’s put this into practice with our mega menu: • We’ve added height 100% to our ul, which will make it take up 100% height of the parent, in this case, is the <nav> as this is the same height as the logo. • We’ve added align-items: centre; to align the items vertically. • Try adding ‘justify-content’ to your ul and you’ll notice it will centre them horizontally. We don’t want it in our menu so I’m going to leave it out. With our design, we want our flex children to take up the entire width of the remaining space, if we were to do the maths behind that, we’d be trying to figure out the following: 100% (width of the window) – logo width = remaining space. With flex, this becomes a breeze. We can use a magical shorthand property which works out the remaining space and will force a child element to take it all up. ‘flex: 1’ is the property and it short for the following values: Flex: 1 1 0; Equivalent to flex: <positive-number> 1 0. Makes the flex item flexible and sets the flex basis to zero, resulting in an item that receives the specified proportion of the free space in the flex container. If all items in the flex container use this pattern, their sizes will be proportional to the specified flex factor. Let’s make out list items stretch so each one takes up an equal amount of space to fill the entire red box. • We’ve used our magic ‘flex: 1’ property which is forcing our <nav> to take up the remaining width of its parent element. • On the list item, we’ve also told each item to take up an equal amount of space remaining to fill up the <nav> • We’ve added borders to separate each item. • We’ve given them a height 100% to take up the height of the <nav> which is the same height as the logo. • We’ve once again defined each list item as a flex container which allows us to use our positioning properties to get the text centred vertically and horizontally. • We’ve added a background colour to make it look a little nice. The complete CSS is below: Conclusion With flex, the key aspect you need to remember is we have flex containers and flex children. The flex containers control the flex children’s positioning. The beautiful thing about CSS Flex is that it is so easy to transform it responsive. In the next blog, I’ll be covering how we can turn what we’ve turned today into a responsive menu. For now, have a go at building your own menu and visit the JS bin we’ve created together here to have a little play! If you're looking for more assistance, look no further than Fifteen Design. Our development team is bursting with experience and happy to help with any web development needs. #### An Introduction to Google Lighthouse We all know the feeling when you land on a web page, and the images start loading in like a Star Wars rolling credit sequence. Or when the page is stuck on a plain white sheet. You’re telling yourself... I can do better than this. Sound familiar? According to a study done by Kissmetrics, 47% of users expect a website to load in less than 2 seconds. On top of this, 40% will leave a site if it takes more than 3 seconds. Now that’s a scary statistic, but with Google introducing its new optimisation tool, Google Lighthouse, could it be the new solution for improving the quality of websites? What is Google Lighthouse? Google lighthouse is an open-source tool with the intention of improving the quality of web pages. It does this by looking at the assets, code and server of a website by performing an audit, then feeding back methods to improve. After running a scan on a website, you are given a feedback sheet which breaks down the website into the following sections: Performance Progressive Web App Accessibility Best Practises SEO The screenshots below are taken from a random website online which was launched 18 months ago.   At first glance, this may seem like a pretty poor score, but consider this; Lighthouse is very critical of your website and achieving a solid 100 on all 5 topics would be near to impossible, so aiming for green is more of a realistic goal. How do I use it? You can use google lighthouse yourself by installing the chrome extension and activate it by clicking the small little icon in your browser tray for any website (including local websites). Alternatively, Google has other ways of introducing a Lighthouse workflow: From the command line. Automate your Lighthouse runs via shell scripts. As a Node module. Integrate Lighthouse into your continuous integration systems. The Breakdown Here's a breakdown of what some of the metrics in Lighthouse mean. Performance You can see that Lighthouse has listed the items in order of having an adverse impact on the site, such as items 1 to 5 due to their load time. The great thing about Google's lighthouse is you can expand each of these pointers and for more information on how to improve. Lazy Loading Defer off-screen images is a simple fix to do, which will have a significant impact on the site. You can use a lazy loading library to help you fix this, one, in particular, we like to use is https://github.com/verlok/lazyload as it is easy to set up, and you can even lazy load background images. Follow the documentation for setup. If you’re a little less technical, you could also find a WordPress plugin which could be installed into your site. After configuring the whole site to lazy load images and re-running lighthouse for the entire site, we can see the improvements here: So lazy loading images are something that has a significant effect on your website and is one of the items which can pull down your scores the most. The New Web Image Formats Lighthouse wants you to use the new type of image formats in your web apps, which include the new JPEG 2000, JPEG XR, and WebP formats. The purpose of these formats, in a nutshell, it's to offer ‘more bang per buck’ per memory bit over its rivals such as traditional jpeg methods. The problem is though that these image formats are not even supported themselves, take a look at this overview on JPEG 2000 browser compatibility. This begs the question whether we should even be considering supporting the new web formats as the number of fall-backs we have to do to get images to display in all major browsers is not worth the work. However, one thing to consider is the fact that  Lighthouse will penalise you quite heavily. Traditional Optimisation Formats It’s important to remember that Lighthouse isn’t here to introduce a whole new set of methods for making your website faster. It does still look at optimisation methods such as Render Blocking Content and Proper Sized Images which we are all familiar with thanks to likes of GTMetrix and Google Page Insights so accommodating for these improvements should be relatively trivial for you. Accessibility With Lighthouse, there’s now a focus on accessibility for users which means we’re all going to have to be even better at our image alt tags then we already were... if only. There’s a whole load of other aspects which factor into how accessible your site is, which can be beneficial to your site regardless of Lighthouse support. But, 90% of the time these issues are site specific depending on what HTML elements you’re using, and of course, your websites target audience, for example, do disabled people primarily use it? Device Throttling Another significant feature for Lighthouse is its device throttling, what this means is that by default Lighthouse will complete the scan of your website on a Nexus 5 on a fast 3G connection; which is very interesting as a lot of the research Google do on mobile site speed is with a Nexus 5. This means if you adhere to Lighthouse performance score on a simulated Nexus 5 then you are optimising for the same settings Google appears to favour when judging a website’s mobile site speed. In Conclusion With Lighthouse the question is; does it deliver where services such as GTMetrix do not? Yes, it does. It’s capable of doing vivid and comprehensive scans of your whole website delving into aspects including performance and accessibility while utilising some device throttling simulation to give more realistic results than the conventional method of scanning your website. It’s a powerful tool, that’s free, and if you take the time to understand and introduce into your workflow, it could be a better solution to your website optimisation tool package. Why not give your website a scan? If you're looking for help with how to optimise your site with Google Lighthouse which has additional benefits of combatting mobile first-indexing then it's worth having a chat with us today. #### An Out of this World Solution for Orion Security Print We are proud to announce the launch of one of our latest websites for Orion Security Print, a security print service provider based in Ilkeston. About Orion Security Print Celebrating more than 25 years of business, Orion Security Print provides bespoke solutions for secure print, fulfillments, e-tickets and transactional website solutions. Orion take pride in their service, quality and style, and these elements are what sets them apart from the rest, with every product, design feature, brief and solution tailored to suit their customer's requirements. The Task Fifteen were tasked with developing a new brand in line with Orion's forward thinking vision and business outlook, as well as a new website to better reflect their service offerings, and showcase previous work to encourage new clients to get in touch.  The Project Working closely with the team at Orion it was important to understand their aims and vision for the company so that we could produce a logo that would fit into their business model, and work with the company for many years to come. The logo design is a progression of their previous version, utilising a similar colour scheme, but with a clean and modern typeface. The website is built using best practice web standards, and modern design techniques, showcasing Orion's service offering using visual aid where suitable. The homepage uses a full page screen scroll to deliver key information to a user such as customer logos, unique selling points, and testimonials to encourage users to journey further into the website, and they are then presented with fresh clean pages that let users know more about the service, associated case studies and then a call to action to encourage users to get in touch. The website is fully responsive and allows Orion to take full control over the content via a CMS system. We are currently working with Orion on a video for their website, and can't wait to see it added in the coming months! What The Client Said Having considered a number of agencies to work with to bring our website and branding back to life, Fifteen were the obvious choice.  Their approach from initial presentation, through the concept and to launch was that of a partnership - they took the time to get to know us as a team and our business and its audience - critical for this project.  Ollie, Sophie, Michelle and the team talked us through the process at every stage and were very patient with us!  We are very proud of our new site and wouldn't hesitate to recommend Fifteen - thanks guys! -  Jo Taylor, Marketing Manager, Orion Security Print Who worked on the project?    Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="http://orionprint.com/"]Visit the new Orion Security Print Website[/fifteen_button] #### Are companies using Pride for corporate gain? This weekend, I attended Manchester pride and people from all over the world came together to celebrate and show support. Now, if you don’t know what Pride is, during June, July and August cities across the world come together to celebrate the LGBTQ+ Community. Rainbows explode throughout the streets and especially in the marketing world!  Although it is nice to see this kind of support from a wide collection of corporations, the real question is, do these companies actually support the LGBTQ+ community? Or, is this just a way to profit off the back of them? To start with, there is a huge difference between supporting a community and having a brand purpose. Let’s be honest, putting a rainbow on your logo isn’t really showing “support”. Essentially, pride is a still a political event and although we have come so far we have so much further to go - despite people thinking it’s just a party.  The majority of the brands that say they ‘support’ the community only really show up during the months of Pride. We don’t see any action from these companies when pride is over - which is the sad reality. What can you do to show your support? First of all, be vocal about your support. Forget all the buzzwords that companies use these days such as; love is love or gay rights are human rights. Even though these statements are important, throwing them on your merchandise isn’t showing your support to the community. Truth be told, these companies are putting a rainbow on their products during the months of Pride to capitalise on the LGBTQ+ for corporate gain. Supporting the community means doing so at all times. Especially for relevant causes to the community. In 2017, the brand Skittles announced they were removing the rainbow form their sweets and packaging, stating that there is only one rainbow that matters. Additionally to this, 2 pence from every pack sold was donated to an LGBTQ+ charity. This year the company took a different approach by hiring four illustrators, designers and artists who identify as LGBTQ+ to create four unique packaging designs for their campaign.   https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/8-14-april-2019/skittles-pride-2019-lgbtq-illustrators/ Converse who sell everything from shirts, to hats and of course shoes donated 100% of the proceeds from their pride collection to several organisations in support of the LGBTQ+. This year for the first time Converse included a shoe inspired by the transgender flag consisting of light blue, pink and white. H&M is another brand that supports LGBTQ+. Having a diverse selection of products, 10% of the proceeds from their pride collection was donated to the UN’s Free and Equal campaign. Additionally, every year Absolut bring back their iconic rainbow bottle. An annual partnership supporting GLAAD’s work accelerating acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community. One of Absolut’s campaigns called “ Drop of Love” was so powerful and shared an amazing message. Travelling to protests around the world and collecting hate signs, Absolut repurposed the ink to spread a better message, by turning hate into love.  https://www.absolut.com/uk/products/absolut-drop/   With all that said, major companies have the ability and platform to normalise and show support to a community that doesn’t necessarily get to see themselves represented in the mainstream media. I am fully aware that some companies may not have the means to run a global campaign, but by showing that you support the LGBTQ+ throughout the year and not just ahead of Pride you could portray more meaningful messages.   #### Ask Digital – FREE Tea & Tips To Grow Your Business In need of some digital advice for your business? Want more fans piling into your website? Want a strategy to get sky-high sales? Want to master the basics of social? (The answer’s probably yes to all of those.) We’re holding ‘Ask Digital’ - a drop-in event at the BookCafé in Derby, on Monday, July 3, 10am-12pm. Meet with our MD Ollie, as well as some hand-picked specialists who will be offering totally FREE advice. Our MD Ollie said: “We’re looking to give something back to the community. And in a way that we know best: so we want to help new and small businesses that have an idea of what they are looking for, but need a little magic in getting started. We all know there are some businesses that are a bit hesitant about approaching top agencies like ours, so we will be on hand to offer a free bit of advice. They can come and ask us anything. “As one of the top ten digital agencies in the UK, we’ve lots of knowledge. We want to share it. That can be anything from web user experience, pay-per-click, social media, Google rankings and general online presence. We'll also have cheat-sheets to hand out with a collaboration of stuff that we think is important. There’s nothing to lose.” If you’re interested in attending, there’s no need to book – but if you do register your interest on our EventBrite, then we’ll get you a coffee as well. Or a tea. [fifteen_button link="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/"]Register Your Interest[/fifteen_button] So, get registering and we look forward to seeing you on the day. For more information on the event. [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/"]Visit Ask Digital[/fifteen_button] It'll be an informal day, with plenty of us around and it'll give you the chance to have a chat with us about any of your digital queries. #### B2B Lead Generation in a Post COVID World Rewind 6 months and a lot of businesspeople thought B2B marketing was turning up for a local networking event and shaking hands with a few people. Sure enough, networking did work on micro-level and small B2B companies could find enough clients to survive. However, networking alone was never enough to thrive. B2B companies regularly invest in website design and search engine rankings. Companies that did this before the unforeseen changes COVID-19 are now better placed with a strong online presence. Those companies did well with an increase in online visibility thanks to lockdown. With little networking taking place, exhibitions cancelled (their online versions a flop too) and more people working from home than ever in the UK, what can B2B companies easily do to generate leads now? The answer starts and ends with digital marketing. Getting your website design and digital marketing activities executed professionally is a modern necessity. Fifteen can help you up your game and improve your website design. Our amazing designers can also make it stand out in what is an ever increasingly competitive market place online. We can also help you with your website copy to make sure you show off your USPs and communicate effectively. Having a well-designed website with inspiring copy is only half of the battle. People still need to find it. You could have the best products in the area but if it is down a country lane, how will people know? This is where clever search engine optimisation, or SEO, comes in to play. Our specialists will research what your potential clients are searching for and then make the necessary changes to your website to make sure you rank for them. This is so important and can often be the difference between success and failure for a B2B company who need leads. We at Fifteen invest time and resource in our SEO as we know how vital it is for success. Other B2B marketing channels include selling and advertising through social media platforms such as Instagram and LinkedIn. We often assist clients who wish to run targeted PPC campaigns. We also run other digital advertising campaigns from traditional Adwords through to engaging Youtube video adverts to capture B2B audiences. If you have a B2B company and you are looking for specialist B2B web designers or B2B digital marketing support, then contact us today and ask how we can help you. Our digital team is on hand to create a results-driven scheme that will drive leads and increase visibility. #### Basecamp Sets New Course with Logo Rebrand An introduction to Basecamp Who or what is Basecamp you may ask? Founded in 1999, Basecamp is a privately held American web application company. Formally known as 37signals, Basecamp, a web-based project management tool was the first product to be launched in 2004. After several successful products, in 2014 37signals decided to officially change their name to Basecamp to completely focus on this product. Basecamp is used by designers, writers, developers and project managers all over the world and this year in 2019, it marks their 20th year in business. After reaching this impressive milestone, Basecamp has decided to rebrand! Now if you are familiar with Basecamp you may or may not already know that they already somewhat rebranded back in 2015 for the launch of version 3 of Basecamp. They did this by putting a smile on the Basecamp logo. I know right, it was that simple! Now, Jason Fried, one of the founders of Basecamp claims he didn’t wake up one morning and say “ let’s put a face on the Basecamp logo”. In reality, a string of events led up to this initial rebrand. According to signalvnoise.com; In 2014 at the C2E2, Chicago (Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo) a company called Shawnimals, who create everything from art and prints to stuffed toys, attended the event and decided to collaborate with Basecamp by creating a limited edition stuffed toy of the Basecamp logo. Nicknaming the toy “Happy Sherpa”,  this was to highlight how creative customers use Basecamp to overcome seemingly impossible tasks. Additionally, another creative called Nate Otto was creating some illustrations for a new marketing site by drawing scenarios of the Basecamp logo to showcase the concept of “something being made with Basecamp”. After several concepts, one idea was chosen and this was of the Basecamp character running a conveyor belt machine. Naming the character “Basecampy”, Jason Fried wasn’t too set on that name. After a few ideas and suggestions on a name change, Basecampy was later renamed to “Happy Camper”. It fits perfectly don’t you think? Nonetheless, this is how Happy camper got his place in Basecamp 3. Now enough about that, let’s talk about the Basecamp 2019 rebrand, shall we? The Basecamp Rebrand Here it is, the 2019 rebrand. What do you think? Now, we can’t officially say why they decided to rebrand or what their thoughts behind the rebrand are but from our initial reflection, the simplicity, and the less is more approach makes this logo very current and on-trend. By stripping it right back the bold continuous line it pays homage to the previous logo. Accompanied by a bold sans serif typeface, both the device and the font compliment each other perfectly. https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/fifteen-uploads/uploads/2019/08/Basecamp-Rebrand.mp4 Additionally, on their website, they have added a hover state onto the logo as seen in the example above. Having this splash of colour fill the icon brings the logo to life and adds character. Here at Fifteen, we use Basecamp every day to help with managing our projects and we love this rebrand. From speeding up processes to giving us a unified space to compare notes, communicate and plot strategy, Basecamp is the perfect tool to manage several unique projects all at the same time. This secret weapon is part of our arsenal and has helped us imagine incredible design, development and digital marketing solutions. From brand workshops to full content strategies, PPC, social media management and countless other services we are pleased to have such a robust system back up our award-winning work. What are your thoughts? #### Benefits of Guest Blogging – Why You Should Be Doing It Have you ever loaded up your blogging platform and wondered why that amazing post hadn’t got the page views you were hoping? It can be frustrating. But there is a neat online tactic where you can help grow your readership. It might be one you hadn’t thought about doing before. Guest blogging is essentially a method of outreach where you create content for someone else’s website. In reality, it’s not a million miles away from being a guest speaker at a conference to help drive contacts and business leads. But you might be wondering why you should spend a couple of hours writing for hits on another site. However, if you seek out guest blogging opportunities, you’ll discover there are lots of benefits. These will not only help build your own website’s audience, but that can build your brand (or team members’ profiles) in the long run. And it’s that ‘long run’ bit that’s important. Like anything valuable online, this requires effort over many months to really bring benefits. Get in front of a new audience This is the most obvious benefit of guest blogging. You – your brand or your own personal profile – will instantly be in front of a new, readymade audience. This is a great way to showcase your brand, what you stand for or how you want to be seen by others. Equally important is to ensure you’re in front of a relevant audience. If your company is focussed on engineering equipment, then there’s no point writing content for an audience interested in windsurfing. The exposure you get won’t be anything you can convert into a regular readership or customer base. Become a thought leader When you blog on different websites, a much wider industry network will become exposed to your brand. That audience will soon begin to see you as someone important in your subject area. It's particularly the case if the subject you write about offers some kind of value to them. So if your brand is focussed on offering a particular technical service, then why not offer how-to guides? Then the next time those readers need that technical service then they’ll think of your company. Inbound links (of course) One of the more effective ways to get inbound links to your website, is via a guest blog post. This could come as a subject link within the content of your post or even an accompanying biography straight to your website. But it will certainly help improve your company’s SEO performance. This is especially the case if you blog across multiple sites, which offer multiple opportunities for links. Social outreach Even if people don’t click on a link to your website, there are still ways that you’ll be able go grow your social media channels. For example, if a brand tweets your blog post for them, then they’ll likely use your social handle too, and that can bring you more followers. Do that across enough different sites or influencers, your audience will slowly build. In fact, guest blogging doesn’t need strictly need to be focussed on your website. The same approach can apply to social networks to keep the outreach content – for example, if you’re a photographer than a featured shot on someone else’s Instagram account might be a good way to get more followers. Likewise, if you’re a video blogger, then appearing on another influencer’s YouTube channel could help grow your subscriber base. Relationship Building Reaching out to influencers in your industry, using guest blogging as the method of contact, is a really good way to build up your online networks. The very act of searching will bring you in front of new faces, and if you keep that conversation going you could find more casual social referrals or even real-world partnerships. Challenge yourself When you write on your own site, you can end up surrounded by people who already understand your angle. When you write elsewhere, you’ll find that a different audience could question what you’ve written. That can be a healthy thing if you’re receptive to what people have to say, and the experience might encourage you to think about new ideas or even products for your business. Vote For Us In The UK Blog Awards We have been nominated for both the Digital & Technology and PR, Media, Marketing & Communications categories and we would really appreciate if you could spare a minute to vote for our blog in these awards. Voting for the UK Blog Awards 2017 is live and closes on Monday 19th December. The public vote is an important aspect of the judging procedure as it allows the contestant's community to have their say and show their support for the content on the blog. Once the public vote is over, the top entrants from each category will go through to Phase Two: The expert judging panel.   #### Bing Ads Are Mobile! Find Out How You Can Work On the Go. The best ideas always seem to hit us at the worst times. In the middle of the night, in the bathroom, fifty stride out into a run… Well now you can capitalise on those bursts of productivity with the Bing Ads mobile app. Why should your campaigns be restricted to the office? Mobile technology lets you edit your account flexibility and with immediacy. Previously Bing Ads users could only make changes to their account through Bing Ads or Bing Ads editor platforms. With the majority of work users confined to log-ins on their office computers, campaigns are often left to run without supervision overnight. With Bing Ads mobile app you can see your accounts performance and make updates to your bids budgets and statuses in real time. Respond immediately to any change in status and make tweaks to your account whenever you desire. Away from the desk, the app allows you to update ad copy – perfect if you want to offer a new discount code or change a service description to capitalize on a current trend. Simply load up the ad summary screen, tap the pencil icon and begin your edits. The mobile app will present you with a real-time preview, reflecting how your ad will appear so you can spot any mistakes before updating. Bing Ads can be daunting software to use for beginners, but the simplicity of the mobile app provides a friendly platform for users. The mobile app is key for keeping informed on the status of your adverts. Previously many campaign managers would wait until the morning to see if their advert had been disapproved – losing out on valuable time, impressions and clicks. With the mobile app you can review pending and disapproved ads, with a real-time count displayed for convenience. With push notifications you can get notified of any changes on the go, including reasons your ads were disapproved. You can even request exceptions through the app, allowing your advert to get up and running as fast as possible. Available for iOS and android devices, the app reflects Bing’s commitment to meeting users needs and making Bing Ads as accessible as possible. With an ever-increasing flexibility and a growing market-share of search engine users, why isn’t your business using Bing yet? To set up your Bing Ads campaign today, contact one of our team here. Or why not enter our competition to win a free Bing campaign set-up and £100 of credit? Deadline 18th September. #### Bing: Expand Your Opportunities One of Bing Ad’s huge advantages has always been the ease with which it works alongside Google Adwords, allowing existing Adwords users to import their campaigns at the click of a button. But ever since the introduction of Google’s expanded text adverts there has been a jarring disconnect, with users having to juggle two different ad formats and Bing’s limited text capabilities. Now that’s all over though, as Bing follows suite with support for the new longer text ad format. The announcement for Bing expanded text adverts came back in June, and last week the feature was rolled out on trial to agencies around the country. The new format allows for: Two 30-character headlines (updated from a single 25-character title) 80-character description line (up from 71-characters.) Automatically generated Display URLs based on the Final URL and two 15-character customizable ‘Paths’. The changes mean that Bing can once again comfortably compete with Adwords as a leading PPC platform for businesses across the world. And how can you capitalise on ETAs? Well for a start, resist the temptation to just add extra text on to your existing copy. Start fresh and write a whole new advert instead, including more value propositions and calls-to-action. And don’t rush to replace your entire campaign. Just because expanded texts have more copy, doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll outperform your old adverts immediately. Introduce them gradually, alongside your existing adverts, until you find what works best for your campaign. Tidy up your advert extensions too. With all the extra copy, you might find your words make some of your existing advert extensions redundant. If they only duplicate and repeat the text in your ad copy then Google won’t serve them, meaning you’re missing out on advert opportunities. Bing expanded text ads are currently available as a pilot to advertising agencies, with plans to roll them out to all users as quickly as possible. Need help with Bing and Expanded Text Ads? Contact one of our team here. Or why not enter our competition to win a free Bing set-up and £100 of credit. Deadline 18th September. #### Blog Writing Tips for Beginners Starting a blog entails several moves. There are so many steps that it can be daunting for newcomers. And if you skip a crucial move, your blog's potential success can be jeopardized. But don't be worried! With our beginner blogging tips, we've got you covered. Many people believe that writing a blog is easy, but this is not the case. Even if someone is a great writer, that does not guarantee that they will write good blogs. Blogging entails a lot more than just good writing skills, from fonts and layout to SEO, design, and brand voice, to name a few. When writing a blog, make sure it's easy to read and visually appealing and that it answers any questions your readers might have. Don't forget to think about (and understand) how you'll get more visitors to your website or blog. Here's a quick rundown of the top blog writing tips for 2020 that will help you succeed: Select a Fascinating Subject The first step in writing a blog is to choose a good subject. Finding the right topic is mainly dependent on your study. You must determine what your followers want to learn and read about. Use reader feedback, a widespread industry issue, or competitor analysis to come up with a subject. All of this will assist in increasing traffic to the article long after it has been updated. Perform in-depth research and analysis It's time to do some research once you've decided on a blog subject and concept. Examine Google's front page as well as the websites of your key rivals to see if you can build on what's already open. It's not about reinventing the wheel; instead, it's about producing higher-quality content than theirs. If you cannot do so, blog writing will not be for you, and you should employ a specialist. Since blog writers cannot be experts in every area where they create content, research is essential to providing real value to readers. This is especially true for specialized, technical material produced by engineering or manufacturing firms. Have an Engrossing introduction A dull introduction will turn readers off and cause them to move on to the next most important post. Try to pique the readers' interest with a solid first sentence or paragraph, as this will do nearly half of the work for you. Many bloggers tend to write the post's body first, then concentrate on the introduction, so they will have more detail to work with than if they guess before they begin. Posing a topic that addresses a current problem or answers a specific question is one way to write a captivating introduction. Use the title, Meta summary, or intro to persuade them to read the blog if they need assistance with a problem or have a question. Make the Post Scanning-Friendly You must also make the post easier to read, as with SEO-friendly material. Remember that most people just skim an article and don't read it thoroughly. Take these steps to make your article scannable: To help your readers see the critical points of your message, use subheadings. This will also assist you in remaining more organized when writing your blog.Write shorter sentences because they are easier to read and comprehend.To grab more focus, keep paragraphs short (2-4 sentences) and add a few 1-sentence paragraphs.Bullet points are essential for listing essential things rather than cramming them into a sentence.You may also use bold or italics to emphasize important points in a text. Underlining text should be avoided because it may be mistaken for a connection. Use images to add visual interest The phrase "a photo is worth a thousand words" is well-known, and it applies to blog writing. Using visuals in a blog post helps break up the text and make it more enjoyable to read. It can also inspire readers to connect by posting an interesting infographic, quote, or saying online, whether it's an interesting infographic, quote, or telling. This emphasizes the importance of using a featured picture, as it will help you get more views, shares, and interaction. Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels are only a few of the free stock image sites available. Publish at the Appropriate Time and Via the Appropriate Channel After you've done everything, you can produce a convincing, SEO-friendly blog post, and you'll need to decide when and where to publish it. Do yourself a favor and read the post out loud before you do something else and click publish. This will help detect any possible mistakes, such as pronunciation, formatting, and meaning. Grammarly, a free writing assistant, is a valuable tool for resolving any problems. The Influence of Social Media on Blog Writing To gain online visibility and establish blog authority, social media has undeniably become more critical. Make your posts "likable" and "shareable" by including many graphics, good connections, and valuable information that readers can easily share. If you use Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram, a successful blog post can help people find you on social media. Blogging is an effective way to introduce the brand to new consumers and combining it with a solid social media campaign will take it to the next level. The Internet is vast, and if you think registering a domain and writing a few posts will suffice, you're mistaken. You must cooperate and work with other bloggers if you want to build a solid online reputation. It may not be valid for all, but most people would not regard you as an expert unless other experts endorse you. Verdict Effective blog writing takes time, and it necessitates patience, accuracy, and thorough study. The way you write a blog will represent how you do business and how your brand is perceived. Keeping the lead generation efforts quick, engaging, and shareable will make a huge difference. The advantages of blogging extend far beyond getting a forum on your website. If you can get enough traffic to it, you'll see more leads transform into opportunities and then into customers. People will begin to trust you more and refer others, in addition to increasing your online sales. #### Blogging for SEO: 5 easy and practical tips for success Blogging for SEO is an effective way for your website to appear higher in Google’s organic search results. But you have to remember, there are a lot of websites you’re competing against, and Google looks at a lot of different criteria to help decide which of these websites is worth showing to people first. So, you’ve written your content and you’re ready to publish, but how can you ensure your blog will be seen amongst the noise? Keep reading for our 5 easy and practical SEO tips that you can implement in your blog for ultimate success. 1. Make sure you’re incorporating keywords One of the first steps to blog writing for SEO is to conduct some keyword research to include throughout your content. By focussing and incorporating a select group of keywords, it allows you to keep your content zoned in on an appropriate topic, which in turn helps raise the odds of your post featuring higher on Google. But remember to keep your keywords as a guide and something to help steer your post. The quality of your blog should not be determined by the number of keywords you can shoehorn into a post. Keyword stuffing could result in a Google penalty. When planning a blog strategy, you should focus on keywords that are relevant for your business and industry. That means over time, you become more discoverable by relevant customers. There’s no point ranking highly for a topic that brings leads that won’t convert. 2. Use CMS plug-ins When you use CMS plug-ins such as Yoast SEO, you’re making your blogging life a bit easier. Yoast will scan your text for things like readability, keywords and meta-descriptions. It suggests how to improve your post in order to raise its chances of improving its position in search results. That means your brand can stay focused on content creation. Yoast SEO is completely free to use and install, but if you want to truly boost your SEO efforts, you can opt for the premium version. Yoast SEO Premium offers additional extras such as optimising your content for multiple keywords, access to ‘SEO Workouts’ and smart internal link recommendations. There are other blogging SEO plug-ins you can use for Wordpress that are also free, including All In One SEO, Squirrly SEO and Rank Math.   3. Add internal links and descriptive anchors When you’ve created a great piece of blog content, you should reward your effort with internal links. Don’t forget to make your anchor text (the text you hyperlink) descriptive where possible, as this will enhance your credibility and authority. It also provides a better user experience, which are all signals Google looks for when determining your ranking position.  Linking to previous blog content you’ve written is also a great way to keep visitors on your website. But it’s important to remember to use this tactic to help readers find relevant information, and not to spam people with links to everything you’ve previously written. Google will reward the former, and punish the latter. 4. Bump up your word count Wherever you can, ensure that your blog posts are of a suitable length. We would always recommend aiming for at least 700 words and this is because blogs that rank highest on Google tend to have a lot of content. In fact, some blog posts are close to 2,000 words, so it’s definitely worth aiming for as many words as possible - but be sure not to waffle just for the sake of it! Google wants to know that your website is relevant, interesting and most importantly gives users the information they’re looking for. Regular and lengthy blog posts means Google will crawl your site more often, which will help improve your search rankings. 5. Don’t forget about the technical stuff When we say technical stuff, we mean domains, URL structures and mobile optimisation, and these are all things you should be thinking about before you get going with blogging for SEO. Free blog services and domains don’t offer as much SEO benefit compared to a strong .com or .co.uk domain. If you’re a professional business, it’s unlikely you’d consider the free option anyway. If your brand’s domain is already established, you’d want to consider whether your URL structure is based around a subfolder of the domain or a subdomain (e.g. fifteendesign.co.uk/blog or blog.fifteendesign.co.uk). Whichever you choose, either option is better than a completely different domain to host your blog. Another tip is to ensure that when you’re creating URLs, the structure is based around words that people understand rather than automatically generated numbers or symbols. For example, if you look at our URLs, they’re descriptive and give users an idea of what the blog is actually about. This leads to building trust with visitors which in turn will help to increase traffic and engagement to your blog post. You’ll also want to include your target keywords in your URL structure too. Finally, it’s extremely important your website is mobile responsive. According to Oberlo, over 50% of all global web traffic comes from mobile, so if your website is not optimised for mobile, you’re missing out on a huge audience. This is also a factor Google considers when determining your rankings, meaning a mobile responsive website also brings a huge amount of SEO value. Need help with your blogging and SEO efforts? We hope our SEO blog writing tips help improve your content’s ranking on organic search results and increase traffic to your website. If you find you still need help with your blogging and SEO efforts, why not see how we can help? Our digital marketing experts can create regular and relevant blog content that is fully optimised for SEO on your behalf. Contact us today to learn more about how we can put your blog in the spotlight. #### Brand Fails: When Brands Take a Wrong Turn In my last blog, I mentioned some strange and wacky ventures that famous brands have taken. So I thought I would continue, with more ways famous companies went on to create brand fails. Speaking about taking off, Virgin is a brand that has done so many strange and wonderful things in the past (OK maybe not so wonderful - but was strange nevertheless). Do you remember their venture on being a competitor with Coca Cola? Virgin Cola was launched back in 1994 - 25 years ago - and believe it or not, it became the UK's most popular cola drink in the 90s which then caught the awareness of Coca-Cola. Fortunately - for some people - it was discontinued here within the UK. Now we can say with ease “it’s gone”. You’ll probably only find it online with the past sell-by or best before dates. Speaking of Coca-Cola they made some strange choices too. Back in the 80s and now (why now I hear you say; well it made it to our TV screens with the return of Stranger Things) New Coke! Was something that Coca-Cola reformulated in 1985 because they were losing shares on the market place due to other soft drinks that had Diet before it. Market research and blind tests found customers preferred Pepsi to Coke leading to an overhaul of the recipe. The world didn’t react to this as they wanted and within a few years, New Coke was considered as a failure which then they rebranded to “Classic”. It was later rebranded again but in 2003 it was pulled off our shelves and never seen again until Stranger Things. But enough about Coca-Cola, another venture that never really caught on was Virgin's take on cosmetics. Virgin Vie was something a cross mix of what Avon and The Body Shop have. They had outlet stores offering beauty products such as - obviously makeup, goods for the home such as diffusers and candles to jewellery and to top it all off they had home party groups, which were held by sales reps incentivised to sell products at house parties. But, if you didn’t know, 2009 the company was bought out by Rod Simmons who renamed the company Vie at Home. The brand has continued, unfortunately it didn’t work out for Virgin but it worked for someone else which is not all doom and gloom. Zippo did something that would normally go up in flames if a lighter went near it. They wondered how lighter fluid would perform as a perfume. Well, I'm not sure either as they didn’t make that, but they did make a brand of perfume which lo and behold didn’t do that well. But if you look online now I am sure again you’ll be able to find bottles of the stuff. Beware - flammable. Zippo also tapped into the market of pens, watches and even clothing. BIC is another example of the effect of brand on expectation. In 1989 BIC chose to venture to something new. This was perfume which was completely new and not even relevant to their company. That said they did do single-use pants for women too. But back to the perfume customer and critics alike didn’t like this and it cost BIC dearly. It is strange how you associate a brand with what is most successful about them. Colgate and their lasagne would have been a little strange. Guessing you’re thinking you wouldn’t want to try a mint flavoured and tasting beef lasagne. Before Walkers bought out Golden Wonders' Watsits, they had Cheetos and in 2005 Cheetos created a lip balm of all lip balms and yes in case you were wondering - it was cheese flavoured. There are many reasons why this didn’t fly off the shelves. But they tried it and learned from it. So, with all this, you might think differently. Think of your brand and understand how your customers and consumers of your products perceive you. So if you’re a famous Cola company you wouldn’t want to brand a range of dried cat food, would you? It’s all in the market research and the right way of telling your story, plus making it right for the perception of your brand. Even if you’re a new company wanting to brand yourself or an existing one wanting a refresh, and need a company that will help you with this including research in what is right for the brand, then Fifteen can help you achieve this. #### Brand Meets Audience: A Rom-Com in Real Life Propinquity. This incredible Scrabble score is a word that is all the rage with content marketers. Not just a buzzword like ‘synergise’ or ‘gatekeeper’, the law of propinquity states;  “that the greater the physical (or psychological) proximity is between people, the greater the chance that they will form friendships or romantic relationships.” This theory is based upon the work of psychologists Leon Festinger, Stanley Schachter and Kurt Back. Their work at Westgate Studies (MIT) looked at how proximity affected relationships and more specifically, friendships. They found, unsurprisingly, that the strongest friendships were found between students who lived next door to each other on the same floor. Even in friendships over different floors, they found that one of the parties tended to live near the stairwell.  This simple study led to the non-scientific discovery that people who see each other more often have a greater chance of forming friendships. This is obvious if you’ve seen literally any rom-com. Celluloid history is filled with strangers bumping into each other at bookstores, coffee shops, work and any other scenario you can imagine.  Rom-com thinking can inform content marketing and digital marketing strategy as a whole. Familiarity takes many forms. Here are just a few ways you can make sure you have the ‘meet-cute’ you want with your audience and increase engagement and conversion.  Benefits Trump Features Advertising online is becoming increasingly saturated. This, in turn, has led to a focus on building long-term relationships through brand identity. One of the best ways to create this relationship is to focus on benefits rather than features. But what is the difference? A feature tells you what a product or service does. Whereas a benefit tells the customer the result of using the product or service. Benefits are more personable, relate to the user’s needs and make the user the focus of your content.  This thinking isn’t anything new and can be seen in the work of Nike, Apple and L’Oreal. L’Oreal is one of the most brazen in pushing the benefits with the slogan “Because You’re Worth it”. This simple line is unforgettable. It doesn’t need to talk about the features of their products, instead, they cut out the middleman and say it like it is. People want their products to treat themselves. Simple as that.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6DHRFuCEwA Leaning into customer ego is key to endearing yourself to your audience. Create Unique Connections Creating connections with customers takes time. Think of it in terms of a rom-com. Boy meets girl. They go on the usual dates, dinner at an Italian restaurant, a bike ride through Central Park, and anything else you can fit into a montage. Connecting with your audience is no different. If you’re greeted by the same ad on blogs, social media and paid search, the message becomes grating. Instead, content should show reflect the many facets of the brand. A blog on brand values coupled with a Facebook ad on Summer sales and a retweet of a funny celebrity latest musings makes your brand image more human and complete and offers a greater surface area for consumers to connect with your brand.  http://gph.is/1NZEW8O This ties back into propinquity. The more chances there are to ‘bump into’ your audience, the more chances there are to show them a different side to your offering. This sets users down a chain of ‘Awareness, Knowing, Liking and Buying’ and allows you to ride off into the sunset with your audience in tow.  Use Content Strategy to Deal with Several Targets A lot of brands, especially SMEs, tend to put the various digital disciplines into boxes. PPC and social media = sales. Content = SEO value and visibility. This view is narrow-minded and ignores the fact that content, PPC, social and SEO all work together to create the desired result. This means content doesn’t just act as a net to catch keywords and users but can also be used to:  educate audiences build credibility generate leads nurture audiences reinforce loyalty publicise events generate sales support the launch of a new product or service Studies have shown a trend towards using content across multiple campaigns with the number of marketers using content for the above goals increasing year on year.  Which brings us back to propinquity. The more you can use your copy to connect with your audience in a meaningful way, the better the chance they will stand by your brand for years to come. Rom-coms aren’t just for the hopeless romantics.  If you’re looking to write your brand rom-com contact us today. We love being the matchmaker for brands and audiences and offer complete digital solutions for clients of all shapes and sizes. What are you waiting for? Take the plunge. #### Brands Are Like Living Organisms Brands are no longer defined by a logo, a range of colours and a typeface. With a shift in dominance from print to screen, brands can afford to be more dynamic, organic and flexible in their use of devices and elements to communicate their brand identity. A brand identity should be able to easily reflect the values and aims of a company, whilst also being able to evolve, grow and adapt to changing situations and social environments. As people, we have our own identity and persona that is constant, but at the same time we are sculptured and moulded through our social circles, work environments and developed as we go about our daily lives. In the same way, a brand can be considered to be like a living organism, and therefore requires a visual identity that can be dynamic and organic enough to adapt to the changing environment of the company it is designed for. Irene van Nes describes this method of thinking as ‘dynamic brand identities’ in her book ‘How to create a living brand’. In this book she looks at how brands can be flexible in their visual style, and whilst still being structured through a range of guidelines, they are able to create a more systematic approach to their identity. These Identities can be broken down into six systems, which we will take a look at below… The Container This is possibly the most obvious solution to a dynamic identity. It allows the logo to be used as a window to hold content that is constantly changing. This allows the identity to remain easily recognisable, due to only one element changing such as the colour or imagery. City of Melbourne by Landor Associates This identity uses the letter ‘M’ to create a bold and vibrant identity that is multifaceted to help capture the diversity and innovation of the city. C-MPV by George & Harrison C-MPV is a contemporary art gallery aimed at attracting young artists and art buyers. In order to communicate a new artist’s work, a circular visual system was generated around the logo that allows each artists’ work to be portrayed in a fresh and unique way. It also allows the gallery to maintain engagement with their young audience with a constantly evolving approach to their visual application. Wallpaper This is another more recognisable application of a dynamic identity. This involves using the logo as a constant but changing the shape or image behind it to vary the visual approach. Know Canada by Bruce Mau Design This concept is based around the premise that Canada didn’t necessarily need rebranding, but rather people just weren’t educated/aware of its offerings. It cleverly but simply takes the Canadian flag and uses this as a frame to showcase the country’s people, ideas, creativity and landscape. This campaign ran across multiple touch points, from poster campaigns, ambient structures and even an online app where people were encouraged to participate in the campaign and upload their own photos. AOL by Wolff Olins AOL needed to rebrand itself as a media company for the 21st century, and part of this was to put an emphasis on the importance of creativity and originality. As a result, an artwork library was created from artists across the world, that allows users to discover the work of participating illustrators, artists, videographers and photographers. These pieces of work were then used as a wallpaper to house the AOL logo across various campaigns. DNA This style of dynamic identity is created by using a toolbox of core visual elements that can be structured and arranged in a manner that allows for a different outcome each time. EDP by Sagmeister & Walsh This visual style for Portugese energy company, EDP, uses four key elements (a circle, half-circle, square and triangle) to create 85 variable EDP logomarks. This helps capture an identity that is modular, customisable and has the ability to evolve over time – which is very much like the EDP brand, who specialise in creating innovative solutions for renewable energy. Gumbo TV by Mind Design Gumbo TV is a platform for a wide variety of creators and artists to showcase their work. The logo uses a uses a variety of typographic styles with the letters constantly changing to reflect the variation and range of work on display. Formula This is similar to DNA, however, rather than let the toolbox of visual elements determine the output, this uses a system as the constant. This could be a set of rules such as a grid or size and shape, but it helps define a formula that brings the identity together. New Museum by Wolff Olins This new branding style for the New Museum in New York helps portray the museum as a cultural hub of contemporary culture and arts, and shake off the stereotypical associations of an art museum. This visual style used the ‘New’ and ‘Museum’ as a placeholder that literally moves to show what’s happening inside the New Museum. Its bold spectrum of colours and typeface creates a boastful identity that is hard to ignore. NHL by Koeweiden Postma This identity for NHL, a university of applied sciences that offers the widest range of courses of any educational institute in the Netherlands, captures the core value of the university: diversity. The unconventional design of the university campus building inspired the concept of this brand. This resulted in a fractal approach to the visual language, with a range of colours and different typefaces being used across each school. Customised Customisation allows the clients and employees to become a very real part of the brand, and allows them to interact and feel in control. This is a step that creates a sense of community and a more emotional bond with the audience due to making the customer feel like the owner of the brand identity. OCAD University by Bruce Mau Design This identity aims to capture the creative energy that is inspired at OCAD University. A block of modular frames allows the students’ work to come to the forefront of the brand. This emphasises a feeling of tangibility and realness by allowing the students to really become part of the identity of the university. Design Academy Eindhoven by The Stone Twins This identity uses an abstract letter ‘E’ that can be used as a framework for infinite iterations of the name of the school. It encourages students and staff to physically engage with the brand and create a personalised handwritten interpretation of what the school means to them. This customisable approach creates an inclusive and dynamic feeling and removes some of the institutional nature of the previous branding. Generative This type of dynamic identity is very responsive to the real world and takes external data such as the weather, news, stocks, the number of visitors etc. and displays it in real time to create a visual style. Dezeen Watch Store by Zerofee This identity is a prime example of how the dominance of digital over print has allowed brands to become much more interactive with their identity. The logo for Dezeen Watch Store is generated by over 86,400 different colour and shape combinations. This allows for the logo to abstractly represent the local time whilst still being distinctly recognisable as the brand logo. Second Nature by Universal Everything Second Nature is a contemporary music events company based in France. To create a unique identity that truly represented the event, a generative process that was reactive to sound was created. This process took sound and music to produce a ‘tree-growth artwork’ that fluctuated depending on the style and intensity of the music. Different trees were generated to represent different musical events such as: classical, rock, electronic etc. This created a truly dynamic identity that can grow and develop with the event and the music being displayed. #### Brexit Effect: 300,000 EU Domains Up For Grabs What will happen to UK registered EU domains after Brexit? Brexit’s ripple effect extends far beyond the physical. While politicians butt heads over borders, trade deals and free travel there is another part of everyday life that could be affected by our divorce from the EU. Domains are set to be disrupted too with over 300,000 .eu domain names, belonging to companies exclusively in the UK, revoked or lost. Come the 29th of March, domain names with .eu in their address will be up for grabs and companies that have spent years curating websites, users, transactions and content will be lost. This has been felt in the registration of new .eu Domains with the UK seeing a significant drop in new registrations while countries like Portugal experience a boom. Image source: Hallam Internet This fear of the unknown comes from the hardline stance of the EU over the Brexit withdrawal: “As of the withdrawal date, undertakings and organisations that are established in the United Kingdom but not in the EU and natural persons who reside in the United Kingdom will no longer be eligible to register .eu domain names or, if they are .eu registrants, to renew .eu domain names registered before the withdrawal date. Accredited .eu Registrars will not be entitled to process any request for the registration of or for renewing registrations of .eu domain names by those undertakings, organisations and persons.” The European Commission's stance on UK registered EU domains In its Notice, the European Commission also advised that UK undertakings and residents would fall into the category of non-eligible parties after Brexit. The Commission warned stakeholders of the following effects: UK undertakings and UK residents will no longer be able to register new .eu domain names post-Brexit; The Registry will be entitled to revoke .eu domain names registered in the name of UK undertakings and residents. The Registry may revoke a domain name of its own initiative and without any extrajudicial conflict settlement; It will no longer be possible to invoke UK rights, such as UK trademarks, against bad faith registrations of .eu domain names; Agreements between Registrars and registrants must be changed if they are currently governed by UK law or designate a UK court or dispute resolution body.” These strict guidelines have been met with criticism as some people have questioned if revoking domains infringes on the human right to property. While the arguments rage and the real terms of the divorce agreement are hammered out we look at what you can do to ensure you update your domain without losing all your clout. Checklist: What to do with your .eu domain If your company only has a UK address, then you can use it as your EU domain’s admin contact. To continue using the domain name you will need to update the admin details on your .eu domain name record. Alternatively, you can transfer ownership of the domain name to an EU subsidiary. If your business is not going to be able to retain ownership of the domain name, then you may want to figure out who may purchase your domain name for a competitive advantage. Consider steps that can be taken to protect intellectual property. Failing all these it may be time to migrate your website to a different domain, like .com, or for UK companies, .co.uk Finally, these changes don’t just affect .eu sites but also regional domains such as France (.fr) and Italy (.it). These domains can only be registered by entities within the EU or EEA. Again, these will need to be owned by an entity within the EU. The Brexit Effect on SEO From an SEO perspective, there are several checks you will need to cross off to ensure your users and content still feed your score: Add all the content from the .eu domain to an alternative domain Redirect the .eu domain to the new sub-domain/sub-directory Setup geo-filtering to ensure the right content is served to the right country Alternatively, if there are multiple languages on the .eu domain, utilise 'hreflang' tags and add options on the main domain to switch content Altering your site to keep up with these changes is a must and the shift in Brexit may open up the playing field. Sites that have long held top spots for certain keywords may be knocked off their perch allowing the savvy domain owner a chance to stake their claim for popular terms and high traffic. Brexit Land Grab While most assume companies will act in good faith there is every chance companies or private persons will buy specific domains when they expire. These domains will invariably become much more valuable as owners add a mark-up to the ownership rights of .eu, .it and others. Big chains may find this an issue with several sub-domains in their remit. For example, if marksandspencer.it was used by the brand and became available it would not be long before someone purchased the domain for next to nothing and then demand a huge fee for the rights to the domain. However, much like the banking sector, it won’t be long before larger companies open up satellite offices to maintain their .eu pages. Smaller companies will not be so lucky as they feel the crunch of this shift. Limited capital and not enough staff to warrant an EU office may mean a creative approach is needed to protect their domain authority. There are several resources to keep you up to date with all things .eu related. From the informative Brexit Notice to quarterly .eu records, you’ll find a wealth of information. For everything else check out the EURID homepage. If you need any more assistance or would like to develop a complete digital solution contact Fifteen Design today. With a wealth of experience and expertise, we are perfectly situated to help you and your business reach its full potential. #### BrightonSEO: What News Will Affect Your Business? Last week was BrightonSEO, the bi-annual search conference that sees some of the best speakers in the world of digital gather together to share the latest industry news. Last year the phrase ‘Content is King’ was still heard from every room of the packed Brighton Centre. But what trends emerged from this year’s conference? And how will they affect you? Here are some takeaways from the conference that could impact your business: #1 Customer data is your most valuable tool Customer data doesn't need to stay within the channel you're working on. For example, data you can get from social channels and campaigns can be applied across paid search to better target customers who are likely to engage with adverts and ultimately convert on your website. Data is your friend - if you see stats and metrics as the enemy, just remember - keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. #2 Reviews are a trust signal Reviews are becoming increasingly important, both a trust signal for attracting new and retaining existing customers, and as an extra level of data for users searching for qualifiers. Take for example a qualifier like 'best', used in the search 'best restaurants in Nottingham' - if search engines see positive ratings and reviews for a company, this will be factored into which results they show for these kinds of searches. Findings showing that 87% of consumers won't consider a brand with a low number of reviews, highlights the fact that getting customer feedback is now integral to your digital strategy. #3 The future of search is voice Search marketing is an ever-changing landscape – and the future doesn’t involve a screen. It’s estimated that 30-50% of searches will be voice-activated by 2020. The rise of voice search calls for a change in the way you optimise your search terms. A customer is more likely to vocally ask ‘what time is the shop open until?’ than ‘shop opening times’ – and your SEO and paid search optimisation needs to account for this. Speak to one of our team today to discover more about voice search optimisation. #4 Bing as a contender Commanding over 20% of the UK search engine market, Bing has been a growing Paid Search contender to Google for a while and, with voice search becoming an industry giant, they look set to continue their growing market acquisition. Siri, Alexa and Kortana all use the Bing platform as their default search engine, meaning Google’s competitor currently holds the edge when it comes to spoken searches. Bing has a niche audience, and operates only relatively low cost-per-clicks compared to Google AdWords. Find out more about setting up a Bing paid search campaign here. #5 It’s time to start rewarding loyalty For years brands have obsessed over growing audiences, chasing new customers at the cost of existing ones. But, with research showing that a new customer costs brands 500% more than a current one, is it time to start rewarding loyalty? It’s not just reward cards you can utilise for this. There are numerous ways to remarket to your existing customers, with tailored campaigns and offers. Find out more about our retargeting strategies here.  #6 Your mobile apps are old already Ever since mobile users surpassed desktop, way back in 2014, companies have scrambled to break in to the app industry. But, with a flooded marketplace (there are close to 2 million apps on the Apple App store alone), releasing one is no longer enough. The message was clear: if you own an app, you can never afford to sit still. Tweak, update and keep releasing. Re-engage your customers. Freshen your design. #7 New customers no longer want to shop Audiences are tired of being bombarded with new retailers expecting a market ready to invest in their brand. Generic ‘Shop now’ social media adverts are no longer performing as potential customers find themselves put off by the ‘hard sell’. Instead, you should turn to sequential advertising and the idea of nurturing a community. There’s value in telling a story – and your advertising campaign can see a huge lift simply by turning it into a three-step process. First, serve the audience with an advert that tells your brand story. Then provide a product-based informational advert, before finishing with a shop CTA advert. In some industries sequential advertising has seen as high as an 87% increase in CTR to landing pages – is it something your business has implemented? #8 Content is King – but the King needs a castle Planning a website migration is of incredible importance to ensure the new website continues to be just as visible as the previous website. This includes preparing a full audit of the old site to identify any pages which may not be required on the new website, including ‘orphaned pages’ - pages that are not linked to anywhere in the site structure, but may have been created for a specific purpose. The new site will also need to be monitored to ensure nothing has slipped through the cracks, and that there are no errors coming through which could affect search engine rankings. "Content is King, but the King needs a castle" - Omi Sido #### Call Tracking: Nine Reasons Your Business Can’t Ignore the Value of a Call In a world where sales figures are taken as an immediate measure of targets, many businesses are overlooking critical, softer, metrics: like the value of a lead. But why does your business need software to monitor its calls? Find out how call tracking can benefit you and exactly just how much business opportunity can come from one phone call…. #1 Set measurable goals of your own choosing. What does your business consider a valuable asset? Whether it’s a call enquiry over five minutes long, or a sign-up to your website, you set the goals and monitor them through the platform. #2 Streamline your existing PPC campaigns. Call tracking shows you which of your keywords resulted in a website visit or a call, and which of those calls met your goals. Determine which of your keywords are still driving useful leads, even if they don’t necessarily meet the ‘conversion’ criteria in Google Adwords’ report. Your calls are now as important as your clicks. #3 Optimise your SEO. The platform allows you to track calls back as far as the Google search terms used to find you. Get data on which keywords are driving calls to your business, whether they come from call extensions, landing pages or organic search, and much more. #4 Rate your calls. Post call rating is a call tracking feature that allows you to rate the quality of the calls you’re receiving. Hold on the line after the client has hung-up and fill in a short number survey to gather data on which calls and marketing strategies are generating useful enquiries for you. #5 Never miss a sales opportunity. Call tracking will send you a missed-call alert if a call occurs out of office hours – meaning you’ll never miss out on a useful enquiry. #6 It’s not just online actions that can be tracked. Running a marketing campaign through brochures, leaflets or other printed copy? Call tracking gives you a fixed number for these static campaigns that allows you to track the response. #7 Gather data on your consumers. Glean a rich heap of data from your calls. Call tracking shows you the caller’s number, their geographic location, the content viewed on your website, and allows you to download a recording of the call. #8 Understand whether your market is made up of new or returning customers. Track a customer’s interactions for up to 10 years and determine if your new or returning audience is growing. #9 Find out what it was about your website that made them call. Call tracking can monitor a consumer’s interactions with your site before they place a call to you. Find out which aspect of your website drove them to get in touch. To get call tracking for your business, contact one of our digital marketing team today. #### Cambridge Analytica and the Battle of Big Data The online landscape has turned from a playground into a battlefield. From small-scale changes like ad blockers up to GDPR rollout across the EU, consumers and big data have fought over one resource, data. Now, this isn’t anything new but since the initial explosion of data awareness after the Trump 2016 campaign, 2018 seemed to have fallen into a lull. However, with key events coming to light, it seems we are just at the tipping point of a data revolution. What exactly is going on and what does this mean for SMEs and e-stores? Netflix Shines Light on Cambridge Analytica Cambridge Analytica is the first name when people talk about the dangers of data collection. While initial reports broke years ago, Netflix has done what it usually does and turned in a documentary that shows the full scope of Cambridge Analytica’s actions. A quick scan of SEMrush shows almost every Cambridge Analytica search phrase paired with ‘scandal’, ‘scam’, ‘Brexit’, ‘whistleblower’ and countless others. Users are clearly interested in the ramifications of big data and Netflix’s shiny new documentary plays that up for the crowd. While the fallout from Cambridge Analytica’s meddling is still being felt the world over it has at least enlightened users to the dangers of accepting terms and conditions without reading them. This along with more and more people using ad blockers or being suspicious of their Amazon Echos shows a growing trend to mistrust digital companies. Liberty, Egality, Data Tax It isn’t just everyday users that are pushing back against big data but larger entities such as governments too. The French Senate recently passed a bill charging a 3% levy on all revenue generated in France. This is huge for the likes of Amazon who paid $0 in on their $11,200,000,000 in 2018. Amazon has warned that this levy will hit the French market as consumers will see the prices of Amazon products increased to offset the new levy. Amazon has defended this addition by saying that to ensure they offer low prices they need to avoid unnecessary levies. This saga is set to go on as the US has stressed to the UK that there will be no free trade agreement without the digital tax being scrapped. Time will tell how this plays out but France’s introductory levy could be a tipping point for the rest of the world. Guerilla Warfare While some entities look to block or charge for their data there is a third set that has taken things a step further. Poisoning your data. This dramatic term is far from a scene acted out at a Shakespearian play and more akin to a simple bit of script. Kevin Matthews, a developer and former systems administrator has written a script that goes through all your past posts and edits them with randomly generated gibberish. Matthews believes this scorched earth method can prevent sites from mining your data years after you shut down your accounts and it is another front that big data firms will have to contend with. Now, all of these stories may make you think that websites are Bond villains that we should fight against but that would be missing the importance of websites. They keep SMEs alive. As a brochure, a shopfront or a gallery, a website puts you in touch with a massive audience. While the big boys are out there fighting over the meaning of ‘data’, smaller businesses can get swept up in it all. The best thing to do is to follow the protocols and laws in your country and build a site that is safe and trustworthy. This means providing things like HTTPS certificates, review widgets and employee profiles. Start small and you’ll find users will support rather than turn against you. If you’d like a hand updating your current site or tightening security contact us today. Alternatively, if you are looking for website designers in Cambridge? Contact us today. #### Can digital marketing ever be automated? Digital marketing automation is constantly evolving. Today's marketers can automate a greater number of areas of their work than ever before, but just how far can this automation go? Will digital marketing be automated fully one day? Let's explore the current climate of online marketing automation and see what technology is pushing boundaries to investigate where it could go in the future. What is digital marketing automation? Automation is seen throughout modern businesses, and its role in marketing is similar to other areas. Essentially, it streamlines processes to analyse data, run campaigns and more. At its core, it takes advantage of software intelligence to carry out tasks that humans could do, but don't actually need to. This usually means simple, repetitive tasks like data entry, which would otherwise take a lot of time to do. This way, marketers are free to put their time and energy into projects that require more of their expertise. The combination improves the overall success of automated marketing work, generating more leads than would be possible without the automation tools. What is digital marketing automation made up of? Marketing can utilise automation to handle things like workflows and data analysis. Here are some examples of what marketers use automation for: Audience segmentation The collection and analysis of customer data is the foundation of digital marketing. Automation can handle much of this, analysing vast swathes of data to segment customers appropriately. This enables marketers to create highly targeted, data-driven campaigns. Automated workflows Workflows are important for various aspects of digital marketing, like lead nurturing and customer retention. With well-prepared workflows, automation can be applied to handle minute tasks like data entry, scheduling and follow-ups. This saves a lot of time and eliminates the risk of human error. Delivering campaigns When leads are being nurtured, it's important to ensure messages are tailored to contain only the most relevant information at a given time. Automation can select the right recipients and construct the ideal email, and it can analyse the performance of those communications. That analysis can facilitate positive adjustments to increase conversion rates. Social media management Automation can help you schedule social media posts ahead of time. With social media automation, you also get an analysis of the performance of every post, providing more data by pulling statistics from different social media platforms. These insights can give marketers a greater understanding of their audience in order to optimise future posts and campaigns. What are the limitations of automation in marketing? The areas where automation cannot be implemented are usually areas where you wouldn't want it to be. Things like design, creative writing, art and the formulation of marketing strategy are all still left in the hands of humans. They require creative processes and critical thinking that AI cannot do. In the past, these tasks often fell to the backburner because more repetitive, tedious tasks were getting in the way. Automation helps by removing this problem so marketers can focus on the more important stuff. How might digital marketing automation evolve in the future? The future of automation is always fast approaching and aims to replace more processes with even more sophisticated technology. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are at the cutting edge of automation and can provide further assistance in data analysis to optimise campaigns. In the future, AI may be able to forecast certain trends and help create campaigns based on informed predictions, but it may be a while before this is perfected. Automation is also becoming more prominent in customer service. Automated phone trees have been around for a while to process thousands of calls a day, and marketing automation can apply this to website in the form of chatbots that greet customers and direct them where they need to go. Companies should be investing in automated marketing technology if they want to avoid being left behind. The bottom line Automation in digital marketing has grown into a crucial element of modern marketing in the digital world. It streamlines processes and helps leverage gathered data for more informed decision-making on strategy and campaigns. Automation is unlikely to fully take over digital marketing in the foreseeable future, but everyone should be taking advantage of its tools as they arrive. Without them, you are missing out on a powerful resource for lead generation that your competitors are already using. From automation to good old fashioned digital marketing, we can offer a wide range of digital marketing services from SEO, PPC, social media management and much more. So why not let us do the hard work for you! Get in touch with us and see how we can help you and your business. #### Can Facebook Put The "Happy" Back In "Happy Birthday"? Now, I am no cynic. I quite like the fact that people take the two seconds it takes out their day to click the notification and wish me a "Happy Birthday", but I know there are many people out there who are not big fans of how impersonal Facebook has become. Okay yes, I have slightly more 'friends' on Facebook than I do in real life. Actually, probably about 85% of them I would struggle to name, but that doesn’t mean I’m not chuffed when a "Happy Birthday" message rolls in. Yes, yes, I admit it, Facebook has made it extremely difficult to forget birthdays with countless notifications and even going as far as to write the message for us so we can just hit send. Where will it stop? Will Facebook start wishing people "Happy Birthday" without us knowing? Wishing "Happy Birthday" to people we haven’t met yet? Not quite. But in the meantime… Facebook’s latest brainwave to come out of Silicon Valley was probably brought about by the rise to stardom of SnapChat. Yes, that’s right, we can now send special "Happy Birthday" videos to each other! The videos, which are 15 seconds long, come with special frames, and are then posted to your friends wall. There is no special photo montage reminding us of how good mates we are or a recap (however brief) of our interactions on Facebook (like we have seen with Facebook’s “friendship day”). The videos are the same as any other video posted on a Facebook wall; up there to be watched one at a time. I am not sure who came up with this idea but I am 100% certain I’ll be sticking to the mindless SMS style birthday messages. No one needs my ugly mug snapped with that ever flattering front camera, ruining their special day. Anyway, I’ll keep the ramblings to a minimum. Facebook now lets you send Happy Birthday videos. Update over. #### Career Progression of a Web Developer So, you want to be a Web Developer? Read on, because I’m going to outline the key skills and responsibilities you’ll need, from Apprentice Web Developer all the way to Technical Director. I’ll also be sharing our own development team’s stories. What do I need to become a Web Developer? On the face of it, the barrier to entry is comparatively lower than that of other professions. A lot of Web Developers, and the vast majority of our own team are entirely self taught.   Tom - Digital Producer I developed a passion for coding whilst building a website for my media studies course at college. As this mainly covered using Dreamweaver and not code, I decided to expand on my limited knowledge. I taught myself how to build simple websites using HTML, CSS & Javascript. I then went to university to expand my skills into server-side technologies such as PHP, however, only about 5% of the degree actually covered coding and that was some very basic PHP (ironically this module was called advanced programming techniques). So again in my spare time, I learned the fundamentals of PHP. So basically, if you want to be a developer, don’t waste your time and money in further education when there is a wealth of free training material on the internet. You don’t need any sort of special equipment, you simply need a computer (which around 88% of households have), a willingness to learn, and enough free time. How do I get started? When you get started,  whether it’s by taking a Udemy course, or reading a good old fashioned programming book, there’s only one golden rule you need to keep in mind; You’re not going to build Facebook on your first try. Perseverance is key, use every resource you have at your disposal, build up a support network through channels such as Twitter, Reddit and Slack, learn how to Google effectively, Stack Overflow is your best friend. Chris W - Front End Developer After graduating from university with a degree in Music Composition, I was eager to find a unique of showcasing my work online beyond the scope of free website builders. I had dabbled in HTML and CSS from the golden days of free Geocities websites and attempting to make my MySpace profile as emo as possible, so I decided to invest some time in building websites from scratch again and reignite that latent interest. I purchased a few books and other offline materials but gained the majority of my initial knowledge from interacting with the (mostly) welcoming StackOverflow community, following online tutorials and reviewing discussions on various online articles. To this day, these are my main sources of knowledge, and I'm always eager to understand why some developers value certain methods above others and enjoy reviewing the lively debates that ensure. Once I discovered that majority of the animations and interactivity effects that I wanted to achieve were possible with jQuery, using this in tandem with vanilla Javascript provided the jumping off platform to create more powerful and functional websites. The rest, as they say, is history. Now, Web Development in 2019 is extremely different from when I started my own journey toward web development back in 2004. When I started, we only had to learn HTML, CSS and JavaScript (ECMAScript back then) was an “optional extra”. Once you had those figured out well enough, you could put those into practice by building some simple websites which follow a certain pre-defined layout, making flavour alterations as you go. Sam - Technical Director I initially learnt to code in the age of no youtube, udemy, codecourse or lynda.com. My mum bought me a copy of "A dummys guide to HTML" from the local car boot when i was around 13, my career progressed from there (I'm sure she will agree, the best car boot purchase she has ever made). I became involved with the online gaming scene competing with teams where there was a need to have a Team Website. A challenge I relished. I'm not afraid to admit, my early pieces of work were heavily ripped off from elsewhere and adapted to work to the requirements set. A year or two after initially learning HTML I set out on a quest to learn a content management system, PHP Nuke was the leading CMS of it's time, heavily community based and forum driven allowing for me to engage with far more advanced senior developers. At the age of 17 I managed to blag my way in a Junior Web Developer position where I spent 4 years being mentored by a senior developer who taught me the foundations of everything I do today. If you wanted something dynamic you’d dabble with PHP, using the query string to provide a different layout based on the content of a “page” parameter. You can still follow the same basic principles today, except now it can seem a little overwhelming with the sheer amount of choice in language and frameworks, with software such as WordPress powering 33% of the web, it may be tempting to box yourself in to that one ecosystem and become a “WordPress Developer”. Mikey - Lead Developer As a child I did not have many friends, and was often bullied due to my deafness. My mum was at University where one of the modules was programming. I used to read a lot, and one day I simply picked up one of her Visual Basic books and started reading. Before long I was hooked, and that translated across to web development. I would advise against that. Learn as much as you can before choosing where to specialise. Start by building a couple of hobby websites using only HTML, CSS and JavaScript (or jQuery). Once you’re happy with your skill with the basic building blocks, you can then shop around from the vast pool of frameworks and choose one which piques your interest. Danny - Full Stack Developer After not knowing what I wanted to do after leaving school and college. I was on facebook and come across an advert for learning how to code. I thought I would give it a go as I like technology. The advert was for a website called Udemy, I found a course by a guy called Rob Percival. The course was "The complete web developer course" where you learnt the basics on a variety of coding languages building random projects, one being a replica of the BBC News website. After learning the basics I continued to watch more and more videos and built on my coding skills. From React, Angular or Vue, to Laravel, Symfony or Codeigniter, there are choices to be made on both the front end or back end. If you find back end development more satisfying than front end development, now is also the time to choose your back end language of choice. The three frameworks I mentioned above are all PHP based, because PHP is the language which, when it comes to powering the web, is the most prevalent - but there are others, such as Go, Python, Ruby and ASP.NET to mention a few. Apprenticeships vs Formal Training As I mentioned above, the majority of the web developers at Fifteen are self-taught, but we do take on an Apprentice every year to train up. We find that the experience is as rewarding to our team as it is to the Apprentice. Formal training is also an option, and if for example, you opt for a University Degree, your Salary expectations can be a lot higher than if you start at Apprentice level, however you do not have that crucial experience “in the field” that the Apprentice has accrued over those 3-4 years in which you have been studying. Chris A - Junior Developer Whilst at Secondary School, I was heavily into games, Minecraft especially. I always used to enjoy playing modded Minecraft and one day thought ‘I wish I could make my own Minecraft Mod’ and from there onwards, I got heavily involved with multiple different programming languages. Specifically Java. I wanted to progress this further and took a Software Development Course at College. This was where I was welcomed into a world of Web Development. At the start, it didn’t interest me very much at all as I was primarily focussed on Software Development. However, as time passed I became more and more involved with Web Development and picked up HTML, CSS and PHP up quickly. It was at this point where I wanted to take this into a career and landed myself an Apprenticeship as an Apprentice Web Developer with Fifteen. When I first started, I could just about craft a basic website. However, through the help from people at Fifteen and through learning outside of work, combined with creating project based websites I have progressively bettered myself. I always found that I learnt the most from being thrown into the situation compared to self-teaching as I was having to do it within a real-life situation and quickly learnt what was the most effective way of crafting the webpages that I do now. Progressing from an Apprentice to a Junior, especially towards the end of my Apprenticeship, I found myself being able to take on project based work without too much help of others around me, in a lot more depth and with a lot more customisability compared to what I could do when I first started as an Apprentice. As an entirely self-taught developer, my bias has always been toward getting more experience than book smarts, but I know developers who have been through university who are best-in-class. Career Progression The typical career progression of a Web Developer is as follows: Apprentice / Junior At this level you are expected to be spending the majority of your time learning from the more senior members of the development team. You will be tasked with building small websites from design, and your work will often be peer-reviewed and code-reviewed by a more senior member of the development team, often the Lead Developer, to discover any learning opportunities which may arise. Mid Weight Developer (Often just shortened “Developer”) At this level, you’ll be tasked with more challenging web builds. Your eye for detail is keen and you’re quite confident in your own abilities. You offer advice to the more Junior members of the team, and often collaborate with them in web builds, guiding them on the right path. Senior Developer At this level you’re pretty autonomous, you take on the most challenging web builds, and smash them out of the park every time. You’re the Leads right-hand man and often take any overflow they may have to help out. Lead Developer At this level, you’re the most senior developer in the team. You can do everything that a Senior Developer can do but you also liaise with the Technical Director to pass any problems up or down the chain. You lead morning standup, help the apprentices, and are generally on hand for advice constantly. Occasionally you’ll take on the most difficult projects or lead a team of developers on a single project. Technical Director / Head of Development This is it, you’ve done it. You’re in charge of all things which relate to Web Development in your company. All technical decisions get run by you, you are in control of salaries, hiring and firing, scheduling, forecasting, budgets, equipment and much much more Of course, the progression is not always as linear as that. Web Development is a vast field, and there are a wealth of other opportunities to specialise. Some of which include: Systems Administration DevOps Database Admin Software QA Development Teacher Project Manager Final Points (aka, tl;dr) Want to be a web developer? Just get started. Walk before you can run; learn the basics. HTML and CSS at a minimum. Using Udemy or Codecademy is not shameful. Ask for help. Build that support network and ask others for help. Make sure you don’t make the same mistakes twice. Choose a specialism once you’re happy you know the basics Apply for an apprenticeship, or university course Ensure your CV contains links to your hobby portfolio websites. Be prepared to face a technical test. Try your best, be honest about your ability. Keep on learning, and you’ll progress. Be enthusiastic and positive, and you’ll go far! At Fifteen we have years of experience designing, building and cultivating websites. We've won a host of awards and have been lucky enough to work some truly exciting clients. Keep up to date with everything we're up to on our blog and Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. #### Case Study - Hydrotechnik SEO, PPC, and Remarketing Your online presence is critical to the future success of your business. Over the years Fifteen have advised a large number of Nottingham based companies on ways to improve their online presence and marketing efforts. This has given us a sound understanding of what works well and which marketing strategies offer the best return on investment. Research has shown that an ever-increasing number of people are researching products and services online, resulting in nearly every business needing to have some sort of online presence. This is especially true for companies who are looking to grow their customer base or expand into new market sectors. We have recently been working with Hydrotechnik UK Ltd, and their sister companies Filtertechnik Ltd and UK Flowtechnik Ltd. We are running SEO campaigns for all three, paid search campaigns for Hydrotechnik & Filtertechnik, and a remarketing campaign for Hydrotechnik. SEO Fifteen started search engine optimisations in September 2014 for Filtertechnik and UK Flowtechnik, and more recently in April 2015 for Hydrotechnik, checking the websites for possible improvements. Using analytical softwares, we are able to identify any issues the site may have, and give recommendations as to how to improve the site through implementing a number of different strategies. Each month, Fifteen put together a list of recommendations, as well as a full report showing their campaign results looking at data trends and improvements. Monthly stats: Since we started work on UK Flowtechnik, we have almost doubled the amount of organic search visits they receive a month, as well as increasing overall visitors to the site by over 300%, through quality back linking and other techniques. We have seen similar increases with Filtertechnik, and are now working towards increasing Hydrotechnik’s site traffic by a similar level. PPC Fifteen started work on the PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns for Hydrotechnik and Filtertechnik in June. We worked together to create unique ads, relevant to their products and keywords, and began optimisation of the whole campaign. This included refining the display location, times and cost-per-click, giving them the best possible results for their advertising budget. Monthly Stats: In the past month, we have started optimisations for both the Filtertechnik and Hydrotechnik PPC campaigns, including increasing the number of clicks and impressions they receive, reviewing ad copy, keyword research, and setting up conversion tracking. Fifteen have already started to see conversions increase on both campaigns, showing our optimisations to be a success. REMARKETING Fifteen have started a remarketing campaign for Hydrotechnik in June 2015. A remarketing campaign targets visitors who have previously visited your site and haven’t converted. For Hydrotechnik, our designers created a series of ads, which we then utilised in the campaign. As ads are displayed on many websites, the campaign needs regular supervision to ensure the placements are suitable to the brand. Since we began this remarketing campaign, Hydrotechnik have already seen an increase in the amount of visitors returning to their site each month. We are very proud of the work we have done with Hydrotechnik, UK Flowtechnik, and Filtertechnik, and the progress each site has made in terms of online visibility. DIGITAL MARKETING SERVICES Below are some of the digital marketing services our consultants offer businesses across the UK; Google PPC ManagementGoogle Remarketing CampaignsEmail MarketingEthical SEO CampaignsWebsite Conversion Rate Optimisation Why not get in touch with one of our digital marketing consultants to see how we could help improve the visibility of your website online. #### Champion Charity Campaigns I’ve noticed some great and inspiring charity campaigns in my career. One of those campaigns that made an impact on the net and also across loads of brands is back in 2015 through the Blood Awareness Week. Both the NHS and the Transplant brands persuaded many other brands to remove their letters off of their logos or company names. 'A', 'O' and 'B' are the blood types (Rhesus factor) that are used to identify blood for blood banks. In an inspired move brands that were asked, actioned the removal of these letters. Nando’s removed A and their O in their name whilst Cadbury Dairy Milk removed A and B. This went viral and raised awareness across the country. It boosted the number of people going to give blood (I give blood as much as I can). Not just UK brands caught wind of this, the British Red Cross also used this campaign asking large companies within the US to follow suit - they delivered too. Huge companies like Microsoft and Google used their public image to support this worthy cause.  I thought it was inspiring and tugs at the heartstrings. Plus it’s so good to see big-name brands helping a cause that truly saves lives. It is just amazing to get people to stop and listen.  More recently, Cadbury has joined in supporting causes with Age UK and have come together to fight the pandemic of loneliness that our elderly people are facing. There are less than 1.5 million elderly people who are struggling with a form of loneliness. What’s even worse, approximately a quarter of a million older citizens go without communication with someone for an entire week.  To make awareness of this Age UK and the help of Cadbury (my favourite chocolate) will be proudly working together to stop loneliness in our older people and to make awareness telling the British people that they can do something.  This campaign has already built up some momentum. Today when I walked into my local Sainsbury’s I stopped and took a closer look at what they have done to their famous ‘Glass and a half’ Dairy Milk bar.  They have simply kept the two glasses of milk pouring down their famous colour purple packaging. No branding on the front - clever as I recognised it right away from their strong identity, but it all feels so lonely - which is the point. On the box it’s accompanied by it reads “We've donated the words from these Cadbury Dairy Milk bars to help the 225,000 older people who regularly go a whole week without speaking to anyone”. This is some powerful marketing and what a way to do it. Yes, I don’t like to share my chocolate bar, but I think I will be doing that now with someone vulnerable; suffering from loneliness. What’s more, for every bar they sell, 30p will go to Age UK. I think it’s a bold move and from this, I think it’s a genuinely clever idea for people to get talking to one another again. A great charity cause to be apart of don’t you think?     For me the only issue is that the donation part of the box that these bars sit in, isn’t quite large enough - really need to say a little more. However overall - lovely! So the campaign is here ‘Donate Your Words’ which I feel is both strong and a very clever way of saying - ‘talk to people and make them feel wanted and loved once again not just once a week but every day.’  There is more to come on the 4th of September, so please do visit https://www.ageuk.org.uk/get-involved/donate-your-words/ to check out what they have in store for us. Can’t wait! At Fifteen we're always on the lookout for new and interesting marketing strategies. Whether digital or print, we love looking for something a little bit different. If you'd like to shake things up and try a strategy that will rock your world, contact us today. We can't wait to hear what your brand can bring to the table. #### Cheat Sheet for Learning a Programming Language Where To Start Learning a new programming language can sometimes be a tricky ordeal, especially for those battling it for the first time. If this isn’t your first rodeo in the world of programming, you’ll most likely find this process a lot easier than you did when learning your first language. Choosing which language to learn is like deciding which Quentin Tarantino film you want to watch first. They’re mostly all a good choice, but really it comes down to personal preference and of course on which area of development you want to focus your time on. If you were wanting to kick-start your career in app development you’d be looking at languages like Objective C, C++, C#, Java or Apple’s Swift for Mobile iOS apps. For backend logic web development the most widely used programming language is PHP. For front-end web development, the base languages are HTML, CSS and Javascript. I’ve decided on my programming language, now what? So now you have decided on which language(s) you are going to learn, you’re going to need to find somewhere, or be it, someone… to teach you. The internet is jam-packed full of great websites, tutorials, blogs and courses specifically targeted at helping you progress your skill set, whether that be for a complete beginner or at an advanced level, there is always room to learn. As a developer, the greatest tool in your belt apart from a computer is your mind. Keeping up with constant changes in technologies and learning new ways to code is beneficial to becoming and maintaining to be, the best at what you do. While many of these learning services are paid for, be it subscription based or one-off payments, there are many that offer their knowledge base for free. YouTube is a prime example of how video-based services can advance your skills. 7 years ago I began my long journey of programming, and dare I say it, I began by watching tutorial videos on YouTube of people coding C# (C sharp) and C++ applications from scratch. And yes just like you, it looked like gobbledygook. I have compiled a small list of websites where you can begin your learning journey for many different programming languages, you can find these at the bottom of this article. Help, I’m Stuck! Learning a new programming language is not quick, nor is it an easy thing to do, especially if it’s your first time. All programmers get stuck on a problem at one point in time or another, including seasoned developers, and not everything is perfect, there are going to be bugs and little nagging bits. A recent example of this would be Apple Inc’s wireless charging device. Apple teased the “Apple AirPower” at one of their conferences, which allows their customers to wirelessly charge their iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods all on one mat by just placing your device anywhere on it. However over 1 year down the line, Apple is still yet to mention its name again, sources say that the device is plagued by overheating issues which they are struggling to overcome. So don’t get yourself down if you are finding it difficult to learn, even the best in the world get stuck sometimes! Also don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it, over my 7 years of developing I’ve found Google to be the best in the business in helping me solve a tricky problem. Luckily for us developers, there are many community websites out there to help us when we hit a problem, the most popular being Stack Overflow. A large community of developers where you can find solutions to your problems, or if you can’t find your issue, you can always ask a question yourself. Taking the time to learn a programming language is a great investment and opens up loads of doors including careers in web development and app design. Helpful Websites Codecademy W3Schools Learn to Code HTML & CSS Learn JS Google Developers for new Programmers Free Code Camp GA Dash Codewars YouTube   #### Children and Social Media – It’s time to Educate  The children's commissioner for England has expressed the need for social media companies such as Instagram and Snapchat to take responsibility for the impact of their digital platforms. Anne Longfield’s report ‘Life in Likes’ explains kids are “growing up chasing likes”, which leave them emotionally vulnerable. The Negatives of Social Media As children approach Year 7 they are faced with sudden and increased pressure to be active & representative of themselves through social platforms. Most parents aren’t aware of the age restrictions social media channels have. The NSPCC states 1 in 5 parents believe you can join at any age. In fact, most need members to be at least 13 years of age. But not all the platforms ask for your date of birth as a hard-filter to create your account. Twitter, clearly stated the minimum age of requirement as 13. Twitter did remove this rule in 2009 and moved over to its privacy policy instead. There's now no concrete barriers in place to stop younger children joining the social network. Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram do need the user to enter a date of birth to complete registration. Although there is no vetting process so anyone of any age can sign up. WhatsApp is considered a harmless platform. Because you speak to those you add to your contacts list and where there is now no feed of content. WhatsApp’s age requirement is 16. Again though, nothing or no-one is validating new sign-ups authenticity. The commissioner states that companies are “still not doing enough” to stop young children from using their services.The ‘Life in Likes’ study found that children as young as 8 were using social media channels such as Snapchat, Instagram, Musical.ly and WhatsApp. Whilst most of us would grimace at this thought, under 10s were found to be using social media to play games, explore and be creative. Where it begins... It’s the introduction of secondary schools that alter the way children use the channels. They become more focused on social interaction and pictures. There's an overwhelming expectation to be connected with your fellow classmates and friends. Some children even said they had experienced arguments over not meeting such demands. On top of finding social media... “distracting, time-consuming and stressful” I don’t look to shame all social media and children’s use of it but as Longfield states “It clearly provides some great benefits to children" but, “is also exposing them to significant risks emotionally”. The Benefits of Social Media As it seems the case with most things which impact children and teenagers, there is the tendency to concentrate on the negative. There is evidence to suggest the use of social media in these age brackets has its benefits too. Some find it a great way of making friends and further enhances those initiated in real life. It can be argued platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can be a great source of news, culture and entertainment. For children also, where they can discover their wider world and find new interests. Facebook looks to improving its feeds to users with Mark Zuckerberg announcing new algorithms prioritising "meaningful social interactions". He also states that content from media and businesses will be deprioritised and instead will feature more content from friends. This has the potential to drastically change the way targetted media works and we'll all have to work to make good organic content. Children may feel less under pressure from outside sources and can fully concentrate on meaningful relationships outside the digital sphere. Algorithms & Echo Chambers Straight away we can question the value of such ‘information’ presented on our timelines. Algorithms are placing the user in social media bubbles. Seeing individuals as simple personalities to be organised into groups. If you tick this box you will be interested in this subject, shop at these shops, watch these TV shows and even support this political party. (Read more about social media and the general election). No matter what age you are, you are then part of a social media echo chamber. Where one single narrow view of the world is all that is presented. This limits the users' exploration and experiences. My Experience with Social Media I've tried to bring a balanced view to this article. There seems to be an overwhelming view that social media is having a negative impact on the young. There is concern that children are being plunged into a data demanding digital world. Without the prior knowledge or mental preparation required to cope. The trouble lies with a child’s ability to distinguish between real life and the digital life. Or, their capacity to acknowledge that online engagement or ‘likes’ is not the same as self-worth. It does not represent the value they hold to those around them in the physical world. As an adult, I admit I continue to feel a certain strain to keep my story up to date. Or, capture that perfect profile picture. I am 30 years old and having grown up during the birth and rise of social media, I am able to disassociate my real-life presence from my digital presence. Yeah, I can feel smug about few likes or appreciative comments. Yet, it’s my memories that will make me smile or become the topic of nostalgic conversations in the future with friends. Schooling Social Media Staying safe online is something that is taught in Primary Schools currently. Many awareness campaigns highlighted the topic of children’s online security. Rightly so, there is no shortage of concern and many parents take time to teach their children the possible dangers of the web. Also, to take action to keep them protected. What hasn’t been broached though is teaching children how to lead healthy digital lives. About using the mediums to their advantage in a cautious manner. As with other subjects such as sex, finances and employment – our children need to be educated. This is so that they have an understanding of the topic of digital literacy before any pressures they may feel. This would fit perfectly in the last year of Primary School for example. That way, kids are fully equipped to recognise when such demands hit and how to deal with them. Again, the children’s commissioner expresses her worry that if this doesn’t happen children will be growing up “chasing likes”. Rather than following their ambitions or aiming for good grades. The Psychology of Social Media Most prominent of concerns has to be the emotional side of social media. It may have the potential to develop into mental health issues later in life. One way to tackle this would be to give social resilience lessons to Year 6 and 7 students. Teaching them that likes and social media popularity does not equal happiness. We would tell children not to listen to bullies in the schoolyard and that they should not be acknowledged in the digital playground. There is wider revolt surrounding how the media represents beauty and body image. Plus representations of unachievable attractiveness and unrealistic lifestyles are nowhere more present. This is instilled more so on social platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram. We fight these images in magazines and in other mainstream media but we should question those representations now on social media. It’s in our nature as humans to compare ourselves to others and place emphasis on those areas in which we (seem to) lack. This trait is of course already present in children then intensifies in the teen years. I believe that digital literacy and social resilience be taught to children. But, parents and teachers alike should brush up on their own knowledge about the digital world. This includes the dangers and the effects on children and young people. Our Responsibility As I have repeated and to use a few clichés – preparation is key and knowledge is power. Adults should learn how to spot the signs. To identify when social media is having a negative impact on a child or teenager and to step in with education. The last resort should have to be intervention. This could save many young people from further mental health issues. This is depression and anxiety rooting from bad social media exposure and use. Social media is a powerful tool with many advantages, speaking from the digital marketing industry.Yet, social media is not without its many flaws. I'll compare it to dangerous tools like saws and hammers - if, in the hands of someone with no experience or expertise, it’s a destructive situation. But with awareness and education, a workman can create something incredible, useful and even beautiful. My Conclusion We have to move from the stance that the digital world is the enemy. We need to make it work for us and our future generations.My recommendations for this are: 1. We should acknowledge acceptance. Our children are and will be growing up in an ever-evolving digital world. 2. We can’t shield our kids and teenagers from social media. They will and should have access to and freedom to explore it. 3. To create and maintain a safer digital environment we need to educate children in digital literacy before exposure. 4. Teach our children how to get the most from social media without taking it seriously. This ensures their social media resilience. I have a vision of a digital utopia. Which lies in the social media companies, parents and schools working together to reinforce online safety messages and social media discipline. #### Chinese New Year: Why Blinging Nikes Means So Much Chinese New Year is almost upon us and while it is a time steeped in tradition it has also become a modern celebration. Chinese New Year falls on Tuesday, the 5th of February this year and in the run-up to it brands have taken to releasing limited edition items celebrating all the aspects of this auspicious time. What is Chinese New Year? Chinese New Year draws its meaning from the Chinese zodiac which has been a cornerstone of Chinese culture since the Qin dynasty, more than 2,000 years ago. The origin story of the Chinese zodiac is fascinating and most people agree it came about with the legend of the Jade Emperor who needed to choose twelve animals to be palace guards. All the animals wanted to reach the Jade Emperor first and through a series of events ended up with the order, Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and finally Pig. Each animal is the zodiac animal for a year and has attributes, predictions and warnings attached to their varying characters. People are also given their Chinese zodiac according to the year they were born rather than a specific day. Zodiac identifiers become a bit more complicated with the addition of Earthy Branches, Celestial Stems and Elements but for brands, it’s all about the animal. This year sees the final animal in the cycle have its turn in the form of a pig. The pig is considered a symbol of burgeoning wealth and brands have been quick to jump on the bandwagon. Why Do Brands Celebrate Chinese New Year? The reason for more ‘spiritual’ branding is to keep up with the needs of the consumer. Consumers across the globe have begun to prioritise wellness, living, and more sustainable lifestyles. This is evident in everything from modern office culture, to diets, social media and our understanding of mental health as a whole. This coupled with the arrival of a new zodiac makes for a perfect storm for brands; as they look to impress not just their Chinese audience but their global one too. Now, sticking a picture of a pig on a pair of Nikes is not enough, the concept has to resonate with your audience and pay homage to the meaning behind the zodiac. Take 2018 for example; considered the Year of the Dog, 2018 saw the likes of Johnnie Walker honour man’s best friend with a limited edition Blue Label bottle. AirAsia made the dog the hero of its Chinese New Year ad campaign and China saw a massive increase in the number of dog-owners throughout the year. The Year of the Pig The Year of the Pig is no different with several brands already launching their own homages to the Pig, each one trying to tap into the estimated total Chinese New Year retail sales of $133bn. All in just six days. Nike has been the tastemaker of this celebration for years and to commemorate the Year of the Pig they’ve created a new limited edition collection that encompasses the end of the cycle with all twelve animals represented in a traditional geometric motif known as ‘Bai Jia Yi’. Developed with a colour scheme of crimson, gold and yellow, fans can get a pair of these sought-after trainers in Nike, Jordan and Converse styles. Gucci has also released a capsule in time for the festivities. Made up of 19 pieces, the lineup draws on Disney’s Three Little Pigs. In a similar tale, the Chinese zodiac explains the reason for the pig being the last in line as he had to build his house after a wolf destroyed it and therefore ran late for the Jade Emperor’s order. This connection between the Disney cartoon and the myth is obvious and Gucci have married the ideas of western consumerism with Chinese legend to create a truly global capsule. It’s not all plain sailing for brands looking to make a splash on Chinese New Year (CNY). Burberry attempted to appeal to a wider audience with a ‘modern’ CNY ad campaign. Stylised as a classic family portrait, actors of varying ages were dressed in Burberry’s range. However, the attempt at celebrating familial values has sparked criticism in China with many people finding the photo more intimidating than empowering. While CNY is dominated by fashion brands, it is not solely their preserve. The hugely popular first-person team shooter, Overwatch, has tapped into its global market by releasing special edition CNY skins. These skins change the appearance of certain characters and can be purchased in-game to add variety, personality and flair to a gamer’s style. Blizzard has long been the torch-bearer for bringing gaming into the mainstream with the likes of massive esports tournaments and a convention dedicated to Blizzard called Blizzcon. This adaptation is just the latest in their attempt to develop a global image. All of this points to more than just celebrating an auspicious day. Brands and advertising have a huge impact on the thinking of the public (think Nike with Colin Kaepernick or the Gillette #TheBestMenCanBe) and Chinese New Year is no different. By adapting to different traditions and practices brands are showing that people are more of a global community than national. That culture and difference should be celebrated. Whether a large multinational or a small, privately-owned business, you should look at ways to include a wider audience, be it with a site that supports several languages or an ad campaign to celebrate diversity. At Fifteen we are dedicated to staying ahead of the curve. To keep up to date with a little website development or to start a completely new ad campaign contact us today. #### Choosing The Right Colour For Your Brand Brands and colours are very closely aligned, with the colours of certain brands being so iconic that simply seeing that colour in an isolated form is enough to stimulate brand recognition and recall. If you think of Mcdonalds, Mastercard or Cadbury, the visual colour palette that is associated with these brands is imperative to their identity, so much so that it is difficult to visualise one without the other. This effective use of colour makes the brand more enticing and exciting, and helps deliver an experience that influences the consumers’ response, actions and feelings towards a brand, even on a subliminal level. The impact of colour is a vital element of brand image, and Cadbury tried to trademark their iconic Dairy Milk Purple colour (Pantone 2685C) in 2004, however, despite this being rejected, their intent to do so emphasises the importance of colour to long-term brand strategy. I remember reading somewhere that we make a decision on something within the first 90 seconds of seeing it. This could be a person, book, album, car or clothing, and apparently within that first 90 seconds, two thirds of our decision is influenced by our interpretation of colour. Therefore, when designing your brand and its various touch points across the digital and print world, it is important to always consider the end user and the tone of voice that your brand is portraying and the context it should be perceived. If you search colour psychology on the internet, you will be inundated with a breakdown of descriptive colour meanings and associations. For example, red is generally considered an exciting, energetic and passionate colour in Western cultures. Whereas in Asian cultures red is a symbolic colour of happiness, prosperity and joy. This shows how the interpretation of colour fluctuates across cultures, and this can be an important consideration for international brands. Here’s a brief breakdown of what some other colours symbolise: Blue: Honesty Dependability Trust Green: Health Environmental Wealth Yellow: Cheerful Optimistic Warmth Orange: Fun Creativity Enthusiastic Whilst colour psychology provides a guideline to understand the general theory behind the symbolic value of a colour, personal interpretation such as experiences, cultural understanding, upbringing and context create personal disparity for each colour. It should therefore be used as a general guide rather than being taken as gospel. Colour perception is quite personal really, and from a young age we all have a favourite colour, which indicates we all react differently to different colours. Therefore when selecting the right colour for your brand it is better to think in terms of practically rather than a psychological level. This can be broken down into some key questions… Does the colour of the brand fit the product that is being sold? Is the colour suited to the marketplace? Or is there a colour gap in the market that will allow your brand to stand out? Does the colour match the tone of voice used by the brand? How will the audience interact with your brand, and is this colour going to make them respond in the right way? This helps to identify the relationship between the colour and the brand by thinking how appropriate the colour is, rather than what the colour represents. Over time the personality and tone of voice of the brand will also begin to shine through, and this brand personality will begin to influence the perception of the colour. Just by making something a certain colour, it doesn’t immediately mean it carries the traits associated within the colour psychology model. A good example of this would be to look at motorbikes. A race bike owner wants something rugged, aggressive, strong, safe and cool. If colour psychology was absolute, all these brands would operate from a limited palette. However, the reality is much different with brands offering a full spectrum of colours. Here’s a list of just some of the varying colours of motorbike brands: Ktm – Orange Kawasaki – Green Yamaha – Blue Honda – Red Suzuki - Yellow The varying range of colours displayed with similar brands shows that it’s best to not get too hung up on the stereotype of the symbolic meaning of a colour. It’s more about the overall image of the brand and how it suits the industry and audience, and colour is just a part of this. And whilst colour is an important part of a brand’s identity it should be a case of the brand and industry influencing the colour, rather than the symbolic colour stereotype dictating the brand. #### Christmas emails: 5 tips to improve your campaigns this festive season Christmas is a make or break time of year for many businesses to drive revenue, which makes it crucial to plan your Christmas email marketing strategy in advance. The benefits you can reap from a successful Christmas period are immense, which explains why many marketing teams start planning for Christmas as soon as possible. So if you’re looking to boost your email marketing performance and increase your revenue this festive season, keep reading as we share our top five Christmas email tips. What are the benefits of Christmas email marketing? Email marketing is widely known as one of the most cost effective marketing channels with many brands attributing a significant return on investment (ROI). According to Moosend, 68% of shoppers say they pay more attention to emails they receive over the festive period, meaning this particular channel brings even more value over Christmas. With this mind, sending Christmas email campaigns can result in a higher conversion rate for your business. Combine your audience's high attention span with their naturally high purchasing intention, creating a killer Christmas campaign with an enticing offer means your chances of converting leads into paying customers sky rocket. Our top 5 Christmas email marketing tips It’s a no brainer for a business to hop on board the Christmas email marketing hype, but you should be mindful about how you approach sending effective Christmas emails. Here are our top five tips that are sure to have you making the most of this valuable channel this season as well as having your brand seen amongst festive mayhem! 1. Increase your frequency and broaden your audience As mentioned, email marketing is one of the most important channels for driving revenue and this is only amplified at Christmas. Therefore you should increase the amount of emails you’re sending and broaden the audience that’s receiving it.  As inboxes become more crowded during December, you should consider sending five times as many emails you normally would to ensure you’re noticed. However, if you plan to send multiple campaigns, be sure to keep an eye out on your unsubscribe rates and your engagement rates don’t drop. A few ways you can avoid this is to make sure you’re including an enticing offer within your campaign and give your audience a reason to visit your website. It’s also vital to make sure your email layout is engaging and eye-catching. 2. Create a sense of urgency to increase conversion There’s a variety of Christmas specific persuasion tactics that can be used by digital marketers to encourage opens and click-throughs. Building a sense of urgency is a really effective tactic which can be done through time-specific offers. By applying a live countdown timer and seasonal discount codes for example, you can increase your engagement and conversions.  There are many other tactics you can utilise that are effective, such as offering teasers, including magic questions in your content, implementing loss aversion, taking a direct approach and adding personalisation. Fear of missing out (FOMO) is also another great tactic to use during the festive period, especially when subscribers are already in the buying mode. 3. Use Christmas emojis and wordplay Getting creative with your Christmas subject lines can really make a difference as to whether someone opens your email or not, especially with the increase in inbox competition. Don’t be afraid to cut through the noise with festive puns, witty wordplay and anything else that will make your emails stand out.   Using festive emojis is another great, quick win tactic to stand out in the mailbox as your subscribers will be more inclined to open an email with an emoji in the subject line. 4. Target previous Christmas buyers and utilise rewards schemes Whilst you want to broaden your audience when sending Christmas emails, you should also create an audience of just the subscribers who purchased last Christmas and send them targeted emails. Amazingly, a huge number of businesses don’t individually target their most lucrative subscribers.  Retaining loyalty and nurturing customer relationships is extremely important and therefore you should send personalised messages to show you appreciate your loyal customers. You could show your appreciation by offering them exclusive discounts or end-of-year rewards for example. 5. Offer seasonal giveaways and run Christmas competitions Open and engagement rates are massively increased by giveaways and competitions. Christmas is a busy and expensive time of the year and your audience are probably more inclined to engage with promotions or the chance to win a free prize. Consider offering a Christmas giveaway or competition to win one of your products or a free trial of your services. You could further promote your competition on your social media channels and drive even more traffic to your website. Need help with your Christmas email marketing? We hope our festive tips help you to push your Christmas emails to the next level, boost your email performance and ultimately, drive more revenue for your business. If you find you need a helping hand with your Christmas email marketing, get in touch with us today. Our digital marketing experts can put together a seasonal email marketing strategy for you and even do all the hard work for you. #### Chronic pain awareness in the digital age It’s 2017, and in the age of digital the likes of health and safety, and personal health, have come along leaps and bounds in available resources. St John Ambulance has created an app for mobile devices specifically for providing first aid advice, such as how to handle certain situations and when first aid should be administered. In terms of personal wellbeing, there are apps like Headspace that teach you about meditation and training your mind for a healthier and happier life. Both are easily accessible apps available across a range of devices, proving personal wellness and care is at the forefront of a lot of company’s minds. You can hit the internet and, through the likes of a symptom checker, diagnose yourself in a matter of seconds for the most common problems. So, you can imagine how surprised I was when someone asked me the question last week: “Is MS the same as Multiple Sclerosis?” In 2017 are people really so under-informed on conditions that, like MS for example, affect over 100,000 people in the UK alone? The ‘silent epidemic’ of chronic pain (simply defined as pain that lasts longer than 12 weeks) affects nearly 28 million people in the UK – that’s two-fifths of the UK population. As a Fibromyalgia sufferer myself, I know that around 800,000 people in the UK have the same condition. However, I’m yet to meet someone who knows what it is when I talk about it… never mind knowing anything more about it. A vast amount of people who are diagnosed with such conditions suffer from depression as a result or side effect. There is clearly a hole in the huge market that needs to be addressed and filled. How can long-term pain conditions that affect such a large number of the world’s population go so unrecognised? May 12th is International FM and Chronic Pain Awareness Day, and May 31st is MS Awareness Day. But where is the app that helps suffers be diagnosed or even recognise their symptoms? Where are the apps that help friends and family understand side effects or care options? Answer? They don’t exist. It’s so important that healthcare moves with the times. Generation X is more likely to google the symptoms of an illness than walk into a doctor’s surgery. In addition to St John and Headspace, commendations to the likes of HealthTap that allows you to send health-related questions to a network of doctors, Start that offers programs that track the progress of people suffering from depression and Happify that is described as the gym membership for your emotional health. Let’s hope the rest of the health industry follows by example and joins the app craze to help educate people on the unwanted trend of chronic pain.     #### Classic or Craze – Instagram Cliches We Hate (And are Guilty of) Instagram turns eight in October and with a hundred million active users for each year of its life; no-one can argue the immense success of the channel. More astonishing, 95 million posts are shared every single day, all competing for that perfect ‘Insta shot’. Value is placed on engagement with these images – in the form of likes, shares and comments. Then, every now and again a trend is born, where someone strikes social media gold and gets it just right. The trouble is, everyone is striving for an identical ideal, meaning the content can become a little repetitive and predictable. These are Instagram cliches. We have spoken before about social media bubbles and echo chambers where built-in algorithms and mainstream media lead to limitations of the content that is both created and in turn that we are shown. As a brand, business or even a personal profile it’s hard to decide whether value and exposure lay in going along with the crowd by creating trend led content. Or by breaking away from the dominant style and putting something out there, that’s fresh and unique. Of course, the ultimate goal would to be a trendsetter yourself – followed by a myriad of imitations, eventually becoming the original in a line of viral posts. With a personal profile, this choice is less threatening to your success as you aren’t looking to sell products or services. The pressure is still real though, to be shown approval and fit in with the congregation. For young people, it’s even an expectation of being ‘normal’; it’s just what you do. Did you eat out this weekend? Really? You didn’t Instagram it. This desperate seeking of ratification can get out of hand. Something we have discussed in an earlier post which addresses the importance of educating our children in social media and its safe use. This article though has an altogether less serious tone, so let’s take a humorous view of Instagram and its most popular types of the image posted. The Circle of Feet Shot  Usually posted when hanging out with a large circle of friends… excuse the comparison. On a sandy beach, at a muddy festival, or even just your mums carpet with matching novelty socks. I think the aim here is to appear ‘arty’ and like you have a sizeable entourage. Though some people may just assume you and your friends have ugly faces. @marlayj | @jaibee900 | @bank_xavi Follow Me Russian photographer and his wife Nataly created the ‘Follow Me To’ photography series in 2012. Inspiring, sharp and beautiful shots of numerous gorgeous locations. Thus, have been named the couple as top travel influencers. They made it big time, going viral with their breath-taking scenes of Nataly leading her partner to amazing locations around the world. Staged and dressed as they may be, the posts are visually stunning and have led to a mass of impersonation pictures appearing on Instagram. Right now (and more when you read this) there are 387,907,000 posts which have the hashtag #followme on there, most being reproductions of Osmann’s work. Whether mocking the popularity of the photos or as a sign of admiration – these are everywhere. Although your tipsy girlfriend dragging you down the Magaluf strip doesn’t quite have the same effect. @havepumpwilltrave l @muradosmann | @geetakhona Food Glorious Food 2017 was the year of the pizza according to a study of 100,000 Instagram images by Photoworld.com. But this is just a slice of the #foodporn pie, with every meal imaginable being snapped and posted on the channel. The most Instagrammed foods around the world include sushi, steak and bacon. There are regional variations too, with London being the top city for burger pics and pulled pork. Whereas Germany does not surprisingly take the biscuit for currywurst. Food photography is an art in itself, but it seems everyone’s a ‘pro’ now when it comes to documenting their favourite dish. Respected website sites like Elle , The Independent and BBC Good Food offer their top tips on creating Insta worthy food shots. The usual points are present – good lighting, composition and of course a delicious looking subject. However, a current craze (well, it’s been around for a while now, but it’s not budging) is to take your picture from above. Yes, this has led to many an individual took to standing on their stools for the perfect shot. I imagine there have been plenty of food Instagramming accidents too! Decorative crockery? Check. Nice work surface? Check. Latte art. (Serious Insta points for this one) Double check. And oh, better if you manage to make it symmetrical too! @jaibee900 | @symmetrybreakfast | @katbalm Hot dog legs There are over 42 thousand posts with the hashtag #hotdoglegs that exist on Instagram at this moment (again, this increases every day). Coming about presumably from illustrating the point of view of the photographer while relaxing, most commonly sunbathing. A desire to make others jealous (what else is new) of their location or activity. Usually, an idyllic beach setting, the knees and thighs of the shooter resemble that of hot dog sausages. Now hot dog leg mania hit big time back in 2013 when shiny, tanned legs (or are they sausages?) we’re being dished out all over the social platform. The trend took a whole other turn when people began creating parodies, substituting real-life legs for actual hot dogs. This got everyone guessing, which was great for engagement. Hot dogs? Legs? So. Much. Fun. @lotteklomp | @nolwenn_creme | @carolinethesmall ‘Sleeping’ Selfies The above instances have all been interesting to the viewer – even if only vaguely. The difference with this one, why are we bothered? This fad reared (or perhaps rested) its head a few years ago now, with many a celebrity snapping their ‘snoozes’. Beyoncé, Kendall Jenner and Anna Kendrick all contributing to the wave. Quite naturally, a selfie, where the person relaxes their head, closes their eyes and captures their forty winks. Some even go as far as to pretending someone caught them in the act, so the phrase ‘Bae caught me sleeping’ was born. Unlike Beyoncé, the average Joe doesn’t have a publicist (or more probably a personal photographer) on hand who can advise them on their photo before posting. They would also spot the unfortunate circumstance of ‘Bae didn’t catch me sleeping, as I don’t even have a girlfriend, and took this photo myself – look that’s me in the mirror’. Spawning hilarious memes and mocks alongside the ‘serious’ sleepers of Instagram. I find these photos infuriating, and I am not alone – Hattie Gladwell of The Metro was so annoyed by these pictures she wrote a whole article about it. @almuqaatila13 | @snowbcooks | @kardavis Instagram has become an integrated and integral part of a lot of people’s digital social lives. So, will no doubt continue to develop its visual trends and set standards for you to aspire to on your social sharing. Fear is that we may turn into a nation of ‘basic bitches’ (or bros!), with no unique experiences or insights to share. We do have individual intrigues, of course, just expectations associated with social sharing cause us to judge our own reality as inferior. What I find fascinating though, is that these clichés are becoming an art in themselves. Imagine the collection – enough to rival any serious culture exploring the exhibition. My examples are just a few of the crazes to hit the platform since its launch and gain in popularity. I haven’t even mentioned the typical ‘out of the aeroplane window’, humorous coffee shop, motivational tube stop signs, workout mirror selfies and oh good lord CATS. Don’t get me started on the hashtags and buzzwords attached to these posts… are our oral skills regressing with every perfectly hipster smashed avocado? Watch this space. #### College and School Prospectus Design Prospectus design is something we take great pride in, we always relish the challenge and have designed prospectuses for many schools and colleges nationwide. When designing a prospectus, I find it’s good practice to take several factors into account before getting started to help get the most out of the process which will, in turn, result in a quality product that the school or college can be proud of. Imagery So what to consider? For me the very first thing is imagery, this is key to a successful prospectus, after all, you could design the most beautiful prospectus and your typography could be on point but if you then fill it with substandard imagery especially images taken with mobile phones (yes, that does happen) you take everything away from it, all the handwork, the hours designing the perfect composition for each spread turning it into a thing of nightmares instead of beauty. The best use of photography is ‘real’ photography. Using stock imagery is a real no no, the images have to be of the school or college, real environments. It’s also an opportunity to showcase the facilities the school has to offer and have students using them. This is great for students who are thinking of applying to the school or college, it gives them a sense of what the school looks like and what school life will be like there. Lighting is key too. The images have to be bright, not dark and well-lit areas should be singled out in a recce before commissioning a photographer as it’s not always possible for the photographer to carry heavy lighting equipment around with them all day. Imagery can split up large sections of information too, helping to make the prospectus more ‘readable’ no one wants to wade through pages of text so getting this right is crucial. Prospectus Navigation Another thing I always consider is making the prospectus easy to read and easy to navigate through. A clear and uncluttered design always works best backed up with great use of colour. Colour can help single out key dates or other important information. The right font choice also plays a big part in a successful prospectus design, I tend to stay clear of fine decorative fonts and opt for bold clear fonts. So now the imagery and look and feel is right, what next? Content. Is it right? Content It’s extremely important to get this right. For example, is the course information easy to find and is it broken down correctly? Does the content explain what grades are needed to apply for the courses and how to apply? Are call to actions clear and easy to find? Have you highlighted social media accounts? Using a good copywriter is also key to a great prospectus. They know how to keep someone reading and can make the copy memorable. It’s important to get the tone, and grammar, right too. The final thing I consider is getting the balance right between what the college or school has to offer academically and what the current students think about where they study. I like to include testimonials from students, this is a great way of letting someone know what the school is like. I also like to show what is on offer outside of the school day, what the student life is like and what activities are available. All these points put together correctly always results in a prospectus that ourselves and the client can be proud of. Interested in revamping your school prospectus and want a professional hand? Then give us a call. We've been designing and creating exciting and engaging marketing materials for over a decade. #### Company Logo Designs That Have Changed Over The Years With Google’s logo re-design recently, we decided to take a look at a number of well-known companies that have made significant changes to their branding over the years (and some that haven’t changed much at all). We’ve talked previously about why some companies feel the need to rebrand, and how it’s not always good idea. This time we’re looking at the evolution of several long-standing brands over time. These don’t necessarily make huge changes to their brand each time, but the end result is normally very different to the original. Google Logo Designs We might as well start with the inspiration for this article, Google. Just look at the original logo for Google. It’s a word art disaster! They wisely changed it a year after launch to a much more visually appeasing logo, but still worlds away from their new logo. Overall, Google’s logo didn’t change much over 17 years. With only a few tweaks to the colour placement and shades, removal of the drop shadow and bevel effects, and experimentation with an exclamation mark in 1998, you can see only small amounts of change. Google had a logo that worked well, so worked towards refining that branding. Now comes the big change, Google’s new logo. Whilst retaining the same colour scheme of the past 17 years, the new logo is a completely different style. Pepsi Logo Designs Whilst Google’s logo was a bit of a mess back in 1997, Pepsi were doing it all the way back in 1898. Just look at that monstrosity. Pepsi’s original logo had pointy bits and curls absolutely everywhere. Very much a product of its time, the logo was simplified (slightly) in 1905 and 1906, to a logo that looked suspiciously similar to their main competitors’. This style was then simplified further in the 1940’s to create a smoother style before Pepsi started incorporating their bottle cap into their branding. This ultimately evolved to become the ‘Pepsi Globe’ in 1973. The ‘Pepsi Globe’ has been used ever since 1973, in many different iterations. Similarly to Google, they experimented with different effects in order to refine their brand. Then came the big change. In 2008, Pepsi completely redesigned the “globe” and font that they had been using for 35 years. This simpler style received some negative feedback across the media, but has managed last seven years so far without change. We’re just getting used to it. Barbie Logo Designs Technically, Barbie’s logo hasn’t changed at all. The old logo from 1959 was reintroduced in 2009 for the 50th anniversary, and has stuck ever since. But, in between this time, there have many little changes. Looking at the comparisons below, there doesn’t seem to be much difference, but there is. The original logo’s pink cursive font, which has now become synonymous with the brand, was changed to a cool custom typeface in the 70’s. This typeface was revised in ’92, and remained the same for seven years, before reverting back to a cursive style. Then tweaks were made, including one year in which they experimented with a flower as the tittle above the “i”. The easiest way to see the evolution of this logo is to look at the lowercase “r” and “b”. Apple Logo Designs What is it with big companies’ first logos being such a mess? Whilst it is a beautiful image, Apple’s first logo was reminiscent of logos more than a hundred years prior to their birth. It was not at all representative of the forward thinking, modern company that they are considered to be today. The logo that we all know today was introduced a year later in 1977, with a rainbow colour scheme. Very little change has been made to the logo since then, except for colour changes, and the experimentation with different effects. Because of the small changes, Apple’s logo has remained simple since the 70’s and become and internationally known symbol. Similarly to Barbie, Apple has reintroduced a previous logo (the flat black icon from the late 90’s) and now uses this across all of their marketing. Microsoft Logo Designs We couldn’t talk about Apple without a mention of their main competitor, Microsoft. Microsoft’s logos all seem very reflective of the time periods in which they were made. The 70’s saw Microsoft sporting a disco-esque logo, whilst they could have easily been mistaken for a hair metal band in the early 80’s. Whilst the logo in ’82 began to represent the company and it’s products, it wasn’t until ’87 that they introduced the logo that is most commonly associated with their brand. If you’ve ever used Windows 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista, or 7, you will surely have interacted with the brand. After 25 years, Microsoft changed their logo to fit in with modern trends. It is a much sleeker design, and will surely become the most commonly associated logo in the years to come. So... Most of these logos have evolved to be up to date with current trends. Google, Microsoft, Pepsi, and Apple have all opted for a more simplistic, smooth style in recent years. It is clear from the vast differences in Microsoft’s logos that each was designed with the particular time period in mind. The large amounts of time in between major re-designs makes one thing very clear. Whilst it is important to keep with modern trends, it also important to ensure that the branding remains consistent. We all know the Apple logo instantly, as it has remained the same for such a long time. Sometimes a refresh is just as good as a rebrand. Thinking of rebranding your company? Looking for a logo design for your new business? Contact our logo and rebranding experts today! #### Consilium Strategies Chic New Site Having undertaken a rebrand, swiftly followed by the design and launch of their new website, Consilium Escapes came back to tackle their parent company, Consilium Strategies. A returning customer is always an honour to work with and we take pride in creating working partnerships that help them achieve their vision in multiple areas of their work. Consilium Strategies consultant in project and risk management. They work with high profile clients to provide a strategy that will achieve their goal, eliminate risk and deliver the best result. The nature of the work covers a broad range and the clientele require the uttermost detail, care and professionalism.   Outdated and hard to navigate, Consilium Strategies needed an overhaul to bring it up to date with modern-day practices and future proof the website. Influenced by our previous work on Consilium Escapes we looked to create a design that would sit alongside Consilium Escapes but capture the nature of work undertaken on the Consilium Strategy side.   With a serious and demure tone, we were able to bring the character and life created on Consilium Escapes over to Consilium Strategies through the typography and large photography teamed with subtle use of colour. These work to give the website a corporate feel without stripping the website back to the basics and bypassing the personality we injected into the Consilium Escapes website. The new style gives the website a professional, trusted and contemporary look, that oozes the level and quality of work they carry out. With the nature of the work, the client is unable to detail specific tasks they have undertaken. We worked with Consilium to create a case study feature that allows them to give an insight into the type of work they can do while protecting the full details, giving the user a good flavour to their type of work and how they can assist a future customer.   All content is now accessible and the homepage unfolds the story and capability of the company without overloading the user. A giant step from the old website which led the user to many dead ends and unable to find the information they required.  The about page offers the customer a variety of trust points, to build a relationship before the initial conversation, with testimonials from existing clients and the introduction of the team behind Consilium Strategies.   Call to actions are now readily available throughout the website to aid the user in taking their next step, offering a variety of ways to get in touch to suit the user. The website experience is now seamless across all devices and the easy to use content management system means Consilium Strategies can take control over their website, with us at hand to help if it is ever needed.    While working on the website we refreshed the logo, giving it a contemporary look and ensuring the legibility of the text in its multiple uses across the internet. From the relationship we have built with through Consilium Escapes it was great to see a returning customer who trusts our judgement and ability to deliver beyond their expectations. At Fifteen Design, we love working with clients to realise their brand's ambitions. Contact us today to get started on your rebrand or website build. Our team of digital experts are ready to help you. #### Content Marketing For Brands – A Guide To Getting Started Content marketing is one of those phrases that comes up a lot in digital marketing discussions these days. The benefits of it are well known. You sell more products and you bring in new (loyal) customers. But it’s nothing new. Content – in the form of magazines – has been created by brands for decades. A famous example is John Deere, the US-based farm machinery firm, which created a customer magazine called The Furrow in 1895. All that’s changed today is the rise of the internet, social media and digital technology – a perfect storm that has made it extremely cost-effective for any company to put out their own content. A hundred years ago it cost a lot of time and money to write, print and distribute a magazine. But today, any business can create and distribute content instantly – it’s something we can help you with too. What Is Content Marketing? There’s plenty of confusion about what content marketing actually is, and how it differs from, for example, inbound marketing. In its most simple form, content marketing is about creating content – in the form of blogs, podcasts, white papers, videos, infographics or images – that offers value. The purpose of this is to bring in new customers and retain existing ones. It works differently to traditional advertising, as it’s not interruptive to people’s experience online – and given the rise of ad blockers on browsers anyway, this is especially important. Good content will inherently have appeal to a specific audience – they will already be interested in the topic area, and will then get to know your brand or company off the back of it. In fact, good content is the cornerstone of many other marketing techniques. You need quality content for PPC campaigns to be effective. You need quality content for SEO to be effective. The big difference about content marketing is the strategic manner in which your brand adds value to the customer. Value such as insight, tips, advice, entertainment. It creates a deeper connection with customers and greater consideration. The best thing about content marketing? You don’t have to be a big brand with a big budget. Anyone can get involved. Identify Your Audience One of the most important things about content marketing is to know who your customers are. Creating content that offers value to them – and that isn’t simply talking about your products like an advert – is most effective when it is tailored to an audience. Know who they are, and know where they spend their time online. There’s no point spending all your time making crazy Snapchat posts if your target audience is 50+ serious business individuals. If that is the case, maybe more authoritative content targeted on Facebook or LinkedIn would be better. Or even a business podcast, so they can listen to your content whilst commuting. Work Out Your Goals What do you want? Do you want to reach out to a younger audience? Do you want to change how your brand appears to people and communicate a different story? Do you want people to feel your products are highly desirable? Do you want to excite customers about what you feel is an unexciting industry? Working through a bunch of questions like this will define what content you want to produce and how you want it to appear. Ultimately it means you won’t be wasting time and effort in the long run, and your content will be way more effective. Find Your Assets You may be surprised to realise you’re sitting on a bank of useful assets already. You may have some useful reports that could be turned into a fantastic infographic. You have photos that would sit nicely at the top of blog posts or out on social media. You may have experts all around you who can share some useful insights into an industry, or help with the start of a business white paper – which can be offered out as a downloadable ebook. Assets are all around you. Find them! Make A Plan - Create A Content Calendar What assets are you going to produce, what is each topic going to be, and how often are you going to produce it? Write it down and then arrange it onto a calendar. This not only gives you something to work towards, but helps keep you on track to create quality content. Distribution You’ve created something. How are people going to find it? If you’ve created a blog post, this can be distributed via Facebook – if it’s really important, then a paid post on Facebook could surface it to more people. There are even content distribution platforms, so articles can appear at the bottom of relevant newspaper articles. Videos can be embedded natively on Facebook and Twitter, embedded on product pages via YouTube. Don’t forget newsletters too. Listening and Measuring Putting out content as part of a content marketing strategy is just the start of the conversation with your customers. When you create content, you should always measure the impact. The content that works, you should do more of. The content that doesn’t? Maybe less so, or try it on a different channel. And now that you’re engaging with customers online, listen to what feedback is coming from them. You might discover some useful insights into your company or industry, pick up new employees, or get an idea for a new product.   Vote For Us In The UK Blog Awards We have been nominated for both the Digital & Technology and PR, Media, Marketing & Communications categories and we would really appreciate if you could spare a minute to vote for our blog in these awards. Voting for the UK Blog Awards 2017 is live and closes on Monday 19th December. The public vote is an important aspect of the judging procedure as it allows the contestant's community to have their say and show their support for the content on the blog. Once the public vote is over, the top entrants from each category will go through to Phase Two: The expert judging panel. #### Content Marketing Trends for 2021 Content marketing has been a key part of digital marketing for years. While changes to SERPs and the constant battleground of advertisements rages on, creating copy which informs, entertains, and converts putters along. A good content marketing strategy feeds into the rest of your digital marketing, supporting SEO, capturing users at the top of the funnel, and providing bottom-funnel users with reasons to purchase your product or service.  However, this isn’t to say content marketing doesn’t have to adapt too. The digital landscape shifts from month to month, year to year, and content marketers are constantly on the lookout for new and interesting ways to draw in readers. We’re going to look at some of the biggest content marketing trends for 2021 and how they can improve your overall digital strategy. Develop content communities With applications like Discord, Slack, and other communication platforms becoming the norm in 2020, it’s now more important than ever to build communities. Creating topics for discussion on your site, developing webinars and digital events, or reaching out to your community to provide insight and information.  By chairing meetings and developing a more natural form of communication you empower your users, build a reputation as an industry expert, and can use your content community to develop relationships and network. This growth can be exponential as your community events allow your users and influencers to piggyback and push your events and content out to their audiences. This system doesn’t take too much in the form of resources either as it is driven by the community. The majority of work is setting up the platform and developing the initial interest. Once you have the community in place it’s a matter of providing topics and occasions for members to discuss and learn about the industry. Content communities are also for generating brand awareness and testing the waters with ideas on branding, marketing, or development. Sharing Information In an age where disinformation is rife, users are putting more and more value in reliable information. It’s not just a matter of providing an opinion but backing it up with expertise. If you are a business owner you can use your hard-earned experience and create webinars and video presentations that inform and educate users.  A webinar is incredibly valuable in many ways as it not provides a litmus test for who and what users are interested in, but also lets you collect valuable emails for remarketing, and opens the door to networking and developing client relationships. Better Information on Product and Services This one may just be me but I’ve noticed an increasing number of people complain about a lack of information when ordering a product. Before the lockdown, when the majority of consumers bought products from brick-and-mortar stores you could get away with suggesting users visit a store to see a product.  Nowadays, online shopping is in the ascendancy so creating informative product and service pages are a must. If you haven’t already it’s integral that you review your product pages, at least the top-performing ones, and ensure you have up-to-date imagery, dimensions, descriptions of materials, shipping and returns policies, terms of use etc. User trust and decision making require information so make sure you give the customer everything they could possibly need. This will reduce the chances of users leaving before conversion and save you from answering emails about a product. Augment with AI While content marketing is a job that still hasn’t been taken over by machines yet (wipes sweat off brow), AI advancement in content marketing has come on in leaps and bounds. Content marketing tools are incredibly intelligent and are capable of improving your work by analysing data and content, suggesting optimisation and incorporating A/B testing.  Some of the content tools that have become popular in content marketing circles include the likes of SparkToro, a tool created by Rand Fishkin that helps find sources of influence. This includes who or what audiences follow, read, listen to, and watch. SEO optimisation systems like SEMrush and Clearscope also have clever tools that score content and suggest where to improve. While some of these systems are a little rudimentary they can serve as fresh eyes and give you a perspective on your work that you hadn’t considered.  At Fifteen, we work with clients to create exciting digital strategies that improve their visibility and conversion rates. If you’re interested in finding out more about content marketing or want to work with a committed team of digital experts then contact us today.  #### Create Added Value For Your Brand Or Product It can be easy to be misinformed with what a brand actually is and does. To many people a brand is simply a logo that acts as a differentiator between competitive products. Whilst this is correct in the most fundamental understanding of a brand, the reality is much more developed, with successful brands carefully crafting a narrative and personality that sculpts an identity and backstory to reinforce the message behind the product or services offered. A brand needs to be a dynamic and receptive entity that has the ability to grow and adapt to market changes, but most importantly customer needs. It can be said that a brand only really lives in the mind of the consumer, where various brand elements are accumulated to create the consumer’s perception of what the brand and product stand for. It is therefore vital that the identity of a brand creates an extension of the values that underpin the unique selling point of the product. Over time, with consistent and clever marketing, this perception of product and brand can be become intertwined to embody each other, and create a singular identity where brand and product boundaries are blurred. This emotive understanding of the brand and product helps influence the purchase decision of the customer by creating added values through brand associations and intangible benefits of purchasing this brand over a competitor. In the marketing world, creating added brand value in addition to the value provided by the product or services is a term referred to as Brand Equity. Brand Equity is a way of measuring how creating a successful brand name through various brand assets can provide additional value to both the customer and the brand, which in turn will be converted into revenue. Brand Equity can be achieved in a variety of different ways, with some of the key assets summarised below… 1. Brand Awareness This asset is quite self-explanatory. The more people that are aware of the brand obviously increases the chances of them purchasing the product or services. This can help build trust through familiarity of a brand, particularly when a consumer is purchasing a product in a market sector they don’t often shop in. It is therefore essential to increase the reach of marketing campaigns to interact with the widest audience possible. There are two levels to brand awareness: 1. The consumer being able to recall the brand from memory. 2. The consumer being able to recognise the brand from a stimulus such as the brand logo or product. 2. Perceived Quality This asset helps position the product in the market, and determines how the consumer perceives the product – whether it is a short life item, or a product with more longevity that is worth investing more money into. This also determines the price of the product, as it is important to ensure the product isn’t overpriced for it’s perceived quality, as this will immediately reduce the influence on Brand Equity. For some products (cars, machinery etc.) this asset will also lend itself to the brand personality and intangible value of the brand, where product quality is expected and needs to be met, otherwise it could be detrimental to the success of the brand, which it may struggle to recover from. 3. Brand Associations Brand Associations are vital in fulfilling the reputation and emotive attitudes towards a brand. This asset provides the brand with a personality and presents it as more than just a product. This is especially important for products with an emotive value to them, such as cars, clothing and lifestyle items. Whether it is a conscious decision or not, consumers purchase brands to present an extension of themselves, therefore it is important the brand captures an emotive association to further influence the purchase decision. This is often achieved through product placement or celebrity endorsement to give the brand context within the consumer’s lifestyle, which in turn also helps to increase brand awareness and brand recall. 4. Brand Loyalty Brand loyalty is an extremely important asset. It helps turn loyal customers into essentially brand ambassadors, who will then promote the brand within their social groups. This promotes the brand in an honest, personal format and people are more inclined to trust their friends experience and opinion of a brand and are therefore more likely to give it a try. This is essentially free marketing - therefore it is a good idea to look after existing customers. Another advantage of maintaining loyal customers is the ability to dominate a market sector. This ensures the brand has time to react once a new product enters the market without the fear of loyal customers immediately leaving the brand. Results of creating added value The results of these processes can help create added value for the customer, which becomes an influential factor during the purchase decision, and consequently increases the value to the company through revenue and reputation. Increasing the Brand Equity provides value to the customer by providing a rationale and clarity to the purchase decision, and provides a confidence in the brand over a competitor even when the functional elements of the product are equal. It also increases customer satisfaction due to the emotive consumption of the brand in addition to the product. Brand Equity increases the value of the company by enhancing the effectiveness of marketing campaigns due to the name of the brand being recognised more frequently, and this can act as a competitive advantage within the market sector. It also allows for the price of the product to be offset against the brand, which could result in a premium price being charged due to brand loyalty, emotive lifestyle consumption and product demand. #### Creating a Social Media Marketing Funnel for Your Business Before we can talk about how to create an effective social media marketing funnel for your business, we need to talk about exactly what an online marketing funnel is and how it works. A marketing funnel is the series of steps that leads someone from being aware of the product or service to actually taking action and making the purchase – or whatever your call to action asks them to do.  A social media marketing funnel is basically the same, but with an additional component. With social media, your target audience is composed of people who spread awareness of your brand.  They actively like and share, alerting their contacts that not only does your brand exist, but they endorse it.     A Social Media sales funnel looks like this: 1. Awareness 2. Engagement 3. Conversion 4. Loyalty/ Promotion It is called a funnel because the number of people active at each step will decrease.  Far more people will be aware of your brand than will make a purchase and spread awareness to their contacts. First, you need to decide which social media platforms will be the most effective to reach your target market and develop their awareness of your brand.  There is no set number that is ideal; it depends on how many you can keep up to date. Some basics that most brands need are a blog, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Pinterest is also useful to most, as is Google Plus.  Beyond that, much depends on your audience. There may be specialty forums or networks that offer access to exactly the people you need to reach.  When you create a formal online marketing strategy, it will pay to be clear about scheduling and integrating the various platforms you will use. Second, you need to encourage engagement with your audience.  Get them to click through from social media sites to your blog.  Have contests and ask questions.  You are not likely to get many sales directly from social media, but it is a powerful tool to drive traffic to your blog or encourage people to sign up for an email newsletter where you can make a sales pitch and ideally get them to convert.  The final goal is not to generate a certain number of likes on Facebook; it is to make conversions, usually to make sales that mean profit for your business. That said, the same process can be applied by organisations seeking a different conversion such as raising awareness of an issue and going on to convert and write a letter to their congressional representative. The best thing about social media marketing is that it isn’t finished after people make the purchase.  If they are happy, they are likely to tell others, usually via social media.  In effect, they become an active and important part of your marketing strategy. Online marketing is more than just a modern form of word of mouth.  It’s good when a satisfied customer tells a friend about your service or product over coffee, but it is exponentially better when they tell a couple hundred people on Facebook or Twitter. #### Creating Outstanding Opportunities for David Ross Education Trusts New Website The David Ross Education Trust was founded in 2010 and has grown from strength to strength in the last 7 years. We are really proud to announce the launch of the new David Ross Education Trust website! About David Ross Education Trust The David Ross Education Trust (DRET) is a network of academies across the East Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside and the East of England, they also have a free school which will open in the Olympic Park in London in September this year! The Trust has 33 academies in total and is continuing to expand at a rapid rate, with the aim to become the country's leading group of academics. DRET focuses on 3 key areas - Academic Excellence, Strong Community and Outstanding Opportunities allowing the students and staff to get the most out of their time with the Trust. The Task After approaching Fifteen in November last year, we were set the task of getting the new DRET website up and running by early 2017. The new website had to be creative, but demonstrate key statistics and information required by Ofsted and stakeholders of the Trust, allow enough information for potential students to get a feel for what their time at one of DRET's academies would be like, and attract new staff members to join the DRET team. The Website With a great library of images, stats and information to work from, we were able to produce a design that fits modern web trends but stays true to the Trusts core message and mission. Utilizing the image bank that was available to us, we were able to create some that was visual, engaging and inspiring for those looking at the website, encouraging them to read more about the Trust, and engage with them - whether that be signing up for a newsletter, applying for a job or enquiring about a place within one of the academies. The site is built using best practice web development techniques, utilising delivery of content and information to ensure that the site is interesting and engaging. The website is fully responsive, meaning that those opting to view the site on their mobile will have a great experience as those looking on a desktop. All the content is fully editable via a CMS system, and the DRET marketing team can edit the website at any time. We are really excited to see where the DRET team take the new website, and can't wait to see where it takes them! What They Said “Producing a website that is compliant with a raft of legal requirements, meets the needs of multiple stakeholders and is still user-friendly is not straightforward." “Fifteen quickly understood what we needed and became part of our in-house team.  They worked collaboratively and added real value in how we approached every aspect of the project. “We are really pleased with the end product. I have every confidence that it will play a significant impact on how the Trust is perceived.” - Ben Peck, Head Of Communications, David Ross Education Trust Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="http://www.dret.co.uk/"] Visit the new David Ross Education Trust Website [/fifteen_button] #### Creating The Perfect Logo I’ve been a designer now for a number of years and love all aspects of the design world whether it's designing for web or print but the one thing that really floats my boat is when I’m asked to design a new company logo. The challenge with any new logo design is making it different while at the same time keeping it simple. This allows it to stand out from its competitors and be victorious within its brand arena but above all, it has to be memorable. All iconic logo designs are memorable, close your eyes and think of Coca Cola, Apple or Nike and they will appear in your mind's eye as if you have just seen them. Understandably, these logos have been around for years and millions of pounds have been spent on elaborate marketing campaigns but the principle remains the same, being memorable is key. The Logo Design Process So, how do you start the process of designing the ‘perfect’ logo for your client, a logo that will be a representation of their business and its offerings, a logo that will serve the test of time, well, there are many things to consider along the way but one fundamental thing is understanding your clients needs. At this point, I should mention that to get to the absolute core of your client's needs I would recommend running a series of workshops. These workshops are designed to discover what really makes your client tick, why they get out of bed in the morning to do what they do and what their brand stands for. These workshops cover all manner of things from discovering what brand archetypes they are to understanding their customer personas. For now, we’ll set all this aside and save it for another blog maybe, so let's get back to the logo. The Logo Firstly, the obvious questions come to mind such as, what font to use, after all, there are thousands of fonts out there and choosing the correct one is crucial in the successful design of a logo. For example, you wouldn’t use ‘Cooper Black’ if you were designing a logo for a retirement home, not the conventional type anyway. Font choice can make or break a logo, it can make the logo look corporate or fun so getting this spot on is important as it needs to give the right message to the target audience. Another obvious design decision to make is what colours to use in the design makeup of the logo.  This choice is also crucial in portraying the correct message. Using colour to evoke emotion is something designers understand well and use to its full potential so it’s important that we get this right from the start. Choosing a red colour palette portrays ‘passion’ and ‘excitement’, some brands that fall into this bracket are Virgin, Coca Cola and Red Bull. Choosing a blue colour palette would portray ‘loyalty’ and ‘reliability’, brands that fall into this bracket are British Gas, Facebook and the UK Lotto amongst many others. Finally, choosing a green colour palette evokes the emotion of ‘sanctuary’ and ‘trust’ examples of brands using green are BP, Starbucks and Bodyshop. Logo design decisions There are many other decisions to consider when designing a logo, ‘target audience’ being one of the most important. Why would you need to consider the target audience when designing a logo? Well, the logo has to be enticing in order to attract them. Let’s say you’re designing a logo for a nursery school, your target audience would be the parents or guardians of young children so the logo needs to appeal to them. To break this down further you could list the exact criteria. Male and/or female 20 - 35 years of age Working full or part-time Have young children around the age of 4 Having identified the target audience you start to build a picture of what your logo needs to look like. Make your logo stand out from the crowd, make it unique and memorable don’t fall into the trap of being too obvious with the design. It’s a cliché but ‘thinking outside the box’ really is important. You want your client to feel that they are getting a great service. You also want to reassure them they’re in good hands so giving them the first thing that pops into your head, in my opinion, is too easy and safe. What I mean by all this is being obvious is not good design, if you were tasked with designing a logo for an airline company I would steer clear of using an aeroplane icon in the design, think differently, be smarter. Try to be more abstract, perhaps the silhouette of a bird’s wing or a constellation of stars. Timeless Logos Great logos are timeless and still look as relevant today as the day they were designed. You only need to turn to Nike for inspiration. The Nike ‘Swoosh’ icon was designed in 1971, that’s 48 years ago, and it still looks amazing, why? Because it’s so simple and doesn’t rely on fads to support it like 3D text or modelling or trendy fonts that will soon date and look tired. This is important when considering logo design the more simple you can make it the better and be mindful of font choice. Less is more, focus on a clear concept and be bold, don’t follow trends, set them. Reinforce the Brand Designing a logo that reinforces the client’s brand is always something that should be considered. If you get this right the finished result will be extremely powerful. Take Apple, they have adopted the ‘apple’ for their icon. The apple represents knowledge which is perfect for the company as they are known globally as world leaders in technology. One of my personal favourites is the WWF logo, the panda symbol is so strong and recognisable and overcomes all language barriers. Incidentally, this logo was created in 1961 that’s 58 years ago, just goes to show if you get all the design elements right the end results will be extremely memorable. And Finally There are a lot more elements to consider when designing a logo like ‘balance’ and the use of negative space to make your logo look awesome not to mention ‘shape psychology’. Shape psychology is worth thinking about as it can help to reinforce the brand ethos, for example using a square-shaped logo gives balance, security and professionalism while a triangular shape gives the impression of stability and power. A circular logo design offers unity & community. To finish off you need to make your logo adaptable, it has to look great in print and on screen it also needs to work when it's big and small and finally, you need to design variations of the logo that work as solid colour and reversed out. Giving your client a suite of logos that they can use for any online or offline need is important and shows you have a clear understanding of the design process. Like I said at the start, designing logos and branding really is one of the best parts of my job, helping new businesses get off the ground with a solid foundation is such a good thing to part of. Make sure your branding is point and go to the professionals for your logo design. It’s much more than a simple icon or image, it is the face your customers see every day. If you'd rather leave it to the professionals contact us today and we'll help you design a logo that hits all the targets. #### Customer retention strategies to combat the effects of COVID-19 COVID-19 has already had a serious impact on the economy this week and experts predict a significant downturn as we go into the second quarter of the year. There is some optimism however with China reporting no new cases of coronavirus and Boris Johnson remaining optimistic that we could be recovering in twelve weeks. Until then, many businesses have gone into survival mode and are reducing expenditure where possible. Besides, there is more emphasis on marketing efforts to be cost-effective and to generate as much impact per pound as possible.  In this blog, we'll discover practical marketing techniques to improve customer retention through digital channels: Great customer service – surprise and delight your customers with great customer service. Every touchpoint with your business should be customer-centric and make customers feel valued. Businesses need to show appreciation to their customers through their tone of voice and communications. This stretches from customer value proposition to website experience, right through to order processing communication and even your complaints procedure. Set expectations – the pressure is on many industries and supply chains to deliver products. Be clear and set expectations with customers so that they are fully informed on stock levels and delivery dates or changes to service. Many businesses have released statements around changes to working practices such as closing physical stores or team working from home. Transparency and assurances around services or loss of service can boost brand loyalty and customer retention.  Marketing automation – hand in hand with expectation setting, automated communications such as planned and triggered emails can save budget in manpower and also ensure customers are fully informed on changes to the business, reassurances on service availability and working practices.  Flexibility and support – to retain future brand loyalty many businesses are offering flexibility on their terms. This is particularly apparent in the wedding industry where many couples have been forced to postpone their nuptials. Rather than holding them to account in line for terms many businesses have proposed new terms and highlighted their willingness to be flexible and supportive. In terms of securing future business and upholding service-driven reputations, they are onto a winner.  Reward loyalty – incentivising repeat business can be effectively harnessed by rewarding loyalty. For instance, discounted subscriptions can motivate website visitors to commit to more than a one-off purchase. There are possibilities technically to implement subscriptions through many eCommerce platforms and plugins which can make this a cost-effective enhancement to your website.  Customer reviews – reinforcing great customer service and social proofing is always a good booster for trade and in tricky times it's all the more important to get the edge over competitors. Customer review platforms such as Trust Pilot, Reviews.co.uk and FEEFO all offer easy integration and validate trust and service.  Be more than a business – brands can generate loyalty through their value and meaning, super successful brands connect with their customers beyond transactions. Many businesses have adapted to the COVID-19 crisis by pooling their resources to support the communities they serve. In terms of brand positioning, this can propel a company’s profile and brand values to resonate with existing and future customers. In terms of reach, philanthropic stories shape brands and can result in social sharing that generates valuable PR opportunities and exposure. For instance, London-based delicatessen chain, Lina Stores have switched operational strategy to raise funds to feed desperate Londoners has generated exposure far and wide – from significant influencers such as Laura Jackson through to Timeout magazine – their profile has had a major boost. Content generation – as people are self-isolating audiences are evermore captive on the internet. The pandemic is so unprecedented and touches the lives of everyone globally. As a result, there is a real thirst for information that is driving people online to understand the implications for them. Be that from a social or economic standpoint there is an opportunity for brands to generate content around the pandemic and their offering or viewpoints.  Social media – following on from content generation, across all sectors people are connecting on social media. As people become more isolated social media provides human interaction and can be a comfort to many. Whether content is community-driven, helpful, uplifting or even humorous it can provide a welcome connection to audiences and allow brands the opportunity to remain in the mind’s eye of customers and potential customers. It’s imperative to stay in tune with the discourse of your customers on social media, to connect with their feelings and involve in their conversations.   Do you need a hand creating reactive strategies? Speak to one of our experts today. Fifteen Design is an award-winning digital agency with years of experience creating and carrying out effective digital marketing campaigns. #### Dark social: What is it and why is it important? When it comes to social media sharing, it’s easy to assume that all of the sharing happens out in the open through likes, comments, and reposts. But behind the scenes, there’s a hidden layer of interaction that’s harder to track yet hugely influential: dark social. For many brands, dark social can represent both a challenge and an opportunity. Because while it’s an activity that can’t always be measured through standard analytics, it’s often where the most trusted recommendations and genuine conversations take place. But what exactly is dark social and why should brands care about it? Well in this blog, we’ll explore what it is, why it matters, and how brands can start tracking and embracing it to better understand their audiences and build more meaningful engagement. What is dark social? Dark social essentially refers to the private sharing of content away from public timelines and social feeds. The term was first coined by journalist Alexis Madrigal in 2012 to describe web traffic that comes from untraceable sources, such as links shared through personal messages or emails. It’s a conversation that is happening out of sight, and typically involves someone sending a link to a friend, forwarding a post to a colleague, or sharing a screenshot in a group chat. Some of the most common examples of dark social include: Messaging apps - such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger where users share links or screenshots privately. Email sharing - forwarding a newsletter, blog, or article to someone. Copy-and-paste links - copying a URL from a website and pasting it into a private chat. Closed communities - this includes private chats such as Facebook groups and Slack channels, where people discuss and share content without public visibility. Word of mouth - traditional offline recommendations that lead to direct visits online. From an analytics perspective, these interactions are classed as ‘invisible’ because they don’t show up in referral data. This often results in visits from dark social being categorised as ‘direct traffic,’ even though they’ve come from social sharing, not a typed-in URL. Why is dark social important? If you only measure the visible parts of social media - the likes, comments, and reshares - you’re missing a big part of how people actually interact with your brand. Here’s why dark social is just as important. Most sharing now happens in private People are increasingly moving away from public posts and towards private spaces. It’s more personal, more trusted, and less performative. Research shows that a significant portion of all content sharing now happens through dark social channels, such as emails and messaging tools, meaning the conversations that are driving engagement are often the ones you can’t see. It’s the most authentic form of social influence Dark social is the digital version of word of mouth. A friend forwarding you an article or product link carries far more weight than an influencer post or ad, as it involves people sharing things they genuinely find valuable. It’s direct, personal, and rooted in trust. That makes it one of the most valuable types of engagement a brand can earn. It’s a competitive advantage Because so few brands actively track or strategise for dark social, there’s a huge opportunity for those who do. By understanding how and where your audience shares privately, you can create much more valuable content and campaigns that are worth sharing, and include calls-to-action that naturally fit into these spaces. 5 ways you can track dark social While dark social might be harder to see, it’s not impossible to measure. With the right approach, you can start to uncover patterns and make smarter, data-driven decisions.  Here are five practical ways to track and analyse your dark social activity so you can have a clearer picture of how your brand lives and moves across unseen areas. 1. Analyse your “direct” traffic Start by taking a closer look at your “direct traffic” in Google Analytics 4 (GA4). If you notice large spikes in direct visits to a specific page, like a blog or product page that’s unlikely to be typed in manually, that’s often a sign of dark social sharing. You can segment this traffic by page, behaviour, and engagement to identify where those hidden shares might be happening. 2. Use trackable sharing links Consider adding UTM parameters to your URLs when promoting content through emails or social posts. You can also use link shorteners like Bitly or other custom shortlinks to identify where users are clicking from. While this won’t capture every private share, it provides visibility into a portion of the activity that would otherwise remain untracked. 3. Add “share to chat” options If you know your audience is likely to share your content through certain private channels, make it easier for them to do so. Buttons such as “Share on WhatsApp” or “Send via Messenger” not only encourage sharing, but also give you the opportunity to track interactions, especially when combined with UTM parameters. 4. Use social listening and brand monitoring tools Some dark social activity can be inferred through brand mentions, even without direct links. Tools like Brandwatch, or Mention can help surface where your brand or content is being shared or discussed across certain private or semi-private spaces like forums and groups for example. 5. Correlate campaign activity with dark social surges If you notice an unexpected increase in direct traffic following an email campaign, influencer collaboration, or PR event, dark social might be at play. It’s important to keep track of these patterns to understand how different activities ripple through private networks. Need help with your dark social strategy? Just because dark social takes place in the shadows, it doesn’t mean it has to remain there. Recognising that many of your most valuable interactions may happen privately allows you to craft smarter strategies that reflect how people truly share your content online. While it may never be fully measurable, understanding and adapting to it gives your brand a real competitive edge. At Fifteen, we help brands bridge the gap between visibility and influence. Whether you’re looking to understand dark social, create more shareable content, or develop a strategy that captures hidden engagement, our digital marketing team can help. Be sure to get in touch with us today to find out more about how we can bring your brand into the light. #### Delicious Digital Campaigns For Foodies – that make your mouth water We’ve all been sat at our computers or watching the telly and an advert smothered with food is shown right in your face at the moment your stomach rumbles. Before you know it, you’re out the door to your local store to pick up what was just advertised to you. These campaigns are so well-placed and designed to cause this exact motion. Here are some of our favourite delicious digital campaigns. Have a fling with a Creme Egg After Cadbury’s creme eggs sales were down in 2011 and 2012, they wanted to really push the sales back up for 2013. They decided to do this through an engaging digital campaign, starting with a video advert and then supporting it with content on their social media. The concept behind the campaign was focusing on the fact that Creme Eggs are only available for a couple of months a year from Valentine's Day up until Easter. They combined these two seasonal events with people have a romantic fling with their chocolatey egg. On their Facebook, they opened up a competition where followers could send in photos of their romantic affairs with their Creme Eggs, in the chance of winning some fun personalised accessories. This campaign ended up as one of their most successful to date (not quite as memorable as their Gorilla drumming session). There were over 47,000 engagements per post. You’re not you when you’re hungry This is one of the greatest Google AdWords food campaigns to date. As part of the Snickers, ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’ campaign, they looked into the most commonly misspelt words that are typed into Google search. They found that when people are hungry, they're far more likely to make spelling mistakes and lose focus at work. So, when someone made a spelling mistake typing into Google, they would then be targeted with an advert full of spelling mistakes, encouraging them to refuel with a Snickers. During the campaign, the adverts reached over 500,000 people online! The campaign was so successful it's still being used today! So tasty the mouth boggles Domino’s Pizza love a creative campaign and they really brought it with their mouth-boggling concept. They wanted to express the greatness of their pizzas, but when they spoke to consumer groups, they presented their love for Domino's in memes and gifs. Essentially, they were joking that there are just no words to describe how great they really are, it’s all in emotion. This idea then inspired the mouth-boggling concept, which was then created into a comical advert. During the advert, people were featured in presentations or just chatting with friends, who then lost control of their mouths as soon as a Domino’s pizza was brought into the room. After launching their adverts onto TV and online, they then had a specially created Snapchat filter made. This filter used face recognition to make people’s mouths go skew-whiff, just like those within the adverts. This allowed customers to enjoy an interactive experience and share it with their friends and family, building more brand awareness for Domino's Pizza. Here to save the peckish One of the greatest food brands online is, of course, Innocent Smoothies. At the start of 2011, Innocent brought along their digital campaign ‘Super Smoothie’. The concept was that many people take on healthy eating New Year’s resolutions, but many fail due to peckish habits. Innocent wanted their products to be the saviour of the day and banish people from those naughty temptations. They created an advert that featured people watching others enjoy cheeky snacks, whilst they’re stood there biting at their lips wanting to binge. Next thing you know, an Innocent smoothie is flying on into the scene to save the day. After the TV adverts, they also launched an app game where you could take control of the superhero smoothie against different backgrounds and immerse yourself into the campaign. Food campaigns are so much fun to work on, as you can really play with the customer’s cravings for certain foods and give them reasons why they should be enjoying your product over competitors'. There are so many more successful food campaigns out there, have you got any favourites? Let us know on Twitter @fifteendesign. #### Design Trends for 2018 You don’t become a multiple award-winning digital agency without hard graft, dedication and above all passion for the industry. We’re all encouraged to keep up to date with the latest trends, staying up to date on developments and clued up on influential people. Well, I say this but it doesn’t feel like work if you love what you do. This self-teaching is simply a benefit or side effect of browsing your favourite website or reading your approved blog of choice. I digress, as the faint sound of sleigh bells can be heard in the distance (or if you are in the Fifteen office, the full-on Christmas playlist) we continue to hurtle towards the year 2018. One guarantee is that as our digital worlds evolve and technology and methods advance, new trends emerge and new fashions become more apparent. To be at the forefront of our industries we must recognise these from early on, to ensure we look to inject these ideas into client projects. One area of our business that's reliant on the visual experience, is design. And by design we mean the look, feel and usability of graphics, websites, print and other digital marketing materials. We deliver unique and current designs without exception and that’s by knowing our fields inside out. But, we aren’t the secretive type here at Fifteen. We want to share our thoughts and predictions with fellow professionals, like-minded individuals and anyone who is interested and excited about the subject as we are! Read on for the top design trends of 2018… Geometry Geometric wallpaper design - Etsy|Branding/packaging design for Trig- Olivia King|Geometric Beats Series - Kerby Rosanes Since its arrival in 2016, geometric design has had a strong grip on the creative world. It’s recently been recognised by top colour player Pantone, who has expanded its offering into home décor – who expect 2018 to see geometric patterns in tiles, wallpapers and art. And if you’re not using geometric visuals in your work you will be using some sort of repetitive pattern. 2018 will be full of detailed decoration, pretty patterns and interesting textures such as those inspired by traditional artworks and techniques. Corruption & ‘Error’ Artist, Photographer and Art Director - Ernest Artillo|Poster design - Quim Marin |Sloche brand advertising – Havas Worldwide Canada If you have a sibling, you will know the feeling of spending hours over a drawing or filling neatly between the lines in your newest colouring book, when BAM! Your beloved brother or sister knocks your elbow or dives in for quick scribble. Jealousy is an awful thing. It seems a once unwanted, annoying design ‘error’ is fast becoming one of the most sort after effects. We admit this trend is more thought out and considered than a random act of malice. But glitches reminiscent of old videotape and the type of double exposure you would only expect to see in a darkroom discard pile will be the height of graphic design. On the other end of the scale, those visuals made up of mixed media will see decay, decomposition and appear to age naturally. Alongside designers practising the ‘art of sabotage’ by adding to, taking away from the original image. Mirroring methods adopted by more traditional form artists such as ripping, scratching and splashing. We already dived into design trends in the music industry and a recent example of experimental design can be seen with Taylor Swifts number one Album cover Reputation – newspaper printed over a black and white photograph. Bright Colours Spotify re-brand - We Are Collins 2018 will see designers rejoice in the advancements in technology and what this will mean for the use of colours in graphic design for screen and web. Our device screens are better quality and work on retina displays. The trend before leaned towards ‘safe’ pastel colours and soft hues, whereas the immediate future sees colours becoming stronger and more rebellious. Finally, we can fulfil that age-old client desire of ‘making it pop’ with playful palettes that really stand out. Spectrums Sexual Orgasms Series - Romain Gorisee|Spotify re-brand – We Are Collins|Green and Blacks rebrand - Bulletproof Another aspect involving colours are the effects we put on them, how we combine them together or shift from one to the other. Instagram famously changed its logo in 2016 to incorporate a bright colour gradient. Web design in 2018 will echo this, moving on from flat, solid colour to full-on colour transitions. Forward-thinking brands will want to work on their identity colour wheel or range rather than being pinned down by a handful of brand colours as part of their guidelines. Related to this is the persistence of progress spectrums as an alternative to loading bars. UX designer Chase Buckley says “As humans do not experience the world in broken-up steps, rather, our experience of time and events is fluid and organic. Progress is a spectrum, not a bar.” People don’t like to be told where they sit in the process, they would like to decipher this themselves. Progress spectrums offer a parallel to the true experience of the user along a continuous, flowing journey flowing on to the next. Sketches and Hand-Drawn Illustrations Purple Series - Ina Stanimirova|Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival Poster - Jee-ook Choi|Dropbox re-brand – We Are Collins If you wish to be unique in 2018 it will be worth contemplating the use of hand-drawn illustrations. Not an unfamiliar technique, with many brands choosing to represent themselves with original sketches but the quality and character of these drawings are to be on another level next year. Showcasing individual talent and style attracts more audience attention. Custom drawn pieces give the capacity for more imagination and as a consequence brands appear more authentic and genuine. This, in turn, builds trust with customers and audiences. Typography Etsy Holiday Campaign |Designer and Artist - Justina Blakeney |You’ve Got Enough on Your Plate - Scott Townsin Creative typography has been around for a few years now and shows no signs of leaving the top design trend chart. Restrictive type is a thing of the past with inspirational and distinctive designed typography taking the spotlight. Fonts will be more complex, bespoke and hand drawn too. Embodying copy into a design can be a challenge, demanding a new way of thinking – what if the copy was the design? Think cool cropped lettering, fun chaotic presentation and clever integration with the rest of the page including other design elements and photography. Mixed media I Need a Guide, Art and Contemporary Imagery – Max Milly|Re.Cover Magazine Art - Ana Strumpf and Hattie Stewart|Tyler Spangler Who says we need to stay in our boxes and only work using a certain method? Much like the colour spectrum trend, this style looks to blur boundaries and shake things up. We have flair for illustration, digital design, photography plus countless other techniques, imagine what we could produce when merging them together in one piece? Crossing over styles and merging options may wind up being some of your best work and totally unique. Like being back in a nursery with pasta shapes, glitter, paint, felt, glue and anything else you could get your hands on. Just like that, only cleaner. Minimalism Tom Hanks Uncommon Type Some Stories - Cornerstone Junior Designer Lauren Wakefield |Graphic design, illustration and typography – Andre Britz|Limited edition posters for Adele’s European Tour - Design Studio La Boca Associated with modern design is minimalism, which gives the sense of uncluttered, order and purity. If you want to get your message across quickly and with a punch, adopting a minimal or even hyper-minimal style. 2018 see’s this trend take a turn towards being more daring on details or colour. In short, the year 2018 will see designers experimenting with countless techniques and methods plus the ways in which to combine them creatively. The aim is to design something as unique and as original as possible. Advancements in technology and further ways to share our work means inspiration is plentiful and ideas should be in abundance. #### Design Trends In The Music And Fashion Industry Industry design trends can be confusing. They are continually evolving, changing and growing. Some can be around for years and manage to adapt with the times, whereas some are so short lived they barely get started, and once their time has passed they’re dead in the water. This is emphasised more so in music and fashion culture where the sphere of influence and inspiration is relentless. With that in mind let’s take a look at some of the visual and design trends currently happening… Handcrafted In 2017 fashion brands are making a conscious effort to cut through an overcrowded, condensed and distracted marketplace with straight-talking brand dialogue and personality. This has resulted in visuals that are more bespoke and handcrafted to showcase genuine authenticity and credibility. One brand that does this brilliantly is P&CO. To put it in their own words “P&CO is a rebellious lifestyle brand created for the thrill seekers, the risk takers and the wild ones”. Everything P&CO create is hand-drawn by the company directors and their in-house team. This includes everything from their t-shirt graphics and marketing collateral to their social media and online presence. This approach injects an essence of their brand story and personality directly into the products and visual presence. This helps to validate their image of being different and genuine through a feeling of craftsmanship and individuality.   Experimental Fashion and music industries are always looking for something innovative and trying new ideas because it is one of the few industries where it’s possible to get away with near enough anything. One example of this experimental nature is Glitch Art. To put it simply, Glitch Art is a process of fracturing an image by breaking the pixels and distorting them in a completely random way. This isn’t a particularly new concept, but the process of creating the visuals can be so varied and random that the results can be surprising. That’s where the band Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes come in. Looking at the album art above, I was really surprised to find out that this was created without using Photoshop or any image processing software. It was actually created using a type of Glitch Art, but fractured in such a way that the results don’t look typical of this style. The visuals were created by Dean Richardson who plays guitar in the band. By opening the images as text and hiding some secret messages within them he was able to distort the images to create a random but consistent visual style. What I love about this though is how considered and designed the artwork looks, but in reality, the delivered result is totally random, and the only controlled factor was the initial photo taken on an iPhone.   Undesigned Another trend to look out for is designs becoming seemingly less designed. This results in visuals becoming at first glance quite simple, clumsy and even messy. This style includes having overlapping imagery and text that seemingly has been thrown together without any care for a basic grid alignment, and usual typographic elements such as widows, orphans, rivers left to do their thing. This style of design has been executed by brands such as Urban Outfitters and American Apparel to great success, and it now seems to have filtered across into more mainstream channels. This is inspired by the transition period we are currently in, with a rise in startup culture giving way to small independent businesses that look to inject real personality, individuality and a non-commercial edge to their visual output. Kanye West’s album ‘The Life Of Pablo’ is a perfect example of this style of design being used in a different context. At face value, it has an old-school, basic feel that could look quite amateur, but underneath these initial visuals is a hidden design and consideration.   Nostalgia The 90s are back! Vintage distressed visuals, polaroid photography and bold vibrant colours are styles coming back into trend through design. Research by Deposit Photo suggests that the resurgence in this style is due to the 90s' generation now becoming brand ambassadors, starting businesses and using social media in such a way that they are driving consumer demand. The results of this style of artwork, particularly in photography, portray a more grainy, textured and natural finish that helps capture a more authentic and real life moment through storytelling. Candid shots are becoming more popular, and help further this motion of storytelling by capturing honest and sincere emotions that people can relate to. Joshua Halling is a freelance music photographer, who’s work captures this feeling of nostalgia whilst still capturing the energy and passion of a live music show. He has an ability of portraying candid style shots in a way that brings a rawness to his work by capturing the split second of the moment in-between. #### Design Week Top 100: Designed for Success Design Week released its Top 100 Consultancy Survey and we’re proud to announce Fifteen has made the coveted list. This definitive ranking recognises the most successful design businesses in the industry. 2018-2019 has been an interesting year for design and Design Week’s job had not been made easier by a litany of stellar design agencies. The Top 100 has run for more than two decades and remains a mainstay of ranking market intelligence, strategy, financial health, headcount and fee income per head. With an industry worth over £75 billion annually, Design Week has worked tirelessly to curate a list of the very best design agencies. Researching and determining this list is a feat in itself with over 370 hours across Design Week’s research, editorial and production teams. What’s more this list, unlike others, is independently audited by Kingston Smith making it a trusted resource. At Fifteen, we consider ourselves very lucky to be part of this hallowed list and can look back on some amazing campaigns. From full website builds to brand, packaging, and exhibition design our dynamic design team has taken every project in their stride and created some breathtaking work. One of the highlights has been working on Tinplate’s new brand and website. This cohesive project blended physical with the digital to create designs that married their rich family tradition with their bright future. We also worked with Runarchy on some impressive brochures to promote their renegade running aesthetic. This exciting clothing brand pushes the boundaries of sports design and we had a great time working with them. On the branding front, we worked with, data specialists,  JTA to help them put their best foot forward with an emotive brand that is adaptable across several channels. Such was the success of this brand launch that there is a new website in the works to unify their digital image. Our digital portfolio has grown this year with a custom site for Ecova. These masters of data analysis needed a site that conveyed their genius and outside-the-box thinking. To this end, we put together a clean, professional site with subtle binary imagery and a colour palette that highlights growth and innovation. Another standout performer has been the work we’ve done on Ogre. We condensed their brand into a unified image with a unique orange palette and a responsive site that accurately portrays their offering. We could go on, with the likes of Innes England, Merlin, Sygnature and Yu Energy to name a few. Instead, we’re looking forward to the future, with new campaigns in 2019 we’re excited at the blank canvas that awaits us. If you’d like to know what it takes to crack the Top 100, keep up to date with all our designs or get inspiration from our insightful blogs and you’ll find yourself a direct line to the latest developments in design and digital trends. #### Different Content Formats and When to Use Them Content formats can take many forms. Most businesses think of it as just blog writing and while blogs are a good way to improve your SEO, there are countless ways to communicate to your audience quickly and efficiently. Changing up your content style can shake up a tired format, create connections with different customers and open up avenues to various social media. Different content styles also work with customers at various stages of the sales funnel. From quick, easy beginner information to in-depth guides for return customers, your content plan should cater to everyone’s needs. After all, content is king. Here are the most popular types of content you can create. Mix and match them and you’ll find new leads, sales and exposure. Blogs Blogs are the most common and easiest pieces to plan. These pieces of content are the staple diet of any website, providing new keywords for search engines to crawl while also providing interesting content for your visitors. Blogs are quick to create and easy to upload. This content is perfect for capturing new keywords, short tail and long tail. Blogs are valuable pieces of content. Low cost and easy to produce, this form of content creation can also help cultivate a community around your brand and build long term customer relationships. However, it is essential to remember that relationships take time to develop so make sure you create a long term, consistent blog plan. Organic growth is a slow burn. However, it can become a source of visibility that snowballs with proper care. When creating blog content you should also ensure that all that traffic is put to good use. Optimise your blogs for conversion. Always add a call to action and internal links to relevant services and products. Internal links keep users on your site for longer, increasing the chances they will convert. For added efficacy, add a link or shoutout to a useful external site. Once live, you can reach out to them to see if they can also share your piece on social media. Research the keywords and terms you need to include in your piece. Once you’ve completed writing, ensure that all of them are included and relevant. Combine long and short key phrases to increase your visibility. Long-form Content A long-form piece is a great tool for establishing your site as a brand leader and showing off your knowledge. These pieces are also great for increasing subscriptions with the promise of more features driving viewers to give you their details. A long-form piece can take many different guises such as an in-depth guide, case study, or even a gonzo journalist piece. These pieces are usually much longer than your average blog reaching up to about 15,000 words. However, you don’t need to write it all one sitting. You can break it down into chapters. Release them at regular intervals to build up anticipation and develop a readership. A feature also allows you to drill down into the keywords and get specific. Unique questions, expert insight and search terms relating your industry can all be included and ranked for increased visibility. These pieces are time-consuming and require quite a bit of investment. Don’t let this time and money go to waste. If you do opt for a long-form piece, then market it. Promote it heavily and shout to the hilltops. Case Studies Case studies are specific to you and the work you do. These PR pieces are a great way to tell people about the quality of your work and get some third party feedback form clients. Customers trust a site supported by word of mouth and case studies are a good way to generate word of mouth. Case studies can take many forms, a blog, a long-form piece, an infographic, even a video interview. A case study also allows you to develop thought leadership, share your experiences and create copy that is unique to your brand. These pieces also lend themselves to internal linking increasing onsite time and driving customers down the funnel. When creating a case study, it’s important to not just report the results. Dry stats are nothing without insight so give your perspective. Every case study has a story so don’t be afraid to explore it. White Papers White papers are a long-form piece of content that relies heavily on statistics and data. This more technical cousin of a feature piece uses insightful data to create a detailed study. White papers are incredibly specific, often including information and jargon that only others in your industry will find relevant. White papers are the pinnacle of thought leadership. They can be used to attract customers on professional social media platforms such as Linkedin. Generating a white paper is a time-consuming and potentially costly endeavour. A white paper has to be professional and accurate. You’ll need to trust a professional copywriter with this treasured article. White papers thrive on structure and should include an introduction, a glossary, and a table of contents for quick reference. As with case studies, sharing data is only half of the job. Providing insight is key to a white paper’s success. A white paper is also a great place to show off what you have accomplished and drive traffic to convert on-site or subscribe to emails. Infographics Moving away from text-based content; infographics are an essential part of your content strategy. Pictures say a thousand words and infographics are no different. Combine your data with an interesting visual and you’ll create an easily digestible infographic that can be shared far and wide. Infographics bring boring statistics to life so don’t be afraid to contact your designer and get their thoughts on how they can bring the numbers to life. Charts, graphs, and other visual media can also make statistics more impressive and drive viewers to convert with your brand. Where technical documents like white papers can be difficult to share on social media, infographics have the potential to go viral. Brand your graphic and share everywhere you can. These pieces take content and design time so make sure you get your return on investment with a planned social media campaign. Checklists If there’s one thing everyone understands it’s a checklist. Creating an easy-to-follow list or graphic offers virality and social media potential. Checklists can be created to help customers understand how your services function or even DIY guides that add value to your community offering. You can also change up the format, use a fun flow chart or a checklist graphic to bring your information to life. Checklist content is great for generating leads. A checklist shows off your thought leadership and can be offered to clients in exchange for subscriptions, shares and can even be used to improve other pieces you may have written. This evergreen content format can be used time and time again. Invest in a checklist now and reap the rewards for years to come. Videos Last but not least, is video content. Internet speeds and infrastructure has come on in leaps and bounds. Video content abounds on social media, is easily digestible, and has incredible share potential. Videos take time and money to produce though so you must plan your video as well as the share strategy before breaking ground. Videos are dynamic and are ideal for users on mobile devices. A large proportion of viewers spend hours on mobile phones every day so the potential reach for an informative video is huge. Remember to brand your video and add CTAs to maximise on this potential. Much like infographics, videos are evergreen. Embed them in other content formats and reshare them from time to time. This will help you get the most out of your video and justify the initial outlay. As you can see content marketing is far more than words on a page. It’s images, videos, guides, blogs, news pieces, and anything else you can imagine. When planning your next content strategy think about how and where you can shake things up. Your clients will love the variety and you’ll find your visibility and conversion rate soar. At Fifteen Design we’ve spent years developing, creating, and managing content strategies. We work with SMEs and multinational brands on bespoke content formats designed to increase your conversions and strengthen your brand identity. Allow us to help you tailor your content strategy with insight, guidance and support. Contact us now to find out more. #### Digital Campaigns From The Luxury Industry The luxury industry isn’t too far different to the mass market when it comes to digital marketing. Both industries know that they need to get involved in social media marketing and find new and exciting ways to engage with their customers. The difference is in the approach. The styling is usually quite different, often with a more tailored edge. Here’s just a few digital marketing campaigns from brands within the luxury industry, all playing on different aspects of reaching their clients digitally. Burberry Acoustic Burberry has been running an on-going campaign since 2010 called Burberry Acoustic. The concept behind the campaign is to showcase young British bands that Burberry believes have a future in music. After Burberry experienced a decline in sales in 2005 after the negative association with chav culture, they had to work hard to rebuild their luxurious image. Rather than just focusing on a more mature age group, known for having a higher income, they decided to find a way of approaching the younger demographic. Through the Burberry Acoustic project, they began to create a new more edgy feel to the brand and focused on reaching the consumer on social media by getting them to share their latest in music. Alongside this campaign, they also launched the Burberry Brit Fragrances, for him and her. The adverts were filmed within a concert venue, using strong dark contrasts and the popular sexual nature of fragrance adverts. Burberry was also one of the first fashion brands to live stream their catwalks on social media, making the once exclusive event, accessible to the general public. They continue to be one of the best luxury brands on social media, as they are keen and confident in trying out new social media strategies. We've already talked about their extremely successful Burberry Kisses campaign on our blog, which focused on promoting their make-up collections in a highly digital and creative way. Tiffany & Co’s #LoveNotLike Tiffany’s is best known for their much-loved engagement rings and duck egg blue packaging. However, last year they decided to play around with social media advertising, creating the campaign #LoveNotLike. The concept behind the campaign is that everyone sits on their phones ‘liking’ posts on social media, but for Tiffany & Co, a ‘like’ isn’t enough. “#LoveNotLike communicates the belief that love, as an attitude, is something to uphold and celebrate,” says Diana Hong, VP of Digital Marketing, Tiffany & Co. The campaigns visuals and videos featured multiple models draped in pieces of their jewellery, whilst upbeat music played and splashes of colour are featured throughout. It also flashes up quotes, saying phrases like ‘Do more than like. Love.”. This advert was a very different stlye to what Tiffany's is normally known for. It had a much younger and upbeat feel to it, rather than focusing on couples getting engaged in an elegant fashion.   Ted Baker Mission Impeccable Ted Baker love a digital campaign. In their campaign 'Mission Impeccable' they teamed up with film director Guy Ritchie to create a shoppable video advert. The short-film featuring their autumn/winter range took a cinematic, James Bondesque approach. The video was featured on Ted Baker's website for a limited time, here you could click on any of the items in the video and it would link you to where you can buy it from. This, therefore, took the searching time out for the consumer. Normally after watching an advert, a consumer would need to spend time searching for the exact products featured, and this is enough to reduce the chances of conversion. Customers want the shopping process to be easier and easier by the day. That is why this advert was so great because it cut out the time for the consumer and they could just enjoy the digital experience. If you're looking into improving your brands' digital marketing campaigns and strategies, do get in touch with us today. #### Digital Dates For Your Business Calendar Interested in the world of digital and design? Well, so are we. As you’d expect. Every year there are loads of events happening all across the UK that are well worth your time. If you’re a marketing manager, a business owner who wants to be on top of the latest digital trends, or merely interested in design and development and you want to immerse yourself in a more creative, cutting-edge world, then here are a few good events for your diary. These are chances to not only learn, but to network with like-minded people.  Awwwards London, 2nd – 3rd February Awwwards London is a major innovation and creativity conference that looks at the latest trends on the Internet. Full of workshops and talks, by the industry’s leading ‘entrepreneurs and evangelists’, it promises to be a fantastic glimpse into the future. Manchester Digital Skills Festival, 14th February 2017 Manchester Digital Skills Festival pitches itself as the largest digital skills conference in the North of England. Expect to find practical advice on the current realities of implementing digital in modern workplaces. It seems like a great place for recruiters or maybe those looking to get into the industry. MWLive, 8th – 9th March 2017 A collaborative conference between major companies Marketing Week and eConsultancy, MWLive offers advice for the rapidly changing world of marketing. Interactive workshops, talks from industry leaders, exhibitors and more, the conference looks to offer technical, practical or professional development for marketing professionals. It’s a great way to find the answer to a marketing problem within your organisation. Brighton SEO, 7th April 2017 In just a few years, Brighton SEO has gone from a meet-up of like-minded folk to one of the largest and most influential conferences in the UK for search marketers. If you want to know the current landscape in how people discover brands or information online, then this conference is a must. #DMWF Expo, 19th – 20th June 2017 #DMWF Expo has been bringing marketers together to look at the latest trends for the better part of a decade. This year the event is focussing on developments in Digital Marketing Technologies and Strategy, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, eCommerce, Influencer Marketing, Content Marketing, Data, Analytics and Mobile Marketing. Generate London 2017, 20th to 22nd September 2017 The Generate conference, which comes to London in September is focussed on web designers in particular. There are workshops and talks by the folk behind net magazine and Creative Blog. Their aim is to give practical inspiration – as well as some networking opportunities. Festival of Marketing, 4th – 5th October 2017 The Festival of Marketing is the largest event in the world that’s dedicated to brand marketers. It’s a mixture of inspiration, celebration – and more practical advice in how to take forwards your ideas and inspiration. There’s also training, awards and the chance to mingle with like-minded people. #### Digital is Dead You heard that right. The internet and everything digital has been cancelled. If you thought now was the time to finally learn what Snapchat is or how to use GIFs on Twitter, it’s too late. How? Why? You ask. Well, don’t google it because, in a new agreement called the ‘April First Bill’, governments around the world have decided to unplug their national routers, one giant cable at a time. Wondering how we’ll get on without digital devices? Well never fear, with our last broadcast we’re here to give you some top tips on surviving a post-digital world. Adopt a Pet via GIPHY We all know the internet is for one thing and one thing only… Watching funny animal videos. This is why it’s imperative you go down to the RSPCA and adopt your own ragamuffin to provide you with hours of off-air entertainment. No more sail cat, no more Fenton galloping across a field, just you and your creature making memories together that will no doubt become something you tell your colleagues at lunch. Don’t be surprised though if your story doesn’t get the same response, Debbie! Chances are your workmates didn’t enjoy the videos at the Christmas party anyway so stories sans video will go down like celery sticks at a kid’s birthday party.   Use Paper via GIPHY Without screens and devices, we’ll have to go back to good old-fashioned trees. Global warming is probably a myth? And without the internet, we’ll never hear about how the planet is slowly dying. So, why not spend your paycheck on some fancy Moleskin journals and start writing again. It’ll take a while at first, most of us haven’t written a full sentence since leaving school, start practising now. In a few months, you’ll have that fancy caligraphy-style down pat. Who is going to question your expense report when there are no digital records and your handwriting looks like a character from Downton Abbey. Break Out the Old Celluloid via GIPHY Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime… All of these will be a thing of the past. With no access to Queer Eye, Game of Thrones or whatever you’re currently binging, you’ll have to trust national television services. Oh, the horror! If you can’t stand going back to tele with ads then there is only one way to stay entertained, watch old videos. A VCR will cost you next to nothing and who doesn’t still have a video of the first Harry Potter film hanging around. If Hollywood films are a stretch, binge a box set of Friends and failing that, watch the video footage of your school talent shows. With such a rich choice of entertainment, you’ll wonder how Netflix was ever necessary.   Learn to Take Photos via GIPHY Smartphones are great, aren’t they? With virtually no training you can take holiday snaps that would not be out of place in a glossy magazine. Soft filters on photos make you look like a cherub while stickers and other effects give teens hours of entertainment. From the second of April however, we’ll have to switch to good old-fashioned film. Learning about ISO, aperture, and frame rates are just the beginning and we recommend adopting a ‘blurry style’ on purpose to get ahead of the inevitable duds. Hopefully, we’ll even see a rise in the sales of disposable cameras allowing generations to take photos they’ll never develop. via GIPHY If that sounds all too scientific then there’s another way to capture your magic moments. Roll out the canvas and start painting. None of this modern stuff, no, we’re talking about good old-fashioned portrait painting. You know, the paintings of glum, ruff-wearing, aristocrats that adorn National Trust sites. There’s no mood bigger than old-money mood so embrace the new trend and invest in some oil paint. Whatever you do remember, time is limited so be sure to copy this blog down before we wave bye bye to the 21st century. When the signal bars go and your last message pings, you’ll be ready to take on the world. #### Digital Marketing Campaigns in the Fashion Industry As we enter a new digital age, dominated by social influencers and political narratives, every customer-focused industry has to make changes to their marketing strategy to accommodate trends. The fashion industry is no different. Having always been an indirect expression of cultural trends at play, now more than ever we can see the way in which digital campaigns have been both affected and in many ways improved by recent digital developments. Here are some of our favourites. Gucci bans fur and the internet goes wild In 2017, the social media audience is probably one of the most vocal of our generation. With the power of opinion openly accessible to anyone and everyone, it is only natural that once a school of thought gains traction via social it becomes almost impossible for brands to ignore. This year, we saw the perfect example of such an issue. After releasing a much-discussed range of brogue sliders, featuring a real fur trim, big-name designer Gucci came under fire from PETA and other animal rights organisations, as well as a flurry of social media influencers, forcing them to seriously rethink any marketing campaign promoting such a product. Having famously been frequent users of real fur in their collections, it was an unexpected release that followed from the company. In October 2017 Gucci released a statement promising to ban fur from all its future collections, a move that rocked the fashion industry. Why did it work? Responding to calls from social to change deep-rooted brand traditions isn’t something we’d recommend but, in order to stay relevant and brand aware, you must move with the times. Plus, showing you’re a brand that listens when you audience demands action increase you market likeability and hence revenue.   Topshop capitalises on front row fashion You’ll always find high street favourite Topshop at the forefront of digital advancements, they’re social media team must work over time to make sure nothing is missed and we salute their constant ‘on brand’ attitude. Their latest digital feat took place over London fashion week, which enabled its users to shop real time trends. Billboards across the uk capital were adorned with images of some of the biggest names in fashion and television, of course sporting the very latest Topshop pieces, however instead of simply promoting upcoming collections, the pieces were made available in all Topshop stores, encouraging the user to click through and instantly shop. Overall, featured products received a 75% sales uplift and the company reported an 11:1 ratio for return on investment.   Why did it work? The social influencer has become a market leader in terms of the global advertising space. If you’re looking to reach a young, spend orientated audience it’s important you work with them and utilise the public figure for your own benefit. Plus offering real-time shopping options will always provide results that are easy to track. Dr Marten tells a brand story Footwear giant Dr Marten has always occupied a significant portion of its market and their name is synonymous with reliability, becoming ubiquitous as a brand. Their recent ‘Stand for something’ campaign set to captivate their audience with a real brand story. We’re seeing a real increase in the use of emotive campaigns, brands are fighting to become most followed or most liked and watching sales increase from their rather than going straight in for the hard sell. Their charming and enchanting video content pulled in audiences both old and new and the technique of opening up the heart of the brand influenced a 30% sales uplift and they were 500% target impression expectations.   Why did it work? Being transparent with your brand personality is one of the best ways to not only gain social traffic but increase your revenue streams. Audiences buy into brands they believe in, with so many stories flooding ours news space surrounding the ways in which brands have been known to mislead their customers, offering yourself up as an open book buys a lot more than favour with your target market. H&M’s closes the looks loop High street big wig H&M are often pioneers of campaigns and actions which put sustainability at the forefront. They’re also a huge advocate for innovative and often somewhat rogue marketing tactics. So, it comes as no surprise they chose to put out the message of sustainable fashion buying using such tactics. In a viral campaign video featuring plus-size model, Tess Halliday, and Muslim model, Mariah Idrissi, the brand used a celebration of different cultures and aesthetics to highlight the issue of a sustainable fashion product. We are now firmly cemented in a millennial state of mind, which amongst other things, means that we don’t have to subscribe to traditional advertising standards in terms of what’s ‘attractive’. Interpretation and body confidence has become far more important and in this way H&M allowed itself to be firmly placed at the forefront of the millennial mindset. The social media reaction to the campaign promoted a significant increase in brand awareness. Why did it work? Everyone expects a lot more from their favourite household brands these days, with an audience that is increasingly educated in terms of socio-economic influencers. In this case you as a brand, much like H&M have somewhat of a public duty to adhere to those factors in some way. Nasty Gal get personal Online fashion retailer Nasty Gal has a rich digital history. Rather than constantly reinventing their image they’ve worked hard to make their brand personality almost as big (if not bigger) then the product itself. The term ‘Girl Boss’ is frequently banded around cyberspace, supporting empowering notions of feminism and crushing such out-dated notions as the gender pay gap. That term ‘Girl Boss’ was born out of the story of the brands CEO Sophia Amaruso, who pioneered the rags to riches strategy and has now essentially created a whole empire from empowering women in the business world. The ideology has its own huge social following and the formidable sentiment has carried the Nasty Gal brand into a much more elusive market space. Why did it work? Creating a tagline or slogan synonymous with your brand image is one thing, forging its very own identity is a new level of brand presence. Subconsciously through the ‘Girl boss’ ideology, ‘Nasty Gal’ have cemented themselves as a multi-million-pound online fashion brand. The fashion industry has always mirrored socio-economic circumstances in its marketing strategy. It’s impossible for such an industry to not reflect the world around them and be responsive to trends at play. This in itself is a perfect message for most b2c and many b2b brands. Being responsive in your digital marketing doesn’t mean bending to every social user’s will. It really is the perfect way to stay consistent, relatable and above all else likeable as a brand.   #### Digital Marketing Campaigns in the Food Industry We all need food. But what we choose to eat is a decision made by the individual themselves. Some people are vegetarian, some are total meat lovers. And food brands and restaurants are constantly trying to get more customers, improve their products and make their facilities better. But mostly to influence individuals into buying their food over another brand's. Either way, we need food to live, and companies need to sell it to us to make money. So, here are a few of the most effective digital campaigns that some of the biggest brands in the food industry have done recently to tempt us in to buying their products. Snickers – Misspelled Keywords Campaign, UK As part of their ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’ campaign, reaching over 500,000 people in just 3 days, this Snickers campaign was an immense success. Aimed at hungry office workers, the company used Google to target people every time they made a spelling mistake. The search result would appear and there would be an advertised link to the campaign page and the advert reading “Yu cant spel properlie wen hungrie”. Due to the budget going on PPC for misspellings, there was next to no competition, so Snickers were getting more for their money. This is quite a funny one, engaging with people through their mistakes is a light hearted, yet effective way to draw people in.   Cadbury – Have A Fling (With A Creme Egg) Campaign Back in 2013, Cadburys created a campaign to try to get more people to buy their Creme Eggs while they had the chance, because of their limited availability. At the end of each of the advert, it said “Here ‘til 31st March”, prompting the viewer to take advantage and be spontaneous by having something that wouldn’t be around for long. Cadbury also aired the adverts around Valentine’s Day, making the campaign more successful, however, they also promoted the Cadburys Creme Egg campaign on Facebook, using the faces of Paddy McGuinness and Made In Chelsea stars. All in all, the campaign reversed the damage of a 2-year decline in sales and increased them by 9%, leaving the Cadburys Creme Egg more popular than before the campaign. This seasonal campaign worked great as it tempted possible customers to buy Cadbury Creme Eggs based on their unique selling point – them being a limited edition. Watch one of the adverts here:   McCain’s – We Are Family Campaign McCain have done family focused campaigns in the past, but this time, they wanted to focus on diversity. They wanted this to be the main focus after an insight came out saying that half of the British population don’t think popular culture reflects the reality of families; they wanted to make more people feel represented in the media. So far, the campaign has been working as McCain showed such a wide range of people, all different. From single parents, huge families, step-parents, adoptive parents, same sex parents, brothers, sisters and many more. The ad has been running since August 17th and so far, has had a positive reaction as more people feel they can see a situation in which they are represented. In conclusion, if people see someone they relate to in the advert for McCain’s, they may be more likely to buy their products. It also makes McCain’s seem more open and adaptable to the ever-changing world, which could make people viewing the advert feel like they are friendly and accepting as a brand. View the advert here: Pret A Manger – Little Veggie Shop Back in June 2015, Pret A Manger opened a poll to customers after a blog post by the CEO said there should be more vegetarian and vegan options. They received around 10,000 votes in favour of the veggie scheme, they decided to test it out. They opened a pop-up shop in London which was hugely successful. Serving all things vegetarian and vegan. However, they didn’t want meat-eaters to feel left out, so said they can use it to experiment with their options. After a decision made by Pret, they decided to make to shop permanent, with a massive 99 food options, ranging from breakfasts, lunches, hot snacks and sweet treats. There are now 2 Veggie Pret locations, both in London which are hugely popular. None of this would have happened if they hadn’t taken their customers thoughts into consideration. It definitely makes me want to try some of their veggie and vegan creations. #### Digital Marketing in the Drinks Industry It’s a good time to be a drinker. There’s been a surge in interest in different alcoholic beverages over the past few years. People want to explore different types of drink. There’s been a boom in craft beer, gin and whisky. What’s more, it’s changed the cultural make-up of the country with micropubs popping up in disused laundrettes or sheds, replacing traditional pubs that closed down because of all kinds of reasons: the growth of chains, people opting to drink more at home, or the financial crash. So how are drinks promoted in 2017? What are some of the digital marketing tricks being used? Let’s whizz through a few things that have caught my eye over the past few years – because there are certain traits that are transferable to other industries too. Content tactics: documenting the process versus lifestyle branding Broadly speaking, money is spent on either telling stories or talking about ingredients, but the same old rules apply. The brands that succeed know their audience, create good content to connect to that audience – which may or may not occupy different marketing channels – and deliver that content consistently. Money is spent on content though – be that money in budgets or time in creating organic content in-house. The important thing is to put stuff out there. The content itself? Well, that depends on the drink. Some drinks are phenomenal, superbly crafted liquids using amazing inputs; it makes sense for those companies to talk about the provenance of those inputs because that’s the selling point in an of itself. Think of the wine trade, organic growers or biodynamic vineyards who are happy to show the world what goes into their products and how they’re made. Transparent. Open. The inputs are the selling point itself and tap into a certain type of consumer’s mindset. This works even in the craft beer movement, which loves to talk about what goes into those products and what crazy ingredients they use to get the flavours they want. Though it comes across as anti-marketing, it’s just good old-fashioned documenting, a marketing tactic that can work in any industry. But the product needs to be strong to start with. Brands that don’t want to share what goes into their products – because sometimes the ingredients are inferior, but they’ve also got shareholders to please – are more concerned about telling interesting stories on a grand scale. In this sense, drinks occupy a similar space to perfume, or fashion, as people identify with branding. (And we’ve done gin branding in the past!) Drinks become lifestyle products, tapping into the mindset of a different consumer: one who does not know, or does not care, about the details of what they’re drinking, but want something that tastes good and identifies with the lifestyle presented to them. Storytelling & Celebrities Taking an industry I know rather well – whisky – drinks giant Diageo has taken a few approaches utilising video content impressively. Whisky has historically been marketed as a premium, lifestyle product for over a century, but now we’re in the world of super-premium products such as Johnnie Walker Blue Label. They wheeled out Jude Law to make a couple of short films based on ‘the Gentleman’s Wager’ concept, where two rather wealthy individuals make bets over vintage yachts or cars. The thing is, this is premium content. A short movie, in fact, starring an A-lister (at least I think Jude Law is still A-list). It must have cost a small fortune, but the aim was to entrench Johnnie Walker Blue Label deeply into the luxury market. Speaking of celebrities, Diageo also utilised sports star David Beckham to sell their Haig Club whisky, which was an attempt to bring newcomers into the marketplace – particularly younger drinkers. (Many newcomers deemed the first release too expensive, and regular drinkers didn’t like it, which goes to show that no amount of marketing can work if the product is not right.) Finally on this point, and as a real wild-card move, why not make Matthew McConaughey your creative director, like Wild Turkey Bourbon did? Honest Organic Content Works Really Well You don’t have to be a drinks giant to be impactful on social media. Take photos – using a photographer or even your own iPhone – and let people into your world through honest organic content. Upload a cheeky video. Post an event. It’s not rocket science, really – it’s what social media used to be about in the first place. Many drinks brands are gently spreading their products through word-of-mouth reach augmented by a decent, gentle, insightful social presence. The companies that do it well are showing high levels of engagement that the bigger brands would have to pay for (proportionally speaking). They do it by documenting their process, authentically. I’ve picked a brand at random – the Cotswolds Distillery. They make gin, whisky, and all types of drinks. They’ve got good levels of engagement on their social media pages and they’re not doing anything outrageous. They’re simply documenting their process, their own internal story, consistently; sometimes connecting with the local community, sometimes showing what’s going on behind the scenes. What’s key to this is that there is not a huge amount of the ‘big sell’ either – and that’s an important point about organic posting. We spend our time on social media not to be hammered with adverts, but just to get some insight about a brand we’ve seen or experienced. Drinkers follow a page because they’ve already bought in: they want to see more, so show them behind the curtain. Just compare that with the insincere posting from giant beer brand, Carlsberg, which despite the huge follower base, has – strangely – even less interaction from its users than a picturesque little place in the Cotswolds. It’s perhaps because the bigger brands tend to function with bigger, more mass market advertising in mind. (You’ve seen our Guinness post right?) Experiential marketing I believe experiential marketing used to be called ‘events’, but hey, life moves on and experiential it is these days.  Japanese whisky manufacturer, Suntory, created a handmade cherry blossom installation at a bar in London to promote their blended whisky: Hibiki Japanese Harmony. The whisky’s great, by the way, but what about that installation? It’s amazing to look at, but guests (key influencers) were invited along to immerse themselves in an experience whilst interacting with a product. It’s something that the drinks industry can do increasingly effectively these days, and inviting influencers along means a good few ripples throughout social media. Create havoc Riding the maverick brand archetype, Brew Dog basically entered an industry that was, indeed, stale, boring and – if you believe the marketing – largely tasteless. (Decent beer was around, but it was difficult to find.) Brew Dog used to be the famous example of tearing up the rules: creating havoc, making noise, through both digital and traditional PR. They created numerous stunts, some of which worked more better than others. They were most effective in winding up the media by releasing super-strong beer. They also do things like create a really good working culture for their staff, such as giving time off for when they get new puppies. (Hey, we do good things too!) Trailblazers, in respects, but I suppose they’ve matured as a brand lately and creating stunts can become very tired over the long term. But what does this do? It gets you noticed. It gets you column inches. It gets your brand out there. Conclusions There we go. A whilst-stop tour of a few tactics and traits of the drinks industry. At the heart of it though is creating a good content strategy. What do you want to say, how do you want to say it and tell it to the right audience. Tell it honestly, if you want, or spend a fortune to make it look as slick as you can. But the take-away is that you can create impact without breaking the bank. #### Digital Marketing Measurement - Business Objectives to Campaign Launch I’ll admit it, I love a good graph, chart or spreadsheet. They tend to make life much easier to understand, as long as you’re looking at the right set of data of course, and marketing campaigns are certainly no exception. But before you get to the magical world of data visualisation you need to identify what you want to be visualising, which is where a measurement plan comes into play. First, you’ll need to ask yourself a question – ‘What’s the point in what I’m doing?’. Might sound a little over the top, but unless you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, you won’t know how to measure it. Marketing without measurement is akin to folding your £20 notes into paper aeroplanes and launching them out of the window; it’s a waste of time, money and effort. Taking the time at the very start of a new marketing campaign to map out the metrics for a digital marketing measurement plan will be hugely beneficial in the long run. There are a number of different measurement plans out there, my preference is the work of the legendary Avinash Kaushik. Step One: Business Objectives The first things you’ll need to identify are the overall business objectives you’re looking to satisfy from your campaign. This stage will require input from the very top of your business all the way down to those who will be executing the plans, whether you’re running the campaign internally or using an agency (on that note, check out our blog post on In-House vs Outsourced Digital Marketing). For an e-commerce company, your business objective could be to introduce and drive sales for a new product range, or for a service provider you may be looking to raise awareness for a new service offering – both of these campaigns would have very different metrics to measure. Step Two: Audience The next step is to identify the audience you’ll be trying to reach with your activity in terms of age, gender, location and any other demographic data you can get your hands on. The reason I tend to consider this early on is so you can make sure the appropriate data is being tracked in your analytics tool as there’s nothing more frustrating than wanting to analyse data you just don’t have. The Google Analytics help centre tells you all you need to know about setting up demographics reports. Step Three: Goals Now you know your business objectives and your audience, it’s time to work out the goals you want to measure from your marketing. Based on your business goals (you may have multiple), your activity should have an overall goal such as providing additional resources, capturing leads for a lead generation campaign or driving product purchases in an e-commerce campaign. Step Four: KPIs Now we’re getting somewhere, time to find out which metrics we can use to populate some kind of chart. That’s the good stuff. Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) show us what people have actually done, whether that be how many times a PDF was downloaded or the conversion rate from website visit to warm lead or the conversion rate from website visit to the sale of a product. Something to consider when deciding on your KPI’s is what you’re going to be able to do with that data once you have it. Don’t just include metrics for the sake of it, otherwise, you’re going to muddy the waters and your overall results won’t be as clear. I’m not saying these metrics aren’t useful – if you’ve got the resource to drill into these at a later point then you really should – but at a very top level, there isn’t much value to reporting on average time spent on site when you’re ultimately looking at conversions, for example. Right, that’s looking pretty good. We’ve got: Business Objectives Audience Goals KPI’s Time to launch my campaign, right? Well, hold your horses, we’re not quite ready just yet. Now we’ve identified everything above, we need to work out what ‘good’ looks like. How many PDF downloads or conversions equate to a happy management team at the end of the campaign, or for ongoing campaigns at the end of each month? These targets could come as early as the business objectives identification stage if you know how many products you want to sell or how many leads you want to generate. If they don’t, no need to worry as targets can be revisited in phases based on the information you’re tracking – if at the end of month one you find you’re either massively over or under your target you can make an informed decision as to how to amend your targets. Just make sure you have a target to aim for and know what you’re optimising towards. That being said, don’t just pick a figure out of the air, use what information you have to make an informed decision on an achievable but challenging target. Ok, so let’s put that into an easy to read format using the example of a company looking to increase leads generated via the website: It’s important to note that your campaign could have multiple business objectives (and subsequent goals, KPIs and targets), depending on the activity you’re looking to run. Using the methodology above, you can easily outline your separate objectives in the same document so every stakeholder has full visibility on what you want to achieve, how you’re measuring it and whether or not it has been successful. One final point Don’t be afraid to show negative metrics or a decrease in performance as it’s just as important, if not more than showing the positives. If you do notice metrics dropping then you can look back to your digital marketing measurement plan and refine your activity based on your objectives, audience and goals. I’ll cover off data visualisation and reporting in a separate post but if you have any questions about digital marketing measurement, please get in touch. Happy planning! #### Digital marketing vs traditional marketing: which will come out on top? The marketing landscape has shifted dramatically over the past two decades. With the rise of so many online channels, businesses have more ways than ever to connect with their audiences. With things like virtual trade shows and online food delivery services, it can be very easy to think that traditional methods of marketing products and services have had their day. And as the digital world grows, many businesses are asking the same big question “which is better - traditional or digital marketing?” In this blog, we’ll explore digital marketing vs traditional marketing in more detail, including what they both are, along with sharing some interesting statistics and top tips to help you decide which method is right for your business. What is traditional marketing? Traditional marketing includes all forms of promotion that happen outside the digital space. This can be things like television or radio adverts, print advertising in magazines or newspapers, direct mail, and outdoor advertising on billboards and posters for example. These are all classic methods that many of us grew up with and in some industries, they’re still a dominant force.  Traditional marketing often works best for brand awareness campaigns, local promotions, or targeting audiences who are less digitally active. When done well, this method of marketing can offer brand credibility, strong visual impact, and a physical presence that still holds power. What is digital marketing? Digital marketing, as the name suggests, refers to any type of marketing that takes place online. From Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC), to social media and email marketing, digital marketing uses a variety of online channels and platforms that are highly measurable. It’s often a more cost-effective method and is better suited for targeted campaigns. You can reach a very specific audience, measure how they interact with your content, and adjust your strategy as needed. Key statistics for traditional and online marketing As always, research and statistics can provide a lot of insight into which forms of marketing are right for your business, and which one can help create the highest success rates for your campaigns. Here are some key statistics to keep in mind when stacking up traditional and  online marketing performance, audience engagement, and return on investment: Traditional marketing: According to Citipost Mail, 77% of UK households read or looked at their mail, marking an all-time high in direct mail engagement since tracking began. While many think print advertising is dead, Passive Secrets state that readership is actually expected to reach 24.2m by 2029, with 61% of readers trusting newspaper ads compared to just 42% for online ads. TV advertising investment in the UK totalled £5.25b in 2024, which is a 3.8% year-on-year increase, and this saw 932 new advertisers on TV in the same year according to Thinkbox. Digital marketing: Beyond Your Brand says that SEO generates 1,000% more traffic than organic social media, highlighting the importance of implementing an SEO strategy for online businesses. 79% of the total UK population - that’s 54.8 million people - used some form of social media in January 2025 according to We Are Social, showing just how many people are online. According to Dash, the total number of business and consumer emails that will be sent in 2025 is estimated to reach 376 billion, highlighting just how popular email marketing is for businesses. So, will digital marketing replace traditional marketing? This question has been circulating for years, and while the rise of online advertising is undeniable, traditional marketing isn’t going anywhere just yet. Instead, integration is what seems to be the case. Many brands we work with are moving towards multi-channel campaigns that combine the strengths of both. For example, a billboard or poster will more often than not include a QR code that drives users to a landing page, or a radio ad might be supported with a targeted local social media campaign. This shows us that the real trend isn’t replacement, it’s blending channels to create a seamless brand experience. The most effective strategies focus less on digital marketing vs traditional marketing, and more on how to use both in harmony. Our top tips to help you choose the right channel for you It’s important to remember that every business is different, so when it comes to choosing the right marketing methods for you, here are some tips to consider to help you find the right fit: Understand your audience - use tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4), social media insights, or customer surveys to find out where your target audience spends most of their time, so you know whether they’re mainly online or offline. Start with your objectives - whether it’s brand awareness, lead generation, or customer loyalty and retention, each will call for different tactics. Review your resources - be realistic about what you can manage both financially and logistically - digital is quicker and can be scaled to fit any budget, whereas traditional may require more time and upfront costs. Test, track, and optimise - if you’re opting for digital marketing, use A/B testing, conversion tracking, and attribution models to fine-tune your campaigns. For traditional, you can add tracking tools like custom phone numbers, URLs and QR codes. Don’t automatically think ‘either/or’ - sometimes the best marketing strategy is a combined one - traditional for reach and memorability, digital for precision and follow-up. Find out how we can help your business When it comes to the debate of digital marketing vs traditional marketing, we believe it’s not a case of one is better than the other, or one will replace the other, it ultimately all boils down to a business's individual goals. At Fifteen, we’ve helped businesses cut through the noise and choose the right marketing channels to meet their goals - whether it’s a full digital campaign, a traditional refresh, or a smart combination of both. As a full-service digital agency, we can offer creative campaign development, targeted digital marketing services, brand design and print collateral, and integrated strategies built and tailored around your audience. Don’t hesitate to contact us today with your goals and objectives and learn how we can help your business flourish. #### Dissecting a Website: Sticky Navigations Navigations are the key to a user's journey through a website. The best outcome you can possibly receive from a website that you have created is the user having a great experience. This is vital. That is why many designers and developers consider the navigation to be the most critical component of a website. When designing the navigation for your site, the designer has multiple options. You can have a standard navigation, lying horizontally across the top of the page. Alternatively, you have a vertical navigation, with the choice of which side you have it being entirely up to you. However, there is another option… A sticky navigation, or a ‘fixed’ nav, is just like a standard nav, but with one major difference. With a normal navigation, when you scroll, ­­­­­the menu stays at the top of the page. With a sticky navigation, when you scroll your way down the site, the menu stays with you. This saves the user from pointlessly scrolling back to the top of the page to go to a different area of the site. With the fixed navigation, they can view a page and not have to go back to the beginning. Here are some examples:           The left image shows the top of a page with a standard navigation, with the second image showing a site with a standard navigation after it has been scrolled down. As you can see, the navigation is not there and is still at the top of the page. However, the right-hand image shows a site that has a sticky navigation. In contrast to the other two images, when you scroll through the site, the navigation remains with you.                             Sticky navigations have produced good results since their creation, with research showing that they are 22% quicker to navigate, compared to standard top-of-the-page menus. Although they couldn’t state a reason why, 100% (yes, 100%) of people found they preferred the fixed navigation. Here at Fifteen, we love a sticky navigation. As well as using one on our own site, we have used this style menu on Bodychef’s brand new site, Tracking My Car’s project, Elsie’s Attic’s new e-commerce site and of course, the Fifteen site itself! Go to www.fifteendesign.co.uk/blog to read more about these sites going live and to see what they said themselves about their project! #### Down with brainstorming! Here are some fun ways to get creative Coming up with creative ideas for content is tricky. At work especially, it can be difficult to relax and find the time and space to let your creativity flow. To help you shake off those cobwebs and get the creative juices flowing, we have found 6 ways to get creative without brainstorming.  All of these activities can be as exercises to loosen up or as the reason for meetings themselves. Shake things up. Maybe do one or two before a strategy meeting or book some time away from the office and do all of them! Whatever you decide, these ideas will help you free up your mind and think up some new and interesting ways to create.  Word Banking Word banking is similar to word association exercises. However, this isn’t your garden variety word association game. Where word association focuses on pairing one word with another, word banking expands the thinking. Give your colleagues a few topics or themes, and ask them to come up with as many terms relating to them. This scope allows your team to get the obvious answers out of the way and dig deep to find connections that may not have been obvious without considered thinking.  Once you’ve got a whole bunch words written down, take a look and draw lines between words with possible connections. This allows you to find unique perspectives and create something truly special.  Word Dissociation  Word dissociation is the evil twin of word association. Instead of finding the connections between words, this little exercise challenges you to think quickly and break tired associations. The human brain is an incredible tool and does a lot of legwork to save you time. Challenge your notions Take a topic or word, go around the room and try to think of words completely disconnected from the subject. This antithetical approach gives you a unique perspective and allows you to see your subject in a new light. Break Barriers Assumptions exist in every facet of our lives. Work is no different. You may have assumptions on who might a website or service. Why not have a creative discussion and question your assumptions.  Draw up a list of assumptions for your team to discuss. Choose some which are likely and some which are wildly inaccurate. During the exercise be respectful and understanding, you and your team may just break new ground and find a new way to approach a problem.  Break down the barriers on what you think customers want or what will work and try to change your mindset. This fresh perspective can open the door to new ideas and allow you to find that creative angle your competitors are missing.  No Notes ‘No Notes’ challenges you to ditch the tech and write what you think. Choose a topic and just write what you know about it. It can be anything, quotes, random facts, and even feelings. By doing this you free yourself of the crutch of data and research before it’s necessary. Ideas come from freedom so before researching your topic try ‘No Notes’ with your team.  Six Thinking Hats This activity developed by the famed psychologist Edward de Bono breaks down your topic into six areas to allow you and your team to fully explore an idea. To do this, give each of your team members a ‘hat’. Each hat has a unique colour and role in the discussion.  Blue: Logic Red: Emotion Green: Creativity Purple: Management Black: Devil’s Advocate Yellow: Optimism Each hat has a unique outlook on a topic. Allow people to embody the spirit of their thinking hat and provide their thoughts on a topic. This focussed approach may be difficult to get used to at first, but once your team have the swing of it will yield incredible insights.  The more angles you cover, the greater your understanding of a topic. Use de Bono’s creation and you’ll find new ways to approach old problems. Group Sketching Now, I’m the first to admit I’m terrible at drawing. Art is not everyone’s strong suit so the prospect of sketching your ideas may be daunting. However, shaking up the way you work may be the balm you need.  This activity is simple and can be quite fun. Grab a piece of paper, the bigger the better. Better yet, commandeer a whiteboard from a boardroom. Choose a topic and have everyone in the team draw an image related to your topic. It can be a little cartoon, a quote, even just a Venn diagram. Whatever comes to mind. Repeat this exercise a few times with different topics. Once you’ve had some fun getting creative, go back and look at your sketches. Try and look for connections between ideas, maybe you’ve all drawn in a similar style? Or perhaps found associations you never knew existed before?  At Fifteen Design we have cultivated years of experiences planning, creating and sharing content. Contact us today to find out how we can work with you on improving your visibility and conversion. #### Eco-Friendly Search with Ecosia: An Evergreen Concept If you have a soft spot for the environment and you think you are not doing enough yourself, then Ecosia is the next thing you need in your life. Ecosia is a search engine with a difference. What I mean is, every time you search through Ecosia, the search ads generate income for the business which is then used to plant trees. What is Ecosia? Founded in 2009 by Christian Kroll, Christian learned the connection between globalisation and climate change and how planting new trees could actually neutralise CO2 emissions on a very large scale. He came up with the idea of a search engine that can help finance planting and restoration projects. In late 2009, the idea for Ecosia.org was born and the tree planting search engine launched in December of that year. It is a Berlin-based social business... Ecosia's Growth 10 years on, they have already planted over 51 million trees, with under 8 million current users, they have managed to continue to grow making a happier environment, healthier people and a strong economy and invested under €10m. Ecosia supports over 20 tree-planting projects in 15 different countries; Peru, Brazil, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Haiti, Colombia, Spain, Morocco, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Indonesia. To achieve this, they have worked with local partners who are able to monitor the trees on the ground. They are planning to visit more areas around the world to start new planting projects. They look for the best places on the planet to plant trees and the best places are biodiversity hotspots, which are areas that hold particularly high numbers of unique species. These locations face extreme threats. These hotspot hold at least 1,500 species of endemic plants and have been diminished by at least 70%. Currently, there are 35 such hotspots, which represent 2.3% of our Earth’s land surface - which in scale is tiny, but they support more than half of the world’s plant species and nearly 43% of bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian species that are found nowhere else on Earth. Trees are tremendously helpful in creating value to farmers and communities. They can prevent erosion, create a stable microclimate for other crops, restore the water systems or provide new means of income. Within the poorest agricultural regions of our planet, communities and farmers do not have the means to start tree-planting and restoration on a larger scale. It's hard to find investment from private finances because they don't get a return within three years, and public finance carries large administrative burdens. Grass Roots Initiative By planting in these areas, Ecosia is employing local communities and giving farmers an attractive alternative to selling their land for monoculture production. The searches that users are doing within Ecosia are helping so much, such as restoring degraded areas in the central part of the Kalimantan Islands, where crops are able to grow between the trees which means that local population can both restore their landscapes and have the pick of more abundant crops. Ecosia is also part of the Green Belt movement in Kenya, which has allowed them to help people to conserve biodiversity, restore ecosystems and mitigate local manifestations of climate change. So just a few things that they have done from their 8 million current users. The amazing generosity of the Ecosia employees is a community of people who want to create a greener and better life for everyone, therefore every single ad click generates a percentage of revenue that Ecosia gives back to planting projects. Even when they make a small commission from their online store, all profits go into projects meaning that every time they sell a T-Shirt they can plant another 20 trees and nothing outside of basic running costs goes into the pockets of the team. Planting trees are their mission. In a recent blog they have outlined 50 reasons why you should use Ecosia, but here are the top 5 according to Ecosia themselves if you need any more persuading: Plant trees by doing nothing Our environment needs trees. By searching with Ecosia you can help to reverse the worst effects of climate change for free. No seeds, gardening experience or travel to a hot climate required: we take care of all that. Feel less guilty about your carbon footprint Each search with Ecosia removes roughly 1 kg of CO2 from the air. So, searching with us helps to make carbon removal part of your daily routine! Remember that Google could absorb 15% of all emissions worldwide if it adopted our business model. We're clean as a whistle In addition to all the trees we plant, we took the concept of being renewable to a whole new level, by building our own solar plants in Germany to power our servers on 100% renewable energy. Restore degraded soil, so that we don’t all run out of vegetables Most people don't think of soil as being particularly important. Yet it is responsible for growing the food we need to survive. Ecosia is making the earth fertile again in Burkina Faso and regenerating arid landscapes in Spain. Fight the palm oil industry By providing farmers in Indonesia with alternative sources of income. Does Ecosia plant a tree for every search? Trees are the superheroes of our blue planet, they help mitigate climate change, restart water cycles, stop deserts from spreading and turn barren grounds back to fertile woods and farmlands. A big question that people have been asking is - “If I use Ecosia, will they plant a tree every time?” Well, unfortunately, this is not the case, you will need to do approximately 45 searches to finance the planting of a single tree. However, if you think about it, how often do you google something in a day, this could rack up loads of trees. Ecosia currently funds the planting of a new tree EVERY second due to 8 million active users. Say you search with Ecosia three times in a day for a year, (but typically you would search for more - without realising), this would mean that you would tally up to have 1095 search requests in that year. Since they plant a new tree, on average, every 45 searches, you would have then helped raise the funds to plant 24.3 real trees in those 35 different places across the 15 current countries. Every search a user does, Ecosia generates 0.05 cents (EUR) and it costs 0.22 cents (EUR) to earn enough to plant one tree. But depending on clicks on the ads and the revenue that the ads generate, then it could take fewer searches to get one tree. Where do Ecosia's search results come from? Some users' have expressed concern that the user experience is going to be completely different. This is where it gets interesting. It gives you suggestive search results and it is as quick as retrieving the results as Google. The only difference is that Ecosia's search results and search ads are powered by Microsoft Bing. They use Bing's search technology, enhanced with Ecosia's own algorithms, but at the same time, it still looks like Google’s platform. Ecosia 'game-fying' search Every time you search you will see a personal tree counter go up by one this will help you identify how many searches you have done and the goal you’ll reach to get the funds to plant a new tree. Another added feature is that Ecosia will recommend a website which it deems a website that shares the same mission and values with a simple indicator - a green leaf. Conclusion Ecosia is really simple and easy to install. Either used as a plugin or simply entering a query in the www.ecosia.org search box will count towards Ecosia's dream. Let us make a better tomorrow by simply searching with Ecosia rather than your normal search engine. Currently, at home, I’ve racked up more than 20,000 results which are approximately 444 trees. Instead of googling it, Ecosia it. At Fifteen we work hard to ensure all our projects are as friendly to the environment as they are to the bottom line. Whether design, development or SEO, we work hard to ensure that each and every project is at the cutting edge of the industry. Ecosia is one of these leading-edge developments and we look forward to seeing how modern tech can shape our planet in the future. #### Editing 101: Turn your Prose into Perfection Well done! You’ve finished writing your magnum opus and are ready to upload it to your site. But wait! Writing is only part of the content process. If good writing is king, then good editing is the kingmaker. So before you click that publish button make sure you try these quick and easy editing tips.  Get Some Distance Firstly, get some distance. If you work in a team swap work and have other people edit your piece. If you’re working solo, or time doesn’t allow for fresh eyes then take a break. You can’t edit efficiently right after writing. Give it some time, do another task and then come back to the piece after you’ve distanced from it. Don’t Overuse Words Writing content is a creative process. You plan your piece, get all the facts lined up, and then find your rhythm. However, while writing you may fall into rote behaviour, such as using keywords repeatedly or falling bake on common expressions.  When editing, read carefully and remove any words that feel like they’ve been repeated too often. This important step improves your writing and can potentially improve SEO scores as keyword stuffing leads to negative SEO scores. Change up Your Sentence Length Another important article facet is your sentence length. In novels, you’ll notice how writers use long sentences to set the scene and establish elaborate landscapes. But then. Short snappy sentences! Designed to build tension and action! This practice should be the same as your blog piece. Vary up the length of your sentences. Use short sentences when giving instructions and longer sentences when supplying detail. Break up your paragraphs and try to find a balance between long and short sentences.  Beef Up Your Words As a language English is versatile but many of us err on the side of caution. Instead of using a strong modifier or description, we tend to go with something basic and then add adverbs. This makes for bad reading, adding unnecessary fluff and reducing the impact of your statement. Go through your work and replace weak words with stronger options. For example; don’t say ‘really nice’ instead try ‘delicious’ or ‘luxurious’. Change the Font for Final Edits This tip is another way to give you fresh eyes on your work. When reading, your brain often ignores the majority of the letters. Instead, your brain picks up the first and last letters and guesses the word from there. To make sure you don’t miss spelling errors, change your font before editing. This gives you a fresh perspective and forces your brain to read all the words. No cribbing allowed.  Return to Live Pieces and Update Once a blog or page is live, go back and edit. Information and times change so don’t be afraid to update pieces and keep them relevant. This process is also an easy win for SEO as it allows you to optimise for keywords without writing a whole new blog. At Fifteen Design we love working with words. We have mastered the art of turbocharging copy to make it engaging and informative. If you would like a hand with content creation, editing or a full digital strategy contact us today. #### EducationCity Are Moving Up The Ranks About EducationCity EducationCity is a leading developer and publisher of teaching resources and educational content to schools. They have offices in Rutland, UK, and a sales base in Dallas USA – between both offices they employ over 100 people. Their specialist team includes education thought leaders including former headteachers and teachers. Trusted and used by schools in the UK and over 70 countries worldwide, it’s a product that works. The Task We were set the task of improving EducationCity’s search engine ranking positions to help increase the amount of traffic brought to their website. To achieve this we created an SEO strategy and used a variety of techniques to help boost their ranking positions. What We Have Done For Them To help improve the visibility of EducationCity on search engines, we did a lot of on-page optimising and content optimising, including the creation of blogs and infographics. The content we created helped their SEO, as well as providing shareable content that we could then use to do outreach with. Alongside this, we’re currently getting involved with on-going link disavowing, link mining, technical issue fixing and keyword tracking. At the end of each month, we do an in-depth report so we can monitor what changes have worked well, and which helped increase traffic. What They Said “We’re really pleased with the progress we’ve made from using Fifteen for our SEO projects. We’re already seeing benefits in terms of our visibility, and have high hopes for our new-style portal, which has embraced on-site optimisation principles from the outset.” - Kathryn Marchant Who’s Working On The Project?         [fifteen_button link="http://www.educationcity.com/"]Click Here To Check Out Their Site[/fifteen_button] #### Elastic Beanstalk: Scaling WordPress Using AWS Introduction It’s estimated that there are some 75,000,000 (75 million) websites currently running on top of the WordPress Content Management System. Of those 75 million, it’s estimated that 33% are hosted with Amazon Web Services. Fifteen moved from a Dedicated Server infrastructure to a cloud based (AWS) service around 2 years ago and we haven’t looked back. Downtime is virtually non-existent, our development workflow is seamless, scalability is easily accomplished and best of all, we’re self reliant. Our internal Development Operations team has grown in both manpower and skillset. We’re no longer in a position whereby, if we have a problem, we have to raise a support ticket and sit back and wait for help. We managed our own servers and fix our own problems, under our own timescales. One thing that took us a while to get our heads around was scalability, more specifically, horizontal scaling. What is horizontal (and vertical) scaling? Scaling in its top level form is the process of giving more hardware power to a server to allow an application to scale in size, either by demand or by traffic levels. Vertical Scaling The approach of giving more resource to an application by increasing the hardware power of the server in which it resides. Horizontal Scaling The methodology of adding more servers to your infrastructure to create a “cluster”. Vertical scaling is easily accomplished within AWS especially with the new wave of T3 burstable EC2 instances, however, automation and budget control can be hard to control. Horizontal Scaling is the methodology we choose to utilise at Fifteen. Easily controllable, automated and granular when it comes to budget control. Why would you need automated scaling? If you have an application which is heavily resource intensive, or quite simply you receive a lot of traffic any sort of basic hosting offering isn’t going to cut the mustard. Think of it like a car, if you have 6 kids, 3 dogs and a partner, you’re not going to fit them all in a Vauxhall Corsa. If you’re wanting to drag race quarter miles at Santa Pod, you’re probably going to struggle to keep up with a Nissan Micra. If you’re wanting to tour the world and cover 50,000 miles in a year, what are the chances that you’ll do it with no problems driving a Renault Clio? You could buy a Ferrari but that comes with a monumental price tag. The Ferrari metaphor would be the simplest method of covering all bases when it comes to hosting, but what if you could switch and swap cars based on the requirement at any given time and even better, you could pay for only what you use? Consider an eCommerce website that sells mens shoes in the UK. Generally, your peak traffic times will be, evenings (when people have finished work) and weekends. There would be very little point in running multiple expensive servers at 3am on a Wednesday for very 
little return. Automated scaling allows you to run the amount of servers that your application and traffic levels require, this also means you only pay for the server run time that you utilise. Exploring horizontal scaling in AWS When we first started looking at implementing horizontal scaling we went down the CloudFormation (CFn) route. Initially googling CFn scripts and attempting to mould them to our own requirements. Once we had got our heads around the CFn learning curve we began writing our own scripts for deployment. This worked well initially but it soon became apparent that this methodology was going to be time consuming in terms of maintenance and upkeep. This is when we stumbled across Elastic Beanstalk. What is CloudFormation (CFn)? CloudFormation is a lightweight, low-level abstraction over existing AWS APIs. Using a static JSON/YAML template document, you declare a set of Resources (such as an EC2 instance or an S3 bucket) that correspond to CRUD operations on the AWS APIs. What is Elastic Beanstalk (EB)? Elastic Beanstalk (EB) is a higher-level, managed 'platform as a service' (PaaS) for hosting web applications, similar in scope to Heroku. Rather than deal with low-level AWS resources directly, EB provides a fully-managed platform where you create an application environment using a web interface, select which platform your application uses, create and upload a source bundle, and EB handles the rest. Using EB, you get all sorts of built-in features for monitoring your application environment and deploying new versions of your application. Elastic Beanstalk Infrastructure When we provision a horizontal scaling infrastructure under AWS we use a multitude of their product offerings. Most can be controlled under Elastic Beanstalk. From top to bottom, here’s a summary of how we utilise AWS products: CloudFront We utilise CloudFront for its content distribution network and caching capabilities. EC2 (Elastic Cloud Computing) Elastic Load Balancer Elastic Load balancing improves responsiveness 
and increases availability of applications. A load balancer sits between the client and the server cluster accepting incoming network and application traffic and distributing the traffic across multiple EC2 Instances using various methods. EC2 Instance An EC2 instance is a virtual server in Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for running applications on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure. AWS is a comprehensive, evolving cloud computing platform; EC2 is a service that allows business subscribers to run application programs in the computing environment. RDS (Relational Database Service) This is a web service that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud. It provides cost-efficient, resizable capacity for an industry-standard relational database and manages common database administration tasks. S3 (Simple Storage Service) S3 is a scalable, high-speed, web-based cloud storage service designed for online media / file storage and serving. Extremely resilient and secure. ACM (Amazon Certificate Manager) ACM is a Private Certificate Authority (CA) is a managed private CA service that helps you easily and securely manage the lifecycle of your SSL certificates. SES (Simple Email Service) Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) is a cost-effective email service built on the reliable and scalable infrastructure that Amazon.com developed to serve its own customer base. CloudWatch Amazon CloudWatch is a monitoring service for AWS cloud resources and the applications you run on AWS. Tips and Tricks Over the past couple of years, we’ve provisioned dozens if not hundreds of infrastructures under Elastic Beanstalk, it’s fair to say we’ve learnt a trick or two. Here are a few of our favourites to help you out along the way: Port Forwarding Accept connections via CloudFront over port 443 (redirect HTTP to HTTPS). Connections from the load balancer to EC2 Instances should be completed over port 80 - this will alleviate AWS asking for 2 SSL certificates. HTTPS = ON In your application, ensure you are forcing HTTPS, your system may not know this as traffic is delivered from load balancer to ec2 instance over port 80. In PHP $_SERVER[‘HTTPS’] = “on” saves a lot of hardship and infinite loops. Provision SSL in the correct region CloudFront will only utilise SSL certificates provisioned under ACM in the North Virginia Region Keep your repository lightweight The manner in which Elastic Beanstalk deploys is great, it switches between application versions to accommodate zero downtime. That being said, every time you do a deployment it will upload the application in its entirety. Enable Session Stickiness This will keep users on the same server for the duration of their session. Otherwise, anything stored in the session will be lost whilst bouncing around servers. If you would like to discuss a new website development project, how scaling can help with the performance of your existing site or support, get in touch with Fifteen's dedicated web dev team can give you the edge over your competition. #### Empowering Ecova with a New Web Presence The Brief & Vision: Ecova approached Fifteen back in March 2018 to help them deliver the following; a marketing insight workshop which will deliver a new purpose. a strategy, industry insight and trends report, analysis of current brand presence, social strategy, social calendar, SWOT analysis, 6-12month online goals and TOV documentation. An updated brand identity, brand guidelines, email footers, social icons, business cards and letterheads. a new website that takes into consideration the results generated from the marketing insight workshop. The site must also be mobile-responsive and built using the best UX design and development practices and techniques. The website needs to be built within an easy-to-use content management system (CMS), that gives the Ecova web team the ability to edit the website in the future. The main aims are to: Position the business as the leaders in their industry. Increase lead generation through the website without reducing the quality, ensuring that leads more likely to convert. Improve conversion rate through an improved user journey through the website. Inspire and drive conscious choices in customers who want to improve their energy efficiency, cut costs and manage their carbon footprint. Help showcase the trustworthiness, credibility and friendliness of the team, helping the Ecova brand transform and evolve in the years to come. About Ecova: Ecova is data focused and use this information to help make their clients more successful through energy and suitability management. They use insights and data based on consumption costs and carbon footprints. This data is very accurate, employing a sample of thousands of utility and business sites across the globe. This ensures Ecova provide an unparalleled service that includes procurement, energy management, optimisation and compliance across a range of sectors. What We Did: Workshop & Brand: When we started working with Ecova, they had just split away from the US parent company Engie, and they needed to define themselves within the competitive industry landscape. We worked with the Ecova team during a 4-hour workshop and explored the brand and what they stand for, why they do what they do and more. We ran through a range of activities with the team to fully immerse ourselves into the Ecova culture and mindset. Following on from the workshop, we produced a digital and brand strategy document, which gives the team at Ecova a go-to resource to assist them with their marketing and company presence moving forward, covering the key elements of their brand. While this wasn’t an exercise for changing Ecova’s logo, it was important for us to create them a brand language that stood out and was different from their competition. We also worked on a new brand language, which complements Ecova’s colour scheme and look. This nuanced approach gave a subtle nod to the family branch but allowed Ecova to shine through with their own stand out identity. We created a series of concepts for Ecova to choose from and decided on a ‘Negative Space’ style concept, which is shown through a wall of binary letterforms, representing how Ecova gains insight to make significant business accomplishments through data. This concept can be carried across a range of images, colours and use different words to peak through the data. We are currently working with Ecova to carry the brand language across their marketing materials, so they have a full range aligned with the new style. Website: The Ecova website has been designed and built to cater to Ecova’s target audience, using modern website design and development techniques, as well as having a strong focus on the user experience throughout the website. When a user lands on the website homepage, they are shown a large aerial shot of London with a moving data overlay alongside their core message. They are then taken to a tabbed area, where they can either look for the specific service that Ecova offers or contact the Ecova team for guidance around specific areas and challenges. Across the site, we’ve used a parallax style of images which move across the screen as the user scrolls to bring a dynamic edge to the site. The website design is clean and sharp, using bite-size chunks of information to make it easier for the user to process information and encourage them to get in touch at key points throughout their journey. This bite-sized format also makes it easier for users to engage with the site on smaller mobile devices. The site uses a mega menu to allow users to access all areas of the website with ease, as well as allowing Ecova to expand their services in the future. The website has been built using WordPress. The Ecova team have access to the website to post new articles and update content as and when they need to. We thoroughly enjoyed working with Ecova. Have a look at their new site here. If you're interested in revamping your site, have a look at how our design team can bring your vision to life. #### Essential Photoshop tips and tricks - Part 1 Here's a few a quick, simple and easy tips for Photoshop that you can use today. Use the eyedropper tool to select colours outside of Photoshop I've lost count of the number of times I've saved, downloaded and screenshotted images or videos to only drag them into Photoshop and use the eyedropper tool to sample the colour from the picture. Photoshop has the ability to quickly pick up the colour value from anything on your screen - image, video, pdf or website. Open Photoshop and use the eyedropper tool as you normally would. While still holding down the eyedropper tool drag your selection out of Photoshop to where you want to sample the colour from. Change all the text throughout your document Changing the colour, size and font of text can be a time-consuming and tedious chore. Especially if you have to update each text layer manually and individually. Then again, if you need to implement this change across multiple documents. Thankfully there is a simple alternative that allows you to update the colour, size and font across your whole document and speed up your workflow. At the very top of the layers panel, you will notice five icons for images, adjustment layers, text, shapes and smart objects. Selecting these icons will filter the type of layers that are displayed below in your layers panel. The first step is select the 'Text icon' which will filter the layers panel only to show the text layers. You can then individually select the layers you want to update by holding down 'cmd' and clicking on the layers you want to update. Or to select a range between two layers, select your first layer and while holding down 'shift' select your second layer. Once these points are selected, you can edit the text colour, size and font as you usually would on a single text layer using the character panel. Quickly remove sections of your image with the click of a button Removing objects from images usually takes a bit of wizardry with the pen tool, about 100 layers and a shed load of patience. But in some cases eliminating objects from specific image backgrounds can be done quite literally with the click of a button. The content-aware fill tool is something that can be hit and miss, but for more simple images like the one in the example, it can be a useful tool for quickly removing background objects. Start by quickly selecting a rough outline of the section you want to remove, either with the pen or marquee tool. Then select 'Edit - Fill' (or for the hot-key enthusiasts 'shift + F5') to display the pop-up window. Make sure 'Content-Aware' is selected from the contents drop down and then click ok. If it all goes to plan the object will be removed from you image seamlessly, or only require a little tidying up with the stamp tool. Hot Keys to change the size and sharpness of brushes A simple but very useful hotkey is being able to quickly increase the size and sharpness of brushes by just using your keyboard. Make sure the brush tool is selected from the sidebar - or by just pressing 'B' to keep in the hotkey mood. To quickly increase the size of the brush select ']' or to decrease the size select '['. It's then possible to increase or decrease the sharpness on the edge of the brush. To increase the sharpness select 'shift + ]' and to decrease it use 'shift + ['. Quickly create a clipping mask in Photoshop Another quick and simple tip to increase the speed of your workflow is using the hotkey to create clipping masks in the layers panel. This is a staple Photoshop hotkey and once you start using it, you will kick yourself for not using it sooner. Start by hovering your mouse between the two layers you want to mask in the layers panel. By holding down 'alt' you will see a downwards pointing arrow appear and then while still holding 'alt' click to mask the two layers. And to undo the clipping mask repeat the process. And, that's that off the top of my head.  I'll be throwing some more wizardry as I'm going through projects. #### Everything you need to know about funnel analysis When it comes to understanding your customers journey and tracking user engagement on your website, nothing compares to the clarity of funnel analysis. It’s the perfect tool to help you identify key events along your customers journey so you can make improvements and increase your conversions. Issues such as struggling to figure out what area of your content is generating leads, losing track of the path your users are taking on your website, or simply where your users are dropping off can all be resolved through the use of this handy tool.  In the blog, we explore exactly what funnel analysis is, the benefits it can bring for your business and how you can use this tool. What is funnel analysis? Funnel analysis is the process of mapping the steps that visitors take on the road to a conversion. The whole idea of it is that once a user is in the ‘funnel’, they can be led to a specific goal. In many cases, this is known as a conversion.  Many businesses capitalise on funnel analysis and have a clear picture of the steps visitors are taking on their website. This allows them to adjust their business to best achieve success. Ultimately, the aim of funnel analysis is to increase your conversion rate. For example, you may have a web page that contains unclear information for your audience, or maybe the text is difficult to read. This is where funnel analysis comes into play and highlights any weak areas of your site so you can make improvements. What are the benefits of funnel analysis? Overall, funnel analysis allows you to stay one-step-ahead of the game because you can use it to monitor your users actions and behaviours. This helps you understand their intentions and motivations, meaning you can tweak your web pages and messaging to engage your users and encourage them to complete a conversion. Here are some other ways funnel analysis can benefit your business: Drive more conversions As we’ve mentioned throughout, conversion funnel analysis gives you the knowledge of the exact web pages which are driving or decreasing conversions and you can make alterations to those pages. You can optimise these pages to make the next step of the conversion seamless for your users, which creates a smoother and more personalised customer journey.  Streamline your funnels with funnel analytics Most brands today have many different digital touch points, for example, their website, social media, mobile apps and email newsletters. Each of these touch points will have their own funnel and when combined, they represent one overall customer journey. And thanks to funnel analytics, it can give you an overall perspective on how each of these funnels link together. This kind of insight can also give you more information to other areas of your website too. For example, if you’re noticing a lot of your pages are throwing off conversions, they might be experiencing common issues, such as no headings and no imagery. You can therefore make adjustments to these touch points and pages based on the insights you’ve gained. Increased revenue When conducted correctly, funnel analysis can give you insights which can ultimately increase your revenue. With these insights, a snowball effect will be created which generates a much more seamless journey for your visitors. At the end of this journey will be the best chance of a conversion, thanks to your optimisation efforts.  How do I use funnel analysis? Google analytics 4 (GA4) is the most effective way to conduct funnel analysis. As long as your web pages are being tracked using GA4, you can identify the exact steps users are taking right up to the end of your tracked conversions.  Once you have set up this insightful tool, you can view the Path Exploration tool in the Explore section of Google Analytics. Once there, you can select your date range and apply a set of filters to fine tune the data you’d like to see. From here, you’ll be able to see the steps your users are taking on the road to completing a conversion. You can analyse the web pages where your audience is dropping off the most and with that knowledge, you can inspect the pages in question and make any necessary improvements. Overall, the funnel analysis in Google Analytics is incredibly powerful and effective and you can use the tool to make adjustments which benefit your business in multiple ways. Want expert advice? It’s obvious to see that funnel analysis is a valuable weapon in your digital arsenal. It allows any business, no matter the industry they reside in, to truly understand the path their users are taking on their website.  Here at Fifteen, we specialise in all areas of conversion rate optimisation (CRO), so if you’d like expert recommendations to improve your website, be sure to contact us today and discover how we can help your business reach its full potential. #### Everything you need to know about meta descriptions As an online business owner, you know that every little detail on your website can make a big difference in attracting visitors - from writing compelling product descriptions to optimising your images. Meta descriptions are just as important as these elements of your site. That’s because these short snippets of text play a crucial role in enticing users to click through to your website from search engine results pages (SERPs). In this blog, we'll explain everything you need to know about meta descriptions including their importance for your SEO and the benefits they bring. We’ll also provide you with some tips on how to make the most out of your meta descriptions too. What is a meta description? A meta description is a meta tag within the HTML code of your website. They appear under your page title on SERPs and provide a summary of your webpage to searchers. It serves as a concise explanation of what your page is about and gives users a sneak peek into the content before they click on the link. Meta descriptions are often around 160 characters long, so keeping copy to a minimum is a must. However, optimising your meta descriptions with your target keywords can help with your SEO efforts as it can improve your search engine rankings and entice more clicks.  What is the importance of meta descriptions for SEO? You should never underestimate the power your meta descriptions have on your SEO efforts. We’ve mentioned that they can help with improving your search engine rankings and that’s because when you effectively optimise your webpage content and your meta description with your target keyword, you’ll have a better chance of Google showing your page to users. Search engines often highlight your keywords within your meta description that match users' search query, so this makes it vitally important to add these to your copy. Similarly, adding a compelling call-to-action (CTA) will also entice users to click and visit your site over your competitors. Ultimately, investing time into creating an effective and well-crafted meta description can make a significant impact to your website’s visibility and overall SEO performance. What are the benefits of a properly optimised meta description? We’ve already highlighted some benefits of properly optimised meta descriptions including improved search engine rankings and increased click-through rates (CTR), but here are a few more benefits. Differentiate your brand from your competitors You should think of your meta description as a mini advertisement for your page. By doing this, it can work wonders in differentiating your brand from your competitors. When you craft a concise and compelling meta description that accurately represents your content, you’ll entice users to click on your link over others. It’s your opportunity to showcase what sets your brand apart and why users should choose your website. Be sure to make it engaging, informative and relevant to increase your chance of driving more traffic to your site. Enhanced brand awareness The more enticing and relevant your meta description is to a user's search query, the more likely the user will click your link and visit your webpage and this leads to increased brand awareness. As well as this, when you provide users with engaging and relevant content, it also helps to establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry and builds trust with your audience.  Improved user experience As we’ve mentioned throughout, your meta description acts as a short snippet as to what your webpage is all about. This sets the expectations for website visitors as they get a glimpse as to what they can expect from your content. When they click through, it’s vital you deliver on what you promise. If you do, they’re more likely to engage and explore your website further, leading to an excellent user experience. How to make the most of your meta description Meta descriptions are a very important element to any SEO strategy and with any SEO tactic you employ, you want to ensure you’re getting the most out of your efforts. Here are a few ways you can ensure your meta descriptions are effective: Ensure every webpage has a meta description - not only will this provide you with better results in terms of SEO and your users a better understanding of your webpages, it also provides a professional look to your website and shows you take pride in providing engaging information to visitors. Make use of SEO plugins and tools - some great tools and plugins include Yoast SEO and SEMRush and these make it easier for you when optimising your meta descriptions. Keep your copy short and sweet - this is best practice so your full meta description is displayed. Ensure you highlight your unique selling points and an enticing CTA. Want some expert help with your meta descriptions? Optimising your meta descriptions is an incredibly useful element to your SEO strategy that can help increase your organic rankings and hopefully drive more traffic to your site. If you’d like some expert help with your meta descriptions, don’t hesitate to contact us today.  Our SEO specialists can conduct keyword research and effectively optimise your meta descriptions so your webpages can be seen on search engines, ultimately boosting your organic rankings. #### Facebook Being Sued Over Copycat Logo Calibra and Libra Calibra is the new digital wallet from Facebook for their entry into the cryptocurrency market. Facebook's new digital currency, called Libra, is built on a secure, scalable and reliable blockchain allowing users to access multiple financial services. Making money that more accessible, no matter where you are in the world you can send and receive money and Libra will exchange this into local currencies. Libra is mobile, stable and fast, making cash digital and mobile as you are. Calibra allows you to combine Libra with your favourite apps, making it easy to send, add and withdraw money in just a few clicks. Nonetheless, Calibra has not been built yet and isn’t due to be launched until 2020. However, before they are even up and running they are already being sued by an existing mobile banking company, called Current, who is claiming that Facebook copied their company’s logo. Who are Current? Current is another mobile banking app that allows users to bank faster and easier, whether this is in family life, allowing families to set up banking for their teens setting them up for success, or in your work life, allowing you to get your paycheck two days faster than your existing bank. The controversy surrounding the logo Earlier this year Current tweeted a side by side comparison with the caption “this is what happens when you only have 1 crayon left”, which left users amid this corporate mess. https://twitter.com/current/status/1141459729505562626 One user left a tweet writing ”Ctrl c + Ctrl v, colour overlay and extra-thick stroke and distort the wave a bit fill it. Good work. steal with pride”. @gustafgarnow https://twitter.com/gustafgarnow/status/1141472553195769858 Another user left this tweet hitting the nail on the head. @gadotaviv https://twitter.com/gadotaviv/status/1141475116305567744 Addressing the similarities Now, it is clear that both the logos look similar and it’s also hard to clarify if Facebook deliberately copied Current’s logo. However, this is where it gets a lot more interesting. Allegedly, both logos were designed by the same San Francisco design firm, Character. Currents CEO, Stuart Sopp said to CNBC: “We put six months of hard work into this with that design firm, which they basically reused for Facebook without changing much. Court documents filed earlier this month also confirm that both the logos were designed by the same design firm. https://www.scribd.com/document/429785962/FB-Suit?campaign=SkimbitLtd&ad_group=72705X1521812X4d736400ef8535756f45b789d5e0e0ab&keyword=660149026&source=hp_affiliate&medium=affiliate Current filed an application for its logo on June 26, 2019, eight days after Facebook unveiled the Libra project and branding. Not the only hurdle for Facebook In addition to all of this, this lawsuit is just another obstacle for Facebook to tackle. With huge corporations such as eBay, Visa and Mastercard pulling out of Facebook’s Libra currency project. It seems like this project could be over before it's even started. Earlier this week PayPal and Booking Holdings, the firm behind booking.com has also dropped out ahead of The Libra Associations first board meeting to be held on Monday. There are still 21 members on board of the project and some names include, Music streaming service Spotify and Ridesharing firms Uber and Lyft. the Libra Executive tweeted, thanking Visa and Mastercard for “sticking out until the 11th hour”. https://twitter.com/davidmarcus/status/1182775730427572224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1182775730427572224&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.engadget.com%2F2019%2F10%2F11%2Febay-stripe-facebook-libra-cryptocurrency%2F @davidmarcus Will Libra ever launch? In addition, France and Germany have argued that Libra should be banned from the European Union, while the US and UK are asking for more information about Libra’s stability and its privacy implications before any decisions are made. What are your thoughts on Facebook's Libra project and branding?   Getting digital right takes experience and insight. We've got a team of SEO, PPC, social experts and digital executives to help brands develop killer strategies that hit targets. Find out more about how we can help with your digital campaigns by contacting us online today. #### Facebook Canvas Adverts – Are They Right For Your Business Facebook is often releasing new formats for adverts. Its variety of tools is what makes it one of the more popular and – if we’re honest – really powerful ways of advertising online. One of Facebook’s more recent styles of adverts is called Canvas Adverts, so we thought we’d show you a little more detail to see if they’re right for your business. (The short answer is: probably yes. But stay with us.) What is a Facebook Canvas advert? Canvas ads are a new form of mobile-only paid advertisement through Facebook. They essentially bring together visual information such as text, photos and auto-playing videos. But the thing is, they’re not passive ads: users physically get involved, interacting with the add by scrolling down to see more. They can also further interact with the carousel and pan-to-view features offered within the canvas. And that’s really important: this isn’t a billboard someone is walking past and ignoring – they’re switched on and are interacting with your advert. There is also the opportunity for product based brands to create a ‘product set’. This creates direct links to the products on their website, leading to more exposure to the company or brand. The best way to describe canvas ads is to think of them as an interactive visual blog. So, if you’re a visual company and have lots of assets, you’re in luck. How can your brand benefit from Canvas ads?  Canvas ads are particularly good for mobile shopping. You can showcase products and then link to external products or sites in order to sell stuff. Additionally, because this type of advert is so interactive, it makes it easy to see whether people are interested in what you are advertising in the first place. And the time each person spends on the advert can show further if they are interested as it suggests how much time they are spending interacting with the advertisement. Furthermore, the amount of content that can be put into one of these adverts will mean that whoever is looking at it is learning more about the products or company that you’re promoting. With the cliff-hanger being the final detail, it encourages people to visit your site, but even if they don’t, the process of educating in detail has begun. What type of businesses will benefit from Canvas ads? In theory, anyone can use a Canvas ad, but product-based brands may have a better outcome due to the ‘product set’ feature (this allows you to show a list of products you want to promote more heavily). People can then click on the product and view it on your online store. Not only has this been shown to increase purchases of those particular products, it increases the amount of people viewing your site and possibly purchasing other items. (And the beauty of Facebook’s pixel means even if they didn’t buy, you know they came to your site – so you can promote to them at a later date, knowing they’re an engaged customer.) However, because of the diversity of canvas adverts, no matter what type of company you have, they will get you some outcome in the form of custom. You get more brand awareness. More traffic to your site. And some really in-depth, high-quality engagement with your brand. Basics of setting up a Canvas ad Facebook offers a simple template for business pages to use to create a simple Canvas advert. You’ll need to include: Header (with logo) Full-screen image/photo Text block Button for off-site links Image carousel Auto-play video Full-screen tilt-to-pan Product set You can only have a total of 500 characters in the text block, so when creating a canvas advert for your brand, keep it short, sweet and to the point. However, if you can’t fit everything you want to talk about there, you may want to include it in the image carousel or talk about it in the video. But to create something that wows your audience, it’s great to have a bank of content assets: captivating images, and engaging video. Don’t just load them up with any old content: make things shine. Why choose Canvas ads over other Facebook ad types? Due to Canvas adverts combining all the different elements in online paid advertising, it means there is something for everyone, increasing interactivity and reach. The tilt-to-pan feature is also something no other type of advert use, making people want to get more of an insight on what the feature does, making the experience more fun. Additionally, because there is so much content in different formats, people can scroll around for something that interests them. This way they won’t think the advert is annoying and enjoy it more than get irritated by it. Although there’s a large benefit to Canvas adverts, they are only shown on Facebook, and mobile too. So a multi-channel campaign would be needed if you wanted an even larger outcome from online advertising. So, there’s a quick intro to Canvas ads. Don’t forget that this is just one tool at your disposal. Facebook is an incredibly powerful platform and there’s tons of stuff you can do. You just need to know when to use the right tool for the right outcome. (And we can help you with everything in the online ad tool box.) #### Facebook dislike button is finally here! Ok, it’s not a dislike button, but it’s close enough. Facebooker’s (is that the collective term for users on Facebook?) everywhere rejoiced this week when testing on the new proposed “dislike” button ended, and the finished feature was rolled out globally. The new set of emoji characters you can now choose instead of just liking a post are: Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry. You can see them in all their glory, to the right. One that is noticeably missing from the initial announcement is the "Yay" emoji. What happened to him/her? We will never know... Regardless, we love the new little characters and are looking forward to seeing how these improve engagements further. Which one’s your favourite? We'd love to know. #### Facebook introduces Business Suite After a string of new updates in 2020, Facebook has now introduced Facebook Business Suite. This update is set to be “a Faster and Easier Way to Manage Your Business on Facebook and Instagram”. According to the tech giant, Facebook Business Suite was built with small business owners in mind and larger businesses set to gain access in the future. In the release statement, they explained: “It is available for small businesses globally starting today and will expand to larger businesses next year.” The main purpose of the new update seems to be to smooth out the joint management of Instagram and Facebook. This makes it so that businesses can easily monitor messages and comments from both in the same place. This is a feature that they rolled out earlier, but everything seems smoother through the new app. You can also post and schedule to both accounts at the same time now. Again, something possible before, but made simpler now. Another tidy element of the new ‘all-in-one’ package is the insights section. Insights lets you see stats at a glimpse, with more in-depth insights by clicking through. This saves you from having to click between platforms to monitor key statistics such as followers. It also allows you to compare things like audience demographics in one place. You can see how new service this looks in action with the quick video demonstration in the link below. https://www.facebook.com/facebook/videos/3469305613090476/ Negatives More time consuming invites On the Facebook Pages app, you were able to invite people who had liked one of your posts to like your page. You could do this by conveniently listing people who did not follow you. With the new update, they are scattered around so you have to search through and find them. This search is time-consuming for popular posts. Imagine scrolling through thousands of post reactions trying to spot which to invite! Unable to tag products from your shop Another negative that they should fix is that you’re unable to tag products when posting to both platforms. Social shopping is growing from strength to strength. If Facebook is trying to lead the way; they should enable businesses to tag products without having to post separately through the old method. Unable to add separate caption elements One issue that many professionals have with posting on multiple channels is that they want to add different elements, such as hashtags, to certain posts but not others. Instagram and hashtags go hand in hand but on Facebook, they look out of place and can make a post look untidy. Instead of posting and then having to delete the hashtags from the Facebook post or adding hashtags to the Instagram post straight away, they should offer a way of editing the captions separately for each. Alternatively, having a separate way of only adding hashtags to Instagram. A similar issue will occur when tagging people or businesses in posts like an Instagram @ is often different from how they appear on Facebook. As a leading digital marketing agency, we are always up-to-date with the latest trends and developments. Interested in professional social media management? Then give us a call. We're ready to supercharge your visibility and conversions. #### Facebook Reveals New Branding Logo Established in 2004, by a young Mark Zuckerberg, in his college dorm at Harvard University. The online social media service is now worth billions and is one of the most recognisable brands in the world. For the younger generation, having grown up with technology, Facebook was once one of the biggest mobile and desktop apps there was. However, in recent years a lot of young people have switched from the platform to other social media sites such as the popular photo-sharing app, Instagram. Which, in 2012 Facebook acquired for 1 billion dollars in cash and stock. Facebook has unveiled its updated company branding (not to be confused with the Facebook app logo redesign earlier in the year) to be clearer about the products that come from Facebook. Antonio Lucio, Chief Marketing Officer at Facebook said: “We’re introducing a new company logo and further distinguishing the Facebook company from the Facebook app, which will keep its own branding.” https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/11/introducing-our-new-company-brand/ The new visual branding features the company name all capitalised in “custom typography” and uses the signature colours of its other popular apps such as Instagram and Whatsapp. Antonio Lucio also continued to say: “People should know which companies make the products they use. Our main services include the Facebook app, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, Workplace, Portal and Calibra. These apps and technologies have shared infrastructure for years and the teams behind them frequently work together.” In June of this year Facebook began using “From Facebook” within all of its other apps and over the “coming weeks” we will start to see this new brand within its apps and other marketing materials. This will also include a new Facebook company website that is not to be confused with the “Facebook” app. Visually the new logo may not be that interesting and may look boring to some, but for a corporate parent brand, this branding is perfect for what they are wanting to achieve. Being a parent company and not a consumer-facing brand, taking a step back and letting its other consumer brands take centre is an effective way to distance the company from its apps and create any firebreaks should they need. To some people they may look at the logo and see a basic font, however, it does have its little quirks, which are quite unique. For example, the letters “A” and “K” slightly bow; and the rounded corners on all the letters complement each other perfectly. Being a huge corporate brand, introducing these softer elements make the company appear more friendly and approachable. However, taking into account over the last few weeks, month and even years, Facebook has received its fair share of controversy. This new rebrand is possibly a way for Facebook the “company” to separate itself from other parts of the business, as a way of saying “yeah Facebook (the app) may have its issues but Facebook (the company) is doing great." With all that said, this is simply a way of Facebook saying that Facebook is not entirely defined by “Facebook”. It's a simple change but one that will protect the parent company from any controversy. What are your thoughts on the new rebrand? We are website, logo and brand design experts. We love hearing about the ins and outs of the digital sphere and using their insights to create unique designs for our clients. Contact us now to find out more about rebranding or logo design and what it can do for your business. #### Facebook, Instagram and Amazon in The Limelight Social media platforms are constantly adapting to keep up with their rivals and challenge for new markets. A failure to do so can be the death knell for companies who see themselves as too big to fail. Others, sell up and become consumed by the behemoths that are FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google). This diverse ecosystem of innovation and investment is constant and ongoing with platforms either adding new strings to their bows or streamlining their processes. Whatever the method, there’s been a notable shift to big businesses adopting moves that curry favour and trust in users. How you wonder? Allow me to show you a few recent cases. Facebook’s Cryptic Endeavour with Libra Facebook has already bought everything under the sun. Their Wikipedia page has an acquisition list longer than some film credits. Now it seems they’re making a foray into the cryptocurrency world. Not only is this timing odd, but the Winklevoss twins have also released their cryptocurrency site named Gemini. This smacks of who came up with Facebook all over again. Cheeky as it may be of Facebook to take their name from the same set of star signs as Gemini, some reports believe that Facebook and Winklevoss could team up again on the crypto-front. Legitimacy has always been the one thing stopping cryptocurrencies but that looks set to change with Facebook’s name behind Libra and the Winklevoss brothers working with regulators and Congress to ensure Gemini has the backing of mainstream banks. If these two titans partnered up or even just hosted each other’s currencies on their sites, it would lend crypto a massive leg up in the eyes of formal economics. This gambit by Facebook is the first of the FAANG group and it’s interesting to see how the likes of Amazon react should it prove successful. Instagram Doesn’t Like the Negative Press It’s been little over a month since Instagram trialled their new layout with select areas losing the ‘like’ count completely. This change, although small, is likely to have huge implications for users, influencers and advertisers alike. Once a coveted metric, the number of likes acted like a dopamine boost and users became addicted to it. This has led to some unhealthy obsessions with Instagram and in particular reliance on vindication with likes. By removing the like count, Instagram will hopefully help sensitive users with any concerns of getting likes. Instead, posting can be organic with users not worrying about which post is likely to get the count up. From a digital perspective, this could have profound effects on social media marketing. Jason Davey, the head of Digital at Ogilvy has suggested:  “I expect the trial to have some interesting side-effects,” he continued. “Emphasis will now move towards measuring comments; comment counting and sentiment analysis, and possibly authors sharing the number of likes on their post via the comments. #Hashtags will become more important [again] as content authors seek to understand the viral effect of their posts. He goes on to add; “Influencers will now need to genuinely prove their audience engagement, and bot-based likes will no longer be rewarded,” he said. As a result, he predicted brands demand an independent verification of influencers engagement levels, which may create a business opportunity.” Time will tell how this new rollout will affect Instagram use, but it’s worth preparing and adapting strategies just in case you need to pivot to new metrics of success like comments on posts or interaction with Instagram stories. Amazon’s ‘Ambassa-bots’ What once started as a bookseller has grown into a worldwide entity that made $232bn in 2018 alone. People can’t get enough of convenience or next-day delivery. Amazon has even created a week for itself to rival Black Friday. However, there is a dark side to this multinational company with employees citing long working hours, high stress, and a general lack of empathy. The feeling was so great that Amazon employees even went on strike during Amazon’s big sale week to leave a lasting impact. Amazon has been in full-on defence mode since then. Their warehouses and delivery depots have been rebranded ‘fulfilment centres’ and every employee treated like ‘part of the team’. This strategy has found its way on to Twitter too with robot-like employees called ‘[Name] – Amazon FC Ambassador’ tweeting bizarre statements like ‘Back from more than a week of absence at work. Good thing I was able to cover it up using my timebank. (Personal, Sick, and Vacation)’. These statements have done little to convince users of Amazon’s workers’ benefits with critics and fake accounts lampooning the bot-like behaviour of Amazon’s so-called ambassadors. Critics don’t always have to go too far to find critiques with Amazon’s legitimate ambassador @AmazonFCRafael tweeting about how excited they were to see their grandchildren. The only problem. Rafael’s profile image is of a young man. The big boys of tech have been making motions this summer. Some have hit home runs while others have struck out fantastically. Whatever your thoughts, the digital sphere is one that continues to change and adapt to the users it serves. At Fifteen we love working with this mercurial beast and are on hand to offer services ranging from brand workshops to professional copywriting, website design and development, SEO and PPC, and everything in between. If you have a burning question about how we can help with your branding or digital needs contact us today. We are ready and waiting to help you make sense of the wild world of digital media. #### Fake Authenticity - Brands With Fictional Stories For some brands, their history is what make them. For example, Burberry has been around since 1856 as an outdoor wear company and is now seen as one of the top fashion labels in the world. However, for new brands, it can be difficult to have such a story and heritage behind them. This is when fake authenticity comes in. Essentially, fake authenticity is when you create your own fictional brand story from scratch. If your brand hasn't been established for years and years, then there is often little story to tell. You can talk about the process on how the brand may have come about, but for some brands, it still may be pretty generic and plain. Instead, by making a fictional story you can spice it up a bit. Consumers love brand stories. They believe in them and follow them. That is why some brands have decided to make up their own stories, to help engage customers in their story and brand. We've picked out just a few brands that have created their own brand story, which they have carried through in their marketing and branding. Hollister Hollister is probably one of the most well-known for its fake background story. They're an American lifestyle fashion brand, who advertise that they were founded in 1922 in California. However, they were actually founded by Abercrombie and Fitch in the year 2000. With clever marketing and branding, most would never have known about this. They make it very clear on all their packaging and advertising that they were 'established' in 1922 and also use a heritage style of imagery, using sepia-toned or even black and white filters. Abercrombie and Fitch even created a whole character called John, M, Hollister. Those who worked for Hollister were led to believe this story about John. "John M. Hollister was born at the end of the nineteenth century and spent his summers in Maine as a youth. He was an adventurous boy who loved to swim in the clear and cold waters there. He graduated from Yale in 1915 and, eschewing the cushy Manhattan life suggested for him, set sail for the Dutch East Indies, where he purchased a rubber plantation in 1917. He fell in love with a woman named Meta and bought a fifty-foot schooner. He and Meta sailed around the South Pacific, treasuring 'the works of the artisans that lived there,' and eventually settled in Los Angeles, in 1919. They had a child, John, Jr., and opened a shop in Laguna Beach that sold goods from the South Pacific—furniture, jewelry, linens, and artifacts. When John, Jr., came of age and took over the business, he included surf clothing and gear. (He was an exceptional surfer himself.) His surf shop, which bore his name, grew in popularity until it became a globally recognized brand," However, Hollister did receive a bit of backlash in the media due to their made-up brand story. They now don't publicly post much about their brand story, but they have very much kept their brand styling. The story still built them up to where they are today.   Ted Baker If you didn't know, Ted Baker is actually a made up name. The actual owner of Ted Baker is called Ray Kelvin. However, if you go into the brands 'about' section on their website, they talk as if Ted is a real person. The story they have may actually be true, but they've just replaced Ray's name as Ted. Within their visual merchandising and advertising, they even talk about the brand as a person. As you see below, in a recent campaign they said 'Ted turned on his head.' Frankie & Benny's Lastly, we have Frankie & Benny's, the well-loved restaurant chain of New York Italian food. The first location actually opened in 1995, however, the brands' fictional story starts in 1924. 'In 1924, at the age of 10, Frankie left Sicily with his parents and moved to “Little Italy” in New York City. Within a year of moving, the family had opened a restaurant, everybody helping with the building and the cooking in equal measure. Frankie went to the nearby high school and became lifetime friends with Benny, already a third-generation American. The business was taken over by Frankie and Benny in 1953, and combines popular American food with traditional Italian dishes.' Within their restaurants, they plaster the walls in old family photographs, and have styled the restaurant as a 1950's American diner. #### Farnborough School Website and Folder Design School Website Design Having already designed a new school prospectus for Farnborough School, the next step was to design a new website that mirrored the style of the school prospectus. As with the prospectus design we wanted to make sure that the website design was an extension of the prospectus and that it would be become a central hub for parents, students and staff to access information. We used a clean navigation system that meant visitors could find the information they wanted quickly and easily by arranging large buttons under the scrolling banner which would lead to sub pages with easy links to pages. The website also boasts an email login, VLE built in login system, live newsfeed, school calendar integrated into the site and blog, all of which can be updated using the CMS. The school even had a live camera feed of the building works taking place on the new school so visitors could watch in real time as the new school was being built! Farnborough School have kept the site updated regularly and are reaping the benefits of having a website that lets them talk to their students, parents and staff.  If you would like Fifteen Design to help with your school website design, call us on 0115 932 5151 or email design@fifteendesign.co.uk   School Prospectus Design Farnborough School in Clifton were fortunate to be able to receive funding for a new build as part of a government scheme and with a new building they wanted a new school prospectus that reflected the future of the school. We spent a full day at Farnborough taking photographs and once the shyness had faded the kids (and teachers) were more than happy to pose for the camera. The school prospectus design was very much visually led and the school wanted to give a candid image of the school and show pupils interacting in a natural way. This meant that we had to sift through thousands of pictures and work with the team at Farnborough to make sure we really captures the essence of the school in the pictures we chose. We were really pleased with the final prospectus design and all the staff agreed that we did a great job in giving a true depiction of the school. If you'd like help to create a unique school prospectus design, please contact us today on 0115 932 5151 or email design@fifteendesign.co.uk #### Fashion Brands To Succeed On Instagram The image sharing platform, Instagram, released a report claiming that fashion brands are more likely to succeed by posting and focusing their digital campaigns on their platform. From this report that Instagram brought together, out of the 500million members they have on their app, 50% follow businesses and 1 in 3 users have bought clothes that they have discovered through the app. Why Is Instagram Best For Fashion Brands? Instagram is a far more visual social media platform, compared to competitors such as Facebook and Twitter, and this is a great benefit for fashion brands. Fashion is a visual industry, it's all about the styling, trends and looking fabulous. When creating posts for Instagram, brands can be far more imaginative and creative, than on platforms such as Twitter, which is a more conversational platform. When Should We Post On Instagram? If you're wanting to get your posts to reach the fashion savvy, you should be looking at posting between Friday and Monday. This is because they're going to be spending more time on social media during the weekends, when they're likely to be dressing up to go out, or going out shopping and are looking for some fashion inspiration. What Can I Be Posting? All the look-books, adverts, product shots, flat lays and video clips that fashion brands will be creating, can all be posted to Instagram. You aren't limited to just images, you can include videos, gifs, hyper-lapses and boomerangs. The more visual, the better! For an example, accessory brand, Lulu Guinness, has aced utilising Instagram. The fun-loving brand, full of colour and personality, has managed to make all these aspects shine through on their posts, through well thought-out and styled product shots and video clips. Fashion brands go big during the fashion weeks. Those who love fashion, love to see all the behind the scenes, and get sneak peaks into the shows that are going on. Fashion week used to be completely exclusive to those who work in the industry, but social media has allowed us all to get a glimpse. What's Next For Fashion Brands On Instagram? As mentioned at the start of this post, 1 in 3 users have bought clothes that they have discovered through the app. Instagram has caught onto this, and are currently testing out an in-app shopping experience. Once this has launched fully, every fashion brand should be using it to help direct their customers to the products and inevitably increase sales. Want to find out more about this in-app shopping experience? Click here to read our post on how it will work and how you can benefit. #### Featured Images: How to Optimise Your Hero Images for Maximum Effect Featured images are often the first thing users see when scouring social media or your blog page for articles, guides, and the like. This image is usually the largest, sits in the hero section of your piece, and usually doubles as the image thumbnail when it is shared on social media. With this in mind, it’s easy to see how picking a featured image isn’t simply a matter of picking the first image in a gallery but rather finding the picture that says a thousand words. Here’s how to make sure that picture says the right words.  High-Quality Featured Images are Key First and foremost, images on websites and particularly large images like a featured image need to be high quality. Low res images pixelate and look unprofessional and can cost you vital clicks as users shy away from a link that looks less professional or safe.  If you can, use your own imagery. If you provide a service ask customers if you can take photos of the site or use images of your own branded equipment to show off what you can do. Failing that, work with your design team or invest in a site like Shutterstock to find high-quality images that fit your content. Stick to a Standard Size Next, is image resolution. When scrolling through a blog page, featured images that are of different sizes take away from the professionalism of your site with odd-shaped thumbnails. This lack of uniformity shows a lack of care so make sure you ask your developers or designers what size featured images should be and work from there. Write the dimensions down and keep them handy so whenever you post a blog you can find and size an image to fit your style. Find Your Style and Stick to It Speaking of style, every brand has its own flavour. Some use real-life images to show off their services. Others use vectors or cartoons to promote abstract ideas. Consider how you want your brand to be seen. Cartoons are friendly but can seem less serious. Photos of construction equipment or earthworks are informative but not exactly exciting. Consider the tone of your website and brand. Who are your clients? What do they expect of you? How would you like to be portrayed? Consider this relationship when deciding on an image style and stick with the theme throughout. Doing this ensures a cohesive style that your users will recognise and trust no matter where they interact with your brand. Use Relevant Imagery Finally, make sure you use images relevant to the piece. There’s nothing more confusing than a blog about X with a random image of Y. If you’re writing about baking, use a photo of cakes. You can even go more abstract with kitchen equipment or someone enjoying a slice of cake. Whatever, you do stick to the theme of the piece.  Trust the Experts If you don’t have the time or expertise to create your own content then trust the experts to do it. At Fifteen we are past masters in creating and optimising content to capture users’ attention and drive conversions. Contact us now to find out more about content marketing and SEO and we’ll get your images turning heads in no time. #### Feel The Love With These Valentine's Campaigns With Valentine's Day fast-approaching, we are looking over some past and present Valentine's campaigns that won our hearts. Whether your brand archetype is a carer, innocent or completely different, you can still be getting involved with Valentines themed campaigns. Get inspired from some of these campaigns we've picked out, or have a read of our other Valentines post '5 Ways You Can Promote Your Brand In The Run-Up To Valentine’s Day.' #SingItSnuggle This year, a US fabric softener brand, Snuggle, has created a personalised Valentines video campaign to build brand awareness and spread the love! On the companies website and social accounts, they’re focusing on directing people to SnuggleSerenades.com, where you can choose from two different song choices, either ‘The Time of My Life’ or ‘Lovin’ You’. Once you’ve chosen your song choice, you can then personalise the video with your loved ones name, your name and then insert images of your loved one. Snuggle, the brands teddy bear mascot, then sings the song, with the images of your loved one popping up throughout the video. You can then email the video or you can pop it onto your socials, using the hashtag #SingItSnuggle. What is so great about this campaign is that it’s not directly marketing the product the company is actually offering. It is just allowing you to create something fun through their brand. They’re going for an element of delight, and this will result in great brand awareness. If people discover and get to know your brand, then you're more likely to get an increase in conversions.   Deadpool’s Alternative Advert This time last year, the film 'Deadpool' was soon to be releasing in cinemas, so rather than just having generic action superhero film trailers and adverts, they created an alternative to fit in with the fact that Valentines was coming up. They made multiple still image adverts, one styled as if it were a romantic film cover and the other with the character, Deadpool, holding his hands as a heart shape. There were also multiple video adverts that matched up with these adverts. They encouraged people to take their partners to go see the film in cinemas on Valentine's day, as well as offering tips on wooing your partner. This was a great style of campaign, something that hadn't really been seen before, as not many films wouldn't take this risk! But, it worked perfectly for Deadpool. The dry humour and the fact they were taking the mick out of the generic romantic film trailers you often see around this time of year. Tesco’s Basket Dating Forget your standard speed dating, Tesco’s tried to see if they could be cupid and match up people through what they put in their shopping basket. Their thought around this was, that we are what we eat, so they believed that those with similar shopping baskets were more likely to match up in their interests. They filmed the whole timeline from matching up the shopping baskets to getting the pairs to find each other within the supermarket and then sent them to go on a dinner date to find out more about their match. Realistically, not every match went perfectly, but by the looks of the advert, some were prepared to meet up again. Similar to the Snuggle campaign, Tesco didn’t focus around trying to sell specific products, but instead just play as cupid in the supermarket. However, there definitely was a lot of product placement! There are many more successful Valentines campaigns out there and with a week still to go, there's still plenty of time for more new ones to emerge!  Thinking about improving your digital marketing strategy?  [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/digital-marketing-strategy/"]See What We Can Do For You Here[/fifteen_button] #### Fifteen Appear In The Drum Digital Census 2016! Following our debut in 2015, we are delighted to reveal that Fifteen have again been ranked in The Drum Digital Census for 2016. The digital census, which is published by global media platform The Drum, is conducted in partnership with Results International, Merit and Recommended Agencies Register (RAR). The digital census outlines the performance of digital agencies across the UK and highlights key players in the industry. The census is grouped by staff size into four sections: 1-25 staff, 25-50 staff, 51-99 staff and 100+ staff. Fifteen appear in the category for teams with 1-25 staff. Here are the results from this year’s census: 2016 results: Top 10 (10th) in the client rank Top 40 (39th) in the financial rank 2015 results: Top 20 in the client rank Top 60 in the financial rank Throughout 2015 and 2016, Fifteen have been lucky enough to have been shortlisted and winners of several local and national customer service awards including the RAR Awards, the Chamber of Commerce Business Awards and The Midlands Business Awards. “It’s great to see that our dedication to excellent client service has paid off. We have risen by 10 places in the client ranking in this year’s census, achieving a place in the top 10 digital agencies in the UK. What a fantastic achievement and accolade to be awarded by our great client reviews.” Kate Crowther, Client Services Director Over the past 12 months, Fifteen has been steadily growing in both breadth and depth of team numbers and services we can now offer our clients. Our team has risen from 16 to 21 members strong (an increase of 31%), allowing for us to better serve our clients and have a quicker turnaround on jobs that come into the studio. “We have climbed 20 places in this year’s financial ranking, making it into the top 40 digital agencies in the UK. I’m really proud of this growth and it is a reward for the hard work the entire team has put in over the past year. Fifteen now has our largest team in 13 years of business and a stable and ever-increasing turnover that puts us in a great position for the future.” Ollie Piddubriwnyj, Managing Director Click here to see the full breakdown of the census and to get a hold of your own copy of the report. www.thedrum.com/digitalcensus2016/client #### Fifteen Are Going To Be At Love Business 2017! It's that time of year again when we are preparing ourselves for the Love Business Exhibition! This year it's being held at Donington Park, Castle Donington on Thursday 16th February between 9am-3pm, only a few days from now. The Exhibition The Love Business Exhibition is an opportunity for us and other businesses in the East Midlands to network and share our projects and services. There are also plenty of speakers and workshops that you can attend, to help inspire and educate you and your business. The talks booked in at the event, range from the psychology of sales to digital disruption to post-Brexit business. There's going to be a vast range of industries at the event including; Innovation, Technology & Sustainability Manufacturing & Engineering Transport & Logistics Construction & Property Small Business Zone Leisure, Hospitality & Retail Come Find Us! We're lucky enough for our stand to be right next to the Networking Cafe, and with our bright green stand, we will be hard to miss! Come visit our stand at E38, toward the entrance of the exhibition and meet with, Kate our Client Services Directors, Chanelle our Account Manager and Sophie our Senior Digital Producer. You will also be able to have a look through our portfolio of projects and pick up business cards if you wish to get in touch. We look forward to meeting you there! #### Fifteen are UK Blog Awards Finalists! The Fifteen office opened its doors again this week and after a long and relaxing ten days holiday we returned refreshed to the office to find some great news… We have been named as finalists in the 2017 UK Blog Awards! www.blogawardsuk.co.uk/ukba2017/finalists After a lot of campaigning for votes from our clients and followers (for which we are so very grateful) and a lot of hard work writing, scheduling and creating content from the Fifteen digital marketing team, our blog content has reached the final stages of the judging process as a company finalist in the ‘PR, Media, Marketing And Communications’ category. Phase two of the judging process involves our blog being cast under the expert eyes of an industry leading judging panel in February 2017. The results of the awards will be revealed at a prestigious awards ceremony at the Westminster Park Plaza Hotel, London on Friday 21st April 2017. This year, not only could our entry win the individual category prize, but it could also be in with a chance to win the ODEON Cinemas Content of the Year Award, picking up the overarching golden award on the night. In preparation for and during the voting process, we worked hard to produce and deliver valuable content and information for our followers about the importance of having a blog and ideas on what to fill it will. We had UK Blog Award takeovers on our social media channels, question and answers sessions, a dedicated ‘Blog Week’ on our website and we even delivered a ‘Live Blog’ that was updated throughout the day be every member of the Fifteen team in the office. Have a scroll back through our December blog posts in case you missed anything from Blog Week. We hope you enjoy our blog and that you find the information we share of interest and as a useful resource to help to your business. Let us know if there’s anything you would like to know more about or read more of on our blog and we’ll be sure to post something on here about it soon! Now, we just have to hold tight until the awards night in April. We’d like to take this opportunity to wish the rest of the finalists good luck and thank you all again for your votes. Wish us luck! #### Fifteen Brings Home the Bacon Winning International Award! We are thrilled to announce that Fifteen Design Ltd has been recognised by the global Netty Awards, winning the category for Best Web Relaunch for superb design, development and results for our client, Meat & Co. Honouring leading tech companies across the world, the awards set a benchmark for excellence, and are considered among the most respected (and highly sought) accolades in the global digital marketplace and we are proud of the recognition. Market leading quality online butchers and suppliers, Meat & Co chose us to design and coordinate their complete online brand, launch and digital marketing campaigns which have all been of great success. The award is a huge endorsement and well-deserved recognition of the hard work, innovative thought, and hours of dedication that our incredible team put into every single project. The judges said: "Fifteen’s exceptional work has set you apart in a field of remarkable entries, truly embodying the spirit of creativity, innovation, and technical proficiency that the Netty Awards celebrates." If you are looking for expert brand, website design, website development or digital marketing solutions, don't hesitate to contact us today to find out how we can bring success to your business! #### Fifteen Design Adds AI Award to their Trophy Cabinet At Fifteen Design we are no strangers to awards. We have won a wide range of prizes over the past decade including awards from Design Week Top 100, The Drum RAR Awards, dotCOMM Awards, and the Hermes Creative Awards. We’re pleased to add another name to that list after winning an award from the illustrious Acquisition International.  Acquisition International Acquisition International, otherwise known as AI is an international, monthly publication focused on the exciting world of digital business. Established in 2010, this B2B publishing house is one of 16 brands within AI Global Media. AI’s monthly magazine circulates more than 108,000 digital professionals, including investment professionals, top tier management, service providers, and business advisers Along with this publication AI also have an in-house team of researchers dedicated to running the annual Global Excellence Awards. These researchers use an in-depth and rigorous selection process to find the best of the best. All the winners of this prize are chosen based on proven performance over the past 12 months. This helps business earn recognition and reward for sustained outstanding performance and industry leadership.  Fifteen Design We are market leaders in digital marketing, design, and development. Our agile teams combine several disciplines to provide a fully-integrated digital marketing service. Whether you’re looking for a new website, social media management, inspirational designs or anything in between, our dedicated team work together seamlessly to meet your needs.  We work to demystify digital. By creating unique results-driven solutions you’ll see exactly where and how we can help your business and brand. We do this by listening and understanding your needs and limitations. From there we explore every detail and plan a project that takes into account timescales, budgets and any other needs. Whether it’s building a new website from the ground up, tweaking your current site to maximise your potential, or supplying you with a bespoke digital marketing campaign, we get to work turning your brand into an online touchpoint.  The Award With all of that pedigree in mind, we were thrilled to see Fifteen Design receive the 2020 Global Excellence Awards: Most Trusted Website Design Agency 2020 (UK). This award is a testament to all the hard work we do. From our development team to our creative designers, digital marketing team, and client services, we work hard to offer clients sound support and market-driving success. If you’re interested in working with us on your next big campaign or just want a little advice and support on running a small digital campaign, we’re here for you. Contact us now and our helpful team will get you on track to take the digital world by storm. #### Fifteen Get Festive Helping Operation Christmas Child It’s that time of the year again where we don our Santa hats, blast out the Christmas tunes and get busy buying and wrapping lots of gifts for our friends and family. But what about the people that won’t be getting any gifts this year? Who will give the children that are living in poverty or fleeing war-torn countries their gifts? Christmas for most of us here is a peaceful time that we share with our loved ones exchanging gifts and celebrating. It’s times like these that we should take the time to help those many people across the world that are not as lucky as we are and try to give something back. At Fifteen, we always try to do our bit for charity and for the past three years we have been working with Larkfields Infant School in Nuthall, Nottinghamshire to help them collect shoeboxes filled with toys and gifts that are donated as Christmas gifts in the scheme ‘Operation Christmas Child’ ran by the Samaritan’s Purse. The charity collect shoeboxes from across the world and deliver them to children living in desperate situations in the hope of bringing them a little joy on Christmas day. They say, “a small shoebox can have a big impact. What goes into the box is fun, but what comes out of it is eternal” and we really do agree! This year we have decided to donate 30 boxes to the school and every member of the Fifteen team has been involved in shopping for gifts, packing and wrapping the boxes and delivering them into the school. The boxes range from gifts for 2 - 14 year old boys and girls and are filled with lots of different gifts from toys and games to clothes and soap. We took a team shopping trip to the local toy shop and loaded up our baskets and trolleys full of goodies for the children. We had a giggle with the cashier in the shop that we had bought out the entire store and she got chatting with us about what a lovely idea it is and how she often gets involved with her local school to give a box too. Our shoeboxes were very kindly donated to us by the team at the Pavers Shoes store in the Armstrongs Mill shopping centre in Ilkeston (thank you very much ladies) and delivered into the Fifteen office for wrapping. Our entire team got involved with the packing and wrapping of the gifts and boxes. Everyone excitedly shut down their computers and took up a spot in the boardroom, listening to Christmas songs whilst we filled it with Christmas cheer and lots and lots of wrapping paper and sticky tape! There were dolls, toy cars, balls, gloves, hats, toothbrushes, hair bands, colouring books, pens, crayons and lots more. We had sweet treats going into the boxes too and we are very proud to tell you that not one of them were consumed by a Fifteen team member, or so we were told… A few days later, we took a trip to Larkfields Infant School to deliver the 30 packed, wrapped and labeled boxes. Greeting by Jane Maltby, School Administrator, we were welcomed into the school with much excitement. Jane had said that the school had managed to collect 70 boxes from the pupils and our extra 30 would make a grand total of 100 boxes for the charity – that’s the most boxes the school has ever donated! The school had organised for a photographer from the local press to come into the school and get a photo of the shoeboxes and a few of the pupils. Fifteen’s Managing Director, Ollie Piddubriwnyj has a daughter that attends the school and so Amelia, aged 5, was also included in the photo along with a couple of members of the Fifteen team – including Josh who is an ex-pupil of the school. “It’s really important to us as a business to share our success with the local community and give something back. It means a lot to me that everyone at Fifteen gets involved in helping out and shares the experience of packing the boxes too. The entire team looks forward to doing this each year and every time we see the pictures of the children receiving the gifts we remember how brilliant it feels to make them smile. It’s extra special to do something for the school that my daughter attends too; I want her to be proud of her Dad’s business and friends.” Ollie Piddubriwnyj, Managing Director.  If you want to get involved with Operation Christmas Child, you can find out more about the campaign here: https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/ #### Fifteen Group acquires Hughes Media Fifteen has today completed the acquisition of Hughes Media's clients, marking a significant milestone in the company's growth strategy. The acquisition aligns with our team's commitment to deliver high-quality technical support and expanding our presence in the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape. Hughes Media Ltd, a respected agency known for its expertise in website design and development, was the perfect fit for the team at Fifteen who love working in bespoke PHP, Laravel, and WordPress. This strategic acquisition will combine the strengths and resources of both companies to offer clients a broader range of creative services and digital marketing solutions. Ed Hughes, Founder and CEO of Hughes Media Ltd, expressed his enthusiasm about the acquisition: "We believe this partnership with Fifteen Design Ltd opens up exciting opportunities for our clients. We're looking forward to bringing the Hughes Media clients enhanced expertise to help grow their business further." John French, Fifteen's Strategy Director, is excited at the opportunities ahead: "We are really looking forward to getting to know all of the new clients. As well as offering the technical ability to expand and enhance client's websites, Fifteen also has an industry-leading marketing department and we are keen to get to meet all clients and to assist them in growing their business." The acquisition of Hughes Media Ltd is part of Fifteen's ongoing commitment to expanding while still providing clients with high-quality, innovative, and holistic digital marketing services. The company's dedication to providing creative and strategic solutions to its clients remains at the core of its mission. #### Fifteen is now a UK Shopware Technology Partner Shopware is an extremely powerful e-commerce CMS that is open source and our e-commerce website developers love using it. Fifteen have been keeping a keen eye on the Shopware e-commerce ecosystem for a few years now. We’ve set up a few for our clients using Shopware. Each and every time we’ve been able to offer beautiful & functional e-commerce stores built on top of the platform and we’ve been impressed at every step of the journey. Over the past few months we’ve been working with the commercial team at Shopware to strike up our official partnership and it’s now official; Fifteen are a UK Shopware Technology Partner. This means with close support from Shopware directly, we can push the boundaries of technology and e-commerce further and in turn, deliver our clients best in class e-commerce websites. Shopware is currently enjoying a very healthy market share of e-commerce websites in Europe and growing at a very impressive rate. With brands such as Aston Martin, Jagermeister and Overclockers embracing Shopware, it seems to be not just Fifteen that are impressed. Looking at the statistics provided by builtwith.com it’s not surprising to see why. Some of the accolades really do speak for themselves: 13th most popular on the Entire Internet in Enterprise category. 19th most popular in the Top 1 Million sites in Enterprise category. 3rd most popular in Germany in the Enterprise category. 7th most popular in Germany in Open Source category. 6th most popular in Germany in eCommerce category. Shopware Community Day Fifteen have been lucky enough to be invited to the Shopware Community Day. Next week I’ll be flying out to the beautiful city of Düsseldorf to participate in the conference (and after party ?). As a partner, we’ve been given early access to some of the new features to be released on the day and it’s fair to say this has gotten our developers pretty excited. It would be poor form for us to spoil the surprise for other delegates attending the conference so you won’t find any spoilers here I’m afraid but keep an eye on our social media feeds for live updates. Some of the highlights of the day are keynote speeches from Shopware Founder Stefan Hamann, talks by Paypal & Amazon Pay and as mentioned before, lots of exciting announcements and feature releases. Our contact at Shopware has also promised us a selfie with Cascada who will be performing at the after- show party. #### Fifteen Jump kicks British Military Martial Arts's New Website Guess what, we’ve had another launch! Starting this December off with a bang. We are proud to shout out about the new Lee Matthews British Military Martial Arts website. It launched on the 1st December 2017. About British Military Martial Arts British Military Martial Arts (BMMA) is a one of a kind organization. As they are the only one in the UK to have both ex-military and civilian instructors teaching military themed martial arts. The organisation was founded in 2001 by Lee Matthews. He spent 7 years serving in the Third Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. After which, he wanted to teach martial arts with a difference. All BMMA instructors are inspirational, motivational and always get the best out of the pupils in every class. The classes consist of many martial art styles including Karate, Kung-Fu, Ju-jitsu and Kickboxing. All are catered to all ages and levels. Today, BMMA has over 80 locations across the country. It has new schools opening each year. With aims to become the biggest and best martial arts school in the country. The Task The brief for this project is to deliver a website that allows Lee Matthews British Military Martial Arts to take the next step into the world wide web. The website needed to be designed to reflect the BMMA’s passion, enthusiasm and professionalism. This alongside teaching children and adults martial arts with military precision. Also, with a keen eye for detail and ensuring that the website follows the continuity from the classroom to the online presence that the BMMA have. The site needed to be developed into a scalable and responsive website. That integrates seamlessly with the API for BMMA's CRM system. Allowing parents and adults to book courses via the website. Raise awareness of BMMA online Attract new pupils Attract new staff and new franchise owners Provide all necessary information for stakeholders, and showcase this in an interactive way that will meet requirements Reflect the BMMA look and feel and the empowering nature of the company Have a website that is visual and has the WOW factor Support BMMA’s overall marketing objectives and inbound strategy Encourage visitors to book online via the Nest API increasing the conversion rate Highlight key messages quickly and effectively resulting in a positive engagement Build a professional, modern website that is responsive and easy to use. An easy navigation and a clear user journey Build the website in a CMS which will allow the admin access to amend content and images The Website With the visuals, we needed to create something that would allow BMMA to stand out. We created a strong visual style across the website. Making sure that all photos where possible used across the site had the same treatment applied to them. With large chunky text across the headers and call to actions. We focused on a clean and concise user journey. Making sure that users were guided through the website to each key stage of the buying process. Ensuring that appropriate images were used throughout the site to convey the energetic and fun nature of the classes. The website’s CMS is built in Drupal and integrates with the API for their CRM system. Using the API to pull through all the class locations, instructors and allow for parents/students to book their free trial through the site. Before After Within a few days of the website launching, we can already see improvements in the way that users are using the site. A 11% reduction in bounce rate and, a 66% increase in page views on the site, in just a few days! We can’t wait to see what results the site generates in full in a few months time! What They Said “I am extremely pleased with the service I have had with fifteen. The team are extremely creative and have produced a site which is truly amazing. It has far surpassed any of my expectations and I couldn’t be happier with the whole experience and end result." - Lee Matthews, Owner, British Military Martial Arts Who Worked On The Project? Matt, Sophie, Ben, Romin, Polly Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="www.britishmilitarymartialarts.co.uk"] Visit BMMA [/fifteen_button] #### Fifteen nominated for 2 x RAR Digital Awards We're proud to announce that Fifteen are double finalists at this years RAR Digital Awards. We have been nominated for 'Strategic Thinking', a category we were previously nominated for at the RAR awards in April. Fifteen are also up for the 'On Time' award. We look forward to the event in London in on June the 18th and fingers crossed we come back as winners!   Check out the full list of nominees at: http://www.recommendedagencies.com/digital-awards/2015/finalists/ #### Fifteen Picks Up Three AVA Digital Awards! It’s that time of the year again, when we sit excitedly refreshing our entry application on the AVA Digital Awards website to see if our work has been recognised. After much anticipation, we’re please to share that all three of our submissions have received an award in this year’s results! We submitted three of our websites into this year’s awards, these included: Love My Skin, The Sixth Form College Solihull and Liberty Leisure. The results for the websites are as follows: Love My Skin – Platinum Liberty Leisure Website – Gold The Sixth Form College, Solihull Website – Honourable Mention Our entries into this year’s competition mirrored our results from last time around, when we achieved a Platinum, Gold and Honourable Mention for our three entries. These entries included: the Fifteen 10 Year Anniversary website, NexStor and Stirland Paterson. So, we have another three certificates and two statuettes heading our way to join the others in the Fifteen awards cabinet. What are the AVA Awards? The AVA Digital Awards is a competition that celebrates and recognises excellence delivered by international creative professionals, involved in the design and production of digital media and communication. The awards honour the ever-changing and creative ways in which we engage with our online audience through digital arts. The awards were founded in 1994 and now in their 23rd year. The categories at the awards have changed over time to suit the expanding role that digital media plays in communication and delivering information. The Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals are the administers of the awards and judge the entries. This international organisation is made up of thousands of industry professionals, who come together during the awards judging process to reward outstanding achievement to the digital profession. “For us, these awards are so important not only for our business reputation but also for our clients who have just as much pride and passion for their website as we do when we are creating it. The AVA Digital awards are a celebration of excellent digital work and to continue to have our work honoured year after year makes me very proud of the Fifteen team and our achievements.” Ollie Piddubriwnyj, Managing Director. #### Fifteen Put West Transport On The Road To Online Success Over the course of the last two months, Fifteen have been working hard to provide Midlands based transport company West Transport with a brand new, modern and responsive website, and we are proud to reveal that the site is now live and the client loves it! About West Transport Founded in 1899, West Transport offer services nationwide such as warehousing and trailer rental. From their Ilkeston base, West Transport handles palletised consignments ranging from a single pallet to full loads. They also have a state of the art Authorised Testing Facility (ATF) and are able to provide a range of services for commercial vehicles. The Task The key tasks within the project were to create a responsive site that is sleek and clean, yet still using the companies original colour scheme of light blue and purple. It was evident from the start that imagery was crucial so we had to make sure that the designs were imagery-led and showcased the trucks on key pages. The site is built with a focused user journey and allows the admin to edit the site via a CMS system. Who Worked On The Project? Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="http://west-transport.co.uk/"]Visit the new West Transport Website[/fifteen_button] #### Fifteen Step It Up For Big Tone While the rest of you are enjoying your lie-in this Sunday morning, the boys and girls of Fifteen will be braving the wintery weather for a charity run in memory of a much-loved colleague. Developer, athlete and all-round top guy Tony Austin passed away in July and those of us who were lucky enough to know him during his time with Fifteen wanted to do something special in tribute to him. Tony – aka Big Tone, aka T-Dog, aka Agent Steps – was a dedicated long-distance runner who not only trounced the competition in our office Fitbit challenges but also took time out of our works holiday in Ibiza to go for a jog round the island! So naturally a running challenge seemed the most fitting way to remember him, which is why this Sunday eighteen of Tony’s colleagues will be taking on the Nottingham MoRun – an event in support of the Movember Foundation for men’s health – at Nottingham’s Wollaton Park, a short distance from our offices. The forecast is currently predicting cold and rain, so it’s not exactly going to be Ibiza weather, and our race times probably won’t quite reach Tony’s standard. However, we think he’d find the idea of us braving the November cold and stumbling through the Nottinghamshire landscape highly amusing, especially after all the stick we gave him over his own winter training regime! We’re raising money in aid of the Movember Foundation, so if you would like to contribute to a great cause by sponsoring us, please head over to our official JustGiving page. [fifteen_button link="https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/big-t-15"] Sponsor the Fifteen team [/fifteen_button] #### Fifteen Step It Up With A New Website And Branding For Next Steps HR & Coaching Fifteen have been working with local business Next Steps HR & Coaching on their new brand and website, which we are pleased to announce is now live for the world to see. About Next Steps HR & Coaching provide coaching support to individuals and teams in organisations ranging from successful SMEs to multinational organisations. They are all fully qualified coaches and accredited by the International Coaching Federation. Their aim is simply to help, support and enable you to realise your full potential and live the life you want. They’ll help you overcome the obstacles, the limiting beliefs that get in the way and clear the path to creating a better future. The Task Fifteen were tasked with producing an identity for Next Steps HR & Coaching along with a professional web presence that allows them to show that they are market leaders and are a professional brand. The Project The project started with designing the brand. Fifteen were asked to create a professional, yet friendly and inviting brand. Taking the name and adding a fresh twist to it, Fifteen eventually created a logo using soft tones of blue and green, as well as incorporating ‘steps’, coinciding with the company name. After creating the branding, it was onto the website. We wanted to create a website that could show all of Next Steps HR & Coaching’s offerings and capabilities, with a fresh, clean page to show the staff profiles. The new website is fully responsive, ensuring it is accessible on all device. Built using WordPress, the website remains easy for users to update and allows room for future growth. Who Worked On The Project?                We wish Next Steps HR & Coaching the best of luck with their new website and look forward to a long relationship with them. [fifteen_button link="http://nscoaching.co.uk/"]Click Here To Check Out The New Site[/fifteen_button] #### Fifteen Team Launches New Education App for SalesGeek The team at Fifteen have designed and developed a revolutionary new app for SalesGeek, a multi-award-winning sales advice and training company based in the North West. The SalesGeek Hub is an online portal and app that houses a range of amazing training content for users to consume at home or on the move. From hundreds of videos and podcasts to live discussions in a community area, the app has it all. It is a platform and online community for sales-people and business owners and is available on Apple Store and Google Play. The launch of the app from the Fifteen team has come at a time when online learning is essential to meet social distancing measures. When businesses are quieter then people have the time to improve their skills and work on their own personal development. There is also the option for members to share knowledge and add their own content to the library for real-world learning, advice and support. Being a part of an active community is so important when things can get lonely with most working from home. Sales directors and team leaders can also monitor the activity of their team members on the app and check that they are learning in the areas that they need. The uptake of the app has exceeded expectations in the first few days as hundreds of users have signed up already and each day the numbers continue to soar. The SalesGeek Hub has also been adopted by users in many countries within the first week alone showing there is an international appeal. The Fifteen team will continue to develop the app with new features and the digital marketing team have started marketing campaigns to raise awareness. Chief geek and founder of Sales Geek, Richard Few said: “The launch of the Sale Geek Hub™ is something we’ve been really keen to do for a long-time and we’ve invested a lot of time, research and finance over the past 12 months to really develop what we hope to be the UK’s leading community and ‘go-to’ knowledge centre for salespeople. We truly believe this will revolutionise sales training and change the way people perceive sales forever.” For more information or to sign up then please go to https://hub.salesgeek.co.uk/ #### Fifteen win at the AVA Digital Awards 2016! We are delighted to reveal that Fifteen began 2016 by claiming three honours at the International AVA Digital Awards, following a very successful year celebrating business growth and several award achievements. Our 10-year anniversary website was awarded the highest honour, picking up a Platinum award in the Marketing, PR, Advertising and Digital Agency category. This website was built as a celebration of 10 years in business and a fun way to shout about everything we had achieved in that time. The website we launched last year for our client NexStor achieved the Gold award in the Business to Business Category. We’re really pleased that this website achieved industry recognition for its great design and seamless development execution. We’re really proud of it and thrilled that industry leaders think it’s great too. Finally, the website we launched for a Stirland Paterson was awarded an Honourable Mention in the Print Company category. After a year online, this website still achieves great results for the business and looks fantastic. A lot of hard work went into the engineering of this website and it’s great that it has been recognised. “We are honoured to receive such prestigious recognition for our digital work. It’s a great start to the year and definitely the way we intend to continue it.” Ollie Piddubriwnyj, Managing Director. The AVA Digital Awards are judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) who recognise excellent talent within the digital and creative industry, and celebrates companies setting benchmarks for others to aspire to. You can find out more about the awards here: www.avaawards.com #### Fifteen win at the Communicator Awards! As the award season gets into full swing, we're delighted to share the great news that one of our websites has been honoured with an industry design and development award. The website we launched last year for Love My Skin, by Kinetik Medical has been awarded a Communicator Award of Distinction at this year's honours in the Health and Beauty category. This honour is the first Fifteen has received at the Communicator Awards. We're all looking forward to seeing a brand new design of certificate and a shiny statuette in our ever-expanding awards cabinet when it arrives. The Communicator Awards honour international creative excellence generated by communication professionals. The annual competition was founded over 20 years ago and showcases the best in advertising, corporate communications, public relations and identity work from print, video, interactive online projects and audio. Over 6000 entries were submitted to the 2017 competition from creative industry professionals ranging from freelance designers to ad agencies and PR firms. The Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA) oversees and judges the Communicator Awards. The AIVA is an organisation composed of 600+ leading professionals from various creative disciplines across the world. These individuals embrace progress and the evolution of interactive media. The awards are judged to evaluate distinction in creative work and excellence in communication. There are two awards available for Excellence and Distinction. “We are both excited and amazed by the quality of work received for the 23rd Annual Communicator Awards. This year’s class of entries is a true reflection of the progressive and innovative nature of marketing and communications. On behalf of the entire Academy, I want to applaud this year’s Communicator Awards entrants and winners for their dedication to perfecting their craft as they continue to push the envelope of creativity.” Linda Day, Executive Director, Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts. Please visit www.communicatorawards.com to view the full winner's list. The Love My Skin website is an e-commerce website that sells various hair removal, beauty and anti-aging products produced by Kinetik Medical. The website is very informative and user-friendly helping customers make an informed decision before confidently making a purchase. It features product, usage and testimonial videos along with product reviews and feedback. The website launched in September 2016 and has seen great results. It has also been awarded a Platinum AVA Digital Award and shortlisted in the ‘Health and Beauty’ category at the The Good Web Guide Awards. Check out our award-winning website here: www.love-my-skin.co.uk #### Fifteen winners at the 2015 IAC Awards! We are delighted to announce that one of our websites has been selected as one of the winners of the 2015 Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Internet Advertising. Our very own Fifteen 10 Year Anniversary website has been recognised in the ‘Best Design Website’ category at the prestigious awards. The IAC Awards were originally developed by the Web Marketing Association to honour excellence in online advertising. The Fifteen team would like to take this opportunity to thank the IAC Awards and judging panel for their time and acknowledgment in this year's honours. It really does mean a lot to us. Being a brand and digital design agency means that we are constantly striving to deliver the best online material for our clients and it’s nice to know that we are doing it to an award winning standard. To see our winning entry, visit: http://www.iacaward.org/iac/winner.asp?eid=13429 #### Find your Brand Purpose We live in momentous times. We are witnessing the change from the industrial era to the robotic revolution. Automation, voice activation, driverless cars, cashier-less shops and robots everywhere is what we can soon expect. Never before has so much power been in the hands of a consumer. It is an exciting time to be alive in these technologically charged times. Layered on top of this, in the UK, we are also facing the uncertainties. A big one will be Brexit and all the opportunities and challenges this will bring.I believe that as things pan out some things will not change. On a broad, human level, people will still look for brands and products which will give meaning and value to their lives. They will continue to look for emotive causes to join. Studies are showing that in this touchscreen/voice command world where we can access a million products of the same type that what we crave is more meaning. As consumers, we are even willing to pay more for purpose-driven brands. Why? Because we are happy to join a cause we believe in. It is a deep human need to strive to be more. We are more than happy to align ourselves with brands which believe what we believe. The modern consumer does not buy from a brand - they join them. I do not care that you want to get rich Most people go into business to make money – and this is noble – but consumers do not care that you want to make a profit. They do not buy from you so that you can get rich. They buy for other reasons. They buy because you add meaning. Because you solve a problem. Because what you offer is more than your competition. Because they believe in something over and above your profit margins. So, putting the idea of making a profit to one side, ask – why do you exist? What is that extra “thing” that your most loyal customers believe in?The brands which will thrive in the coming turbulent future will be those who know who they are. Plus, know what they stand for, what they do not stand for, and more importantly, understand why they exist. These will be the brands who have taken the time to look at their businesses. To discover, define and articulate their purpose. It is purpose which can help us stay true to who we are. And, keep our loyal customers coming back – even in an ever-changing commercial landscape.Why? Because it is these brands which we connect with on a deep level. It is these brands who will indeed fight for us. Help us keep winning because they align with us – assuming, of course, they will be living their purpose. How will these brands live their mission? First, they need to do the basics right. They need to look within and define that purpose. They then need to hold themselves accountable and live it. You cannot be responsible for something that is never identified. Market Insite & a free guide For those who have attended the yearly Market Insite events hosted by Innes England in Nottingham, Leicester and Derby you will have no doubt heard me speak on branding and “The power of purpose”. A post shared by Fifteen (@fifteendesign) on Feb 6, 2018 at 11:16am PST In these talks, I reference a free Fifteen guide which can begin to helps teams uncover their purpose by using a typical story structure and asking "Why”? We have decided to open this up as a free download on our site here for everyone to enjoy. [fifteen_button link="https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/fifteen-uploads/uploads/2018/02/BrandPurposeFinder.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank"] Download Here [/fifteen_button] Stay true to your purpose Another great resource is one of the most watched “Ted Talks” by leadership coach, Simon Sinek. If you want more of a deep dive into the power of purpose watch it here: https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action My message at Market Insite was simple. In all the ‘hubub' of the information soaked culture we live in, let us get back to basics. Ask yourself; Why do you exist? Who is it you exist for? What goal are you helping them achieve? What challenges are you helping them overcome? Why is your business and brand relevant? Once you know this, it’s then up to you to define it and ensure that this purpose is lived. Stay true to your purpose. Hang onto it and never lose sight of what you stand for - no matter what the future throws at you. #### Finding a Muse: Top Tips for Content Idea Generation Coming up with new content ideas, especially with a busy schedule, can often seem like an impossible task. However, finding something to write about is as easy as a Google search and a unique angle. To help you find some inspiration we’ve put together some of the most effective ways to dream up with exciting content ideas.  Plan Ahead First of all; planning is imperative. Trying to think up a blog post on the fly can be incredibly difficult. Take the time to create a content calendar and you will be better prepared. Keep an eye out for interesting resources ahead of time and react to news quicker with pre-written pieces. Make sure you use SEO tools when you come up with content ideas. It’s important to decide on keywords and suggested phrases that you’ll want to drop in your piece.  Trawl News Sites Often, the best place to find information is in the industry you’re in. Find some good, reputable news sources and see what’s abuzz. If you see the same news story it on several sites it’s probably worth investigating. You may find a new angle that nobody else has thought of or have a source that can provide you with some much-needed insight.  Check Out the Competition They say ‘keep your friends close, and your enemies closer’. This adage is one you can use to great effect when creating content ideas. Study your competitors’ sites and see what they are, and what they aren’t talking about. You may be able to find a gap they haven’t filled or create a piece that is more informative than theirs. Google, Google, Google Google has a wealth of information even without the likes of Analytics and other SEO tools. If you’re an SME and need ideas, use Google’s drop-down search suggestions to see what people search for. You’ll find long and short keyword phrases, semantic variations and questions that you may just have the answers to.  Answer the Public This handy website takes your keywords and finds out what type of questions people ask. For example, if you search the term ‘chocolate’ you’ll find a whole host of questions around the subject. ‘How is chocolate made’, ‘Are chocolate raisins good for you’, and ‘are chocolate wrappers recyclable’ are just a few of the questions you’ll find that may lead you on to a winning content idea.  Revisit Old Content and Optimise Sometimes updating your old content can be just as effective as creating new content. Think of a blog list such as ‘The Best Gifts for Dad This Father’s Day’. This type of list can be revisited every year, added to and amended until you have a rich article filled with great gift ideas. Updating old content can breathe new life into existing work and often takes less time to do. A tweak here and there is all that’s needed.  Use Data Tools If you have access to them then products like SEMrush, Google Analytics, and other SEO tools are a goldmine. Digital tools can dig through your site, compare you to competitors and find out where your website needs to write content. Analytical tools can be daunting at first but with experience and some guidance from the experts, you’ll find understanding digital marketing is easy to do.  These tools can be used to make a winning content marketing strategy. If you can get the balance right, you'll see a long term increase in your marketing efforts, from brand awareness to increasing sales. If you don’t have a knack for grammar or want to leave your content to the experts then try Fifteen Design. We have a team of dedicated wordsmiths who can turn a phrase and make even the most mundane topics sound interesting. #### Five Inspirational Apprentices From Fiction It’s the UK’s National Apprenticeship Week and over the years Fifteen has taken on many talented apprentices, some of whom are still with us having become key members of the team. Apprenticeships can come with a certain reputation for offering only dull and menial work, but the master-apprentice relationship has provided film, TV and literature with some of their greatest characters and storylines. As these five famous fictional apprentices prove, it’s not all about making the tea… Mickey Mouse At that awkward age where he hadn't yet found his direction in life, young Michael found himself as the 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' in Disney's Fantasia (1940). The film's most famous sequence was set to music by Paul Dukas (1865 -1935) and based on a poem by Goethe (1749-1832). Not the first or last apprentice to tire of being given all the demeaning jobs, things got out of hand for Mickey when he used his master’s spells to conjure brooms and buckets into life – it turned out they didn't like being bossed around either and the hapless mouse nearly drowned but for the sorcerer’s timely return. This all being pre-Health and Safety directives, clearly. Mort Hired as an apprentice by Death himself, the scrawny country boy – whose only previous employment was as a failed scarecrow - soon proved himself so useful at guiding the deceased of Terry Pratchett's Discworld to the afterlife that the grim reaper took the day off to go fishing. Death once told his protege, There is no justice, there’s just me. But for a while, there was the aptly named Mortimer too. Anakin Skywalker From Tatooine slave to the Emperor's right-hand man, becoming an apprentice - or padawan - to a Jedi Knight was a fine career move for the future Darth Vader. The prodigious Anakin worked alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi for many years before switching to the Dark Side for their superior health plan. Tiffany Aching Another of Terry Pratchett's creations, Tiffany's promising career as cheesemaker was abandoned when a chance encounter with fairy folk brought her potential to the attention of Discworld's witching community aged 13. Studying under such senior witches as Miss Level, Miss Treason and the legendary Granny Weatherwax, Tiff soon found out that real witchcraft involved clipping toenails more than stirring cauldrons, but nevertheless excelled as the 'Hag of the Hills' and eventually took on apprentices of her own. Spike With his poetry career going nowhere, William the Bloody Awful became simply Bloody when he was ‘sired’ by the sensual-but-sociopathic vampire Drusilla back in 1880. The pair went on to become two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s most troublesome adversaries, though a microchip in his head and an obsessive crush on Buffy turned Spike into one of the good guys by the end. Another success story for the apprentice scheme then! #### Funniest picks: Gonna tell my kids this was…  In recent weeks, a trend has blown up on social media - Twitter in particular - and it is called “gonna tell my kids memes”. The trend essentially plays on the same concept as “wrong answers only” where people post an image with a caption stating “gonna tell my kids this was *insert person’s name*” So in order to save you from having to search all over for the highlights, we’ve decided to find them for you. First off we have: I’m gonna tell my kids this is Danny DeVito (featuring baby Yoda) Baby Yoda very recently went viral after appearing on the Mandalorian TV series and carries a resemblance to the 4 ft 10 in Hollywood actor. https://twitter.com/tastefactory/status/1196831658068054016?s=20 Next up we have: I’m gonna tell my kids this was Steve Jobs This meme features Young Thug in his studio, striking a Job’s-esque pose with similar glasses on. https://twitter.com/elliesunakawa/status/1196627936864096256?s=20 So let’s crank it up a bit: I’m gonna tell my kids this was Christopher Columbus Let’s be honest, everyone loves Step Brothers, featuring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, who are responsible for the song featured in the clip below - Boats and Hoes. And that title is what makes this caption as hood as it is. https://twitter.com/WanderlustJMayo/status/1197288956125208576?s=20 I’m gonna tell my kids this was Prince Harry Prince Harry is know for being a man of the people, with more appeal among the general public than many of the other royals. He’s been captured getting jiggy a few times so this tweet works perfectly. https://twitter.com/OfficialGracie_/status/1196943013387345922?s=20 Gonna tell my kids this was Sean Paul A few years ago this video of a guy doing a great impression of Sean Paul went viral, mainly due to the great use of his belly... https://twitter.com/ladbible/status/1197506102784667648?s=20 Gonna tell my kids this was Kim Kardashian Then we have a more advanced category that features people who you quite frankly wouldn’t believe is the real person, in many cases due to surgery...enter plastic surgery queen Kim Kardashian. https://twitter.com/natethegreat118/status/1196912411250438145?s=20 I’m gonna tell my kids this was Lionel Messi Companies have also caught onto the trend. And the Official Fantasy Premier League account played a blinder by featuring this year’s gem in fantasy football, John Lundstram, who was unknown to many until he started scoring big in FF. https://twitter.com/OfficialFPL/status/1198647467639758848?s=20 Gonna tell my grandkids this was Kid Rock Then we have the best of the lot. Out of context, this might not make any sense so in order to get you up to speed: A while back a photo of Kid Rock circulated with the caption “Why does Kid Rock look like Dr Phil dresses as Kid Rock” - and the post raised a damn good point as you can see below. The real Chris Rock (who looks like Dr Phil) Dr Phil fund our about the viral post and decided that he would dress up as Kid Rock, and ended up looking pretty much exactly the same as him! And voila we have the winning ‘Gonna tell my kids’ tweet from Dr Phil himself: https://twitter.com/DrPhil/status/1198310446232555520?s=20 #### Funny for Money! Red Nose Day 2015 We've been painting our faces funny for money! Today is Red Nose Day so we've been doing our bit in the Fifteen studio to try and raise money for Comic Relief. We've been painting our faces, taking red nose selfies and baking cakes to get the donations rolling in. If you would like to donate £1 to Comic Relief, text FUNNY to 70011 and upload your Red Nose Day Selfie to their online gallery. #### Get Accustomed With Custom Post Types For Wordpress At Fifteen, we develop a lot of sites using the WordPress platform and one of the features of the world-renowned content management system that we love is its support for custom post types. Anyone who has created content on a WordPress site will have noticed that by default it offers two types of content – ‘Posts’ and ‘Pages’. Actually, that’s only two-thirds right because files uploaded to the ‘Media’ section are created and stored in roughly the same way as your blog posts, just with extra data attached (you’ll notice that each image you upload has its own page, just like your blog posts). The same applies to your e-commerce products and even your contact form if you are using the relevant plug-ins – everything is stored as a-bit-like-posts-but-not-quite-posts. These are more technically known as custom post types, introduced to WordPress in 2010’s version 3.0. This was a revolutionary idea that meant plug-in developers no longer needed to put information for things like product pages into new tables in the database, making them more efficient, secure and easier to manage. Custom post types, and the range of options that can be applied to them, allow for unlimited possibilities when developing a WordPress site. For instance, if you were running a website about films and you wanted to split your site into different sections for ‘news’ and ‘reviews’, using default options you could create a category for both types of content and even different templates to display it in, but your life would be much simpler if you could manage the two things in separate sections of the WordPress admin area, which is exactly what you do when you employ a custom post type. Once ‘Reviews’ is defined as its own content type distinct from your posts, pages and so on, you can then enhance the user experience by creating a custom URL structure – filmbuffheaven.com/reviews/2015/the-good-dinosaur, for example – as well as categories specific to your reviews (for grouping them by genre and tagging the leading actors), a browsable star rating system, comments sections and anything else you want to make specific to one particular type of content. What’s more, if one of your website’s staff has terrible taste in films, you can even revoke their posting access to the ‘Reviews’ post type – they would still be able to add news articles in the ‘Posts’ section, but can’t do anything stupid like telling your readers that Fantastic Four is the year’s best superhero movie in an official review. Here are some real-world (well, web-world) examples of how custom post types have been used to good effect: Orphans in Need has a custom post type called ‘Orphans’ that allows the charity’s administrators to easily create a profile for each orphan they wish to seek funding for. They can add the child’s name, age, location and a photograph using a bespoke admin interface specific to that content type. The recently launched Grimsby Auditorium website has a special post type for ‘Shows’ that gives each upcoming performance its own page, allowing visitors to share links to their friends as well as automatically feeding into the ‘What’s On’ section. The event pages use a specially designed template to provide all the relevant information, links to the venue’s ticketing system and a handy ‘You may also like’ box. As well as a custom post type for products, clothing retail site HidePark has a ‘Recommendations’ page managed by a post type for customer testimonials. You could manually create this page and just update the text whenever you receive a new comment from your users, but using a custom post type allows the testimonials to be organised into numbered sub-pages and automatically formatted with no hassle. Custom post types on WordPress can be used to create enhanced content on a website ranging from adding sliders to your homepage to creating a fully functional message board. If you want to build a website but are not sure how your content will fit in, talk to us to find out how we can unlock the unlimited potential of custom post types. #### Get Found Online With A Great Landing Page A landing page is another useful tool in the digital marketing toolbox. They’re not easy to pin down at first, so they’re best highlighted through examples. Landing pages could be specific pages aimed at driving leads through sign-ups for an ebook or a contest. They could also be information zones that point to a range of related products or services – in effect, acting as the top of a sales funnel. If you’re creating a wider marketing campaign they’re also useful hubs to point customers at. In short, when done well, landing pages can be great at capturing data, supporting marketing activities, selling products or improving SEO. But what makes a good one? Here are our top things to consider when creating a landing page. Is it obvious what a user should do on the page? One of the most important things to consider about a landing page is making it clear to people what’s expected of them. If you want their email, then make sure there’s an easy access form with a clear call to action – and make it above the fold, rather than tucked down the bottom of the page. Put a clear headline at the top Make it obvious what the page is about from the start – or even before then, in a Google search result – by using a clear headline. Try not to use obscure language. Help people to find what they’re looking for. Make your value proposition is clear What is it that your brand offers that’s different? Why should people continue to read the web page and not skip back to Google’s search listing? Be honest, authentic, up front and helpful. Enough detail to support decision-making Have you included the right information to help people complete their action? And have you structured that information in a helpful way? Guide people with layers of information – highlights at the top, and more detail down below. Use words, pictures or videos – but make sure they’re relevant and contribute to the purpose of the page. Keywords included in page titles, H1, H2 tags To adhere to SEO best practice, it’s good to ensure your page titles and other headlines use the appropriate keywords (though make sure to keep it relevant). That isn’t just good for your search results, but also helps people find what they’re looking for. (Spot the running theme here? It’s being helpful to people!) Check spelling, grammar and punctuation This goes without saying, but it’s a key part of your website developing trust and authority. Clean design that’s easy to follow There’s little point in having great content if it’s hidden away by poor design – too small a font, not responsive, cluttered and hard to read… Strong call to action Want people to do something? Make it easy with good signposting. Also make sure your calls to action are located above the fold, so that people don’t have to scroll too far to complete an action. Make those buttons easy to see too. Relevant images are optimised Pages that have an image tend to rank higher on Google, but make sure that they’re appropriate – and not generic stock imagery. Also be certain that the images contribute to the landing page experience, and that you’re not just using them for the sake of it. Make sure they’ve got the correct alt tags though, and that they’re optimised to be less than 1MB. Too many large images on a page will affect page-load times, create a poor user experience – and undo all that good SEO work you’ve been doing. Don’t forget that embedding videos can also add value to a landing page, so certainly consider them if they’re appropriate. Check your links Naturally, a landing page is an opportunity so connect with other information and areas of your site, but test every link before you go live so that the customer experience isn’t affected. Trust certificates, testimonials or reviews included Finally, anything that adds reassurance can really help drive goals on a landing page. It’s worth adding them to support the surrounding content. #### Get to know Google Analytics 4 In addition to replacing universal analytics, we're confident that GA4 is our future measuring tool. After the first day of July in 2023, normal universal analytics sites will no longer accept new hits. It is recommended that you plan to switch to Google Analytics 4 in the near future if you are still relying on universal analytics. Read on to learn everything there is to know about Google Analytics 4... Recognise what is happening with Google Analytics 4 In the universal analytics properties, you may continue to utilise and gather new data until the end of the fiscal year on July 1, 2023. After July 1st, 2023, you'll be able to view your formerly recorded information in the universal analytics properties for a minimum of six months after it was first processed. We understand that your data is essential to you, and we highly recommend you download your historical records during this time to avoid losing any of your information. In the next months, a specific date will be offered for when current Universal Analytics assets will not be purchasable or available for lease. If you haven't already, you won't be able to view your Universal Analytics records in the Analytics interface or retrieve your Universal Data over the API after this future date. When compared to Universal Analytics, GA4, formerly known as 'App + Web', is a new kind of asset with various benefits, including: • Privacy-conscious, as well as long-lasting in the long run. • Sophisticated, utilising machine learning to uncover information about the consumer experience across platforms and devices. • Integrate more seamlessly with Google's display ads to improve campaign effectiveness and create higher marketing ROI. Would it be a good idea to change to GA4? This is the main question - do you really need to upgrade to GA4 at this point in time? Yes, since GA4 will be the only choice available, everyone will be required to transition from the existing GA to the new GA. After the first day of July in 2023, normal universal analytics sites will no longer accept new hits. Set up a GA4 property to operate concurrently with universal analytics so that you may track more data. Even if you don't intend to use the information right now, gathering data and improving your machine learning models will make future analysis more useful in the long run.  What is the difference between universal analytics and GA4? A substantial number of modifications are required since GA4 makes use of a considerably various data format and data gathering algorithm than universal analytics. Everything is now organised around people and events, rather than around sessions, as we've been used to. An events-based approach treats each user interaction as a separate event that must be processed. Since we previously depended on a session-based approach, which split user interactions into groups according to when they occurred, this shift is crucial. Moving the emphasis away from sessions and toward events offers significant advantages to marketers, including the ability to do cross-platform research and a higher ability for pathing analysis. GA4 becomes more adaptable and perfectly equipped to anticipate user behaviour as a result of the transition to an event-based approach. Get started today To take advantage of the new Google Analytics, you must first create a GA4 You'll need to have the editor role on your Google Analytics account in order to do this task. In the case that you are completely unfamiliar with Google Analytics, you should register and established a GA4 property. You may upgrade your current Google Analytics 4 configurations by adding a GA4 feature to your existing system if you have one already. When you click on the GA4 Setup assistant button, a GA4 property is created that captures data in addition to the data collected by your current universal analytics property. Your universal analytics properties have not been modified and will continue to gather data as usual; you can always access it using the property picker or the Admin interface. Google Analytics 4 may be used with any website builder system that needs you to submit a 'UA-' ID (and will not accept a "G-" ID), so long as you use the 'UA- ID'. You'll need to manually copy and paste the universal site label (gtag.js) snippet into the custom HTML box on your website builder's/website. Choose your website builder from the drop-down menu in this table to get platform-specific instructions. #### Getting Your First Job as a Junior Designer When you graduate university, the most common route into the graphic design industry is through a junior designer position, but becoming a junior designer is a whole other story. The design industry is extremely competitive and landing your dream job feels like a long list of ‘no’s’ and the dreaded ‘unfortunately at this time…’ emails. Although, there are a lot of opportunities out there and the demand for young creatives is high, when everyone is going for the same position and only one of those people are going to be hired, it can become a daunting task to get your foot in the door. Some people are lucky enough to obtain a job straight after graduating and others, like myself, it can take almost two years to get there. The harsh reality is that taking up freelance work or internships (paid or unpaid) is normally the best route towards a full-time position. Taking on internships will help you gain valuable understanding of what is to come within the industry and if there is anything you need to learn and improve on – even if it is just making the perfect cup of tea. Getting the Job Applying for a job in graphic design for the first time can sometimes be very intimidating. Usually, employers will advertise a position and ask that you have at least 3 years’ experience, within the design industry. In this environment, being a recent graduate and not having any experience at all, can be discouraging, to say the least. For example, the greatest designer in the world could apply for the same position as you, but if that person doesn’t get on well with the team, they’re not going to be hired. Employers are actually looking for great people, not just their skill set. Graduate designers often showcase their technical talents foremost. However, designers who are determined, enthusiastic and passionate about wanting to learn have an advantage over some people. Having said that, showcasing both is very important too– best of both worlds, right? Preparing for a design interview can be nerve-wracking and exciting all at the same time (especially if you have an MD of a company with three other designers in the room with you). You have your portfolio, your resumé and you’re told to just be yourself and you’ll be fine. It’s that simple, right? Well, it actually is. Every interview I have ever been to before getting my junior designer position, I have always overthought the interview process. I would prepare myself for questions I wouldn’t even know was going to be asked, to the point that I would sound robotic in my approach when meeting the employer. In hindsight, your skills can be taught but your attitude and the way you carry yourself is everything! At the same time,  you should probably be prepared for criticism of your work. You might think it’s amazing – but when a team of professionals are in the room there will be some comments. Do not feel disheartened, these rational comments on your work are something you will appreciate. Projects I remember at university, we sometimes had weeks or even months to complete a project and it felt like we had all the time in the world to get the project done until your deadline was Friday at 9 am and it’s currently 8:59 am and you still haven’t completed your work. Well, those short deadlines are exactly the reality of working within the design industry.  Don’t get me wrong, yes, some projects take longer than others but the majority of projects have a very quick turn out. Remember when you spent a week on that logo design? Forget that. That logo design needs to be designed and sent to the client by the end of the day. That brochure, letterhead, business card and compliment slip? You have two days max! When you think you have finished a project, before you know it you are making a revision, after tweak, after edit and spending hours working with your team alongside the client to get the artwork perfect. Sometimes this can be challenging as a designer because you feel like the job is endless. But once the client has signed off the final concept, and you have the ‘‘newfinalestfinalforsure.psd’ saved, it feels amazing, right? Asking Questions When you start a new career in graphic design, you may feel like you are expected to know everything about what to do and every shortcut in Photoshop and Illustrator. After all, that’s what I thought. That said, don’t be afraid to ask questions. You might feel like you’re being a pest, but you’re not. No matter how silly they are, your team are there to help you. Having said that, If you ask someone for feedback, don’t act hurt or surprised if not all of it is positive. Feedback should be constructive, to point out what can be changed, improved or removed. It’s not at all personal, it’s to help you build on your skills and grow and improve as a designer. Conclusion From experience, you might feel like you have tried all that you can to land your first job in the design industry.  You might have thought about going back to university? This will for sure get you ahead of the competition, Right? Wrong. Working in design isn’t like working in teaching or being a doctor. The more knowledge you have isn’t what makes you a great designer. Having more experience is what will set you apart. Nonetheless, my advice would be, keeping your eyes on the prize by constantly making an effort to search, call and email, to ensure you land that dream job. At the same time, Don’t take the rejection and setbacks personally and give up. Perseverance is key! That job that rejected you today could land you your perfect job tomorrow! #### Giving Phoenix Networks The Perfect Platform We are proud to announce the launch of one of our latest websites Phoenix Networks a building services company based in Ilkeston. About Phoenix Networks Celebrating 21 years in business, Phoenix Networks is the leading innovated converge network installer across the UK. Partnered with industry-leading manufacturers, they ensure that they are always offering the latest products available on the market to their wide client range. Phoenix Networks pride themselves on always delivering the highest quality service and consistently developing industry-led processes. The Task Fifteen were tasked with building Phoenix Networks a fresh new website and content to match, as they are celebrating 21 years in business, it was time to bring their website up-to-speed, to match and talk about their achievements. The Website The team at Fifteen worked closely with Phoenix Networks, to ensure that the design of the website matched their company vision. The website had a restructure, introducing individual service pages, and a case studies and clients section where Phoenix Networks can demonstrate the services they have on offer and who they have worked with. Within the services pages, content was written that was keyword rich and optimised with Google in mind, but still informative and easy to read for users. With the introduction of supported systems for the services that they have on offer, it gives a user all the information they need in order to get in touch with Phoenix Networks. As they have worked with some big names over their 21 years such as; The Shard, London, Warner Bros Studios and The Olympic Park, we thought it was important to shout about these, and display them on the website in an impactful and visual way to demonstrate the sheer scale of these projects. The website is fully scalable and focuses on the responsive versions of the website which are a key part to the website's build and success, because of their target audience. Built with a content management system, the website is easy to update moving forward. We wish Phoenix Networks luck with the new website, and look forward to a long relationship with them. Who worked on the project?        Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="http://www.phoenixnetworks.co.uk/"]Visit the new Phoenix Networks Website[/fifteen_button] #### GoDaddy Goes Back to Basics The American internet domain registrar and web hosting company GoDaddy has rebranded in an effort to show inclusivity and their commitment to entrepreneurs. Established in 1997 GoDaddy has gone from just a place you buy domain names to a well-established web service that provides domains, website templates and also marketing tools that help promote those websites. They have gained an astonishing amount of customers in recent years, 18.5 million to be exact. According to GoDaddy, their new logo, the “GO”, is all about “empowering you”. Along with the new logo, GoDaddy has also redesigned its website to appear more towards small businesses and show their commitment to entrepreneurs. Here is what they had to say “Our new logo, the GO, is all about empowering you — the everyday entrepreneur — to do what you love. Go after your dreams and make ‘em real, knowing we’re here to help every step of the way” The new logo is a combination of a “G” and “O” interlocking. The new rebrand follows a similar style to the recent rebrand of Airbnb, with the GO’s fun and friendly heart shape fit to the monochrome typeface and bold colour palette. According to underconsideration.com, the new rebrand represents the entrepreneurial spirit, joy and humanity. Focussing on smaller businesses and entrepreneurs GoDaddy’s objective is that Entrepreneurship should be accessible to everyone. Incorporating lifestyle imagery into their digital tools and advertising campaigns. The new visual language shows the inclusivity of everyone in all aspects of life. This is probably a smart move for GoDaddy because, let’s not forget, the 2010 commercial starring GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons in the role of a dirty Genie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19nf1Ig1syI Let's be honest, GoDaddy wants to be taken seriously as a company that can help small businesses and entrepreneurs, yet unfortunately, it’s a company with the word “Daddy” in its name. Now, a company that has been around since 1997 and have become well established in the world of domain registration cannot just simply change their name. All the company can do is stick with their initial brand name at this point. However, this isn’t the first time GoDaddy has rebranded, in 2018 they dropped the cartoon “dad in glasses” from their logo and stripped it right back to “GoDaddy” in a sans-serif font. So, it is fair to say that this new rebrand is long overdue, especially their new brand visual language. Typography Another big change is GoDaddy’s rebrand is their new use of typography. They have chosen a bold, pointy, serif font. Now, I like this font – however, it feels like it is unrelated to the GoDaddy logo. Visually the fonts are completely different. Photography According to https://godaddy.design/, they say that “Our photography lets people see themselves in our brand. Whether it’s capturing entrepreneurs in the moment or presenting them as heroes, we want their personality, independence and energy to shine through.” Here are examples of photography that will be used throughout their advertising campaigns. The images seem fine to me and they do what they are set out to do. Colour Palette Their new colour palette is “bright and dynamic” according to https://godaddy.design/. This new colour palette goes in a different direction from their previous colour palette, which was a bold green. Overall, I don’t hate the new rebrand, however, I feel that it is a total disconnect from the previous brand. I understand the message GoDaddy is trying to deliver by appearing to a wider audience and show inclusivity. But, I feel that the message isn’t being delivered in the new branding. There is too much going on and it feels as if there are a lot of visual elements that do not connect. Take a look at the whole rebrand here https://godaddy.design/ What do you think of GoDaddy’s rebrand? Let us know. We love everything design and keep up to date with current trends to stay sharp. If you're interested in refreshing your logo or updating your website design contact us today. #### Going Global with Agilitas About Agilitas Agilitas provide IT channel solutions across a multitude of technologies and are well known for their ability in maintenance services, technical support and specialist engineering to name a few. The work of this award-winning company spans over 60 countries with over 2000 stocking locations worldwide, providing access to a partner network of technical experts 24/7. The Brief & Vision Agilitas initially approached Fifteen to create a suite of templates that would align their marketing materials with a new visual style that had started to roll out. We began working with the team to evolve the new image and when we signed up to take on the website we wanted to push this even further. Agilitas were looking for a total website overhaul. The new website needed to showcase all they have to offer and allow them to stand out in the industry. For a company with such a broad offering and global outreach, a lot of information needed processing and delivering in a concise way that was easy for the audience to navigate and understand. After the initial conversation with Agilitas, it was clear our approach to projects, albeit it a different industry, was aligned and we were eager to take on the challenge. What We Did The original Agilitas website was hard to navigate. The menu was split in two with hidden navigation that was only revealed on hover. Another large paint point was the loading time, the homepage of the website took well over the standard recommendation and would have provided users with frustration before they even made it onto the website. We restructured the website navigation, collating all related content into clearly labelled areas of the website. Landing on the homepage you are now aided by a search to begin identifying the user's issue and point them in the right direction. In addition to educating the user on the services and solutions Agilitas supply, they were keen for their personality to shine through. As leaders in the industry, the company attracts a multitude of different clients and partners, so we have dedicated areas of the site to introduce the team behind Agilitas and show what they get up to as a business. With over 2000 stocking locations Agilitas were looking for an intuitive way to help users find their closest location. We developed a global map that allows the user to search by their location and pinpoint exactly where their closest active and forward stocking locations are, and allows the team at Agilitas to continuously update their information keeping the map and its contents up to date. Aptly titled ‘Agilihub’, the knowledge centre allows Agilitas to share industry knowledge alongside company updates, a filter through these will allow you to access the information relevant to you and the articles here provide a wealth of information that users can now easily navigate. Alongside this, Agilitas has set up several initiatives that educate their partners on where the industry is heading, the new website allows the team at Agilitas to create a new page through a page builder where they can present their research and findings, including market reports and videos. We also integrated their CRM into the website, styling the forms across the site in line with the website style, but when the user types in their details, everything flows smoothly into their CRM system. There are many areas to this website, which make it unique, functionally complex and up there ahead of their competition in the industry, we introduced a range of subtle animations within the website which assists with delivering information in an easy to digest way, as well as taking the website one step further we were able to bring the homepage to life with animation. The header of the website sees the world rotating and stars move when interacted with. Built within WordPress, the Agilitas team are able to update the website content at any time, and keep all the information as up to date as possible, the site and its templates can also be used with room for growth as well, with many more projects in the pipeline, we can’t wait to see how this website takes Agilitas to the next level on their journey. The Results Through the design you can tell Agilitas is not your standard IT company, they are looking to break the mould and do things differently in all areas. They are an adaptive team that is pioneering the industry and not just following the crowd. As a result of the new websit, users should now be able to access all information easier and quicker than ever before and using the global network map be able to locate their closest distributor, alleviating the issues found with the old website and creating a seamless user experience. The website relaunched on the 23rd April and growth through all channels has been observed over the 6 weeks after launch. With engagement, metrics are showing improvements, and are generally really positive, with a 30% increase on users, 36% increase in sessions, 2% reduction in bounce rate and 2% increase in pages visited. Goal completions have increased significantly showing an improvement in the user journey to conversion. Just like the MoM comparison, increases can be seen across all channels. Compared to last year, engagement metrics are showing greater improvements. With technical and best practice enhancements made to the new website, keyword visibility has improved 7.5% (overall) The majority of these increases have happened within the first 2 pages of search results, with visibility improving by 23.3%! What They Said "We selected Fifteen after a comprehensive due diligence process that involved consolidating a number of our digital design agencies. From initial engagement through to current projects the team at Fifteen have demonstrated fantastic customer service and become a natural extension to the Marketing Team. The work they have done has brought to life our value proposition and helped to position us as a truly global service provided within our market. They also show the same ambitions as our company and are very much aligned to similar values in terms of innovation, collaboration and disruption. For any business looking to appoint a trusted digital design agency that can raise the profile of their existing brand should look no further than Fifteen." - Richard Elgon, Marketing Director, Agilitas Solutions Limited #### Good Boy take the Lead with a Stunning New Website The Brief & Vision: After successfully completing the Wafcol website for Armitage Pet Care, we partnered with pet treat leaders, Good Boy, to create a new website. The Good Boy brand had never had a website before, with the domain redirecting through to the main Armitage website, so this was a huge opportunity to give Good Boy its own web presence and online identity. Their main aims were to: Position Good Boy as a leading pet brand. Encourage users to browse the products on offer, find out more about them, leave reviews and purchase products. Inspire users to engage with Good Boy online and get involved with the brand to build a community of like-minded customers. Help showcase the fun, trustworthiness, credibility and friendliness of the brand and team behind Good Boy. About Good Boy: Good Boy has over 50 years’ experience in providing tasty, healthy treats and toys for man’s best friend. As part of the Armitage brand, they have been awarded a Royal Warrant and been nominated in ASDA’s innovation awards. Good Boy strives to provide the best-tasting treats and most exciting toys for dogs on the market. They care about the quality of their products and are all about providing a fun brand in a sea of more serious dog treat and food brands. Good Boy products are widespread and available at all major retail chains including Morrison, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Pets at Home, Waitrose and other well-known pet stores. What We Did: We spent a lot of time working with the team to produce an exciting user experience (UX). This ensured the website was engaging, clear and allowed users to easily find all the information they needed. This involved a series of wireframe and UX workshops, to help better understand the different types of user journey through the website, and touch-points of the user’s journey. Using the brand style set by Pure360, we worked alongside their creative team to produce the full website designs - which compliments the existing brand packaging and provides continuity from the website through to products. The website uses a range of icons and illustrations (designed by Pure360) to showcase the product range and provide that fun and quirky element intrinsic in the brand. The site has a range of key features, which makes them stand out from the competition, such as: Advice Hub: To encourage users to engage with the Good Boy brand online, we created an Advice Hub, which will allow users to view articles answering all the questions that a dog owner may have. Where to Buy: As Good Boy products are available in a range of supermarkets and pet stores across the UK, it was important to demonstrate this on the website. To this end, we created a ‘Where to Buy’ page which shows the range of stores, as well as allowing the user to click on a particular supplier and view the full range available to them. Search: We developed a unique search for the Good Boy website, where the user can either search the site by a keyword or search by a particular product category, helping the user tailor their experience and save time. The website was built using WordPress CMS and allows the team at Good Boy to edit and manage the website with ease. What They Said: “We’re incredibly happy with the end result of the BRAND NEW Good Boy website. The site is everything we hoped for when it comes to portraying the Good Boy brand; it’s fun, colourful and the user experience makes our, sometimes complicated, brand easy to understand and navigate. The feedback we have received so far has been extremely positive and we cannot wait to dominate the world of dog online!” - Aimee Nash, Junior Product Manager, Armitage Pet Care Take a Look: Intrigued? Have a look at their brand new site now or check out our other work to see what Fifteen is doing for brands big and small. #### Google Ads: Keyword Match Types & How To Use Them Google Ads uses 4 types of keywords; Exact Match, Phrase Match, Broad Match Modified & Broad Match. The question is, how should we use these keywords to activate our ads? In this short post I’ll explain how: Exact Match Keywords How it works Exact match keywords are almost self-explanatory. They are used to match the exact search query that a user inputs. The only circumstance under which this isn’t the case would be a mis-spelling. Exact match keywords are written with square brackets around them. Keyword: [Samsung hob] Search Terms Ad Will Show For Search Terms Ad Will NOT Show For Samsung Hob Rangemaster hob Smsung Hob Samsung fridge freezer Samsung Hpb Samsung wifi hob   What are the benefits? Exact match allows us to target searches exactly, therefore we know exactly what our ads are going to be shown against. This allows is to set very specific bids budgets for these keywords and control our account spend very precisely. It also enables us to write very precise and targeted ad text, catering specifically for the keyword in question, which generally helps to increase click-through rates. What are the drawbacks? Exact match keywords are extremely precise. Although this is great if we’re confident about our keyword choice, if we’re in a position where we’re setting up a new account and don’t have any data, we can’t be certain about the effectiveness of our keyword selection. An extremely relevant, and more specific, variation of the keyword [samsung hob] is [samsung wifi hob]. Through the use of exact match keywords, we would have to specify [samsung wifi hob] as a keyword to ensure our ad is shown. They are extremely limiting in terms of encompassing more relevant searches. Matt’s tips for Exact Match Keywords Use the data to add these to your account. Build your account initially using broad modified keywords (which we will discuss later) and then extract high spending, high converting search terms from your search query report to increase click-through rates and conversion rates further. Phrase Match Keywords How It Works Phrase match encompasses any search that contains the particular phrase that you specify in your keyword. Phrase match keywords are always written with quote marks around them. Keyword: “Samsung hob” Search Terms Ad Will Show For Search Terms Ad Will NOT Show For Samsung Hob with wifi Samsung integrated hob Integrated Samsung Hob Samsung wifi hob Samsung Hob manual Samsung virtual flame hob   What are the benefits? Phrase match allows us to wider out parameters, encompassing searches that include words before or after our specified keyword. This means that we will not miss out when users search for “Samsung hob with wifi” and “Integrated Samsung hob” who are potential searchers for conversion. What are the drawbacks? Phrase match also opens us up to searches that are not relevant, for example, “Samsung hob manual” or “how to use a Samsung hob”. This is where negative keywords are extremely important since we can add these terms as negative keywords against our campaign. This will prevent them from showing again. Writing ad text is also a little trickier since we can be sure what the user's query will be that will trigger our ad. For that reason, it can be extremely useful to utilise dynamic ad text which will allow you to display the exact phrase the user has searched for within your ad. Matt’s tips for Phrase Match Keywords Don’t use it. An extremely effective account can be built by utilising broad modified and exact match keywords. In my honest opinion, there are very few circumstances under which using phrase match will offer additional benefit over and above broad modified. Broad Match Modified Keywords How it works Broad Modified encompasses any search that contains all of the words within your specified keyword. The search can then contain any other words in any order.  Broad Modified keywords will always contain a + before each word within the keyword. Keyword: +samsung +hob Search Terms Ad Will Show For Search Terms Ad Will NOT Show For Samsung wifi hob Samsung integrated fridge freezer Samsung integrated hob Samsung Samsung virtual flame hob with free delivery Samsung galaxy s10   What are the benefits? Broad modified keywords enable you to encompass all possible opportunities for conversion, without being overly specific with your keywords. The use of broad modified keywords can help us build a picture of how users search for products or services and then refine an account through the use of negative and exact match keywords. What are the drawbacks? As with phrase match, broad modified does mean we’ll encompass search terms that aren’t relevant and/or are “informational” (people searching for advice/information rather than a conversion) meaning we have to keep a close eye on their spend and utilise negative keywords effectively. Writing ad text is again a sticking point for broad modified keywords, so utilising dynamic ad text is again a solution to making these keywords more effective in the short term. Matt’s tips for Broad Match Modified Keywords Use these keywords for research purposes. Using broad modified keywords can help us understand how our audience searches for our products and services. We can then use our search query report to extract information about the different searches that have taken place and either expand our account with exact match keywords or add negative keywords to reflect irrelevant searches. Broad Match Keywords How it works Broad keywords encompass any search the Google deems relevant to the keyword you have input. Broad keywords do not have any additional special characters. Keyword: Samsung hob   Search Terms Ad May Show For Search Terms Ad Will NOT Show For Samsung wifi hob Samsung integrated hob Samsung virtual flame hob with free delivery Samsung integrated fridge freezer Samsung Samsung galaxy s10   What are the benefits? Broad match keywords can be effective for some accounts. If you have a large budget, and have optimised the account heavily with negative keywords and exact match keywords, this may be your next port of call. Broad match may allow you to find new, un-touched avenues for conversion that you hadn’t even considered. What are the drawbacks? Broad match keywords are just that; extremely broad. They can encompass masses of search terms that simply are not relevant to your business or service. With that in mind, these keywords should only be used if: You are experienced with Google Ads and have a strong understanding of how to control them You have large amounts of time to stay on top of negative keyword additions for these campaigns Matt’s tips for Broad Match Keywords One extremely effective way of using broad keywords is to “target and bid” (or “observation” as it’s now known) them with your site visitor audience. This will mean that only people who have previously interacted with your website will be shown ads with these keywords. Generally, this helps keep your ads more relevant, while still offering the benefits discussed above. If you'd like to find out more speak to our team today to get started with your own digital campaign. We can advise you on the best platform for your paid spend, and which campaigns will be most effective for your business goals. #### Google Adwords to charge 2% tax back to UK clients Google has announced that they will be adding a 2% fee to clients in the UK.  This comes in the wave of the government's UK Digital Services Tax announcement. As predicted by many industry experts, the global superpower is passing this tax onto advertisers.  From November, any organisations using Google to advertise through PPC or display will be charged an additional 2% fee.  Whilst this may come as no surprise, it does mean it needs to be factored into marketing budgets and accounted for in campaign planning. Marketers will need to find an additional 2% in budgets to accommodate the tax. This can be through charges or reductions in their actual ad spend in line with the search engine's new fees. For those operating internationally, Google will also be increasing its fee by 5% to clients in Austria and Turkey.  As Hubspot reports, Google owns 92% of the global search engine market. This makes it an inevitable part of the marketing mix and a great route to high intent customers.  With the increased fees it's important that PPC clients get the most from their Google ad budgets. We can help to build optimal campaigns that deliver results and work efficiently. If you need help with your PPC or you're worried your campaigns aren't working as smart as they could be, get in touch today and we'll be happy to discuss strategies and deliver campaign or account reviews. #### Google Adwords Update: Table Extensions Being a Google Partner, we occasionally receive a little bit of insider knowledge about the new features that Google release. Table extensions are the latest rollout from Google in the Adwords world that has got us all talking. Okay great, but what is it? Well, 2 days ago they released this little beta feature in Adwords and we think it opens up a whole new area of opportunity for search ads. Table extensions will allow you to create a table underneath your ad, displaying the price for your products or services. What can it do? With table extensions set up, searchers will quickly be able to see what your prices are for the different services/products that you offer. This feature will enable your ads to attract searches with a higher level of intent of purchase, as they click your ad already knowing the all-important question of “how much?” There are several limitations in the early stage of this release in that this feature can’t be used for products or services where prices change daily or regularly. This restricts industries like retail, flight, hotel or telecoms from using table extensions. What Is Google Adwords? Google Adwords is Google’s pay-per-click platform which allows advertisers to bid on keywords in order to display their adverts within the search engine. Advertisers only pay when the advert is clicked, which makes it a desirable form of marketing – particularly for business owners who don’t have large sums of money for marketing up front. How Do Extensions Help My Adverts? Extensions like the table extension can significantly increase your advert’s performance. Ad extensions are features that show extra information with your advert – such as phone numbers, price extensions or site links to relevant pages on your website. By having these, your advert gains more ‘real-estate’ in the Google search engine, and the advert’s engagement typically increases. So, what does the table extensions feature mean for you? Well, if you are not in one of the sectors where the feature is unavailable then it could mean an increase in conversions, increased average page duration and a decrease in bounce rate, as users are clicking on to your site with more information than ever before. We’re really excited to start implementing this for our customers and can’t wait to see how other people start implementing this new feature. How Can I Start Advertising In Adwords? If you’re interested in advertising on Google Adwords, speak to one of our pay-per-click experts today. To learn more about the channel, click here. What are your thoughts? Do you think that table extensions will help put conversion rates through the roof? Do you think they won’t have much effect at all? Let us know! #### Google Adwords: Price Extensions It’s all change for Google Adwords this summer as they rolled out yet another extension to help optimise your PPC adverts. The price extension allows you to show pricing information about products and services on mobile. Google continues to push their mobile advertising space, changing the way that SERPs and consumers favour the mobile experience. Price extensions show a list below the main adcopy of mobile. One thing to notice is that they take up a lot of real estate on mobile, meaning you can really push your competitors further down the page.                                 The new extension has the power to push mobile cost per clicks up due to tougher competition. As only the advertiser in the top ad position is eligible for price extensions is eligible. This could drive more engaged traffic who are less likely to bounce straight off your page as they already know the price before entering the website. They’re really easy to set-up. Just log-into your account and go to your ‘ad extensions’. You’ll then see from the drop down menu ‘price extensions’.                                       These can be set at account, campaign or ad group level. In order for these to work you’ll need to set-up a minimum of three price extensions and a maximum of eight. Google recommends setting up five or more, which some companies may find challenging. Advertisers must chose a type of price extension from the following list: Brands Events Locations Neighbourhoods Product categories Product tiers Products Service categories Service tiers Services Good luck with optimising your PPC accounts! #### Google algorithm update 2025: What you need to know and how to adapt. Staying ahead of the curve is essential for success in today’s fast-paced online landscape. Google continues to evolve rapidly, and in 2025, its algorithm changes carry some serious weight. From core updates, enhanced AI capabilities, and evolving quality signals like E-E-A-T in SEO, staying informed is essential. In this blog, we break down the most recent Google update, explaining what it means for your SEO performance and provide some actionable tips to help you adapt your digital marketing efforts effectively. What is the latest Google update? Google’s second major algorithm release of the year is the June 2025 core update, which began on 30th June and finished on 17th July 2025. This core update focuses on providing users with high-quality, helpful content across various industries. The update will refine how Google shows relevant results, meaning this particular update can affect rankings across all sectors, no matter the topic. As a result, businesses should now: Review their ranking shifts across keywords and pages Analyse changes in impressions, clicks, and site performance Monitor trends via Google Search Console and compare against competitor movements Doing this will enable you to see how the core update has affected your site's ranking, giving you a starting point for making any necessary changes to your strategy. What does this recent Google update mean for your SEO? This recent algorithm update will undoubtedly have had an impact on your SEO efforts. But the update goes beyond simple keyword changes - it focuses on content quality, trust signals, user experience, and mobile performance. Here’s what the core update means for your SEO: Prioritising E-E-A-T - Google now gives greater emphasis to content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, meaning content like case studies, are gold dust. Creating helpful, people-first content - it’s not just about creating content for SEO anymore as Google’s Helpful Content update continues to de-rank auto-generated or irrelevant pages. Technical and UX signals matter more than ever - key elements such as mobile responsiveness, core web vitals, page speed, and accessibility are increasingly factored into your site’s ranking. How to adapt to the latest Google algorithm update Adapting your efforts to the latest Google update requires a proactive approach to your strategy. If you’ve seen changes to your ranking recently, here are some ways you can take action: Audit your content quality - use tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Search Console to identify pages with drops in clicks, impressions, or time on page. From here you can decide whether the content meets a real user need or feels shallow and needs updating. Strengthen your E-E-A-T signals - consider adding author credentials to your blogs, publishing more case studies, and referencing clear external citations and sources to showcase your expertise in your topic. Improve user experience - make sure you test your mobile performance and fix any bugs you come across. You want to ensure your pages load quickly, content is easy to scan, well structured, and is usable across all devices. Clean up low-value backlinks - identify and disavow content from parasite SEO or unrelated domains as Google’s reputation policies now penalise misuse of editorial sites for backend ranking benefit. Monitor industry benchmarks - be sure to compare keyword volatility with your competitors and adjust your content priorities based on user engagement trends and sector movements. Need help following the Google algorithm update 2025? Whether you’re dealing with the recent June 2025 core update or preparing for the next update, the message is clear: high-quality, people-first content aligned with E-E-A-T principles is essential, as is technical performance and user experience. If you need help reviewing your ranking changes or adapting your SEO strategy following the recent Google update, get in touch with us today. At Fifteen, we help brands audit their current site performance, enhance content quality, and ensure it all aligns with the latest SEO best practices, so search visibility becomes a platform for growth, not a risk. #### Google Analytics for Beginners Google Analytics – the what, the why and the how? Having a website to advertise your businesses’ services and products is essential to helping your business get noticed and grow. It’s also fundamental to monitor that website. Websites are a form of advertising, even though it is not always the original motive for having a website. Advertising is about results and numbers, and that’s why you need the statistics from your website. And guess what? Google Analytics is probably the easiest and low cost way to get these statistics. If you have a website and you’re not using Google Analytics (GA) or any analytic programme, then after reading this, you will want it ASAP. So, here is a brief run-down of what GA is all about. What is Google Analytics? Google Analytics is a free product offered by Google which monitors your website. Google brought an analytical programme called Urchin and turned it into GA, which has made a lot of website owners very happy. As soon as Google launched this analytic programme, thousands upon thousands, started using the programme. It basically generates statistics about a website. So if you have a website and you want to know how many visitors you get per day, week or month, then Google Analytics is for you. It can tell you more in depth metrics such as Unique Visitors, Average Visit Duration, Bounce Rates and many more. Why use Google Analytics? Every website should use an analytic programme. GA is free and that’s the main reason why you should use Google's analytic programme rather than any other. Google Analytics makes it easier for website owners to monitor the behaviour of visitors on their website. GA also provides: Accurate data about trends and website traffic Where visitors actually come from and how they interact with a site Tools to measure conversions Which keywords convert to customers Which online advert is the most profitable Where people exit the site Pages where visitors stay the longest How much is Google Analytics? As I’ve said before, Google Analytics is completely free. However, if you’re lucky to have a site that has more than 10 million visitors a month, then you will have to pay for Google Analytics Premium (now part of Google's 360 suite). How does Google Analytics work? The answer to this question could get really techie and geeky, which could be confusing for a person who just wants a brief introduction to Google Analytics, so here’s a simple explanation: When you sign up for Analytics, you have to apply a tracking code (JavaScript code) to every page on your website. When the tracking code (JavaScript code) is installed and visitors start viewing your site, you will then notice data on your GA reports. #### Google and Facebook to Ban Fun Internet giants Google and Facebook have announced that only serious news articles will be allowed on their networks after Donald Trump's election was blamed on ‘too much fun’ on the web. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said: ‘People are idiots. Apparently they can’t tell the difference between an obvious joke and the real thing. ‘People were having a laugh sharing satirical stories and memes about Trump and the result is they’ve voted in a joke president! ‘It’s clear that people having fun on the internet has dangerous consequences, so it’s only serious stuff on Facebook from now on!’ Or at least that's what you might think if you only read the headlines and the first few paragraphs of stories you see online. Or can’t tell the difference between an obvious joke and the real thing. Primary purpose However, there is a serious side to Google and Facebook's recent announcements that they would cease allowing sites that publish ‘fake news’ to profit from their respective advertising networks. Google wants to ‘restrict ad serving on pages that misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information about the publisher, the publisher's content, or the primary purpose of the web property’ while Facebook have created a 'taskforce' to address the issue. The intention is to hamstring sites that deliberately spread made-up stories as clickbait, but where does that leave satirical news sites for whom misrepresentation is part of the joke? And who is going to decide what ‘fake’ actually means? Nanny statement Although some are just plain hoaxes, many of the ‘fake’ stories being cited as examples of the misrepresentation Google and Facebook want to clamp down on are in fact genuine events portrayed in a skewed fashion by partisan sources (which, more or less, is basically all news everywhere), while others are ‘incredibly convincing’ spoofs. But in any of these cases, attempts to nanny us by hiding these links would insult the intelligence of users. By having such stories removed from your newsfeeds, you are being told you are stupid to be trusted; too dumb to recognise a hoax, a disreputable source or a satire when you see one; that you’ll believe anything you read without question. While nobody wants their newsfeeds cluttered with clickbait, surely the judgement about the value of a news item rests with the reader? One person’s scurrilous conspiracy blog is another person’s vital independent news outlet, while one person's scandalous tabloid is another's crusading voice, and so on. All news is subjective and assuming that Google and Facebook won’t have the resources to independently fact-check every single story, the new policies will amount to arbitrary, pre-emptive rulings of what is worthy to be displayed on a social network. Isn't the point of social networks that we are the arbiters? You can’t handle the spoof! We don’t yet (and probably never will) know how Google and Facebook will determine what news is ‘real’ and what is ‘fake’, but there are naturally concerns that benign satirical sites such as The Onion, The Daily Mash or Southend News Network will become collateral damage. If these publishers are identified as misrepresenting the purpose of their content - which their plausible headlines and lead paragraphs are entirely designed to do - they will surely be caught out by the ‘fake filter’ and will be starved of traffic and revenue as a result. It would be a great shame if peddling satire on the internet ceases to be a worthwhile exercise because Powers That Be don’t trust us to judge for ourselves what news is real or not. (And that’s without even opening the can of conspiracy worms that says it might be entirely convenient for Google and Facebook to ‘disappear’ sites that regularly satirise institutions like Google and Facebook.) Satire is not simply an excuse for a cheap laugh and some silly made-up names. It is an important part of our culture that dates back centuries - nay, millennia. It is an art form that allows the ridiculous elements of our society to be examined and challenged. It’s no coincidence that the first ‘satirical’ (named after the satyr of Greek mythology) plays were performed by the same civilisation who invented democracy. Often there is more truth in a deftly observed spoof than a dozen pieces of earnest journalism. True believers For as long as there has been satire, there has also been gossip. The spreading of dodgy rumours and urban myths did not begin with the internet, but there was never a power capable of stopping pub bores spinning a spurious yarn. Google and Facebook are acting like nosey landlords, lurking by your table ready to tell you off if your conversation veers into hearsay or parody they don't reckon much to. If Google and Facebook think they are capable of prejudging what news is worthy, they are more naïve than people who share spoof news stories alongside their outraged comments of ‘You couldn’t make this up!’ When it comes to the news, a mistruth can spread just as easily from the front pages of widely circulated newspapers as from the bedroom of a malcontent who knows how to knock up a reasonable-looking hoax news page. We shouldn’t be reading anything without considering its veracity and the credibility of the source, and this particularly applies to our beloved mainstream media. Rather than reducing the amount of ‘dangerous’ fake or spoof news we see, Google and Facebook will effectively be rubber-stamping the news stories it does allow as ‘genuine’. Far more dangerous than exposing gullible people to absurd pastiches of current events, creating a stream of officially sanctioned ‘real’ news will encourage users to take things at face value all the more. Google and Facebook may not want to ban fun, but they are edging towards banning critical thinking. #### Google Break Through “The Great Firewall” Of China If you didn’t already know, China is a little cut off from the rest of the world in terms of online communications. Most of the biggest websites that we take for granted are blocked for general use by “The Great Firewall” of China; Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Yahoo, and all Google products (Gmail, Maps, Docs etc.), to name a few. But, like the Mongols taking on the other great wall that surrounds China many years ago, there are sometimes weak points at which the “enemy” can break through. Of course, we’re not seriously comparing Google to the bloodthirsty Mongol hoards, but it makes for a nice metaphoric comparison. Google broke through the firewall surrounding China and became available there for nearly two whole hours. China blocking some of the biggest websites in the world has been a long-standing problem for those involved in the digital world – anywhere from digital marketing to communications – as China’s huge online population offers massive opportunities for Internet businesses. There are ways around this of course, with China having their own equivalents to Facebook and the like, but access to the bigger sites would allow much easier communication with a very large market. Now, don’t get your hopes up. Google haven’t got a team of hackers trying to infiltrate the Chinese firewall (not that we know of, at least). It was a complete accident that allowed this to happen. Obviously, we’re not fully up to speed with the ins and outs of Chinese propaganda law, but it seems that during the implementation of some new IP servers in Asia, Google briefly managed to break through the restrictions. It was quickly shut down again, meaning there really is no hope of other websites making their way through anytime soon. For the time being, businesses will still need to jump through hoops with the dexterity of a Chinese gymnast in order to do business with companies and people in China. We’re not sure how the people of China reacted to being able to bask in the glory of our favourite search engine though, as none of them seem to be on Facebook or Twitter. #### Google Challenge Microsoft Office with Workspace Google is taking it to Microsoft Office with its newest integrated office system. Google Workspace is a big rebrand and redesign and all its office apps into an integrated service. Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet, and Calendar are all packed with new features with Javier Soltero, the VP of Google Workspace claiming; “This is the end of the ‘office’ as we know it.” This could mean Microsoft’s domination, it could mean the rise of remote work. Only time will tell. Reinventing the Wheel Google hasn’t blazed any trails with Workspace. Brands have all started leaning towards integration to improve user experience. Microsoft tried it with its Fluid framework in Office. We’ve even seen it on social media platforms with the announcement that Facebook and Instagram are merging their messaging services. Google is simply joining the bandwagon with their latest offering. New Features So what can we expect from this brand new Workspace? We’ll see over time as Google rollout features over the coming months. Initially, users will be able to quickly view other documents embedded or linked to a document. For example; if you reference a Google Slide in a report, you can hover over the link and cycle through the Slide in a smaller window. Another release feature is the ability to @ people within documents to make finding relevant information easier for teams and clients. Over the next few weeks, we’ll see bigger innovations. Creating documents directly from a Chat window and jumping into a video call while presenting a Slide are just a few that have been hinted at. New Pricing Models If you can’t stand to wait and want the tools ASAP then you’ll have to invest in a business account. Non-business users will have to wait for Google to roll out these features as and when they see fit. This new system is all about making up for lost ground on the likes of Zoom, Slack, Basecamp, and other management software. With remote working becoming the new norm, Google thinks it’s the perfect time to get in the market and compete with smaller, if not more specialised competitors. Plug and Play Interestingly, even with Google looking to challenge other management and communication software, they still offer support to third-party apps. This means you can blend Google Workspace with existing Slack, Zoom, Skype, and whatever else you use to create a bespoke office system that works across all systems and platforms. This is an interesting choice and makes it seem like Google is trying to meet businesses halfway. Changing systems can be an arduous process so Google could be hoping to slowly assimilate into the professional landscape. Who knows? Maybe one day, we’ll say “Let’s Slide it” the same way people use “Google it” or “Skype me”. Digital marketing and remote working are increasingly important parts of the way we do business. Meetings, sales, advertising, and even the Friday Work Quiz rely on robust digital applications and programs. Google Workspace is looking to stake its claim in the business world by blending in new features, Google’s constancy, and convenient cross-platform play. #### Google Consent Mode, Cookies and What You Need To Know Recent updates from Google are now set to dramatically alter how cookies and ad-tracking tools are being used, and the most recent change for 2024 is the introduction of Consent Mode.  For many years, companies across the globe have used internet cookies to track traffic to websites, enhance user experiences, and collect key data that helps them target ads to the correct audiences. Cookies have also supplied valuable information on what content visitors are interested in on their websites and which areas they seldom spend time on. Being able to see what type of content is engaging to their audience is vital for any business and cookies have proved useful for generating reports and providing insight in Google Analytics 4 (GA4). In this blog, we explain what Google Consent Mode is and how you can check to see if your website is compliant. What is Google Consent Mode? Google Consent Mode V1 was initially released back in 2020 when Google announced its intentions to phase out third-party cookies by 2022 on Chrome Browsers, in line with its Privacy Sandbox initiative. Google Consent Mode V2 was communicated in recent months with this now being a mandatory practice from 6th March 2024. Enabling Consent Mode allows your website to communicate your visitor's consent status to Google. When a user declines or accepts your cookie banner, their preference will be sent to Google which will store this information and dynamically adapt the behaviour in GA4 and Google Ads, or any other third-party tool you may also be using, such as the Meta Pixel. There are two types of Consent Modes; basic and advanced. How to implement Google Consent Mode? You can implement Consent Mode in two ways; via a Consent Management Platform, or by creating a banner that you maintain. Our advice would be to make use of the multiple tools that are out there. At Fifteen, we recommend a tool named CookieYes to our clients as this is the tool that we have found to impact our clients websites Core Web Vitals the least. What is the difference between advanced and basic Consent Mode? When you implement the basic Consent Mode, Google tags can not fire until a user interacts with your Cookie Pop-Up banner. This can be problematic from a tracking point of view as a users consent status or behaviours are not sent to Google. This means your ads can struggle to perform effectively and you don't have access to a true view of data in GA4. Advanced Consent Mode loads Google tags when a user visits the website and stores the consent as denied by default. However, the advanced mode will send 'cookie-less pings' which uses machine learning to create behaviour modelling in Analytics and Ads. Google behaviour modelling predicts with AI, the behaviour of those who have declined cookies based on similar user behaviour of those who have accepted. Without this behavioural modelling, you would not be able to understand how these cookie-less users are interacting on your site. This also includes getting information on user and session metrics, such as daily active users and conversion rate. This can leave you and your marketing team wondering why your traffic and conversion rate has declined. How do I find out if I have advanced or basic Consent Mode activated? You can test if you have Consent Mode correctly implemented by troubleshooting the setup with Google's Verify Consent Mode implementation page. This will only tell you if you have Consent Mode activated, and unfortunately won't tell you if you have the basic or advanced mode. The best way to check this is to check with your Consent Management Platform, or to speak to your web developer if you have created and are managing these yourselves.  I have a Cookie Pop-Up Banner does this mean I am compliant? This will all depend on the type of cookie banner you have implemented. Our recommended tool CookieYes is automatically set to ensure that your website is compliant with Basic Consent Mode V1. If you already have CookieYes installed, then you will need to make an update with a web developer to add in the new piece of code to make your site compliant with Consent Mode V2. Other cookie banner tools will also require some code update by a web developer of Google Tag Manager (GTM), depending on your installation. If you have your own bespoke and fully managed cookie pop-up, this may not automatically make your site compliant with Consent Mode V1, or the most recent V2. Our team can help you understand whether or not you are compliant by having a quick chat and running some tests. Speak to us today if this is something you'd like us to do. What happens if we are found to be non-compliant? As this is now mandatory, Google has the ability to penalise websites by way of blocking your Google Ads account and stopping you from being able to advertise until updated. For some businesses, Google Ads is an important source of revenue and it is critical that this does not happen to your website. To avoid being penalised, be sure to use the Google Consent Checker tool or check within the Google Ads interface to see if your Consent Mode is enabled. Speak to our experts for more help We understand these new updates from Google may be confusing to many, but we're here to help. If you'd like us to check and see if your website is compliant, or you're looking to learn more about these updates, Google Consent Mode and cookies, don't hesitate to contact us today. #### Google core web vitals - why do they matter? Google's search algorithms are continually being improved. Occasionally, when a substantial update to the algorithm is imminent, Google will notify the industry so that companies can prepare for the upcoming changes and reduce any negative impact this may cause on your website's rankings. On March 12th 2024, the First Input Delay (FID) core web vital was replaced by a new core web vital named Interaction to Next Paint (INP). In this blog, we explain why this new core web vital is important to your website and your future keyword rankings. First, let's look at what core web vitals are. What are Google Core Web Vitals? Core web vitals are a set of metrics that measure user experience, interactivity, stability and loading performance of your website. Your core web vitals are scored on an individual page-by-page basis. So, if you notice that some of your web pages are taking longer than others to load, or have low engagement metrics in Google Analytics 4 (GA4), then this could be because your site isn't scoring green on Google's Core Web Vitals.  What are the most recent Core Web Vital changes? As of the 12th March 2024, First Input Delay (FID), which refers to the amount of time required for the user to engage with your page, will be replaced by the new core vital element; Interaction to Next Paint. The replacement of this core web vital is part of Google's mission to proactively encourage companies to produce and maintain highly-engaging websites. This new metric alongside the engagement rate score we now benchmark against in GA4, shows how important user experience is as part of an SEO strategy. What is the Interaction to Next Paint metric? Essentially, the new Interaction to Next Paint metric is a user interface metric. It analyses the amount of time it takes for the website to respond to a user's engagement. An example of something INP would measure would be the amount of time it would take for a drop-down box to fully load and update visually on the screen after a user has clicked. To provide a good user experience, websites should aim to have an Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less. When a user has to click multiple times on an element before it loads, this is a sign of poor Interaction to Next Paint. What are the Core Web Elements for 2024? Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) - this refers to the time it takes for a page to load from the point at which the user clicks on a page link, to the point at which it appears on the user's screen.  Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) - this is the visual stability of the page and the fact that all elements load concurrently rather than one or two items loading at a slower rate. Any elements that take an excessive amount of time to load can induce visitors to accidentally click on something, resulting in a negative user experience. This is especially critical for mobile devices. Interaction to Next Paint (INP) - this metric assesses a page's overall responsiveness to user interactions by checking the latency of any interactions that a user would take on your website. Why are Web Core Vitals Important?  Ultimately scoring green on your core web vitals can be a major SEO ranking factor as well as being pivotal in overall user experience. Historically, we have seen clients keyword placement drop off Page 1 of Google purely because they have started to score Amber or Red on some of the core web vital elements. While providing a positive page experience does not trump providing great, relevant content, Google is now ranking websites with great page experience in its search results more than ever. The core web vitals will be significantly more important for a good search ranking for websites that have pages with similar content to other websites. The outranking factor here would be the on-page experience. Ultimately, the real-world user experience on any website is now a ranking consideration for Google's algorithm. Core web vitals are a collection of measurements that Google utilises to determine the real-world user experience. To ensure that your website is prepared for the upgrade, you can check your Core Vital Web Vitals Report in Google Search Console (GSC) as shown below to assess its performance and make any necessary adjustments before the scheduled date. How to optimise your Core Web Vitals Numerous variables can lead to a slow page speed, for example large image files, Javascripts, and CSS files, along with the requests made for each variable. This increases the burden on browsers and keep consumers waiting for an extended period.  Our recommendations below outline a few catch-all Google-recommended strategies to help ensure a positive user experience on your site, increasing your website's ability to rank for keywords. To understand specifically how your website's Google Core Web Vitals could be improved, you can contact our team who can provide you with an audit and recommendations. Optimise your images for page speed  Large image files account for the majority of the payload in browsers. Optimising pictures can help a site load faster and provide a better user experience.  If all of your images are served from the same server, this can place a significant amount of strain on your server. The most effective method of resolving this issue is to utilise a content delivery network (CDN) server. AWS and Cloudflare are now the best choices for a CDN provider for images.  Additionally, you must guarantee that the CDN you use translates the photos to WebP format, Google's Recommended Image Format for Web images.  Using a LazyLoad strategy improves your core web vitals score by including just the onscreen picture resources in the initial payload. Off-screen images will load as viewers approach the specific image viewpoint on the website. Only the dimensions of off-screen images are loaded throughout the loading process to avoid a page break. How can I improve my Longest Contentful Paint (LCP) score? The amount of time it takes for a page's primary content to load is used to calculate your LCP score. It's the time it takes from clicking on a link, to seeing the content on-screen. The render time of the largest image, video, or text in the viewport has a significant effect on your LCP score. Following the standard best practices will help you achieve a strong LCP score: Ensure that server response times are fast and that servers are located close to users To serve static content from edge servers, use a CDN Cache material that does not alter often CSS should be optimised by minifying it, inlining vital CSS, and deferring the rest Where appropriate, keep JavaScript client-side rendering to a minimum Optimise delivery by minifying, inlining essential JS, and deferring the rest where JavaScript is needed Compress your images where possible How can I improve my Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) score? Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) assesses a page's visual stability which is the sum of sudden layout change of graphic page material in layman's terms. You can minimise your CLS by doing the following: Any media will benefit from fixed-size attribute measurements (video, images, GIFs, infographics, etc.) Make sure your ads have a designated room Consider adding new UI elements below the fold Aim for a CLS measurement of less than 0.1 How can I improve my Interaction to Next Paint (INP) score? Your INP score is all about how long it takes for your website to perform an action after a user clicks an element on a page. Here are some ways you can improve this new metric score: Minimise JavaScript execution by optimising JavaScript code to reduce execution time Utilise code splitting and lazy loading to load only necessary JavaScript for the current interaction Optimise rendering by prioritising the rendering of critical elements needed for user interactions Implement server-side rendering or static site generation to deliver content faster Prioritise visible content and ensure it renders quickly, especially above-the-fold content that users are likely to engage with. Implementing lazy loading for non-critical content will also help What other factors outside of Core Web Vitals affect page experience? There are many other factors you should be keeping in mind when it comes to providing an excellent page experience including: Mobile-friendliness - this refers to the process of ensuring that websites "shrink" to fit on a mobile phone screen Safe-browsing - this means ensuring your website is free of viruses or malware HTTPS - this is in relation to the security of your web pages and the use of SSL/TLS to encrypt the website's HTTP traffic. It's critical to have these security measures in place for your website as it instils trust with your audience No intrusive interstitials - this is in relation to intrusive pop-up adverts on mobile devices that obscure the majority, if not all, of the website's content, making it impossible for the user to read it, resulting in a negative experience Get in touch for expert advice If you would like to learn more about Google's Core Web Vitals and the recent changes that will affect your website, get in touch with us today. We can also conduct an audit of your website and provide you with a full list of recommendations on how to improve your core web vitals. Speak to us today to learn more. #### Google Developing New Keyboard For iPhone As the title of this article might suggest, Google are currently working on a third-party keyboard for the iOS operating system on iPhones. There has been a Google keyboard available on Android devices for a while now, but they’re now setting their sights on the Apple market too. In addition to including Android’s gesture-based typing (allowing you to slide from one letter to the next), Google intend to implement search features within the keyboard itself, according to The Verge. We’re told that the search functionality will be split into three parts, standard search, images, and gifs. Gifs have gained increased popularity in messaging apps such as iMessage and Facebook Messenger, so we can see why Google are approaching this. With keyboards such as Giphy being available already within the Messenger app, Google will be looking to gain the monopoly on this part of our internet culture. Rather than taking gifs from Giphy’s wide back catalogue, we can assume they’ll be using Google’s own image search to find gifs from a wide variety of sources. What Does This Mean? In addition to easier typing (apparently the gesture-based typing is really easy once you get used to it), it means you’ll be able to conduct Google searches without ever leaving your messaging app. We know it only requires a couple of extra clicks to do so, but companies are always looking for ways to make our lives that little bit easier. It’ll also allow you to drop images and gifs straight into your messages with ease, meaning your photo library will no longer become filled with all those memes you’ve downloaded. Yes, we have Giphy to share gifs already, but Google’s proposed keyboard would mean you could have it all in one place. We’re genuinely excited about how this could shape up. So, What’s The Downside? It’s a third-party keyboard, which are notorious for having a variety of performance issues. We don’t think this sort of thing would plague Google’s developers (let’s face it, they’re some of the best around), but it does cause concern. Also, when you have another keyboard installed on an iOS device, you constantly need to switch between them in order to use each one. This isn’t something that Google would be able to get around, as it is a restriction applied by Apple. Other than those two minor details, though, it looks as though this keyboard will shape up to be a great addition to iPhone. #### Google Officially Releases “Site Kit” WordPress Plugin The Site Kit Only yesterday, at roughly 23:00 GMT, Google officially released a plugin for Wordpress called Site Kit. Site Kit, which had been in Beta for 6 months before yesterday, enables users who have Wordpress websites to install the plugin, and link their Google products to their Wordpress website all in one place. When taking on clients, Fifteen have discovered that historically, businesses have not had a one size fits all approach for the installation of their Google Analytics, Tag Manager, Search Console etc. Instead, we’ve found clients installing the code manually, using a range of plugins that have led to problems being discovered with the installation further down the line. With the release of Google’s Site Kit, we’re instantly going to be able to offer a new approach for clients looking to ensure all of their Google products are installed simply and efficiently. Google Site Kit offers a single plugin for the installation of: Google AnalyticsGoogle Tag ManagerSearch ConsoleGoogle AdSenseGoogle OptimizePageSpeed Insights The plugin is also extremely flexible; for clients who currently have the full suite of Google products installed, you’re able to connect these products to the “dashboard” without inserting the snippet to the site. This helps avoid any double tracking too! “Matt, what is the dashboard?” I hear you ask… The Dashboard Beyond the technical benefits of the plugin, there are also a huge number of benefits for the client. The “dashboard” offers top-level insights to the client as to how well their site is performing, which includes data from Google Analytics, Search Console and PageSpeed Insights. We appreciate that not all of our client base is 100% tech-savvy (thankfully, otherwise I’d imagine a number of us would be out of the job!) so this dashboard offers them the information they’re likely to want to see regarding search queries, popular content and strongest channels. It also offers the information over the last 7, 14, 28 or 90 days for comparison. Beyond the Dashboard Each of Google’s insightful tools also gets its own section within the plugin: Within each of these, the client is offered extended information about the performance of their site. From here they’re also linked directly to their Google Analytics, Search Console account etc. Our Verdict We’re thrilled to see that Google has finally taken the leap and released a solution that encompasses all of their technologies in one, smart Wordpress plugin. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s definitely been worth the wait. We’re excited that we can offer this plugin, and we’re integrating it into our boilerplate straight away. On top of this, there are now even fewer excuses for agencies not to integrate transparency of performance data into their digital strategy. Providing client direct access to all of the analytics data directly in their Wordpress installation means there are no logins to hide behind! If you’d like any assistance transitioning to this new plugin, or would simply like to know more, feel free to get in touch with me (matt.cocking@fifteen.co.uk) or the team at Fifteen Design. #### Google Update Penalizes Unsecure Websites Google has just announced that as of October 2017 it will be penalizing websites that aren’t serving their site through HTTPS alongside a valid SSL certificate. The move comes as Google and other search engines push websites to start taking website safety seriously and protecting their customers better. Google’s Webmaster Guidelines were created and have been amended over the years to give search marketers an idea about what search engines like and what they don’t. Search engines release warnings and pieces of advice around what they want to see from a good website. Then eventually they add these specifications into the ranking algorithm. We’ve seen this before with things like “Mobilegeddon”, as it was named in the industry). In this case, sites were warned to become mobile friendly before Google eventually released a mobile-first indexing system. This time around, the update is centred around site security. As of October 1st, Google will start adding warnings to sites that aren’t secured by a valid SSL certificate. What will the new Google SSL Update do? From what we can understand ahead of the update, the Google Chrome browser will be displaying warnings on forms across unsecure websites. This will include enquiry forms, contact forms, email sign-ups and the likes. The message will warn users not to enter any sensitive information and brand it as “unsafe”. Currently, the only information we have comes from Google itself, in the form of its webmaster tools. Until the update is rolled out, we’re unsure if the message will be displayed in the URL bar, as a warning on the page itself or in a pop-up form. My site isn’t HTTPS secure - what does this update mean for me? If your site’s unsecure, it’s bad news. Not only will your rankings drop due to not conforming to a new part of Google algorithm, it will massively put off customers from buying from you. New customers or clients who visit your site will see the warning and be put off immediately. They’ll likely never return to your site and assume you’re unsafe to buy from. Returning customers who come to your site may think you’ve been hacked, or come to the conclusion that you don’t care enough to make your website secure. And, again, they're likely to bounce off your site. As well as your brand getting a bad reputation by having an unsecure website, your SEO will suffer too. Google is planning on massively de-ranking sites that aren’t secure, the same way they did with non-responsive sites. The quicker you react, the less likely it is that your site will suffer at the hands of this update. What can I do to stop these “unsafe” warnings? Simply put – make your site secure. There’s no outwitting Google and other search engines. If you want to stop the warnings about security, you’re going to have to make the transition from HTTP to HTTPS and purchase a valid SSL certificate. “HTTP” stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol, and HTTPS is the same except the little “s” at the end stands for Secure. This works as a trust mark to both search engines and users to reassure them that inputting sensitive information on your site is safe. There are multiple free SSL certificates available, but with the push on site security I’d look for one with a bit of promise behind it. Like everything in life, you get what you pay for.  A lot of free SSL providers aren’t globally trusted certificate partners, and as such the certificates aren’t very well encrypted. There’s a much higher chance of your certificate being revoked if you use an untrusted partner. Google is already assessing SSL providers into categories and judging your site based on the quality of your security. Whilst we’re unaware if this affects your rankings and site health score at this point, I can only see security becoming stricter and the quality of your security being brought into play. In short, if you want to get ahead of your competitors and stop yourselves being penalized by the new Google security update then get in touch with trusted web specialist such as us today. #### Google: What’s new for 2023? Google enhances its tools and algorithms on an on-going basis so it’s important to stay in the know and adapt with it. Whilst many of the changes are already in play, we've put together this helpful guide so you can factor in any adjustments around Google's update. We'll explore the key changes at Google that marketers should be aware of as we head in to the New Year as well as Google Analytics 4 and Google's helpful content update. GA4 - what's all the hype? GA4, or Google Analytics 4, is Google’s new reporting tool and is set to replace Universal Analytics. It has been developed to address issues around privacy and third-party cookies. Moving forward, GA4 will not use third-party cookies. Much hyped, and particularly ramped up in conversation since the New Year, the deadline to move from Universal Analytics to GA4 is currently set to 1st July 2023. So, it’s no longer a ‘we’ll think about it next year’ item! This deadline is very important if you are looking to maintain as much of your existing analytics data as possible. If you haven’t made the change by the deadline, you’ll no longer have access to historical analytics data. Along with all the hype, it’s fair to say that the introduction of GA4 has caused quite a stir in the marketing world. It is a fairly big departure from analytics as we know it – and this has made it pretty controversial. The core difference in GA4 is how it models data and it focuses on events rather than sessions such as page views for example. Bounce rate will no longer be a metric as Google Analytics 4 removes this metric and looks instead at engagement. An ‘Engagement Rate’ is a percentage of engaged sessions which is defined as: Lasting more than 10 seconds Having at least two screen views Having a conversion event Google is focusing more on positive metrics as it moves forward. Looking at metrics around engagement, rather than bounce rate, ties in with the latest Google algorithm updates on intent and engagement. In addition, GA4 doesn’t discriminate on device which means it is easier to track cross device journeys. You may also want to consider setting up Google Signals as this will support data collection for GA4. GA4 will automatically record some events for you, but for others you will need to set up a custom event to ensure that the specific metric or goal is still captured. We would recommend mapping your Universal Analytics metrics over to GA4. If upgrading from Universal Analytics to GA4 is not on your roadmap for the early part of the year, it certainly should be and we’d encourage you to start a conversation around this as soon as possible. You can find more information on Google Analytics 4 here. How can you make the most of Google's helpful content update?  In August 2022 Google launched its helpful content update which requires you to, as Google recommends: “Focus on people first content”. The idea is that content generators, marketers and website owners no longer look to serve the needs of search engines and instead focus on the human. Which you could also translate as “when trying to get to the top of the search engine, focus on the human”! Google has always focused on good quality content in its algorithm and in its best practice guides puts “creating helpful, reliable, people-first content” at the very top. The content update takes this a step further and will penalise those websites which don’t do this. In order for you to understand whether your content is good, Google provides some handy questions to help you consider whether your content serves the needs of the person reading it and encourages content writers to consider how satisfied the user would be with the response. Something to really bear in mind is that previously a badly performing page would operate in isolation as far as the SERPS are concerned. But with the new update, if you have badly performing pages on your website, they will impact the rest of the website and how well it ranks. Google is really trying to encourage websites to tighten up what they’re doing and to make the most of their crawl budget. The main practical recommendations from the update are as follows: Audit existing page content to identify the good and the bad Deliver a roadmap for addressing content issues Remove unhelpful content Always work on a mobile first approach for design Consider design features to reduce the scroll depth of your pages and encourage engagement with the pages (e.g. carousels, pagination, tabs) If you are unsure as to how your current website pages are being viewed by Google and if they have been penalised we can help by auditing the performance of these pages. By utilising analytics and our expert tools we can analyse the whole of a website and understand how each piece of content is impacting the overall website’s health. From here we can make recommendations to improve the existing content on your website. Round up As we enter the New Year, it’s clear that Google is pushing forward an agenda around privacy and engagement. The updates outlined here around analytics and content highlight the need to evolve our online assets to ensure we’re prepared for the changes. If you would like any support or further advice around the topics we've discussed, please feel free to get in touch with us and we’ll talk you through this in line with your own digital products. #### Google's Doorway Update - What is a Doorway Page? With the Google Algorithm arriving earlier this year, there are still many questions around what is a doorway page and how can we overcome getting penalized. Doorway pages are essentially pages or sites that solely exist for search engines as opposed to users; designed to rank well, but not to deliver value for a user. The main purpose is to attract as much traffic as possible, acting as a funnel to a website.   Doorway Pages vs Landing Pages So what is the difference between a doorway page and a landing page? Doorway pages tend to make users take an extra step in their journey to find the resource they’re looking for, whereas landing pages provide users with the information they originally set out to find. The general nature of doorway pages is that they lack any real value to a user; however landing pages are mostly rich in information and relevance to a user’s search. One example of a landing page is a new targeted landing page created for a paid search campaign giving the user exactly what they’re looking for and is designed to convert or make the user take some sort of action. On the other hand, a site may have a different page for every location that they sell their products in, or that they want to target, with keyword variations and similar content on each. These pages do not serve the user any value independently and are clearly designed only to rank for local search terms. These would be doorway pages.   Are my pages doorway pages? There are five questions from Google you should ask yourself when deciding whether or not your pages are doorway pages: Is the purpose to optimize for search engines and funnel visitors into the actual usable or relevant portion of your site, or are they an integral part of your site’s user experience? Are the pages intended to rank on generic terms yet the content presented on the page is very specific Do the pages duplicate useful aggregations of items (locations, products, etc.) that already exist on the site for the purpose of capturing more search traffic? Are these pages made solely for drawing affiliate traffic and sending users along without creating unique value in content or functionality? Do these pages exist as an “island?” Are they difficult or impossible to navigate to from other parts of your site? Are links to such pages from other pages within the site or network of sites created just for search engines? What if I’m using doorway pages? If you think you’re using doorway pages, stop using them as they present a negative representation of your brand to users and if Google crawls your site and notices these spammy pages, you’re likely to receive a penalty from Google meaning you will see a massive reduction in your traffic for the majority of your keywords. If you are worried and still can’t decipher if you’re using doorway pages or not, then get in touch with our friendly team of experts who will be able to give you advice and guidance on your website. #### Graphic Design Career Path and Progression What is Graphic Design? Graphic design is using images and lettering to communicate information and ideas. Take a look at our Graphic Design Career Path and Progression Infographic to see the sort of things you can create in your role. What are the Hours Like? Typically, 37 hours a week, Monday to Friday. Extra hours are to be expected when deadlines draw near. What Will I Be Doing? Working on a variety of products, which will involve lots of sitting and long periods of working on a computer. Products Include: Websites Packaging Books and magazines Branding Advertising Exhibitions and displays Computer games What is the Environment Like? Generally, studio/office based or home based if doing freelance work. Some travel to meet clients may be required. What is the Difference Between In-House, Agency and Freelance? In-House These are teams within large organisations, for example, publishers, retailers, universities, packaging companies and banks. Advantages: Higher salaries and easier internal progression Disadvantages: Generally less creative freedom and variety Agency Teams that seek out and serve a wide range of clients, they may specialise in areas like advertising, corporate communications or just general graphic design. Advantages: More varied work expected Disadvantages: Potentially lower salaries and less internal progression Freelance Highly similar to Agency work, however, you will be entirely on your own. You will have to seek out your clients and complete the work yourself. Advantages: Can pick and choose jobs that interest you the most Disadvantages: Will be constantly looking for new jobs to earn your living What Skills Will I Need to be a Graphic Designer? Creativity Originality Flexibility Resilience Strong knowledge of design programs, like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc. Ability to understand clients’ needs and find practical solutions Good teamwork skills Strong computer skills Strong artistic senses Ability to work to briefs Ability to multi-task on many projects at a time Ability to cope with design rejection Confidence in presenting and explaining ideas Ability to pay attention to detail Entry Requirements A strong Portfolio of work is hugely important in getting into the business as it presents your abilities to your potential employer/clients. Work Experience is nearly essential to get into the industry, as it will provide you with a reference and evidence of the work you have done, adding to your portfolio. For any chance of progression, you will need a Foundation Degree, Higher National Diploma or Degree in Graphic Design or other art-related subjects such as Illustration, Fine Art, Visual Art, Photography, 3D Design, Communication Design and Film and Television. Most Graphic Designers will have these qualifications, which therefore makes progression without formal training difficult. An enthusiastic and positive attitude will go a long way to helping you progress through the industry. What is the Career Path of a Designer and What Can You Expect to be Doing in Each Role? Junior Graphic Designer This job will focus mainly on design busy work that other designers do not want to do like layouts, drawing logos, repeatedly redrawing logos, correcting typefaces and doing colour corrections. There will be moments of brainstorming ideas and mocking up designs. All will be done under the supervision of Senior Designers, which gives the opportunity for learning and development from those more experienced. Satisfaction Rate: Very high Advantages: Generally great work environment and the ability to grow portfolio Disadvantages: Low pay and not always very creative work meaning it is sometimes monotonous Graphic Designer This job focuses on a much broader scale, carrying out entire processes from concept to design to layout to the final artwork sometimes independently. It will involve speaking directly with clients and while there is a greater amount of creative control than a Junior Designer would have, work is still overseen by more senior staff. Satisfaction Rate: High Advantages: Variety of work and highly creative Disadvantages: Stressful due to non-design-trained clients expecting very quick turnovers and will suffer rejection of design ideas Senior Graphic Designer This job has a complicated set of responsibilities, which can range from meeting clients to taking control over entire advertising campaigns. The work will generally cover everything in conceptualising and design from beginning to end. The directors of your company will oversee your work, however, there is a much greater degree of creative freedom and you will be directing Junior and other Designers to complete large projects. Satisfaction Rate: High Advantages: Greater creative freedom and control over entire projects Disadvantages: Stressful due to amount of work required and longer hours Studio Manager This job is similar to Senior Graphic Designers but focuses more on leading multiple design tasks and overseeing day-to-day operations. Will have the responsibility of delegating assignments and may also include hiring staff, conducting performance review assessments, and ordering resources all the while ensuring the work produced by the Designers is of a high enough quality. Satisfaction Rate: Very high Advantages: Position of responsibility and potential for collaboration across departments Disadvantages: Stressful due to amount of management required Art Director This is arguably the most senior role in a Graphic Design firm. The focus does shift away from actual design to the marketing element of Graphic Design, but there is still the opportunity for creative work. You will frequently meet with clientele to establish their needs and work with Art Directors and Senior Design staff to ensure the clients’ needs are met. Satisfaction Rate: Very high Advantages: Great environment and potentially very high salary Disadvantages: Very long hours and very stressful Career Progression Below illustrates the common career paths within the design industry: Progression Tips The main route to successful progression is by; developing a reputation, networking and making contacts. Developing your career further depends on frequent job movement in order to widen experience and develop your portfolio. You need to think strategically about any moves you make. Smaller companies rarely have a career structure, but they may have a better work environment than larger companies. You may want to go freelance/self-employed to progress your career. Junior Graphic Designers generally progress after 2 or 3 years. Graphic Designers generally progress between 3 to 5 years. A lot of designers choose to go Freelance/Self-Employed within 5 to 10 years of having their first job. Final Tips Ensure your CV is typographically great with a clear layout and no spelling errors or incorrect spacing. Giving it a creative design can be helpful but it is risky. Work on your Portfolio – Sometimes try tailoring it to the design company you’re applying to. Get as much experience as possible! Network, network, network. Learn and train as you go! Always make sure to keep up-to-date with the latest design software available. Be very enthusiastic and positive! #### Graphic design vs web design: What's the difference? For many people, it can be easy to assume that graphic design and web design are one and the same. It's true that there may be some crossover between the two jobs, but there are a surprising number of differences that distinguish them from each other. Let's take a closer look at this below. The fundamentals of graphic design Originally, the role of a graphic designer centred around creating book covers, brochures and magazines, as well as logos and posters. A lot of this work has shifted more and more online as software has improved and digital marketing has taken over from print. Despite this, the key points of graphic design still focus on colour theory, typography and layout – all design features which contribute heavily to the imagery a graphic designer must create. Unlike web designs, they are much more concerned with the immediate impact of visuals in any given medium. The fundamentals of web design On the other hand, web designers are more concerned with the user experience and eventually the user interface of a website. While it is still important for them to understand the basics of colour theory and technology, their role is based more on the process of using a website rather than what it looks like. To help a user have a positive and seamless experience with a website, it's the web designer's job to organise content and arrange images; for example, to build a story and a natural progression through the website. So what’s the difference between them? While it may seem as though these are similar roles, there are some key differences that differentiate graphic design vs web design. 1. Interactivity One of the main ways to tell if a website design has been done by a web designer or a graphic designer is whether they're interactive or not. Graphic designers are predominantly involved in the static elements of a website. For example, they would be in charge of designing logos and elements that don’t change. On the other hand, web designers are responsible for the interactive parts of the design, meaning they are tasked with creating clickable buttons, website menus, motion graphics and videos. Anything that you can click on or even hover over to change will have been done by a web designer. 2. Technical skills required There is a large difference in the skill set needed for the two jobs. Graphic designers mainly use design software such as Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Web designers, in contrast, need to be competent in coding languages such as HTML and CSS. An understanding of the more technical side of web design, involving code and commands, means that a graphic designer couldn't do the work of a web designer without these additional skills. 3. Considering the broader application of the design Another way that the two jobs vary is in the necessity to accommodate various displays. For a graphic designer, it's possible to create striking visuals without having to think about the device that will be used to display them. If they are designing for print, the problem is eradicated completely, while for screens, their designs will appear largely the same. For web designers, this obstacle is greater. They have to consider how the design of the website will appear and whether it will function correctly when accessed through laptops, computers, tablets or phones and on a variety of screen sizes. All kinds of differences must be considered as it's part of their role to take into account the user experience for every device. This is difficult since changing an element to fit one screen size or layout can make it unreadable or appear strange in another. Ultimately, while they may be similar in the fact that both roles contribute to the overall design of a website, there are some key differences between the two. If you're interested in a career in either of these fields, or you need to hire one to help you with your website design, knowing exactly what each professional does will be very important. At Fifteen we have a highly skilled team of web designers and graphic designers. Whether you’re thinking about redesigning your website or you’re looking to create new brochures, our team can help! Why not get in touch with us today to find out more information? #### Graphic Design: Salary & Progression So you're considering a career in graphic design and would like to find out more on the job progression and the salary that goes along with it. We've put together the following information which covers graphic design as a career, it's salary and the potential for progression. We've also included some tips along the way to help you achieve the status you're aiming for. On average, a graphic designer will work 37 hours a week. There is generally some flexibility in regards to start/finish times, and extra hours should be expected when deadlines are due. The working environment is mostly studio, office or home-based, generally working as part of a team. Travel may be required to meet clients. Work is available in most major cities with a focus on London, South East, Manchester and Leeds. There is a demand for British designers internationally but industry experience is necessary. A few health benefits are on offer and pay bonuses are definitely a possibility. High job satisfaction comes from working as a graphic designer due to the creative nature of work. Career Progression Common Career Paths Salaries Junior Graphic Designer Average Salary: £17,000 Salary Range: £13,000 - £23,000 Male: 44% Female: 56% Expected Experience: 0 - 4 years Best Location for Pay: London (12% higher) Poorest Location for Pay: Leicester (20% lower) Desired Skills: graphic design, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign Mid-Weight Graphic Designer Average Salary: £21,000 Salary Range: £15,000 - £32,000 Male: 55% Female: 45% Expected Experience: 1 - 9 years Best Location for Pay: London (18% higher) Poorest Location for Pay: Norwich (13% lower) Desired Skills: graphic design, Adobe Creative Suite, web design, HTML, photography, marketing communications Senior Graphic Designer Average Salary: £29,000 Salary Range: £21,000 - £42,000 Male: 62% Female: 38% Expected Experience: 5 - 19 years Best Location for Pay: London (15% higher) Poorest Location for Pay: Belfast (11% lower) Desired Skills: graphic design, Adobe Creative Suite, web design, HTML, photography, marketing communications, branding Graphic Design Manager Average Salary: £30,000 Salary Range: £20,000 - £42,000 Male: 63% Female: 37% Expected Experience: 5 - 19 years Best Location for Pay: London (18% higher) Desired Skills: graphic design, Adobe Creative Suite, web design, HTML, photography, marketing communications, branding Art Director Average Salary: £35,000 Salary Range: £21,000 - £54,000 Male: 57% Female: 43% Expected Experience: 1 - 19 years Best Location for Pay: London (7% higher) Desired Skills: graphic design, Adobe Creative Suite, web design, HTML, photography, marketing communications, branding, desktop publishing Creative Director Average Salary: £49,000 Salary Range: £29,000 - £94,000 Male: 83% Female: 17% Expected Experience: 10 - 19 years Best Location for Pay: London (22% higher) Desired Skills: graphic design, Adobe Creative Suite, web design, HTML, photography, marketing communications, branding, desktop publishing, art direction, user interface design, people management, project management Fancy Freelance? Freelance work can get you around £200 - £400 a day if you are experienced. Tip 1: Do you research into other Freelancers' prices. Tip 2: Try charging hourly. This allows for flexibility in changing the scope of a project, and prevents you from underselling your services. Tip 3: Try 3-tier packages. This prevents itemisation of your services. If seeking freelance work, find the price and system that works for you. Salary Progression Advice Experience in the industry will lead to higher salaries and better job progression, so keep on learning. If seeking to do freelance work, try gaining experience in an in-house or agency team first to build up a respected portfolio. London has the highest average salaries, but work is available in most large cities so search out the location and salary that works best for you. Ensure knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite, graphic design, web design, photography, branding, art direction, people management, project management and HTML to rise up the ranks. Based on Infographic written by Richard Kish #### Great Ways For A Start-Up To Make Noise Online (In A World Full Of Noise) You’ve got an amazing product and all your branding and website are done and dusted, and now you want to make some noise. So, where do you start? There are several ways you can cut through online clutter, which will all depend on your budget, message, creativity and how brave you’re feeling… Hard Launch If you want to make an impression quickly and powerfully, a hard launch is a great way to start. This type of launch is essentially when you go all out with your marketing campaigns, within a short space of time. Making sure all channels fire a consistent message. This allows you to potentially see a quick return on investment, see results in your brand awareness and give you the maximum amount of time without direct competitors (if you’re lucky enough to not have any at launch). You’ll need to put in a lot of time and effort in, but then the rest should all follow, including the press picking up on your campaigns and for it to spread across social media. You’ll likely need a higher budget for a hard launch as you’ll want to get all your adverts and posts across all digital channels, from social media to TV advertising. You’ll also need to have a robust plan of activity. Culture Jamming Culture jamming originally came about in the 90's when consumers tried to disrupt culture by deforming advertising and changing the brands' message. Now brands are taking on culture jamming to promote their own brand. There are many brands advertising to be better than the competitors, you will have seen this most commonly with supermarkets. However, brands like Windows has also been doing this against Apple. If you truly believe your brand's product or service is that much better than a competitor, then perhaps culture jamming is the route for you. These types of campaigns may cause some controversy, but it will definitely get people talking and making plenty of noise about your brand. Viral Launch If you think your brand can play on current affairs or has a really unique and catchy campaign, then a viral launch is the way you will want to go. Now, there’s no guarantee that something will or won’t go viral, but there are ways to make sure it’s more likely to. It needs to be either extremely relevant or something that people can get involved in and is shareable. A great example of a viral launch is by the brand, Squatty Potty. Their product isn’t the most exciting, but they went viral through a deliberately weird campaign. With their mascot of a little unicorn who creates rainbow poop ice-cream, the advert comically talks about how their product helps people whilst they’re on the toilet. Most toilet related adverts are very conventional, plain and boring. So, it was engaging and funny to watch an advert on the same topic, but done so differently. The video now has over 30million views on YouTube and they have continued their comical approach across their social media and more recent marketing. They’ve even started selling plush toys of their unicorn from the advert. However, you do need to be careful to not go viral for the wrong reasons! You may have heard of the Protein World ‘Beach Body’ campaign, which caused a social stir due to people claiming it promoted body shaming. Interested in building your digital marketing campaign? Check out our digital marketing strategy services or enquire today at hello@fifteen.co.uk. #### Growing Goodwill with the Logi Analytics Mailer The Brief & Vision: Logi analytics approached Fifteen at the back of 2019, looking for a creative agency to help them with a 2020 New Year mailer.  They had a fixed budget to work to, but weren’t sure what to do, or what direction they wanted to go with, they just knew that their messaging had to be around “helping you to grow”.  The mailer needed to be sent to a range of current customers across the globe, so we needed to come up with something transportable, had a great opening experience and helped deliver their key message.  Unlike standard mailers, this mailer wasn’t to gain more business or grow the customer base, it was an opportunity to reach out to key clients, and give them a token of appreciation for working with them over the last year (how lovely is that?!). About Logi Analytics: Logi Analytics has just started their 20th year of business, and their main aim is to help web developers produce data reports inside their web builds. The platform helps companies embed dashboards and reports into a range of applications.   With 3 offices across the globe, clients that use Logi Analytics platforms can effectively analyze data from many different sources and style the results to match their brand to present the data sensibly. They are the Number 1 analytics provider in their industry and work with a range of companies to help them deliver tailored analytics.   What We Did:  As part of the initial stages of the project, we created a range of concepts for the job, these concepts included giveaway items, around the core messaging. We paired these items with literature that would accompany the gifts. Our client loved so many of our ideas, they found it hard to choose between them. They landed on one but now also have a few concepts up their sleeve for future mailer campaigns. Once we’d settled on a concept, we set to work bringing that concept to life, sourcing suppliers for the promotional gifting and looking at the best ways to package and post the items. As you can see from the images below, we’ve got a lovely little box, which has been designed in brand colour’s and messaging, and inside the box, we’ve got a desktop garden with a branded label, and an extendable mailer, which showcases stats and testimonials of the previous year.  It’s a lovely little package, with something that can take pride of place on someone’s desk, it’s a little bit different to your standard merch items, something that Logi liked, as they’ve been known to give away some large ticket items before, and creates a bit of a talking point.  What They Said: “It was such a pleasure working with Fifteen Design for our direct mail campaign. They quickly understood what we needed and came up with so many creative ideas! I would highly recommend working with Fifteen. :) Thank you, Sophie & the rest of the team” Nica Danganan, EMEA Marketing Manager, Logi Analytics  We hope that we can work with the team at Logi again this year, and can’t wait to see what we can come up with next!  #### Guinness's Top Advertising Campaigns & How They're So Successful As it's St Patrick's day, Guinness is a must. Guinness has been around since 1759 - over 250 years - and is not only famous for its exceptional beer, but also for their advertising campaigns. A few of us at the Fifteen offices have had the opportunity to go to the Guinness factory in Dublin and have experienced the wonders of their advertising campaigns there. With life-sized statues of the characters featured within some of their adverts, and a huge screen room with the adverts on repeat. I'm going to be going through some of the top Guinness advertising campaigns and how they became such successful and award winning. The Surfer This advert has a become a moment in Guinness advertising history. If you don't know it already, it was launched back in 1998 and featured a clash between a surfer, water and horses. It had absolutely nothing to do with the actual product, it was all purely done on the power, the cinematography and an emotional feeling of achievement. The advert wasn't smooth sailing in its production. There were many crew members thrown overboard and a lot of waiting for the perfect wave to come along to be captured. However, there were no actual horses used within the waves, these came along later in post-production. Can you even imagine trying to organise horses in the sea? With the pounding beat playing during the advert, it became so popular in the fact that it wasn’t plain up marketing a product. The advert was memorable and different to what was already out there. It was all about a real man finding the perfect wave, with the campaign ending with the slogan ‘Good things come to those who wait.’. The Sapeurs In 2014, they ran a campaign that focused around the Sapeurs, also known as the Society of Elegant Persons of Congo. They’re super stylish, dapper and vibrant icons in Congo. In the advert, you see men go through their working day and then end the day by dressing up at attending a Sapeurs event. Here they dance and enjoy drinks as a society. The advert is basically promoting the fact that these men are more than they may be seen in the day and the advert ends with the quote, 'Made of More.' This advert did so well as it was lighthearted and didn't make the advert feel pitiful towards those in Africa like many often do. Again like in the surfer campaign, the product came at the end of the advert. Made Of Black This is one of my personal favourites. This campaign was set up to promote Guinness's lesser known Black Lager and was done so through this advert. It's a standard 30-second advert, so shorter than the previous two campaigns, but still very impactful. Short and snappy clips of Martians, quotes, Guinness branding, a battle scene and more are perfectly switched to the beat of Kanye West's song, BLKKK SKKKN HEAD. This campaign also used the hashtag #MadeOfBlack across social media to build up a buzz about the campaign. #### Happy New Year from Fifteen! All year we've provided you with the latest news, trends, and helpful guides and we hope our blog content has been keeping you all updated and educated on everything surrounding our business and our industry. We provided you with some great guides in 2025, and they'll be just as useful in the new year. We aim to provide you with guides that give you a better understanding of how to execute a skill or tool correctly. We also want to ensure you're provided with the right knowledge that's easy enough to understand. Here are some of our most popular guides of 2025: 8 tips to managing a website project successfully Managing a website project can feel overwhelming, especially for busy business owners juggling multiple responsibilities. With so many moving parts – from design and development to content creation and launch – it can be easy to miss crucial deadlines. That's why we've put together our top eight tips to managing a web project successfully. A guide to PPC marketing for beginners This complete guide to PPC marketing for beginners looks at what PPC is, the key fundamentals of it, and what you need in place to get your first campaign started. If you're new to this digital marketing channel, our guide will give you the confidence to successfully reach the right people at the right time. 7 benefits of mobile apps for businesses Many businesses are now moving towards having their own mobile app because it allows them to expand their business and enter new markets. If you don't have one, you could be missing out on reaching potential new customers. Take a look at the seven key benefits of having a mobile app for your business. Happy New Year! Besides everything we provided for you here on our website, via our services, and through general enquiries, the whole team at Fifteen wish you all the best for the new year. Whether you're a long-time loyal client or you're a newbie to our family, we're here to help provide you with digital solutions for 2026. We've had a blast keeping our clients happy and being on-top to meet expectations in 2025 and we can't wait to keep it up in the new year. Of course, stay in tuned with our blog as we'll continue to provide many useful resources to all. Be sure to contact us if you have any questions about any of our digital marketing, web design, or web development services. #### How a social media campaign can impact your new website launch All digital marketers know the impact social media marketing can have for an organisation. When done right, it can bring a business a huge amount of benefits from enhanced brand loyalty, to increased conversions. It’s one of the most cost effective digital marketing tactics that can be used to promote almost any aspect of a brand - including a new website launch. Social platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and TikTok are just some of the go-to platforms brands are using to drive traffic to their new site. So, how can a social media campaign impact your new website launch? We explore this in more detail along with some social media marketing tactics you can use.  How can a social media campaign impact your new website launch? When you’re ready to launch your new website, one of the best ways to get the word out is via a series of powerful social media campaigns. By doing so, it can have a substantial impact on your new website launch. For example, social media allows you to reach a wider audience. As with all businesses, you’ll have your target audience and social media can help you reach this audience much quicker along with increasing your intended reach. If you already have a strong social media following, it can also help build up the excitement in the run up to your website launch, thus helping to drive maximum traffic when you do launch. This is also a great opportunity to get your audience involved and ask for feedback post launch. This is your way of allowing your customers to have their say on your new website design and also allows you to make any necessary improvements. However, to truly make the most of your social media channels when you launch your new website is to build a good online presence and increase your following as much as possible. Building your online presence and following If you already have some kind of online presence for your business, you’ll know just how important it is to maintain that. And if you already have a social media following, you’re on the right track. However if you don’t have this, there’s still plenty of time to build a gathering with a social media campaign and establish yourself with an online presence. The first step is to find the right social platforms that suit your brand as not all platforms are right for every business. When you’ve established this, you’ll need to ensure you keep consistent usernames, logos and content across them all so your audience can easily recognise you online. Once you’re all set up and running, be sure to include a link to your site and other social media accounts. The next step is to stay in a consistent routine of regular posting across all channels. There are a multitude of social media scheduling tools you can use to help with this including Hootsuite and Sprout Social for example. Be sure to post engaging and relevant content and always include a link to encourage your audience to visit your website. 3 social media marketing tactics to implement for your website launch Ready to launch your new website? Here are three social media marketing tactics you can implement. 1. Create video content If you haven’t already, you should consider creating a YouTube account for your business. It’s by far the best site to post video content, and you’ll be able to use it across all your other social media platforms. The video hosting site is supported across the majority of social media apps today, and it’s easy to get started. You can pretty much create a video about anything you like. “How to” types of videos are so easy and always a great idea for content. It’s a great way to show off your products or services, entice new people, and show your friendly team for a good image. YouTube is the second biggest search engine after Google and has a whole host of features on offer. Read our blog to learn more about why you should include video marketing in your marketing strategy. 2. Build engaging image campaigns Creating engaging image content for your social media campaigns is a fantastic way to build a ‘buzz’ and anticipation for your new website launch. You could share pictures of your team, your products or services in action, and even teaser images of your new website design. Whatever you choose, make sure to have a theme or design in your images that are consistent to your brand. Some of the best platforms to share your images include Instagram and Facebook, and to further increase the reach of your campaigns, you could use trending hashtags or keywords - but only if they’re relevant! If you’re working with influencers or you’re taking advantage of affiliate marketing, be sure to tag all of the relevant people in your content so they can share with their audience. The key to a successful image social media campaign is to always ensure consistency and quality. Blurred images, poor resolutions and unclear images make for a poor experience and will drive your customers away. Consider utilising professional photography or create some high quality social media templates to use in your posts. 3. Post your customer testimonials It doesn’t matter what length of time you’ve been in business for, if you are able to gather some thoughts or reviews of your business, this is another great social media marketing tactic to utilise. Collect as many as you can, and keep collecting. Keep them all in the same place for future use and good codes of practice. You may want to consider using platforms such as Trustpilot, Reviews.io or Feefo to collect regular reviews. By using these platforms, it’s also a good way for potential customers to get a feel for your brand and your offering. This kind of campaign is a great way for everyone to read about your business and see a review from the point of view of a customer. Sharing testimonials is another great addition to your image campaigns too. Using quotes and assembling them into image format is a great and easy content option, or alternative if you are in need in that area. You can link this back to your testimonials page on your website and enable people to read more, which will result in even more traffic. Looking for professional social media management services? As you can see, building a social media campaign and posting regularly in the run up to your new website launch can have a huge impact on the success of your new website. The social media marketing tactics we’ve shared above are just some of the many campaigns you can share with your audience, so it’s important to have a complete social media strategy in place before you launch your site. Next, take a look at our checklist for launching a new website. If you’d like to learn more about how you can take advantage of social media for your website launch, or you’d like to speak to our experts about our professional social media management services, don’t hesitate to contact us today. #### How business video marketing can drive real results. Video has become one of the most powerful tools in modern marketing. From social feeds and websites, to presentations and internal communications, video plays a central role in how businesses tell their story, build trust, and drive action. Business video marketing is no longer a ‘nice to have’, it’s a proven way to engage audiences faster, communicate more clearly, and stand out in crowded digital spaces. Whether you’re explaining a product, showcasing your people, or building brand awareness, video helps bring your message to life in a way other formats simply can’t. Keep reading as we explore what video marketing is for businesses, the benefits it brings, and how it can drive real results for your digital marketing efforts. What is video marketing for business? Video marketing for business is the use of video content to promote, explain, or support a company’s products, services, or brand message. This could include anything from a high-level brand film and product demos, to customer testimonials, training videos, or social media content. This doesn’t necessarily mean having to be formal, scripted, or overly polished in your videos either. In fact, the most effective business videos are often authentic, human, and grounded in real experiences. Essentially, there’s no fixed rulebook - video for business can be as creative, informative, or emotive as your brand allows. At its core, video marketing is about communication. It helps businesses say more, faster, and in a way that’s easier for audiences to absorb and remember. What are the benefits of video for business? Using video as part of your marketing strategy offers a wide range of benefits, including: Stronger brand awareness Video is one of the most memorable forms of content. It allows you to communicate your brand personality, values, and story in seconds, helping audiences recognise and remember you more easily. With video shared widely across social platforms, websites, and campaigns, brand exposure increases quickly and organically. Improved credibility Trust is a major factor in buying decisions, and video is one of the most effective ways to build it. Showing real people, real environments, and real customer experiences removes doubt and humanises your brand. Compared to text-heavy websites and stock imagery, video creates transparency and authenticity, which are key ingredients for credibility. Higher engagement rates People consume video faster and more willingly than written content. A short, well-crafted video can explain complex ideas far more effectively than pages of copy. As a result, video content consistently delivers higher engagement rates across websites, social media, and email marketing. Increased conversions Video doesn’t just attract attention, it encourages action. Whether it’s a product video that answers objections, or a testimonial that reinforces trust, video helps move users closer to conversion. By clearly demonstrating value and reducing uncertainty, video marketing for business can significantly improve conversion rates. Excellent PR and viral potential Video is the most shareable content format available. A compelling brand film, creative product launch, or emotional story has the potential to travel far beyond your own channels, generating PR coverage, social sharing, and brand buzz. When video resonates, its reach can extend far beyond your original audience. What are the different types of video for business? One of the strengths of business video marketing is its versatility. Video can support almost every part of your marketing and communications strategy. Some of the most common types of video for business includes: Brand or corporate films - introducing who you are, what you do, and what makes you different Product or service videos - demonstrating features, benefits, and real-world use Customer testimonials - building trust through real experiences Training and internal videos - supporting staff development and consistency Explainer or animated videos - simplifying complex ideas visually Social media videos - short, engaging content designed for discovery and sharing Each type serves a different purpose, but all contribute to a more engaging, consistent brand presence. How video can drive results for your digital marketing Video performs so well in modern digital marketing because it aligns perfectly with how people consume content today. In a fast, competitive, and content-heavy landscape, video helps brands cut through the noise by delivering messages quickly and clearly. Some key ways video drives results include: Stronger performance - because video is a versatile content format, it can offer stronger performance across different channels. Higher visibility and shareability - videos are more likely to be watched, shared, and remembered, which helps your brand reach a wider audience. SEO benefits - webpages that feature video perform better in search results, especially when supported by transcripts, metadata, and clear page structure. Clearer messaging and brand control - with video, you control the narrative, tone, and experience, which removes ambiguity and provides better understanding of your offering. Measurable impact - with the right objectives and tracking in place, video can drive measurable and tangible results, such as increased engagement and improved conversion. Essentially, when paired with a strong creative direction and a clear strategy, corporate video marketing becomes a powerful tool for driving awareness, engagement, and real business outcomes. Ready to elevate your business video marketing? It’s clear to see how video has the power to transform how your brand is seen, understood, and remembered. But this is only possible when it’s done with purpose and strategy. From concept and storytelling, to production and delivery, every decision plays a role in how effective your video content will be. At Fifteen, we create video for business that goes beyond visuals. We help brands communicate effectively, connect emotionally, and achieve real digital marketing outcomes. If you’re ready to strengthen your business video marketing and make video work harder for your brand, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today. #### How Buyable Pins Can Help Your Business Pinterest has rolled out new buyable pins that will allow people to buy your products without ever leaving the site, providing a massive opportunity to companies all around the world. The platform is already notorious for enabling businesses to highlight their products to potential buyers, and buyable pins will let users buy items directly from Pinterest in just a few clicks. According to Big Commerce, the stats firmly back-up Pinterest's decision to introduce buyable pins: 100 million active monthly users 93% of pinners use Pinterest to plan purchases 87% of users have purchased because of Pinterest In light of these overwhelming figures, it only seems the logical step to explore its potential as an e-commerce channel. Buyable pins are currently only available to select U.S. retailers and businesses using commerce platforms like Shopify, Demandware, Big Commerce, Magento and IBM Commerce, although they have declared that they plan to work on more integrations in the future. If your company is interested in Buyable Pins, Pinterest advises to either contact the afore mentioned companies, or get in touch with Pinterest themselves and sign up for the waitlist. How Do Buyable Pins Work? Blue pins mean you can purchase - whenever you see a pin with a blue price, this means it is buyable. Buyable pins can be found all over the platform, whether that be in the search results, or on your business profile and related pins. Seamless pins across web and mobile - a shopping bag can take you anywhere. No matter how the customer shops, i.e. through web or a mobile device, the pins will work seamlessly so the contents of the basket will be the same regardless. Reach new customers and make sales for free! - Buyable pins give the company complete control of the shopping experience. Pinterest doesn't take a cut from the sales and shipping and customer service will still be handled by the company as usual. Pinterest want the buyable pins function to be as seamless as possible for all concerned, hence the vetting process with regards to who is allowed to sell products on the platform. Do you think buyable pins would benefit your company? #### How can duplicate content affect SEO? According to Google, almost 60% of the entire web is duplicate content, and this can cause confusion for search engines because they won’t know what content is the most useful, appropriate and relevant for users. You’ll have probably heard that duplicate content is bad for your website, but how does duplicate content affect SEO?  In this blog, we explore what duplicate content is, how it affects your website and SEO and how you can fix it. What is duplicate content? Duplicate content is blocks of content that are identical or very similar to other web pages or websites. It can occur in many instances, such as when a website duplicates its own content across multiple pages, or when a different website copies and publishes the same content as another website. Whilst there aren’t any penalties for having duplicate content on your website, it can have negative implications for your SEO. That’s why it’s incredibly important to create content that is unique and valuable for users. How does duplicate content affect SEO? When you have duplicate content on your website, it shows your content isn’t unique and doesn’t have the quality Google is looking for. This can lead to a negative effect on your rankings and you could lose traffic because search engines won’t know which piece of content to rank first. This applies if you have multiple pages on your website with the same content or if you have the same content as another website. Duplicate content can also impact your link profile. Because there’s multiple pieces of content that are the same across the web, other websites will want to link to one of these web addresses and this might not be yours if your rankings have taken a hit. Users may also think you have not put the time or effort into creating your own content and damage trust. It may lead to searchers feeling frustrated if they are presented with a multitude of the same content and can’t find the information they want instantly. With all of these pieces of duplicate content, searchers might not know which source of information to trust. Where might you find duplicated content on a website? There are some instances where a website purposely duplicates their own content. For example, to advertise the same service in different cities and they may have separate landing pages for each of these cities containing the same content. In most cases a business doesn't mean to duplicate content on their site, but it’s important to know where this could be. Some places where duplicate content is often created by mistake are: Abandoned or copied content – there may be a time on your website where a blog post has been written and you want to repost this. Instead of sharing, people often copy and paste the blog as a new post, meaning you now have two versions of the same blog on your site acting as a duplicate. Duplicate product information - this type of duplicate content is often found on e-commerce sites as they may have a lot of products with similar item descriptions. With an e-commerce site, you need to describe the products that are for sale on your site, but you also need to consider that you might not be the only manufacturer that is selling these types of products and there may be others selling the same products online who use the same description as you. Multiple service pages – a website may have multiple service pages for the same service to optimise for a certain location or audience, meaning duplicating your content and hurting your SEO efforts. How to fix duplicate content on your website After you’ve found the duplicate content on your website, you will need to know how to fix it. First of all, you need to know which piece of duplicate content is the correct one, or which one you’d like to prioritise. Once you’ve identified this, you can fix your duplicate content issue as follows: Setting up a canonical link Setting up a rel= “canonical” is also known as a canonical link/tag. This type of method helps you prevent duplicate content issues if they occur in the future. Setting up a rel= “canonical” means you are telling the search engine that this particular page needs to be prioritised and shown in search engine results. Using a meta noindex tag A meta noindex tag is used to tell search engines not to crawl a particular page of your website and tells the crawler robots not to include the page in the search engines index, meaning the duplicate content isn’t highlighted. You can implement this tag by incorporating it into the code of your webpage. 301 redirect A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect which passes the user to another page. This means you won’t be losing the amount of traffic you were receiving so it won’t impact your SEO. It’s the perfect option to resolve your duplicate content issue, whilst not affecting your traffic. Need our help with your duplicate content issues? Ultimately, to avoid duplicate content issues and the impact it can have on your SEO efforts is to create your own unique content. However, you may find that you already have duplicate content issues on your website and you’re not sure how to fix them. We can help. Our SEO specialists will assess the extent of your duplicate content issues and advise you on the best course of action to fix it. We can also help create content that is unique to your brand, so why not contact us today and see how we can help your business? #### How can social media remarketing improve your ROI? Remarketing is an imperative tactic for capturing audiences who are already aware of your products and services, but need a little more convincing to become a conversion. It gives your audience a gentle reminder about your brand and is a great way of staying at the forefront of their minds.  Social media and remarketing is a powerful combination that can bring a whole host of benefits - the main one being improving your Return on Investment (ROI). Below we’ve put together information which will help you understand social media remarketing better, as well as how to put it into practice.  What is social media remarketing? If you’re not familiar with remarketing at all, it’s a technique that is used to retarget users that have visited your website. The benefit of this tactic is that your ads are shown only to people that have already shown an interest in your service or product. Typically, most marketers run remarketing campaigns through Google, allowing your ads to be shown on a number of websites in the Google search network. But, by remarketing on social media, you are able to target users through several social media platforms. What are the benefits of social media remarketing? As mentioned, social media remarketing can bring many benefits to your social media strategy, and an improvement in your ROI. Some benefits include: Lower Cost-Per-Click (CPC) If you’ve ever wondered how to lower your CPC, remarketing through social media platforms is a great place to start, as it usually costs less than regular social media ads. This is because whilst the user may have visited your site previously, you’re actually targeting them whilst they’re doing something entirely different. And whilst the ad is being displayed to them, they aren’t actually looking for your service at that moment. As a result of this, the user may not be as likely to convert and can lead to a lower CPC. Higher conversion rates This doesn’t mean that your conversion rate on social media platforms will be higher than other channels, but it does lead through to a higher conversion rate overall. Although not everyone on social media is likely to convert, those who do soon add up. The point is that you are targeting users that have already expressed interest in your website. Social media remarketing encourages users that have not converted previously to return and finish the customer journey. Increased brand awareness Similarly to regular remarketing, social media remarketing is a great way to increase brand awareness. By putting your ads in front of people that have already viewed your website, they are more likely to remember your brand. Even if the remarketing ads don’t lead them towards a conversion, they are more likely to convert in the future when they consider your service again. Attracts new customers Whilst the whole point of social media remarketing is to target audiences who have shown an interest in your products or services, it can also help attract new customers. If you widen your audience targeting to show your ad to those who have previously bought from you, it can encourage engagement. If a previous customer has had a positive experience with you, they’ll share that experience and help to build trust with new audiences, meaning they’re more likely to convert. How to put social media remarketing into practice Now you know how social media remarketing can benefit your social media strategy and help improve ROI, it’s time to put it into practice. Here are some tips to help you: Ensure your targeting is specific - think carefully about who you will be targeting. Consider segmenting your website visitor audience so you can deliver them a tailored message. Test your ads - implement split testing so you can see which of your ads perform the best, allowing you to customise and optimise your campaigns where necessary. Think about your timing - avoid ad fatigue and think about the timing of your ads so you can ensure you’re still accomplishing your goals without annoying your audience. Don’t limit yourself to just one platform - be sure to utilise all of the social media platforms you have a presence on and don’t stick to a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Need help with your social media remarketing strategy? If you’d like to incorporate social media remarketing into your social media strategy, but you’re unsure where to start, why not get in touch with our specialists today? Our social media experts can help you from start to finish from targeting, to budgets, to analysing and reporting. #### How can you use virtual reality in your digital marketing campaigns? Virtual reality, also known as VR, has grown considerably in recent years and it doesn’t look as though it’s going to slow down anytime soon. VR is mostly known for being used in video games, with Sony releasing their range of Playstation VR games and many gaming conventions now feature VR experience stands. However, VR isn’t just for gaming. It’s becoming a highly interactive and successful experience that marketers can offer to their customers. In this blog, we look at 3 ways you can incorporate virtual reality in your digital marketing campaigns and the benefits it can bring in doing so. What is virtual reality? Virtual reality is an interactive software that puts the user into an environment that isn’t real. The user often wears a special headset that simulates a real experience as they move around. You could compare it to a panoramic image you can create on your mobile phone, but responsive and with much sharper detail. When you combine this kind of software with your digital marketing campaigns, you’re giving your audience a new, exciting and immersive experience. Plus, you don’t necessarily need to own a £300+ VR headset to be involved, as you can implement VR software to your social media channels, your website or your app to offer an interactive experience for your customers. What are the benefits of virtual reality in digital marketing? There a whole host of benefits to using virtual reality in your digital marketing campaigns including: Standing out from your competition - using VR puts you ahead of the curve when it comes to your competitors and leaves you in the running to becoming an industry leader. Winning the attention of your customers - using modern technology and tactics like VR is a great way to boost your campaigns and tap into your customers' curiosity to find out more. Building trust with your audience - because you’re offering an immersive and engaging experience that is centred around your brand, you’ll start to earn the trust of your audience. Leaving a lasting memory compared to standard marketing campaigns - using VR in your digital marketing campaigns means you can showcase your offering in a unique way and have your brand seen amongst the noise. Offering a personalised immersive experience - with so many VR experiences available, you can offer tailored encounters from trying your products, to offering virtual tours. How can your brand use virtual reality in digital marketing campaigns? Create 360º videos Many brands are creating 360º videos that they are uploading onto their socials and YouTube channels for their followers to experience. Within these videos, you create 360º behind the scenes videos, or let your customers get immersed into a campaign you have created. This is one of the best options to go for if you’re on a budget, as it doesn’t require as much equipment and development. Offer virtual try-on experiences If you’re an ecommerce retailer, offering a virtual try-on experience is a great way to earn trust with your customers. With this detailed software, your audience can essentially try-before-they-buy whether that’s trying on clothes, testing make-up or trying on shoes for example. Similarly, if you’re a furniture supplier, you can give your customers the experience of furnishing their homes before they make a purchase.  Provide virtual tours Virtual tours are a great option for businesses such as estate agents, education establishments and hospitality venues. You can give your audience a complete 360º by 360º view of your physical property without physically stepping foot in your property. They can look up and down, left and right, zoom in and out and focus on areas of specific interest clearly. Find out more about using VR in your digital marketing campaigns Incorporating virtual reality in your digital marketing campaigns, is a fun and innovative way to let your customers interact with your brand, and to encourage them to spread the word about their experience on social media, or even whilst just speaking to friends and family. VR is becoming more accessible to the daily digital user, and there are so many creative and exciting ways your brand can be using this in your digital marketing campaigns. If you’d like to learn more about how you can use VR in your digital campaigns, get in touch with our digital marketing experts today. #### How Colour Influences Our Decision: Colour Psychology in Design Colour psychology is an interesting subject, and one that influences us as designers every day. As a designer, there are times where one colour may be more appropriate to choose than another, and a lot of the time this comes down to the emotions evoked by certain colours. What is colour psychology? We can simply describe colour psychology as the affect of different colours on human behaviour. This can apply to all facets of our behaviour, but is most commonly applied to how we interact with brand and marketing. Colour psychology differs from person to person, however there are definitely common themes that appear. How can this be applied to design? In branding especially, we can choose a colour palette that will reflect the emotions we want the customer to feel when they engage with us. For example, you can probably guess why BP use green predominantly in their branding (despite that probably being the opposite of what they do), and why Cadbury would choose purple. Don’t worry if you’re not entirely sure, as I’ll be running through the emotions that each colour conveys.   Conscious and unconscious decisions As a consumer, when we choose a product, service or brand comes down to making a set of decisions. Some are decisions are very conscious and comparable, such as the price of a product or the technical specification against competing products. Then, there are the unconscious decisions. We would class these decisions as the ones that your brain makes before you even realise. Colour plays a big part in the unconscious decisions we make, not just in choosing a product or service, but even in every day life. For example, if you see a road sign that’s in red, it’s most likely quite a serious one that’s telling you that you must do something, such as STOP or 30MPH. That choice in colour is not by coincidence, psychologically we see red as conveying urgency. So, with that in mind, think about why so many  ‘50% off SALE’, or ‘SALE MUST END SUNDAY!’ signs are in red. While it may not be a life or death situation like when we’re driving, we tie the idea of seeing a red sign to it being something we should read with urgency, caution or attention. It’s a clever piece of marketing at capitalises on colour psychology. Two very different pieces of signage, but both use the colour red to evoke a certain emotion in the reader. What colour evoke certain emotions in us? Each colour in the spectrum can make us feel a certain way just by association, these are the most common themes we can see in colour psychology. There are both positive and negative emotions that we can attribute to each colour to. Red Positive: Power, Excitement, Strength, Power, Passion, Energy, Youth, Confidence Negative: Anger, Danger, Warning Orange Positive: Confidence, Warmth, Innovation, Friendliness, Energy, Bravery Negative: Frustration, Ignorance, Immaturity Yellow Positive: Optimism, Warmth, Happiness, Creativity, Friendliness Negative: Caution, Anxiety, Fear Green Positive: Health, Hope, Nature, Growth, Freshness, Prosperity Negative: Envy, Sickness, Boredom Blue Positive: Trust, Loyalty, Dependability, Logic, Serenity, Security Negative: Coldness, Emotionless, Uncaring Purple Positive: Wisdom, Luxury, Wealth, Spirituality, Sophistication, Royalty Negative: Introversion, Decadence, Moodiness Pink Positive: Imaginative, Passionate, Transformation, Balance, Creativity Negative: Outrageousness, Femininity, Impulsive Brown Positive: Serious, Earthiness, Reliability, Authenticity, Warmth, Support Negative: Humourless, Dirty, Sad Black Positive: Sophistication, Security, Power, Authority, Substance Negative: Oppression, Coldness, Menance White Positive: Cleanness, Clarity, Purity, Simplicity, Freshness Negative: Sterility, Coldness, Isolation So, as we can see there are a plethora of emotions that come with each colour, how we utilise this can be important in helping a brand or campaign engage with the right audience and help evoke certain emotions. Of course, colour is just one aspect of branding and marketing and colour psychology should not always be taken as the defining direction, however it’s important to understand how different colours can be perceived by the unconscious part of customers everyday decision making. #### How digital marketing affects consumer behaviour Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services using digital technology. By leveraging the power of the internet, digital marketing campaigns can target consumers with a much higher degree of precision and effectiveness. This has resulted in a more personalised and customised approach to marketing, which has, in turn, leads to higher engagement rates. Digital marketing has also allowed businesses to build stronger relationships with their customers as it allows businesses to connect with their customers more personally through social media and other digital channels. What is consumer behaviour? Consumer behaviour is the study or analysis of individuals or market segments and how they purchase, interact and use goods and services. Consumer behaviour in digital marketing studies how people use technology to purchase products and services, why they purchase certain products, how they use them and how they feel about them. Examples of digital marketing include: Social media marketing Email campaigns Content marketing (e.g blogs) SEO (search engine optimisation) PPC ads Influencer marketing How digital marketing affects consumer behaviour If used effectively, digital marketing can influence consumer behaviour. Unlike traditional marketing methods, such as TV adverts and print advertising, digital marketing is able to connect with consumers on a more personal level, and therefore may be able to impact their behaviour and control their shopping habits more effectively. Some of the ways digital marketing may affect consumer behaviour includes... Buying habits Digital marketing can have a significant impact on what consumers purchase. For example, if a company is selling a product that is not well known, they may use digital marketing to raise awareness and convince potential customers to purchase it. Additionally, if a company utilises software that creates targeted ads, they can ensure consumers are shown adverts for products and services that are relevant to their previous shopping habits. For example, if a consumer abandons an item in their shopping cart, targeted ads can be used to advertise the abandoned product directly to the consumer, urging them to complete their purchase. Frequency of purchases Digital marketing can also affect how often consumers purchase items. For example, if a company is selling a product that is only available for a limited time. They may create a digital marketing campaign to create a sense of urgency and encourage people to buy it before it runs out such as by posting news about the limited item to a sponsored Instagram story. This gives a sense of urgency as Instagram stories expire after 24 hours. Additionally, if a company sells a popular and high-demand product, it may use digital marketing to encourage people to buy it before it sells, such as inviting them to pre-purchase the item via an email campaign. Company perception Digital marketing can also change how consumers view a brand. For example, a new company may release a video series that explains who the company is and what its goals and mission are. Additionally, if a company sells a new product, it may use digital marketing to generate buzz and excitement about the product, such as by sending it to popular influencers to feature on their channels. Brand loyalty Digital marketing can also determine how long consumers stay loyal to a brand. For example, a company may create digital loyalty cards and advertise these cards via their social media. They may also wish to create a digital blog series which will inspire their customers to return to their site on a daily, weekly or monthly basis to read the next instalment of the blog. Conclusion Digital marketing can have a significant impact on consumer behaviour. It can influence what consumers purchase, how often they purchase items, what they think about a product, how they view a brand, where they purchase items, how long they stay loyal to a brand and what they say about a product. Digital marketing is a powerful tool companies can use to shape consumer behaviour. When used effectively, it can significantly impact a company's bottom line. At Fifteen, we can help you utilise the power of digital marketing through our wide range of digital marketing services. Get in touch with us to discuss in more detail how we can help your business grow and build a stronger relationship with your customers. #### How does digital marketing enhance brand awareness? Digital marketing has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, serving as businesses' go-to method for increasing their brand awareness. By doing this, businesses can retain loyal customers, as well as grow their customer base in ways they never would have been able to before. So how exactly does brand awareness in digital marketing work? In this blog post, we dive into all things digital marketing, plus how the strategies used can increase and boost a brand's awareness and public reach. What exactly is digital marketing? Digital marketing, or as you may know it, online marketing, refers to the use of digital promotion for a brand online. Commonly this comes in the form of email campaigns, paid advertisements or social media strategies for example. The aim of digital marketing is to reach their niche audience to promote and sell, as well as increase their overall brand awareness. To increase brand awareness digital marketing is an ideal strategy that helps to grow a bigger and more diverse customer base. In turn, this boosts profits in the long run. How does digital marketing increase brand awareness? Digital marketing is a key tool that businesses use to increase their brand awareness in the modern world. There are countless strategies operated to achieve these specific goals, but how exactly do these strategies benefit a brand's exposure? Find out more below: Reaches a targeted audience Digital marketing allows a business to hone in on their target audience and promote products or services to those most likely to be responsive. For example, skincare brands that specialise in anti-ageing products look to target an audience of a certain age. These digital marketing strategies are more likely to lead to sales and a boost in awareness and profit, rather than launching campaigns at a general audience. Allows you to expand your customer base As well as providing for a niche customer base, digital marketing allows you to expand and grow as a brand. The digital space is limitless, meaning you can reach people from anywhere in the world, at any time like never before. This could lead you to discover new niche markets and, therefore, increase the global awareness of your brand. Personalised reach to your customers In a world with anything and everything on offer when it comes to e-commerce, customer service is what truly stands out to people. At the core of digital marketing lie strategies to build consumer loyalty, and one of the best ways to do this is to provide a quality and, above all, personalised service for customers. By launching personalised email campaigns, for example, your customers feel valued and looked after. This means they are more likely to recommend your brand to friends and family. Overall this means that the awareness of your brand continues to expand. Content is easily shared One of the best things about digital marketing campaigns is how easily they can be shared on social media. If a user shares a post you have created, then that means they are exposing your business to potentially a whole new audience of people. Creating shareable content is key when looking to use digital marketing to increase your brand awareness. Reaches more people than conventional forms of marketing There truly is no limit to reach when it comes to digital marketing. Whereas the standard form of marketing, for example television and radio, can only ever reach a certain audience at specific times, digital marketing is an around-the-clock, 24/7 strategy. You also have complete control over this reach; for example, you can select optimised times to launch paid advertising, or choose how long you want to run a campaign to best fit your budgetary requirements. When this kind of research and effort is placed upon digital marketing, there is no limit to how much your business can expand. There is no denying the link between digital marketing and the increase in brand awareness. In the digital age, expansion is limitless and there is always the opportunity to not only retain a target audience but seek out new ones. If you’re looking to increase your brand awareness through digital marketing, why not see how we can help? We can help develop your social media strategy or optimise your SEO strategy. Maybe you’re looking to enhance your content marketing or venture into the PPC world. Whatever your next digital marketing step is, be sure to check out our full range of digital marketing services today! #### How Does UX Fit into SEO? Google factors in an array of elements when ranking your website; from mobile-friendliness to content quality, page speed, navigation and more. UX factors play an increasingly more important role within SEO and ranking, encouraging an overlap in SEO and UX strategies.  The Importance of UX for SEO Google's algorithm constantly evolves and changes to ensure it’s providing users with the best possible results to their search query. As updates go on Google’s goal has become more and more user-orientated. This has seen a huge change in the SERPs. Chief among these include user-friendly features such as rich snippets and knowledge panels. RankBrain Introduced in 2015, RankBrain is considered the third most significant ranking factor. This algorithm really highlighted the overlap in UX and SEO. RankBrain uses metrics to decide how much the user is enjoying their experience on your site. Using a variety of behaviour metrics such as pages per session, organic CTR, bounce rate and dwell time the search engine can determine the level of UX your site provides. Common Goals With SEO moving away from only ranking for search terms it has led to UX and SEO sharing common goals. They both share a goal of providing users with the best answers to their search query. Working hand in hand, SEO brings the user to the answer. Once on the web page UX answers the query. SEO Practices that affect UX Many SEO practices we undertake directly affect and influence UX: Image tags are crucial for user experience, as they provide the user with details on the picture when it doesn’t load. Headings also play a part in UX as they not only improve readability but also help structure the page. Thin content affects a page's rankability as it is seen that copy over 600 words provide the user with more in-depth answers. Page speed is a key ranking factor as a slow loading page can cause huge amounts of user frustration and overall bad user experience. Not only do mobiles make up 52.2% of the market share but they also overtook desktop in total internet usage in 2016. Therefore having a mobile-friendly site is critical. Harnessing UX to Increase Rankings As above clearly shows how SEO influences UX, it’s important to now understand how UX can increase SEO rankings.  Aligning your strategies Ensuring your UX and SEO strategies work together and not in separate lanes is fundamental.  Design to fit SEO principles This covers a range of elements from designing a clear navigation path, maximising H1 and H2 titles to having focused product names and description. In addition to creating content that is both natural and user friendly but also appeals to the search engines. Responsive web design With the number of smartphone users only increasing it’s only logical to have a site that's optimized for all devices and platforms. Not only does it provide you with a wider audience range but it's also a key ranking factor.  Simple yet effective navigation The key to a successful website is simplicity, a user should never have to think about their next step. That’s why navigation is such an important factor within UX and rankability. This can then be reinforced with the use of a sitemap.  Quality is key There are many design factors that Google takes into consideration when determining the quality of your site, navigation is just one of them. Google also assesses the relevance of the content, page layout, internal link structure, speed and content uniqueness.  The online world is a very fast-moving place with trends and best practices constantly evolving and growing. Either you grow with it and adapt your strategies accordingly or you get left behind. UX needs to be at the root of a solid SEO strategy to successfully boost online visibility and increase your conversion rate. #### How does web development work? Web development is an important industry in this day and age, when accessing websites, apps and software via the internet is more common than ever before. Although, with an increasing number of sophisticated site builders and content management systems on the market, some see the role of a web developer diminishing. However, this isn't necessarily the case - they will always be important for creating websites from scratch and adapting software that utilises the most modern coding and prioritises user experience. As the tech world continues to grow, there is so much to consider when it comes to web development, so you may be wondering what is web development and how does it work? In this guide, we will run through the answers to these questions. What is web development? Web development is the process of building websites and applications for the internet. This includes the writing of computer language, also known as code, which is needed for devices to communicate information with each other and perform their intended operations smoothly. Don’t confuse web development with website development. Web development can involve website development, but website development refers specifically to creating websites on the internet. Web development, on the other hand, is a catch-all term that refers to the development of all types of websites, software, programmes and applications, including mobile apps, desktop software, and video games. How does web development work? There are two main layers to web development that allow us to easily break down how web development works. Firstly, there is front-end development. This is referring to the development of everything that the user experiences, including the layout, menus and design. This type of code executes in a web browser to create an interface that helps a website visitor achieve their goal on the site. However, this is not to be confused with web design. A web designer is a separate role from a web developer. A web designer is more likely to design what they think is the most user-friendly interface for the user, including things like colours, fonts, bars and menus. However, a web designer tends not to have the coding expertise to create this themselves, so this is the job of the front-end developer to execute. Having said this, web design is a vital part of web development and it's possible for web developers to be apt at web design. But, it's no good having a beautiful and accurately-coded frontend without adequate server-side scripting. This is called back-end development and is the part of a website that we, the user, do not see when visiting a website. It's responsible for storing and organising data and ensuring that the front-end runs smoothly by communicating with it. It manages the code for security, content and site architecture. When the user does something on the website (for example, clicking on a menu, submitting a form or buying a product), the browser sends a request to the back-end, which responds with relevant information in front-end code. The browser is then able to interpret and display this information to the user. Back-end developers work with servers, operating systems and APIs to collaborate with front-end developers to bring the website, program or software to life. Back-end developers also take into consideration knowledge of database technology. Databases contain all the files that are needed for a website to function, storing them so that they can be easily retrieved, organised, edited and saved by the web developer and therefore, the website itself. Databases run on servers. The role of full-stack developers Although these two aspects of web development can be separated, web developers are often able to do both. People who do this are called full-stack developers. They can create the website, app or software program from start to finish. They have an all-around knowledge of coding that they develop through years in the field, helping them to optimise performance, troubleshoot problems before they occur and pass on their knowledge to different team members to understand different parts of web service. This is considered a highly valuable role and is well sought out. The actual ins and outs of what a web developer does will depend on what they are creating, be it an eCommerce website, social media app or video game. It often includes an in-depth planning process and sitemap creation before writing the code and finding a server to host it. This is not to mention the many different types of codes and databases that web developers have to be familiar with and choose from. We know web development can be a minefield and that’s why our experienced Web Developers are here to help, giving you one less thing to worry about. Check out what web development services we can offer for you and your business. Prefer to talk over the phone? No problem, give us a call (we do love a chat!). #### How Grime Artists Are Doing Some Of The Cleverest Marketing In 2017 Grime is the most authentically British sound to emerge from the UK in decades. Until mid-2016, Grime artists remained thoroughly underground, with little recognition in the wider musical community and even less monetary gain. However, since mid-2016 when superstar Drake revealed a newfound obsession with London Grime collective Boy Better Know, Grime has been launched state-side and been thrust into the mainstream UK charts. Alongside this long-awaited come up has come the opportunity for relationships to be built with the marketing world. We look at some of the most interesting collaborations happening, and what can be learned from them. Redbull Grime-a-side Redbull is a veteran supporter of Grime, and alongside their other extreme sports sponsorships and endorsements (Redbull Cliff Diving Tour, Snow Thrill Skiing Competition, Formula 1 and Stratos Jump), Grime has slid into the mix perfectly. Grime’s anti-authoritarian theme fits in perfectly with the brand image. Redbull has matched the process of Grime becoming a mainstream sound by developing a page on their website which is specifically dedicated to supporting artists, recommending Grime documentaries and promoting events Aside from their Grime-A-Side (a YouTube series which brings together artists from different cities to clash, Redbull have an open-mic style Riddim Rally for new artists to flex their lyrical muscles, released a special Xmas Cypher with MC AJ Tracey and collaborated with FACT to ask Grime producer Kamakaze to produce a beat using a Redbull can. Although this relationship between the company and the genre is longer standing than others, the ideas are fresh and constantly pushing boundaries. Kano and Mercedes Being one of the most recognised pioneers of Grime, Kano’s work ethic and dedication to the genre has landed him serious status. After co-producing and starring in critically acclaimed UK drama Top Boy, Kano also helped himself to land a series of collaborations with Mercedes. Stepping away from the ‘gritty’ setting generally matched with Grime, Kano reached into the land of luxury cars, and the result is a convincing bad-boy-superstar advert for Mercedes. Alize, Big Narstie & Caggie Dunlop Alize – the drink of choice for many a rudeboy back in the day and wannabe roadmen of today – but how should you actually drink it? The drinks company brought in bombastic rapper/TV personality Big Narstie and Made In Chelsea’s Caggie Dunlop, and in a bizarre mix of completely opposed personalities and alcohol, they created a range of cocktails to launch the beverage back into the minds of night-club-goers everywhere. Stormzy and Anthony Joshua Sports and music arguably go hand-in-hand – 9/10 Olympians mention listening to some kind of motivational song or particular artist before competing and when training, and the music and sports social spheres have historically mixed. As sports stars win rewarding partnerships with brands, their own image becomes a valuable commodity. Anthony Joshua, the UK’S IBF Heavyweight Champion and heartthrob, chose for Stormzy to perform before his fight against Charles Martin. This was a massive win for Stormzy, and clever PR for Anthony Joshua. Relentless, Ghetts and Rude Kid Grime is aurally fast-paced and lyrically unforgiving – relentless if you will. The energy within the music perfectly matches the brand image of the energy drink, so it only made sense to bring the two together. In a near-impossible challenge, Producer Rude Kid and Grime MC Ghetts agreed to create a 6 track EP (recorded and mixed at the Relentless Number Five Studio), film 3 music videos and premiere the entirety of the work at a final gig in The Laundry, Hackney. The challenge was quickly launched into the Twittersphere as the hashtag #SixFiveThree. The EP is now available on iTunes, and features across YouTube and the Relentless Energy Website. Skepta and ... Everyone Skepta is arguably the grime artist of favour in the US at the moment, and this has led to some incredibly lucrative deals with omniscient sports brand Nike, Japanese lux leisure brand Uniqlo, and even a collaboration with skater brand Supreme. With the image of Grime artists generally focussing around tracksuits and puffer jackets, it only made sense for these leisurewear brands to reach out to the MC. As with all influencer-focussed marketing initiatives, latching on to superstars is a sure-fire way for companies to remain relevant, expand their audience and resultantly remain top dogs in the marketing world. However, the sheer diversity of the brands who have latched onto Grime MCs remains the most intriguing part of these collaborations. Uniqlo, for example, generally a brand associated with the function-focussed design and high-quality materials, have received a new group of trendy twenty-something consumers looking to mirror their musical idol. Similarly, RedBull branching into music events is something which, although differing completely from their extreme sports endorsements, fits with their brand identity. Essentially, the take away is to be confident and as diverse as possible without compromising your brand identity. #### How Important Are Backlinks for SEO? Attracting backlinks has been one of the most important factors used by search rankings to determine organic rankings. This has led backlinking to be a core part of an SEO strategy adopted by content marketers and SEO specialists to help their content rank highly. Backlinks help build the domain authority and credibility for your website. If more people are pointing to a page on your site, then surely it must be valuable and useful. This is correct however, with Google’s ever-changing algorithms and updates, it is proving that the value of backlinks is gradually decreasing. When Google finds a link pointing at your website, it can choose to do one of 3 things: Count it in its ranking algorithm Ignore it, or not give it any weight in boosting your rankings Penalise you, if it thinks the link is manipulative In fact, most people would be surprised to learn how many links don’t actually help you to rank, or can actually hurt. To keep Google happy, it’s recommended to understand Google’s best practices and know what types of links to avoid. What is a SEO backlink? The first step to understanding how important backlinks are to SEO, is to understand what a backlink in SEO is. An SEO backlink is a link that’s created when one website links to another. This can also be referred to as ‘incoming links’ or ‘inbound links’. This link from one website to another represents a ‘vote of confidence’, which is also picked up by the search engines. This SEO backlink shows Google that other valuable sites are vouching for your content. Overtime as your backlinks begin to grow, you’ll build what’s known as an SEO backlink profile. What is an SEO backlink profile? An SEO backlink profile is made up of the number of links and the quality of these links. Google will use this backlink profile to determine your site's authority and popularity on a specific topic and decide where your website will rank. It will look at several factors when assessing your backlink profile including naked URLs, anchor text, dofollow and nofollow links and many more.  Are there backlink tools for SEO? Yes! Backlink tools for SEO allow you to check the number of backlinks pointing to your site and monitor their quality. They also allow you to manage and identify lost backlinks and potential backlink opportunities. Some of the top backlink tools for SEO include Ahrefs, SEMRush backlink analytics, Moz Link Explorer and Link Minor. Where can I find a free SEO backlink checker? It comes as no surprise that a lot of backlink tools for SEO come at a bit of a cost and require subscriptions. However, there are also a lot of free tools out there. Our favourite free SEO backlink checker is OpenLinkProfiler. Other great free tools are SEO SpyGlass and Google Search Console. Check out our SEO backlink building services Every business with a website would benefit from a long-term backlink strategy to boost your site's domain authority. This then allows you to rank higher for more competitive keywords and in turn, drive more traffic to your site for conversions.  Find out more about our SEO backlink-building services and how we can grow your SEO backlink profile, get in touch with the team today. #### How Much Does A Website Cost? Think of a website like you would a car. You can buy one for a few hundred pounds and it will do the job, but won’t look very good, won’t run very well, and won’t impress many people. Your website is a representation of your business, so it is important that it is professional looking and functional, in order to promote your business as such. Despite this, it is very hard to answer the question “How much should I pay for a website?”. There are so many things to consider. Before you can answer the question, there are a number of questions you need to answer first. Do I Need (insert functionality here)? If you are a small, local business, or a bespoke design service, chances are you don’t need e-commerce functionality on your site. For example, a restaurant is unlikely to sell their product online. They need a clean, professional site with a copy of their menu, directions to the restaurant, contact details, and a page explaining what makes them unique from the competition. There are many functionalities that can be included in your site design, each adding to the overall cost, such as log-in portals, information capture forms, parallax animations, responsive design, and a wide variety of plug-ins help you achieve the primary site objective. What is the main objective of my site? This brings us on to the next question you need to ask. The main objective of your site plays a crucial part in how much a site will cost. If your main objective is to generate more sales, you may need a more bespoke design with a streamlined user experience, prompting the user to click through to your product pages or contact details. If you just want to supply information on a subject, you may need less functionality. Who is my target audience? A site should be designed and built with your target audience in mind. If you are aiming to attract a professional audience, your site will look and function very differently to if you are targeting fashion conscious tweens. Does my website need to built from scratch? If you have paid for a website previously, and have any part of that site that can be reused, why shouldn’t you? If you have a framework that works well, and just need a re-design that can reduce the cost. Likewise, if you’ve already paid for a framework or design that just needs a few tweaks that can also reduce the overall cost. Sometimes it’s cheaper to build on something you already have. In the case of your website being very outdated, or having zero functionality, a complete re-build may be better.Once you’ve answered these questions, you can start to get a better idea as to how much your website will cost. Website Costs To Consider Here is a list of costs that you need to consider when building and designing a new website, from start to finish. Hosting & Domain Names Before you can build a website, you need a domain name. The domain name is the website address for your site. For example, ours is www.fifteen.co.uk. You can buy this from a wide variety of suppliers, or ask your web developers to source it for you. You can buy a domain name for a period of time, before it needs renewing again. It’s worth checking the costs with different suppliers, as the costs can vary massively. Similarly, hosting is also an ongoing cost. You need to pay this for your site to be hosted on a server. Think of it as rent you pay for your website to ‘live’ on a server. Without this, your website is not connected to the Internet. Again, the prices for this vary a lot, with some companies offering extra support and backups of your site, to ensure outages won’t effect your business. Planning If you’re aiming for a bespoke website built from scratch; before you even see a first draft of your website, there are hours put in by the designers, web developers, and project managers to ensure they can create a site that will work to your objective. Frameworks, initial design concepts, and functionality all need to be drafted. Once these concepts are signed off, work can begin on building the finished product. Design & Content You need to consider the content that will be included in your website. Do you already have content, or will it need to be created? This can cover anything from copy through to videos and images for your site. Anything that requires work to be done by a designer, copywriter, or photographer will increase the overall cost of your design. Development/Website Build There are a huge amount of functionalities that can be added into your website, each helping you to succeed different objectives. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of some of the features you might want to consider adding, all of which can add to the cost of a website build. • Responsive design – This allows your site to be resized accordingly to the device it is being viewed on. This is an important feature as Google now penalizes sites that are not mobile-friendly.• Content Management System – CMS allows you to log in to the back end of your site and manage content on your site, including page copy and blogs.• Login Portals – If you want members to be able to log in to place orders, or see information, a login portal needs to be built to your specifications.• Social Integration – You can integrate social feeds into your website so your users can see the most up to date information about what is happening in your company.• Parallax – This creates animated backgrounds for your website, which move separately to the content. This is one of the latest trends in website design, and gives your site a professional look.• E-commerce – In order to take payments online you need some kind of e-commerce functionality. Costs To Consider After Your Website Has Been Built Once your site has been built, there a few more things to consider as ongoing costs. SEO & Digital Marketing Although launching a new website can sometimes be enough to get an initial rankings boost, it is important to maintain this. The world of digital marketing is vast, with search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click advertising (PPC), social media engagement, and email marketing just to name a few. You can choose to pay an expert to manage all of this, allowing the enquiries to keep coming. Website Updates & Support If you don’t have a CMS in place, you may need to pay your developers a monthly/annual fee to manage the content on your site. If you do have a CMS, you may still need to pay for training or general web support. If this isn’t included in the initial price, it is something you should definitely consider. If your site has any problems later on, it is handy to have the support of a team of experts. Conclusion Asking the question, “How much will a website cost?”, is similar to asking the question, “How long is a piece of string?”. As cliché as that sounds, it’s true. You need to take so many factors into consideration, that it’s impossible to put a price tag on it. The key is to find a team that understands your business and its objectives. To discuss your website needs, and for advice about what functionalities to include, contact our team today for advice and a quote. #### How Responsive Images Work In A Website I have written this blog as a reply to anyone asking the question: What sized images should I upload to my website? And while the answer can be very vague (technically you can use any image), it should meet some requirements of the design to get the desired results. Building the hole that the shape fits into Almost like the toys we played with when we were one year olds, fitting an image to a design is a lot like fitting a shape through a hole. The designer will take into account the assets/images available to them when designing the website, and make best use of what they have however a decision has to made. Will it be a square? Will it be portrait? Will it be landscape? When a decision is reached, depending on the answer is how I (Chris, the Web Dev) will build the image space into the web page. But there’s a caveat, and back to the metaphor (putting shapes through holes) a wrong shape in a wrong hole can ruin the flow of your web page! Now let me explain how to avoid this. The golden rule of responsive images: Either the image must be the same aspect ratio, or it will be cropped/white space will be added to make it fit. To elaborate, if the hole of the image is square and you insert a landscape image, for it to fit the height, the sides must be cut. Cropping We’re using a background image, positioning the image vertically and horizontally central. This landscape image on the left is the original, but to use it in a square space requires us to remove a section on the left and right in order to make it square. This is cropping. Adding white space But now look at the result if we didn’t crop the image. We have to squish the image in, leaving a white space at the top and bottom of the image. You may have experienced this if you have an Instagram account and have tried to upload a landscape/portrait photo. So let’s try that again with a portrait image. I’ve lost my head! And this not desirable... What is an Aspect Ratio? Often the designated space will be a set aspect ratio so that when the gets wider, it also gets taller and doesn’t stretch. 16:9 (landscape) You can see the image gets both taller and wider so the shape is kept even when resized. 1:1 (Square) 5:7 (Portrait) Stretched If the image does not keep its aspect ratio, when it’s resized, this is what happens: But what does it all mean? When you’re uploading an image to your website, the designer / content managent system / web developer presume that your image is landscape, portrait or square. You can tell either by the image you’re trying to replace or, if there are more specific requirements, there will be a description with the “Upload Image” field. If the image does not meet the requirements, then it’s a given there will either be cropping to fit some of the image into place, white space to allow all of the image to fit (but may be tiny) or it may just push your content out of the way and make it unreadable. There’s always the opportunity to try it out and see what works best. If you’re not happy with the result, resize your image. Need help with your images? Contact us and let us talk you through getting the best from the images you have. #### How SEO and User Experience (UX) go hand in hand User experience (UX) plays a key role in any search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy, and it’s the UX that will affect the ranking of your SEO through metrics such as user engagement. If you invest proper time and resources into improving and maximising your website's UX design, not only will you see improvements in your SEO rankings, but you’ll also see increased credibility of your brand, and increased audience retention. In this blog, we explore how SEO and user experience go hand in hand by taking a look at the UX factors that directly affect SEO so you can take proactive action to improve your user experience and ultimately, your search engine rankings. But first, let’s understand what user experience is. What is user experience? A website experience that is centred around the user, is exactly what user experience is all about. UX is about the ease of interactions and usability of your site. The key to successful UX design is the process of eliminating the confusion and any potential road blockers when a customer is using your website, as well as producing a responsive, free flowing website.  When it comes to your UX design, it’s important to ensure you engage your users whilst allowing them to easily locate the content they’re looking for and perform actions with ease. Not only will this help to increase your user engagement metrics, but it will also help improve your Core Web Vital scores that Google uses to rank your website.  You can read our blog and learn in more detail what user experience is along with the factors and fundamentals you should be considering when designing your UX. What UX factors directly affect SEO? Now you have a better understanding of how SEO and user experience go hand in hand, it’s time to explore the UX factors that directly affect SEO and how key user engagement metrics can be improved with a flawless UX design. Menus and navigation At some point or another, you’ll no doubt have visited a website where the menu and navigation design was confusing and doesn’t look aesthetically pleasing. Confusing interfaces like this can easily frustrate users who simply want to access and navigate your website. This is where you’re likely to lose your customers without them even reaching the content they were looking for. When you’re designing your website, it’s vital to keep your menu and navigation simple. Ensure your users can easily find your web pages and more importantly, it’s where they expect to find the content they’re looking for. Another crucial element to your menu and navigation, it to ensure it’s mobile responsive. You should always design your website mobile first and keeping the complexity of your navigation to a minimum will help towards this. We’ll explore mobile responsiveness more a little later. Website speed and load times Slow website speeds can be such an annoying errand to wait for - for any website visitor. Every second that passes, it increases the chances of the user leaving your website before they carry out their intended task. This will have negative consequences on your engagement metrics and ultimately will hold back your website's capabilities. There are many factors that could negatively affect the speed at which your page loads, but not all of them are entirely in your control. An example of this would be the user's internet connection, there’s obviously not much you can do about that.  However, there are things you can do to increase your website speed. For example, you can actively reduce file sizes like PDF documents, correctly optimise and compress your images to reduce the load time of a web page, and optimise your CSS and JavaScript files as this helps to reduce the amount of requests sent to your server. Mobile responsiveness As we’ve mentioned, the design of your website should always be done with mobile in mind first. As of 2024, over 60% of web traffic is solely driven by mobile devices alone. Brands that don’t offer a mobile-friendly website are losing over half of the internet's audience from the start. A mobile-friendly website is also something Google prioritises in search engine results, so if you don’t have a responsive website, you could be left at the bottom of the pile. You can check how well your website performs on mobile devices by using Google Lighthouse and this will give you a starting point as to what you need to improve on. If you’re thinking about getting a website refresh, or you’d like to get some tips on how to make your current website more mobile-friendly, speak to our expert website designers today. Need help with your SEO and user experience? As you can see, your UX design should be the staple of your SEO strategy. Your search engine rankings are directly affected through user engagement metrics that are implemented by Google in its search engine algorithms. Your user experience design begins with gaining knowledge on how users first perceive and interact within your website. Consider the factors we’ve mentioned above like page speed, menu design and mobile responsiveness to get started.  If you want to quickly and easily find out how well your site performs from a UX and SEO perspective then use our free instant SEO tool. Simply pop-in your website URL and you'll receive an instant report straight to your email auditing your websites key SEO elements. If you need expert advice on your UX design, or you’d like an experienced digital agency to take care of your UX design, get in touch with us today. Similarly, if you need help with your SEO strategy, speak to our digital marketing experts who can perform a full SEO audit of your website and provide you with expert recommendations. #### How SEO is still king “Content Is King” is an SEO slogan that dates back to before SEO was even a business, and it remains true today. However, the term is frequently misconstrued, misattributed, or misrepresented, and when misused, it can spell doom for your campaign and business. The essence of the matter is defining what "content" is. To many businesses, publishing new blogs or increasing the number of words on their website monthly constitutes sufficient "content" to boost their rankings, trust flow, and site visibility. While this is true, it just scratches the surface. Nothing drives more traffic to a brand's website than a high search engine ranking. This was never more critical than during the pandemic when millions of consumers descended on search engines searching for products and information. SEO will remain critical in the new normal since many consumers are likely to rely on digital platforms to explore and shop, and public relations contribute significantly to SEO. How SEO is still a King For a variety of reasons, original, high-quality content on a brand's website can significantly impact SEO and search ranking. Regularly developed unique material with internal links to other relevant content and naturally occurring keywords might assist a website in ranking organically for additional search phrases and keywords. Additionally, constantly producing high-quality content helps establish some authority and paves the way for developing an excellent link profile. Increases Engagement A update on social sites or a blog post entices a visitor to interact with a brand or a website. If the content is truly exceptional, people will pause, absorb it, and perhaps get its message–perhaps even comment or like! If the content is not truly amazing, people will scroll through, not read, and the content will become, well, useless. Bear in mind that truly GREAT content reigns supreme, not merely adequate material. Boost Sales Excellent content can aid in the development of brand awareness and authority. By generating recognition and authority for your business, such material can generate new leads or even sales. Remember that effective content is typically more educational than sales-y, providing an opportunity for customers to engage with the brand rather than a straight-up sales message. Increase the Value of Your Product/Service Content can be valuable in a variety of ways. One of those instances when you can solve a visitor's day-to-day problem or teach someone something new. Although the value does not have monetary worth, it is critical to your brand. This type of content could be a how-to video or a webinar. This adds value and, in turn, increases the value of your brand. Concentrating on certain ranking signals considered by search engine algorithms might benefit any search engine optimization campaign. However, a business would be far better served if it concentrated on optimising its site through development and content creation to prioritise user experience and useful purpose. More Factors: Google is insatiably hungry for content. Google wants every website to be as authentic as possible, offering its users the most up-to-date, entertaining, high-quality, useful, and educational material accessible. Why? Because it generates revenue for them. Google's worth is derived in large part from its power to dictate what users consume. Google can only accomplish this by successfully linking users to material that is both engaging and relevant to their search. Consumers are content-hungry. Because consumers desire high-quality information, it will never go out of vogue. If a site or brand can strike an emotional or intellectual chord with its audience, its content becomes the bait on the hook, luring conversion after conversion. A site's ability to stand out in a sea of similarities is facilitated by high-quality content. On the other hand, if the material fails to resonate with or elicit an intellectual or emotional response from its viewers, they will abandon the site, missing out on a conversion opportunity. In whatever form, quality content encourages site users to interact with a business and website. If people enjoy the information, they will consume it and even share, like, or promote it. Not to mention that Google pays attention when the content engages consumers. Engaged visitors stay longer on a website and are more likely to explore more aspects of the site. This leads to lower bounce rates, increased average page sessions, and significantly higher page per session scores, all of which contribute to a chunk of the fuel that propels organic rankings. Other websites are insatiably hungry for content. This information is not proprietary, which is why other websites desire a share of the high-quality content created by others. These authority sites are conscious of the value of SEO and the traffic provided by a prominent link. These sites also want to engage their visitors, so linking to quality material that provides a purpose for their site is a natural development. This is referred regarded as earning backlinks by SEO specialists, and a website's primary objective should be to earn them from authoritative sites. When it comes to online information searching, most people browse websites and pages that include content or data that bolsters their views and narratives. This requires properly researched, valuable, and high-quality content to support these efforts. Content helps develop an industry's leadership position. Users associate high search engine ranks with interesting, valuable, and well-presented information. If a website can answer a user's inquiry, it has immediately supplied them with value and a path to conversion via that site. Effective content has cumulative effects—the more you invest in high-quality material, the larger your audience grows. The larger your audience grows, the greater the impact of your content. And the more relevant material an audience finds, the larger the industry footprint of that site develops. Content creates leads and revenue. Within a market, high-quality content generates discussion and brand awareness. It increases consumer awareness of a particular service or product and delivers value before conversion. While good content functions as a sales pitch for whatever a website is "selling," it also conveys a whole level of connection, shifting the consumer's perspective from buyer to collaborator. Additionally, valuable content adds value to the product or service being sold by resolving a problem or educating the user about something they didn't know. Educating a consumer about the benefits of a product is half the battle; doing it without their explicit knowledge is a win-win situation. Contact us now to find out more about how we can help you maximise your SEO. #### How to Add Your Business to Google Places Online marketing is not just for online businesses.  Bricks and mortar establishments can effectively promote themselves online, and one of the most powerful ways they can do this is to get themselves on Google Places. With so many people using various mobile devices to locate businesses while they are out and about, being on Google Places is a no brainer really. You need a Google account to start with or at least a Google Adwords account, which is another must-have for promoting your business online.  When you get to the Google Places page, you select Add New Business. Google might or might not have your business details already, so you need to check with the Find Your Business function.  If you don’t see your business among the results, click Add a New Listing. You’ll be prompted to add all of the details, and it is important not to skip anything – even if it is optional.  The goal is to make it as easy as possible for potential customers to find you, and the more you can tell them the more likely they are to show up at your door. Include your hours of operation and remember to update this if they change temporarily or permanently.  Showing up and finding a business unexpectedly closed is intensely frustrating to customers, and it gives a very poor impression. If you have a parking lot, be sure to let people know, and if you don’t, you will increase the odds of drawing people to you by giving detailed information about where to park near you. You can use photos and videos on Google Places too, and it pays to include views of your shop front as seen from any direction so people can recognise it as they approach.  And of course, photos and videos are a powerful way to appeal to your target audience by showing them what they can expect from you – and how irresistible it is. You may think your product or service is not visually appealing, but even photos of your staff looking friendly and approachable are valuable. You can use Google Places for multiple locations.  The process above works for up to ten single listings, but Google offers a bulk upload feature that can handle up to a hundred listings. Creating a Google Places page can be a great way to get your business ranking in the Google Map 7 Box. If you have any questions about this, why not get in touch with one of our online marketers. #### How to apply User Experience to Design for Print UX or User experience is a term we’ve all come to know and love through the websites we design and build today.  But where did it all start? Well, it might seem strange but UX applies to everything that the consumer interacts with.  Have you ever thought of why the indicator stick is on the column of the car by the steering wheel?   Ever thought why generally letterboxes are waist-high? Or why the sweets and gum are at the counter of a petrol station?   Well, its all user experience and it's all be designed that way.  To make life easier. So, in the context of design for print, the same UX rules apply as they do for websites.  The following info will help you create your design for print in a much more efficient manner. This results in a user-driven and results-driven approach. Think like a website Pretty much the best starting point is to think of a document much the same as you think about a website.  A company website has multiple pages, so can a corporate brochure.  A website moves you from one piece of information to another typographically and visually.  SO can a brochure.  A website is designed to make you make act by picking up the phone or purchasing something. Brochures can also do this. Think of any piece of design for print just like it’s a website and you can’t go far wrong. Layer typographic content Its good practice when designing websites to have and to use subheadings, lists, and other grammatical devices.  If you’ve stumbled upon this blog then I’m pretty sure you’ll know what they are. Well, a printed piece of literature should be treated just the same.  This is my personal take on it. I believe that lets’ say, in the case of a 20pp corporate brochure, a user should be able to read the cover, read the 10 titles at the top of the inner pages, and have some idea of what the company does. Then, if the start again, read the cover, read each page title and the intro paragraph, then they’ll have even more of an idea of what that brochure is about. Layer the content, give bite-size chunks of information away.  In the same way, human attention span has shrunk to near nothing online, it’s the same in print so don’t forget it. Make an impact To make an impact on websites we use UI trickers.  These don't always work in print so we can't quite use the same practices, but that shouldn’t stop us, designers, trying to make impact on a page.  Think to yourself.  What do you want the user to see most? Where do you want their eye drawn? Where do you want to lead them to next? It's all about understanding the reader. Navigate through the document Unless your document is long then typically we don’t see enough of this but just because it’s a static document, it doesn’t mean that we can’t have a '….see illustration on page 22’ or ‘Refer to index in the back of document’. More of this means more interaction from the user,  from the client, from the customer,  So go ahead and make sure you include relevant ones of these. Don’t forget Calls to Action OK, so a potential client has your document in their hands and they are starting to ready it.  So thinking like web, what do you want them to do.  Well, in my land of websites, I'd want them to fill in a form, click buy now or pick up the phone.   Ok. So we only have one option here, so let's give it to them. We should always remember why that piece of design in print exists in the first place. To make someone do something.  So go ahead and let's do that.  Draw them to a phone number, give them a deadline, make them an offer, do something… Really do something to make them engage. Remember this,  23 years ago when I started at my first role as a Junior Designer in a well known Nottingham Agency, one of my director's clients said ‘print will be dead soon’.  Well. 23 years on its still here and if anything, it's getting better. If you're interested in creating an informative and engaging brochure then contact us today. Our designers and writers have spent years honing their craft and will work with you to create a document that delivers time and time again. #### How to Become a Pro at Black Hat SEO We all want those juicy top rankings. There are a few people who will do anything to get to them. These swindlers are often misguided at heart and look to game the system in their favour. These underhanded techniques are known as Black Hat SEO. Disclaimer: Beware this does contain sarcasm. (A lot of sarcasm) To take us through this I'd like to introduce you to a notorious character within SEO...Mr.Metabasher. Hello, everybody. Why just stick to just an optimised site when you could go well above and beyond that? Admittedly, there's no such thing as being too good. (But, there is such a thing as being too cocky!) Over-optimisation could come in many forms. Here are a few tips and tricks on how you can join the dark side of SEO. Keyword Stuffing Saying the keyword many times can make the keyword seem more of a keyword, right? Some might say that the bots are smart enough and this is a very old practice. That's not what we got into the business of Black Hat SEO for. Does keyword stuffing look natural to you? Who cares! There's no better way to get your point across than repeating the word multiple times. Irrelevant Keywords Another cheeky way to over optimise your website is by throwing a whole concoction of irrelevant keywords just to rank. Also, by adding variations of that word which could include; Misspellings of keyword Variations of the same word. Hit that thesaurus hard. Regional variations of the keyword. No comprendo. So, go ahead. After all, they do say, the more, the merrier! I don't think Google would say that though. Invisible links/text If you squint really hard you'll be able to see the text. Thanks for improving the time spent on page. ; ) This is an ancient tactic of deception. Popularised during the cold war to send coded messages to allies. Let's face it we're at war with our competitors. So we'll hide as many keywords and links as we can. The user can't see it, so it shouldn't be an issue. By making these the same colour as your background or changing the font size to 0, nobody has to see your links or text full of keywords. Content Scams Why not join a private blog network? Full of scallywags looking to exploit link juice. They don't really offer any sort of value to the user. And, when it comes to content; that pretty much comes last. People who actually do proper SEO and content marketing will preach that 'content is king'. But, who has time for that? Bait & Switch Think of this like fishing. You throw the bait, wait for the float to dip and pull in the fish.So, set the bait and write a page to rank on Google with a set of keywords. After you rank, change it to another product or page.This is definitely a crafty and creative way to hit the jackpot! Cloaking Be sneaky and try to fool the search engine's algorithm. Cloaking is done by creating one piece of content for the Google bots to crawl and then creating another that the user sees. The crawlers hate this and you will get penalised heavily for this. Link Manipulation Get links! Links from anywhere. Directories, sites that are not relevant, spammy sites etc. Are you a dentistry and you've got a link from a bee-keeper? Hey, a link is a link. Don't be so snobby. Link Farming Old McSpammer had a farm, e-i-e-i-oh, And on that farm, he built some links, e-i-e-i-oh, With a backlink here, and a backlink there, Here a link, there a link, Everywhere a link, link... By Scott Willoughby Shady Redirects Generally throwing shade in Google's direction is not a good idea.(So I am told) All of you webmasters should take advantage of the 301 redirects and use expired domains to keep up that all essential link juice. Paid Links Links are valuable things so why not make it a way to make some extra cash? There are many ways that you could do this such as selling your links in exchange for money. Blog Comment spam Why not post a link to your website on a wide range of blogs and sites to gather more links. Don't worry whether they are relevant sites or not, because it doesn't matter! A link is a link, is a link, is a link... Congratulations, you're now a Black Hat Pro ? Erm, Mr.Metabasher just disappeared. I think he's on page 10. Anyway... You made it! If you love getting Google Penalties and potential lawsuits, follow this Black Hat guide. But remember, it's never too late to come back to the light side of SEO with some cracking White Hat techniques to get yourself ranked ethically. Here's a little bit of insider information: black hat techniques don't actually work. For some brief but fair ways to make your business rank well with Google, check out our blog or contact our SEO wizards. #### How to boost your online presence in 5 ways With the digital world growing everyday, it’s vital that businesses make a good impression online. Having a strong online presence means you’re in a much better position in terms of visibility. There are many ways to boost your online presence, all of which can help you stand out from your competition. We’ll outline the key elements of a strong online presence, and include tips about what you should be doing to make a good impression. But first, let’s look at what constitutes an online presence. What is an online presence? An online presence refers to your business’s online visibility, how credible you are and your reputation. Essentially, your online presence enables your customers to find you online, learn about your business and what you offer, as well as learning about your past performance.  The art of mastering your online presence isn’t just about creating a great website, but regularly working on your brand's visibility across the web in order to maintain a strong and positive online reputation. What are the benefits of having an online presence? Probably the biggest benefit of having an online presence is the ability to be seen by your customers on search engines, which can help to increase your leads and conversions. But there are other benefits of having an online presence too including: Increased brand awareness Becoming an established and credible business in your industry Building and developing relationships with your customers across multiple digital channels Tips to boost your online presence 1. Build your brand With any business, your brand is vital. Not only does this make for a good impression online, but also offline and across various marketing materials. Many businesses want a beautiful website with an outdated logo. Updating your logo to position with your brand in a way your business is progressing can make a world of difference to your online presence. These updates don’t always have to be huge, it could be something small like updating the typeface or adding a small splash of colour. 2. Create an eye-catching website Your website is the window to your business. It can showcase so many key features of your organisation including successes, products, services and case studies. It gives your potential customers the reference point that they need to validate that you are the right company for them. Having a modern, up to date and responsive website is key to having a great online presence and helps to increase those all-important conversions. Designing a new website does take time, and there needs to be a number of people involved to make the new website a success. You also need to make sure you maintain it, and continue to work on and improve it over time. This not only means that your website will grow with the company, but it also looks fresh and up to date for your customers and users. Updating your website can include adding more pages, adding blogs and case studies and improving and expanding on content through the website. These are all contributing factors that will help improve your online presence. 3. Implement a SEO strategy Search engine optimisation (SEO) comes in two stages. The first stage is all about initially optimising your website with the relevant meta and URL information in order to increase your visibility on search engines like Google. The second stage is a full SEO campaign. This is where you’ll work on your organic search rankings, improve your page content and internal link structure, amend page meta information and work hard to gain important backlinks from relevant websites.  4. Invest in paid advertising Paid advertising is a great way to get some quick wins online. It can really help boost your brand recognition by bidding on a range of keywords and direct a range of quality traffic to your website. Pay-per-click (PPC) is a great way of targeting a range of people depending on the keywords they entered into your chosen search engine. It’s important to ensure that your PPC campaigns are tracked regularly through goal conversions to ensure you can tailor your campaigns if needed. By doing so, you can generate results that convert and help increase your business. Remarketing is another paid tool that works really well for raising brand awareness. It specifically targets users who have already visited your website once before, and can therefore help you generate more qualified leads for your company and increase your returning visitor rate. 5. Maintain and adopt new social media channels With the growing social trends and range of users increasing day-by-day, having an active social media presence is becoming one of the most important marketing tools available. By implementing a well thought out strategy, and understanding target audiences, creating social campaigns (paid or organically) can really help generate conversions, and get your followers involved in the conversation. This in turn helps boost your online presence and shows your business is forward thinking and actively engaging with your customer base. Need help with your online presence? We hope we’ve given you more insight into the importance of building and maintaining your online presence, and we hope we’ve given you some ideas on how to boost your online presence too.  If you need further help with building and maintaining your online presence, why not give us a call today? Whether it’s a creative element, a web design and development project or digital marketing you need a hand with, get in touch with us today! #### How to Build a HTML Email in 2019 Any developer knows that creating HTML emails from scratch can be seriously challenging and tedious. Not many developers enjoy building emails because the way we write the code for them feels prehistoric, but some words to live by when creating an email from scratch follows. The older the code is, the more likely it's going to work in email clients. I know, pretty daunting, right? But the fact is with facing the challenge of creating an email that works perfectly in every major email client is a nightmare, because a lot of them are using very dated rendering engines which brings me onto my first point. How to Structure Always build with tables. The HTML structure that a <table> creates is without a doubt the most reliable way to write an HTML email. If you start to dissect emails that you create in Mailchimp by viewing the source code, you’ll notice that the structure is made from a giant table with many other tables nested within. In the past, around 1995 / 1996 when tables were first introduced to the web, they were revolutionary, and it made the internet much more of an exciting place. Nowadays, you would rarely ever create a web page using the <table> tag. Instead, we use tags such as <section> and <div> in conjunction with CSS to customise the layout and styling of these tags giving us a lot more control and flexibility over the look of a web page than using a <table> would. However, as I’ve mentioned, we want to go down the prehistoric road and use as many old tags as we can, so the table tag is perfect. Testing your HTML Email When it comes to checking your HTML emails, it’s vital you test all of the major and required email clients accurately and thoroughly. Luckily, there are a lot of paid for and free online tools out there to help you test efficiently. Litmus Litmus is a web-based email testing environment that allows you to build, test and send your HTML emails from scratch. You can upload zips of your HTML or input the HTML directly into their real-time rendering test editor and then test it in over 40 different email clients ranging from MacMail to Outlook on a range of devices including desktop, iPad and Android phones. It’s a fantastic package, but it does come at a cost. However, if you have the budget, I would strongly recommend this platform for the email client testing feature alone. As getting your emails to work in clients such as Outlook for Windows, when you’re developing on a mac is a problem in itself, with litmus, you can preview the email on in its real client environment and accurately. Alternatively, you can test the email yourself by grabbing yourself a copy of a load of clients on your desktop and mobile and using a tool such as Putsmail to distribute them. But this can be very time consuming, which is why paying for a flexible service is recommended. The Hardest Clients to Master It goes without question that some clients are a lot harder to get your email to work in than others, and just like building websites (in terms of front-end development), this is one of the biggest challenges we face. There are workarounds, however, the main one having the knowledge to know what type of tags and styles will be rendered and which ones are just a bad idea, which I will cover in the next section of the blog.If you’re developing on a mac and testing in outlook, it’s fair to say that a lot of the time you will not see the exact same email being rendered to someone using a windows setup in outlook and the clients have different rendering engines depending on the OS. What I’ve found is that outlook and Hotmail are by far the hardest clients to please, while MacMac renders correctly nearly every time and Gmail being not too far behind it. You can expect to spend a lot of hours within outlook viewing source trying to achieve a respectable email, which is why you really should consider using an email building platform such as litmus. Some development tips If you’re a developer seeking some advice, I’ve included a few tips below of some recent findings I’ve come across recently while building my emails. Setting your values Always set your values in pixels. I once made the mistake of setting my values in rems, and it ended very badly in outlook. Following on from this, it's always best to set your widths on images as an HTML attribute and not a style. For example: Remember, when setting sizes as HTML attributes like in the example above you do not need to add a value to it. This goes for anything including the size of a <td> or <table>. Using Padding and Margin Try to avoid using margin entirely, there are alternative ways to achieve margin between elements and the way the trickier clients such as outlook handle margins is unreliable and inconsistent. Relying on padding & margin on elements such as an <a>, <li>, <p> is not a bad idea. It gets stripped out of clients such as outlook. If you need to add spacing to these elements ensure you set their padding and margin to 0 And use one of the following approaches: <tr><td style="font-size: 0; line-height: 0;" height="10">&nbsp;</td></tr> Insert this between whichever elements need a spacer. If you know what shorthand is, then you’ve probably tried to use on while creating an email, but I would advise against using shorthand’s as the trickier clients can interpret these wrong and return all sorts of weird results, just stick to the old-fashioned way of writing your values. ✔ ✖ padding-top: 20px; padding-right:40px; padding-bottom:20px; padding-left:20px; padding: 20px 40px 20px 40px; Alternate Approach Use the <br> tag! The <br> tag rarely ever returns the correct amount of space you want, but it's better to compromise on a little / less space between your elements than to have none at all and potentially risk the readability of your email. Don’t overuse <img> Remember this; Popular clients such as Gmail, Thunderbird and outlook all block image loading by default, the user has to allow the images to load. With this in mind, a colleague informed me that at a previous workplace they took a screenshot of the entire email design, and just inserted one <img> tag with the screenshot as the source and sent that out as the email. Don’t do this; it’s bad for a lot of reasons: Including a lot of images in your email may result in it getting placed in the spam folder. If your email is 90% images, and the user decides not to load images, then there will be no email/content to look at. Images are more laborious to download than text and use up more data. You can get creative with your images though, as GIF support is universal in email clients. Background-image One thing to note is that the background-image style tag is not supported in outlook email clients but here are a few solutions: You can try to use the code to detect if the email client is Outlook for windows & other clients to force a background image or you can use the background attribute on a table as this has the most significant support. Creating a responsive email The trick to responsive emails is using scaling. Essentially, we have our main table which has a set width of 600px. What will happen to this table is the width will be forced to fit edge-to-edge on smaller screens, essentially scaling down all of the content within to fit. What about media queries? Well the answer is, sure you can use media queries but a lot of clients will completely ignore them, so you should have a back up in place for clients that will not respect your media queries. The most significant secret to creating responsive emails is, in fact, the design. Having a design which can be easily modified and scaled down correctly for smaller screens is the key. The image you have a design with four columns full of text, which looks fantastic on a desktop but on mobile how are you supposed to accommodate these four columns without having text go completely AWOL. In conclusion, building a HTML email can be tricky, but it takes time to learn the correct approach and techniques to achieve the desired design. The most reliable bit of advice is using a tool to do thorough testing and using online resources such as stack overflow to seek help from other developers.     #### How to Build Trust on Your Site How to build trust on your website In any situation, we are all looking for trust. Whether buying a product online or searching for a professional service, we want to know that we are buying from or about to strike up a conversation with a credible company. Your website allows you to unfold the story behind your business, you present your services, your approach and the benefits you believe you bring to the table but how do you get your audience to trust you, believe that you will provide them with the best service possible and ultimately pick up the phone? In an ever-growing world there is a lot of competition out there and gaining the trust of your visitors is crucial for your website. Show that others trust you Displaying a client logo on your website gives you a great opportunity to show that other companies believe in you. A large business will be instantly recognised by your audience and the knowledge of your work with high profile clients will spark confidence in you being good enough to work with them too. This doesn’t rule out including smaller businesses, every company helps to build credibility and shows people have invested in you. A variety of business types and sizes can help to show the range of people you work with and help your audience to position themselves in there. Let them see what others have to say Better yet, let your audience see what your clients have to say. When looking for something new we always ask around to see if we can find any recommendations. Whether we are asking our peers or reading reviews online, first-hand experiences give us a brilliant insight into whether this could be the right or wrong option for us. Including testimonials on your website will show exactly what it’s like to work with you and add a great vote of confidence in your product and services. Where possible display the company logo and an image of the person to add extra credibility. Show what you have done Once you’ve done a great job showing your new visitors what you can achieve in a case study. A quick write up of the job you have completed and the results you have achieved can help to paint a really good picture of how your business works, reassuring your audience to pick up the phone and see how you can help them. These can offer an insight into your approach and expertise. For Ecova the case study area also highlights the great clients they work with and the bold imagery means this section of the homepage is hard to miss. Awards and accreditations (if you’ve got them) show them off Accreditation from a recognised body can provide instant reassurance. Similarly, if you are winning awards for the outstanding work you do and are getting recognition in the industry, let your audience know about it. Avoid stock imagery We can all recognise a standard stock image, overly cheesy, exaggerated expressions, the biggest smile straight down lens and not forgetting the overly exuberant handshake. While there’s nothing wrong with scouring these sites to find the natural shots, there is nothing more convincing than real-life photography. Allowing your audience to see your office and staff in real-life situations will instantly display authenticity, as there will be no denying that this office and those people do not exist. Introduce your team If you are investing in company photography you may have thought about taking profile pictures of your staff. Everyone likes to know who they are talking to and being able to put a face to the name is a reassuring factor. Introducing your team through a simple team page can let the personality of the business shine through and give your audience the confidence to get in touch as they know exactly who they’ll be talking to. Depending on the nature of your business these can range from formal head to shots, to natural office shots or something a little playful. For VetCare@Home we included profiles for the staff’s pets, this little touch reveals a personal look into the life of each member and shows you just how much the team loves and cares for animals. Let your audience get in touch with you Hiding your contact details can leave people feeling uneasy. Displaying your details in an easy to find location will show that you are easily contactable and happy to help with any queries or difficulties. You can include your phone number and email in the header and/or footer of your website as well as including everything on a contact page. This could be the factor that wins you the business for those who prefer a quick call to see if you can help rather than emailing and waiting on a reply. Show your social There’s no way to avoid social media in this day and age, it has become part of everyday life, so being on social media is an easy way to show your audience that you are an active company. You can link your social media accounts to your profile with a simple link in the footer or it suitable for your business, pull through the latest posts. This will allow your audience to quickly check out your accounts, see the number of followers you have and how you engage with your audience. Be the fountain of knowledge One way to build trust with your audience is to offer advice. Rather than focusing on the hard sell driving people to get in touch, positioning your website as a resource of knowledge can help to build trust and encourage people to reach out to you. The roundup Making your website trustworthy is an important factor in improving your website's conversions. Adding trust signals will begin to build you as an honest and trusted company, giving your audience the confidence to get in touch. If you need help optimising your website, get in touch with a member of the team. #### How To Conduct An In-Depth SEO Audit Every good SEO strategy starts with an in-depth onsite audit. I often speak to marketing professionals who have created near-perfect SEO strategies that have tanked due to the lack of an initial audit. There’s no better way to familiarise yourself with a website, a company and what they do than pulling apart each page and assessing its SEO value, I find that starting with a domain overview helps, and I then start digging into the site, page by page. If you don't have time to carry out your own in-depth audit then use our free instant SEO audit tool to get a quick-fire overview of yours or your clients website. Domain Overview A domain overview should contain any key stats that affect the site as a whole, rather than page specific issues. Some top tools to use when conducting a site audit include SEMRush, Moz Pro, Google PageSpeed, Google Trends and SEO Quake. Important metrics you need to note down as part of the domain overview include: Responsiveness HTTP:// or HTTPS:// Daily volume of organic and paid traffic Backlinks Referring domains Domain Authority Top organic keywords Main organic competitors Structured Data 404 Pages These points can be as brief or as detailed as you see fit. I always like to do a decent analysis of these metrics as once this research is done you can base the rest of your audit around your findings. As a minimum, you need to be able to “answer” each of the above points, but the more analysis you do the easier your job is later on in the audit. SEO Page Breakdown Once I’ve gathered information about the domain as a whole, I start doing an in-depth analysis on the sites main pages. I start with the homepage and work through any main landing pages, then the blog page and the contact page. Page breakdowns need to be in-depth, as well as stating what the metrics are I like to make bullet points of next steps, quick fixes and general notes about the site's health. I then colour code my bullet points, showing a hierarchy of urgent fixes and possible quick wins. Details I explore in my page breakdowns include: Google Trends graph of possible keywords Page authority Linking Root Domains Inbound Links Page Speed ALT Tags Title Tags Meta Descriptions On-page H tag structure Keyword rankings (for targeted keyword on each page) After doing a Domain Overview and breaking down pages using the headings above, you start to get a real idea of where the problems lie on the site. Sometimes fixes can be as easy as re-writing the landing pages, adding an extra image with an ALT tag or just relooking the heading structure. Sometimes the issue isn’t on a page, and you’re better off working on your domain authority by acquiring high-quality backlinks – although you wouldn’t be able to assess this without doing an in-depth analysis of every page, as well as the overview. Competitor Analysis The final part of the process is to conduct a competitor analysis. I start by choosing the websites top 3 competitors and make a graph containing current keyword rankings for all 4 sites for your main keywords. This way you start to build up a picture of each of your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as your own. I would then conduct a breakdown of their sites, making notes on the following subjects: Local SEO – What City are your competitors targeting? On-page structure – Check what page layouts your competitors are using - If they rank higher than you for your chosen keyword consider reformatting your page. Domain & Page Authority – If they rank above you but you think your pages are better optimised, is their domain/page authority noticeably higher than yours? Structured Data – Using Googles Structured Data testing tool you can check what structured data competitors are using, and then think about implementing on your site if you haven't already. Page Speed – Checking competitors site speed can be a helpful indication of how well coded their site is and can bring up simple errors that you can check your site for. Title tags & Meta data – Check what meta data they’re using and how they’re using it. Once you’ve done your competitor analysis you’ve got all the information you need to go on to make an awesome SEO strategy. You know your priorities, you’re aware of all site issues and which order to tackle them and you’re aware of quick wins that can give you significant ranking boosts with little effort. If any new ideas come to light, you know where your competitors are at and can check the success of implementing these ideas using the data you’ve collected. By now you should know the site from top to bottom, meaning any strategy ideas have been well thought out and should be quick and easy to implement. If you want to increase traffic to your website using an in-depth SEO strategy, or want any digital marketing help you can contact our team by emailing hello@fifteen.co.uk or ring us on 0115 932 5151. Want to find out quickly and easily for yourself your current websites SEO score? Use our free instant SEO audit tool to get an instant overview of the most important SEO elements. #### How to Construct Your Brand's Instagram Aesthetic It was 2012 I joined the photo sharing social media platform Instagram. From the spring afternoon (yes I do remember) I was hooked. An array of beautiful photographs – travel, product and portraits all perfectly shot and gorgeously executed. Originally the platform was developed as an answer to sharing brilliant photography taken on a mobile device. Five years on and I look through my Instagram feed and regularly find myself frustrated with bad lighting, ugly memes and generally untidy photography. (Learn more about The Evolution of Instagram here) Then just when I am about to click off one of my favourite brands comes into view.  A vision in pale pink and soft highlights – my eye gratified. I click to Nectar and Stone’s profile – something I almost always do when I see a post of theirs. I just want to check if there is a picture I have missed and I am immediately rewarded with a charming set of pretty pictures working in harmony. Image of Nectar and Stone feed Of course, Nectar and Stone have the advantage of great subject matter – they design delicious looking desserts for a living – but it doesn’t take an expert to see that their photos have been planned, scheduled and delivered with every detail in mind. We can all take a little inspiration from brands such as these when writing a social strategy for Instagram. Every successful feed has to start with a well-researched and developed social strategy. Behind every great social strategy is a brand who knows who they are – their brand identity, and what they stand for – their brand values. This strong sense of self is the best basis there is for producing a brilliant and rewarding social media presence. We wrote another blog How To Use Instagram for Your Business which you may found helpful. Instagram is a great place to reflect a brands personality and culture – but it is important to establish what you want out of your business Instagram account. Bear in mind the limits and technicalities of Instagram when considering this. For example, you can’t link out to websites in your posts so conversion rate isn’t always appropriate as a goal. Whereas brand awareness or showcasing your portfolio are perfect for such a platform. Write a mission statement such as “We aim to increase brand awareness and let people take a peek into what we look like behind the scenes”. Another crucial aspect to ascertain is your brands target audience for Instagram. I say for the particular platform as this may well be different to the audience you choose to aim your website at or perhaps your LinkedIn profile. Usually, there is less ‘pressure to sell’ on Instagram as a platform (although advances are making it increasingly useful in doing so) you may choose to focus posts to existing clients for example. By now you’ve probably realised a lot is required in terms of a plan before you go ahead sporadically snapping and sharing pictures in order to run an Instagram for business. If you are looking to run a successful personal Instagram account, covering the above may be advantageous for you too. Long gone are the days of ‘instant photo sharing’ as brands are required to plan and scheduled their posts and pictures. Once these points have been addressed your conditions are great to start thinking about how your Instagram feed will look. Now, this might be something set out by your branding guidelines – for example outward facing images may be required to be in black and white or highly contrasted. Play around with colour palettes and filters to find something you are comfortable with but excited by and most importantly echoes your brand and its ethics. Become consistent with this, editing your photos in a similar way every time you share. The bespoke bride always presents bright colours Remember to consider your Instagram feed as a whole. A lot of us spend time worrying about a particular and what it looks like – which is important – but remember to keep in mind those images which surround it and how they will look presented together. Your Instagram becomes a scrapbook or mood board of your brand. Then comes the fun bit – the photos or posts themselves. Point and shoot, right? Wrong. Every post should be carefully constructed and selected with your brands values, goals and aesthetic in mind. We’ve put together a list of points you should consider when taking your own images to post to Instagram. Lighting Many successful Instagrammers would tell you that lighting is everything; the single most important factor when shooting photos for impact. We agree, if you are going to take any advice from this blog – at least remember to get your lighting right (obviously nail your basics like focus first). Bad lighting appeals to no-one and doesn’t showcase products to their full glory. Good lighting can set the mood and create atmosphere. Top tip: use natural light where possible. The best time to take natural lit photos is an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset.  Background We’ve all seen those hilarious photos online of someone’s selfie and in the background, their Mum is tucking into her dinner, their dirty washing lay on the floor or their little sister is pulling a face. That’s what you then remember the photo for – not the amazing dress the subject was trying to show off. Think about what else is in your shot and have a clean, uncomplicated background. The eye enjoys neatness and a clear canvas to make the subject pop. Visually busy backgrounds are distracting. Top tip: make yourself a mini studio using a white table and backdrop. This is useful when creating flat-lays or product shots.  Balance Creating balance can lie in your photos composition, the lighting or the harmony of the colours within the image. It basically refers to the amount of attention that an area of the photograph commands. Demanding equal attention across an image means visual balance is achieved. You could create balance by the use of symmetry or the inclusion of numerous subjects within an image to balance the eye. Top tip: A basic photography principle is the rule of thirds, which when followed helps to produce well balanced but appealing pictures. Editing Instagram’s inbuilt editor is what attracts most of us to the platform for image sharing. Use it. It is powerful, efficient and free! Filters are fantastic and can work great for already great images – find one that reflects your brand and perhaps use it in varying strengths for every post. However, don’t be scared to use the individual editing tools to create images of distinction for your brand. Slightly wonky horizon? Straighten it. Gloomy day? Brighten it. A whole host of characteristics are available to toggle including contrast, structure, warmth, saturation, highlights and shadows. Top tip: Steer clear of dramatic over editing. People can easily go too far with high contrast and full vignette pictures – not a good look. I hope this gave you a head start when constructing your brands Instagram aesthetic. Start with a brands value and guidelines, develop them into a social strategy and have an idea of visual expectations when representing your brand. Follow some basic photography tips, make use of the in platform editing tools and you’re on your way to a winner. Following these pointers will make for a more satisfying user experience and have you well on your way to reaching your pre-set goals for Instagram. For more advice on how to market your brand on Instagram or any other social media platform do get in touch with us. #### How to copywrite for humans and search engines. When it comes to writing good content for your website, it’s all about balance - a balance between writing for humans and search engines that is. Crafting compelling content that resonates with your target audience but also appeases search engines is an art form, but completely achievable.  In this blog, we share everything you need to know about how to copywrite for both humans and search engines. We’ll share some top tips and best practices for optimising your content to appeal to your human readers while also boosting your SEO efforts.  Why is the content on my website so important? Writing content for your website is often an overlooked area of web design, but it’s just as important as crafting the design of your site. If you have a flawlessly designed website, but it contains minimal content, or it’s irrelevant to your audience, there’s a high chance your visitors will not stay around for long.  Engaging and informative content not only helps to capture the attention of your audience but also boosts your website’s visibility in search engines. When you incorporate relevant keywords and provide valuable information, you improve your site's ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs) and drive more organic traffic to your site. As well as that, high-quality content that is well-written and easy to read enhances user experience and encourages visitors to stay longer on your site, which potentially leads to more conversions. As the saying goes “content is king” and adding compelling content to a well-designed website will maximise your overall efforts. Where to start with copywriting for your website Before you start writing the content for your website, there are a few key things to do beforehand to ensure you’re fully prepared and you’re maximising your copywriting efforts. Define your tone of voice The first place you should start with your website's content is defining your tone of voice. This will be based on how you wish to be perceived by your target audience. For example, do you need to be formal or informal? What words do you want to use and be associated with? Setting the right tone of voice and writing style should fit in with your overall brand message and placement. You could take a look at your competitors to see how they’re presenting themselves to give you some inspiration. Review your site map Once you’ve defined your tone of voice, the next thing to do is to take a look at your site map. This is a diagram showing all of the pages on your website and how they interact with each other. Reviewing your site map enables you to understand the purpose and function of each page. Most pages will often fall into the following categories: Informational - these are types of web pages your visitors are looking for more information about a particular topic, such as your blog pages. Commercial - these are pages your audience are looking for your products or services, such as your product or service pages. Transactional - this is where your customers will complete an action, such as purchasing your products or services, signing up for a newsletter, or sending an enquiry. Navigational - these are pages that take your audience to a specific page on your website, such as your blog area.  As each of these pages will have different purposes, they will require different forms of writing styles to fulfill those purposes. They may need to convey different messages which your content will support. It may help to jot down your general ideas on your content angle for each page so you have an idea of where you want to be. Conduct keyword research Next, you should begin conducting keyword research to identify relevant terms and phrases that align with your business and what your target audience is searching for. The best way to do this is to put yourself in your audience's shoes. Think about who your ideal visitors are and what kinds of information they are looking for when they land on your site. Tools like SEMRush, SE Ranking, or Ahrefs can help you discover high-traffic keywords and phrases that you can target. When choosing your keywords, remember to consider the search intent behind it so you can attract the right visitors to your site. Copywriting for humans Copywriting for humans requires a special skill. That’s because how humans interact with content on a website is very different to how they interact with personal content such as an email, or a text message for example. When reading an email or text message, they’ll more than likely read every word that is written, and this is not the case for website content. Users often ‘skim read’ website content, and if they aren’t engaged within the first few seconds of landing on your site, they will move away and find a different place to get the information they’re looking for. Tips for copywriting for humans So, you may be wondering how to copywrite for human readers to ensure you’re engaging them and hopefully converting them too. Here are few top tips for copywriting for humans: Use subheadings - as users will often skim read content, using subheadings is a good way to break up your content and allow them to find the information they need quickly. Be concise - using bullet points and clear language is a great way of keeping your content from being long-winded. Avoid passive language, slang terms, or technical jargon unless it’s absolutely necessary. You should also try to include one concept per sentence. Front-load your content - this essentially means that you put the conclusion for what you are trying to say first. Adding a summary of the content is a great example of this as it helps users understand what the content is about. Make sure it’s interesting - make sure what you’re writing is relevant and to the point. Writing in an interesting way or taking a different angle on a topic is a great way to engage your audience. Copywriting for SEO Copywriting for SEO requires a strategic skill of cleverly incorporating keywords and phrases throughout your content. Search engines will send crawlers (also known as a web spider or web robot) to your site where they will look over your webpages, analyse code, content, and hyperlinks to determine where your page will rank in search engine results. The keywords and phrases you include in your content will help crawlers understand the context of the page and how relevant it is to a user's search query. The more relevant your content is to what users are searching for, the higher you will rank. Best practice is to combine long tail key phrases with short tail keywords as it will allow you to rank for specific questions and broader, more general searches. Tips for copywriting for SEO There are many other factors to consider when copywriting for SEO, which is where speaking with professional SEO experts, like Fifteen, can help. As well as advising on the best keywords and phrases to target, they can integrate other strategies and techniques to boost your ranking. However, with that being said, here are some top tips on how to copywrite for SEO: Find a phrase or keyword to target - make sure you’re considering what your users are searching for to find the information they need. Use that phrase or keyword throughout your content - use your target keyword in headings and throughout the main body of your content. Be very mindful to not overuse or stuff your copy with your keywords as this can work against you and be classed as spam. Use your keywords in your meta tags - be sure to add your target keywords in your meta title, meta description, and images. The easiest way to do this is through your CMS system. Incorporate links in your content - add both internal and outbound links in the body of your content as this will not only encourage users to click through to other areas of your site, but also encourage search engine robots to crawl through these other pages too. Get in touch for more expert advice We hope our guide on how to copywrite for humans and search engines has been helpful. It’s all about balance and being aware of the different potential types of visitors to your site. Getting the balance right will put your website on the path to success. If you’d like professional help in copywriting for SEO and humans, so you can climb the rankings, don’t hesitate to contact us today. Our dedicated team of SEO, content, and digital experts are all on hand to help grow your website and help you achieve your goals. #### How to create a business Twitter account You might feel you need to create a business Twitter account and start tweeting because that bandwagon has been rolling for a long time now. Or maybe you are just launching a business and know that it will help you to start with a strong social media presence. Either way, yes, your business or brand may need to be on Twitter (and Facebook, and Instagram, and Pinterest, and LinkedIn possibly), but the most important thing is to start out right. It takes time to undo a mistake, and making a good first impression is critical. In digital marketing, you’re not likely to get a second chance. The first step to successfully launching your Twitter campaign, is to create a Twitter profile for your business, which is complete and compelling. In this blog, we’ll go through step-by-step how to create a company page on Twitter so your social media presence is off to a winning start. Setting up a business Twitter account It’s important to not make the mistake of doing a fast job and planning to go back later to fix it up. You wouldn’t open a bricks and mortar shop with construction still going on, and that applies to social media as well. Less haste, more speed as they say. Step 1: Head over to Twitter to get started Start by going to Twitter and clicking the ‘Create account’ button. If you already have other social media accounts, you are best off using the same username and images with your new Twitter company page. If you are just starting out on social media for your business, the same applies. Using the same names and images across all of your social media outlets promotes brand recognition and awareness. It makes it easier for your target audience to recognise you. On Twitter, you will need two photos, similar to Facebook. You have a small profile photo set against a header photo, similar to a Facebook profile picture and cover photo. Step 2: Fill in your company information Filling in every single blank box is important. Each one is an opportunity to create a good first impression and give visitors all the information they will need. Tell them who you are, what you do, where you do it and how. List your website, and link back to it in tweets. Twitter is a great way to drive traffic to your website. Step 3: Confirm your account Once you’ve set up your account, you’ll be asked to confirm your account. This is Twitter’s way of checking it’s definitely you setting up your account. You should receive an email with a confirmation code. You’ll need to input this code into Twitter to continue setting up your business account. Step 4: Build your following By this, we mean you will need to build your own following of other Twitter accounts. Based on the information you used to create your Twitter business profile, it will give you a selection of accounts to follow. It’s important to only follow accounts that are relevant to your business, brand or industry. Not only will you see content that is relevant to you, it also gives the impression to your followers that you’re genuine and not just following accounts for the sake of it or to only gain ‘follow backs’. Once you’ve followed a few accounts, Twitter will give you more account suggestions to follow, but you can skip this section if you prefer. Step 5: Do your research before you start tweeting! Hurray! You’ve successfully created your Twitter company page. It’s now time to start tweeting. But, before you start tweeting until your heart's content, it’s extremely important to do your research. Study how other business profiles similar to yours use Twitter, and think about creating and using relevant hashtags to gain followers - but do this carefully and strategically. People can become annoyed by too many hashtags in a single tweet, and they are even more annoyed by businesses adopting a hashtag that isn’t suitable or relevant to their business, brand or industry. The other critical thing you need to think about when you are creating a Twitter business profile is how you are going to use it. Every business needs a formal but flexible social media marketing strategy with a clear goal in mind. That might be to drive traffic to your website or gain more conversions for example. If you utilise content marketing in the form of blogs for example, you can use your social media outlets to drive traffic by posting a link with a short teaser. And on any type of social media, you have to be available to engage and respond to people quickly, so having a social media policy in place is also important. Speak to our social media marketing experts With any type of social media marketing, it’s extremely important to have a strategy in place so you can understand what platforms are right for your business, how you’ll utilise that platform and more importantly, how it ties in with your overall marketing objectives. If you need help with your social media marketing, be sure to get in touch with our experts today for advice on different social media platforms, tactics, content and so much more. #### How to Create a Top Level FAQ Page Don’t leave your customer unsure, or they'll go elsewhere. The same applies to search engines. One way to prevent this from ever happening is by creating and full optimizing an FAQ page. A properly done FAQ page provides both the search engine and your customers with all the answers they could possibly need from your brand. Why Should You Create an FAQ Page? It’s a great way to improve your site's internal linking. It shortens your customers buying journey as they are able to find all the answers to their questions. If your FAQ page is done correctly it should decrease your customer support teams workload. It instantly builds trust as it covers shipping processes, return policies and shows complete transparency. Allows you to potential capture more of the search visibility opportunities. You can showcase your businesses competitive advantages which creates a more effective sales funnel. How to Find The Questions to Answer There are lots of SEO tools out there which can show you the types of questions people are searching in Google. Additionally, there are also tools that can monitor both Reddit and Twitter questions. Possibly the most useful resource for you will be your customer support team. They know exactly what customers normally ask in direct relation to the company. It's important to also use questions that you can optimise to further your organic ranking. FAQ Schema Having a solid FAQ page has many benefits especially because Google loves featuring clear and concise answers. There’s even a separate FAQPage Schema created purposefully for this type of content format. Not only does your page stand out in the SERPS but it also makes Google further understand your FAQ page. Internal Linking within your FAQ Each answer within your FAQ is further pushing your customer down the sales funnel and therefore plays a huge part in the customer journey. By adding internal links within questions you're not only ensuring the customer journey is continued but you're also choosing where to take them. Usually, we use internal linking for SEO purposes, however, this time the priority is on user intent. You have to consider what the next steps the customer might want to take once discovering the answer. Focus on The Structure Your FAQ should facilitate for users that search and those that browse and therefore should include search field suggestions. Additionally, it needs to be visually pleasing with clear categories and subheadings. To maximise user experience, anchor links are a critical feature for an FAQ page. They allow users to effortlessly jump to the suitable or desired section.  Monitoring, Tracking & Analyzing your FAQ Page Wordpress has a wide variety of FAQ plugins that can report on the following: The most popular searches The section of site or product feature which caused the most user confusion User searches that you didn't have the answer for To better understand the role of your FAQ in the sales funnel you need to track the paths of your users. Including how they got to your FAQ and where they went next. There are also plugins that allow your customers to leave feedback on how helpful an answer was. This is extremely useful for knowing what areas lack and being able to improve and meet the needs of your users even more. The FAQ page is an amazing SEO and UX feature that plays a key step in the buying journey. Not only is it a way to further your sitemap but it’s also an effective way to lead your customers to specific areas of your site. A key part to remember to do is monitor and analyze your FAQ page. This is going to help you create more specific answers, a better user experience and a complete solid FAQ page. Contact us to find out we can help improve your site. #### How to create an effective landing page A landing page is an integral part of any site as it provides users with vital information about your brand, services, and products. Landing pages need to grab the attention of your visitors and direct them further into your site. Whether it’s a contact form, sub-category page, or ecommerce page, there are key fundamentals that make an effective landing page stand out.  In this blog, we’re going to look at how to create an effective landing page by sharing five key fundamentals, enabling you to craft a compelling landing page that captivates your audience, drives conversions and boosts sales. Why are landing pages important? Landing pages play a crucial role in converting website visitors into leads or paying customers. They serve as the first point of contact for potential customers and are designed to capture their attention and encourage them to take a specific action, such as signing up for a newsletter, downloading a file, or making a purchase.  A well-designed landing page can help drive traffic, increase conversions, and ultimately boost sales for your business. By focusing on a single call-to-action (CTA) and providing relevant information that resonates with your target audience, you can create an effective landing page that delivers results. 5 key fundamentals for creating effective landing pages Here are five key fundamentals to keep in mind when creating your effective landing pages which can help increase engagement and drive conversions on your site. 1. Keep your design clean and simple Clarity should be at the front of your mind when creating a landing page. Users will land on your site and navigate through your pages to look for clear indicators of the information they are looking for.  For example, if someone visits your site to see a particular service like ‘car valets’, you should have a landing page that introduces the service (by way of a header), uses images that reinforce this service, and content that is optimised for users and SEO. These elements should be the central tenets of your page design further reinforced by elements like contact forms, case studies, sub-category pages, and image galleries. 2. Utilise your ‘hero’ section The ‘hero’ section of your landing page is key to creating an instant connection with users. The hero refers to the top part of the page (also known as ‘above the fold’). This is the part of a web page that you see the second you click on a link and the page loads. On most websites, it usually features an image with a large heading tag over the top of it.  Other elements you should include in the hero section are your contact details, account logins, top-level navigation, and contact forms. It should include your most important information or CTAs so your audience can take action instantly. The hero is the first thing a user will see so be sure to keep your landing page consistent and professional and you should see a noticeable increase in traffic and conversions. 3. Include your trust signals An often overlooked element of a website is trust signals. When we view a webpage, we subconsciously analyse it for any red flags or concerns. One of the best ways to show off your experience and skill is to add trust signals to your landing page. Accreditations are one way to build trust while also allowing for linking between yourself and trusted suppliers. You can also add case study galleries and testimonials to help build further trust with visitors. It’s important to note that trust signals, while very useful, shouldn’t take up too much real estate on your landing page, so try to fit them in as a carousel or in your footer for example. By doing this, you’ll take your effective landing pages to another level of professional. 4. Ensure your landing pages are responsive It comes as no surprise when we say your landing pages must be mobile-friendly. Users access websites from a wealth of different-sized devices from mobile phones to tablets to laptops. Responsive design allows you to make your landing pages fit screens precisely and ensure vital information is accessible and visible.  For example on a desktop, you can pack in a large header image with a top navigation menu and a contact form. However on a mobile device, you have to be more economical with its space. For example, you may only be able to feature a hamburger-style menu for your website navigation, a header with a brief introduction, followed by your content and forms below.   5. Match your brand style across all landing pages It’s vital to ensure your landing pages match your brand. This means analysing and potentially redesigning pages to fit a specific aesthetic - from your typeface, to your image styles, and your tone of voice. If you have several landing pages you should make them as uniform as possible for continuity and ease of use. By doing so, you reinforce your brand and make your landing pages even more effective. How to create an effective landing page for mobile? Creating an effective mobile landing page requires attention to several key elements to ensure optimal performance and user experience. First, prioritise fast loading times by optimising images and minimising code, as slow pages can deter users. Use a clean and simple design that is easy to navigate, focusing on a single, clear call-to-action. Large, legible fonts and buttons are essential to accommodate touch interactions. Additionally, keep the content concise, avoiding unnecessary information that can overwhelm mobile users. Ensure that videos and other media are mobile-friendly to maintain quick load times and visual appeal. Testing the landing page across various devices is crucial to guarantee compatibility and responsiveness. By following these guidelines, you can create a mobile landing page that effectively engages users and drives conversions. Speak to us for expert advice We hope we’ve given you more of an idea on how to create an effective landing page with our five key fundamentals. By factoring in these fundamentals in your design, you can be sure you’re on track to creating effective landing pages that will captivate and convert your audience the second they hit your website. If you’d like more expert advice on creating effective landing pages, or you’d like us to take care of your landing pages for you, contact us today. We’re experienced at crafting websites that look as good as they convert, so if you need a hand with your web design, speak to our specialists today! #### How to create killer infographic designs Infographics are a great way of sharing information with your audience. People engage more with posts that contain images, and by incorporating key information in your images, your content becomes much more digestible and engaging for your audience. In today’s modern world, infographics can be designed to create a bit of a stir. So how do you create killer infographic designs to achieve this? Keep reading for our step-by-step process, but first, let’s look at what an infographic is. What is an infographic design? Put simply, an infographic is a visualisation of data. If you have a plethora of data to share, they’re an easier way for your audience to digest key information. Your infographic can be as creative and quirky as you like, so long as it does one thing well - display your data and information in a visual way. Infographics are a great way of enhancing your brand awareness because you’re allowing your customers to become more familiar with you and your brand. They can also lead to increased traffic, and potentially sales. The more content you produce, the more your customers become engaged with your brand, which can eventually lead to more sales.  And even if you don’t see increased sales, your infographic design could help to encourage other conversions such as newsletter sign ups or brochure downloads for example, because they will reinforce what your brand can do. How to create killer infographic designs Below are our five easy steps on how to make an infographic that creates a lasting effect on your customers and prospective customers alike. Step 1 - Gather your data Your first step is to gather as much information and stats about your chosen subject. This is a good way to get your target audience involved by collecting your own research. You could send a survey via your newsletter or run a poll on social media for example. Not only will it give you the data you need, it will also give you insight into what your customers are thinking. Step 2 - Choose your narrative The best infographics tell a story, whether it’s a step-by-step approach or a detailed account of the customer’s journey. Whatever the angle you choose, it will help you to decide what information you will use in your infographic. Try to keep it purposeful and focussed so it helps you to communicate the information you’re wanting to share, and more importantly, it’s easy enough for your audience to absorb. Step 3 - Build a wireframe or hierarchy When planning your narrative, it’s important to plan out each element to ensure your story flows well. Wireframes or hierarchies give structural basis for your infographic design. They allow you to easily organise your infographic elements, highlight important pieces of information and keep all of your elements aligned. Step 4 - Choose your visual approach There are many theories as to what style of infographic performs the best, but the overall consensus is that simple is the most effective. Depending on the subject at hand, you might want to think about mixing and matching different infographic designs. For example, mix up your icons, charts, fonts and even imagery. If this design approach isn’t appropriate for your subject, then be sure to keep your designs consistent throughout. Step 5 - Release it into the world Once your infographic is complete, it’s time to set it free and release it to the world! It’s important to have a marketing strategy in place beforehand so you can ensure maximum exposure. You’ll want to ensure it’s strategically placed on your website and shared across multiple channels such as social media and email. You may even want to reach out to bloggers or influencers in your industry to help promote your infographic. We can help with your infographic design If you need some inspiration with your next infographic design, be sure to get in touch with our team of experts today. Our talented graphic designers can create a killer infographic design for your brand, and our digital marketing team can help devise a content marketing strategy so it gets the attention it deserves. #### How To Create Your Company’s Tone of Voice We all speak differently, right? We each have a different tone of voice. Though we all use the Queen’s English (most of the time), there are different dialects, little quirks and phrases unique to us – or given to us by our parents or friends. And there are accents, too, though that’s a little harder to capture as text (without things turning into an Irvine Welsh novel). We might not realise it at the time, but these little quirks help to define our character. Our friends and relatives get an understanding of our personality by, among other things, the way we speak – how and what we say. The same thing applies to companies in the modern world. A fancy billboard sign pimping some new ad slogan just doesn’t cut through the clutter today. Our communications are everywhere, from email signatures and Twitter posts to above-the-line marketing messages and campaign taglines. But if you’re about to embark upon a big digital marketing campaign or look to reinvigorate your brand, establishing how you speak is one of the fundamental considerations. There’s nothing weirder than seeing someone suddenly change how they act and speak – such as becoming the joker of the pack – as it can create a real dissonance for consumers. Why is a company’s tone of voice important? Your tone of voice is an essential aspect of communicating your company’s personality. But for many, your tone of voice probably isn’t a consideration. It’s an after-thought. The way a company presents itself becomes simply the amalgamation of its staff writing in different ways on different platforms, with individual personalities defining how that company sounds. And herein lies the problem. You are, in a manner of speaking, all over the place. Flip this around to imagine what your customers are experiencing. Different styles of writing, different ways of being, different answers. It can muddy the waters of who you are and the experience you give to consumers. Having a good tone of voice in place gives you: • Consistency in how you speak – offering customers the same experience with your company. • Character for your company – something that gets you noticed. • Confidence for your staff – when they’re writing brochures or blogs, they know the rules. Tone of voice in action: Tatler vs BBC Tone of voice is a lot easier to establish in the world of media publishing. Magazines, for example, will have a particular house style, a list of dos and don’ts. A style guide, perhaps, in which the laws of language are laid down. They're inherently editorial organisations who live and breathe this world of language and often have a long pedigree of establishing a strong and consistent tone of voice across all of its communications. A fun game (well, to me) is to stand in a newsagent and just look at the way magazines present themselves. Look at the headlines or first lines of copy. You'll start to get an eye for how they each have a different way of expressing themselves. I want to highlight good tone today by looking at the world of media, and examine how a different tone changes the approach and emphasis on a generic subject such as holidays. One of my favourite examples of a stand-out tone of voice is Tatler magazine. Let’s contrast one of their recent travel articles with something similar on the BBC website. One magazine behaves like it’s glamorous and carefree, the other is a more rudimentary news site that eschews any flair in sacrifice for providing easily accessible information. Tatler’s Guide to the best family holidays in 2017 vs BBC’s Where’s hot? This summer’s most popular family hotspots. Let’s glance past the headlines – those are mostly going to be fine-tuned for SEO benefits. We’ll roll into the phrases used throughout. Here’s Tatler’s way of speaking in the intro: “Tired of looking for a holiday? Our guide to the best family holidays for summer 2017 is here to help. You will drink cold rosé while the kids don't really bother you very much but are nonetheless having a wonderful time.” [Emphasis mine.] And the BBC: “For some of us, holidays are becoming more than just a chance to relax in the sun but the chance to experience something different - and this growth in out-of-the-way travel is playing a vital role in many countries' economic development.” [Emphasis mine.] Key Tatler examples: “It's family-run and smart as a pin, with armfuls of bushy-tailed staff, a cracking kids' club (courtesy of Scott Dunn), various pools and a don't-care- if-they-throw-a-wobbler attitude that's supremely relaxing.” “There's a barbecue, a party tent with its own bar and dressing-up box, and a firepit, around which you can sit late at night, looking at the sky (come in August for the incredible shooting stars), drinking wine and smoking joints (although that's illegal, so don't). Plus wooden kitchen cabins with every amenity you might need, and a shower block to wash the smell of wood smoke and wildflowers from your hair.” Key BBC examples: “The travel agency's customers are predominantly 20-somethings, many of whom are taking a gap year, after finishing school or university.” “Reflecting their customers' demands, the firm which started out as a publisher, producing a guidebook on the top UK boutique hotels, now organises tailor-made travel itineraries for its travel club members.” “The pound's fall, which is still down around 15% against the dollar since last year's EU referendum, has had a clear impact on holidaymakers' choices with trips to Mexico and South Africa boosted by the relative weakness of their currencies.” Some key differences in these two examples of a tone of voice include: • Tatler is endlessly more fun and emotive. • The magazine uses adverbs and adjectives in a more exciting and evocative manner – things are incredible, bushy-tailed or wonderful. • In fact, Tatler uses longer, more complex sentences with plenty of clauses. • Tatler uses plenty of humour, whereas the BBC limits itself. • The BBC uses lots of one-sentence paragraphs, making it easier for most people to read on a screen. • The BBC is drier and more factual – the audience is here for news, after all, and not entertainment. • The BBC is minimalistic – few adjectives and adverbs in comparison to Tatler’s sassiness. It’s also worth dwelling on how much the subject matter is essential to the tone of voice as well. Tatler has deliberately selected locations that fit in with the Tatler lifestyle, which differentiates it from any ordinary publication, and uses decadent imagery to accompany the article. The concept of glamour and luxury cut through the whole piece. Switching channels I’m going to run with Tatler just that little bit more because tone of voice isn’t limited to one channel. It goes across all of them – including Twitter. It turns out dogs like road-tripping around France as much as we do. PHEWhttps://t.co/imRunTRa2I pic.twitter.com/GthzRJuoHM — Tatler (@TatlerUK) August 22, 2017 You still think a carat is something you eat, don't you? Don't panichttps://t.co/7kop3jM8a2 — Tatler (@TatlerUK) August 21, 2017 So you're talking and suddenly… violent buttock clench & a small, terrible sound comes out. WHAT TO DO?https://t.co/w77NMV6Vrc — Tatler (@TatlerUK) August 21, 2017 The important thing to add here is how headlines on social media can contribute massively to your online personality. If you have one thing to get people’s attention, it’s headline copy. If you have one thing to get across your personality, it’s in all those snippets on social media. (Innocent smoothies is the often-quoted example of a company that uses social in a highly characterful manner.) Here, Tatler gets slightly clickbaity but dials up its humour and cheekiness. It also plays to the medium, dropping in all-caps or the occasional emoji. But essentially, what it’s talking about is still going to appeal to the audience. In fact, this is the great thing about Tatler. Their tone of voice directly appeals to a glamourous, educated, wannabe-hedonistic and predominantly female audience who want to escape busy lives to inhabit something more luxurious. Tatler is an inspirational friend to that target audience. It writes for them. What should I consider when creating my company’s tone of voice? We’ve spent many a workshop helping companies to polish how they should speak (we can help you too, let us know), but here are a few things to think long and hard about when constructing your tone of voice: • Who is your audience? Who are you talking to and what would they want to hear at the different stages in their online journey? • What content should I be creating to appeal to this audience’s desires (desire, over need – needs are basic things that presumably you already address, but it’s the extra stuff, the nice things, that lead to the character with respect to tone). • What type of person is my company? Perhaps this is the biggest consideration of all. If your company was a person, who would that person be? How would this character dress? Would they travel first class, Tatler style, or slum it with the hoi polloi like the rest of us? • What words correspond with that type of company character you’ve created – what adjectives would that person (your company) use to speak to its friends (your audience)? • Would your company character use long sentences or short and snappy sentences? Would you be informal and use word contractions? (So, would you say “we’ll or you’re” instead of the more formal “we will or you are”?) • Would your company use slang? All of this helps build up a picture, which is the first step into formalising your tone of voice. Do it with style (guides) Everything we’ve looked at above is something to record in an internal document. List the dos and don’ts. Get some rules down – some guidelines for anyone writing copy. What this does is give staff a blueprint for how to speak in your company’s tone of voice. They’re not stifling rules, and can be as in-depth as you want them; but what they do is provide your customers with a consistent, characterful experience for your company. We can create simple guides – reference sheets for clients – but we can also create much more in-depth style guides, which are perfect to bolster your existing brand guidelines. Get in touch with us if you’d like to know more about how to work on your tone of voice and develop your brand’s online style.     #### How to evaluate the quality of my web design Web design evaluation assesses a website's design to determine whether it is effective and efficient. This can be done through various means, such as user testing, heuristic evaluation, and web analytics. When evaluating a web design's quality, there are a few key factors you'll want to keep in mind. These include things like the overall aesthetic of the site, how easy it is to navigate, and whether or not the content is well-written and engaging. In this article, we will outline the key points to look for when it comes to evaluating the quality of your own web design. What is web design evaluation? Web design evaluation is important because it helps ensure that websites are designed in a user-friendly and easy-to-navigate way. It also helps to identify any areas of improvement that may be needed. User testing is a common method of web design evaluation, which involves having real users test the website and provide feedback on their experience. Heuristic evaluation is another method of assessing the website against known usability guidelines. Web analytics can also evaluate a website's design by looking at page views, bounce rates, and time on site. 1. Aesthetics The website's overall look is important for making a good first impression. The colour scheme should be effective and consistent, and the layout should be easy to follow and logical. The visuals should support the message being conveyed. Is the overall design pleasing to the eye? Is the colour scheme effective and consistent? Is the layout easy to follow and logical? Do the visuals support the message being conveyed? 2. User Experience The website should be easy to navigate, with links that work and lead where they are supposed to. The site should be responsive and compatible with different browsers. Users should be able to find the information they are looking for easily. Is the site easy to navigate? Do the links work and lead where they are supposed to? Is the site responsive and compatible with different browsers? Can users find the information they are looking for easily? 3. Content The content on a website should be well-written and engaging. The website should also have a good mix of text and visuals, with photos, videos, and infographics that help to break up the text and add interest. The website should also be updated regularly with fresh content to keep visitors returning. Is the content well-written and free of grammatical errors? Is the content relevant and targeted to the audience? Is the content original and not plagiarised? Is the content engaging and informative? 4. Functionality The site should load quickly and without any errors. All the features on the site should work as they are supposed to. There should be no broken links or pages that are not loading properly. Does the site load quickly and without any errors? Do all the features on the site work as they are supposed to? Are there any broken links or pages that are not loading properly? 5. SEO The titles and descriptions should be effective and keyword-rich. The site should be properly indexed by search engines. There should be no issues with the site's sitemap or robots.txt file. The URLs should be keyword optimised and user-friendly. Are the titles and descriptions effective and keyword rich? Is the site being properly indexed by search engines? Are there any issues with the site's sitemap or robots.txt file? Are the URLs optimised and user-friendly? 6. Security The site should be properly secured with an SSL certificate. There should be no security risks or vulnerabilities with the site. The site should not have been hacked or compromised in any way. Is the site properly secured with an SSL certificate? Are there any security risks or vulnerabilities with the site? Has the site been hacked or compromised in any way? 7. Maintenance The site should be regularly backed up. There should be no outdated plugins or themes. There should be no broken links or pages that need to be updated. Is the site being regularly backed up? Are there any outdated plugins or themes? Are there any broken links or pages that need to be updated? Conclusion Evaluating the quality of a web design is important to ensure that users have a positive experience on the site. There are several factors to consider, including aesthetics, user experience, content, functionality, SEO, security, and maintenance. If you don’t want the headache of evaluating your web design, let our talented web design team do the hard work for you. Take a look at what other web design services we offer and be sure to get in touch if you would like any more information. #### How to find if you’ve got duplicate keywords in your Google Adwords Account Worried you’ve got the same keyword in your account more than once and want a way to remove the duplicates? Adwords Editor is the tool for you! Adwords Editor allows you to find and edit duplicate keywords to really help your PPC campaign achieve success. Due to Adwords only showing one ad at a time from an advertiser, duplicate keyword can damage your ad performance. If two of your ads are using the same keywords, you’re not only competing against other advertisers, but you’re also competing against yourself. This will mean increase cost per click and lower performance metrics. How do I find duplicate keywords? Go into ‘tools’ and select ‘find duplicate keywords’. Then select the campaigns you’d like to sort and chose the level you’d like to drill down to, e.g any word order, campaign level etc. As you can see, the duplicates then are listed and you can edit and remove them as appropriate. To exit this view, click ‘exit duplicates mode’. You can order your keywords by the following metrics: CTR Impressions Average Position Maximum CPC Average CPC Average CPM First page bid estimate Top of page bid estimate Quality Score #### How To Generate Engaging Blog Post Ideas When it comes to blogging, one of the hardest things is to think of engaging blog posts to write about. If you’re spending the time to write something, you want it to be worth it! At Fifteen, we write up to 2 blogs posts a day, so we think ourselves as experts in searching for blog post ideas. Here are some tips for helping to generate blog post ideas for your brand. How-To’s Some of the most searched for posts are how-to’s. Going online and quickly typing into your search engine to find out how to do something is far quicker than doing research through a library or something else! If your brand can create some how-to’s that can be useful for your current customers, then this could potentially bring in new customers who are also wanting to find out more. Focus the how to's into your businesses topic area, for example, if you're a fashion brand it might be that you do a how to in styling a certain garment, or if you're a food brand you might offer how-to recipes. Answerthepublic.com This site is a great way to find out what people are searching for in certain topic areas. You simply type in a key term e.g. social media, and it will find loads of different questions people are searching for that includes the key term. This list enables you to have loads of potential content ideas. Trending Topics or News Making your blog posts relevant to current events and news are easy blog post ideas, it also brings in fresh traffic from those who may already be searching around the trending topic. You can often find some of the most trending news through hashtags on Twitter, or by being signed up to research company newsletters or even just by simply watching the news on the TV or listening to it in the car. Customer Questions You may get recurring questions coming up on your businesses social media, or on your website and instead of constantly re-writing the same reply, you should turn this question into a blog post and give guidance to your customers. If customers are constantly struggling to use your product or not sure what the full benefits are, then write a blog post to help them out! Inspiration Is All Around You Don’t limit yourself to the constraints of just what your brand is about, there is inspiration everywhere and you should use it. Don’t create the same content day in and day out. Take note of that post you’ve seen online or in the newspaper or in a magazine, you may be able to add to it or it may trigger new ideas for a counterargument post. Brainstorms The most simple way of generating blog post ideas is by brainstorming with your colleagues. Whether they are going to be writing the post or not, they may have some ideas for blog posts that you've never thought about. In brainstorms, you bounce off each other and you could come up with some great ideas as a team.   Vote For Us In The UK Blog Awards We have been nominated for both the Digital & Technology and PR, Media, Marketing & Communications categories and we would really appreciate if you could spare a minute to vote for our blog in these awards. Voting for the UK Blog Awards 2017 is live and closes on Monday 19th December. The public vote is an important aspect of the judging procedure as it allows the contestant's community to have their say and show their support for the content on the blog. Once the public vote is over, the top entrants from each category will go through to Phase Two: The expert judging panel. #### How to get conversions from copywriting The ultimate goal of copywriting is to encourage your target customers to take specific actions, which usually tends to be to purchase a product or a service. Since it is persuasive writing, you ideally need to sell the idea without appearing too eager and coming across as aggressive. But here lies the tricky part; how do you get conversions from copywriting? In this blog, we explore what conversion copywriting is and the ways in which you can go about writing persuasive copy to achieve your objectives. What is conversion copywriting? Conversion copywriting is a type of persuasive writing that aims to be powerful enough to convert visitors into sales. Copywriters will use engaging and compelling language to hopefully motivate readers to take a specific action such as buying a product or service. However, it’s not always about encouraging a purchase. One way to do copywriting right is to understand the objectives of the process. Many copywriters fall into the trap of thinking it’s all about selling, but a conversion can refer to several actions or outcomes that are central to the process of copywriting. Contacting the company either by phone call, email, or reaching out through social media and other channels available. Filling out an online form or questionnaire Subscribing to a given service, such as a newsletter Adding items to an online shopping cart Visiting another section of the website or heading to another website Sharing some announcements on social media Therefore, it’s vital for a copywriter to use simple, clear, and persuasive language to not only educate the reader about a product or a service but also a brand’s proposition whilst telling the reader why it’s worth their while. What are the different types of conversion copywriting? Historically, copywriters only needed to focus on writing persuasive copy for TV adverts, magazines and other outbound media. However as we’ve evolved into the digital age, copywriters are shifting their efforts to accommodate to an online world including: Website copywriting including homepages, landing pages, product pages and more SEO copywriting that is keyword optimised to help you rank higher on search engines and grow your organic traffic Ad copywriting for Google Ads and Facebook Ads for example Social media copywriting on channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Eye-catching and compelling blog or article posts Email copywriting including main body text, subject and preview lines as well as CTAs It’s important to understand what each of these copywriting types are made up of to ensure you write the most effective copy. For example, writing an ad copy will focus on selling a product or service whereas writing a blog or an article will focus on building an image and telling a story. Understanding how you approach your copywriting type is the key to writing compelling content that ultimately results in a conversion. What is the best approach for copywriting? There are many ways you can catch your target audience’s attention and deliver the right words to educate and persuade. All these ways share these qualities in their processes: Begin with research Before you write any type of copy, research the topic. Research is the first and the most crucial part of the process. You need to understand what the target audience is looking for in the product or service you’re writing about before you can show them how said product or service will deliver on their needs. In addition, research tells you how the audience is likely to react and thus how you can guide that reaction. During research, you get to understand the product or service’s features and what makes it uniquely desirable. You then get to understand the customer’s needs and who this customer is. With such an understanding, you can tell a story on how the unique nature of the product or service will meet the customer’s needs. Existing customers are critical to the process since they can efficiently demonstrate to the prospective customer the benefits. With such knowledge, you need to figure out what words to use to deliver your message effectively. Define the end goal With all the information you gathered, you need to define your copy’s aim. It is easy to get distracted along the way or to try and hit too many goals. The best copy focuses on a single goal and then works backwards to find the right vehicle to deliver on that goal. With the many different objectives that copywriting can aim for, you need to pick the right one. A simple way to define the objective is to state your call to action. That definition will guide your flow, choice of words, and perspective. Writing with the customer in mind and the direction you want them to take helps you create excellent copy. Focus on the buyer's journey Your research will reveal the buyer’s needs and how the product or service meets those needs. On the other hand, buyers go through a similar process, from identifying their needs, looking at the solutions on the market, and picking the right one for themselves. Therefore, you need to steer the buyer through the journey with your product or service. Some buyers know their needs but don’t know the right solution. Some are vaguely aware of their needs and need you to hold their hands through the journey. Get your call to action right After capturing and holding the target audience’s attention, you need to direct their next steps. This step determines how well you will convert the reader. The call to action (CTA) is closely related to your definition of the end goal. When asking what the end goal of your efforts is, the call to action reveals how to achieve that goal. Calls to action are subtle commands that tell the audience how they’ll get their needs met through your products or service. Keep in mind that placing one call to action at the end of the copy limits its effectiveness. You need to spread several CTAs throughout the copy. This allows you to convert the audience at any stage of their reading process. Start gaining conversions from your copywriting Copywriting is a powerful tool only if done right. The best way to do it is always to keep the customer central to the process. Show them what they need and why it is urgent. Let them see how your product or service is the most sensible solution. Then tell them what to do to access your product or service. At Fifteen, we can create strategic content copywriting as well as other forms of content such as video, interactive media and more. Take a look for yourself at how we can get you the results you want from the power of content. Whilst you're looking, why not check out our other digital marketing services we offer too? If you’re ready to have a chat, be sure to get in touch with us today. #### How to get the most from Google local for SEO Smaller businesses that operate on a regional rather than national scale need Google local for SEO. Local SEO prioritizes SERPs in a particular area, while national SEO focuses on ranking in searches around the region. This approach involves targeting local leads and consumers with your brand, products, and services. Since the approach is more applicable to your local client base, optimizing your local SEO means more website traffic, leads, and conversions. Consider this tailored approach a way to help you compete more efficiently against more prominent national brands with limitless budgets. You can neutralize the benefit of more prominent brands that consistently optimize for more comprehensive keywords and rely on brand awareness, rather than value propositions, to pull in traffic by concentrating on unique local-SEO to-dos. Here are the top ways to make your local SEO campaign a success. Make a listing on Google My Business (GMB) Setting up a Google My Business (GMB) listing is one of the first things you can do to rank in local searches. One of the benefits of having a Google My Business listing is that it's the modern-day equivalent of a phone book listing.  The second reason is that it is a significant ranking factor. According to Moz's most recent annual report, Google My Company listings are the #1 driving factor in local SEO.    Furthermore, creating a Google My Business listing is not difficult. However, you must ensure that your profile is filled out. Google gives you a visual representation of how complete your profile is. Fill in all of the fields to ensure that this metric is 100 per cent complete. Be sure to include your goods, services, and a secondary business category as well. Google will prompt you to select a primary category from a list of choices. After that, you can choose a secondary group, which many companies overlook, giving your services more meaning. Besides, using the subcategories will assist you in ranking higher on Google Maps. Another great local SEO tip is to use the Google Posts feature once your listing is up and running. You can use this section to create mini-posts for your clients and show Google that you're keeping an eye on your listing. Share these posts on social media to take this feature even further. Google is placing more emphasis on social media presence. If your Google Posts page attracts traffic, it suggests to Google that you provide helpful content and updates. The mobile-friendly website Since mobile internet use has surpassed desktop use, and since many local searches are performed from mobile devices, Google favours mobile-friendly websites. User experince, on the other hand, is a significant factor in rating. Google will not support you in local results if users have to pinch and zoom, experience long load times, or can't locate the details they're searching for quickly. Optimizing your platform for mobile is another of the top local SEO tips for 2021.  Making your website mobile-friendly is critical for overall SEO success. It is, however, especially relevant for local SEO. This is why. According to statistics, location-based searches account for 30% of all mobile searches. This is a sizable amount, implying that many customers who find you via local search are likely using their mobile device. It will not look good to potential customers if your site does not show well on mobile or navigational problems. They'll probably leave your platform and go to a rival with a more professional online presence. Opportunities for Link Building It is common knowledge that an excellent link-building strategy is essential for an effective SEO campaign. As a result, if you do local SEO, it is also a priority. Unfortunately, winning organic ties and constructing them takes a lot of time. For influencers to trust you and the content you post, you'll need to establish a sense of authority through your content. You may take advantage of this link-building opportunity if an influencer finds your content high-quality and vital. It's not easy to get influencers to connect to your material, but it'll be well worth your time and effort. Concentrate on working with influencers and other methods of enhancing the brand's online reputation. Helping webmasters find and replace broken links in their content is a simple way to receive some high-quality backlinks. Investigate high-performing posts in your niche to see if they include broken links, then contact the webmaster to inform them of the broken link and give your page a replacement. Make a page for each location on your website Create location pages if you have more than one physical location. Readers can find your name, address, phone number, store hours, unique store details, parking/transit statistics, promotions, and customer testimonials on your location pages. It's also crucial that you don't repeat content through several location sites. Build a locally descriptive About Us page for single-location companies. If you have a Google Map on your website's position tab, you'll get many bonus points. Consistency All over the Internet People and search engines must be able to locate you quickly. Set up your NAP (name, address, and phone number) to accomplish this (with area code). This should be included on your site as a crawlable HTML document. Avoid making the common mistake of only having the NAP inside an image; images, unlike HTML text, cannot be crawled by search engines. The most popular position for the NAP is in the site's footer or header. The Most Important Takeaway Before you begin your Google Local SEO campaign, brush up on your skills by taking control of your local search rankings. You'll be able to perfect some keyword research, understand Google My Business, conduct competitor analysis, and practice engaging your customers through local SEO – all of which are important for your overall SEO campaign. Begin small and work your way up until you achieve local SEO success. If you've mastered the basics, you'll have plenty of time to work on advanced SEO. #### How To Hygge Your Office Hygge [hoo-gah] is the latest lifestyle trend to sweep the nation. This concept originated from Denmark and is all about connecting with your surroundings, from what is around you, to who you are with. As we're focusing on wellbeing this year at Fifteen, we have begun to implement some of these concepts into our office life. Most recently we introduced some shrubbery into the offices and strive to add other concepts in the future. Notepad over iPad We’re all so consumed in technology when working in an office job. There are simple steps you can make to relax your eyes and get away from it for just a moment. Switch up using an iPad or a digital notebook to take notes and instead revert back to the good ol’ paper notebook. It’s even known that you’re more likely to remember these notes, as more thought is gone into writing notes than typing notes. Bring The Outdoors Indoors Plants have many health benefits and should be included as part of the office furniture. If you have plenty of windows, then plant life should thrive and provide fresher air within the office. If you don’t have the luxury of many windows, then even having faux plants within the office space can trigger more relaxed emotions and brighten up the office. Create A Cosy Corner It’s important to take a proper break every once in a while, during the working day, rather than drinking a cuppa whilst working at your desk. Create a cosy corner within your office with a few sofas and a hot drinks machine. Spend this time truly away from your desk and work. It’ll help freshen your mind and help to create better work. Hot-Desk A change of scenery and a change in those you’re working next to is a great way of implementing hygge into your office. Hygge is about connecting with your surroundings and the people within them. Getting into a conversation with someone different to normal can encourage fresh, new ideas and potentially increase productivity. Stimulate Your Senses Lighting and smell can really make a difference to the way you feel. Many offices have harsh white lights in them that can often give people headaches. Installing a dimmer switch or changing up the light bulbs to a more yellow tone will help reduce the strain often brought by the white light. Scent diffusers are a refreshing way to improve the mood in the office. They release a constant fresh smell of your choosing that can help enlighten the mood. Personalise Your Space Making your space your own is a great way to find comfort in your surroundings. Don’t feel embarrassed about having photos of family and friends in frames on your desk if that’s what comforts you. Even just adding a splash of colour through stationary holders and other desk organisers is a nice addition. Don't let it become too cluttered though! Have a look at some of the other things we are doing as part of our year of wellbeing. Most recently we launched the #FAOStress campaign for local charity, Stress Aid.  We've also looked into ways you can stay healthy in the workplace and different stress management techniques from around the world, hygge being one of them. #### How To Improve Your Google Local Rankings You can't buy Google rank with money alone, but you can boost your ranking on the search engine results page (SERP) without wasting a dime with a bit of time and strategy. Here are some easy ways to boost your Google search ranking for free. Enhance the user experience on your website Website visits, time online, pages per session, and bounce rate are the top four ranking variables, according to a SEMrush survey. All four of these factors are directly linked to the user experience the website provides. It's pretty straightforward: if your website is simple to use and offers valuable content, you'll attract more visitors who will stay longer on your site and visit more sites, improving your search ranking. Create excellent SEO-optimized material One of the most effective ways to increase traffic and boost your search ranking is to provide high-quality content on your website. In reality, on-page content creation was voted the most successful SEO tool by 58 percent of marketing professionals in a recent poll. Make sure your content is error-free, keyword-rich, mobile-optimized, and written to meet your target audience's unique needs, as well as  increase the number of backlinks you have. One of the highest weighted Google ranking criteria is backlinks or links from other websites to yours. Incoming links from high-authority domains to your website content demonstrate your site's authority, drive traffic, and increase your search ranking. Alt Text is best for the optimization of images Adding supporting photos to the website pages improves the user experience and increases the page's Google ranking. Google, on the other hand, can't see images; it requires a text alternative to detect and understand what they mean (hence the terms "alt text" and "alt tag"). Make sure you tag every picture you upload to your website with an alt tag/alt text to boost your website's SEO through photos. This allows Google to read the image, collect more evidence of your page's relevance, and index the image for image-only searches. Alt text should contain keywords specific to the page that users are typing into search boxes, much like title tags and meta descriptions. Internally linking the website's pages is a good idea. Internal links are hyperlinks inside the website's pages that connect to other pages. Google prefers internally connected pages because they build a more cohesive network for it to crawl. Internal linking is also popular with Google because it improves the user experience. Users who can easily navigate your site spend more time there, connect more, and are more likely to visit, sending signals to Google that your page is valuable, improving your SEO. Improve the pace of your website  Although Google said the "speed update" would only affect a small percentage of pages, it's still a good idea to make sure your site is as quick as possible—both to boost your search rank and to have a good user experience. Replace any broken tiles. Quality links are one of the great ways to increase traffic and build your website's authority, but links resulting in a 404 error are bad for your user experience and your search ranking. To find any broken ties, use a tool like BrokenLinkCheck or Dead Link Checker. Improve the quality of your pictures  Optimizing your images is essential for increasing your site's speed and making it easier for Google to recognize your pages' images. Ensure that all of the photos on your website are compressed, have descriptive filenames, and have alt text. Make use of the header names(H1-H2) Not only do headers make your content more readable and understandable for humans and search engines alike, but there is a clear connection between the use of header tags in the body of your content and Google search rating. Header tags are also a nice way to highlight important points and display the structure of your content. Optimize your site for local searches People are increasingly using their smartphones to look for businesses "near me." Claim your Google My Company page, include relevant content in Google Posts, get your business listed in local directories, and boost your online credibility with excellent online reviews to improve your chances of appearing in relevant local searches. Optimize your Website For mobile devices Mobile devices account for the vast majority of search engine queries. You'll be losing out on a large portion of your audience if your website isn't mobile-friendly. To ensure a smooth user experience, ensure that users can perform any activity that they can on the desktop version on the mobile version. Also, keep an eye on loading times and results. Users will become bored and move to another site if your site takes too long to load. For Speed Site speed is one of the variables that Google considers when ranking your website. Slow site speed will hurt your Google ranking and scare away customers, which can hurt your bottom line. For voice search According to a Perficient report, voice search is no longer growing, but more than 60% of those polled said voice search is their favourite form of asking questions on their smartphone. Use likely voice search phrases in your website content—be sure to use complete sentences phrased in a natural conversational style rather than single keywords—to ensure that specific voice searcher finds your company. As for “position zero,” that's where you want to be. When a user asks a question in Google Search, Google can show content from a related website in a particular featured snippet or answer box above the #1 search result. Getting your content into a featured snippet is a perfect way to improve your brand's reputation and exposure while also the traffic (snippets provide a link to the website where the content originated). Consider possible searches relevant to your business and pepper your site with simple, authoritative answers to improve your chances of getting your content selected as a featured snippet by Google. #### How to incorporate AI in digital marketing. Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant concept or a tool used by tech giants - it’s here, it’s easily accessible, and it’s transforming the way businesses plan, execute, and optimise their digital marketing campaigns. From audience targeting to content creation, AI in digital marketing has shifted from being a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘must have’ and is playing a bigger role in shaping smarter, faster, and more cost-effective marketing strategies. But how exactly can you incorporate it into your campaigns? In this blog, we’ll look at how you can use AI in a way that delivers meaningful results for your campaigns, along with the benefits and challenges to watch out for. What are the benefits of using AI driven marketing campaigns? The role of AI in marketing goes beyond automation. It’s about using real-time data, pattern recognition, and predictive insights to make better decisions and achieve stronger outcomes. When implemented properly, AI marketing campaigns offer numerous benefits at every stage of the customer journey as we highlight below. You get smarter targeting and segmentation AI can help you move beyond broad demographics and into specific behavioural and intent-based targeting. It can analyse huge amounts of customer data to identify patterns and group users into micro-segments, allowing you to deliver more relevant messages to the right people. It can provide enhanced personalisation AI can provide scalable personalisation for your campaigns - from dynamic product recommendations based on previous purchase behaviour to custom email flows based on user action - and allow you to tailor your content for your brand in real-time. You have faster campaign optimisation Rather than relying on manual A/B testing, AI can monitor campaign performance and adjust elements such as ad creative, bidding, or targeting in real-time. Platforms like Google Ads are already using machine learning to enhance bidding strategies and improve conversion rates for many businesses. You gain valuable predictive analytics One of the biggest benefits is that AI can forecast future user behaviour based on past user actions. This means you can proactively target users before they drop off or take advantage of high-intent signals to help improve your ROI. You’ll have an improved content creation process Almost all AI tools can support content creation for blogs, ads, social posts, and even video scripts, which speeds up production and improves idea generation. However with that said, human oversight is still crucial to ensure the content is accurate and meets Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines. How can you leverage AI driven marketing campaigns? If you’re yet to incorporate AI in your campaigns, the good news is that you don’t have to overhaul everything all at once and become overwhelmed. There are simple and scalable ways to integrate AI marketing campaigns into your strategy, including: Automating paid media optimisation - most major platforms such as Google Ads, Meta, and LinkedIn, already offer built in AI-powered bidding strategies. With this in mind, you should make use of smart bidding, responsive search ads, and audience expansion tools to test performance and see what works for you. Improving email marketing - tools like Mailchimp and Klaviyo now offer AI-assisted send time optimisation (STO), subject line suggestions, and predictive segmentation to help increase your overall email marketing efforts. Generating content - use AI tools to brainstorm and generate content such as blogs, ad copy, and product descriptions. This becomes especially helpful for getting over creative blocks or generating first drafts at scale. Analysing and predicting user behaviour - heatmap tools, like Mouseflow, and customer data platforms, like HubSpot, now integrate AI so you can detect user trends, anticipate drop-off points, and make use of their recommended next-based actions. Creative testing - use AI platforms to A/B test certain creative elements on your website, like colours, CTAs, or layout variations, or dynamically personalise visuals based on user behaviour. Optimising your SEO - you can make use of AI tools to analyse top-ranking content and generate headings and structure for your content, as well as keywords to target, making SEO content creation more strategic and competitive. The key to leveraging AI in your digital marketing is to start with one or two areas where it can relieve pressure or improve accuracy, and scale from there. The right tools, combined with the right data and a clear strategy, can dramatically improve how your marketing performs. How to prepare your website for AI-driven search and discovery As AI tools increasingly shape how people search and discover information, visibility is no longer limited to traditional search results. Large language models and AI-powered assistants are now summarising and surfacing content directly, which means businesses need to consider not just how their websites rank, but how they’re interpreted and represented by AI. This creates a new challenge. While AI can process vast amounts of information, it can often struggle with complex websites filled with navigation layers, scripts, and competing signals. Important content can be overlooked or misunderstood - but this is where LLMs.txt comes in. This simple, plain-text file sits alongside robots.txt and sitemap.xml and acts as a guide for AI systems, clearly highlighting what your business does and which pages matter. From a digital marketing perspective, LLMs.txt is a future-facing enhancement that supports clarity, trust, and discoverability. It doesn’t replace SEO fundamentals, but it complements them by helping AI tools understand and reference your brand more accurately - making it a natural extension of a modern, AI-ready digital marketing strategy. What are some challenges to watch out for? While AI can bring some amazing benefits, it’s important to stay mindful of the potential challenges too. Some challenges to keep an eye on include: Data privacy and trust - AI is only as good as the data it’s fed. Misusing customer data, or failing to comply with GDPR and privacy regulations, can damage trust. Always ensure transparency and gain consent for data-driven personalisation. Over-reliance on automation - AI can enhance campaigns, but it can’t replace human creativity, empathy, or brand character. That’s why human oversight is essential to ensure your campaigns don't lack tone, context, or feel generic or off-brand.  Quality control in content - using AI tools can certainly speed up content creation, but they're not flawless. You should always review, edit, and fact-check AI generated content to ensure it’s accurate and aligns with your messaging. Bias in AI results - if the data used to train AI models is biased, the results will be too. Be cautious about relying solely on AI for decision-making - especially for things like ad delivery and content moderation. Choosing the right tools - there are a growing number of AI-powered platforms on the market, and you should therefore choose the tools that genuinely work with your strategy and campaigns to deliver real results. Need help with AI in your digital marketing? AI isn’t here to replace marketers, but rather, make them more effective. When used wisely, AI in digital marketing unlocks new levels of speed, insight, and performance. But the best results come from blending AI efficiency with human creativity and judgement.  At Fifteen, we help brands make smart use of automation, AI-powered insights, and digital innovation, which is always grounded by strong strategy, design, and purpose.  If you’d like to learn more about how AI marketing campaigns could work for your business, or you’re not sure where to start, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our digital marketing specialists today, who are here to help guide you through the complexities of AI and drive meaningful results for your campaigns. FAQs around AI in digital marketing What does AI mean for digital marketing today? AI is changing how marketers create content, analyse data, optimise campaigns, and understand customer behaviour. From automation and personalisation to SEO and performance analysis, AI helps businesses work more efficiently and make smarter, data-led decisions across their digital marketing activity. How can businesses start incorporating AI into digital marketing campaigns? The best place to start is with clearly defined goals. AI can support content creation, SEO analysis, paid media optimisation, customer insights and reporting, but it works best when layered onto a solid strategy rather than being used in isolation. Businesses should focus on practical use cases that improve performance, not just adoption for adoption’s sake. How is AI changing SEO and search behaviour? AI-powered tools and assistants are increasingly influencing how people search, discover, and consume information. Rather than relying solely on traditional search results, users are now receiving summarised answers and recommendations, which means brands need to think about how their content is interpreted, not just how it ranks. What is LLMs.txt? LLMs.txt is a simple, plain-text file designed to help large language models understand what a website is about and which content is most important. It acts as a guide for AI systems, highlighting key pages and authoritative information without replacing existing SEO practices. Do all websites need LLMs.txt? Not every business needs it immediately, but organisations that rely on organic visibility, content marketing, or thought leadership should start considering AI-readiness now. As AI-driven search and discovery grows, websites that prioritise structure, clarity, and authority will be better positioned. How does LLMs.txt fit into a wider AI digital marketing strategy? LLMs.txt supports the same core goals as AI-driven marketing: visibility, clarity, and trust. When combined with AI-powered content optimisation, SEO analysis, and automation, it helps ensure your brand is accurately represented across both traditional and AI-driven discovery channels. #### How to increase conversions for email marketing campaigns? With new marketing tactics on the new year's horizon, it's time to ensure the email marketing campaigns are ready to convert customers. More than half of customers still want brands to reach them via email instead of social media or other platforms, so don't ignore this vital method favouring a shiny new social media site or different approaches. Since you can personalise and automate so many facets of email marketing strategies, it's a powerful channel for directly addressing your customers' pain points and convincing them to make a purchase. But firmly converting email marketing campaigns don't just come out of thin air. You'll need to prepare carefully, execute your plans well, and continuously review and change your campaigns to optimise your ROI. We’ve made it simpler for you: our guide to building an email campaign that converts will walk you through what you need to have a profitable 2021. Develop mobile-optimised email campaigns Nowadays, more emails are accessed on mobile devices than on any other form of device, and this trend is not set to decline off any time soon. This reality, by itself, should be enough incentive for you to consider improving your email campaigns. To attain better mobile optimisation of email campaigns, concentrate on the following details: Build a short subject line to be correctly viewed on smartphones (30-35 characters) (30-35 characters). Break up text, provide white space so readers can quickly skim. Use a single column style, and make use of shorter and concise copy. Using larger fonts to improve readability. Make your links visible and conveniently clickable. Make your CTA buttons bulletproof, so they work easier on mobile devices. Reduce the size of your photos to shorten load time. When optimising your mobile emails, you can personally evaluate the optimisation to determine which elements function as expected and which do not. Run an A/B test to assess the changes you have introduced and see how your segments respond to them. ​ Putting the Elements in The Correct Spot Your email is not just about the text you send. Various elements determine how your subscribers will respond to them. The best practices for better outcomes are putting your logo on the upper left-hand side of the email. Studies show that people instinctively first searches for the logo in this area. If you are looking for more exposure, the upper left-hand side is where the logo should be. After all, brand recognition is also significant to cause email conversion rates. Next is the Call-To-Action Button. This is one of the most critical things in your inbox. If your CTA drop somewhere below the fold, more than 70 percent will not see it. Also, try to repeat your CT at least thrice in your email for better conversions and click-throughs. It is safer to keep the typefaces restricted to two or a maximum of three. If you are cluttering your email, it is more likely to scare away your subscribers. N.B.: You might ask if this would help in improving the email conversion rate. Ok, let's assume that without producing genuine leads, you cannot have conversions! Using the Opt-In Procedure It’s easier to convert leads that are already interested in your product, right? To find committed customers, you can use the opt-in or double opt-in strategies for your email marketing campaigns. Opt-in refers to the process of allowing your website users the option to add themselves to your email list. Many brands offer a sign-up option using a lead magnet or other such rewards. Using the double opt-in technique will help you filter your opportunities more thoroughly. Double opt-in allows visitors to log in to their emails and click on a link to access your email list. With this two-step verification process, you will guarantee that your email list comprises those people who are genuinely interested in your goods. You won't be spending your marketing budget on leads that have no intention of purchasing your goods. When you have a mailing list full of people who want to hear from you, your emails' open rate is also likely to rise significantly. Clarifying and Verifying Your CTA If people are opening your emails but not clicking or purchasing after, it is time to look at your messaging, specifically your CTA. Is it clear? Are you leading your contacts to the next step? Are you asking them to do anything? Are you asking too much too early? Start by making sure the next move is crystal clear. Did you purchase a new phone? Don't forget to buy the extended warranty. Did you buy a new pair of hiking shoes? Here is our downloadable guide to the best hiking spots in the world. Did you like our weekly newspapers? Awesome, don't forget to grab our free monthly package. And so forth. Most people have an innate desire to serve – but you should tell them what the next step is. If your CTA is clear but still not running, it is time to start A/B testing to see what works. Communicate Clearly Your email should include all the needed information about the product or services. Assume you are adding a new feature for your product. If your email doesn't have any information about what that functionality is about, how it will improve their experience, whether any extra amount is needed or not. Any screenshots, the newsletter is just a dump. It would be best to say exactly what they will improve the product and how fantastic it will be. The screenshots or GIFs or a video will cause a visual response. Give a free trial so that they are assured of trying it out before paying or upgrading. If you just write down the value and the function name, you are taking your subscribers for granted. Yes, they are using your product, and you have received positive feedback. But that doesn't mean you can miss taking it. Communicate to prevent misunderstanding and get better conversions. Verdict Email marketing is a tactic that will help you cultivate your leads and turn them into loyal customers that will support your brand on your way to success. Email campaigns can differ based on your priorities and target audience. Regardless of form, scale, and shape, such movements will make your brand expand beyond measure. Having yourself associated with some of the best email campaigns out there will help you build useful emails that will help you to meet your prospects, leads, and customers. If you are pushed for time, you can also use some ready-made newsletter models! #### How to increase SEO traffic with organic SEO marketing strategies. Have you ever had the feeling that your content isn’t performing as well as you had liked? I know I have! For me, this came down to losing track of a core framework for SEO. This lack of focus on what SEO to use caused me to search for organic SEO marketing strategies to achieve high levels of search traffic.In my search, I found 5 ESSENTIAL strategies that I always follow when creating content to improve organic SEO. I now achieve significantly higher organic traffic levels.Let’s jump straight into the first organic SEO marketing strategy… 1. How to increase SEO traffic with a keyword rollout When it comes to achieving high organic SEO traffic, you want your content SEO strategy to have a healthy relationship with Google’s search algorithm.Right now, Google puts HUGE importance on content that is fluent in a particular topic. In order to tell Google your content is high quality, you need to carry out Keyword Research and find a strong keyword to base your content around. This can be achieved by using a keyword research tool such as Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz. You then want to identify words with a high search volume and low competition.Once you’ve found your keyword, you need to spread it throughout your entire content. In particular, it needs to be used in your title tag, the first paragraph, and final paragraph of your content.Using keywords effectively will improve organic SEO and Google’s algorithm will love you. 2. Improve organic SEO by maximising your title tag The next organic SEO marketing strategy I have for you, is to maximise the title of your content to best achieve traffic.In the same way an Olympic sprinter wants the best start possible in a race, you want your content to start on the best foot possible.Your title tag is the first thing users will see of your content and you want it to work on a creative and statistical level. Creatively, it needs to catch viewers attention and be something viewers WANT to click on. Put yourself in the mindset of your audience. What is it exactly they are looking for? Statistically, your title tag needs to capitalise on the data behind what users are searching for. To execute this, simply include your target keyword somewhere in the title, since the keyword itself has the potential to absorb organic traffic. Find out more on how to improve your title tag. 3. Use visual content for your content SEO strategy Let me ask you a question. Which do you find easier to look at, an image or a block of text?I’m sure most of you will agree with me that images are far easier to look at than text.This idea is backed up by several studies from companies such as 3M and Visually.Following this train of thought, you want to be filling your content SEO strategy with as much visual content as possible. Whether that’s example images or infographics.The whole idea is to make your content as visually appealing as it can be, which in turn will lead to higher levels of organic website traffic. 4. Give searcher exactly what they're looking for  According to Google's NEW organic search ranking algorithm, your content needs to not only attract viewers to your site, but to also keep them for as long as possible. Viewers staying on your site for as long as possible tells Google that your content is giving them exactly what they're looking for and boosts your ranking in Google. This strategy boils down to 2 key principles: creating good content, and displaying good content.  If your content is as good as it can be, answers all the queries a consumer may have, yet still lacks in high levels of organic traffic, your content may be lacking in visual appeal. Your content needs to be as easy to read as possible. Haven't you ever entered a website only to be greeted by a massive, daunting chunk of text? Sadly I have. Avoid this by spacing out your text through paragraphs and using short sentences. You want your page to contain as much white space as possible. 5. SEO link building strategy This is perhaps the most overlooked organic SEO marketing strategy on this list, but is one of the most essential.Backlinks are links on high authority websites that point directly to your page. Having a high number of these links lets Google know your site is a genuine source of quality content and boosts your site’s ranking.The question you may be asking, “how do I achieve backlinks on my content?”.The most effective way to achieve backlinks is through the use of email outreach. There are 2 core steps to email outreach for your SEO link building strategy: Finding a website page which you feel your content relates to. Sending a short, friendly and personalized email to that site. Repeat this process for every site you feel would benefit from your link.Link building not only works as an organic SEO strategy, but as a method to forming B2B relationships.For more help with your SEO link-building strategy read our latest blog.There are many strategies for increasing levels of organic SEO. However, these 5 strategies are proven winners in this area. Here at Fifteen, we are fluent in all areas of SEO. Contact us today to discover how we can help your business reach its full potential. #### How To Increase Your Twitter Followers If you’re promoting your products/services on Twitter to just one follower, is there really much point? There are currently 307 million active users on Twitter, but it can be difficult to gain a following, especially when there’s no one following you to retweet your message. How can you reach out to people? Tweet Regularly Twitter’s news feed is live, showing Tweets as they are posted. On average there are 6,000 tweets sent a minute, so it’s easy for yours to get lost in the constant onslaught. The only way around this is to Tweet regularly and consistently. Post at different times throughout the day, to see which times work best for you, but be sure to post regularly. Users log in at different times of the day, so it’s important to be able to target different people throughout the day. Tweet Interesting Content “Although you do need to tweet regularly, it’s not a case of quantity over quality,” says SEO & Content Executive Adam Richmond, “You need quantity AND quality.” Regularly tweeting out interesting content increases the possibility of retweets, which leads to a larger audience reached, and an increased followership. Whether it’s funny pictures, thought-provoking videos, or links to helpful information about your sector, make sure your tweets are engaging and worthy of a retweet. This also helps gain more followers through more than just retweets. When Twitter was fairly new, people would follow anyone and everyone. Just take a look at most millennials’ social media accounts, and you’ll see they have hundreds (sometimes thousands) of followers/friends, some of which they don’t even know. People are now more selective about who they follow, so interesting content that keeps popping up in their feed can convince them to become a follower. Use #Hashtags If users aren’t searching for you on Twitter, go to them. Users do look at hashtags and trending topics, so use them in your tweets to put your message in front of people. But, you can’t just use any hashtags if you want to increase your following. There are countless examples across Twitter of companies abusing hashtags, and it always has a negative impact on either their following, their public image, or both. Hashtag/topic “hijacking” refers to companies that use a trending topic or hashtag to promote their product/service, without adding anything to the subject. There have been some absolutely awful examples of this, including companies using tragedies in the news to sell themselves. As long as your hashtagging is relevant to the tweet, you can put your message in front of people that will want to read your content. Interact with people “People are more likely to follow you if you engage with them,” says Digital Marketing Manager Natalie Crouch, “It makes your company more relatable and personable.” In a similar fashion to hashtags and trending topics, you can use Twitter to search for people that are talking about a certain subject and interact with them. Get in a conversation with someone, and they’re more likely to follow you. It really is that simple. You don’t have to stop once they’re a follower though. Twitter is a great tool for customer service management, and you can quickly turn followers into loyal customers. Loyal customers are more likely to engage with your brand, and more likely to retweet, leading to further outreach. Happy Tweeting! Want to know more about Twitter? Get in touch with our digital marketing team today! #### How to master your LinkedIn marketing strategy Social media is a fundamental ingredient in the modern marketing mix. It works as a powerful awareness tool, and to our followers, it's the primary source of updates and offers. It’s no secret social media increases growth and traffic to your website, as well as improves engagement.  But LinkedIn is slightly different to your standard social media networks. It’s more of a business platform, so you need to think of LinkedIn as your boss, or a work colleague.  It’s definitely a platform you should consider including in your social media marketing strategy, and here’s why: The growth potential on this channel shouldn’t be underestimated It’s highly useful for paid advertising Any business related news you share tends to perform well There’s reachable audience demographics It supports positioning On LinkedIn, there are always things that can be done to boost your professional image online. Let’s dive a little further into the do’s and don’ts of mastering this platform… DO be selective about who you connect with Be selective about your connections. Ask yourself, will their content add value to your feed? Are they someone you’ll potentially work with? Build your network slowly and be purposeful about your connections. DON’T leave your banner space blank The main banner on your LinkedIn profile is a great space to make a statement; ensure it is specific to what you are trying to say. It’s a great way to promote your company or highlight a product or service you offer for example. DO optimise your headline This is what people see under your name when they view the app on mobile. You want to ensure you feature your job title, or the service you offer, and it’s visible in the first 70 characters. DON’T be too salesy Of course you want to get your product or service out there to your audience, but be careful not to seem like you are being overly ‘pushy’ and end up accomplishing the opposite goal. DO use a professional headshot LinkedIn isn’t the place to share selfies, so be sure to set the right tone for your business and use a professional headshot of yourself. You could also use your business logo if you prefer. DON’T send generic connection requests If you want to make a good impression on a potential new connection, it’s important to personalise your connection requests. If you’ve met them before sending a connection request, send them a message to let them know how you know them, or let them know how it would be beneficial to connect. DO engage The more time you put into engagement on LinkedIn, the more you will be rewarded. If you’ve seen a post you like and it’s relevant to you and your business, engage with it by reacting, commenting or sharing it. Be sure to contribute regularly to any groups you are part of also, or give your insight or thoughts on a particular topic. DO use hashtags Using hashtags is a great way to increase your visibility on LinkedIn, but don’t go mad. It’s best practice to only use three or four hashtags in one post, and always put them at the end of your post How else can you master your LinkedIn marketing strategy? We’ve touched upon the do’s and don’ts of using LinkedIn, but what else can you do to truly optimise your LinkedIn marketing strategy? Showcase your skills and talents LinkedIn allows you to upload documents, images, videos, and presentations to your profile. Slideshare, owned by LinkedIn, is a knowledge-sharing tool which allows you to upload your presentations to share with the public. If you don’t make many presentations, consider converting your PDFs to a powerpoint format and share to your profile. This is a great way to assert yourself as an industry expert, whatever your chosen industry might be. By adding your work or portfolio to your profile, people can see that you mean business and may potentially even make you a headhunting target. Endorsements are key LinkedIn allows you to add endorsable skills to your profile, which allows your colleagues to endorse you at what you are good at. This becomes a highly useful tool for people to see what you are good at. Don’t be afraid to get out there and endorse other people for their skills and see the endorsements roll in. Utilise recommendations If you’ve worked with an old manager or colleague, be sure to recommend them on LinkedIn. Make it as personal as you can over a generic recommendation - talk about how well you two worked together and how you recommend their skills. If you make the first move, you’ll more than likely receive a recommendation back. Don’t be put off by LinkedIn for advertising We all know that paid advertising can be pricey, and LinkedIn advertising costs aren't for the faint hearted. Having said that, LinkedIn for advertising can be a great step for you and your business by supporting you to increase brand awareness and convert audiences into leads. You can read this advert guide from LinkedIn for more information. Put some thought into your LinkedIn content strategy The content you put out is extremely important, so you need to put some thought into your LinkedIn content strategy. Here are some tips from us: Make sure your images add value to your message and brand, and do not detract from it Ensure snappy and engaging copy Try using questions where you can to encourage more engagement through our posts Use these posts as an opportunity to drive your audience to your website Include a strong call to action Mix up the type of content shared If you create videos, make sure you use subtitles Need help with your LinkedIn marketing strategy? If you’d like to know how we can help incorporate LinkedIn into your social media strategy, but you’re unsure where to start, why not get in touch with our specialists today? Our social media experts can help you from start to finish from targeting, to budgets, to analysing and reporting. #### How to measure brand awareness: 5 strategies that work Brand awareness is something that all businesses have - it can be a logo, a slogan, or even a particular colour - it’s what makes you instantly recognisable to your audience. Many businesses want to know how they’re perceived, yet they don’t have the knowledge on how to measure brand awareness.  You may be surprised to learn that measuring brand awareness is not as difficult as you think. In this blog, we answer the question of exactly how to measure brand awareness by sharing five strategies that actually work. First, let’s look at what brand awareness is. What is brand awareness? Brand awareness is all about the recognition of your brand from your target audience. However, it’s not just about whether or not they've heard of your business, it’s also about their knowledge of your offering. More specifically what your product or service is, and what they do. For example, when you think of a clothing brand, what brands first come to mind? There might be a select few brands that instantly pop in your head and that’s because these brands have a high level of brand awareness as you instantly recognise their name and the products they offer. Ideally, you want your brand to be at the top level of your industry. To get to a level which puts you as the primary source of knowledge to your target audience, can take a fair amount of work. However, the hard work will pay off in the long run. How to measure brand awareness There are multiple ways to measure brand awareness and the key to successfully measuring brand awareness is to follow strategies that are in tandem with each other. This will allow you to paint the best possible picture of your brand. 1. Use Google Trends Google Trends is the broadest metric for identifying brand awareness because it has complete knowledge of the internet. It can provide information on what topics are trending in real time and what people are searching for specifically in your industry. With knowledge of this scale at your fingertips, you can get a complete picture of your brand’s perception in the eyes of the public. Although Google Trends can give you the most wide scale analysis of your brand awareness, it’s important to note that the data doesn’t give you any reasoning behind your brand’s attention. This is why Google Trends is best utilised with other strategies alongside. 2. Gather survey data With Google Trends being the broadest analysis of your brand awareness, survey data provides perhaps the most in depth analysis of your brand awareness. This is because it gives you the insight of your brand in the eyes of your target audience.  You can use platforms such as Google Forms or SurveyMonkey to gain valuable insights about your brand from your customers. Finding out how your target audience heard about you, or what they best know you for can show you where your business currently stands with your audience. You may even learn that your brand is known for something completely different than what it actually is! If you’d like to gather survey data on a larger scale, GWI is a valuable tool to use. They have consumer insights from almost 3 billion people worldwide and can give you sector specific insights to make it more relevant to your brand. Once you’ve gathered your data, you can then make alterations to your brand’s digital marketing strategies to hone in on its true values. 3. Utilise social listening tools Similar to Google Trends, this strategy measures your brand awareness across multiple digital channels. Social listening tools such as Brand24 allow you to analyse the mentions your brand is getting across social media, blogs, forums, videos and much more. Not only that, but it gives you insights into where your brand is getting the most mentions and who is generating those mentions. With these insights, you can analyse the sentiment and view the context in which your brand is being mentioned. You can also capitalise on this knowledge as you can make informed business decisions that will resonate with your audience. 4. Analyse your social media metrics Social media provides you with valuable metrics such as the amount of followers, shares, and likes your brand is getting. This will allow you to see first hand how your brand awareness efforts are paying off as you can see the increase in the awareness of your brand in your target market right in front of your eyes. When it comes to your individual posts, you can analyse the performance of your content in more detail. Focus the engagement, the reach and the reactions to your posts. With this knowledge, you can create similar posts which follow in the direction of your most successful ones. This will then give you a framework for achieving high outreach with your posts. With almost 5 billion people worldwide using social media, it’s one of the best places to be when it comes to promoting brand awareness! 5. Focus on your website traffic It’s a fact, website traffic is crucial for brand awareness. Through website traffic, not only can you analyse the amount of visitors your website is getting, but the amount of time they are spending on your website. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a tool which analyses the amount of traffic your business is getting, as well as measuring your conversions, engagement and so much more. You can also observe where your visitors are coming from and see if your traffic is increasing or declining. This knowledge can help you identify the reasons behind your web traffic performance and make improvements where necessary. Want to learn how else you can measure brand awareness? We hope we’ve answered the question of how to measure brand awareness with our five strategies above. When it comes to brand awareness, it’s important to remember there isn’t a one size fits all approach. All of the above strategies need to be used in conjunction with each other for a complete picture.  There are so many other ways you can measure brand awareness, so if you’d like to learn more, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Our talented digital marketing team specialise in improving brand awareness, so be sure to speak to us to learn how we can work together to create the perfect brand for your business. #### How to measure the value of a website There are numerous reasons you might be interested in determining the value of your website, and it can be tough to know where to begin. And, while the ultimate value of a website is determined by what someone is prepared to pay for it, you can surely get a sense of how much money you should earn if you sell your site. Measure the Value of Your Website Now that you have a buyer's perspective, you can determine the value of your website. Bear in mind that a valuation is merely an estimate of a potential buyer's price. The true value of your website is determined by the amount of money in your bank account after the transaction is completed. To begin, you must ascertain your net profit. This is calculated by adding up all of your sales/earnings and subtracting all of your expenses, which results in your net profit. Carry out this procedure for the preceding twelve months' earnings, referred to as trailing twelve months' earnings (TTM). Then you must multiply your TTM earnings by a multiplier. In general, newer websites sell for 1-1.5X their earnings. Sites with a longer track record make 1.5-2.5X the earnings. Additionally, high-risk sites make 0.5-1X earnings. Although websites can sell for prices outside those ranges, they are typically the exception rather than the rule. This information is based on over $1 million in transactions over the last few years. Value of a Website To estimate the value of a website, it is critical first to define what a 'website' is. In this article, we'll refer to a website as a digital business — one in which the website serves as the business itself rather than serving as a component of an offline firm. Read more on the importance of a website here. Thus, how do you determine the worth of a website? Calculation of the Earnings Multiplier As a rough estimate, the value of a website is sometimes estimated to be between 24 and 36 times your monthly revenue; a figure referred to as an earnings multiplier. That means that if your website generates $10,000 in monthly revenue, you may anticipate selling it for between $240,000 and $360,000. Of course, this does not consider your net profit, the time investment required, the structure and setup of the business, or the breakdown of visitor sources, among other factors, but you may get a sense of how much your website might be worth. For instance, a website that receives most of its traffic organically rather than through paid advertising will nearly always have a higher valuation due to the costs associated with client acquisition. We'll look at the aspects that influence a website's value and how you might have a positive impact on how much it might be worth. Competition in the Future To ensure that your website retains its worth, you may be required to sign a non-compete agreement. This is an agreement between buyer and seller that the seller will not start a new business or website that directly competes with the one they have sold. It shields the buyer from competition from someone intimately familiar with their new acquisition. Of course, these are rarely fixed in perpetuity and are quite negotiable; just keep in mind that you must be willing to enter such an arrangement to command the highest value for your site. After all, the purchaser wishes to safeguard their investment. Methods of Monetization The way you monetize your website can influence its ultimate value. Reliance on a single approach can be viewed as high risk due to the possibility of unanticipated changes. Last month, Amazon lowered affiliate compensation rates, resulting in major revenue decreases for many businesses that rely heavily on the site. A site with several revenue streams is a safer bet and may frequently attract a higher asking price. What Factors Affect the Value of a Website? You may be surprised to learn that most websites sell for under $100,000. A variety of factors contribute to the final sale price, not the least of which is that, as previously stated, a website is only worth what someone is willing to pay. Yes, there are tools available that will help you grasp a rough estimate of the value using basic formulas such as the ones mentioned above. However, the true test is whether a prospective buyer is prepared to make that investment and whether the website owner is willing to sell at market value. Often, it makes more sense for the owner of a website to retain their assets and earn monthly revenue rather than sell today, that is, unless they obtain a higher price than market worth. A website's sale price typically falls between the market value and the seller's projected value (how much they are prepared to sell for). Competition in the Future To ensure that your website retains its worth, you may be required to sign a non-compete agreement. This is an agreement between buyer and seller that the seller will not start a new business or website that directly competes with the one they have sold. It shields the buyer from competition from someone intimately familiar with their new acquisition. Of course, these are rarely fixed in perpetuity and are quite negotiable; just keep in mind that you must be willing to enter such an arrangement to command the highest value for your site. After all, the purchaser wishes to safeguard their investment. #### How to optimise your web design for mobile devices Your business needs to tap into the ready market that is smartphone users. Considering that 84% of adults in the UK own a smartphone, and spend at least two hours on them daily, you need to reach them there. With so many businesses competing for their attention, you need to make your website as easy to use and convenient as possible. In this blog, we discuss ways to optimise your web design for mobile devices and why this is important. What is a website optimised for mobile devices? A mobile-optimised website contains all the changes to make it mobile-friendly but does so from the ground up. Mobile-friendly websites are scaled-down versions of desktop websites. In contrast, mobile optimised websites are purpose-built to function fully on mobile devices. Therefore, they utilise all smartphone resources to ensure a smooth and productive browsing experience. For example, the website connects to your social media apps, has large navigation buttons, is touch-optimised, and uses legible text on small screens. Why do you need your website optimised for mobile devices? While you’ll spend more on optimising your web design for mobile devices, you’ll reap greater rewards in the long run. Such optimisation offers you several benefits: Improved website speed Utilising your website for mobile device resources ensures it runs smooth and fast. Desktop websites can be large and clunky, and reducing their aspect ratio to fit smartphone screens does little to make them run faster. Therefore, optimisation for mobile devices ensures visitors spend more time on your website, thus improving your chances of conversion. Better user experience The ease of navigating your website, how content appears on the smaller screen, and the ease of connecting with other apps are important in the user experience besides a fast-loading website. Remember, a rich user experience goes a long way in grabbing more attention than your competition. Increase average time on your site With a pleasant to use and convenient browsing experience, visitors will spend more time on your site. Some may prefer browsing on their mobile devices rather than visiting your desktop site. This benefits your business, as visitors use their mobile devices when they are more agreeable. Therefore, visiting your website at such times improves your chances of conversions. How to optimise your web design for mobile devices Here are some of our top tips for optimising your web design for mobile devices: Implement responsive design Responsive web design creates your website to fit the screen size and resources of the specific device a visitor is using. Such design greatly improves user experience and leads to better SEO. Considering the variety of smartphones, responsive design ensures that all visitors enjoy the same excellent user experience on any mobile device. Use a simple navigation menu Browsing on a smaller screen is tricky. Therefore, you must ensure that the navigation menu is the simplest and easiest part of your website for visitors. A good solution is a hamburger-style menu, which occupies a corner of the screen and slides out in full only when necessary. Its buttons are large enough and can be optimised to display relevant items per the page. Optimise buttons for one-handed use People tend to hold their phones with one hand and scroll with their thumbs. Therefore, your website should allow for easy thumb scrolling and place the buttons conveniently close to the thumbs. Optimise your forms Filling forms on a small screen is cumbersome and tiring if you don’t design them well. Therefore, you need to make the forms simple and the pages as few as possible. The questions should be short and direct, and the responses required also short. Strategically locate high-priority CTAs Your website aims to increase conversions. Therefore, ensure your CTAs are placed where a visitor’s eyes are likely to rest. Typically, the top left and bottom right regions are hot spots. You need to place your CTAs there, as well as on most of the bottom region. If possible, have them floating down there as the visitor scrolls. Use concise content Reading on a small screen is tiring to the eyes. Therefore, ensure your content is concise, conveying your message before it puts off a visitor. Conclusion Optimising web design for mobile devices is a worthy investment, considering how smartphone browsing has become popular. By utilising the pointers shared here, you’ll soon reap the rewards of such optimisation. At Fifteen, optimising your web design for mobile is just one of the many services our web design and web development team offer. Take a look at how we can help you as well as the full range of services we offer. Contact us if you’d like any more information or if you have questions. #### How to set up a business Facebook page Facebook is an essential marketing tool today, but you have to do more than simply create a business page and expect your target audience to engage with it. While it is a casual medium and you do best with a more personal, informal tone, Facebook for business needs a solid strategy that is built on your target audience and what your analytics tell you about them. In this blog, we look at how to create a Facebook page for your business and how you can use it effectively. But first, let’s look at what a Facebook business page is. What is a Facebook business page? A Facebook business page is exactly what it says on the tin - it’s a public profile that allows businesses, organisations and public figures to promote themselves. Users of Facebook can choose to follow (previously known as ‘like’) a business page to view content such as posts, photos and videos and engage with it. This allows users to connect with their favourite brands on a personal level. You can also run Facebook ads if you have a business page as well as open a Facebook Shop and use other ecommerce and promotional features. It’s also important to note, you will need a Facebook profile to create a business page, so you can either use your own personal account or create a new one. Creating a Facebook business page You can create a Facebook business page in a few simple steps as we outline below. Step 1 - Login to Facebook and create your page When you first set up your business page, you will need to login to your Facebook account (whether that’s your personal account and the new one you’ve created). From here, you can begin creating your business page by clicking ‘Page’ under ‘Create’. You’ll then be prompted to select a broad type of page most suitable for your business. Most businesses would be a Local Business or Place, or a Brand or Product, so ensure you select an option that is relevant to your business. Then you will have the option to select a more specific category. It’s worth thinking carefully about this, because this will be how your target audience is likely to think of you. Step 2 - Complete your business details When completing the details for your business, you’ll want to think strategically and fill in every blank where you can. If you have any target keywords, be sure to include these where you can and make sure to include all of the possible ways to contact you, including your website. If you have a bricks and mortar shop, include your hours of operation and don’t overlook the map feature. You can edit these details at any time, so ensure they’re always kept up to date. Step 3 - Add your cover photo and profile image Your profile and cover photo need to be a recognisable feature of your branding. So it goes without saying using your logo and any brand styling to these is a must. This helps your audience to understand they’re in the right place when connecting with your company. Cover photos are also a good opportunity to promote any current offers, deals or campaigns you have running. Step 4 - Add an action button The action button sits at the top of your business page and is your main call to action. Think carefully what you want this to be. You can link to your website, a landing page, link to a special offer, or any services you may offer. Tips to successfully managing your new Facebook business page Once you’ve successfully created your Facebook page for your business, you’ll no doubt feel eager to get posting and you’ll want to share your content to your target audience. But before you do, here are some tips from us to successfully manage your new Facebook business page. Plan your content before you post It’s certainly wise to plan a social media marketing strategy before you start posting. Some businesses don’t plan and leave themselves scrambling and not posting regularly, while others schedule posts far in advance and then sit back and let the opportunity to post timely status updates pass them by.  Before you really get going, think about the mix of content you’ll want to post and where you’ll get it from. It’s important not to over-do the self-promotion, so in addition to posting about sales, offers and other events, share a few light-hearted but relevant posts. If you regularly post to a blog, share a link to this on your business page as well as your other social media outlets. Share news articles related to your industry and encourage debate and discussion about them to improve engagement Ensure you connect with your target audience You need to ensure you’re connecting to your target audience as this will help to build your following. If you already have a decent database, make sure they know you’re on Facebook and make a clear call to action inviting them to like and share your page.  In the early days, especially if your business is new, encourage your social connections to also like and share your page. Don’t forget to also promote your business page on your other social media outlets as well as your business cards, email signature, blog and website. Regularly monitor your Facebook performance If you keep a close eye on your business page’s performance, you can adjust your content and campaigns as necessary. If you notice a pattern when people are not engaging with your content, tweak the timing of your posts or maybe change your content slightly. It’s critical in business to give the people what they want. Speak to our social media experts for more advice Facebook is a powerful tool you can get some great use from and is a fantastic opportunity to go out there and give your audience a chance to connect with you on a personal level. However, it’s important you get this right. Why not speak to our social media experts today for advice on content and strategy? We can advise you on the best social media platforms to use and even provide social media training so you can get to grips with those platforms. Check out how we can work with you here. #### How to Spot an Uninfluential “Influencer” It’s an influencers’ world, and we’re all living in it. That’s what they think anyway. But, as effective as influencer marketing can be, not all that claim they are influencers are actually influential...at all. We often get asked to research relevant social media influencers for brands or to handle incoming requests from pages promising the world in exchange for a paid post. But finding a suitable influencer isn’t as straightforward as it may seem. Most clients don’t have a budget to get David Beckham to post about their brand, so we’re mostly dealing with people who aren’t even Z-listers, they're simply micro-influencers who have managed to build a solid following. Benchmarks When searching for influencers, you should have a benchmark for what amount of followers you consider large enough to pay for (be it in products or money). You should then categorise tiers. So, say you’re happy to gift influencers with 5,000 followers with one of your products, then there should be a next tier that you may be happy to gift and pay £200 for a post and several other tiers including one at the top that includes people you are willing to pay a substantial amount in exchange for the right sort coverage. What to look out for Follower ratio Just because someone has 10,000 Instagram followers and 10,000 Twitter followers, it doesn’t mean that they’re an influencer or have any sort of influence at all. If someone follows 20,000 people and has 10,000 followers then they're likely to be much less valuable than someone who follows 400 people but has 6,000 followers. Follow-for-follow is a growth strategy that many profiles use, but a lot of the time it just fills up the following with irrelevant people who have no influence and will bring no value to brands. Fake Followers There are tools that allow you to check how many fake followers an account has, such as Twitter Audit. If an account has anywhere near double figures of fake followers, then that is a big red flag. Working with someone who has a large number of fake followers is something we strongly advise against. These types of accounts may promise hundreds of followers per post they publish, but chances are these will be low quality, bots and the like. Some people are obsessed followers, so they will take them regardless, but we advise against this for so many reasons that we might have to write a whole blog about it. Engagement Rates Sometimes it’s difficult to track fake followers, then you can look for other indicators. Engagement is another way of looking for fake followers. If an account has 100,000 followers and it barely gets any comments and a suspiciously low amount of likes then it is a clear sign that the audience is of low quality. If they’re not fake then they’re an unengaged following that will do little for your business. Fake Engagement Some accounts have got more advanced fake followers, ones that even engage with posts by liking and commenting. But it usually doesn’t take much digging before you realise that the engagement is fake. Comments such as “great post”, “awesome” and “thanks for sharing” are standard bot comments. There has been a trend where real people have started to comment like bots, which may confuse it for some. But if you do a bit of digging you’ll realise whether someone has sarcastically commented on a post or not. All it takes is a couple of seconds of profile stalking, which brings us to the next point. Analysing Followers AKA Catching a Catfish If you're in doubt about an account being real or fake, then we can give you a few things to look out for: No postsStrange links in the bioAll posts have been added on the same day (Instagram)Fake photosNo profile pictureRepetitive postsA low number of friends (Facebook)Random locations Influencer marketing is a powerful tool but it takes nuance and understanding. Avoid the pitfalls of falling for fake influencers and use a social media specialist. We offer complete digital solutions whether it be organic social media, PPC, SEO, website content generation or full website rebuilds. Contact us today to find out more about how we can help you with your digital engagement. #### How to stretch your marketing budget into the new year Any business owner will understand the importance of maximising your marketing budget to drive growth and success. With the new year fast approaching, now is the perfect time to reevaluate your marketing strategies and make the most out of every penny you spend. In this blog, we'll look at some savvy ways on how you can stretch your marketing budget effectively into the new year. With these cost-effective digital marketing strategies, you’ll be able to achieve your marketing goals without breaking the bank. What is a marketing budget? In simple terms, a marketing budget is a financial plan that outlines how much money you plan to spend on marketing your products or services. Usually created on a yearly, quarterly, or monthly basis, it serves as a roadmap for all the different types of marketing activities you intend to carry out such as paid advertising, social media campaigns, and promotional events. You’ll need to factor in your marketing staff or consultants as part of your marketing budget too so you can clearly see where you’re investing your money. Having a well-thought-out marketing budget is key to ensuring your business, regardless of size, is investing in resources effectively and efficiently. When it comes to budgeting for marketing, setting clear objectives and tracking your expenses enables you to stretch your budget as far as possible and maximise your return on investment (ROI). What should I spend my marketing budget on? What you’ll spend your marketing budget on will usually depend on the industry your business resides in, what products or services you’re selling, and who your target audience is.  Your business should aim to get the best value for your budget and to do this, you need to be experts in your customer base. The best way to do this is to conduct audience research but some common questions you could ask yourself include: Who is your audience? What are their interests? What are they looking for? What channels do they use the most? It’s important to take time and research what channels your audience are most interested in and invest in those areas. If your business regularly appears in places that are relevant to them, potential customers are more likely to remember and develop trust with your brand. How to stretch your marketing budget into the new year We know that stretching your marketing budget may be easier said than done, however it’s essential for maximising your efforts and reaching your target audience effectively. Below we share some cost-effective and savvy strategies you can take advantage of to make the most of your budget. Email marketing Not only is email marketing a cost-effective tool to use in your digital marketing strategy, it’s also a very powerful tool. The reason why email marketing is so powerful and successful is because you can directly target your market. Once you’ve targeted the right people, it’s a matter of delivering your message professionally. For an email campaign to be successful you must have captivating subject lines, engaging content, strong call to actions (CTA’s), and outstanding creatives. You should also incorporate personalisation where you can and target your audience with a relevant message to help drive conversions. Ultimately, email marketing can be a game-changer for businesses looking to make a big impact without breaking the bank. Social media Utilising social media for your business is one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to market your brand. You can post organically for free, and with billions of active users across various platforms, social media provides a powerful way to reach your target audience without spending a lot, if any, of your marketing budget. As your business grows, you could also take advantage of running paid ads where you can determine the amount you spend. Remember consistency is key to succeeding on social media so be sure to post regularly and ensure you’re posting engaging and relevant content so you can make the most out of each post. It’s also worth monitoring your performance regularly so you can adjust your strategy and your budget based on valuable insights.  Content marketing Often overlooked, creating a content marketing strategy is another fantastic way of stretching your marketing budget. Content can come in many forms such as blogs, articles, videos, and infographics for example, and can be shared across almost all digital platforms, such as your website, social media, and email marketing. Creating high-quality and engaging content is a great way of attracting your audience, keeping them invested, and generating leads as it showcases your expertise in your industry. And when you optimise your content for search engines, you can improve visibility and reach a wider audience without it costing the earth. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) This leads us nicely onto the next cost-effective tactic to utilise; SEO. Spending some of your marketing budget to increase your online visibility and organic traffic to your website is vital to remaining competitive and drawing in your target audience. Through optimising your content with relevant keywords and user-friendly design, you can improve your rankings and attract more potential customers without having to fork out on paid advertising. As well as this, regularly updating your website with fresh content and building quality backlinks from reputable sites can further enhance your SEO efforts and result in long-term success in reaching your target audience. Investing in your SEO strategy now will lead to significant benefits in your business’s growth and profitability in the long-run. Need help with budgeting for marketing? As you can see, creating a marketing budget will help you make a plan for your efforts in the new year, allowing you to really provide value for money. Investing this time into planning can also help you be more efficient and maximise your chances of success with your chosen campaigns. We hope our cost-effective and savvy ways to stretch your marketing budget have helped give you some inspiration for your digital marketing strategy for the new year. If you’d like more expert advice on where best to spend your budget, or to learn how we can help elevate your marketing efforts, don’t hesitate to contact us today. #### How to Use Attribution Models to Better Understand Conversions Like adding a potted plant to your bedroom, let's heat things up in here by talking about something really sexy... Attribution Models, oh baby. Let's get started. It's all about what we do. In 'Human Behaviour', the opening track to Bjork's Debut Album, she beautifully harmonises that: If you ever get close to a human And human behaviour, Be ready, be ready to get confused. Bjork's right. Our actions are incredibly strange and elusive even to ourselves. I use the word 'our' as I assume you're one of those peculiar humans like me. If not, I'd like to welcome our new alien overlords. Behaviour has been studied for over a thousand years. Classically approached from boffins often quoted (but never read) like Aristotle or Colonel Sanders himself; Sigmund Freud. They observed then critiqued our illogical twitches to find the universal truth that binds us all. But we're not here for that. We want to know what made you buy that caterpillar draught excluder... Digitally, we can track where you came from before you reached the product, but does that paint an exact picture of the deciding action of why you purchased? Arguably, I would say no. And, you don't have to study your customer's physiological state to figure this out. (God forbid) There are a plethora of attribution models that you can use for a more accurate framework to how goals are achieved from start to finish. Even better for us, 'self-proclaimed Data Analysts' (aka graduates with degrees from former polytechnics *cough*) is that we can also compare these models against each other and we can even get machines to do it for us. So we can spend more time doing the things we like, like spending time with friends and family. Actually, I will personally fight the machines before I have to interact with people. What are Attribution Models? An Attribution Model is simply about dividing credit or attributing merit between touch points towards what you set as a goal, KPI or a conversion. There's not much else to say about that. That is exactly what it is; it's about adding more value to the journey. The most popular Attribution Model is the last click, last touch or last interaction method, which is deeply flawed. What's Wrong with the Last Click or Single Source Attribution? Traditionally, the last click attribution method is used. For instance: You are an online retailer that sells Blu-rays & DVDs. (VHS on the side) Six customers this week bought six copies of Kieslowski's The Dekalog. (It's the most excellent TV-series ever made, why wouldn't you buy it?) They each came from a different source: organic, pay-per-click, a different domain, social media, email and direct. You would then award whichever source 100% of the credit towards that conversion. Is this right? Should the last man to cross the finish line be the one to receive all the credit? All your marketing sources should be a relay race team, with your customers being the baton that is passed onto each racer. Each is receiving equal credit for their participation. However, it's even more complicated than my relay race analogy. If the customer journey was a relay race, then it would be absolute chaos. Some racers wouldn't turn up, others would decide to go off track then return after 30 days. Some would take part in another race and some racers may trip and fall. I'll stop with all these metaphors (although I was trying to think of a way to fit in performance-enhancing drugs and how that was like PPC or paid social). Where was I? Oh yeah, it all goes back to Bjork, i.e. human behaviour. We're very hard to understand as our behaviour is not black and white. Hence why our action cannot be categorised so easily. Hence why we need various models of measurement. Hence why I'm writing this blog. Hence why I never use the word 'hence' as I tend to use it at the start of each sentence. What are the other Attribution Models? Like most things in Digital Marketing, some clever bod has already done the thinking-work. If you're using Google Analytics, there are many of models available to you. Here I'll explain in simple terms what each model means, using famous 90's footballers as examples. (Just kidding) You can find Google's official explanation here. But, if you're keen to read my less boring explanations then follow me. Last Interaction Briefly explained above, this where you give 100% of the credit to the previous channel interacted with for a goal completion. Most folks will be reporting on this method. It's as dull as Weetabix, but successful and straightforward. If you don't have a consideration phase in your buyer journey, then this is probably the most correct measurement for you. Last non-direct Last non-direct click doesn't take direct as an answer, and attributes the credit to the last known channel. In Google Analytics, direct means it doesn't know where the user has come from. This is a constant problem for most marketers, an upturn in direct traffic in that month's report means your shoulders will be sore from shrugging. I'd suggest if you have a significant amount of direct traffic then I'd look at assessing where this could potentially come from. For instance, you could have multiple campaigns that don't have proper tracking within the links, and this could be via email or in an ad. In the meantime, last direct click can save you. It's not entirely accurate but it's useful for plotting what resources work in your journey right now. The Last Adword Click This model is all about giving all your goal-scoring prowess to all the adverts. Not much to explain here. Last Adwords Click is deaf to anything that's not an ad and will give credit to Adwords. Obviously, not the one to use if you don't have any ads. The First Interaction Model We all remember our first time – in the buyer's journey, of course. [Note to Editor: Add winking emoji.] Wherever your customer first popped up, that's where you give the attribution to. This is a fascinating way of thinking. As you'll be able to see to scale where users first know about your brand or site. Seeing how many channels they go through before validating a purchase or contact. If the process is pretty long, then you'll need to work on your first impressions to tighten that first meet. Linear Model A fair and equal model, Linear spreads the credit equally over every channel before reaching a goal. This is one of the more accurate models and highlights every step in the journey. This is kind of hard to explain when it comes to reporting and I'd say only use if you're committed to deep analysis. Time Decay Model This is a good one for goals with a quick turn around. It attributes all the credit to closest to the time when the conversion was made. Position Based Model Position based modelling give a specific set of credit to the first and last click, then shares the rest of the credit with everything in between. Reporting and Comparing Attribution Models All these attribution models are available to you right now. You can see how they work without affecting any of the data within GA. It's well worth looking at these and expanding your mind when it comes to goal conversions. As you'll see, it's not as straight-forward as you think. You can compare each model against each other in the model comparison tool. Some of the many reasons to do this are to: See if there's any under-nourished channels or campaigns within your goal path that appears to be a solid touchpoint. It may help to identify areas to improve. Properly value and prioritise sources/channels and its effects on neighbouring channels. Spot better ways of future reporting of conversion paths. Build a full proof projective customer journey. Align your own values with the proper channels. Creating a Bespoke Attribution Model Within Google Analytics, you can create your very own attribution model. Instead of using the standard template you can truly create a framework that properly fits your business. However, this is extremely complicated and not for the faint-hearted as there are so many variables to consider it might become overwhelming. And, that's why we make machines think for us. Using Machine Learning to Create Attribution Models Despite standard Attribution Models being very logical, they're not very intuitive. Within Google Analytics, there's no real way of using these models for statistical prediction or forecasting. This is where machine learning can come into play. This is a bit of a tease, as I'll be writing a big piece on how to use machine learning to not only create a fully customisable model but also a predictive framework. If you'd like to be first to know when this is available, why not sign up to our newsletter? Please select a valid form. #### How to use Instagram for your business According to Instagram, their social media platform is the number one platform for building relationships with brands and 70% of people they surveyed like or don’t mind ads when watching videos. So it’s no wonder why so many businesses incorporate the platform as part of their digital marketing strategy. But knowing how to effectively use the platform is vital for success. That’s why we’ve put together this guide on using Instagram for your business. Getting started with Instagram business There is a massive potential outreach, full of users that interact regularly and consistently on Instagram. The platform enables millions of businesses to engage and sell their products or services directly to their audiences as well as track performance to see what’s working well, allowing you to tailor your digital marketing strategy accordingly. Setting up an Instagram business account is the first step to getting started and you can follow these very simple steps to do just that. Once you’re all set up, it’s time to get to the fun and creative part. Using Instagram for your business Using Instagram for your business is certainly an exciting time. You can be as creative as you want with your content and truly show off what your brand has to offer. But before you dive in head first, here are some considerations to be mindful of when managing your Instagram business account. Be mobile ready Instagram is an app designed to work on mobile devices and tablets, so it’s important your website is also optimised for mobile. It’s a great way to build a loyal following on Instagram, but unless they can visit your website from the same device, they are not very likely to convert. Be fun and creative Whilst the main aim of a digital marketing campaign is to advertise your product or service, you don’t want to alienate your audience by constantly posting about what you have to offer, so mix it up with some fun posts to keep them engaged. Be mysterious If you have a new product ready for launch, or a new video promoting your services, consider posting a snippet to your followers, and forward the user towards the full image or video on your website. Instagrammers are known to be inquisitive, so pique their interest where you can. Be visual Whilst images of your work can be interesting, they can quickly get boring. If you go to meet a client and find a beautiful view, take a quick picture or consider posting reels or carousels. Mixing up your post content can be a great way to help grow your community. Be consistent It’s important to ensure you create a schedule and stick to it. It doesn’t have to be an exact time and day you plan to post, but it’s good to have an idea of the minimum number of posts you want to be posting weekly or monthly. Be people Posting content of your employees (with consent of course) is a great way to show the ‘behind the scenes’ of your workforce whilst celebrating their achievements and showing them how much you value them. Users are more likely to trust your company if they get to know who you are and your brand. Be #accessible Use hashtags to allow people that have an interest in your field (but don’t necessarily interact with your brand) to find you. Create your own hashtags too, and encourage your followers to use them to share content of your company, services, and products. Be engaging In addition to all of the above, which should help your Instagram business account be engaging enough, you should also interact with your audience. Follow them back, like and comment on their posts, hold competitions, and you’ll be well on your way to having an Instagram account that people love. Find out more about Instagram can help your business If you’re ready to get started with Instagram for your business, speak to our social media marketing experts today. We can help you form your social media marketing strategy, advise you on which platforms to utilise and even do all the hard work for you including creating social content calendar, creative design and posting. Get in touch today! #### How to work with influencers for ultimate success Tapping into influencer marketing is a great way to leverage the exposure of your offering. The internet is full of potential customers and influencers can help you reach that audience. Partnering with an influencer seems like a simple process, but choosing the right influencer can be difficult to execute. In this blog, we share some of our top tips on approaching key accounts and how to work with influencers effectively to ensure a successful collaboration in the long run. How to find the right influencers There are many benefits of working with influencers including brand awareness and increased conversions, but choosing the right influencer for your brand is crucial for success. Here are some of our top tips to finding the right influencer to work with: Remember to consider your budget The type of influencers worth contacting will depend on your marketing budgets. If you’re trying to work with influencers without sponsored payment and instead through gifting, then you will need to look at those with a smaller following. This is when it’s worth contacting micro influencers. If your budget is much higher and you have the ability to pay influencers on top of the gifting, then it’ll be easier to work with much larger influencers. When searching for these influencers, you’ll need to spend time manually looking for those who are relevant to your brand. You can outsource this task to influencer directories, where you’ll be able to find influencers from chosen categories and find their contact details. Check their following and engagement It’s easy enough to find out someone’s following, but it’s worth finding out what their engagement is like too. You can find these details by either asking the influencer directly, as many will already have a document together with those details, or you can get an idea of their engagement when looking at their profiles and their posts. There are many people out there with tens of thousands of followers, but they have little to no engagement. This is usually due to people buying followers, which aren’t real accounts. If you come across these kinds of influencers, don’t waste your time or money on them. Reach out to your following If you’ve already got a really engaged following on social media, you could do a brand ambassador call out. This can simply be done through a post across your social media channels, offering your followers an opportunity to work with you in promoting your brand. You don’t need to accept everyone who’s interested, just pick out a select few that you believe have potential. Particularly those who may already be successful bloggers or social media stars. How to work with influencers effectively Once you have established that you’re working with an influencer, there are things you need to make sure you’re doing to make the collaboration worth your while. Here are our top tips on how to work with influencers effectively: Keep it lawful If you are paying for an influencer to feature your products or services on social media or on their blog, they must disclaim #ad, #spon or write a personal disclaimer within their blog post stating this. It’s now an advertising law and must not be forgotten. Be sure to build a relationship Building a relationship with influencers you’re connecting with is really beneficial. Let them become your friend, as this will increase the chances that they will like to work with you again in the future. It also builds a stronger trust and a positive view of your brand. Create a schedule of their content It’s important to find out when your influencers are planning on posting their social posts, blog posts or videos. This is so you can track the exposure and measure the benefits you may receive from it as you may notice an influx of followers or new engagement on your brands accounts as a result of their post. It also allows you to be ready to react to their post once it goes live and to be able to make sure that they’re posting what they have promised for the collaboration. If you’ve got multiple influencers, this will help you manage all the content that’ll be coming your way! Let us help with your influencer marketing Working with influencers opens up an exciting time for brands, and lots of opportunities for fresh new content that leads to further brand awareness. But we know getting started with influencer marketing can be daunting, so why not let us help you? We’ve built strong relationships with countless influencers and affiliates to help build your brand and your offering. Be sure to get in touch with us to find out more and check out our digital PR services for other ways we can help promote your business. #### How to write a web development tech spec? Creating an excellent website involves extensive planning. This is the only way to ensure that it will accomplish your objectives accurately and with a high level of client satisfaction.  This is when a detailed technical requirement and specification definition comes in handy. Whenever you create a new website, introduce a significant new feature, or redesign an existing website, you will require a document similar to this.  What is the Web development tech spec?  A technical spec definition for a website or other software product outlines the product's goal, functionality, and behaviour. In other words, it establishes the purpose of the website, what it should accomplish, and how it should accomplish it.  The software requirement specification is abbreviated as SRS. Additionally, the term "technical specifications" or "specs" is sometimes used to refer to the project needs. It is frequently used interchangeably with another word, product requirements document (PRD). Additionally, the Business Requirement Document (BRD) term focuses on the project's business aspects.  While the spec document's appearance may vary, it should serve the primary purpose of ensuring that both the Product Owner and the web development team have a comprehensive understanding of the future website's details. A well-defined specification enables exact project estimation and execution.  This does not preclude you from modifying your project in the future. Changes are encouraged, input is incorporated, and work is completed in iterations according to the Agile process (short periods). Thus, a technical requirement document is not intended to constrain your flexibility; rather, it serves as a useful starting point and guidance.  The various components of a web development tech spec  As mentioned previously, the components of a web development tech spec document may vary, and you will discover a variety of templates from a variety of sources. As a result, there is probably no list of the contents of a typical requirements specification document.  However, let us sketch our version of the technical specification document structure that contains only the necessary information. It is founded on the industry's best practices and suggestions for project planning. Additionally, it adheres to Agile principles, which refer to website features as "user stories."  Here is an example of a good requirement document structure:  User personas serve a purpose  User testimonials (features)  Descriptions of the pages on the website  Wireframes  Non-functional specifications The website's objective  The initial section of the technical requirements document outlines the purpose of your website or other digital product, the problems it addresses, the visions and expectations that accompany it, and so on.  Website purpose When you understand who your product is intended for, it becomes much easier to suit their needs. Thus, it is advantageous when the technical specification contains user personas – representations of your target clients with pertinent features.  User narratives (features)  User stories are narratives that describe features from the perspective of user personas. They specify what users should be able to accomplish on your website and how the site should operate. Additionally, user stories should have their release requirements (the testable criteria to define when they are accomplished).  Structure of the website  Following that, a sitemap should be included that details the primary pages of your prospective website. Additionally, it should include the hierarchy of these pages.  Descriptions of pages  Following that explains the main items that should be included on each website page in your technical requirements paper.  Schematics  Wireframes, or diagrams of page layouts with element placement, are an extremely useful component of a technical specification document. While wireframes are typically optional, they are necessary for complex projects.  Non-functional specifications  Non-functional requirements are concerned with how the website runs rather than with what the website does. For instance, you can specify that it should handle 1000 visitors concurrently, have a responsive design, and compatibility with specific browsers.  Guidelines for writing an effective web development tech spec  Make it concise while also being informative.  Your demand specifications must strike a balance between conciseness and detail. Long "novels" do not fit well into Agile development. As a result, the paper should include all of the necessary information about your product.  Make it straightforward to read  This will ensure that your thoughts are clearly understood, thus utilise simple language and structure:  Write in straightforward and concise sentences  Avert bloated paragraphs  Organize your thoughts with bulleted and numbered lists  Maintain a consistent vocabulary throughout the document What to do before you begin developing a technical specification  Before you begin, gather all available information on the problem domain. Examine any product/feature requirements developed by the product team and any technical specifications/standards linked with the project. With this knowledge of the problem's history, define the problem in-depth and brainstorm all possible remedies. Choose the most reasonable answer from the alternatives you have considered.  Bear in mind that you are not alone in this endeavour. Solicit the assistance of an expert engineer who is knowledgeable about the issue as a sounding board. Invite them to a meeting and discuss the issue and your chosen solution. Outline your thoughts and reasoning and attempt to convince them that your option is the most appropriate. Collect their feedback and invite them to serve as technical spec reviewers.  Finally, it's time to draught the specification. Schedule time in your calendar to write the technical specification's first draught. Utilize a collaborative document editor that is accessible to the entire team.  #### How to write a white paper When it comes to content marketing, very few content styles shout about your skills and experience more than a white paper. These documents have become industry markers where brands can show off impressive stats, insight, and knowledge which can then be marketed to newspapers, industry news sites, and across social media. But where do you start when it comes to writing a white paper?  In this blog, we look at how to write a white paper so it engages your readers and delivers valuable insights. From defining your white paper topic, to structuring your content, we’ll provide you with some top tips that will turn your industry insight into income.  What is a white paper? A white paper is a document that aims to inform the reader on a specific topic, usually something highly specialised, that is usually shared in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. They often take the form of presenting a problem and providing a solution, making use of extensive data and research to argue for a particular solution or recommendation.  For example, if you ran a logistics company and had data on how your scheduling system has improved haulage, then that information can be turned into a white paper to improve the industry and show off your ingenuity. White papers are very effective at establishing thought leadership, building credibility, and generating leads. They are usually longer than blog posts and range from about 6 to 30 pages. They’re structured so that they include an introduction or abstract, problem statement, background information, a proposed solution with supporting evidence, and a conclusion, which we will look at in more detail a little later.  Are white papers worth the effort? Because of the research and time needed to create a white paper, they can be an investment in terms of resource as they require days of researching, writing, and editing before rolling it out.  However, with that being said, the benefits they bring far outweigh any doubts. For example, not only do they offer an opportunity to delve deep into a specific topic that provides an in-depth analysis and insight to showcase your expertise in the field, they also serve as a powerful marketing asset. This helps to attract new audiences who are looking for specific information within your industry. It is worth remembering that these data-centric, text-heavy documents are usually written with a particular audience in mind, so it’s important to research your market audience to see if they will bring value and more importantly, if they will bring you more conversions. How to define a white paper topic When defining your white paper topic, you have to make sure you tick all of the below boxes: You’re qualified to write about the topic Your audience is interested in reading it You’re filling a content gap and it hasn’t already been written about If you have ticked all of the above, your next step is to find the data to back your chosen white paper topic. If you’ve researched your audience beforehand, you’ll more than likely already have a set of data or case studies in mind that you can use for this.  The aim of the document is to combine internal experience with external research to create a solid argument that isn’t one-sided. Finding external information for your argument is particularly important as it shows a rigorous academic approach in your thinking. This is something that will resonate with readers as they read your white paper. The secret to a good white paper is turning your internal and external evidence and arguments into an idea or solution. This can be anything, from common errors in your industry to a brand new method or potential trend that could be explored further. Whatever you decide, take the time to understand what you’re suggesting and how it could affect the industry at large.  How to format your white paper Once you have your white paper topic nailed, it’s time to format your white paper. Just like most academic papers, a white paper needs to follow a specific layout. You want to be aiming for: Title – this should be accurate and interesting to what you’re writing about Abstract – you want to provide a brief overview of the topic, your argument, and its main points so it can capture the reader’s attention Problem Statement – this is where you argue for the need to change on your chosen topic; what is the issue you are offering a solution to? Background Information – in this section, you want to provide more context on the problem, your industry, and your practice Solution – this is where you want to showcase your knowledge and share your solution with your evidence with the reader and give them the ‘eureka’ moment Conclusion – finally, you’ll want to conclude your argument by summarising the problem and your solution before ending the white paper with your references Sticking to this kind of format with your white paper allows you to create a well-structured document that effectively communicates your message in a visually appealing way. Need more advice on how to write a white paper? As you can see, writing a white paper is no small feat. If you’re able to gather the data and information, find a captive audience, and most importantly, find a solution to a common problem in your industry, you’ve got a powerful tool to grow your brand and influence. Once you have it written, you should make sure you’re marketing it to newspapers and other news outlets too.  If you’d like more information on how to write a white paper, or you need a hand in generating or marketing your white paper, get in touch with us today. Our specialist digital marketing team are on hand to provide you with expert advice and turn your content into clicks, traffic, and revenue. #### How To Write The Perfect Business Blog Company blogs are everywhere. Every business is now writing blog content for the web. It’s just as simple as throwing words on a screen – right? Maybe. In the digital age, time is precious. Studies by Microsoft have shown users’ attention spans have reduced from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. A good chunk of readers may never even get this far! That means blogs have to be more interesting and more gripping from the outset. Get it right, and you’ll bring visitors to your site, increase your leads, and build up a genuinely engaged following for years to come. Here are our top tips for creating business blog content. Have a plan Just before your fingers mash the keyboard, what’s the point of your blog? Is it to help people find more information, to explain something complex, entertain fans or add value to their lives? Whatever your needs, it’s important to create a content calendar. Better yet try our Top Tips for Content Idea Generation to give you a wealth of options. You might also want to think about: Tone of voice. How you express your company’s voice online away from product pages? Do you want people to think you’re a fun brand, or do you want people to view you as the leading authority? From using slang to puns, the words you use say more about your business than you think. But make sure you’re being genuine. What topics? There’s more to talk about than you think. You don’t have to blog directly about the products you sell (or the keywords you’re focussed on getting traffic for – maybe sometimes product pages are best for those), but on topics related to your industry. For example, supermarkets sell food, but their magazines don’t talk about baked beans. Instead, they’re chock-full of recipes and lifestyle ideas. Customers find this useful. How can I add value? Basically, this translates to: why should people care about reading your blog? There are hundreds of others out there. So there has to be something in it for them - value for them to take away. Tips, advice, resources or anything that you can offer that encourage engagement. Get your sub-headings sorted If you want people to read your posts, then it’s important that they can scan down the screen to digest information more easily. Just like this. Not only does it break up the text, but it acts like an expanded contents list. So if people really do have eight seconds to spend on your page then they’ll find the information they came for. Keep it simple Simple sentences and shorter paragraphs are easier to read on a screen. That means people can easily follow what you say. And that means they’ll spend longer engaging with your content – which can help (in combination with these other factors) improve dwell time and your Google rankings. Don’t forget, you can also emphasise key points with bold text to make sure the really important stuff hits home. Using bullet points is also an ideal way to make complex ideas easier to follow. Easy on the acronyms too – don’t assume everyone knows what DERP stands for (we don’t either). Internal Links Blogging is a fantastic opportunity to link back to relevant content elsewhere on your website. As a descriptive anchor text, it helps improve SEO. But make sure to keep it relevant. For example, we’ve talked about content for websites before, so it’s useful to reference that with a cheeky internal link. Don’t get too trigger happy with those links though. Use them sparingly. Images & Videos Who wants to look at words all the time when we have pictures? A good photo (or an infographic) not only offers a nice break to the text. As a bonus, Google also ranks pages with images higher than those without. Don’t forget to optimise your images with a relevant alt-tag that describes what the image is. You should also make sure that all images are less than 1MB to reduce load times and stop users bouncing before your page loads. Image optimisation not only contributes to SEO, but it helps with web accessibility when people are using screen readers. Also, this is the internet and it’s filled with videos (admittedly most of them starring cats). Relevant videos can also help increase dwell time on the page. Fonts Gone are the days of Comic Sans – for the most part. But generally, you need to pick a font for your blog that’s easy to read – both in design and in size. This is extremely important for reading on mobile devices (you may even find the majority of users are actually reading on their phones – so make sure you’ve got your blog mobile optimised). You should also ensure that your hypertext font colour is easily legible and draws the eye for users to quickly explore your site further.  Final thoughts Once you get the hang of it, blogging with a proper structure is simple. These key points are focussed around delivering useful content to people, in a clear and engaging way. So readers can get the information they want with minimal fuss. Customers will like you for it. Google will like you for it. Everyone wins. If you can get the perfect balance of content, font, images, and layout, you'll see a long term increase in the results of your blogs, from raising brand awareness to increasing conversions and enquiries. If you don’t have a knack for grammar or want to leave your content to the experts then try Fifteen Design. We have a team of dedicated content writers and digital strategists who can turn a phrase and maximise your content. Original Date: December 13, 2016 Updated Date: December 14, 2020 #### How To: Use Instagram for Retail If you read our previous Instagram blog post, you’ll already be aware of the statistics. With 75 million daily users hitting the like button up to 2.5 billion times a day, there’s no denying that Instagram is a huge platform. There is a massive potential outreach, full of users that interact regularly and consistently. So, how can you capture this potential audience for your retail business? Fifteen’s Digital Marketing team share some tips. Be Aware The most important thing when planning any marketing campaign is to be aware of your target audience. This will allow you to properly plan for all the points below. You need to consider when your followers will be online, what content they will interact well with, their behaviours, demographics, and more. Once you are certain that you know whom you’re marketing to, you can start marketing. Be Exclusive Create original content for Instagram. It’s that simple. Not only content that is exclusive from other brands, but also exclusive for you. Nobody wants to see recycled pictures of your products on Instagram, especially if they can just find those same photos on your website. Take interesting photos of your products in use, and behind the scenes photos. Post anything but countless images of your products on a white background. Be Consistent We mentioned this one in our Instagram for businesses blog, and it applies here too. Part of developing a good brand is consistency. This can apply to several factors within an on-going Instagram campaign too. Use the same filters consistently, making every picture look like part of a whole. Make sure the tone of the posts is consistent throughout. If your target audience responds well to fun, vibrant posts keep going down that route. If they prefer a more formal, corporate tone, don’t suddenly throw them off with a crazy video. Be #Reachable If you’re starting out on Instagram, you won’t have many followers to begin with. How do you find your audience amongst this huge amount of users? Hashtags. Use popular hashtags in your posts to reach out to users, and to find potential followers. Create your own hashtags to encourage people to interact with your brand, and to reach out to their own followers. Be Conversational Use hashtags and competitors to find potential customers, and then interact with them. As we quoted in our recent blog about increasing followers on Twitter, users are more likely to interact with you if you engage with them first. Users that interact more frequently are more likely to become a loyal customer. Once you have a loyal customer though, don’t forget about them. Keep the conversation going, listen to your customers, and tailor your posting to what they want to see. How is this Instagram for retail? If you’re reading this, and wondering how it all applies specifically to Instagram for retail businesses, the above is how to create a solid, loyal following on Instagram. This is one of the most important things to using Instagram for your brand. Once you have a loyal following, you have more chance of receiving sales from the channel. You just need to guide them towards your website with a well placed URL. Want to know more about advertising on Instagram? Get in touch with our Digital Marketing team today. #### How You Can Help Support the Charities We Work With As an agency, we’ve worked with many brilliant charities over the years, all of whom we want to support as much as we can. We donate our time and money towards charities every year, and we encourage the Fifteam to get involved as much as possible. The Charities we work with Nottingham Hospitals Charity - http://nottinghamhospitalscharity.org.uk/ Nottingham Hospitals Charity is a local charity that supports healthcare for patients accessing City Hospital, Queens Medical Centre, Children’s Hospital and Ropewalk House. The charity raises money for new equipment, staff developmental research and improved resources. Find out more about the charities’ Big Appeal, which is in full swing at the moment, or helps them out with a donation. Imran Khan Cancer Appeal - http://ikca.org.uk/ After losing his mum to cancer, famous cricketer Imran Khan setup IKCA. The charity helps people in Pakistan diagnosed with cancer, where up to 75% of patients receive free treatment, and others receive subsidies. The charity currently runs the only cancer hospital in Pakistan. There are a number of urgent appeals that they could really use your help with right now, have a look at the appeals here. Orphans in Need - http://www.orphansinneed.org.uk/ Orphans in Need is a UK based charity who won the Muslim Charity of the Year Award in 2015. OIN delivers sustainable, long-term solutions to those in need, supporting over 20,000 orphans and their families in 14 countries. They offer regular food parcels, education fees, healthcare and accommodation. Their mission is to see a world where all orphaned children have a chance to grow up in a lovely and caring environment. You can help support OIN through one of their ongoing campaigns or by donating. Harley Jae Trust - https://www.theharleyjaetrust.org/ After a little boy called Harley Jae was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition, his bravery inspired his family to register the Harley Jae Trust. They aim to help children with life limiting conditions and their families. The trust helps them and hospitals gain access to the equipment and resources needed to improve the children's quality of life. Find all the ways you can support the Harley Jae Trust on their website. MEND - https://mend.org.uk/ MEND is a not-for-profit company that works to empower and encourage British Muslims. Working in local communities they aim to get the groups more actively involved with the media and politics. They encourage people to use their vote and equip them with the skills, resources and materials necessary to play a more active role in society. Furthermore, they work with a range of organisations to help tackle Islamophobia and other forms of racism. You can find out more about MEND and how you can get involved on their website. Nottingham County FC Football in the Community -  http://nottscountyfitc.org.uk/ Going right back to our roots and the creation of Fifteen, we are proud to partner with Football in the Community. The charity delivers a range of programmes to make a positive impact to some of the most disadvantaged, marginalised and talented people across Nottingham. They specialise in 4 key areas: Health, Education, Social Inclusion and Sports Participation. Find out more about their projects online. Derby Counselling Centre - http://www.derbycounsellingcentre.org/ Mental health is important to all of us at Fifteen, which is why we have partnered with Derby Counselling Centre. Providing affordable counselling services, they help to develop a better understanding of problems that anyone might face and help look towards a path of recovery. If you are interested in booking an appointment with them simply click here. Getting Involved As part of our company ethos, we are always supporting charities, whether that is offering our services like we did for the Harley Jae Trust or climbing mountains like we did for IKCA, there is always a way that you can get involved with your chosen charity. For example: Nottingham Hospitals Charity has loads of events coming up, including those further afield like a trek around the Inca Trail, to those closer to home, like the Robin Hood half marathon. You can find out more on their events page. IKCA offers a range of challenges and events to help raise funds. Ranging from the 3 peaks challenge (which our MD Ollie took part in back in 2015) to a Tour de Salah which takes you around London’s mosques and scenic views. Find out more about the events here. If events aren’t your thing, but you still want to help raise money, Orphans in Need has loads of fundraising ideas. From setting up a charity car wash, a non-uniform day, collection boxes, swear boxes and more - find all the fundraising ideas here. The Harley Jae Trust has a range of evenings coming up that you can purchase tickets for. Charity dinners are a great way of supporting your chosen charities as you have a night out and the opportunity to get dolled up for a great cause! Take a look at the upcoming events. AmazonSmile A recent addition to the Amazon offering is AmazonSmile. It’s something that I stumbled across at the weekend, and is a great way of getting a little bit of extra money to your favourite charity while shopping online! By using smile.amazon.com you can support your chosen charity every time you shop through Amazon. The AmazonSmile foundation will donate 0.5% of the cost from your eligible purchases (there is a marking on these products) to the charity of your choice. You can find out more here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/about Donate Online All charity websites have a donate online option, so if you would like to support any of the charities we work, please follow the links below. They need all the help and support that they can get to continue their amazing work. A donation today means help given tomorrow. You can donate to them using the following links:   Nottingham Hospitals Charity: https://www.nottinghamhospitalscharity.org.uk/donate/ Imran Khan Cancer Appeal: https://www.ikca.org.uk/donate/ Orphans in Need: http://www.orphansinneed.org.uk/donate/ Harley Jae Trust: https://www.goldengiving.com/secure/donation/the-harley-jae-trust MEND: https://mend.org.uk/get-involved/donate/ Football in the Community: http://nottscountyfitc.org.uk/about-us/donate/ Derby Counselling Centre: http://www.derbycounsellingcentre.org/donations.html   Supporting Us This year I am going to take a jump out of a plane and do a Skydive for Nottingham Hospitals Charity on the 15th September 2018. You can support me via my Just Giving page. Or, if you fancy taking part yourself, you can find out more about the jump here: https://www.nottinghamhospitalscharity.org.uk/events/skydive-2/   We will be taking part in more charity events throughout the year, so keep your eye on our social channels for the latest information! #### How you can make the most of your marketing on a small budget. When circumstances are tight for any business, one of the most common areas to reduce spending is marketing. Spreading the word about your enterprise is critical, however there are many ways to still generate buzz, even if you lack a large budget. If you’re a small business and you’re marketing on a small budget, or you’re simply looking to reduce costs for marketing, keep reading as we share some efficient ways to make the most of your marketing budget without sacrificing on quality or performance. Let’s get straight into it. Identify your business objectives Before spending a single penny on your marketing, the first step is to understand what you’re working towards. Ask yourself; are you aiming to increase sales, grow your audience, generate leads, or build brand awareness? You’ll also want to understand your ideal target audience so you can make data-driven decisions about your marketing approach. The more precise and concise you are, the better the outcome will be with your campaigns. Clear objectives also help you spend your money wisely. For example, if your goal is to generate leads, investing in SEO or email marketing may offer better long-term value than short bursts of paid ads. Having a defined outcome in mind makes it easier to measure success and avoid wasting your marketing budget on low-impact activities. Make social media a priority Social media requires little, if any, financial commitment, and when that comes to marketing on a small budget, it makes social media one of the most effective tools at your disposal. This is because it gives you a direct line to your audience, allows you to build relationships, and helps promote your products or services consistently - all without significant costs for marketing. Focus your time and energy on one or two platforms that match your audience and sector. If you’re B2B, LinkedIn may be your go-to. If you’re product-led or quite a visual brand, Instagram or TikTok could be a better fit.  You should aim to post consistently - such as once or twice a week -  and engage with your followers so you can build a relationship with them. Try and also showcase the personality behind your brand too and include behind-the-scenes posts to humanise your business. When you’re ready and when the time is right, consider putting a small amount of money behind some of your posts to help amplify your efforts. Focus on local SEO and your Google Business Profile If you offer your products or services in a specific area, local SEO is an extremely cost-effective tactic to utilise. It helps you appear in local searches and Google Map Packs without ongoing ad spend. As well as that, claiming and optimising your Google Business Profile is also another great tactic to use.  Make sure your contact details, service areas, and opening times are accurate, and add images or updates regularly to boost visibility. You should also encourage current or previous happy customers to leave reviews, as well as respond to them professionally. Not only does it show that you value feedback and builds trust, but it also boosts your efforts and increases your chances of a higher ranking. Repurpose and redevelop existing content Creating content doesn’t need to drain your marketing budget. A clever and often overlooked tactic is to redevelop what you already have. Redeveloping old blog content can actually help boost your SEO efforts, as search engines, like Google, prioritise up-to-date, fresh content in their results pages. Repurposing content is also a great way to get more value from your existing efforts. For example, a blog post you wrote last year could be turned into a mini series of social media posts. A customer case study could be repurposed in an email marketing campaign. Webinar recordings, FAQs, even product descriptions can be turned into useful, engaging assets with little creative thinking. Make use of free and low-cost marketing tools If your budget for marketing is particularly tight, the tools you use matter. Thankfully, there are plenty of free or low-cost platforms designed specifically for small businesses and start-ups.  Some great tools for small budgets include: Canva - design social posts, ads, and other marketing materials with this easy graphic design tool Mailchimp or Campaign Monitor - these low cost email marketing platforms allow you to send newsletters and automate email flows Google Search Console - monitor your SEO visibility and keyword queries for free ChatGPT - this free AI tool is ideal for generating ideas, content outlines, and draft copy quickly Hootsuite - a great social media management tool where you can manage and schedule your social platforms all in one place Using the right tools for your business can not only help reduce your costs for marketing significantly, but also help deliver great results without the need for premium price plans. Expand your network Tapping into your professional network and building relationships with other local businesses, freelancers, or service providers is an effective strategy when working to a tight marketing budget. It opens the door to potential collaboration, cross-promotion, and even skill-swapping without the need for financial spend. Beyond direct bartering, expanding your network increases visibility of your brand and your offering. Attending local business events, joining industry-specific LinkedIn groups, or simply reaching out to similar businesses can lead to partnerships, referrals, and shared audiences. The goal is to build mutually beneficial relationships that help extend reach without increasing your budget for marketing. Want more advice for marketing on a small budget? Marketing on a small budget doesn’t mean thinking small. With the right strategy, clear goals, and smart tools, you can run effective, creative campaigns that make a genuine impact. If you’d like more expert advice on how to manage a small marketing budget, or you’d like guidance on how to maximise a limited budget, get in touch with us today. We work with brands of all sizes to help them maximise their budget, helping them make confident, cost-effective decisions that support long-term growth. #### Icon trends in web design 2020 Icons are a very powerful tool within web design. When used properly, they can grab your users attention and help them navigate content quickly and efficiently. When a user lands on your website we want them to learn that they have come to the right place. If faced with paragraph after paragraph of text, the chances of them sitting down to read every detail can be slim. Instead, we look for ways to break up the content, increase legibility and capture the attention of the user. This is where icons come in to play. Humans are visual creatures. According to the marketing industry influencer, Krista Neher, the brain can process images 60,000 times faster than it does text. Splitting up your content into manageable chunks helps fuel your users' attention span. In addition, icons can help your users to navigate to relevant pieces of content before reading. To successfully use icons within web design, we need to make sure they are easy to understand. Your icons should utilise commonly recognised symbols to help the user instantly know what the icon is representing. Along with adding interest and aiding navigation, icons can also add personality to your website design. They definitely shouldn’t be an afterthought but an extension of your brand. Icons work hand in hand with your visual style to add finesse and flair.  The options are broad but we’ve explored a few icon styles that are big in 2020. Simple Line Icons Simplicity is something that is never going to cause a negative effect on icons. We are currently seeing a lot of big companies simplifying their brands and visual elements. We are stripping it back to clean and minimalistic, allowing the icon to be identifiable. Colour block icons Taking the basics of the simple line icon, website designs are also adding personality to their icons through the addition of colour. This can help to tie in a visual element and colour from the brand's visual style to create a cohesive look and feel. Whether it’s the addition of a shape or colouring in an element of the icon. Doodled icons If suited to your brand's visual style, hand-drawn icons can add a nice touch to your website design. As if doodled in pen they instantly bring a friendly and approach feeling. The simple design aids the user experience of your website. Bicolour Icons Another adaptation of the simple line icon is the bicolour icon. These two-toned icons have a secondary colour that picks out an element within the icon. These are useful for adding a highlight to the most important part of the icon allowing a little more detail to be included in the icon without losing its impact. Flat Vector Icons On the more intricate side of things, flat vector icons are still very popular. Retaining their simplicity through the 2D design, these life-like icons bring character and colour. To round it up, icons should always be designed to enhance the user experience. When designing your icon suite is it good to remember to keep it simple so they can be used at any scale. You will often find them used at all sizes throughout your website design so it’s good to ensure the design is adaptable. An overcomplicated icon can begin to clutter and confuse your website, hurting the overall design. If icons are catching your attention and you’d like to explore the impact they could create on your website, get in touch today. #### In-House VS Outsourced Digital Marketing Digital marketing can make or break the overall success of your business. How, then, is the best way to ensure that it will be done to a high standard by a well-trained, dedicated team which access to the most up-to-date software and techniques? In-house or outsourcing? Perhaps a hybrid approach? Fifteen examines the differences. In-House Digital marketing is a constantly changing landscape, and building a team will not only require an exhaustive search for individuals with varying ideas and talents but will also require ongoing investment in their training. Your in-house team will need to consist of specialists in digital marketing, web design, social media management, content writing, graphic designer and SEO. With this kind of backing, you can easily cover all aspects of your digital marketing. In-house teams can be monitored internally and will be required to dedicate themselves wholly to your brand. However, with a few aspects of digital marketing only being required for a short amount of time, there will be periods where some specialised employees will be short of work. In-house teams are dedicated 36 hours a week to you, which means they are passionate about your company and will work with a focussed objective. In-house teams are not easily detached – if your employees are not working to the standard you require, you will have to re-start the process of building a DM team. Bullhorn has estimated that for every job opening in specialised areas of digital marketing there are only 2 potential candidates. Website Design and Building, App Development, PPC, Display Advertising and Creation of Campaign Content Assets are all finite processes which are best outsourced – this will save a considerable amount of money. Marketing is a deeply personal aspect to any business, and an in-house team will be able to, over time, build up a good idea of your brand’s key objectives, target audience, and understanding of your industry. Outsource Digital Marketing agencies have a duty to their employees and their clients to ensure that their team remains firmly in the loop with latest training and technologies, and they invest heavily in training and programmes to ensure this. Agencies create teams which deal with the elements of digital marketing on a specialised basis, which means as a collective they will cover the complex skills required for successful digital marketing to an incredibly high standard. Agency staff will, in most cases, collaboratively brainstorm for your company, creating more space for conversations, ideas and time to take into consideration all aspects of the business, it’s clientele and its brand image, and identify areas for improvement. Agencies deal with multiple clients and will be able to view your brand objectively, tell you what is actually possible in terms of strategy, and create bespoke marketing which is engaging for your customers. Working with an agency allows you to assess the service which is being provided to you, change strategy if/when necessary, and even switch agency when you feel you are not being given the attention you require. Agencies will happily take care of mundane but necessary tasks such as social media updates and engagement in order to secure campaign success and ongoing business. Agencies will have a depth of knowledge and understanding of a wide breadth of industries which may provide unexpected benefits with your business in ways you might not have considered before. As an agency, we are obviously swayed to promoting the use of outsourcing for your Digital Marketing! Although we can understand that having an in-house team is useful purely as a matter of convenience, in the age of instant messaging and fast-paced working environments, there is no reason why you can’t expect the same level of dedication, efficiency and understanding from an outsourced agency. In terms of cost effectiveness, bigger companies feel that a dedicated in-house team works best for them. Fifteen understand this, which is exactly why we have previously trained and continue to offer training to a plethora of in-house teams across the UK. #### In-house vs outsourcing content creation: the pros and cons. When it comes to creating content for your business, the age-old debate of in-house vs outsourcing continues to be a hot topic. Both options have their pros and cons, and understanding these is crucial to ensure that whatever you choose, aligns with your goals, objectives, and your resources. In this blog, we look at the pros and cons of in-house vs outsourcing content creation so you have all the information you need to be able to make an informed decision. Let’s look at the pros and cons of outsourcing content first. The pros of outsourcing content creation If you’re looking to take your online presence to a new level, outsourcing content creation to a digital agency, like Fifteen, can provide many benefits as we highlight below. It can be cost-effective Outsourcing content creation can be more affordable than hiring full-time in-house staff, especially when you factor in costs such as salaries and training. Most agencies can often deliver high-quality content at a fraction of the cost, meaning you don’t have to waste time or money training and paying staff to create content. You get access to expertise By outsourcing, you can tap into a pool of specialised experts who have extensive experience in creating high-quality content. Agency teams work across all types of industries on projects that range from blog creation to email marketing, social media marketing to website copy, meaning agencies can offer a plethora of dynamic solutions. It also ensures that your content is professionally created and aligns with industry best practices. It’s time-saving Creating high-quality content is time-consuming, and outsourcing it allows your in-house team to focus on other tasks such as strategy, business development, or customer engagement, rather than spending time writing blog posts, creating videos, or managing social media accounts. Specialised content creators are often able to produce content more quickly, allowing you to meet deadlines and maintain a consistent flow of content. You can get fresh perspectives Agencies are always on the lookout for new and interesting ways to help their clients. When you outsource content creation, you’ll often have fresh new ideas brought to the table and a new perspective to your content. This kind of creativity and different viewpoints can help differentiate your content and keep it engaging and innovative. Access to tools and technology Agencies are often results-driven, which means they use advanced tools and technology for content, SEO, design, and analytics for example, to create and build campaigns aimed at your needs. This type of approach results in transparency across all channels and at all levels. The cons of outsourcing content creation As with all things, outsourcing content creation can have its drawbacks that are important to consider. Some cons include: Dependence on external companies - relying on an external team can create dependency and if they become unavailable for whatever reason, it could cause disruptions. Lack of industry knowledge - if you have a particular niche or are a highly-specialised company, it may mean needing in-depth knowledge to fully understand the nuances of your industry. Reduced internal development - when you outsource content creation, your in-house team may not develop their skills in content creation, potentially leading to a knowledge gap and internal expertise. Possible delays in content production - as agencies often work with multiple clients, if you have a particularly tight deadline, there could be a delay in delivering content due to other priorities. Outsourcing content creation can be a highly effective tactic for many businesses, but it’s important to weigh out the pros and cons of it to make sure it aligns with your organisation's goals and objectives. Remember, clear communication is key to a successful partnership. The pros of in-house content creation Just like outsourcing content creation, in-house content creation also has its benefits, as we explore in more detail below. You have complete control over your brand and industry With an in-house team, you have full control over the tone, style, and messaging of your content, and the team is clued up on your brand’s personality and values. This is particularly beneficial in industries where technical know-how is essential. Easier collaboration As everyone is in the same workspace - whether that’s physical or digital - it creates smoother collaboration, as you can have spontaneous meetings, quick feedback sessions, and stay in constant communication to ensure the content aligns with your overall strategy. There’s seamless integration with other departments An in-house team is better able to collaborate with other departments within your organisation, such as sales and customer service. This integration helps ensure that your content aligns with overarching campaigns, product launches, customer feedback, and other business initiatives. Flexibility for last-minute changes If you need to amend your content quickly due to a change in strategy, a new opportunity, or breaking news, an in-house team can do this much faster. The ability to respond swiftly without relying on external agencies can be a big advantage. The cons of in-house content creation While in-house content creation has its advantages, there are some disadvantages which need to be considered, which include: Higher costs - you’ll need to factor in the cost of salaries, offering workplace benefits, and potentially invest in training and tools for your in-house team, which can be more costly compared to when you outsource content creation. Limited expertise - your in-house team may have a solid understanding of your brand, but they may lack specialised skills such as SEO, graphic design, or video production. Resource constraints - your in-house team may face resource limitations which is particularly so for smaller businesses, and they may not be able to handle multiple content formats at once (such as blogs, videos, social media posts etc.). Risk of burnout and overwork - the pressure to constantly create content can be overwhelming and this can lead to burnout and a decrease in productivity. Less time for other activities - content creation is time-consuming and if you decide to do this in-house, it may take away the time to work on other business activities that could contribute to strategic growth. Time-consuming recruitment process - you have to find the right talent to build a strong in-house team, and once hired, you’ll have to spend time training them on your brand, audience, and content strategy, which may take a while. Speak to us for your content creation As you can see, there are several aspects to consider before deciding where you should outsource content creation or keep it in-house. Content creation isn’t just copywriting either, it’s video production, social media marketing, graphic design, and more, and most businesses don’t have the time or resources to maintain a steady flow of content. But that’s where we can help. If you’d like to learn more about how our award-winning digital agency can help with your content creation, don’t hesitate to contact us today. We have decades of experience in the online space and can create insightful campaigns for your business; all designed to drive traffic, increase engagement, and boost conversions. #### Increasing Social Media Engagement – Creating The Right Content Social media is all about content. Simple? No. With billions of social media posts going out a day, it’s that much harder for your brand to be discovered. But, there are ways you can make yourself more visible and increase engagement by creating the right content for your socials. Before I start even going into creating content, you need your goals, objectives and strategy in place. If you haven't sorted this, then have a read of our previous blog ‘Why you need a social media strategy and how to start one’ and then come back here to look deeper into social media content. With your strategy in place, you should have a better understanding of what your competitors are doing, and how you want to talk to your audience. Now it's time for content. Start with a (content) plan One of the most important things to do at the start is to identify what are your content pillars. By this, we mean to identify three or four themes to return to over and over again, which gives you a framework for creating content (so you're never stuck for what to write about) and will also provide consistency for your brand. This means you're not rambling on about off-brand topics - you're creating content that is relevant to your company and its tone of voice. For example, if you're in the camera industry, you might want to have a content pillar that is all about 'how to take the best pictures'. It's not directly about selling your products, but is enabling and empowering your customers to make the most out of it. With this as one content pillar, you can flesh out a whole load of content ideas based around 'how to take the best pictures'. This could end up as videos, blogs, white-papers, tips and trick - whatever. But it's on a key theme to your company. The 70:20:10 Approach Our recommended approach to breaking down your content would be the 70:20:10 approach. So, what does that mean? 70% of your content should be planned content that is building your brand and focused around an ‘always on’ campaign (sticking to your content pillars). 20% should be guided by success, so types of posts that have been popular with your audience and following trends. 10% should be driven by opportunities. These posts are likely to be responsive to current events, things happening in the industry or even events within your offices. On the whole, you want your social media content to be relevant and discoverable. You need to offer value to your audience to encourage engagement. If your content has no value, then it’ll just disappear down the dreaded newsfeed. To make your content more discoverable, you can be using relevant hashtags, work with influencers (find out more about why you should work with influencers) or even branch into paid advertising to increase your reach. How many posts should I be posting and when? Regular content is key. The 70:20:10 approach will make this an easier task, rather than posting manually as and when you feel like it. As we said before, there are billions of social posts going out a day, so posts disappear down your newsfeed fast! Because of this, social platforms have been changing up their algorithms so that posts even from days ago will pop back up towards the top of your newsfeed. But, this shouldn’t stop you from being fully active on social media. Here's our recommended post schedule per social platform; Facebook – 1-2 posts daily Twitter – 5 posts daily Instagram – 1-2 posts daily LinkedIn – 2-5 posts weekly YouTube – 1-2 videos weekly Google+ - 2 posts weekly Pinterest – 3 pins daily This is a guide and not a regimented system. You may decide not to use all these social media channels and through your own insights, you’ll figure out your best approach in time. But, it’s an effective approach to begin with until you’ve got these insights.  What time should I post? When it comes to what time you should be posting, this will again depend on your insights. Different audiences have a tendency to use social media at different times of the day. A general insight is that most people are on social media during the evenings, post work or school. You can find these insights within your companies Facebook page insights. Have a look at the Posts section where you should find a graph of when your audience is most active online. From this, you can then find the best time for you to be posting on social media. What type of content should I post on the different channels? The type of content you create will differ between the social media channels you’re using. For example, if you’ve decided that you want to use Twitter as more of a customer service platform, then you’ll be posting more informative posts, letting people know any latest news, updates, new products and more. But, if you decide to use Twitter to be more conversational with your audience, then you may change your content to fit this style. As part of your strategy, you should decide what you want to achieve from each channel and this should guide you to the type of content you post. But overall, keep it relevant, keep it on-brand and create value. Visual Content Instagram, of course, is going to be purely visual, so get the camera out and get some beautifully stylised product shots, or products in action (depending on your business offering). If you’re more of a service based brand, then you might post about your brand culture, have a look at our Instagram for instance. Imagery isn’t just important for Instagram, if you want to catch anyone’s attention on any social media platform, then imagery is going to be key. Whether it’s still imagery, GIFs or video clips. Have a read of our ‘Why using imagery on social media is key for engagement’ blog to look into this further. Make sure that when you’re creating imagery for your social media accounts, that they all have a similar style. Make a social media visual guidelines document, to make sure that any imagery made is consistent throughout. If you need a hand in figuring out your brand style guidelines, have a look at our branding services. Insight is key to creating the right content for your brand, so make sure you get plenty of research together before kicking off! Then, before you know it, you should see your engagement improving, your following increasing and conversions rising. We offer a variety of social media services to help build your brand online, have a look or get in touch today. #### Inspirational Designers - The man behind Nike Air Jordan's As a designer, we tend to have our tried and tested places to find inspiration. Those little places, whether it be a physical space or a page on the net, which will assist us in finding that spark, that idea. I tend to look at other fields of design for inspiration, architecture, fashion or automotive design. Places were the process is different and has a differing audience need. I also have a few heroes whose work has and will always inspire me. Every designer has a few absolute heroes. Those people who actually inspire and talk to us on different level. Tinker Hatfield is one such hero for me. Tinker has had such an awe-inspiring career with Nike and is responsible for shaping of one of the most iconic brands in the world. Tinker was a promising athlete at the University or Oregan working under Bill Bowerman. As a coach, Bowerman was interested in designing better footwear for his athletes to help increase performance and would regularly experiment having his designs trailed by his team. When Tinker landed awkwardly whilst competing he tore his ligaments and struggled to find fitness for the next 3 years, Bowerman designed him a shoe that had a slightly raised heel to compensate for Tinker's slight limp. Inspired, Tinker then began to work with Bowerman in designing track spikes and new shoe designs to enhance the performance of the Oregan athletes. Bowerman went on to be one-half of the founders of Nike. Nike Air Max After his promising sporting career was seemingly over, Tinker set out on a promising career in architecture and realised he was actually great at drawing. Bowerman soon got back in touch with Tinker asking him to pitch concepts for a new direction for Nike, as Nike were struggling with Reebok overtaking them in terms of both sales and customer appeal. Tinker grabbed this opportunity and refused to play it safe. He presented a wonderfully disruptive concept that instantly landed him the Senior Designer of footwear at Nike. Other creatives had pitched but had played it safe. Stayed to close to what Nike were producing at the time. Tinker used influences from sports cars, graffiti and other areas of design that had never been considered. His first brief was to design the first Nike Air Max. Tinker took inspiration from a different field, architecture and more specifically the Pompidou Centre in Paris, a building that was designed with the workings on the outside and painted in garish colours in order to annoy the establishment. At the time Nike we inserting air pockets into the sole of their shoes. Tinker took the inspiration of the Pompidou and questioned if Nike could take the same route. Show the functionality, the hardware. He, against the advice of many of the team at Nike, decided to showcase the technology and expose the bubble in the heel. The Air Max quickly became one of the most iconic shoe designs and turned around the fortunes of Nike. By looking at a different discipline of design Tinker was to produce something that simply would not have existed otherwise. The Jordan Pitch Tinker was then tasked with keeping Michael Jordon at Nike. Jordan was on the brink of leaving and had agreed to one final meeting. He was unhappy with the shoes Nike had produced that season. They were heavy, the leather was hard and uncompromising, and the shoes didn’t represent Jordan’s personality. Jordan was being courted by a number other major sporting brands. Tinker had listened to what Jordan wanted from his next shoes, taken into account the client's wants and needs. He produced a series of illustrations that showed the aesthetics and specification of the new boot. He ran Jordan through the illustrations showing him the mid cut boot, explained the use of the elephant print which represented Jordan’s personality and the fact they would use the softest leather so the boot felt court-ready from the first time they were tried on. Tinker had been told that Jordan struggled to fully grasp concept sketches so had arranged for the shoe to be made for the meeting, he unveiled the shoe to Jordan right there and then. A few seconds after he had revealed the shoe, models walked in the room wearing a full range of Air Jordan apparel. Hatfield refers to the apparel reveal as  ‘the exclamation mark’ of the presentation.  Jordan was sold. There is so much to learn from the execution of the Jordan pitch. Know your client, understand what will excite and engage them as well as their audience, and go beyond their expectations for a full buy-in. Back To The Future 2 Hatfield is also responsible for one of the most iconic pieces of footwear in cinematic history. In 1989 the makers of Back to the Future 2 approached Nike to produce a shoe fit for 2015. Tinker was tasked with designing a shoe that was for a whole different century. He wanted to design a shoe that wasn’t a cliché, that wasn’t a gimmick or a joke. He designed a self-lacing shoe. ‘A shoe that shaped to your feet, it’s your shoe, she knows you’.  The shoe became an iconic part of the Back to the Future series and set Nike on the path of designing the E.A.R.L. system (electro, adaptive, reactive lacing). A very early model for ‘The Internet of Things’ products that learn and engage with the user in a totally personal way. This thinking was way beyond anything seen in technology at the time. In the film, Michael J Fox goes forward in time to the date 21st Oct 2015 and as a wonderful finale to the design process, on the 21st of October 2015, Michael J Fox received a fully functioning pair of the self-lacing trainers from Nike. My love of Tinker's work and the process he goes through is because he always goes big, he always looks to shake things up. When starting out in the design process I often ask ‘What would Tinker do?’ I will leave it for him to explain why I love how he works. He will do a better job than me. ‘If you stay in the comfort of your studio and try to dream up new creative. It’s not a great foundation for idea generation, just get out there and experience life. That gives you a library in your head to then translate that into unique design work. Take a few risks, make a few assumptions'. Indeed. #### Instagram Entrepreneurs - The New Business Platform Since it was established ten years' ago, Instagram has been viewed as a platform for sharing selfies and food photos with friends and family. In recent years' we have seen an incline in Instagram fame. People who have expanded their network past friends and family. They have gained a strong following of avid likers. Which is what makes Instagram a strong platform for new business promotion. That's precisely the strategy these entrepreneurs have thanked for their success. We managed to pin down a few of our favourites for a quick Q&A. Hawkins and Shepherd Hawkins and Shepherd London based, Carl Thompson, is the owner of Hawkins and Shepherd. Men style blog writer at www.carlthompson.co.uk and Instagram favourite to his 51.6k strong following. Describe Hawkins & Shepherd in your own words? Hawkins & Shepherd was born in 2013 after leaving a successful career to pursue a better work/life balance in the menswear industry. Hawkins & Shepherd sell luxury, handmade men's shirts including offering a shirt subscription service where subscribers can benefit from a crisp shirt delivered to their door every month. To begin with, I started social media to drive more traffic to my menswear label, but it soon became apparent that the blog and Instagram were developing into something separate and deserved their platform. More and more people were coming to me for advice, and I wanted to provide a place for people that wanted to further themselves. Would you say that Instagram is your main platform for promotion? Yes, definitely. What sort of work has Instagram helped you win? I'm not sure it's helped me win anything. The blog is still the main hub where people come for style tips, style tutorials etc. The Instagram is just another arm of the business. An Arm that some days feels like an encumbrance on my time, others are deeply rewarding. What is your favourite project, you've worked on as a result of Instagram promotion? As a result of Instagram? I really liked the car junkets I've been on. The collaborations with Mazda and Morgan Plus were fantastic. But I'm very proud to be an ambassador for all the brands I've worked with. The shoot for GQ China was a high water mark for me, and I can't wait to do more of those. Finally, a quote on online presence for businesses? If you're going to be anything, be anal about the photos you post on social media. Hello Cake Hello Cake Emma, based in the Midlands is a cake decorating extraordinaire, avid house poster and blogs all things cake, home and sausage dogs over on hellocakeblog.com. We think her 15k followers on Instagram would agree that her cakes look almost too good to eat! Describe Hello Cake to us in your own words? Hello Cake is a cake decorating business that started as a hobby and completely snowballed. I'd say I split my time 50/50 between decorating celebration cakes and wedding cakes. I've been running full time for just under a year (since April 2017) but was working part-time alongside another job for around two years prior to that. What got you started with cake decoration? It started as a hobby, I did a cake decorating course years ago, and it has just grown progressively since then. I also do a lot of blogging, house related posts and some promotion which has helped build my social following. Would you say Instagram is your primary platform for promotion? If yes, why? Probably not for cakes, Facebook is a stronger platform for cake sales because of word of mouth and the ability to share, plus it is a lot more targeted meaning local people see the posts. Instagram is my main platform for ads and blogging because of how vast my network has grown but not necessarily local enough to become customers. What is the biggest perk to promotion on Instagram? If I weren't on Instagram, I possibly never would have met some of the people I have done work with. For example, Ainsley was actually a friend of a friend, and we knew of each other but hadn't met until we started to communicate through Instagram, and I now have a stall at her Mama Meet and Markets. Can you give me one quote on your online presence and how it helps business? I don't put my whole life on Instagram, but I make sure what I do put on there is real and relatable. People seeing you as a real person, in turn, brings more business, it also brings more connections in general, people feel comfortable to ask for advice if you are personable. Marcus Cooks Marcus Cooks Describe Marcus Cooks in your own words for me? My work is currently content creation for myself as well as other brands. I've always had a passion for food since a young age, where I used to save my pocket money and invest it into cookbooks. Once a month my parents would let me make one of the recipes out of the books, and I guess the passion just grew from there. It's great now to see the reaction I get from people when I share my content and how much they'd love to recreate it themselves at home. Would you say Instagram is your main platform for promotion? It is, yes! If yes, why? I find Instagram provides me with better engagement when it comes to sharing my work. A lot more so than other social media platforms do. What sort of work has Instagram helped you win? It's helped me to work with both the Ladbible Group (Foodbible) and Musclefood UK, both two very big companies with great followings and engagement. What is your favourite project you've worked on as a result of Instagram promotion? It's a project I'm currently working on actually called "Different Flavours". A YouTube series based on food reviews and interviews with other influential people from around the UK. Give me one quote on your internet presence… Social media has single handily turned a passion and a hobby of mine into a way I can market myself to others around the world as well as share my creations. Graze Derbyshire Graze Derbyshire Katie is the genius behind the up and coming Graze Derbyshire. She's been running for just under a year and is already a popular choice for events in the East Midlands. Katie creates bespoke gourmet grazing creations - using Derbyshire suppliers where possible meaning they are a local business, supporting local businesses. Describe Graze Derbyshire in your own words? We are a gourmet catering studio offering bespoke grazing tables, platters and food styling for events and clients of all scales. Our focus is on providing fresh and healthy seasonal produce (local where possible) for our clients in a fun way to bring people together. What made you decide to start Graze? I am from Australia, and this way of eating is very ingrained in our culture. Lots of outdoor eating, fresh and healthy meals and I love nothing more than bringing people together and enjoying food in a relaxed way. Fitness, food and nutrition are my passions, and I noticed that there was not a lot like this around. Following some dinner party discussions and encouragement from friends - Graze Derbyshire was born. Would you say Instagram is your primary platform for promotion, if yes, why? Yes, Instagram has been out the main platform for business. We had a limited budget, to begin with, and in lieu of a website - we went down the social media route for advertising. Our tables and platters are all created to not only taste amazing but to look amazing and to be a real focal point for the event/dinner/party etc. Therefore - our creations are quite Insta-worthy and grab people's attention. Our Instagram following has grown steadily and over 60% of our business traffic comes from Instagram. What do you think the biggest perk for promotion on Instagram is? Networking. When people tag your products, you instantly have a new audience, and many will then start following you and order from you. It's also quite targeted - people are generally only going to follow you if they are interested in you. Finally - Let's have your main thoughts on online presence and how it's helped your business… Have an online presence but ensure you also have a real presence.' I really like this quote because anyone can have an online presence, a pretty Instagram page, an online business but you still have to have a personality away from the screen. I've met people at markets or gone into shops I've seen and liked on Instagram, and the people are blank with zero personality about them or their work - this puts me straight off them and their business. For us at Graze - we are passionate, friendly people both online and behind the scenes. We are constantly chatting with customers, suppliers etc. delivering goods in person, setting up at parties. You are your brand, both online and offline and your behaviour has to reflect this for continued success. Obviously, we couldn't interview every Instagram business we love… we'd be here for weeks. But if you liked reading about these businesses try checking out these up and coming accounts that we just can't get enough of… Mummy & blogger extraordinaire Pure hair miracles created in Derby A cocktail bar with a twist sharing their magic Amazing people doing truly wonderful things for children in need Recording studio set to open in the heart of Nottingham Perfect hand lettering designs available to order Local event & wedding planner specialising in charity events Mum, blogger and genius behind Mama Meet and Markets #### Instagram grid layouts that will blow your followers’ minds Instagram is a highly visual app, with beautiful videos and photography thriving on the platform. One thing that is overlooked by many is the visual impact of your profile grid. A strong, visual instagram grid is often used by influencers and large businesses, so what options are there? Essentially, the layouts are separated into two categories: Colour Schemes Patterns Instagram Grid Colour Schemes Colour schemes involve posting images with similar colours and filters, often gradually altering the colour scheme over time. The two examples below show different types of colour scheme tactics, one sticking to a grey/white pallet and the other gradually changing, from orange to yellow in this instance.. As you can see, it has a great visual impact and people visiting the pages will immediately be able to see that the accounts are run with a lot of thought behind the posts. The problem with the first example for a business is that not only does it take a lot of planning, it also requires the imagery to match the theme, meaning reactive posts are very limited. E.g. say you want to get a post out about something that just happened such as unexpected business news that you want/need your customers to be aware of. Unless you have an image in the right colour scheme, it will look out of place. Instagram does offer you the option to archive past images, which basically hides it from the grid. That does however remove it from followers’ views. Instagram Grid Patterns Patterned grids come in many shapes and sizes and at Fifteen we have incorporated several different types. By incorporating a pattern into your instagram, you can tactically plan for key messages to tactically stand out to profile visitors. Before deciding on what pattern might suit your business, you have to consider what resources and content you have. Instagram is primarily a photography app, but some businesses may not have a great library of photography nor strong photographers at hand, so a pattern that allows for more graphics may help. Other businesses may have plenty of photography, and patterns can be shaped without the use of graphics and text. A simple example of an effective pattern is what we use for our client Appliance People. Every other post features a graphic with a product or an offer and due to the strong brand colours, the profile stands out. We also used this for the World CBD Awards, which helped create an attractive feed without any photography at hand until the ceremony. By changing from every other post to every third, you get a straight line layout as we used for two other clients: You can also keep your posts in columns with rows in between, like we have done for our own Instagram, where we post a graphic every 9 posts, leaving two rows between each. A more advanced layout was used for Sea CBD, where we had several matching columns, with a row gap in between each. As you can see, the page also has a blue colour scheme that is used throughout. Diagonal patterns can be created by posting themed images every fourth post, like we do for Kitchen People. Avoid Every now and then you come across an Instagram grid with a really cool layout and you think “I want that”, but when you think it through it’s actually a bad idea. One of these examples is by posting three or more posts in quick succession, in order to create an image using multiple posts. By creating an image including a whole row, you’re not only committing to posting three posts at a time because the grid shifts after each post and thus splits the image across multiple rows. You will also run the risk of losing your current followers, because no one wants to see multiple posts from one person in a row, let alone posts that only feature a small part of an image. In some cases people create an image of 9 posts or more, so imagine if you followed an account and had to scroll past 9 parts of one image and then have to face at least three in a row for the foreseeable future...unfollow.   Creating a great Instagram feed can be time consuming and complicated, so if you want your page to stand out, get in touch with us. #### Instagram Launches Face Filters What are Face Filters? Instagram could be considered as one of those sneaky bully types – silently observing and absorbing ideas and information to store as ammunition for use when the time benefits them most. A sibling who has a better job than you or a deceptive work colleague who takes your idea to the MD and brands it as their own… OK, maybe a tad dramatic. But it seems there are no limits to Instagram duplicating ideas from other social media platforms, particularly Snapchat. Snapchat acquired facial recognition company Looksery in 2015. It used the start-up’s augmented reality technology to incorporate selfie masks in their picture and video sharing platform. Snapchat refers to this feature as Lenses. Instagram’s parent company Facebook bought Masquerade (MSQRD), a similar app that uses facial recognition to map the recipients face in order to layer on filters or masks. Looking to hook younger audiences and expand on its video features, MSQRD was a solid investment. Now the same technology is being used on Facebook’s partner platform Instagram, which was launched on May 16th ,2017 as Face Filters. Allowing the user to take on 8 different guises from animals to crowns, glasses and even one where maths equations whiz around your head! Instagram has said Face Filters are "an easy way to turn an ordinary selfie into something fun and entertaining. Whether you're sitting on the couch at home or out and about, Face Filters help you express yourself and have playful conversations with friends." Emphasis has been placed that the feature is not the same as Snapchat Lenses. New heights of visual realism have been aimed for, for example, the koala filter presents life-like ears which flick and move like a real bear’s ears would. Instagram had already been seen to roll out expiring video and image messages like those which are a staple for Snapchat with its Stories feature last year. Not to mention their creative overlays and slideshow sharing format also similar to features on Snapchat. How do I use Face Filters? You’re sure to be keen to start using the new Face Filters feature as soon as possible. Firstly, download the update, 10.21 from the App store or Google Play Store. Open the Instagram app and tap the camera option. You will see a new button in the bottom right-hand corner that looks like a super clean and gleaming smiley face – touch this. You can then use one of the 8 face filters within both the front or rear facing camera mode as well as with the video and Boomerang features. Instagram’s latest update includes hashtag stickers too where the user can add more context to their image or video. The hashtags are also clickable to the recipient, meaning they can explore more around the hashtag topic and see other content with that particular tag. Working similarly to their geotag sticker function which emerged a couple of months ago. Rewind allows you to capture videos and then show them to your followers in reverse (think a mic-drop in reverse!) This works particularly well with action shots. The new eraser brush removes aspects of things you have drawn, colours from images or in fact allows you to create countless creative designs! What do Face Filters mean for digital marketing? As with all updates on features, it’s only a matter of time before advertisers are looking into how they will use it to their advantage. As with Snapchat, we can only predict (and actually hope) that marketers will hook onto Face Filters by customising overlays to promote their brand, products and services. We can only dream that Disney will do their own face filter! Facebook already allows developers to create personalised filters using AR Studio, so we know the technology is there. We are struggling to think which social media features Instagram will be taking inspiration from next. Tell us your predictions below. One thing we know for sure is their copycat culture continues, much to our enjoyment. If you would like any advice on how to use social media and any of the platform's features to market your business, get in touch with one of the Fifteen team! #### Introducing the Client Services Team! All amazing examples of theatre include the ‘stars’ of the stage delighting audiences with their stellar performances whilst they work collaboratively with the behind the scenes team. Fifteen is no different. We have a team of people who are the ‘Faces of Fifteen’ working in harmony with our clients to ensure we’re keeping our client’s happy and our team running as efficiently as possible in an ever-changing digital world. The client services team at Fifteen are a fun and friendly bunch and we’d like to introduce ourselves to you! Kate - Client Services Director Kate heads up the Client Services team and her main prerogative is keeping clients 100% happy with the services we provide. Kate loves any opportunity to challenge and think outside the box whilst working tirelessly to get deep into the veins of our client’s businesses, forming deep bonds with brands to help strengthen and support their digital requirements. Whether it is a new logo or a completely new website design and build, Kate faces every task with a smile. Our friendly Yorkshire lass is known for her positive and cheery personality which clients adore. Quote from Kate: I absolutely love the variety of my role, working with a diverse client base I'm constantly challenged and pushed to deliver results. The team here are brilliant and working together to create amazing work is both fun and rewarding. I love that we're an extension of each client's business and that we're trusted to shape their marketing. Winning awards is just the icing on the cake! Steph - Digital Account Manager Steph's vivacious personality leads up the Digital team. Her hands-on approach and extensive experience mean she’s a real star. From attending client meetings and discussing client requirements to devising full digital marketing strategies, her warm and friendly Yorkshire tones can be heard amongst the Fifteen team. Steph is mainly found juggling schedules with Sophie, debating the most cost-effective PPC spend for our clients, and gazing lovingly into the eyes of her large soft toy T-Rex called Tony! Quote from Steph: Working in such a fast-paced industry with a variety of clients is what I love most about my job! Digital marketing is a field that is ever-changing and engaging, there is always something new and exciting around the corner and I love the digital opportunity this brings for our clients! With the right strategy, we have the potential to provide the opportunity for the lesser-known, smaller brands to get on a level playing field with the ‘big dogs’! And there’s no better feeling than being part of a client’s Amazing Success Story! Sophie - Senior Project Manager Sophie is Fifteen’s Queen Bee! Sophie juggles many, many plates at Fifteen, from scheduling all of our studio’s projects, to closely managing large scale creative projects with our clients and teams. She has a great eye for detail and absolutely loves keeping clients happy. Although quiet in nature, Sophie can be heard singing along to many of the songs that filter through the studio on a daily basis! Quote from Sophie: "I've been with Fifteen for over 4 years now, and have loved seeing the company grow and evolve over the years I've been there. The best part about my role at Fifteen is being able to see the reaction from clients when we show them their end product for the first time, and the amazement on their face, I feel privileged to be able to work with a really great bunch of people, and marvel in the creative talent of the wider team at Fifteen for making these reactions happen." Holly - Project Manager Holly loves efficiency, which is good considering that is what being a Project Manager at Fifteen is all about! Holly works with clients each and every day to discuss and understand their requirements, she manages website and branding projects and liaises with the Fifteen team on a daily basis to deliver the best possible output for our clients. Holly considers herself to be fairly reserved, but on the flip-side, she loves to laugh and have fun so she is often heard cracking some kind of toilet fuelled comment or joke within the Fifteen office. You’ve got to have a laugh! Quote from Holly: The best part of my role is working hard to deliver projects on time and budget and receiving some really positive client feedback. I love being organised and working efficiently to keep projects bubbling through the studio at a good pace and I also enjoy consulting with our internal creative team to deliver some amazing work for our clients. #### Is an Affiliate Programme Right For My Business? Firstly, I am sure there are some questions around "what is affiliate marketing?". We have created this easy to follow diagram to try and explain affiliate marketing in a bit more detail. Alternatively, view our affiliate marketing page to read more about this. An affiliate programme lets you use a number of partners that are only paid when they make you a sale. Commissions structures are completely flexible and vary depending on the market you’re competing in. There are a number of ways to tier your commission for factors such as new/existing customers and sale/non-sale items. However, Affiliate Marketing isn’t for everyone and not all sectors would benefit from running an affiliate programme. Therefore, it’s important to evaluate whether it’s a good strategy for your business. We work with a number of retail companies currently, which is a great industry to implement a campaign for. It’s important that you capitalize on key dates in the diary such as Black Friday, Student Loan, Christmas etc. There are also a couple of ways you can run your affiliate programme through a network, this is through a CPL (cost per lead) or CPA (cost per acquisition) model. The main difference on which model you chose is whether you are a product or service led business. We think the below questions will answer the ultimate question of "is an affiliate programme right for my business?": Will affiliates want to promote my product/service? Can I afford to offer a commission on each sale/lead? Do I have a compelling offer or added value to push out to affiliates? Are my competitors using affiliate marketing? Is there a wider market I could reach which is not currently being targeted? Another factor to take into consideration is the investment. These can usually be divided into 3 areas: Management/Platform costs – you may need an affiliate account manager, to implement and manage the affiliate program Investment for Additional Exposure & Tenancies – to ensure your brand is gaining maximum exposure with affiliates of the right target market to increase revenue further Creative costs – You’ll need your agency to design creative materials banners, videos, landing pages and more for the affiliate programme. If you think an Affiliate Programme is right for your business and would like help in managing your campaign, please do not hesitate to get in touch with one of our digital marketing experts on 01159325151. #### Is building links for SEO a thing of the past? Every so often, someone declares that “link building is dead”, but in reality, it’s not dead - it’s evolved. Link building has long been a cornerstone of SEO, but the way we build and earn links has changed massively. Gone are the days of mass submissions, spammy directories, and quantity-over-quality tactics. Modern link building is smarter, more strategic, and more focused on earning genuine authority rather than manufacturing it. So, is building links for SEO still worth your time? Absolutely…when it’s done properly. In this blog, we’ll explore why link building is important, how it helps your SEO performance, as well as share practical tips for link building that actually work in today’s search landscape. What is link building? First, let’s take a quick look at what link building actually is. In simple terms, link building is the process of getting other websites to link back to yours. Each hyperlink acts like a digital vote of confidence because it signals to search engines that your content is valuable, trustworthy, and worth showing to others. These “votes” play a key role in how search engines assess your authority. If high-quality, relevant sites are linking to your pages, it tells Google that you’re credible within your industry. That credibility can directly improve your search rankings, helping your content reach more of the right people. But link building today isn’t about chasing any link you can find. It’s about earning meaningful, relevant links that align with your audience and content goals. Why link building is important It’s easy to underestimate the impact of backlinks when algorithms are constantly changing, but links still underpin how Google measures trust, authority, and relevance. Here’s why link building remains essential: Links build trust and authority When reputable websites link to your content, it’s a public endorsement of your expertise. These backlinks are one of the strongest signals search engines use to assess how credible and trustworthy your site is. A healthy backlink profile - meaning links for respected, relevant sites - tells search engines that your content is worth ranking higher. Over time, that authority compounds, helping you outperform competitors who neglect link building entirely. Links drive referral traffic Not every benefit of link building is algorithmic. When someone clicks through to your site from a relevant article or blog, you’re gaining targeted referral traffic -  in other words, visitors who are already interested in what you offer. These visitors tend to stay longer, engage more, and convert at a higher rate than generic organic traffic. This is because they’ve already seen your name or your content in a trusted context. Links support long-term SEO health Unlike paid ads that disappear when your budget runs out, backlinks can keep delivering value for months or years. A single, well-placed link can continue driving authority and traffic long after it’s earned. That’s why building links for SEO should be seen as a long-term investment and one that strengthens your site’s foundation and keeps it competitive in search results. How does link building help SEO? If you’re wondering how link building helps your SEO efforts, the answer comes down to visibility and validation. Here are four key ways link building helps improve SEO performance: Boosts domain authority - quality backlinks improve your site’s perceived authority, making it easier for your pages to rank for competitive search terms. Improves indexing - links help search engine crawlers discover and index your content more efficiently, ensuring new pages are found faster. Strengthens relevance signals - links from sites within your niche reinforce topical relevance, which improves how well your content matches user intent. Increases engagement - strong backlinks often come with referral visitors as we’ve mentioned, and these are real users who spend time engaging with your content. This sends positive behavioural signals back to search engines.  In short, link building helps SEO by connecting quality, relevance, and credibility - three of the biggest factors in organic ranking success. Our top tips for link building Building links for SEO requires strategy, patience, and a focus on genuine value. Here are some actionable tips for link building that you can implement: 1. Create content worth linking to This might sound obvious, but it’s where most link building strategies succeed or fail. You need to focus on creating high-value, evergreen resources - whether it’s guides, research, tools, or opinion pieces - that others naturally want to reference. If your content helps people solve problems or understand complex topics, they’ll link to it without being asked. Quality content is the foundation of modern link building. 2. Prioritise quality over quantity Ten years ago, link building was a numbers game. Today, it’s about earning fewer but better links. A single backlink from a high-authority, relevant website can be more valuable than dozens from low-quality sources. That’s why it’s important to look for partnerships, industry publications, or respected directories within your niche, and always prioritise relevance. 3. Build relationships, not just links Link building works best when it’s built on genuine connections. Get involved in your industry, share insights, collaborate on content, provide expert quotes, and engage with other professionals. The stronger your relationships, the more natural (and sustainable) your link building opportunities become. 4. Diversify your approach Don’t just rely on a single tactic. Be sure to use a mix of methods to grow a healthy backlink profile, including: Guest blogging on reputable, relevant sites Digital PR campaigns that earn coverage through newsworthy content Broken link outreach, which involves offering to replace outdated resources with your content Unlinked brand mentions by turning references of your name or brand into backlinks 5. Keep it natural Search engines are very good at spotting artificial or manipulative link patterns. That’s why you should avoid buying links, using private networks, or spamming comment sections as these tactics will do more harm than good. Instead, focus on relevance, transparency, and content that earns its place online. 6. Monitor and maintain Make sure you regularly review your backlink profile to track new links, identify harmful ones, and spot missed opportunities. Tools like Ahrefs and Google Search Console can help you monitor performance and guide your future outreach. Need help with your link building strategy? So, is building links for SEO a thing of the past? Definitely not. What’s changed is the way we approach it. As we’ve shown, modern link building is less about chasing numbers and more about earning trust. By focusing on relevant, high-quality connections and creating content that truly adds value, you’ll build a backlink profile that strengthens your SEO for the long term. If you’re ready to refine your digital strategy and make every link count, or you’d like to learn more about how link building can benefit your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today. Our SEO experts can help you craft an approach that fits your brand, goals, and audience. #### Is Facebook Organic Reach Really Dead? Years ago (well, only a couple of years) businesses could post to Facebook, and have no worries about the message reaching their fans. Facebook, similarly to Twitter and other social media channels, used to have real-time news feeds, meaning all posts would go out immediately to all your followers that were online. Now, they have created their own tailored news feed, based on what users and their friends interact well with. This has led to an organic reach of less than 0.5% in some cases, meaning your posts are rarely seen by your entire entire fan base. Why has Facebook done this? The news that organic reach has declined is hardly new. As The Drum reported in their article back in 2014, Facebook organic reach started its decline in December 2013. As Facebook began to tailor the experience for its users, so too did it begin to decrease organic reach for business pages. The reason for this? We’ll let Facebook explain. When asked if organic reach was dropping because they wanted to make more money from businesses, Facebook replied: “No. Our goal is always to provide the best experience for the people that use Facebook. We believe that delivering the best experiences for people also benefits the businesses that use Facebook. If people are more active and engaged with stories that appear in News Feed, they are also more likely to be active and engaged with content from businesses.” Facebook have given two reasons as to why organic reach has decreased. More content is being shown, and more pages are being liked, meaning users simply cannot keep up with the amount of content that would appear in their news feed. Rather than showing users all available content, Facebook shows them posts that they are likely to interact with, improving their experience. Both reasons make sense, but hide the fact that Facebook is making more money from businesses that want to reach all of their followers. Should I just give up on Facebook then? By no means are we suggesting that you give up on Facebook. It is still the largest social network, with the largest potential  audience, and a great way to keep your fans up to date on the goings on in your business. But, you should use other options alongside it. For real-time feeds, there are a host of other social media platforms, such as Twitter and Google+. For content sharing, there are sites such as YouTube, Pinterest, and Blogger. There are a wide variety of options available that can all support your usage of Facebook. What you shouldn’t do is use Facebook as your sole digital marketing route. There are also a few tricks/tips that you can use to improve your organic reach. What can I do to improve my organic reach? When we look at our own organic reach on Facebook, we find that the “0.5% organic reach” figure that is regularly quoted does not apply. We regularly reach more than our follower count, and have never seen a post reach only 0.5% of our followers. Here are some tips on increasing your Facebook organic reach… Post original, engaging content The Facebook algorithm favours content that people engage with. Although content shared to our Facebook page is initially only shared to 0.5% of our followers, likes and shares on that content increases its outreach. The key is to find the type of content that your followers relate to and engage with. It will then be pushed out to more followers, and their friends too. Showing behind the scenes pictures and videos of your team and products is a great way to engage with your followers. It creates a sense of community amongst users, as they feel like a part of what you’re doing. Have a conversation Another great way to promote engagement is to encourage conversations. Ask your followers questions, prompt them to share their views on a subject, and ask them to share their relevant content, pictures, and videos. Once followers start interacting with your content, you’ll see an immediate increase in organic reach. Use rich content It is a widely acknowledged fact that posts containing pictures, videos, and other rich media content receive more engagement. Showing your followers what you’ve been doing, rather than just telling them, will lead to more engagement. And, as we’ve established, engagement leads to better outreach. Post at off-peak times This sounds a little counter-productive, but can actually increase the number of views your content gets. Posting at off-peak times means that there is less competition for your posts, making it more likely for your followers to see it. Facebook’s algorithm means that if those users interact with the content, it is more likely to be shown to other followers later in the day. Ask your followers for help There are ways around Facebook’s algorithm. If your followers complain that they are not seeing all your posts, there is actually something they can do about it. On your business page, there is an option for followers to receive notifications when you post updates, and another option for all posts from your business to be put to the top of their news feed. Encourage your followers to use one of these options, and they’ll never miss a post again. Want to know more about increasing your organic reach on Facebook? Get in touch with our Digital Marketing team today. #### Is now the best time to advertise on Social Media? In short - yes! While shops across the country are temporarily closed and people are isolated inside with their best form of access to the outside world being through the internet, some businesses have found great success with social media advertisements. Because so many businesses are unable to operate, advertising spend appears to be as low as ever. And what does this mean, lower costs for the companies that do advertise! For the businesses that can still operate, especially e-commerce websites that are still delivering, the crisis has offered an opportunity that hasn’t been there before. With less competition, not only for ads but also for clients, some are making more direct sales than they have before (in one of our client’s cases, daily sales are up from around 2 sales on an average day, to 20-30 sales p/d now). Now, it must be said that the companies that are benefiting the most are related to people's needs, so even if your e-commerce site is still delivering/fully operational, it’s not the greatest opportunity if the end-user can’t use the product/service due to the national crisis. An extremely obvious example is train tickets - trains are still running and tickets can be bought online, but advertising on Facebook isn’t going to benefit the company because people simply aren’t travelling. On the other hand, business related to cleaning, home education, home offices or home exercise (basically anything you can do at home!) is flourishing. We recently took on a client who can create gym and office pods in people’s gardens in as little as 4 weeks and having convinced them that now is a good time to push, they took a risk and have benefitted massively. Their Facebook campaign is running at £0.03 per link click (average is around £0.90) and enquiries are coming in. Without the ads, it’s expected that businesses would be next to flat, which unfortunately is the case for many. The effect is based on more than just lack of competition to ads due to smaller budgets and paused campaigns, it is also based on user behaviour. While in isolation, a user’s screen time has increased, which means user sessions are longer and there is more opportunity to target potential customers. We work with other businesses that have social media followers who are actively asking if they can deliver, so it is obvious that there is business to be made if you have the right products, and BIG business to be made if you take the risk and spend on social media advertisements and PPC. If you work with a company that is still able to sell and deliver, get in touch today and we will help you boost business through social media and other digital marketing channels. #### Is SEO dead? We hear it everywhere, from everyone. Even some people within the marketing world adamantly proclaim that SEO is a dead (or dying) practice, and that we should jump ship before it’s too late. But, are they right? Are SEOs (Search Engine Optimisers) a dying breed, soon to be extinct? We’re inclined to say no. Whilst SEO has evolved massively since it first became a viable marketing practice, it has never left. Google (and of course, other search engines) have changed their focus several times, making it more difficult to optimise for search engines for sure, but they’ve never abandoned it. With claims that SEO is dead stretching back almost as far as SEO has been around itself, you have to wonder, “If SEO is really dead, then why do search engines continue to release new search algorithms”. Here, we’ve decided to address some of the common opinions on why SEO is no more. “Digital PR is replacing SEO” Normally, when a person makes a claim such as this, it’s because they don’t truly understand how SEO works. Normally, when someone makes a claim such as this, it’s because they’re trying to sell you their Digital PR services. By no means are we saying that Digital PR is not a viable marketing practice, but it is not replacing SEO. It is SEO. The vast majority of work completed by Digital PR companies (including ourselves), involves creating valuable connections with other people/companies/organisations around the web. Whether this is through Blogger Outreach (contacting relevant bloggers, asking them to review your products), Guest Blogging (adding a blog from your own company to another company's blog), or Press Releases (across multiple news websites). There are several other practices involved, but all share one thing. The best results are achieved when an actual link is secured between the two websites. That’s backlinking, a core part of SEO. But, the results will never be as good without a properly optimised website. Those who have made the move from SEO to Digital PR wouldn’t “un-optimise” their website. A Digital PR campaign can only have fantastic results when supported by a sufficient SEO campaign. “SEO is spammy, and people are sick of it” Let’s face it, most marketing techniques are invasive and exhausting for the user. We’re constantly bombarded with advertisement after advertisement. There are adverts when we’re watching TV, billboards as we travel, cold calls when we’re relaxing at home, and junk mail pouring into both our letterboxes and email inboxes. It’s easy to see why some people may view SEO this way too, but the key point to remember is this. SEO focuses mostly on inbound marketing. What does this mean? It means that SEO as a practice is less about going out and finding users, and more about bringing the users to you. That does sound like basically the same thing, but there is a key difference. Here’s an example. When you’re watching the TV, you’re not there for the adverts. You’re there to watch the programme of your choice. If there were an advert about windows during the break of your show, you may actually start thinking about them, but you probably weren’t thinking about them before the advert, as you were concentrating on the tv show. This is what reaching out to your audience looks like. In contrast to this, SEO only affects you if you are actually looking for something. If you go to your favourite search engine and type “double glazed windows nottingham”, you’re actively seeking out websites that talk about double glazing windows in Nottingham. Should it be considered “spammy” for somebody to want to share their website that talks about double glazing windows in Nottingham at this point? We definitely don’t think so. Search engines provide people with information that they need, when they need it. Granted, there are some “spammy” practices used by SEO agencies, but these are always viewed negatively by Google. Usually, those same spammy practices cause penalisation of websites once search engines update their algorithms. “PPC proves that search engines don’t care about SEO anymore” Since the birth of AdWords, many digital marketers have taken this as evidence that Google doesn’t care about SEO anymore. Their reasoning does make sense to a certain degree. Why would search engines allow you to gain rankings for free, when they are already selling those rankings themselves? It’s a very good question, and one that requires a good answer. PPC is easier than SEO. That’s a simple fact. Rather than optimising your webpage perfectly, and building a comprehensive link structure in order to improve your domain authority, you can just throw some money at the search engine and immediately start ranking higher up the results. But, you do need SEO to use PPC well. Amongst the factors that influence how well you rank through PPC, are many that crossover with SEO. The relevancy of your page for one. Relevancy has seen a great increase in focus from search engines, as their sole purpose is to provide the most relevant information to the searcher. As well as needing the support of SEO to succeed in PPC, there’s further evidence to support that PPC isn’t replacing SEO, including the labelling of adverts. As we established above, adverts can be seen as spammy, or untrustworthy. Of course the person who paid for an advert wants you to think that their website is the best. Why else would they pay for it? But search engines accept that once a person is aware of this, they’re likely to choose organic results over paid search results. Pages that rank through SEO are more trusted by “search-engine savvy” users, as it requires better content and harder work to start ranking. That’s not to say that PPC is not effective though. It certainly is, or else it wouldn’t continue to be a viable marketing practice. We’re just saying that, for the purpose of this article, PPC will never completely replace SEO. “SEO is now too hard for it to be considered practical” SEO is really hard to do well. That’s why we have people within our team whose sole expertise is SEO. There’s so much to consider that you can’t just get by anymore. Those couple of backlinks you got for that piece of content aren’t going to cut it anymore. That perfectly-optimised page needs support from other factors. SEO is becoming a ridiculously competitive market, with ever-changing rules and regulations. This isn’t proof that the practice is dying out, but proof that search engines are actively trying to improve it. SEO is evolving (and becoming harder to do well) because some webmasters would abuse the rules previously (see: black hat techniques). Instead of dropping the practice entirely, we should rise to the challenge. Conclusion SEO is not dead, but far from it. All the digital marketing practices mentioned above (and any others you can think of) will never replace SEO, as they are designed specifically to improve it. Digital PR creates quality, relevant backlinks (SEO). PPC leads traffic to your website (SEO). Content Marketing does both of these things (SEO again). At the same time though, SEO does not negate any of these methods. All of them work together to create a strong digital marketing strategy, with each excelling in areas where the other fails. Rather than replacing SEO, we need to use other marketing channels to support it, and vice versa. #### James Lowery and the Chamber of Echoes - SAScon 2017 SAScon July played host to 2017’s SAScon held at Manchester’s Contact Theatre of which a few of us were lucky enough to attend. Standing for ‘Search, Analytics and Social Media Conference’, the event showcased thoughts and discussion around the latest digital marketing techniques and technology. Personally, I listened to 13 different speakers talk about everything from ginger balls to an 88-year-old grandmother called Baddie Winkle. One presentation which stood out to me was Knocking on the Door of the Echo Chamber by James Lowery. Being responsible for a lot of the social media marketing we do here at Fifteen, this wasn’t one I was going to miss. Firstly, a bit of context in the form of a little about James himself. He specialises in search marketing. Being impressed with his employment history and experience I could tell he was going explore something interesting. He had me at ‘echo chamber’. Brexit James went straight in at the deep end with some politics talk – you guessed it, Brexit. We were all shocked, right? When the results were in, many were dumbfounded. I was actually in a muddy field at Glastonbury of all places, where I awake to a substantially drunk and probably high woman ranting things such as “What have you done!?” and “You’ve messed up everything!”. Granted, I quote her more politely than she was in reality. I admit I was also surprised by the referendum’s results we were greeted with on yet another grey and damp morning at the world’s best festival. Accessing social media via my phone – something the hippies of ‘70s would frown upon for sure – my news feed was also reflecting the way raving lady and I were feeling, the shock that in fact, we were heading for Brexit. As James puts this on his blog QUUMF “How could x happen, everyone, I know thinks Y. Like me.” That is, everything we had seen within our social media bubbles (my colleague Mark has written a great blog on this also) had reinforced our political opinion. Essentially, from a marketing point of view, Facebook had done its job incredibly well, making you feel like you fit in and most of all right. This is because, social media platforms apply algorithms to its content based on particular facts about you and what it learns about your behaviour, before exposing you to the stuff they believe you will be interested in. This has become known in the digital marketing world as an ‘echo chamber’ – unfortunately, nothing to do with Harry Potter – but immensely fascinating all the same. The Echo Chamber This media ‘magic’ had worked during the referendum leading to headlines such as “Social Media Echo Chamber Causing Political Tunnel Vision”. This was found to be true from a study by Demos think tank. Alex Krasodomski-Jones, who was involved in the study, stated: "The existence of echo chambers and the idea that we are increasingly seeing things that we agree with, things that we like, things that we might buy, challenges some of the fundamental principles democracy thrives on.” Many see this as a narrowing of a political and cultural existence, making it increasingly difficult to explore other opinions and values. Krasodomski-Jones explains the media “are using only these algorithms to feed us with stories that are completely tailored to us.” Whilst this is great for social media in terms of personal relationships, making you feel secure in your views, it also creates a somewhat false impression for people that their opinions are more widely shared than in reality. For myself, my Facebook feed was further being echoed around a Somerset valley making the news of Brexit even more unbelievable. Sheffield University Cognitive Scientist Tom Stafford explains “Homophily, where we hang out with people like us, is an ancient human trait, resulting from our basic psychology. That applies to segmentation of media as well.” So, there we were, blisters from welly boots and glitter in our hair, consuming the same music, being collectively outraged, feeling altogether let down by our country. When in fact human instinct and media exposure had echoed, and thus intensified our views.  What does this mean for marketers? For social media marketers, these algorithms are greatly valuable. Take, for example, a business who wishes to sell fast fashion. You target adverts and posts at 18 – 25-year-old females interested in fashion. Your content then gets engagement from your audience, who are sharing it with like-minded people helped, furthermore by social media algorithms exposing your content to those that are seen to be interested, resulting in even more engagement and so on… What does this mean for consumers? However, for consumers of such content, these filters can mean they are limited to what they are exposed to. They may one day like a post of a witty slogan on a t-shirt by the same fast fashion business and they are opened up to a world of quote t-shirts and boho dresses. They may become bored and frustrated or they may become a fanatic – this is then a whole other challenge for marketers. It’s like having a library that only stocks books by one author… you would soon venture to another town, to another library to read something else. Or only eating chocolate based food – yes it can come in many forms – dark, milk, white, melted, in a cake, in a tart, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate fondue… but it is all still chocolate. I love chocolate but even I would need to change that up at some point. We then have those people who perhaps do things like share a meme and believe it ‘makes a difference’. Content then shared for the purpose of raising awareness or changing people’s minds is then only presented to those who already share your ideology and thus are probably already aware of the issues or share your point of view. You have probably seen it happening on your own newsfeed, a village wants to stop a motorway being built through it. Sure, posts are reaching fantastic engagement rates but from a highly-engaged minority, not outsiders being made aware of the situation and actively trying to help. No need to panic… Of course, there is value in sharing content with your followers but it’s about learning how this will be presented and who to. Is this your target audience? What is your aim? For those in digital marking this can prove a huge advantage or an annoyance. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not something that digital marketing hasn’t had to deal with before – cutting through the noise and standing out from the crowd. As I am sure a Brexiteer would have done if they had shouted about their view that early Glastonbury morning. #### John Hooper Solicitors Fifteen were pleased to be offered the opportunity to work with Nottingham solicitor,  John Hooper Solicitors, to design and develop their new website. The family law specialists had been using their old website for many years as it had been of great success to their business, but the time had come for the business to modernise their look and refresh their brand with an up-to-date and competitive website design. The website we have created for John Hooper Solicitors follows all the latest trends in online design and build. The website design is edge-to-edge to make the most of the screen space, it’s fully responsive in build – meaning it can be accessed on any mobile device without compromising on usability and it is built using a WordPress content management system (CMS) to allow them to make changes to the website at any time. John Hooper Solicitors Website The design of the website home page delivers all of the key messages that John Hooper Solicitors wanted to convey in a user friendly way. The user is first introduced to the brand ethos of the company; a local Nottingham business that prides itself on having a people focused approach in what can be a very sensitive and testing time for their clients. Their services offerings are then introduced to the user in an easy to digest manner with a reveal more feature to show the user more on request. This showcases the company’s top 3 services without overawing the user and risking putting them off. An invitation to learn more about the business is also included to give a brief overview of their skills and specialties with a call to action to book an appointment. Latest news posts are also streamed to the home page of the website from the blog to keep the content being delivered to visitors refreshed and new. This also helps the website's SEO ranking, as Google favours new content and constantly updating web pages. John Hooper Solicitors website design that will stand up against competitors and sell the right message to potential clients. #### John Lewis Brings Us #BusterTheBoxer It's finally here! The long anticipated John Lewis Christmas advert for 2016. This year, John Lewis have pushed their campaign, #BusterTheBoxer, on multiple platforms, including their classic video advert on all social profiles, and then utilising features on Twitter and Snapchat. They're also letting you get involved with a virtual reality experience! In total, the campaign has cost them a whopping £7million! The story this year is about a little girl called Bridget, who has a love for bouncing. So, her parents buy her a trampoline for Christmas, which was found to not only be loved by Bridget, but also by lots of other loving characters in the advert. The advert then finishes with the phrase, 'Gifts That Everyone Will Love'. Compared to previous John Lewis Christmas adverts, it doesn't tug as hard on the heartstrings, but the overwhelming cuteness of Buster, may lead you to tears anyway! As they have done with their past campaigns, they have thought about how they can market it, in as many ways possible. This year, social networks and other digital aspects have been the focus, to really create a buzz and get their hashtag ranking at the top. Prior to the advert being released, they pushed drip feed teasers, using the hashtag #bouncebounce over their social networks. Since this morning, for the next 48hours on Snapchat, you're able to make your face into Buster the Boxer. This is going to circulate like crazy, everyone is going to be sending their Buster photos to their friends. I know I already have. On Twitter, when you take a photo, you can add stickers of the adverts characters to your photo, or also make yourself into Buster the Boxer. Today, it looks like I've got a fox and a hedgehog joining me at my desk! If you're around London today, head down to the John Lewis flagship store on Oxford Street. Here you will be able to get inside the campaign with Buster and his friends, through a virtual reality experience using Oculas Rift. If you aren't able to make it down there, you can also enjoy this experience in the comfort of your own home, with their 360º video on their YouTube. This is best experienced by using the Google Cardboard VR glasses. Simply bring up the YouTube video, pop your phone into the glasses, and enjoy the experience! I'm looking forward to getting home this evening and trying it out for myself. Of course, they're also selling their themed merchandise, which includes cuddly toys of the characters, story books, mugs, pyjamas, and other clothes. They're also pushing sales in their trampolines and space hoppers. So far, it looks like it's going to be another successful Christmas for John Lewis! I'm definitely in love with the foxes! Let the Christmas countdown begin! Has Buster melted your heart? #### Josh Joins Fifteen For The Week My name is Josh, and I’ve come to Fifteen for 5 days of work experience. As my school doesn’t sort out work experience, I got in contact myself and went for an interview where I was greeted by Ollie and Michelle. Luckily, they took me on. Interview On the 23rd January, I arrived for the interview. With a newly bought black blazer and a folder of work I had done on some free software, I entered the office. From here, I sat nervously in reception, remembering tips from Ollie’s blog about interviews.  Once I was called in, I sat down with two of the most important people in Fifteen’s company. Despite being scared, I gradually felt comfortable through talking fluently and presenting my work. After finishing this, I was told that I would be taken on for work experience. Monday (Day One) My day began at about 8:50 am, where I met Lucy, one of the designers. We introduced ourselves, before walking into the office. I was shown to my desk and a Mac was set up with the help of Mikey, a developer. After I went to Michelle (lead creative) and she gave me a tour of the office. With the wall of different Macs and the fully-stocked trophy cabinet in the waiting area, I instantly knew it was an awesome place to work. When we were finished, we sat down with the rest of the design team for a meeting regarding the week’s work. I was asked to create a website design for a company along with Ben, another designer. He sat down with me and gave me a brief of who the company was, what they did and things they would like on the homepage (my project for the week). I began by finding features of websites I liked and researching the services business management companies had to offer. In between this, I went into a meeting where a brainstorm session was in full swing. There were plenty of ideas being produced and they were all very creative- I would love to develop this skill. The rest of my day was spent wireframing and having a quick play around with PhotoShop. Tuesday (Day Two) This day began at 8:45 am, where I continued to get to grips with PhotoShop until Lofty (the senior UX designer) came and taught me the beginner’s guide to PhotoShop. She explained it very well and I learned a lot from her. From there, I turned my drawn wireframes into digital mockups. This was challenging at first, but I continued to progress. Once done, I started to annotate my mockup in InDesign, where, again, I was taught how to use. I was told by Michelle that I had a meeting with Ollie, to show him my work so far. In this meeting, I found out what was good and what needed improving, so I took Ollie’s advice and began changing and adding things for the rest of the day. Wednesday (Day Three) I arrived at the office at 8:45 am and I continued to improve my mockup, which took up a good chunk of my morning. Following this was annotating the improved version, with what I had changed. Then came the part I was most excited about- designing the site. Here, Lofty taught me even more there is to know about PhotoShop, which I think I picked up quickly. It was so cool seeing my ideas come to life. Once I had finished, I was given feedback on my design. Like the meeting with Ollie, I took on positives and negatives which I went to work on. This was my days work. Thursday (Day Four) I arrived even earlier today about 8:40 am. I carried on from where I left off with tweaking my site. When I had finished, I showed Lofty who said she would sort the little things out (such as centralising my text and sorting any imperfections). After this conversation, I was set the task of writing this blog and creating my portfolio. This included my research, brief, drawn wireframes, mockups, final design and blog. I did this in InDesign. When Lofty began fixing my design, it was interesting to see how fast she worked. After this, I spent the rest of the afternoon checking this blog and looked at some more to see what they are like (since this is my first one). Friday (Day Five) I turned up at work at 8:45 am feeling a bit sad today, since it was my last day. I came in equipped with beer and some cakes for a little thank you for what they have done for me. This was closely followed by a chat about apprenticeships and college with Jade, which will really help me with my choices after my GCSEs. After this I continued to make my portfolio. I was later told that I could make a brand for my name, which I did in InDesign. I spent the rest of my time putting together my portfolio and looking at the the creation I had made. Summary Aside from being temporarily confused at the Adobe Software and making some dodgy cups of tea (sorry Kate and probably Jade) I have found this experience very valuable. I’ve learned the process of web design and how to use the Adobe Software. I am certain that my time here has informed me of my decision to be a web designer in the future, as it has been fun and I haven’t really found it like boring old work. Thanks to the design team, the people that sat around me, Ollie for allowing me to join the team, and the whole Fifteen team. I am grateful for everyone making me feel comfortable and for the skills they have taught me. I wish to see them again in the future. Thanks Fifteen, Josh. #### Journey into the Design Industry So, you’re looking for a career in design? You dream about working for a leading design agency? You want it to be the absolute truth when you say to people, “I’m a designer”?  Well, all these things can happen if you follow these simple steps. I have almost 20 years experience in the design industry. My team and I have taken junior designers and transformed them into heavyweights in just a few years. Recently, we've successfully put seven graduates into full-time design careers in an exceptionally competitive industry, in just ten weeks. If you’re serious about being a designer, then this guide is for you. So, read on! 1. Be Prepared Well, it all starts here doesn’t it? You must absolutely BE PREPARED. Be prepared to work long and hard. Be prepared for some late nights. Be prepared for your work to be judged with a fine tooth comb. Be prepared to get it wrong, then get it wrong again, but this time in front of a room full of people, before you then get it right. Be prepared for someone to be better than you. Be prepared to learn and move with the times. This, however, is just the start. If what I’ve just said here worries you, then have a long think about if a career in the design industry is really for you. If you’re up for it, then read on... Here’s a checklist of some things you should be doing right now. If you’re not doing 100% of these, make it happen. Research the industry Work hard Work on personal projects Enter design competitions Help out family and friends with free design work Create a personal identity Do an internship or find work experience 2. Build Your Portfolio You’re nothing without a great portfolio. This is possibly your single ticket into the industry. Think about how many portfolios a Creative Director or Studio Manager sees. I’ve literally seen hundreds. You’re up against the rest of the world, so your portfolio has to be exceptional. There are a few ways to do this, so listen up. Organise your work. Your portfolio should read like an emotion. Start off on a high with a great piece of work, something you’re proud of – maybe something for a well-known brand. Be eloquent about it. Live and breathe it. Then follow with some other work that shows variety and diversity. In the middle of your portfolio, your work should hit another high. Keep their interest. Remember they’re likely to be seeing at least a dozen candidates, so you can’t afford to lose their attention. Then, after a few more pieces of really competent work, finish on the ultimate high. You want them to remember you, and you certainly want them to be talking about you after you’ve left. Organise Your Work - Organise your work into a good order with eight to ten pieces as a maximum. Make number one amazing, number five as amazing, and number ten the best! Size - Think about how this comes across; how several people around a table can interact with your portfolio. It should be either A2 or A3. Use individual sheets that can easily be passed around and discussed. Present it in a nice clean case. Show that you care and that you’re keen to impress. Layout - Make the layout of every single piece of work consistent. Show uniformity. Show you know your craft. Also, make sure you have photographed your work to showcase it at its best. Brief Notes - Make a list of key points on each project that you want to get across. Learn them and articulate them well. Spruce Up Uni Work - Revisit some projects that you did months ago that you were pleased with but can do better with now. Proof Read - Common mistake of designers: I've honestly never met one that can spell. I think it’s a creative thing! Regardless, check your work and have someone else check it too. Be Passionate - Always show work you are passionate about and can speak confidently about it. Demonstrate to the prospective employer that you really understood the project, delivered what the client was looking for, and be able to showcase the great results this work achieved! Show Variety - Make sure you show a range of work and skills. Vary the work. You’re a designer, after all, so you should be able to adapt your skills from corporate literature to packaging, advertising and website design. Don’t miss anything out. Quality, not Quantity - Cliché, but this says it all! 3. Apply for Work Experience/Job Hunt Apply for Work Experience The whole purpose of this page is to help those of you that really want to make it. It is seriously difficult to get into the design industry. Therefore, you have to give yourself every chance. You’re likely to be up against other designers with a year or more of experience under their belt, so you must put in the extra effort and give it your all. Employers, although advertising for a junior role, (which is probably what you’re going for) will still be looking for experience. This might baffle you slightly at first, as I’m sure you realise, most young people have been too immersed in their studies to have time for formal work. Additionally, getting this work to start with can be near impossible since the employer desires previous experience. It’s a catch 22! To get the work, you need experience and to get experience, you need work. However, fear not, as there is a genius solution! That is to offer your time for free. Many companies will happily accept your generous offer, and in the process you are building valuable experience and a great portfolio. As I’ve mentioned above, we’ve put seven University leavers into full-time design careers, each of them being awarded either the first or second job they went for. This unequivocally shows the power of good work experience. Each of our work experience learners gave their time up for free for ten weeks. Within this time, they got a true insight into the industry, they got to work on some leading UK and international brands, and most importantly, learnt to do it right to a commercial standard. Their ultimate reward was a job-winning portfolio and the job itself followed quickly after. It doesn’t get much better than that does it? Job Hunting strategy We’ve always advised our work experience students to start gradually looking for jobs at week seven. At this time, you’ll be gaining confidence and have 40-50% of your portfolio ready and will be ready to implement a strategy. You simply cannot apply for the odd job as it pops up. Outside of the obvious jobs advertised, you’ll need to devise a strategy to target every agency that you would like to work for in your chosen area, and also further afield. Make a list of companies you aspire to and would really like to work for. Get the correct name of the person to send your abbreviated PDF portfolio to. Record the date you send your CV and portfolio to them. Have a follow-up procedure. Don’t just rely on them calling you up. They are busy people with demanding jobs to do. Keep trying without being a pest. Follow these simple steps and you never know where things may lead. Hopefully, it will be great things! It’s not unheard of for an agency to give someone a chance with a good portfolio, just because of timing. Design a creative CV and cover letter: Make it relevant, talk about the role you are applying for and why you would be perfect for the job Praise the company and show you are passionate about working there, and have done your research Make sure you include your contact details Approach all companies even if they are not advertising Research the company Don’t dictate a salary. Say you want a chance to prove yourself 4. Interview Strategy So, you’ve studied at University for three years, you’ve given ten weeks of your time to an agency to help build you a job-winning portfolio and now you’ve got an interview. Now is not the time to blow it because you’re not prepared. You’ll be asked what you know about the company interviewing you. You must read their website front to back, you must know their work and their clients, you must be specific and mention projects you really liked and why. Know Where You Are Going - If you’re not sure, do a recce or at least give yourself plenty of time to get there in case of unforeseen circumstances. Always make provisions. Be Yourself - Don’t be someone you’re not. Always be yourself and let your personality shine through. What to Wear - Not too casual, not too smart. This is a trendy business so make an effort to portray this. How to Present Your Portfolio - Know each piece of work inside out and speak with confidence. Present your portfolio to your interviewer and talk them through the journey of your work. Follow Up - Follow up if you’ve not heard for a couple of weeks. If you’re not successful, ask for feedback. Learn from it, make adjustments and move on. 5. Your First Job We have reached the end of our training! I hope you’ve enjoyed and have been motivated by the information in this guide. I know I had fun writing it, with the satisfaction in mind of it helping thousands of people to achieve their dreams, including you! Just by reading this through to the end, you have already taken the first step on your pathway to success. Apply the information I have taught you and you will achieve your goals. Here’s my last bit of advice when you’re in your first job. 1. Continually ask for feedback if you’re not being told how you’re doing. 2. Continue to develop and learn new skills. And lastly, and most importantly 3. Get in on time, work hard, stay late… that is all.   Good Luck! #### JTD Building Supplies: Tried and Trusted Local Merchants Summary JTD Building Supplies are a Yorkshire based building material supplier who provides products ranging from plaster and loft insulation, landscaping materials, tools and workwear and bespoke specialist materials to suit all projects. Situated across different locations in the beautiful county of Yorkshire, JTD building supplies are your one-stop shop for anyone from construction firms to trade customers and DIY experts. The Task Our task was to modernise JTD’s website making it look fresh, clean and bang up to date with a simple and clear UX journey for the customer.  We needed to ensure we showcased JTD’s products in the best possible way to help retain existing clients and gather new leads for the business. The Website JTD’s brand colours were subtly laced throughout the site for headers, CTA buttons and icons and this is one of the website’s huge pulls. With a simple search area and clear CTAs in the header and a strong opening hero line to pull the customer in, we wanted to ensure customers were instantly delighted by the products on offer by showcasing these in a slider area on the home page. With simple lifestyle product photography and a short summary of text to entice the user, we then directed the user to navigate to where they needed to be instantly with useful links to ‘Find out more’. The product pages are all consistent block sections with attractive photos overlaid on the brand colours and simple informative paragraphs of text to explain the product offering. The website retains its local, trusted and friendly appeal through the choice use of words in the headers and copy. JTDs USPs are simply and clearly defined on the homepage to reinforce the service JTD will provide to their customers. The JTD Management team wanted to reinforce their friendly approach and did so by using photographs of themselves in the hero area on the About page, followed by clean and professional shots of the full JTD team. The products slider is featured on every page across the site to provide the user with strong accessibility to the full JTD product range. The search functionality also allows the user to be one step closer to where they want to be. This project was a joy to work on with Tony (Managing Director), the launch went smoothly at Fifteen HQ and Tony and team were delighted with the final website. At Fifteen, we love working to help brands recognise their dream and JTD is a testament to that. Whether you're looking to find out what makes your brand tick or looking for an experienced team to build your website, we have all the solutions under one roof. #### Keeping Your Web Browser Up-To-Date Internet Explorer is dead, long live Edge! Now, all joviality aside, Internet Explorer has long been a thorn in the side of Web Developers everywhere. The reason? Simple - Internet Explorer has a major update every time Microsoft releases a new version of Windows, which means that (major) updates are few and far between. There could be years (and there often are) between IE releases, and the modern web moves at such a rapid pace that Internet Explorer is often left far behind current web standards. This, tied in with the fact that a lot of offices still use older operating systems (such as the ol' reliable Windows XP), creates more work and IE-only issues for us to tackle. Now, I could wax eloquent about the pitfalls of Internet Explorer all day. However, that wouldn't make for a very interesting read. The announcement of the 'death' of Internet Explorer immediately prompted a discussion amongst the Fifteen developers on the importance of keeping browsers up-to-date. If you use Internet Explorer, it's worth taking a look at our previous blog to find out the next best step.   Automatic Updates In fact, Internet Explorer was the last of it's kind with major and minor versions being released with every new version of the operating system. Most browsers today use an Automatic Update feature, silently updating in the background. It sounds sinister when put like that, but it keeps you up-to-date, safe, and you don't even notice it. If your browser does need an update while you're using it (like mine does right now, ironically enough), then it will discreetly let you know. Ever wondered why the menu button goes green on Chrome from time to time? This means it needs an update.   What web browser should I switch to? Everyone here has their own preference. There are really two main browsers we use in the office for regular use, and those are Mozilla FireFox and Google Chrome. Safari is also a popular choice in the office due to its minimalist style, plus it is Apple's standard installed browser. I use Firefox because there’s a plug-in that makes it look like it did 5 years ago before they started all these bloody updates. - Al I use Google Chrome Canary as it is a nightly updated version of the browser, ensuring that I am always at the cutting edge of web standards. - Mikey I mainly use FireFox, because it works. I do have to check all browsers as part of my job though, including Internet Explorer...  - Adam Chrome, I like the style of it, especially the tab system. The way it integrates with Google accounts is nice as it saves bookmarks and settings based on who you are logged in as. - Alex I use Chrome, not for any swish reason, just for the pure fact that I like to make it look pretty! I do use all the other browsers to check the websites over before they go live. - Sophie Browser Testing Here in the office, we use our very own Testing Matrix to test every aspect of every website that we produce in every browser, and an important part of this process is ensuring that each website works in the latest versions of browsers, and the previous two versions across all browsers and devices. We also have a comprehensive Mobile Testing Suite which comprises of a wide range of mobile devices in all shapes and sizes, screen resolutions and aspect ratios. Testing really is a big part of what we do here at Fifteen. In conclusion Keeping your web browser up to date is very important, as all Web Design and Development is done to the latest standards. If you're running an outdated browser then you may be missing out on all that goodness that has been lovingly crafted into the website. #### Keyword targeting vs topical content: What should you prioritise for SEO success? SEO has changed significantly over the years. There was a time when success often came down to choosing the right phrase, placing it in the right places, and building a page around that one term. If you wanted to rank, the focus was on targeting keywords as directly as possible. Today, search engines are far more sophisticated. Google no longer relies purely on exact-match phrases; it understands context, intent, and the relationship between subjects. In this blog, we’ll explore the difference between keyword targeting and topical content, why they both still matter for modern SEO, and how businesses can strike the right balance between the two. What is keyword targeting? Keyword targeting is the process of creating and optimising content around specific search terms that users type into search engines. It helps search engines understand what a page is about and gives your content a better chance of appearing for relevant queries. Traditionally, keyword targeting was quite rigid. A business would choose a phrase with reasonable search volume, build a page around it, and then place that phrase in the page title, headings, metadata, and body copy. In some cases, this worked well, but it also led to a lot of repetitive, low-quality content written more for search engines than users. Modern keyword targeting still matters, but the way it’s done has changed. Today, it’s less about exact-match repetition and more about aligning a page with genuine search intent. A keyword should still guide the content, but it should do so naturally. It should shape the direction of the page rather than dominate every sentence on it. This means strong keyword targeting should involve an understanding of: What the user is really trying to find Whether the query is informational, commercial, or transactional What type of page Google is already rewarding for that search How related phrases and variations support the main topic Used properly, keyword targeting remains an essential foundation of SEO. It gives structure to content planning and ensures you’re building pages around real demand rather than assumptions. What is topical content? Topical content is content that covers a subject in enough depth to demonstrate relevance and authority. Rather than creating a single page aimed at one keyword alone, a topical approach looks at the broader theme around that keyword and builds useful supporting content around it. For example, if a business wants to build visibility around SEO, a keyword-led strategy might focus on individual pages for specific phrases such as “SEO strategy”, “technical SEO”, or “SEO audit”. A topical strategy would take those individual pages and connect them as part of a wider content ecosystem, showing search engines that the website has depth in that subject area. That broader coverage matters because search engines increasingly assess not just whether a page is relevant, but whether a website is a credible source on the topic as a whole. This is where topical content becomes so valuable. It helps establish authority by showing that your knowledge extends beyond a single search term. A strong topical content strategy usually includes: Pillar pages that cover broad themes Supporting blogs or resources that explore subtopics Internal linking that connects related content Consistent messaging across the subject area The benefits of this approach is that it allows your website to become more than a collection of isolated pages. It becomes a connected resource that helps both users and search engines understand what your business knows best. Why has SEO shifted towards topics? Google’s algorithms have become increasingly focused on understanding meaning rather than simply matching keywords. Updates such as Hummingbird, RankBrain, and BERT have improved search engine’s ability to interrupt natural language and context. As a result, search engines now evaluate how well a piece of content addresses a subject overall rather than simply whether it includes a specific phrase. This is why topical content has become so important. By covering a subject comprehensively, businesses can demonstrate and provide genuine value to users.  That said, this shift doesn’t mean keywords have become irrelevant. Instead keyword targeting now works alongside topical content, helping searching search engines connect individual pages with user queries. Why does targeting keywords still matter? The biggest reason why targeting keywords still matters in modern SEO is because search engines still need clear signals about what a page is designed to address, and keywords provide those signals. A page without clear keyword focus can struggle to rank because its relevance becomes diluted. Topical content may strengthen authority overall, but each individual page still needs a purpose, which is shaped by a primary keyword or search intent. Keyword targeting today is much more strategic as it involves understanding: The primary query The surrounding semantic terms The intent behind the search The format users expect A page targeting a keyword should answer the query clearly, while still covering the broader context naturally. In other words, keywords still matter, but not in isolation. They are the directional tool that helps guide content creation. Without them, a topical strategy can become too broad, and without topical depth, a keyword strategy can become too shallow. The strongest results come when both are working together. How to combine keyword targeting with topical content for SEO success The most effective SEO strategies treat keyword targeting and topical content as a holistic approach, as opposed to treating them as two separate strategies. A successful content strategy will start by identifying the key topics your business wants to be known for. From there, keyword research helps uncover the specific queries people are searching within those themes. Those insights can then be used to create pages that target individual terms while also contributing to a wider topical cluster. For example, a business focusing on SEO might create a core service page around a high-intent keyword, then support it with related blogs that answer wider informational questions. Together, those pages build a stronger content ecosystem and help reinforce both page-level relevance and site-wide authority. By taking this approach, you’ll benefit from: Your pages having a defined purpose, which makes it easier to align content with search intent Your website building broader topical authority, helping search engines understand your expertise Internal linking becoming more valuable, as related pages support one another Stronger content journeys that guide users from discovery through to conversion Your keyword coverage expanding naturally over time, rather than relying on isolated pages We can help strengthen your SEO strategy Understanding the balance between keyword targeting and topical content is essential for long-term SEO success. Businesses that focus only on targeting keywords risk producing shallow content, while those that ignore keywords entirely may struggle to connect with real search demand. At Fifteen, we help businesses build SEO strategies that bring both approaches together - combining keyword insight, content planning, and topical authority to create websites that perform more consistently in search. If you want to improve how your site approaches keyword targeting while building meaningful topical content, get in touch with our digital marketing specialists today and we’ll help you create a strategy that delivers measurable results. #### Laws of UX - Part Two Continuing from our part one blog, I’d like to continue our rundown of the final five laws of UX. If you haven’t already checked out part one, it is available to read here. 6. Miller’s Law The average person can only keep 7 (plus or minus 2) items in their working memory. During the 1950s, Psychologist George Miller claimed that our immediate memory span and judgment had a limit of around seven elements of information at a time. While this law may act more like a guideline, it is relevant to specific ways of utilising our short-term memory when browsing online. Regardless of the number of units, what Miller’s Law should guide within UX design is to chunk information into logical groupings. This helps our user absorb information quickly and easily. To put this into simple terms, Miller’s Law should be used when you’re looking at categorising and grouping information to help a user find exactly what they’re looking for. 7. Pareto Principle The Pareto principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Also known as the ’80/20 Rule’ or the ‘Law of the Vital Few’. The Pareto principle was originally penned by Wilfredo Pareto. He noticed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by just 20% of its population. This law can provide an insightful analysis application within UX. Without getting intensely hung up on the numbers, the crux of the principle can be used to conduct research. If you can focus on the 20% of elements people use the most within, for example, a website, it usually means that the majority of users are landing there. Where we can see this in action, with sites that may pre-populate forms without prompting. Such as hotel booking websites. They will pre-populate the most popular number of nights staying and the number of people staying within the search bar. Because, during their UX research, around 20% of bookings will fit these criteria. 8. Parkinson’s Law Any task will inflate until all of the available time is spent. Initially, this law was published by the Economist in the 50s by Cyril Northcote Parkinson. Without going into great details about its originality, the principle can be applied to UX design. In its purest form; If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do. The law applies to inflation and deflation of time concerning the task we’re applying that time to. We can use this within UX design in the assumption that our users don’t have a great deal of time to complete a task. Or that they will bend the time to suit their needs. In this case, we must make sure that instructions and actions are transparent to complete and follow quickly. It’s a simple law that sounds like a bit of a no-brainer when we apply it to the design. 9. Serial Position Effect Users have a propensity to best remember the first and last items in a series. Initially coined by Herman Ebbinghaus, the Serial Position Effect suggests that the position of an item will affect how accurately we recall that item. This concept explains that terms at the beginning and end of a sequence are recalled more accurately than items that sit in the middle. We can apply this principle very simply in UX design by prioritising things to follow this way of thinking. Most notably you can see this within the design of header navigation items. ‘Contact’ will usually be at the end of the list where the company are looking to gain enquiries online. Websites such as charities may have a ‘Donate’ button at the start of their navigation list. It’s a simple way to gain results without too much investment. 10. Tesler’s Law Tesler's Law, also known as The Law of Conservation of Complexity, states that for any system there is a certain amount of complexity that cannot be reduced. Larry Tesler, while working for Xerox PARC in the 80s, realised that users interact with applications in a way that is just as important as the application itself. The law states that every application has an element of complexity that can’t be removed and instead should be dealt with in UI or product development. It ultimately poses the question of who should deal with complexity, the user or the person designing the interaction. If the user is interacting with a website for a complex piece of software, for example, should their interaction reflect the complexity of the software? Or should the user be given a more straightforward journey to that point? It is a long-debated idea that should be dealt with within the context of the product you are designing for. The science behind good UX relies on understanding how people think. Our UX team have the experience and insight to optimise sites and drive users to convert. Contact us today if you're interested in finding out more about how UX design can improve your site. #### Learning Front End Web Development in 2016 As a Web Developer in 2016, sometimes it is all we can do to keep up with the current ‘trends’ and acronyms which will come at us on a daily basis, either from our colleagues in the office or clients. “Have you heard of BEM”, one of the Developers said around about 5 months ago, and so began my personal journey into learning a whole new methodology. A client wanted to know if we could write in .NET, a different programming language altogether, and again another journey begins! However, before I get ahead of myself, let’s take a step back in time. Back to 2004 when I started out as a Web Developer. When I started out in 2004, at the ripe old age of 13, Javascript (now EMCAScript) hadn’t got much penetration into the market, and Netscape Navigator was still a thing. In order to build my very first webpage, the languages I had to learn were HTML, CSS and PHP. HTML for structuring pages, CSS for styling them, and PHP for dynamic elements. I consider myself (and always have) a bit of a linguist. I took 3 separate languages courses in school, and took 2 of them to college level learning. I do enjoy linguistic constructs and the flow of words, and programming languages are no different. Every single one has patterns and rigidity, as well as their own little quirks. Still, learning 3 different languages at once, to be used in tandem with each other for best results was quite the challenge. Now, fast forward to 2016, and I’m going to remove PHP from the equation straight away. Though it is still a very popular language, it’s no longer absolutely necessary for what we define as a “Front End” Web Developer to know. If you’re starting out in 2016, like our very own Charlie, you have to learn a LOT more than three programming languages to get by. Sure, HTML and CSS are still there, but you also have to know Javascript. This is where the fun starts. JavaScript has had many things built on top of it, some of which you may recognise, and some you may not. Examples are: jQuery - a framework which sits on top of JavaScript. Node.js - A JavaScript Runtime. Gulp - A task runner distributed through the Node Package Manager. Bower - A package manager. Grunt  - A task runner distributed through the Node Package Manager. Webpack - A module bundler. Angular - A structural framework for Dynamic Web Apps. React - Built by Facebook, a “View Layer” for sitting on top of JavaScript Web Apps. CoffeeScript - A separate language which compiles down into JavaScript. Why is this the case? JavaScript on it’s own is quite a verbose language, and so people have built frameworks and other tools which make things easier to remember. An example of this is jQuery, where instead of writing document.getElementById('top').click() You simply write $('#top').click(); So, the list of things you need to know so far is: HTML CSS JavaScript A Javascript Framework such as jQuery or Angular But wait, there’s more! We’ve skipped over CSS. CSS has a few quirks, such as the inability to assign variables (dynamic values), but there are things such as LESS, SASS and SCSS which are called ‘PreProcessors’ that solve this for us. What a CSS PreProcessor does, is allows you to assign variables to items, and then once run through a compiler such as gulp or grunt, will output your CSS with the variables. This is great because if you want to change red to blue in your code, you don’t have to change every instance of “red”, you just change the one variable. Though this also introduces having to learn how to use a compiler such as gulp or grunt. So, your list of things you need to know to become a front end web developer is this: HTML CSS CSS PreProcessor such as LESS or SASS. JavaScript A Javascript Framework such as jQuery or Angular A Javascript Task Runner such as gulp or grunt Knowledge of Node Package Manager Once you know all of these you can start delving into the various CSS methodologies which exist. These methodologies can provide structure to your code, and implement design patterns which often remove difficulties in naming, or cascading issues and create predictable markup which teams can follow. Examples of these include: OOCSS - Object Oriented CSS BEM - Block Element Modifier SMACSS - Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS While not necessarily needed to learn, these methodologies work to make it easier for teams of developers to work on the same codebase, as it makes the resulting product more predictable and introduces a ruleset for the entire team to work to. So, your list of things you need to know to become a front end web developer is this: HTML CSS CSS PreProcessor such as LESS or SASS. CSS Methodology such as BEM or OOCSS JavaScript A Javascript Framework such as jQuery or Angular A Javascript Task Runner such as gulp or grunt Knowledge of Node Package Manager There are also things which sit on top of HTML, such as HAML (which is a HTML PreProcessor much like SCSS or LESS) or the HTML templating engines such as Twig, Smarty or Blade, but they cross over into Back End Developer territory as well, so I’ll be nice and not add them to your list of things to know. Seems like a lot, right? Instead of the three languages I had to learn when I first started out, Developers starting out in 2016 have to know a minimum of 8 separate things, and know of around 15-20 others! It may seem daunting, but it’s also worth noting  that this is just for a Front End Developer. I haven’t even touched on PHP or PHP Frameworks (such as Laravel or Symfony), Composer (the PHP Package Manager), Model View Controller, Object Oriented PHP, or Version Control such as Git, CVS or SVN which a Back End or Full Stack Developer would need to know. I’m happy I started out in 2004, rather than 2016, as I’ve been able to progressively learn all of these things while they’ve developed, rather than having to learn them all at once. Even though it does seem like a lot, all of the above do serve a purpose and there are reasons that they have been widely adopted. They do make development easier once you have mastered them all, I promise! #### Light Years Ahead For OceanLED After months of hard work and research, Fifteen are proud to announce the launch of the new Ocean LED website. About OceanLED OceanLED is the most advanced and trusted brand of underwater LED lighting across the world, they distribute to over 500 dealers worldwide, and have a highly-skilled team that push the boundaries of LED lighting and the electronics that run them (all the products that they design and build are produced in-house!) OceanLED is a UK based company, who kick-started the underwater lighting revolution in 2005, and is at the forefront of innovative developments in how boat owners light their boats. The Task Being innovators within the marine LED industry, OceanLED needed a website that would assist them in becoming a thought leader within the industry. It was important that the new website allowed them to target their multiple audiences with a single website (as opposed to the split they had before), that was eye-catching and informative. The website needed to be responsive, and offer the best modern website design and development techniques. The Website The Design With a stock of amazing images and video footage, we knew that the way to make the OceanLED website stand out from the crowd was going to be their imagery. The website was designed to reflect the ocean setting in which their lights perform at it’s best, utilising a dark blue, white and black colour-scheme, with plenty of space for images throughout. Catered towards a mobile friendly web build, and allowing the focus to be on the products, and how they light up the night in the ocean. As OceanLED target 3 types of users – Superyacht owners, Leisure boat owners and Fishing boat owners, it was important to make sure that the website could be tailored to fulfil each of these different requirements, using appropriate images and being able to feature the products that are most suitable for that particular user type. Content Management & Key Features The website is built using WordPress, which allows the website admin to login to manage the website’s content and images, allowing them to always keep the website up to date. The website is fully responsive and scales to fit users browsers and mobile devices, scaling the content down to present itself in the best formatting accordingly. The site is built using clean code, and uses a range of CSS animations on the icons in order for them to catch a users eye, and provide an enjoyable user experience. The website has a range of key features, that allows the user to interact with the website in an engaging way. These include: A colour picker, where a user can control the colour of a light using their mouse, simulating how they might experience the colour change on the OceanLED app which allows them to control the colour of their lights. See video below: A dealer locator, which allows a user to find a dealer closest to them using Google Maps as the base, as the website is worldwide, it’s important that the user can find a dealer in their local area, and provide information on how to get in touch with that dealer, and how far away they are based on their location. Product Comparison, which allows the user to select a range of products to compare between one another, and then submit those products to OceanLED in order to get a cost for the lights they like the look of. Which opens the dialogue between the end user and OceanLED. IP locate, which will automatically locate where the users are and display the relevant language/price to the user depending on their IP address. Multi-Language, which allows the admin to add multiple language translations for all the pages on the website. We are really proud of the new OceanLED website, and can’t wait to enter it in for some awards, we are working behind the scenes on an add-on section, which will really blow you out of the water! So keep your eyes out for that! What They Said “When I first approached Fifteen I was really impressed with their enthusiasm and interest in the project. They understood what we wanted to achieve and I felt they were the ideal agency to work with. Throughout the design and build, the team were helpful and reactive to our needs as the project developed. We’re really pleased with the end result and have some big plans still in development with Fifteen”. Lee Hirons - Marketing Manager Who Worked On The Project?         Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="www.oceanled.com"]Visit OceanLED[/fifteen_button] #### Listicles? How to make your lists stand out from the rest Listicles, or list articles, are probably one of the most common types of web content around. The aim of the game when it comes to website content is short, snappy information that can be easily navigated on a computer screen or mobile. As a result, when it comes to describing your services or telling readers about the benefits of your products, chances are you’re going to write a list article. We’re going to go meta here and look at how you can optimise your listicles with a little listicle of our own.  What is a listicle? The list format is the skeleton for your story. They can take many guises, be it an article with videos and captions or a list of places to go with contact details and site information. The form that connects all listicles is the format of:Introduction Subheading Information Subheading Information (x5/6/7 however many points you have) Conclusion with CTA This format helps you organise information and makes pulling apart strands easier. Readers can land on your blog, scroll down to the section they need and get to the answer quicker, all thanks to the regular layout and subheadings. Frame your listicle Now that we have an understanding of what listicles are; it’s important to understand the function of the title. All list articles do essentially the same thing but the title, introduction, and conclusion are where you put a spin on the piece. For example, notice the difference between these list titles: A) 24 Dogs Enjoying the Summer B) The 30 Funniest Pet Photos Ever C) 12 Reasons You Should Always Plan a Roadtrip HolidayThese list articles are shaped by their headings. A is a pure list article, no narrative, just a list of pictures to enjoy. B, by comparison, focuses on drawing clicks by making claims about how amazing or original the post is. Finally, C is a story told through the means of a list. This form is like a hybrid of an article and a list. String sections together Because of the nature of this type of content, it’s important that you weave content to move from one part to the next. This shows a connection between several sections and draws the reader into carrying on reading. For example, you can end one section and then lead into the next section with phrases like; ‘Speaking of X, let’s take a look at Y…’ To better understand X, you have to understand Y. ‘This is where Y comes in.’ Cutaway the fat List articles are all about brevity. Most people expect to find information quickly and easily on a list article so do away with fluff and stick to what’s important. If you’re subheading mentions something, talk about that. Don’t go off on a tangent. If you have cool stats or studies you’d like to include, add them as hyperlinks for anyone looking for a deeper read of your research.  Break long lists into subcategories If your list looks like it’s going to run into 20+ items chances are users will find it hard to navigate. A great way to break up the monotony is to create further categories. If the reader has 4 sections, each with 5 points, it will be easier to parse the knowledge and find what they are looking for. We hope you found this blog interesting and helpful. If you need a hand with anything SEO or content-related contact us today and we’ll help you create list articles that engage readers and drive conversion. #### Logo Design and why you should get professional help Logos have two main purposes. Firstly, It should inform the consumers who you are. This could be through the name and/or the device/icon you have decided on. Another one is it should tell a story that people can easily associate with, but most importantly it should set a tone of the entire brand. Doing this without professional help can save you money, however, this could impact your business by losing clients. Here’s why: Showing off who the business is through the logo or the device is one of the most, if not the most identifiable part of your brand. Keeping your logo well-formatted, designed to the highest standard, and keeping it clean and clear, will keep your brand professional. Logos that are made by non-professionals or even logos that have been created by an online platform such as Getty images are also not the solution. They are often generic and uninspiring and us professionals can see the faults a mile away. If you're a designer or studied design you're better informed to design and identify what truly expresses it’s brand’s mission and values If you think - off the top of your head, of a logo that you might desire, then it’s already done. Unless having experience, there are properties you’ll not think of everything that goes into designing a logo. One thing that I like to portray is colour psychology, but other things that you’ll miss if you're not a professional creative would be selecting that perfect typeface including some other surprising hidden gems that make up a unique logo. Just placing a device and choosing a crazy font from Dafont can seem exciting but comes across quite unprofessional. However, uniquely unpacking what the business does allows a professional to dig a little deeper, and subsequently allows us to make a logo that can be used everywhere. I bet you did not think of that? Yes, you’ll have to also think of placing your new logo on business cards, websites and social media banners. There are many things that professional designers take into consideration when designing that perfect logo and seeing it from the perspective of a designer is a lot easier than seeing it through your eyes. Designing for yourself can be tough (trust me I’ve been there when I had to brand myself at university). You might think that the logo you’ve just made makes perfect sense to yourself including those around you, but trouble is, your peers and customers might not get it. A designer will also communicate your business needs, how it'll work for the market you’re in and how it will add to your identity. The logo is much more versatile, rather than it being more than just a device and typography to consumers. Actions speak louder than words. Having to understand fully what your company is all about plus whom or what the business wants to aspire to be like. We as designers can pack a punch to create that logo which is truly unique. Last but not least, make sure you're focusing more on your own company rather than all of the marketing. Why? Running your own business means having to worry about other elements of your company, rather than spending hours on a computer trying to come up with different brandings such as a logo and a website. Getting a professional team of expert designers to help you with that gives you your time back to focus on what's important. Let Fifteen do all the leg work. We have worked with countless brands and been tasked with all kinds of projects from facelifts to complete rebrands - and we are proud of EVERY single one of them. We do it all from meeting you and your business needs to creating amazing concepts. Please do get in contact if you need anything from digital marketing, website design, development and branding - we are the agency for you. Are you ready? #### Looking After Number 1: Thoughts on Self Care Last week I’d spotted on the grapevine that it was ‘self-care’ week and I really wanted to do a piece on this because it’s something I feel strongly about. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get a post out last week; being busy got in the way and that’s not uncommon for many of us. A week on from this, I thought it would be a good idea to big up last week’s ‘Self-Care’ Campaign which is an annual initiative to help raise awareness and focus on providing support for self-care across communities, families and generations. ‘Choosing Self Care for Life’ is the strapline for this year’s campaign and many organisations were encouraged to use ‘Self Care Week’ as a hook to help people choose self-care for a healthier and happier life. Furthermore, mental health and behavioural conditions now contribute to a large percentage of work ‘sick notes’ from GPs, so there is no time like the present to start focusing on and taking responsibility for our individual self-care. With Christmas on the countdown and cold, dark night’s drawing in, this time of year can dampen our spirits and put us in bah humbug mode, so it’s incredibly important to ensure that we are our top priority as flu season takes hold. With the word ‘self-care’ being banded around a lot these days I’m keen to not to let ‘self-care’ fall in the trap of being dismissed as something the rare few get to do in our busy non-stop lives. Moreover, we shouldn’t feel guilty for participating in a spot of self-care in the workplace either. With long working hours, stressful commutes and very little ‘you’ time it’s very important to be productive in our approach to the time we do have on our hands. A spot of self-care in the workplace could be to firstly, make sure you do take your lunch break and secondly to use that time well. A brisk walk on your lunch break is one step towards promoting positive self-care whilst at work. I’ve always found exercise an amazing medicine for lifting your mood, and there’s nothing like fresh air and a brisk walk to ‘re-set’ and stimulate your productive flow when you step foot back in the office. Taking every opportunity to leave your computer and have a little chat with colleagues is a touch of positive self-care. Communicating face to face with someone, having a chat and walking away from your desk for 5 minutes is a short, time-efficient way of promoting self-care in our technologically driven lives. Creating a healthy workspace contributes to promoting self-care at work. This could be in the form of a stringent desk cleanout operation. What do you need? What’s lying around on your desk for the sake of it? I like to make sure blinds are open and to have as much natural light as possible so I can have a screen break and look outside for ideas and thought gathering. Positive self-care in and out of the workplace breeds productivity in all aspects of our lives and helps us to feel happier, makes us more compassionate and increases our energy levels, which means that the time we do have to ourselves is used to full effect. Self-care shouldn’t just be one week but all year round to find what works for you and ensure you look after yourself this Winter. At Fifteen we're lucky enough to work hard and play hard with a range of activities and events to keep our team motivated and happy. #### Love My Skin Get A Lovely New Website We are proud to announce the launch of the brand new website and brand for Love My Skin! About Love My Skin Love My Skin are part of Kinetik Wellbeing (a well-known company in the health and fitness industry who have their products on the shelves of Boots and Supermarkets) and believe in using the latest technology to give their customers the best products on the market. Their products cater for those looking for hair loss as well as anti-aging and clear skin solutions. The Task To create a brand for Love My Skin that fit with the existing Kinetik brand, but could stand alone. A website that is to sell products online, and provide an information base that will allow users to refer back to the website to gain access to FAQ's and reviews. Digital marketing to be implemented to bring people to the website, and engage with the audience in the best possible way. The Brand Creating a brand that would be recognisable and fit within the Kinetik family was key to the success of the brand. It was important that the brand stands alone as a recognisable entity and could be carried across multiple marketing platforms with ease. Alongside the brand, we created a range of PDF documents to be used across the website and for internal use, and the packaging for the laser hair removal product that launched with the website. The Website The website is a full e-commerce solution which links with Love My Skin's chosen payment provider, the website is fully responsive, and scales down to different mobile and tablet screen sizes with ease, utilising best practice development techniques, and modern design trends. The website itself is clean and simple, with a big focus on the lifestyle images and products for sale across the website, the user journey is second to none, and there is a big focus on the users experience through the website, it is integrated with a reviews system, that allows potential buyers to see what others thought of the product and should encourage them to buy online through the website. A key feature of the website is the skin tester, where a user selects their skin and hair tone to see whether they are suitable for the product, based on the result, depends on whether the user can proceed to adding the product to their basket. The Marketing As this was a new product, it was important to start creating a social buzz around the brand and the product before the launch of the website, we implemented a landing page with a count-down offering a discount for those who signed up, and created a social and PPC campaign around the products on the website to help drive traffic to the website over the coming months. We can't wait to see what results come through in the next few months, and look forward to a long lasting relationship with the team at Love My Skin! Who Worked On The Project?           Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="https://www.love-my-skin.co.uk/"]Visit the Love My Skin Website[/fifteen_button] #### Make the Ultimate Investment with a new Brand Identity Yes, a good brand really is a big deal! So let’s break down exactly why it’s important for businesses (of all sizes) to invest in a brand that’s powerful enough to deliver great results for years to come. So, first off the bat - what exactly is a brand? In short, it’s everything. It’s the way that you communicate with your customers and how you make them feel when they purchase your goods or services. It’s the ultimate name that you stand by, it represents what you do best and what you want to be known for. The importance of powerful brand image…  Let’s face it - you probably wouldn’t go to a job interview in your Nike trainers and last Friday’s t-shirt (well, not to one that you were ‘over keen’ on landing anyway). But like it or not; we as both people and businesses are judged on our first impressions. So why should this be any different in marketing? The way in which we first connect with our potential clients and customers goes a long way. I’ll simplify: “As businesses, we should brand ourselves in the way that we want to be known”. Fictional situation - take a minute and imagine yourself checking into a fancy hotel in central London, you’ve saved long and hard for a luxury, 5 star weekend away with your friend or partner. You arrive at reception (all good so far), walk to the desk and you’re greeted by Joe Bloggs, dressed in a scruffy polo-shirt that’s short enough to expose a full sleeve of tattoos. Also, he just happens to be swirling around on his chair and chewing on a Mars bar behind the desk as he checks you in. Something would feel off, right? But why is that? I think that all memebers of society have a certain line of expectation. And when it’s not met, we are naturally disappointed. Me? I actually like tattoos. My point? Mr Bloggs could be giving off the wrong impression by not making an effort to cover them. The thing to take away from this scenario is to think - how would you like to be known? How would you like your customers to feel when engaging with you, your products and services? It’s essential to make things easy for our customers Okay, say for example, you go to a shopping website and spend a reasonable amount of time trying to look for some crucial information regarding your account. Things are tacky, unstructured a nd out of place. You immediately become agitated. It’s not an easy experience and you cannot help but feel annoyed at the fact the company is making your life more difficult. Although realistically, it’s just down to the fact that they probably haven’t hired a designer to update their site for a few years. This poor website is representing that company, just as Joe Bloggs (and his ‘OK to eat at the desk’ policy) was representing the hotel that Saturday morning A solid brand will serve you an ideal image. One that you need in order to sell your products and services. Of course, this is dependent upon the nature of your business. If you’re a meat company distributing Biltong (a dried meat that’s very popular throughout Southern Africa) then it probably won’t be your priority to have your customers ‘find you’. I imagine that your site would need to be more focused around the products that you are selling, seasonal/promotional offers and the variations that you are making available. In short, it’s all dependant on the nature of your business. I think it’s also fair to say that the one-time and most popular marketing tactic of “look, we have a great product, we need to sell it. Let’s put posters everywhere and wait for people to come this way” is slightly fading away. For sure, posters will always have their place in advertising events and raising awareness of certain things. But for businesses now, social media and digital marketing is the way forward. We need to think about how we can connect with people in order to sell our products and services before assuming that they trust both us (as a business) and our services. And that’s the reason why a brand is so important today. What makes you unique? More jargon? Unique Selling Point (USP) (for those of you who don’t know this already). It’s far too easy to get carried away with doing things by the book; providing good customer service backed up with great products in an ideal place. But your USP is what makes YOU unique. What do you want to be known for? What can you do that’s a little different to Joe Bloggs (yep, that guy again - he’s everywhere isn’t he?) and in this case, he’s the one that lives down your street… the one that’s selling the same thing as you are. SO THINK STRAPLINES. Give your customers a reason to use you and not him. Let’s think up a couple of examples:   Dominos are known for their speed of service. Shamefully, I’ve been a bit of a late bloomer discovering their new app, which basically lets you time your pizza from prep to delivery time. I gave it a go last weekend and I was more than impressed. I could physically make my own pizza from the customisation menu, toppings, and everything. Better still, it tracked my order whilst it was on the road and alerted me on arrival. My point – It was Domino’s quirky app that made me (as a customer) feel valued. They as a company have said “Right, let’s get this dough on the road!” and it gives you the chance to see it for yourself. If that’s not great customer service, then I really don’t know what is. But the ironic thing there – I didn’t even have to speak to anyone. So as we can see, Digital Investment can really pay off! Now let’s take a look at a competitor of theirs - Papa John’s, who demonstrate their USP through quality food and traditional recipes. This chain has arrived from the founder who opened his first pizza house in 1983 and they pride themselves on the fact that they simply know how to make exceptional pizza. Another good reason to give these guys a try. Do I need to improve my existing brand? In a nutshell, a solid brand makes you more believable. So whether you’re a one-man band or a big heavyweight brand, then it’s never too late to come up with something original and unique to you. And after you have found your niche; it gives your audience a reason to respect you more and invest more of their time and money into what you’re offering them. You may wish to ask yourself three questions: Are your promotional items consistent? If not, then how will people know it’s you that they are hearing from? It’s essential for a brand to reflect a consistent tone of voice across both printed and digital platforms so that you’re efforts are not only “out there” but recognised by the people that you are hoping to connect with. Do you feel that your brand truly reflects what you do? If it’s not convincing you, then the odds are that your customers won’t be able to grasp the personality of your business either. Think - what are people looking for when they visit your site and why should they choose to work with you? Do you blend in or stand out? If you already have a brand, then now may be the time to bring something bigger to the table. The good news? We’d love to help you out! We pride ourselves in growing businesses through dedicated marketing methods and great visuals. We drink lots of tea and coffee too. So pop in for one and we’ll get the ball rolling!  #### Making a Name for Yourself with Link Building Link building is a key service when it comes to SEO and content strategy. You can create a wonderfully in-depth article packed with useful information and keywords. But without amplifying it using link building you’re missing out on the chance to build a reputation and become a voice in your industry.  So what are links and how does link building accomplish this? We’re going to take you through the basics of links and link building to show you how you can add this important skill to your repertoire. What are links? A link, or hyperlink, is simply that light blue text that when you click on it takes you to another site. In the marketing industry, a link that directs traffic to your site is known as an inbound link, external link, or backlink. Links have been integral to internet use since its inception and continue to be a key to success today.  Think of the last blog you read or social media post you clicked on. At some point, you probably clicked on a link that took you to another site and you discovered more about ‘what to do in the local area’, ‘where to buy jeans’ or other such queries. These links are how we navigate the internet, and how SEO experts get users to travel to a specific page. These links are incredibly important to sites, especially smaller sites as getting a link from an established website is a surefire way to increase your traffic and get your page in front of a much larger audience. These links also make your site more attractive to search engines leading to better rankings. The internet is essentially a big popularity contest so if you can get a famous brand to link to your site then chances are Google and other search engines are going to shoot you up the SERP results.  When to Follow and Not Follow Links Now that we have an understanding of links and their value it’s important to understand that not all links are equal. Brands will often choose which links to attribute ‘follow’ and ‘no follow’ depending on the relationship with the site in question, whether they are direct competitors, or if their status will harm the page with the link. The last reason is one of the biggest issues when it comes to winning backlinks.  Digital teams up and down the country do their damndest to reach out to sites that link to theirs and ask for a follow. These ‘follow’ links attribute value to the links, giving your site a better score on Google and other platforms. However, if a brand doesn’t want to promote your site or doesn’t want their name associated with an unknown entity they may set the link to ‘nofollow’. This means that even if there is a connection, you don’t receive any of the benefits of a backlink.  How to Optimise Backlinks for Link Building This is where the fine balancing act of creating content for backlinks and optimising the ‘follow’ links you provide comes into play. If you’ve created a fantastic whitepaper or informative blog you should reach out to publications, industry leaders, or other influential sites and ask them to share your piece or link to it in their article. This is a symbiotic relationship where the target site gets access to a larger pool of users and the hosting site gets access to free information their users can use to make better decisions.  Choosing where not to link is just as important. A dedicated SEO team will search through your site to establish which links are helpful and which ones are damaging your reputation. Once scoured, they can suggest a course of action, whether it’s to remove links or simply set them to no follow to limit the value given to that link. Whatever the case, optimising in this way streamlines your links so that users and search engines only follow the very best. At Fifteen, we work with clients to create exciting digital strategies that improve their visibility and conversion rates. If you’re interested in finding out more about our SEO and digital marketing services then contact us today and we’ll get your links optimised in no time. #### Making a-MEND’s for Muslim Engagement and Development After months of planning and hard work from the team at MEND and Fifteen, we are proud to announce that the new MEND website is now live! About MEND MEND is a not-for-profit company that works towards empowering and encouraging British Muslims within local communities to become more involved in taking notice of specific events highlighted by British media and politics. MEND works with a range of Muslim and non-Muslim organisations to highlight the fact that that anti-Muslim prejudice, anti-Semitism and other forms of racism and xenophobia are still happening on a daily basis across the UK, and that it is unacceptable for people to act that way. MEND encourages the community to engage with Politics and Media so that they can promote positive involvement within the community and their duty in working for the common good. The Task The MEND website required multiple elements of functionality within the initial build, from a front-end website to a portal system that needed to allow Leaders to log in and add events, download resources and add blog posts to the website. The new website needed to be modern, user-friendly and showcase the volume of content that is accessible to users via the website. Merging what was two separate sites into one. The Website Driven by the daily updates of the website’s news and events the website design needed to be clean, functional and showcase everything that is happening at MEND, showing users the latest information straight away, and directing them to the important areas of the website with ease. Focussing on the user's journey through the website, we’ve made sure that the user has easy access to all elements using a sidebar that can be changed on each page, directing the user to various other points of the websites that need. The website is developed using best practice code and modern techniques. The site is built using WordPress which is a seamless transition for the MEND team, who’s previous website was also built using the CMS system. There are a number of key features on the MEND website, which allows the site to stand out from any others out there. These include: Tabbed Slider – the tabbed slider on the homepage allows the user to flick through latest news and events, and access different tabs that takes the user to various other areas of the website. Working Group Finder – the website allows a user to type in their postcode or location to find their nearest working group, and have access to information about the group. MEND Events – the new site allows users to purchase tickets for events through the website, and will generate a QR code/e-ticket which will allow MEND to track their sales and attendees for their events helping their marketing moving forward. Action Alerts – this is a vital part of the website for MEND, they have a range of alerts that need urgent attention from the MEND community. We have developed a tool that allows MEND to highlight an action alert that will be displayed on the website at all times, as well as multiple options for a user to get in touch to action an alert via email, web form or finding a local MP. Working Group Zone – The working group zone allows working group leaders to log into a portal system that allows them to access resources, add and manage their own events, write blog posts and upload images to be used on their working group page. We are so pleased with how the website has come together, and we are looking forward to working with MEND moving forward on future projects. What Did They Say? "So exactly what does ‘Mission Impossible’ look like in web designer terms? Perhaps three websites rolled into one? Yet still the simplicity, uniformity and maneuverability of just one? This is the task we set ‘fifteen’, to combine the policy, community engagement and hate crime reporting aspects of our website into one uniform website. But that’s not all, we also wanted a highly interactive website which incorporated ‘calls to action’ for our volunteers and seamlessly allowed people to identify their local working groups. I’m delighted to say, fifteen achieved all our lofty targets within the time frame specified. I would definitely recommend this talented outfit to anyone requiring their services." Sufyan Gulam Ismail, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist, Founder of MEND Who Worked On The Project?               Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="www.mend.org.uk"]Visit MEND[/fifteen_button] #### Managing Your New Web Project Internally You’ve decided to work with an agency that you connect with and will produce the best website you’ve ever had. They have the experience and expertise to guide you through the process, and will be there for you at every step of the way, meeting and exceeding your expectations. Here at Fifteen we pride ourselves on our web project management. We are here to support you through your journey with us and the website through to the end, and after offering support and advice on how to use your website. We understand that while you’ve been selected as the project manager within your company, you also have your average day's work to deal with. So, we’ve written some tips and tricks to help you manage the workload of a new website build. Project Start Meetings In order to make sure that everyone is on the same page, always have a project start meeting, this allows you and the agency you are working with time to talk about the design of the website, the feel of the website, your aims and objectives and potential deadlines for the site. During our project start meetings, we introduce you to the team who will be working on the project, so they can get a full understanding of your and your business. After the project start meeting, we often draw up a Project Scope, outlining details of the project, a design plan, technical specification, milestones, and information that we need from you, such as Logos, FTP’s/hosting information, Domain information etc. It’s important to compile this information as soon as you can and send it over to us. Being Honest with Design Our amazing creative team will get to work on sitemapping, wireframing and designing your website, based on the discussions from the project start meeting and the project scope document. It’s important to always be honest with the designer, and voice your opinions on what is provided, whether you like something or you don’t, if you’ve got specific ideas of what you would like to see in spaces, please send them over to us, so we can pass the information to the design team. This allows us to take inspiration from stuff you like and love, and implement it into the design of your website. If your in a position where you’ve got to pass the design off through a table of directors it can be difficult, you have to remember that you can’t please everyone and to think of the business and the people who will actually be using the website. You can read more about how to get the most out of your designer. Preparing the Content & Images This is a common pitfall for the majority of new website builds. We recommend that after the sitemap has been confirmed, you take as much time as you can per week to compile the content of your website. If your day job is highly demanding we know that this can be a problem, so speak to your line manager and ask for an afternoon/day to spend on writing new content for the website. Having all your content and images ready for the milestone deadline within your project scope will allow the project to keep on time, and be completed quickly, meaning you can get your new website out to your audience in no time! If your having problems writing your content, let us know, we can often provide valuable help with straplines and key information. We also provide a copywriting service. [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/content-creation-copywriting/"]Find out more about Copywriting for Web[/fifteen_button]   The Final Stages When a website goes into development, a good project manager will keep you up to date with the progress of the build, once your content and images are in the website, you will be sent a link to the staging version of the website, where you can see the site in a full functioning state. (Each agency works differently, but this is how we work). You will have feedback and tweaks at this stage, and again please be honest, and let the agency know your thoughts. Fifteen’s experience and expertise working with the web allows us to build websites that are built with current web trends and best practice web development in mind, however, sometimes, these don’t work for your customer base, and no one knows this like you do. Once tweaks are made, and testing has been done on the website, you will need to check the website over and approve the website to go live. This can either be done internally at your offices or arrange a meeting with your agency to run through the website together. We have a projector screen that allows us to display the website in a large view allowing everyone to see the site and run through it together. Once this has been done, you will be given a launch date! (Exciting times!) Training It's important that you know how to use your website, here at Fifteen, we use CMS (content management systems) to build our websites, which allow you to edit all the content and images throughout the website. Fifteen spend time training you and other members of your team likely to use the website. This can be done before or after launch. You will often have questions about how key elements work, so please come prepared with a list of questions. At this stage, if you are interested in Digital Marketing, let your agency know, we offer a range of digital services that would compliment your new site launch, and would benefit your business to gain more revenue and inquiries. These services could include PPC, SEO, Remarketing and Affiliate Schemes for example. [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/"]View our Digital Marketing Services[/fifteen_button] After Launch Providing that your agency has provided good service throughout the project, they should keep in touch with you after the launch of the website, to make sure that your happy with how the site is performing and how you're using the website. The team at Fifteen are always on hand to help and support you after your website has launched. We monitor websites for the first 3 months after launch to make sure that they are performing as intended, and will make suggestions on improvements/changes that we can make depending on these results. [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/website-support-hosting/"]Do you need help with your web support?[/fifteen_button]   It is important to remember that having a website, takes some investment of time. In order to keep your looking fresh and active, we recommend that you blog weekly, and keep your content and images as up to date as possible throughout the website. Many of our clients have ‘Web Wednesdays’ where they spend an afternoon working on blog posts for the website for the following week and making tweaks and amends where possible. We also recommend setting up quarterly meetings with your agency, to discuss the performance of the website and any future development work you may want doing on the website. Are you in the market for a new website? Want to start a web project with us? Why not get in touch with the team here at Fifteen to see how we can help today? #### Marketing in a Recession: How to Maximise Your Impact With a Limited Budget In a recession, businesses have to work smarter and prioritise their goals. As a marketer, you must be strategic about spending your marketing budget. You might wonder, "how much money can I realistically spend on marketing?" or "how can I get the best ROI with limited resources?" Fortunately, many cost-effective marketing tactics allow you to maximise your impact with a restricted budget.  In this blog, we’ll look at the different ways you can connect with your audience as well as how you can analyse and repurpose your existing assets allowing you to maximise your return on investment (ROI). How can you connect with your audience during a recession? Marketers must be creative and efficient in a recession to optimise their budget and reach as many customers as possible. Below are some ways you can connect with your audience: Create content that resonates - focus on creating meaningful content that is relevant to your target audience and tell your story to build trust and credibility.  Leverage digital marketing tactics - this is a great way to reach more people with a limited budget. Utilise tactics such as PPC advertising, social media marketing and email marketing.  Host virtual events - take advantage of opportunities to host virtual events and webinars to educate your customers about your product or service and reinforce your message.  Partner with influencers - this will help to build credibility and trust with potential customers, especially if they have large audiences or advertising spots on popular websites.  By implementing these cost-effective marketing strategies during a recession, you can reach more customers and create lasting relationships that help towards increasing sales. What cost-effective tactics should I be implementing? It's essential to evaluate your resources and prioritise your goals. By analysing the marketing channels and tactics you’re already using, you’re able to see the ones that are most likely to drive results. One cost-effective strategy is content marketing. Creating unique and valuable content for your target audience can help generate leads, build trust, and increase conversions.  Another cost-effective tactic is sending regular email campaigns. When you send regular newsletters, you’re putting your brand at the forefront of your audience's mind. Be sure to craft compelling subject lines to help boost open rates. Equally, creating engaging email content will help increase clicks. Finally, implementing SEO optimisation to your website will help boost your rankings on search engines. Effective SEO optimisation can put your business in front of new and existing customers alike, thus improving organic traffic to your website. With these cost-effective marketing tactics in mind, marketers can create practical plans to reach their target audience regardless of the economic climate. How can I repurpose existing assets to maximise my impact? Repurposing existing assets as much as possible is also another great strategy to take advantage of. This could be repurposing assets for social media, email marketing, and traditional media channels to effectively maximise your impact. However, it’s important to analyse performance of these assets before using them. If it didn’t get you results the first, it’s highly likely they won’t the second time around. Instead of wasting time and money on unprofitable campaigns, consider investing in relationships with influencers and other industry professionals for insights and ideas. This way, marketers can create campaigns that resonate with the audience and drive conversions. Invest wisely for Maximum ROI With a limited budget, it's essential to be disciplined and understand the limitations of each strategy you’re going to use. You need to ensure you’re going to get the most out of that strategy as you are putting into it. For example, content marketing is one effective marketing strategy that has the potential to generate high returns on investment. But when you invest in content marketing, it's imperative to focus on creating engaging content that has the potential to draw in customers. This can be done by incorporating creative elements such as video and images into your content. This will help build a connection with your audience and drive them to take action.  With the right digital marketing strategies, you can generate leads and increase awareness of your brand. But you should ensure that you are investing your budget wisely by focusing on digital channels that have the potential to generate high ROI. Tips for creating a cost-effective marketing plan A cost-effective marketing plan can help businesses maximise their impact with limited budgets. And in a recession, it is still possible to reach more customers and save money on traditional advertising expenses. Here are some of our top tips to creating a cost-effective marketing plan: Analyse your goals and objectives - by starting with this, it will help you to identify the marketing channels that are most appropriate for achieving those goals and objectives. Consider your budget - once you’ve identified the marketing channels that will help reach your objectives, you can then start to carefully consider the budget available for your marketing activities. Re-evaluate your current marketing practices - whilst you’ll want to try new tactics, it’s worth analysing what’s worked well for you in the past to identify areas of cost savings. Research technologies and platforms - see what’s new that is emerging as this could potentially help you get the most out of your budget without sacrificing quality or effectiveness. Keep track of your budget - analyse your marketing budget and data regularly to ensure you’re getting a positive return on investment. Speak to our experts During a recession, marketing strategies need to be cost-effective and budget-conscious. Knowing how best to use limited resources while maximising your marketing impact is essential. To get the most out of your budget, it's crucial to analyse your existing resources, prioritise your goals, repurpose your assets where you can and measure your return on investment.  At Fifteen, our marketing experts have developed strategies that have helped businesses grow during some of the toughest economic times. Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help you make the most of your budget and reach your marketing goals. #### Merlin Business Software: Leaders in Software Solutions Merlin Business Software specialises in supporting businesses with their day to day efficiencies. This ranges from sales order processing to stock control and everything in between. Merlin Business Software provides a modular solution to the client’s business challenges, which means customers only have to use the programs they really need. Merlin’s software is built in-house making it is flexible for clients’ needs. This bespoke service is one-of-a-kind and can be tailored to any industry or sector. In fact, Merlin’s industry experience is vast. From builders’ merchants to foodservice distributors, Merlin’s Business software has the solution. The Task The client came to us with a request to bring their website up to date. Their old site had not seen improvement for some time and the user experience suffered as a result. The old site hindered potential customers finding useful information and reduced sales conversions. Fifteen were really looking forward to the task of redesigning and building a new website for Merlin Business Software. The Website The website design utilises Merlin’s logo and red/grey colour guidelines well, with a distinctive red colour theme on a white, fresh backdrop. The use of iconography and a professional font, makes the whole site come together beautifully. We also employed a similar sitemap to their current site to streamline the process and save MBS time. The new site is clear and easy to navigate propelling this brand into the modern world. With effective use of the hero area, the site flows nicely with blocks and sliders to separate content amongst call to actions, case studies and testimonials. The site has a customer login area which directs Merlin’s clients to a useful resource area rich with informative PDFs, videos, notes, news and information on the latest MBS updates. The user experience is second to none with numerous contact forms directed towards different customer requirements on the contact page. This website also has a bespoke drop-down menu area. Headers respond when hovered over showing a sub-menu to finetune the user’s search. This makes it a really aesthetically pleasing experience as the user begins to make their way around the website. The subtle animation of the images, sliders and buttons all make for an interesting journey through the site; highlighted by strong call to actions (CTAs) such as ‘Request Demo’ in the header and a contact form above the footer of each page. The careful and considered thinking of how the Merlin Business Software customer might want and need to navigate the site is evident in the final product. What They Said: "Our website was feeling old and dated and in the need of a complete overhaul. We looked around a number of different designers, but Fifteen provided us initially with the best understanding of our industry and requirements. Once we had agreed to take the website forward with Fifteen we were given a great deal of care and felt that there was some amazing guidance from the team. The ongoing support we received throughout the process was brilliant, and we had a very clear plan to follow regarding dates etc. and were kept up to date throughout the process. Once the site was launched we were all thoroughly impressed with the look and feel, and it was immediately apparent that Fifteen had fully understood what we were looking for. We are still getting compliments about the design, so great job all around by the team." - Stephen Adamson (Marketing Executive) We thoroughly enjoyed working with Merlin Business Software on their new site. Have a look at their brand-new site here and find out more about how we can help you by contacting Fifteen today. #### Merry Christmas from the Fifteen team! Merry Christmas from the Fifteen team! We hope you are having just as good of a time as we are. With all that we have provided for our loyal and wonderful clients, we will be making the most of the Christmas time this year. We hope that you will be doing the same this Christmas, to not only recharge your batteries ready for the new year, but to spend the best of time with family and friends. Make the most of family time The bond within the Fifteen team is like an extended family. We're a very connected, positive minded, and an incredibly supportive team. We believe the Fifteen staff bring out the best in one another, making us feel something very special that we wouldn't trade for the world. Fifteen has always been in the vibes of Christmas, and we like to keep our spirits high with virtual and face-to-face interaction to keep close that family spirit we've always been so passionate about. Over the Christmas period, the team will be supportive of each other, keeping in touch with one another, and sharing our best wishes. But like everyone of us, no matter the business or industry you work in, if you have the time to spend with family, make the most of it before you return to your duties. Enjoy the holidays and Merry Christmas! Make the most of spending time with your friends and family and we truly hope you're having a wonderful time this Christmas. Merry Christmas from the entire Fifteen team! #### Meta rivals Twitter with new Threads App You must have heard about the scandal surrounding Elon Musk buying Twitter, causing havoc and mayhem!  In case you haven’t, here’s what you’ve missed. Elon has recently made it so blue tick verified users can read 6,000 tweets a day, general profiles 600 tweets a day, and new profiles 300 tweets a day - the reason? Data scraping issues. So of course, Mark Zuckerberg / Meta have designed a new app... Threads.  What is the Meta Threads App and how does it work? Mark Zuckerberg has announced the initial version of Threads, an app built by the Instagram team for sharing with text. Whether you’re a creator or a casual poster, Threads offers a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations. So, how does it work? Meta Threads is a new app for sharing text updates and joining public conversations You log in using your Instagram account and posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes in length Meta are still working on making Threads compatible with all social networks and are saying it will 'shape the future of the internet' What are the benefits of the Meta Threads App? The app has only been available for a matter of hours and is already proving to be a huge rival to Twitter. Some benefits of the Threads app include: It’s a straightforward text based conversation You can compose and share messages in real time There are less limitations compared to Twitter It’s within Instagram, so there’s no need to create a whole new profile on a new channel It uses Instagram to immediately build your following and populate your feed How to get started with the Meta Threads App It’s easy to get started with Threads, and as mentioned, you simply use your Instagram account to log in.  Your Instagram username and verification will carry over, with the option to customise your profile specifically for Threads.  Everyone who is under 16 (or under 18 in certain countries) will be defaulted into a private profile when they join Threads. You can choose to follow the same accounts you do on Instagram or find more people. The core accessibility features available on Instagram today, such as screen reader support and AI-generated image descriptions, are also enabled on Threads. What’s the potential impact of the Meta Threads App on user privacy According to Tech Crunch, information provided about the app’s privacy shows the app may collect highly sensitive information about users in order to profile their digital activity. This includes health and financial data, precise location, browsing history, contacts, search history and other sensitive information. As we well know, Meta makes its money from tracking audiences around the web using behaviours to benefit advertising - so this isn’t a surprise. But it does raise questions over whether Threads will be able to launch in the European Union after the Facebook user privacy scandal; where Meta and the processing of Facebook users’ personal data (performance of a contract) was found unlawful at the start of this year. What do we think? We’re in two minds, this is a very new channel which could still arise issues.  However, with 5 million sign-ups in just the first four hours of launch (according to Zuckerberg's own Thread) we cannot disregard that this could be the new big thing. Is Twitter on its way out? Could this be the replacement? Let’s see how it unfolds. Looking for an agency to keep on top of trends and manage your strategy for you? If you’d like to keep on top of the latest social trends and incorporate them into your strategy, but you’re unsure where to start, why not get in touch with our specialists today? Our social media experts can help you from start to finish from targeting, to budgets, to analysing and reporting. #### Microsoft planning to Bash Windows 10 Earlier this year Microsoft held a "Microsoft Build 2016" conference, where they unveiled their latest plans for Windows, and Windows 10. One new feature has got Developers everywhere rejoicing, and that is the introduction of the popular Linux program - Bash - into Windows 10. Bash? What am I bashing? Okay, so I should probably explain what exactly "bash" is. It's a command line tool for developers and server administrators, which allows you to navigate a computer or server in a text based manner, rather than through a Graphical User Interface. But why is this such a big deal? Bash is shipped with all Linux distributions, as well as Apple's OSX Operating System. This makes it hugely popular amongst developers and server administrators as it is the de-facto standard shell. This means that developers everywhere are simply used to it, and using Windows own alternative "Command Prompt" was a learning curve, and a bit of a pain. Commands were all completely different, and it wasn't as advanced as bash. This represents a step in the right direction on the part of Microsoft, adopting more Open Source alternatives and also making Windows more familiar to existing Linux / Mac users. Bish Bash Bosh The new functionality will be enabled as part of this summer's Anniversary Update to Windows 10. #### Millenium Site Services have an Incredible New Site The Brief & Vision: Millenium Site Services are a long-standing Fifteen client - we did their website back in 2011, so it was great to work with them again on their latest revision of the website, bringing them into the modern age! The team at Millenium Site Services wanted to revisit their look and feel across the board with their marketing and online appearance, so they briefed Fifteen and asked us to work with them to create a new website, corporate video and look at their suite of marketing literature. About Millenium Site Services: Millenium Site Services is a family run business set in the heart of Derby, but they operate across the entire UK. They pride themselves on their family values and carries this through to their customer service. While working with the team, I can say that I have been made to feel welcome and part of the MSS family over the last few months. The company is 19 years old this year and has grown the company from strength to strength over that time. Innovators in their industry Millenium Site Services are always on the look-out for new services to offer their clients. They always aim to make a real difference and create new ways to approach repairs. Millenium tailor all of their contracts to fit their clients bespoke needs and requirements, they can literally do everything for their clients - from dedicated paint and blast booths to providing overhead cranes, mobile units and 24/7 operations, they are certainly a force to be reckoned with. What We Did: Millenium Site Services commissioned Fifteen to work on the following projects with them to help transform their look and feel online and offline; Brand: The current Millenium Site Services brand is simple and effective, but with the existing typeface, we felt that we could do some simple modifications to help pull the business' look into the modern-day and age. By making some really simple updates to the brand - pulling the name out of the device and changing the font type, we’ve developed something that is clean, modern and stands up against the companies they work with and their competition within the industry. Tone of Voice: We transformed the way that Millenium Site Services speak to their audience across their literature and website and looked to make key improvements to cater towards SEO and also showcase the friendly and informal nature of the company in the best way possible. The content across the board is informative, but reads personable and friendly, which showcases the professional and knowledgeable nature of the team as well as their familial approach. Marketing Literature: Following on from the brand, we made some natural updates to a range of marketing literature that they send to the clients. We transformed their business cards, letterheads, comp slips, brochures, folders and handouts following the style we had created for the brand forming a strong continuity throughout digital and print media. We utilised a strong motif using the logo device, and laid out clean content that's persuasive. This fresh perspective was written by our very own Content Specialist, Zak. Photography & Video: We embarked on a journey with Millenium Site Services to create a corporate video for them that could display in their reception as well as push across social media. The photos and video were shot across two days at Derby and Doncaster. The photos showcase the range of services, the team and the office space where Millenium Site Services work, they are clean fresh and well-positioned and help bring to life the services on offer by Millenium Site Services. The video focuses on the range of services offered and also featured two interviews with members of the Millenium team. The video helps demonstrate what’s on offer at Millenium Site Services and also the experience and quality of the work that is carried out by the team. Website: The previous website, while developed by us many years ago had become outdated, built-in pure HTML and needed to be brought into the modern age. The main aim of the website was to provide a professional platform for the team at Millenium to direct clients to and for the team to be proud to show off to their clients. The website has been built in WordPress, which means that it’s really easy for the Millenium Site Services team to update the content themselves moving forward. They can edit and add new posts, pages, case studies and the page content held within those all-important service pages. We’ve utilised the strong style that we created as part of our earlier projects with Millenium Site Services and continued the concept into the website to create an image for the brand that works across offline and online marketing communications. The site is fully responsive, and works in line with best web practices, and should help the client improve and grow their offering moving forward. Before: After: Working with the Millenium Site Services team over these past few months, has been an absolute pleasure, and all the team who have worked on the project here at Fifteen have loved being a part of it, we can’t wait to see the site grow, and really hope that this gives MSS a push in the direction they want to head in, and provides them with a platform for expansion. Looking for website designers in Derby? Contact us now to find out how we can help you realise your full potential through a full marketing service. From business cards to backend development, we've got it all. #### New Brand and Website Launched for Magna Vitae After working closely with East Lindsey District Council (ELDC) in Lincolnshire, we are pleased to reveal the new brand and website design for their new leisure and culture trust, Magna Vitae. Working on a brand from scratch is always a brilliant and fun opportunity which we welcome here at Fifteen. Combine this with the creative freedom ELDC allowed us, our designers were able to cover every angle in creating a new brand for the trust which echoes it's ethos of living life to the full. Once the final brand design was settled on, we were able to work with ELDC to create a brand new website which allowed us to push the brand and create a strong visual style which fully portrays the meaning of Magna Vitae. Click here to read the full story behind the branding and website design for Magna Vitae. #### New Emojis: Everything you need to know 59 new emojis are coming our way, so what are they and when can we expect them?! Using emojis for professional social media is a fine balancing act. If you use too many, then you run the risk of making people think it’s a scam, looking cheesy and giving an unprofessional impression. On the flip side, if you never use them, then your posts may come across as a bit dull and boring (this is company dependent of course). When it comes to picking the right amount and the most suitable emojis, it’s important to make sure emojis that match your brand/post and that they add to the post or ad that you're posting. Using emojis for the sake of using emojis is pointless. In many cases you envision certain emojis matching the post perfectly, but once you see a preview of your ad or post, you find that it doesn’t look quite right. This could be because the emoji fits on the line below and throws off the symmetry or maybe the Facebook version of the emoji is too different to the one you originally selected. In these cases, you may find that it is best to leave the emojis out or replace what you choose with something else. Back to the new update First of all, in terms of release date, it’s as vague as before the end of the year; which is a bit annoying, but at least we know what to expect. The new list, that has been approved by the Unicode Consortium, touches on a lot of minorities, including people with disabilities such as blindness, wheelchair users and amputees. There’s also a whole bunch of different skin colour and gender combinations so now, for example, you’ll be able to have a white and a black couple holding hands or a family with different races. Previously this was limited to just the yellow skin tone. On to the good stuff There’s an emoji that is sure to be frequently used in girl’s group chats...to describe how close the latest VAR offside decision was, of course! There’s an amazing orangutan. Who doesn’t love orangutans? He’s even scratching his head - probably wondering why people are still using so much palm oil... There’s a sloth, an emoji that is far overdue. Sloths have become extremely popular in recent years, in fact, I believe they would become the new pug if they could be bought as pets. There’s a drink of maté. An extremely niche emoji that most likely will be used by Uruguayans only. All based on the fact that I’ve only ever seen one person drink it, and that’s Arsenal’s Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira. Just for you, I have done some research and found out it’s “traditional South American caffeine-rich infused drink”. There’s also a great emoji to describe the British summer of 2019. Finally, the most useful of all the new additions. Now, you need to consider that there already is a sleepy emoji ? and an ?emoji so that basically means that this was designed for usage when bored. Fortunately, there’s plenty to yawn about in this world ranging from boring chat to working long hours, so this emoji is sure to be a success. Let us turn your social media messaging into something memorable. From crafting the perfect tweet to creating in-depth social media strategies, a campaign with is sure to be anything but a yawn. Contact us today to find out more. #### New Website design for camper_versions® camper_versions® founded in 2010 is a campervan conversion company that aims to be one of the top leaders in campervan conversions in the UK. We worked with them on a stunning website to tell their story. The team at camper_versions® approached us to take a look at designing them a new, fresh and modern website. This website needed to improve customers visiting their website that will lead to future sales of their campervans. What we did After meeting with the team we discussed what they wanted to gain from the new website. We created a sitemap of the new site layout and used our knowledge and best practices. The team ensured the user experience was to the best standards. THE UX allows users to find information with ease. The Design We then created a visual concept for the homepage using the current branding and the images provided to present to the team at camper_versions®. The images told the story of the brand. The images provided were second to none and made our job much easier. We produced a visually interesting look and feel across the site. Throughout the site, you will notice that we have made features of the images in certain sections. We felt that the images were too good to not make a statement with. The User Experience Although the aim was to drive more sales we still wanted to ensure the user's journey throughout the website told a story. We began this journey with a large feature header and big bold text on the homepage, which will defiantly catch the eye of the user. As you make your way down the homepage you are then drawn to the latest vehicles for sale. This just gives the user an insight into what camper_versions® has to offer. As you make you way further down we have introduced a call to action section for the user to enquire about a campervan. We then repeated these processes throughout the site to ensure consistency and to add value where it was needed. We also added a news section for added SEO value. Having a blog or news section on your website is very vital. This keeps your customers or clients up to date on your latest news and also makes the way in gaining new customers too. Using the right keywords and SEO processes, people surfing the web are more liking to come across your website. They may not have intended on visiting your site. However, after reading an article of yours, they may want to know more. This will then interest the user in wanting to find out more information. The Result Working on this project was a pleasure and the result was fantastic. The team at camper_versions® were very happy to see their new site go live and we were happier to work alongside them. If you would like to find out more about our web design and build services or are interested in digital marketing, contact us today. We’ll supercharge your website and maximise your visibility. #### New Website Design Launched for Des Coleman After Fifteen appeared on Notts TV's 'Working Week' segment this year (click here if you haven't already seen it!), we had the absolute pleasure of working with their host and TV Personality, Des Coleman. You may have seen him back in the 90s as Lenny in Eastenders, or hosting the weather on the BBC. Des is a busy man who rarely stops, currently presenting for Notts TV, touring the country as part of 'The Rat Pack', hosting shows and award ceremonies and is an ambassador for 'School for Parent's. His work on the screen and stage have seen him nominated for several awards over the years, including a BAFTA win as part of the Eastenders cast. After presenting a segment on the increased web work that Fifteen do on 'The Working Week' on Notts TV, Des and Fifteen teamed up to launch a brand new site. Previously, Des had no control over the content of his website, so we wanted to ensure that his site was easy to update, making it current and relevant to Des' current work. His works spans TV, File, Musical Theatre, Coaching and Singing Live, so it was important to capture all elements of his career throughout the website. #### nmcn: Leaders in Construction The Brief & Vision nmcn (formally North Midland Construction) required a new website that was fully responsive and built using the best UX design and development practices and techniques. The website needed to be built within an easy-to-use content management system (CMS), that would give the team at nmcn the ability to edit all areas of the website with ease in the future, so that they can update content at will. The website also needed to be styled with nmcn’s new branding and, along with the findings from our workshop, cater towards their target markets with the aim to move them up into the next client bracket within their industry. About nmcn nmcn is a prestigious company with a strong heritage in the construction industry. It stands at an exciting point in its journey. nmcn specialise in delivering built environment and national infrastructure projects across the UK, working alongside their customers to deliver these projects. They have specialist teams allowing nmcn to bring a range of innovation and skillsets to all the sectors they work in. After going through a rebrand in November 2018 from North Midland Construction PLC to nmcn they have their sights set on bigger and better things with the company moving forward into a bright future. Find out more about nmcn here. What We Did Workshop We completed a digital workshop with the team at nmcn to better understand the company, and deliver a brand and digital strategy, that helps set out nmcn’s challenges around the old website, and how we could look at building on the current site structure to enhance the website, and regenerate the look and feel in line with the new brand, delivering the information in a fun new way, and catering towards their multiple user journeys and customer touch points. Video After we completed the workshop with nmcn, we started to work on a video concept that would be presented to the nmcn team at an event in early September, the video needed to demonstrate where nmcn have come from, and where they are heading towards, all set within their new brand and look. We took the time to storyboard the video and script and then moved forward to create the video and voice over to present something that would generate excitement, and allow nmcn to use this across the website once the site had been launched. It’s now available to watch on YouTube, as well as the homepage and about page of the website, but you can also watch it here. Website One core requirement for the website was to make it editable for the nmcn team moving forward, allowing them to easily amend text, images and add content to the website with ease. We developed a website that allows them to do just that, and more, using the new brand and style, we created a website that delivers information in an easy to understand manner, and really helps them to deliver their core messaging and identity. The website design is really clean and easy to understand, with a strong flow and user journey, we’ve used interesting design choices, to bring something different to the site, to help nmcn stand out against the competitors within the sector, as well as attract potential new team members to join the team at nmcn. Where suitable, we’ve introduced neat little hover effects and light boxes to reveal further information about key elements like within the sector pages as well as create flexible case study formats where the team can utilise as much or as little of the elements as they may need to demonstrate their work to the wider public. What They Said We first came across Fifteen Design after researching a number of local website agencies. After setting up an initial meeting we knew they were the people to help us in achieving a modern and industry-leading online presence. We required a clean look and feel to our website and wanted to improve the overall user experience for potential clients, current employees and to attract potential employees. From our initial meeting and throughout the whole process Fifteen have been fantastic, respecting our own vision for the website while providing us with creative/fresh ideas. As well as creating the website, Fifteen worked with us on our brand launch video. A video presented at events, to our colleagues and customers, to reveal our new identity. The video demonstrated where we have come from since our founding in 1946 to where we are today. The video was a huge success and generated a lot of excitement, while showcasing our new brand and look. Fifteen worked really hard to ensure the video would create a huge impact, they understood our requirements, keeping in regular contact to discuss the transcript, voiceover and graphics. The team at Fifteen are enthusiastic, innovative, helpful and friendly. Nothing was ever too much trouble and it’s fair to say it’s been a pleasure to work with Fifteen. Fifteen have fully understood our requirements and produced a fantastic website and launch video that showcases our quality, achievements and ambitions for the future. Thank you! #### Nottingham High School Billboards School Advertising Campaign Over the past few years we have worked closely with the marketing team at Nottingham High School to ensure they are represented across the city during times where parents are selecting their children's schools. The school has a long and rich history so this year we've been lucky enough to celebrate 500 years of Nottingham High School. We used this in a now and then style advert using vintage photography of the students from the 1890. As well as the 500 years celebration we have also created campaigns for their most recent open day and Lovell House, the infant school under the Nottingham High School umbrella. #### Novabods Are Ready For Launch! About Novabods Novabods is an online educational games platform fuelled by the partner company, EducationCity. The games aim is to help 5-7 year-olds learn and develop in maths & English through a variety of educational games. The Novabods are the characters within the game, who take you to planet Numa for numerical missions and planet Alpha for English missions. Within the missions, you collect gems that can then be spent on fun games in the Asteroid Arcade. There's also the option to PlayLive against other children who are also online. The Task We were set the task of building up Novabods SEO prior the launch of the game. This was challenging as we were starting with a brand new domain, with no domain or page authority and had to work to improve the website's visibility. After conducting extensive keyword research and optimising the main landing pages, we looked at social media opportunities which we decided to put on hold until the game was live. We did this to help build brand awareness, followers and direct traffic to the website. What We Have Been Doing For Them For Novabods SEO we have been focusing on improving their domain authority through competitor link mining, outreach, backlink creation, outreach and of course regular content through blogging. We have helped with their on-page optimisations and set up their social media marketing campaigns focusing on traffic and brand awareness campaigns, with highly visual imagery and strong call-to-actions. What They Said "Fifteen's knowledge of using digital in the consumer market has been invaluable in helping us bring Novabods to market. They have built a strong SEO strategy to increase our web presence and their knowledge of social media advertising has given us a really strong start with our first sales already starting to come through.” - Leigh - Acting Head of Marketing Who's Working On The Project?       We look forward to continuing work with Novabods and seeing their new game grow in popularity. Head to their website to learn more about what Novabods is all about. [fifteen_button link="https://www.novabods.com/"]Click Here To Check Out Novabods[/fifteen_button] #### Old and New Photography in Art and Marketing Campaigns As humans and society, we tend to look back and reminisce about the past. This brings us enormous comfort - presumably from the nostalgia it evokes. Personally, I do enjoy visiting art galleries and appreciating works from a time long gone. Like many others, I can understand the immense talent of impressionist painters, Renaissance sculptures and pioneers of surrealism and everyone in-between. Not to question or take away credit from these said pieces and their creators, but there is a general sense of 'golden age' mentality. That is that most art created before the current century is of better quality, better substance and higher calibre. This is not a new phenomenon and has been the case for many decades. Especially with those who reside in that time questioning and sometimes even disregarding modern art. Contemporary pieces, by nature, are before their time and innovative. The Avant-Garde, for example, is a term used for those advancing in their field, being of radical nature and using experimental methods. Often, society catches up with these progressive individuals and develops fanatical admirers to their work. This can take years, by which time the works are historical, and their makers departed. Not to say there haven't been minorities who appreciated this art during its first breaths of life. But, in times when 'getting the word out' was not easy so or even considered so important, these were harder to reach. This is where we start comparing to the present day. Everyone is desperately seeking approval, whether from their peers, their family, work colleagues or even society. The need for respect and approbation has come about from the innumerable ways in which content can be shared. Opportunities to create art are endless and readily available for everyone and anyone. State of the art software, improvements in technology and modern methods make creating so easy. The internet, social media and relatively free physical movement of people allow sharing and 'shouting about' your work incredibly simple. Which is fantastic for the artist - meeting like-minded creatives and gaining followers quickly. For the user, you can find pieces of work you are interested in and genuinely appreciate. But as with many advancements, there are flaws. For the artist, there is an unbelievable amount of competition, and for the admirer, due to the sheer quantity and ever imposing algorithms, there is a lot of soil to sift through to reach gold. Photography In contrast to the past when photography was starting out and a rarity for the common man. Only the wealthy could afford portraits, meaning subjects were limited. It's on occasions where photography is used in journalism that we see lower classes make an appearance. Documenting scenarios and situations intended the focus of such works become more varied and exciting. Now, on just Instagram alone 95 million photos are shared per day. Countless selfies, endless food shots and celebrities galore. It seems we’re all striving for that perfect ‘Insta shot’, but if everyone’s ideal is identical, the content can become, well a bit samey. Mainstream media and algorithms have led to echo chambers in social media content. In turn, the content created becomes trend driven thus loses originality and individual expression. It's no wonder then that some artists wish to break this mould, wanting to produce works which are unique and original. Those who have created before, inspire us. So it is no wonder some photographers have looked to the past for stimulus. Jane Long is an Australian photographer and digital artist. She produces works which combine existing or especially created photographs with digital manipulation. The results are fascinating surreal images which blur lines of reality. One particular compilation 'Dancing with Costica' Long used images acquired from the Flickr Commons archive of Romanian war photographer Costica Acsinte. She repurposes the old photographs, giving them a new lease of life by blending them with other pictures to reach further levels of visual distinction. Interestingly the series came about from Long wanting to practice her retouching skills - a modern method of working - she looked to old photographs to work on. Mirroring trends adopted by more traditional form artists like corruption and error. It's usual for us to draw inspiration from current or past works but to work using them is less frequent. Long was so inspired by the photographs, she wanted to make them a part of her work. She says: "I became fascinated with the images and their subjects. I wanted to bring them to life. But more than that I wanted to give them a story." I would argue, if Long had shot the original images herself before manipulation, the whole project would not have had the same attention, intrigue or character. Art One issue we seem to encounter from continually developing technology and processes is the expectation for younger generations to reinvent art forms, coming up with unique results consistently. Russian painter, Maria Kreyn's work, is contrary to this, reviving traditional methods to produce exceptional results. When you first set eyes on her works, Kreyn's paintings look like they were created hundreds of years ago. Echoing the Dutch Golden Age, you would be forgiven for thinking they were the craft of Rembrandt. Also remarkable is that Kreyn is only in her twenties, learning from a master painter whom she observed and admired as well as many other artists. Classically trained in drawing, her work has expanded and evolved into something so closely related to the past it is innovative in its own right. Kreyn explains "I'm trying to build an original language through collaging imagination and citation, a sort of remix of past and present". A millennial, surrounded as she grew up with a myriad of means and methods - has chosen to take one of the most established mediums and devised a contemporary reflection of her love for old classical masters and their art. You can see more of Maria in action here: Advertising At the other end of the spectrum, we have those who take their respect for older art forms to a new level. These people use the latest technologies and software at their disposal to create something brand-new. Similarly, to the photographer Jane Long whose work we explored earlier, they have the desire to revive content created years ago. In this case, quite literally breathing life back into an icon - Audrey Hepburn. We can question why we should come up with something fresh when you can draw on those that already existed? Galaxy (or Dove to the rest of the world) chocolate brand brought back the actress in their 2007 TV ad. The team behind the commercial used the star's entire film catalogue and available photographs alongside animation CGI techniques and a very much alive Hepburn double. Find out more about how the advert was made here. To some, the advert is creepy and even disrespectful to the actress - but ultimately, isn't imitation the highest form of flattery? The aim is to use the familiarity and sympathy already established in the audience and reflect this directly on the brand itself. I find this fascinating that despite an immense number of channels and choice when it comes to approach - this present-day advertising campaign directly drew on content from the past. Despite some negative opinions on 'copying' or imitating styles and forms, I think ultimately it can only be a positive thing that new art can come about from the respect, adoration and even use of old contents. We are lucky to live in a world where we have ample opportunity to appreciate works of art from the past, present and even glimpse ever so slightly into the future. Fashion, design and art will sequentially re-cycle processes, genres and characteristics. Yes, this sometimes results in regurgitated and seemingly cloned works. Equally though, fresh ideas and thinking come about from this exploration, and from time to time a gem appears that's so unique and stimulating it captures and attains the attention and curiosity of all of us. If you're interested in creating dazzling campaigns beyond the pale of the norm, then get in touch. #### Ollie’s Top 5 Events of 2017 Well, 2017 has certainly been eventful, hasn’t it? After an absolutely awesome and record-breaking 2016, this year was set to be a challenge for all of us. We had some pretty big things on the agenda this year, some big boxes to tick. A trip abroad to celebrate the success of the previous year, a potential office move if we could pull it off and yet more growth and high targets for the team, with obviously more reward… Well, you know my style. We’ve been lucky enough to attract some absolutely fantastic clients this year from a whole host of different sectors – from construction to Christmas – so you’ll have seen some really exciting work being produced from all departments. There’s more to come next year. But here’s my top 5 most exciting happenings for 2017. 1.IBIZA The first big event of the year was our family holiday to Ibiza. It was hailed as one of the biggest work outings ever in the history of man and embarrassingly enough I was tagged with the headline in the press: “Is this the UK’s Best Boss?” Well, I guess that’s for the team to decide. For those of you that don’t know the detail, I decided after an epic year to reward all the staff at Fifteen with a 3-day all expenses paid trip to Ibiza. That’s right - flights, accommodation, food and the necessary alcohol, all paid for because of their hard work. Well, it was an epic success and it’s something that we will all remember. I certainly won’t forget it. Hello from sunset strip in Ibiza! #fifteenibizaweekender #digitalagency #agencylife #weekender #workweekender #parralleluniverse A post shared by Fifteen (@fifteendesign) on May 20, 2017 at 11:29am PDT 2.THE OFFICE MOVE 2017 Well, it took it out of me. Literally, every single ounce of passion and effort I had gone into this new place. For those of you that have had a chance to make it over to our new office in Beeston, we really do hope you like it. As mentioned in the press, it features a Bat Cave, a bar, table tennis, arcade machine, mood lighting, several musical instruments and a vintage Apple Macintosh collection that stems back decades. Not to mention reams of space we now have for us to take Fifteen to the next level of 50+ staff. Yes, that the target – we figure the more of us there are the more we can help our clients. "This Nottingham office has beer fridges, comic book-themed boardrooms and ping-pong" The rumours are true? ? Read the @nottinghampost 's report on our brand new premises. . . . #nottingham #notts #nottinghambusiness #nottsbusiness #midlands #midlandsbusiness #marketingagency #digitalagency #creativeagency #agencylife A post shared by Fifteen (@fifteendesign) on Oct 11, 2017 at 7:05am PDT 3.FIFTEEN in 60 That’s the title of our new video, which will be hard-launching in the New Year. It’s essentially a 60-second splash of the 30+ of us in the office and what goes on. There are some pretty exciting bits on the cutting room floor of Sam smashing a guitar (yes, a real guitar), so if you want to see any of this you can catch a few on our socials. 4.GROWTH AWARD This was a big one for me. We were lucky enough to win the East Midlands Chamber award for ‘Outstanding Growth’. We pride ourselves on many things at Fifteen – the quality of our work, our excellent customer service – and knowing that we have been recognised for our personal growth was overwhelming, especially against some pretty stiff competition. We did it! Winners of the outstanding growth award; courtesy of the East Midlands Chamber. 15-32 staff in just over 12 months, expanding into bigger, better new offices and taking on more new staff than ever... Are you ready? http://ow.ly/qkWE30f4fpz #agency #award #emc #agencylife #growth #web #digital #brand A post shared by Fifteen (@fifteendesign) on Sep 11, 2017 at 8:28am PDT 5.BABY BOBBY Our Client Services Director, Kate, took some time off this year to have beautiful baby Robert, who regularly shows up in the office. He can be seen playing the arcade machine with me on our Instagram. Start ’em young I say. Our MD Ollie likes to start 'em young...it's ok when it's our Client Service director Kate's baby Rob ? . . . #agencylife #agency #marketingagency #digitalagency #creativeagency #newbaby #fifteenfam A post shared by Fifteen (@fifteendesign) on Oct 13, 2017 at 3:59am PDT MORE TO COME We’ll get around to it eventually as it’s a classic case of the cobbler’s kids have no shoes. But we’re really close to completion and I can promise you its BANG ON BRAND so you’ll be seeing our new website somewhere in Q1. Thank you to everyone at Fifteen this year for all their hard work and dedication – and a massive thank you to every single one of our clients for your loyalty to us. May you all have a prosperous 2018. Olesh #### Online tools to get Twitter savvy Twitter is an amazing social media platform, it is the online equivalent of having your finger on the pulse of the internet. Live tweeting events such as sporting events and sharing live videos on Periscope have given twitter that live edge that have people checking their phones constantly to see what it's happening and their first port of call is Twitter. The question is, how as a marketing team or company do you stay on top of twitter and capitalise on it without letting it slip away or lose control. Well, we have some key tools that we use daily to monitor and engage with our Twitter community. RiteTag Ritetag is a great little tool if you want to enhance your tweets so that the maximum number of people see your content. This is extremely important if you are looking to grow your community. Ritetag is a tool that analyses hashtags and optimises them for maximum visibility. It does this by categorising hashtags into hot hashtags that have a high level of visibility. Not only does it show you the hot hashtags but it also shows you the ones that have a long lifespan and the ones that you should avoid as they are overused or because they have very little following. Ritetag is also a great research tool that allows you to discover a wide range of hashtags that are connected, showing not only the popularity of these hashtags and how they are connected. It also gives you a list of industry influencers that use the hashtag’s frequently so you can follow them and engage with them. SocialRank SocialRank is a fantastic community management tool that organises your followers into categories such as most valuable, most engaged, best follower, most followed, alphabetised, newest first and finally oldest first. This will help you find and engage your most active and influential followers showing that you are not only a company that acknowledges their importance to their twitter account but an active company that wants to spark engagement and interact with their followers. This is a great way to build up your brand as being seen as an industry expert brand and make your twitter profile the go to profile for news regarding a subject or industry. Hootsuite As management tools go, there are fewer out there better than Hootsuite for Twitter. This tool is naturally suited to Twitter over other social networks with the way that you can incorporate Twitter lists and monitor keywords on Twitter through Hootsuite. Using Twitter lists you can create competitor lists to privately monitor what your competition is up to and track their progress. Hootsuite’s keyword feature allows you to set up feeds to monitor your chosen keyword’s across Twitter so that you never miss a tweet that could be important. Mention Sometimes the world of social media can get a little bit much, especially when you have hit the nail on the head and created some buzz around the content you have posted and it is getting shared and likes and talked about. It can be difficult to stay on top of that and monitor who is saying what about and where. That is where Mention comes in handy. This tool allows you to set up notifications that alert you where your keywords are being mentioned and on what social platforms. You can set up a daily social summary that gets delivered to your inbox each day or sign into mention to get real time notifications that means you can be reactive with your comments, retweets, likes etc. #### Our checklist for launching a new website Launching a new website is an exciting time for any business, no matter whether you’ve built a new website from scratch or you’ve given your existing site a makeover. It’s a culmination of a lot of hard work from multiple departments, so getting the launch right is crucial for its success. With so many moving parts and details to consider, having a website launch checklist in place can help streamline the journey to your new website launch. In this blog, we share our checklist to launching a new website to give you insight into how we launch a website efficiently and effectively here at Fifteen. Why is it important to get a new website launch right? Getting the launch of a new website right is so important for several reasons. Firstly, it sets the tone for your brand and leaves a long lasting positive impression on your visitors. Secondly, a well-executed website launch attracts and engages users, which drives more traffic to your new site and potentially sets your conversion rate on the right track. As well as this, a successful website launch helps establish credibility and trust with your target audience, which sets a strong foundation for attracting and retaining customers, as well as increasing engagement and conversions. Therefore, taking the time to get the launch right from the outset can save you time and resources in the long run. Our checklist for launching a new website As we’ve mentioned, launching a new website is an exciting venture, but it can also be a challenging one. Here’s our website launch checklist that will help set your launch up for success and captivate your audience from day one. Run through the essentials With any new website launch, it’s extremely important to have a strategy in place as this will allow you to run through the essentials. For example, we have a pre-launch checklist that we run through before we launch a website. This allows us to ensure the website has the possibility to perform to its maximum potential. Here are some key essentials you should run through before you launch: Is your website engaging enough? Ensure your new website has a good amount of engaging CTAs, quality content, and social share buttons for example. Does it include a newsletter sign up? This keeps your audience informed about your business, products and services, and important updates, meaning they’ll continue to return to your site. Is it optimised for SEO? Ensuring your site is fully optimised allows for maximum reach on search engines like Google when you launch. Do you have your ‘legal’ pages ready? This includes pages like your Cookie Policy, Privacy Policy, and Terms and Conditions pages. Is it mobile-friendly? If you’ve designed your website mobile first, this shouldn’t be an issue but it’s crucial to ensure your site is mobile-friendly before you launch. These are just some of the essentials we run through before a new website launch. Running through essentials like these makes sure you’re on the right path to a successful launch. Connect to Google Analytics 4 One essential step to launching a new website is connecting it to Google Analytics 4 (GA4). This powerful tool provides valuable insights into your website’s performance, user behaviour, and traffic sources. You can track key metrics such as page views, engagement rates, and conversion rates to better understand how users are interacting with your site. This kind of data can help you make informed decisions about your website’s content, design, and digital marketing strategies. Setting up GA4 for your website is quick and free, and there are plenty of resources online to ensure your setup is correct. Create a social media strategy A great social media strategy is a key part of any new website launch as it provides an excellent opportunity to promote your new website, connect with your audience, drive traffic to your site, and build brand awareness. Some tips to creating an effective social media strategy for your website launch include: Select your chosen social media platforms - aim to choose your best performing channels, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Identify your target audience for each of these platforms - different social media platforms cater to different demographics, so make sure you understand where your audience spends most of their time. Establish your goals - whether you’re wanting to increase web traffic, generate leads, or boost engagement, having specific objectives will guide your strategy. Plan a content calendar in advance - consistent posting is key so be sure to outline your content topics and schedule your posts accordingly. Engage with your followers - be sure to respond to comments and messages promptly to build relationships and foster loyalty. Monitor and analyse performance - this data can show you how well your strategy is performing and whether you need to adjust it. Implementing a social media strategy for your new website launch is also a great way to gather feedback from your audience. Ask them what their thoughts are on the design or the ease of use of your new site. This will help you gauge how well it’s performing and whether you need to make any improvements. Add a cookie consent banner Adding a cookie consent banner to your website is essential in ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations like General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). This banner informs visitors that your site uses cookies and asks for their consent before any cookies are placed on their devices. Including this banner on your site shows you demonstrate transparency and respect for user privacy. Make sure the banner is clearly visible, easy to understand, and gives users the option to accept or decline the use of cookies. You should also include a link to your full cookie policy to provide your users with more information on how you handle their data. There are plenty of cookie banner options to choose from but we use CookieYes here at Fifteen. Launch your website! An obvious addition to your website checklist is to launch your new website! When you launch your site, it’s important to make sure people know you’re launching a new website. As well as implementing a social media campaign, you could schedule a series of email marketing campaigns to let your database know about your launch, or consider carrying out some digital PR activity to spread the word. If you’re launching an ecommerce website, you could run a flash sale or promotion or offer free shipping to incentivise people to visit your site. If you want to be really creative, you could create a limited edition product to promote and sell specially for your new website launch. Whatever you choose, just make sure you shout from the rooftops about your launch to drive as much traffic as possible to your site. Plan for constant evolution In today’s fast-paced digital world, staying stagnant is not an option, which is why you should plan for constant evolution once you’ve launched your new website. Regularly updating and improving your website is key to keeping it relevant and engaging for your audience. When you set up GA4, you can use the data to determine what updates are necessary for your website. For example, you might need to review and update content, change the colour or placement of your CTAs, or edit fields on your online forms.  Just because you launch your website now, doesn’t mean you should forget about it. That’s why combining user data analysis and ongoing testing ensures your website remains a dynamic and effective tool for reaching your target audience. Speak to our experts for help with launching your website We understand that launching a new website can feel like a daunting task, but with our website launch checklist you can ensure you’re on the path to an effective and successful launch. If you’d like help with your website launch, or you’re considering a new website, we can help. Our team consists of award-winning web designers, web development specialists, and digital marketing experts and together, can walk you through every step of the launch process, ensuring complete success for your new website. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today to learn how we can help you. #### Our Favourite Christmas Campaigns Of 2016 We’ve already covered John Lewis’ Christmas advert, but what else impressed us this year? Marketing over this period is a lot like the Super Bowl half time commercials. Brands attempt to get noticed whilst the world is not only paying attention, but has an expectation to be entertained. The only difference with Christmas marketing activities is that they’re spread over a wider period. Brands have to engage for much longer. We noticed a couple of themes. Brands tried hard to tap into emotions, to hit us right in the heart or make us smile. Arguably this is perennial with advertising around this period. Animation made a return with brands such as Waitrose, Aldi and John Lewis all mixing animation with real world filming. But what really stood out to us? H&M and Wes Anderson - Come Together I’ll happily admit that Wes Anderson is one of my favourite filmmakers, so I was excited to see him join up with H&M to film their Christmas ad. What I particularly liked (aside from the film itself) was that for a short while H&M featured the film on a specific landing page. Viewers were able to buy the products shown in the film. It made for an interesting interactive experience. Cards Against Humanity - Holiday Hole To ‘celebrate’ Black Friday and what, for many, has been a rather bad year in terms of news and politics, Cards Against Humanity decided to dig a hole in the ground and to make people pay for it. And live stream it online, so people could watch the hole being dug. There seemed no point to it – indeed, having no point might have been the point. But this rather unusual method of making a statement attracted a huge amount of attention. (If you’re wondering, they eventually filled in the hole.) Marks & Spencer - Mrs Claus In popular culture the older female demographic does not get the coverage that it deserves. Marks & Spencer decided to do something about that. They focussed their Christmas campaign around Mrs Claus, “the remarkable female half of the world’s best-loved power couple”, who was presented as a very strong and confident individual. This was a good move for all kinds of reasons, yet still remained absolutely on-brand. Aldi – Kevin the Carrot Aldi’s series of animations starting Kevin the Carrot was featured across numerous types of media, from TV to Facebook. In this advert, Kevin went on a seasonal adventure across the dinner table to eventually join up with Santa Claus on his sleigh. The advert proved very popular online. The cheeky carrot was even sold by Aldi as a toy. (Now sold out, they’re going on eBay for several times the original price.) Barbour - The Snowman and the Snowdog Barbour is a British heritage brand and chose a traditional Christmas campaign to appeal to their core audience. The company teamed up with Penguin Books and Lupus Films to create a “bespoke animation of the original ‘The Snowman and The Snowdog’ film”. This was also a nice example of promoting another channel – their Barbour Dogs Instagram account. It is an increasingly fashionable trend for brands to get involved in partnerships at anytime of year, to help tap into another audience and cross-promote. But this actually references an older campaign from 2010. #### Our guide to Facebook advertising for small businesses. Facebook remains one of the most powerful platforms for businesses looking to reach new audiences, build brand awareness, and generate leads. With billions of active users and highly advanced targeting capabilities, it offers opportunities that few other platforms can match. However, for many small businesses, getting started with Facebook advertising can feel overwhelming. From choosing the right campaign objective to understanding audience targeting and budgeting, there are multiple elements to consider. In this blog, we break down the fundamentals of Facebook advertising for small businesses, helping you understand how the platform works, what you need to get started, and how to run campaigns that deliver real results. What is Facebook advertising and how does it work? Facebook advertising allows businesses to promote their products or services through paid ads across Facebook, Instagram, and the wider Meta network. It gives businesses the opportunity to put their message in front of the right people at the right time, whether the goal is building awareness, driving traffic, generating leads, or increasing sales. Unlike traditional advertising, Facebook ads are highly targeted. Instead of showing your ads to a broad audience, you can choose exactly who sees them based on factors such as: Location Age and demographics Interests and behaviours Online activity Previous interactions with your business This level of targeting makes Facebook for business advertising particularly effective for small businesses, as it allows you to focus your budget on the people most likely to convert. Rather than spending money trying to reach everyone, you can concentrate on the audiences most relevant to your business, making your campaigns more efficient and easier to measure over time. What are some of the key benefits of Facebook advertising for small businesses? One of the biggest advantages of Facebook advertising for small businesses is accessibility. You don’t need a huge budget, a large in-house team, or months of planning to get started. The platform is designed to be flexible, which makes it a strong option for businesses that want to test paid advertising without committing to large upfront spend. Facebook ads allow you to: Reach a highly targeted audience Start with a small budget and scale over time Test different creatives and messaging quickly Track performance in detail Adjust campaigns in real time This makes Facebook particularly valuable for growing businesses. Instead of relying on broad, expensive advertising methods, small businesses can focus their spend on the audiences most likely to engage, enquire, or buy. With the right setup, it can become a flexible and cost-effective way to build awareness, drive website traffic, and generate leads in a measurable way. What are the key fundamentals of Facebook advertising? Before launching your first campaign, it’s important to understand how the platform is structured and what each element does. Here’s a breakdown of the key fundamentals. 1. Campaign objectives Every Facebook campaign starts with an objective. This tells the platform what you want to achieve so it can optimise delivery accordingly. Some common objectives include: Awareness - increasing visibility and reach Traffic - driving users to your website Engagement - encouraging likes, comments, and shares Leads - collecting enquiries or sign-ups Sales/conversions - driving purchases or key actions Choosing the right objective is critical. If your goal is lead generation, running an awareness campaign will not deliver the same results. Aligning your objective with your business goal is the foundation of successful Facebook advertising. 2. Audience targeting One of the most powerful aspects of Facebook advertising is its targeting capabilities. Getting this right can make a significant difference to campaign performance. You can build audiences based on: Demographics such as age, gender, and location Interests and behaviours Custom audiences (e.g. website visitors or email lists) Lookalike audiences based on existing customers For small businesses, it’s often best to start with a focused audience rather than trying to reach everyone. Narrow targeting helps improve relevance and ensures your budget is spent more effectively. 3. Ad creative and messaging Even with perfect targeting, your ads need to capture attention quickly. Users scroll through social media fast, so your creative needs to stand out. Effective Facebook ads typically include: Strong visuals or video content Clear, benefit-led messaging A clear call-to-action (CTA) Consistent branding When building your ads, focus on what matters to your audience. Highlight their problems and explain how you can solve them with the value you provide, rather than just listing features. 4. Budgeting and bidding One of the most common concerns with Facebook advertising for small businesses is cost. The good news is that you can start with relatively small budgets and scale based on performance. When setting your budget, the key is to start with a manageable daily spend, focus on one or two campaigns initially, and then monitor results closely before increasing your spend. Facebook uses automated bidding to optimise your ads, so in most cases, you don’t need to manage bids manually. Instead, you can put this time into tracking your campaign performance. 5. Tracking and performance Tracking campaign performance is essential to understanding what’s working and what isn’t. Without it, you’re effectively guessing. Some of the key metrics to monitor include: Click-through rate (CTR) Cost per click (CPC) Conversion rate Cost per lead or acquisition (CPL/CPA) Return on ad spend (ROAS) Installing the Meta Pixel (or other conversion tracking such as Google Tag Manager) on your website allows you to measure actions users take after clicking your ads, giving you a clearer insight into campaign performance. What are some common mistakes to avoid? Even with the right foundations in place, there are a few common mistakes that can hold your Facebook campaigns back. For small businesses in particular, avoiding these early issues can make a big difference to performance. Some of the most common mistakes to avoid: Targeting too broad an audience - broad targeting often leads to lower relevance, weaker engagement, and less efficient spend. Using weak creative - if your visuals don’t stand out or your message is unclear, even a well-targeted campaign can struggle to perform. Not setting up tracking properly - without accurate conversion tracking, it becomes much harder to understand what’s really working. Making changes too quickly - Facebook needs time to gather data and optimise delivery. Making constant changes can disrupt the learning process and make campaign performance harder to assess. Ignoring the landing page experience - what happens after the click matters just as much as your Facebook ad. If the landing page is weak, unclear, or difficult to use, performance will suffer. By avoiding these common issues, small businesses can give their campaigns a much stronger foundation and make better use of their budget from the start. 10 Facebook advertising tips for getting started If you’re about to launch your first campaign or you want to improve existing activity, here are 10 of our top Facebook advertising tips that will help you build a stronger starting point: Start with one clear objective - keep your campaign focused on a single goal, such as traffic, leads, or awareness. This makes setup, reporting, and optimisation much easier. Keep your audience focused - start with a clearly defined audience rather than trying to reach everyone. A more relevant audience usually leads to stronger results and more efficient spend. Use simple, clear messaging - your ad should communicate what you offer and why it matters within seconds. Avoid overcomplicating the copy or trying to say too much at once. Test more than one creative - even small changes in an image, video, headline, or copy can make a big difference. Testing gives you a clearer view of what your audience responds to. Prioritise strong visuals - Facebook is a visual platform, so weak or generic creative can limit performance quickly. Use imagery or video that feels relevant, engaging, and in line with your brand. Make your CTAs obvious - tell people exactly what you want them to do next, whether that is ‘Shop Now’, ‘Book a Call’, ‘Request a Quote’ or ‘Learn More’. Use landing pages that match the advert - if your ad promotes a specific offer or service, the landing page should reflect that clearly. A disconnect between ad and page often reduces conversions. Don’t judge performance too quickly - Facebook campaigns need enough time and data to optimise. Making major changes too early can disrupt performance before the platform has had a chance to learn. Retarget warm audiences - people who have already visited your website or engaged with your business are often more likely to convert. Retargeting can be one of the most efficient tactics for small businesses. Review the right metrics - focus on results that matter to your business, such as leads, purchases, or CPA, rather than just likes, reach, or clicks. By following these Facebook advertising tips, you can help reduce wasted spend and give your small businesses more confidence in getting started with Facebook for business advertising. Ready to get started with Facebook advertising? Facebook remains one of the most accessible and effective paid media channels for smaller brands, but success comes from getting the fundamentals right. Strong objectives, clear targeting, compelling creative, and sensible budget control all play an important part in building campaigns that deliver real results. At Fifteen, we can help you make the most of Facebook advertising for small businesses by creating campaigns that are strategically planned, carefully targeted, and built around meaningful performance. Whether you are launching your first campaign or want to improve existing activity, our team can help you build a smarter approach to Facebook business advertising. If you’re ready to get more from your paid social activity, be sure to get in touch with us today and let us help you create a Facebook advertising strategy that works for your business. #### Our guide to optimising for voice search. Voice search has become a normal part of how people find information online. Whether someone is asking their phone a quick question or using a smart device at home, voice queries are typically more conversational and more intent-led than typed searches. For businesses, that changes what ‘good SEO content’ looks like. It’s not enough to rank for short, generic keywords. To stay visible, you need content that mirrors natural speech and answers questions clearly in order to be pulled into featured results. That’s why optimising for voice search should be built into your content and SEO strategy, not treated as a separate activity. In this guide, we share some practical tips you can apply to your content - whether it’s your existing service pages, blogs, or FAQs - so you can effectively optimise for voice search. 9 tips to optimise for voice search From adapting your content to improving your technical setup, here are some actionable tips for optimising for voice search. 1. Focus on conversational keywords When people use voice search, they often speak in full sentences and ask questions. That’s why you should stop solely targeting short-tail keywords and consider aiming for longer, natural phrases that reflect how people think and talk. This might include phrases such as: “How much does website development cost?” “What is the website development process?” “Where can I find a digital marketing agency near me?” Creating content that directly answers these types of queries helps you optimise for voice search more effectively. 2. Answer quickly, then expand A common reason content fails to perform in voice results is because the answer is buried. For voice search, you want to lead with the answer first, then follow with context and detail. For example, a strong structure will typically follow: A clear heading (question-style if possible) A short, direct answer in the first 1-2 sentences A longer explanation underneath for deeper reading This works well for both users and search engines. It also improves overall readability, not just voice search performance. 3. Optimise your key pages for featured snippets Voice assistants pull responses from featured snippets, especially informational queries. You can improve your chances by making certain sections of your site ‘snippet-friendly’. This doesn’t require you to rewrite everything, it’s about formatting key answers clearly. A paragraph that defines something in simple terms is often enough. Where it makes sense, you could use short step-by-step phrasing, but make sure you avoid forcing lists into every section. If you’re working on a service page, you might want to consider adding a short ‘quick answers’ block near the top which addresses the most common questions users ask before they enquire. 4. Strengthen your local SEO A large number of voice searches are local. People tend to use voice search when they’re on the move, and many queries include immediate intent, like finding a service nearby, checking opening hours, or comparing local businesses.  In order to support these queries, your website needs clear location signals. This will typically include: Fully optimising your Google Business Profile Keeping your name, address, and phone number (NAP) consistent Creating location-specific landing pages Adding local schema markup If you own a brick-and-motor store, or you serve a defined geographic area, local SEO is essential when trying to optimise for voice search. 5. Make your mobile experience effortless Because voice search is commonly used on mobile, your site experience needs to match that context. A slow or clunky site will not only frustrate users, but it can also reduce how confidently search engines surface your pages. You should focus on real user experience when it comes to mobile optimisation, which includes fast-loading pages, readable text, buttons that tap easily, and content that’s easy to scan. If you’re relying on voice search traffic for lead generation, friction on mobile can cancel out the visibility gains. 6. Add schema markup to support understanding Schema isn’t mandatory for voice search success, but it helps both AI systems and search engines interpret your content more accurately, especially when you’re trying to showcase clear answers. Some schema markups to add include: FAQ schema Article schema Local Business schema Service schema By adding schema markup, you’re making it easier for your content to be understood and categorised, which supports your broader SEO efforts as well as voice search optimisation. 7. Create (or improve) FAQ sections on key pages FAQs are one of the most natural ways to support optimising for voice search, because they mirror the way users ask questions. They also help reduce sales friction because they address objections and uncertainty before a user reaches out. However, the important part is quality. You should avoid vague, overly short FAQs that don’t give useful information. Each answer should be clear, accurate, and written in a tone that feels human. If your service pages don’t currently have FAQs, this is often one of the highest-impact additions you can make. 8. Optimise for ‘near me’ intent without forcing the phrase Many voice queries include ‘near me’ language, but search engines also infer location automatically. You shouldn’t cram ‘near me’ into every page as it usually reads badly and can dilute your content. Instead, you should be clear about who you serve and where. Be sure to also mention your service areas naturally, include your address where relevant, and ensure your site and business listings are consistent. This approach tends to support voice search far better than awkward keyword insertions. 9. Add voice optimisation into your wider SEO strategy It’s important to remember that voice search optimisation isn’t a one-time task. The best results come from small and regular improvements like adding clearer headings, answering common questions more directly, improving page speed, and strengthening local signals over time. If you already have high-performing pages, start there. Small adjustments to structure and clarity can make a meaningful difference without rewriting your entire content strategy. Let us help with your voice search optimisation Optimising for voice search ultimately comes down to making your content clearer, more conversational, and easier for search engines to pull into direct answers. The same improvements that help you appear in voice results also tend to improve user experience, engagement, and conversion performance across your wider SEO strategy. At Fifteen, we help businesses optimise for voice search by refining content structure, strengthening local SEO signals, and building search strategies that are designed around real user intent.  If you’d like support with improving your voice search visibility - especially as search behaviour becomes more conversational - be sure to get in touch with us today, and we’ll help you build a voice-ready SEO strategy that delivers results. #### Our guide to planning a social media strategy. Social media is no longer just a place to share updates. For many businesses, it plays a central role in building awareness, shaping perception, and driving growth. It can help you connect with new audiences, stay visible with existing customers, and support wider digital marketing activity across multiple channels. But without a clear plan, social media can quickly become reactive. Posts get published without purpose, content becomes inconsistent, and it becomes difficult to measure whether your activity is actually contributing to business goals. This is where a strong social media business strategy becomes essential. In this guide, we’ll explain what a social media strategy is and how to approach planning a social media strategy in a way that is realistic, focused, and results-driven. What is a social media strategy? A social media strategy is a structured plan that outlines how your business will use social platforms to support its wider goals. It acts as a framework for deciding what you post, where you post it, and how success will be measured. At its core, a good strategy should define: Your objectives Your target audience The platforms you’ll prioritise The type of content you’ll create Your tone of voice and visual approach The metrics you’ll use to measure success A social media business strategy isn’t just a schedule of posts or a collection of content ideas. It’s the thinking behind your activity and the reason your channels are relevant. Without that foundation, it’s easy to fall into the trap of posting simply to stay active.  With a clear strategy in place, every post has a purpose and every platform contributes to something more meaningful. It also makes decision-making easier. If you know your audience, your goals, and your content pillars, it becomes far easier to decide what to prioritise and what to leave out. For growing businesses in particular, this matters. Social media can take up a lot of time and energy, so it needs to work hard. An effective social media business strategy helps ensure your efforts contribute to awareness, engagement, and commercial growth rather than just filling a feed. How to create a social media business strategy Creating an effective strategy doesn’t mean producing an overly complicated document. The strongest strategies for social media are usually the ones that are clear, practical, and grounded in real business priorities. Here are some of the key steps to follow when planning a social media strategy. 1. Define your goals The first step is to be clear about what you want social media to achieve. Without clear goals, it becomes difficult to know what content to create or whether your activity is performing well. For example, your goals might include: Increasing brand awareness Generating leads or enquiries Driving more traffic to your website Promoting products or services Building a more engaged community Supporting recruitment or employer branding The important thing is to make your goals specific enough to shape your approach. For example, if your aim is to build awareness, your content mix may lean more heavily into reach, visibility, and brand storytelling. If your aim is lead generation, your content will need to work harder to guide users towards action. A strong social media business strategy always starts with clear objectives, because they influence every decision that follows. 2. Understand your audience Before you can create content that resonates, you need to understand who you’re speaking to. One of the most valuable parts of social media strategy planning is identifying your audience clearly enough that your content feels relevant rather than generic. This means looking at: Who your ideal customer is What they care about What challenges they face What type of content they engage with Which platforms they spend time on What might motivate them to act The more clearly you define your audience, the more focused your strategy becomes. It helps you create messaging that feels more specific, choose platforms more effectively, and avoid wasting time on content that doesn’t connect. If you already have customer data, website analytics, or CRM insights, this stage becomes even more valuable. Social media works best when it reflects real audience behaviour, not assumptions. 3. Choose the right platforms A common mistake businesses make is trying to maintain a presence on every social platform at once. In reality, a better approach is to focus on the channels that make the most sense for your audience, your content, and your goals. Different platforms support different behaviours. For example: LinkedIn is often best for B2B content, professional insight, and thought leadership Instagram works well for visual storytelling, brand personality, and lifestyle-led content Facebook can support community engagement, events, and paid campaigns TikTok is ideal for short-form, creative, and trend-led content X (formerly Twitter) may still be useful for commentary, updates, and real-time conversation depending on your sector Choosing the right platforms is a key part of planning a social media strategy because it allows you to focus your energy where it’s most likely to make an impact. It’s almost always better to do a few channels well than to spread yourself too thin across too many. 4. Plan your content approach Once you know your goals and audience, you can begin shaping your content approach. This is where many strategies for social media either become effective or fall apart. A strong content plan should balance value, consistency, and brand relevance. Rather than posting the same type of content repeatedly, define a set of themes or pillars that support your objectives. These might include: Educational content that answers questions or shares insight Brand content that shows personality, culture, or values Promotional content that highlights services, offers, or products Trust-building content such as testimonials, case studies, or reviews Engagement content designed to encourage interaction and conversation Having a clearer content structure makes day-to-day planning easier and helps ensure your feed feels balanced rather than repetitive. It also helps different parts of the business contribute ideas more effectively because there is already a strategic framework in place. 5. Create a content calendar A content calendar turns your strategy into something actionable. It helps ensure your social media activity is organised, consistent, and aligned with the rest of your marketing activity. A good content calendar helps you plan posts in advance - whether it’s promoting your products or services, highlighting seasonal moments or key dates, or showing behind scenes of your company. This not only helps reduce the pressure of having to think of ideas at the last minute, but it also ensures there’s no long gaps of activity. It also gives you more opportunity to step back and assess the bigger picture. Rather than looking at one post in isolation, you can see how your messaging, themes, and campaign moments work together over time. This part of social media strategy planning is particularly helpful for teams, because it improves visibility and makes sign-off processes more manageable. 6. Define your tone of voice and brand style A strong social presence should feel like a natural extension of your brand. That means your visual style and tone of voice need to be defined clearly enough that content feels consistent across your chosen platforms. Your tone of voice should reflect: How formal or informal your brand is How much personality comes through The type of language your audience responds to How you want your business to be perceived The same applies to your visual approach. Colours, typography, image style, and graphics should feel connected, even if the format of the content changes. This consistency matters because it builds recognition over time. It also gives your audience a clearer sense of who you are, which is an important part of any successful social media business strategy. 7. Measure and optimise performance No strategy is complete without a way to measure success. If you’re not reviewing performance, it becomes difficult to know what’s working, what needs to change, and where your effort is best spent. The exact metrics you track will depend on your goals, but they may include: Reach and impressions Engagement rates Follower growth Website traffic from social Leads, enquiries, or conversions Click-through rate (CTR) Cost per result on paid activity Measurement isn’t just about reporting. It’s what allows you to refine your strategy over time. A strong approach to social media strategy planning includes regular reviews, honest performance analysis, and a willingness to adapt based on the data. That’s how social media becomes more effective over time. Not through constant posting alone, but through a cycle of planning, learning, and improving. We can help build a social media strategy that works Creating an effective social media business strategy takes more than just posting regularly. It requires clear goals, audience understanding, consistent content, and a structure that links your activity back to real business outcomes. When done properly, social media can become a valuable channel for building brand awareness, increasing engagement, and supporting long-term growth. At Fifteen, we help businesses develop and deliver tailored social media strategy planning that aligns with their goals and drives measurable results. From defining your approach, to shaping content and improving performance, we can help turn your social media activity into something far more strategic and effective. Get in touch with our social media experts today to find out how we can help you build a strategy that works for your business. #### Our guide to schema markup for SEO. Search engines are getting smarter and helping them understand exactly what your content means is more important than ever. That’s where schema markup comes in. When done right, schema markup gives you the advantage of a clearer communication with Google, improved visibility, and more compelling search listings. In this blog, we explore everything you need to know about schema markup for SEO, including what it is, why it’s important, and the different types of schema markup you can implement to your site. What is schema markup? Schema markup (a form of structured data) is code - usually JSON-LD format - that you add to your page’s HTML to help search engines understand the meaning behind your content. For example, rather than forcing Google to guess whether a ‘Jaguar’ refers to an animal, car, or team, schema markup allows you to explicitly state the context of the content. Schema.org is the shared vocabulary consortium behind this standard and is backed by major search engines like Google, Microsoft, and Bing. There are many different types of schema markup that can be implemented to your site, and we’ll explore these in more detail a little later. It’s important to note that schema markup doesn’t change how your page looks to normal users as it lives behind the scenes of your site. Its purpose is to provide clarity to search engines, bots, and AI-driven systems so they can interpret your page more accurately. Why schema markup is important  There are many reasons why schema markup is important for websites, including: Enhanced understanding and context As we’ve already mentioned, without schema, search engines rely heavily on natural language processing (NLP) to interpret page content. While that’s improved, it’s still imperfect. Schema markup reduces ambiguity by explicitly labelling entities and relationships on the page. Rich results and high click-trough rates (CTR) One of the biggest incentives for using schema is its ability to drive rich snippets like reviews, ratings, product prices, and FAQ panels for example. Rich snippets are great for helping your result look more prominent in search pages, which can better attract your audience and encourage a higher CTR. AI, voice search, and future proofing As AI-generated search responses, chat interfaces, and voice search become more common, schema helps these systems pick accurate, context-rich answers. In other words, schema markup is becoming integral to how AI and voice assistants source and present answers. Control over search appearance With schema markup, you can explicitly define how your brand or page is represented in search results. This is because you’re communicating essential information about your business to AI search engines with schema markup, which reduces the risk of search engines showing your website for unrelated search queries. What are some schema markup examples? There are hundreds of schema types available, but most businesses can benefit by implementing the most common ones. It’s important to implement the right types of schema markup so you can make sure you maximise your visibility in results pages and improve the quality of traffic reaching your site. Here are some of the most common types of schema markup for SEO and what they’re used for: Product schema Ideal for ecommerce websites, this markup provides key information like product name, price, availability, and star ratings. It can enhance how your listings appear in search, showing rich results like “instock” status or customer reviews. FAQ schema Frequently Asked Questions schema allows you to mark up question-and-answer content. Google may even display these directly in search results, helping to improve visibility and make your listing more interactive and useful to users. LocalBusiness schema Designed for physical businesses with a storefront, this schema includes details such as your business name, address, phone number, opening hours, and location. It’s especially useful for improving your local SEO efforts and appearing in map results. Article or BlogPosting schema Used for blog and news content, this schema helps Google understand the structure of your posts. It can enhance visibility in Google News or display key details like publish date, author, and featured image. Review schema Whether you’re collecting product reviews or service feedback, review schema can add star ratings to your search listing, which is a proven way to increase trust and improve click-through rates. Organisation schema This helps define key facts about your company, such as your logo, social media profiles, and contact details for example. It reinforces your brand identity in search and can support the creation of a branded knowledge panel. Event schema If your business runs events regularly - whether it’s online webinars or in-person conferences - event schema can help promote these in Google’s event search results. You can include details like date, location and ticket availability. Best practices for schema markup If you truly want to make schema work as part of your SEO strategy, here are some best practices on how to approach it: Prioritise high-impact pages - don’t try to mark up every page at once. Start with the pages that benefit the most such as your product pages, FAQ pages, or event pages for example. Use JSON-LD format - Google recommends JSON-LD format because it keeps schema separate from the page HTML and is easier to maintain. Keep schema relevant and accurate - only use schema types and properties that match the content. Don’t add schema for things not present in the page as this can backfire on your efforts. Test and validate regularly - always run your schema through Google’s Rich Results Test or a schema validator to catch any errors. Incorrect or invalid markup is often ignored by search engines. Monitor for schema drift - as your content, page structure, or product listings change, your schema can become broken or outdated. Make sure you regularly audit your schema to catch anything that no longer matches your content. Need help with your schema markup for SEO? Using schema markup for SEO isn’t a silver bullet, but it is a powerful tool in your SEO toolkit. It helps Google and AI systems understand your content more deeply, and gives your listing a better chance to stand out with rich snippets. If you need professional help auditing your current schema, selecting the right types to implement, or writing and integrating markup that’s tailored to your content, get in touch with us today. Our SEO specialists can take care of your structured data so your content doesn’t just exist, but performs. #### Our guide to unlocking the power of HubSpot CRM In order to succeed in today’s digital marketing landscape, you need to have the right tools at your disposal. HubSpot CRM, a leading inbound marketing and sales platform, offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to streamline your business processes and maximise your results. But what is HubSpot and what is it used for? In this guide, we'll walk you through everything you need to know about HubSpot CRM including its various hubs, so you know how you can truly harness the power of this platform for your business. What is HubSpot? HubSpot is a powerful customer relationship management (CRM) platform that offers a huge range of tools to help businesses manage their marketing, sales, and customer service efforts all in one place. With HubSpot, you can track interactions with leads and customers, automate marketing campaigns, create detailed reports on performance metrics, and more. The platform is known for its user-friendly interface and robust features that can help businesses of all sizes streamline their operations and improve efficiency. Whether you're a small business or a large organisation, unlocking the power of HubSpot CRM can revolutionise the way you engage with your customers and drive growth for your business. What is HubSpot used for? Aside from being primarily used for organising and tracking customer interactions, managing sales pipelines, and automating marketing efforts, HubSpot CRM can be used for so much more including streamlining your revenue processes and maximising your content efforts to give your customers a much more personalised experience. Let’s take a deeper dive into some of the most used tools on the platform. The HubSpot Marketing Hub The HubSpot Marketing Hub offers many tools to elevate your marketing strategy and understanding HubSpot's marketing automation is crucial for any inbound marketing strategy. This powerhouse of a tool allows you to automate repetitive tasks, freeing up your time for more strategic activities. The Marketing Hub is rich with features. Thanks to marketing automation, you can create workflows that streamline your campaigns and ensure consistency. These workflows can automate everything from email nurturing to lead segmentation. This means you can send tailored messages at the right time that will resonate with your audience, increasing engagement and conversion rates. But that’s not all. HubSpot’s Marketing Hub also works seamlessly with your current social media marketing efforts. You can schedule posts, monitor engagement, and analyse performance all from one dashboard. This unified approach means your messages are consistent across all platforms. It also allows you to keep tabs on what works and what isn’t. And with web analytics, you can track the performance of your campaigns in real-time, making data-driven decisions that enhance your strategy. The HubSpot Sales Hub This particular tool is designed to eliminate inefficiencies within your sales team, helping you close deals faster. When you streamline your sales processes with HubSpot’s Sales Hub,  your team can focus on what they do best: selling. The Sales Hub automates manual tasks such as logging emails, scheduling meetings, and tracking customer interactions. With pipelines that manage deals efficiently, you get a clear overview of where each lead stands in the sales process. This type of visibility means you can prioritise high-value leads and move them through the pipeline easily. Email tracking is another feature that sets the Sales Hub apart. You’ll know exactly when a client opens your email or clicks on a link, giving you valuable insights into their level of interest. This information is crucial for timely follow-ups and personalised communication. And with task reminders, you’ll never miss a follow-up, ensuring that no opportunity slips through the cracks. As well as this, HubSpot’s Sales Hub helps you generate quality leads and nurtures them through the sales funnel. By integrating with your marketing efforts, the Sales Hub ensures that your sales and marketing teams are aligned, working together to convert prospects into customers. The HubSpot Service Hub The HubSpot Service Hub provides a variety of tools to enhance your customer support, ensuring your clients receive the best possible experience with your business. With the ability to add a knowledge base that offers self-service options, it allows your customers to find answers to their questions without contacting support. This reduces the load on your support team in the long run. This not only improves customer satisfaction but also frees up your team to handle more complex issues. You can build your own comprehensive knowledge base unique to your business with HubSpot’s templates, making it an easy process to build. The search functionality of the Service Hub is another standout feature. Customers can quickly find the information they need, reducing frustration and improving their overall experience. And with analytics, you can get insights into how your articles are performing. This allows you to find any gaps in your content and make improvements that enhance the user experience. Customer service software is only as good as the data it provides, that’s why the Service Hub offers robust analytics that give you a deep understanding of your customer interactions. You can track metrics such as response times, ticket volume, and customer satisfaction, allowing you to make data-driven decisions that improve your service. The HubSpot Operations Hub The HubSpot Operations Hub automates repetitive tasks and streamlines your operations, helping you maintain consistency and improve productivity. Automating business processes is one of the primary benefits of the Operations Hub. Custom workflows are at the heart of this automation. You can create workflows that handle everything from data entry to reporting, freeing up your team to focus on more strategic activities. HubSpot’s data syncing also ensures consistency across all your tools, eliminating the need for manual updates and reducing the risk of errors. Automated notifications keep your team informed and on track. Whether it’s a reminder to follow up with a client or an alert about a critical task, these notifications ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. The Operations Hub integrates seamlessly with your existing tech stack, making it easy to implement and scale as your business grows. Developer tools are also a significant part of the Operations Hub. These tools allow you to create custom integrations and automate complex processes, providing a tailored solution that meets your unique needs. By streamlining your operations, the Operations Hub helps you maintain a high level of efficiency and productivity. What are some HubSpot benefits? We’ve already highlighted some of the key benefits of using this powerful platform, but here are some more HubSpot benefits: User-friendly account setup process with onboarding resources to guide you through the setup A plethora of customisation options so you can tailor the CRM to fit your business needs, from custom fields and views to personalised dashboards Easy and seamless integration with existing tools to enhance productivity from the start A holistic view of your customer journey and their interactions, from lead generations to post-sale support HubSpot CRM is FREE, offering all of the above features and more without the hefty price tag Looking for a HubSpot Gold Partner? As you can see, HubSpot CRM offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to transform your digital marketing, sales, customer service, and operations. By leveraging the power of HubSpot’s various hubs, you can automate repetitive tasks, streamline your processes, and enhance your overall business strategy. If you’re ready to unlock the full potential of HubSpot CRM and revolutionise your business operations, get in touch with us today. We’re a HubSpot Gold Partner meaning we specialise in delivering customised HubSpot solutions for businesses like yours. We’re dedicated to maximising your revenue potential which is why we’ll help you unlock the power of this CRM platform. HubSpot CRM FAQs What is the main use of HubSpot CRM? HubSpot is a powerful software platform that helps businesses attract, engage, and delight customers. It offers a wide range of tools for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service, all in one place. Whether you need to create email campaigns, manage social media, or track website analytics, HubSpot has you covered. What is HubSpot best known for? HubSpot is best known for its inbound marketing tools, which help businesses attract customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to their needs. It also excels in customer relationship management (CRM), sales automation, and customer service. With HubSpot, you can streamline your marketing efforts and improve your overall customer experience. Why is HubSpot CRM so popular? HubSpot's popularity stems from its user-friendly interface, comprehensive features, and excellent customer support. It offers a complete solution for all your business needs, from attracting leads to closing deals. With HubSpot, you can track your marketing efforts, analyse results, and make data-driven decisions to drive your business forward. #### Our new Out of Hours Support Package No matter if you’re a successful business or pioneering a startup, operating online isn’t without its pitfalls – especially if you’re not technically minded. We’re constantly striving to make the web a more accessible place for our clients, so we we’re excited by our new customer service offering. Reactive vs Proactive Website Support As we’ve been working with an ever-growing client list, we’ve been getting more questions about out of office-hours support in an emergency. Historically, our dedicated team of developers jump on problems as and when they arise. But, as there wasn’t previously a protocol for this, there could have been a time when all of our developers were not available for an immediate remedy. This was also a very reactive approach, something we’re not comfortable with here. We want to find problems and fix them before they become serious. Most offices close at 5.30 on a Friday, and don’t open again until 9am on Monday. However, the web keeps on running. So, what would you do if your site completely crashed at 6pm on Friday? In even more extreme cases, what would you do if your website failed during the Christmas period where your digital agency is potentially closed for up to 2 weeks at a time? Announcing our brand-new support service We’re proud to be able to launch our latest customer service offering – Out of Hours Support. We are now at the end of the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 363 days a year (sorry we’re taking off Christmas Day and New Year’s Day). Whether it’s 8pm on a Monday, or 4am on a Sunday, our developers will be on standby to resolve critical issues. We offer a guaranteed 30-minute response time, and a direct conversation with one of our awesome developers. The team has all the technology at its fingertips to be able to solve any problem that could be stopping your business from making money – and ultimately give you complete peace of mind around the clock. Best of all, we have a strategy in place, so it doesn’t have to cost you the earth. If you’d like to begin emergency coverage for your site, please get in touch with me at sam.doyle@fifteen.co.uk. #### Our tips to designing a business card that won’t be thrown away If you meet with clients on a regular basis, chances are you have a business card that you hand out. And, chances are that some of those clients have thrown away that business card, or chucked it in the bottom of a drawer, never to be seen again.  So, how can you ensure it won’t get thrown away? Read on for our tips on designing a business card that is thoughtfully designed and stands out enough to bring in new business. What is a business card and why are they important? A business card is a small, printed card that holds all of the essential information of your business. This will normally include details such as your company name, contact details and your brand logo. Because a business card is usually the size of a credit card, they can conveniently be put into your wallet or purse. A lot of people underestimate the power of a business card. They do more than just carry your business contact details. They build trust with your customers, make you look professional and when designed correctly, they can create long lasting relationships with both new and existing customers. How can you create high quality business cards that won’t be thrown away? Creating a high quality business card that won’t be thrown away, doesn’t have to be complicated. Whilst your design has to be onpoint, you can create a business card that has a unique twist. Design a business card that is functional By giving your business card a function other than just displaying your contact details, you can encourage people to keep it around. There are company’s out there that have created tool kits, bottle openers, torches, measuring instruments, and tonnes of other little gadgets that have a day-to-day use. Having a function built into your business card allows you to promote your company’s usefulness from the very beginning. Have your business card be creative Rather than including functionality for functionality’s sake, you may want to consider another creative spin on the classic business card. Your business card is not only a reminder of who you are and how to get in touch, but also a visual cue to what you do. By experimenting with different visuals and printing techniques, you may be able to add a level of interactivity or humour. Ensure you make your business card memorable. People are likely to remember your business even if they do throw away the card. Your business card doesn’t have to be a business ‘card’ With so many different options available to print your business information on, you have to wonder why they’re even called business “cards”. Recycled plastic and metal business cards are becoming increasingly popular, as they allow a level of customisability that doesn’t come with card. You can cut innovative shapes to create a truly unique modern business card design. Remember these tips when designing your business card It’s important to understand that there are certain things that need to be incorporated into your business card design to make it practical as well as awe-inspiring. Here are a few things to consider: Include only important information. Don’t weigh down your business card with unnecessary text. Think outside of the box, but design within it. Make sure you leave plenty of room for the important information to fit. Idea first, then techniques. If you see a printing technique you love, but it doesn’t work with your design then don’t redesign just to comply with the technique. Test it out. If you’re going for an unconventional shape, it always pays to test it out on paper before sending it off to the printers. Consider your budget. Some materials may set you back an awful lot of money, and provide little return. Check, double check, and triple check. Once your design is finished and you’re happy to go to print, always check it, and check it again. You can never be too careful because once it goes to print then there’s no turning back! Speak to us for your business card needs If you’re thinking about creating a new business card and you’re not sure where to start, speak to us today. We offer business card design as part of our stationary design solutions and we can advise you on design, materials, printing and so much more. #### Our top 10 YouTube SEO tips for beginners YouTube is essentially the second-largest search engine out there, and the larger one is operated by its parent company; Google. Google search results often come in the form of YouTube videos and the platform continues to grow. If you are a creator, you need to try to avoid getting lost in the ocean of YouTube videos that are published every day. In this guide, we look at 10 powerful YouTube SEO tips for supercharging your YouTube Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy to stand out from the crowd. 1. YouTube SEO Keywords Our first YouTube SEO tip for beginners is to use YouTube SEO keywords relating to your niche in your channel name. But the big focus should be on keyword optimisation for each video, and this takes planning. Your YouTube SEO keywords should correspond with the topic of your video so that the right viewers will find it when they search. Keyword research is important – the YouTube keyword research tool on Ahrefs will do this for you. Your keywords should be placed in video titles, metadata, spoken in the audio and in captions and transcripts. 2. Include accurate captions How do you do YouTube SEO you ask? It’s as simple as including accurate captions! YouTube offers automatic transcriptions of your videos, though it is usually only around 70% accurate. Inaccurate captions can harm your SEO, so you can either go through the automatic transcript and clean up the errors or choose a more time-consuming DIY transcript option. The other alternative is to use a professional video transcription service, but this will cost money. 3. Display the transcript in your video descriptions With a 5,000 character limit, you can usually fit your full transcript in the description. This will add more opportunity for keyword placement in the description to help your video rank for related terms, as well as appearing as a suggested video after other videos. It can also boost engagement by offering scannable content for visitors. 4. Translate subtitles into multiple languages You can increase your audience and boost your YouTube SEO by offering captions in other languages besides English. With more viewers able to enjoy your videos, you will have a good chance of ranking for non-English keywords and supercharge your YouTube SEO. Just make sure the translated subtitles are high-quality. 5. Say target keywords in the video One of our more straightforward YouTube SEO tips is to say the target keywords within the video. This is the only way to get your target keywords to appear in your transcript and captions. This is vital to YouTube SEO strategy, and you need to incorporate those keywords naturally into your video. If they are overstuffed in the transcript, it may harm your SEO. 6. Upload a compelling thumbnail A really important step for YouTube SEO for beginners is to upload a compelling thumbnail. This has a huge impact on click-through rate, so take the time to create a high-quality image with the correct dimensions. Tools like Canva can help with this, and your image should be a powerful representation of your target keyword. 7. Add cards and end screens YouTube cards will appear as notifications during the video to draw the user’s attention to other related content. Making use of them is desirable to YouTube as it can keep users on the platform longer, so try to incorporate them where possible. You can add up to five cards in a video, and create an end screen to direct users to take action after the video has finished. Both these things can help your YouTube SEO. 8. Encourage user engagement Engagement metrics like comments, likes, subscriptions and shares are strongly associated with higher rankings. Google wants to promote content that scores high engagement, so encourage your viewers to take these actions for your videos. 9. Conduct off-page SEO This YouTube SEO tip seems to be one that is forgotten, but it shouldn’t be! When you upload the video, be sure to take the time to fill out every section for the publication of it. Change the name, select the right genre and all the other metadata to ensure YouTube places your video where it needs to be and it plays into the algorithm as well as possible. 10. Create backlinks Getting backlinks to your videos is an important part of SEO and learning how to do YouTube SEO backlinks will elevate the success of your YouTube strategy. You can link to it from your own blog, social media channels and any other platform you have, and encourage others to do the same. Mentions from authoritative websites using the keywords you chose as anchor text can be very helpful. Quora and YouTube answers are a good opportunity for backlinks. Find queries that your video answers and link to your video as a solution. Take advantage of our YouTube SEO Services SEO is something that not all YouTube creators think about, so if you give it its due attention then it could set you apart from the crowd. Take the time to follow the suggestions in this blog and look for other ideas to boost your YouTube SEO. If you think this is something you’d need assistance with, then be sure to get in touch and learn more about the YouTube SEO services we offer and how we can help your business with your YouTube strategy. #### Par-tea Time For Amber Rose Tea Company's New E-commerce Website After approaching Fifteen earlier this year, we were privileged to work with The Amber Rose Tea Company on their new e-commerce website! About The Amber Rose Tea Company The Amber Rose Tea Company are on a mission to change the way that tea is enjoyed throughout the UK, with their unique blends of teas to fit every mood. Opening their customer's window to a world of sumptuous teas the Amber Rose Tea Company offers teas that have been carefully crafted using the finest and freshest ingredients (one tea includes 23crt gold leaf!) which means that they can cater for all types of moods. The Task The task was to provide The Amber Rose Tea Company with a brand new e-commerce website to allow them to showcase their products in the best way possible, with the aim to encourage users to purchase teas for themselves. The Amber Rose Tea Company offers a range of quality teas, which needed to reflect within the website, offering a high class and high-quality feel, which would reflect the moods of the users and tailor their user journey. The Website The Design Aiming for a high class and quality feel, we have used strong colours throughout the website, that draws focus to the products that are for sale. In order to focus the user's journey through the website, the layout is kept simple but uses colours and large images to demonstrate the products in the best light. Using shelves with feature products as a key motif through the website, this allows a unique online shopping experience which aims to mimic that of a user browsing shelves in a high street store. Content Management & Key Features Built in WordPress the website uses WooCommerce to service the shop element, and allows the client to add and manage their products and orders through the website. The website is built using modern development techniques and follows best practice code and testing procedures in order for the website to work and respond to fit devices as needed. Who Worked On The Project?           Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="https://theamberroseteacompany.co.uk/"]Visit Amber Rose Tea Company[/fifteen_button] #### Part 1 The Ultimate Guide: Seasonal Email Marketing In part one of our Ultimate Guide to Seasonal Email Marketing we will be covering why email makes for the best holiday marketing tool. Additionally, we will also look at how to write the best seasonal subject lines. In part 2 of our Ultimate guide to Seasonal Email Marketing we will be looking at different holiday email examples. Furthermore, we will also be taking a look into the best types of call to actions. Without a doubt the holiday seasons are the busiest and lucrative times of the year. It’s important to note that this statement is relevant for most businesses and not all. This year is even more important to get those email marketing strategies perfected and push for the final quarter revenue. In Fact this year has seen 10 years worth of e-commerce penetration growth in exactly 3 months. This opens up a major opportunity for those brands to make up for underperforming at the start of the year due to situational setbacks. After the year we’ve had you deserve your Christmas sales season to be merry and bright, but to do this you're going to have to nail your email marketing plan. Emails provide endless opportunities to attract new buyers, connect with your fans, offer reward programmes and exclusive promotions.  As you make your way through our guide you will start to feel more and more confident and hopefully start to adapt your current strategy. Read on to see how you can make this your most successful and rewarding season.  Why is Email the Best Seasonal Marketing Tool? Regardless of the time of year, holidays will always provide a range of great opportunities for marketing. Not only do they allow you to reach out to current subscribers, but also friends and family of those. You can therefore generate more leads by pushing your subscribers to share the value you offer with others.  Emails are perfect for the Mobile Orientated World The use of mobile phones is an upward trend so it’s no surprise that the number of consumers using mobiles to Christmas shop is ever growing. To further back this up a report by Castor showed purchases on mobile phones increased from 3.4% to 36.7% in 4 years. Research also shows that 63% of Cyber Monday and 76% of Black Friday emails were opened on a mobile device.  Emails Provide Easy & Quick Purchase Options It’s important to remember that your customers are equally as busy as you during the seasonal period. Therefore finding ways to speed up their buying process is mutually beneficial for both the customer and your business. “Buy Now” buttons are a simple and effective way to reduce the purchase time, 41% of retailers are already using these in their campaigns. Not only is it speeding up the journey but also highlighting gifts, special offers and events. Emails Support Campaigns Already emails are being used to showcase gift ideas, promote sales, highlight holiday events and so on. Emails are also a great way to support other campaigns within your seasonal marketing strategy, from social media sales, reward programs and competitions. Seasonal Subject Lines Questions Why are questions great ideas? Because they’re instantly engaging, making them the perfect subject line trick. Turn your content into a question, for example:  “Need some gift ideas?” “What would make your Christmas perfect?” Personalisation  Customer experience is key, so why not make that extra effort to personalise each email? Research shows emails with personalised subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened. Attention Grab your subscribers attention by using power words in your subject line. For sales driven objectives you should use power words such as, promotion, discount, free shipping, savings and hot deal. Another example is for timeliness objectives, to which you’d use power words such as, order now, last minute, exclusive, limited-time, open now and today only. Clear During the seasonal period your subscribers will be receiving a huge range of other emails, so it’s important your offer is obvious. Don’t make the user have to hut for your offer but instead feature it clearly in your subject line. Emoji’s  Not only do emojis in the subject line draw attention but they have also increased unique opening rates by 45%. So don’t hold back on your trees, santas, stars and especially snowmen which is the emoji to drive the highest open rate. It’s Time for Part 2… At this point you should feel pretty confident in understanding why it's even more important to put attention towards email marketing campaigns during seasonal holiday. Don't miss out on our Part 2 of The Ultimate Guide to Seasonal Email Mark #### Part 2 The Ultimate Guide: Seasonal Email Marketing Previously, in  Part 1 of The Ultimate Guide to Seasonal Email Marketing you would have read about why email is one of if not the most effective tool for seasonal marketing campaigns. You should have also gained some tricks and tips for when it comes to seasonal subject lines. From being clear, grabbing the attention, using emojis, personalisation and asking questions. Part 2 will cover an array of different holiday email examples and marketing tricks for you to take on and apply to your own strategy. From gift guides and Black Friday promotion to last minute deals and referring friend gifts. Additionally your call to action knowledge should be sharpened with our easy to follow tips.  Seasonal Email Ideas Black Friday Promotion Black Friday is an extremely important occasion to maximise your marketing efforts for. Amazingly Black Friday generates 50-100% more revenue than other shopping days. Therefore you should be following the steps in our Festive Tips: Boost Your Email Marketing Campaigns This Christmas tips.  Send Last Minute Deals The next great tactic for seasonal marketing is to push last minute deals as there’s always going to be last-minute shoppers. Everyone loves a last minute bargain. Use Popular Seasonal References Users always enjoy an entertaining email especially one that connects the business brand or product to a Christmas reference. Referring a Friend Gifts The seasons are a great time to grow your customer base through different refer a friend strategies. By giving your current subscribers a deal to encourage them to refer a friend whether that be money off, a free gift etc. Seasonal Gift Guides Last minute shopping has seena year on year increase of 6% which highlights although shoppers have access to a range of online retailers they still wait till the last minute. This is mainly due to shoppers doubting what to buy for their friends and family.  Therefore you should be eating this opportunity up and providing shoppers with inspiration. The best way to do this is through a gift guide. This also creates a really strong campaign as you can break your gift guide down throughout the season. For example one email includes a guide for gifts under £10 while the other is gifts for her. Send Post-Holiday Emails People are always looking to January sales, or to spend some Christmas money or gift cards. Therefore post holiday emails are still as important to grab a few more sales. The Perfect Call to Action The call to action is possibly the most important aspect of the email, as without it the email is virtually pointless. It not only clearly states the main purpose of the email but it also tells your subscribers what you want them to do next. We’ve collated some best practice tips to help you nail your Call to Actions this Christmas. Use a Button Rule number one: a subscriber should never have to search for a call to action, if it’s not obvious it’s wrong. It needs to provide a “look at me” factor in order to catch the attention of skim reading subscribers. It's fairly easy to overlook a hyperlink text whereas a huge button is more missable.  Short & Concise Your call to action text should always be short, concise and exactly to the point. A general rule is it shouldn't be longer than two to three words. Below are some example of short and concise call to actions: Shop Now Buy Now 50% Off Here Get The Deal CTA to Landing Page or Purchase Page After a user clicks your call to action they should always be taken to a landing page or purchase page. It goes without saying that the purchase page needs to be for the service or item that matches the email. By sending subscribers to a random page or your homepage instead of directly to the offer can lose you a sale. By incorporating Part 1, Part 2 and our Festive Tips you should be able to create exciting and appealing season campaigns year in and year out. Should you need any further assistance then head over to our Email Marketing section to see how we can help you. #### Paving the Way for Commercial Flooring Fifteen are proud to announce their latest website launch for Commercial Flooring who are leading suppliers and installers of commercial flooring, working nationwide for clients such as Aston Martin, Primark, and the NHS. About Commercial Flooring Commercial Flooring offers a complete service to all their clients, from design to installation they can guarantee that their clients get the best quality of service all the way through the process. They work in line with clients design requirements, budgets and timeframes to ensure a first class project can be completed. Commercial Flooring has had the privilege of working with some of the world's leading companies, including Apple, Boots, Cadburys, RBS Bank, Selfridges and more! They work with a range of suppliers to offer quality products to their clients and offer a range of solutions to cover all areas of a business. The Task The task was to create a website that aligns with Commercial Flooring's forward-thinking business approach, keeping true to the brand, and utilising their range of fantastic imagery into the website in the most effective ways possible. It was important that the new website was built with company growth in mind, and allows Commercial Flooring to add more services, sectors, team members and more. The Website Commercial Flooring's new website needed to be branded, responsive and easy to update. The website was designing using a range of modern web design techniques, and incorporating the use of a side-navigation, something that we've found is making a design comeback! As Commercial Flooring had a bank of brilliant and visual images that we had access to, we were able to make a feature of these through the key pages of the website. It was important that we kept the website clean and simple, making it easy for users to find the information, and to contact the company via a callback form or a simple contact form. The website is built using WordPress and allows Commercial Flooring to update their website with ease moving forward. We are really pleased with the way that the website has turned out, and can't wait to continue working with the company in the future. What They Said “Following our approach to Fifteen to revamp our website, I have to say from start to finish they have shown nothing but completed professionalism in what they have done. From our initial design meeting to the launch they have fully understood our requirements and completed what we believe to be a first class website. I will fully recommend them to any future clients" - Nathan Ware, Managing Director, Commercial Flooring Ltd Who Worked On The Project?     Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="http://www.commercialflooring.uk.net/"] Visit the new Commercial Flooring Website [/fifteen_button] #### Portsmouth Golf Centre Tee Off with new Website Design After working with Portsmouth Golf Centre for the past 3-4 years. We were delighted to be invited back to design and build their new website for 2015. We've pulled out all the stops to make sure that the new website really positions Portsmouth Golf Centre as one of the top online presences in the UK golfing industry. With a dedicated course page that documents each of the holes on the golf course from a birds eye view, to a pro shop page which showcases all the new releases from names like Callaway, Ping, Taylormade and Mizuno, the Portsmouth Golf Centre website is a really groundbreaker. Check out the full project here or visit their website at www.portsmouthgolfcentre.co.uk #### Pressure grows on social media giants to tackle misinformation From outrageous Tweets from the president of the USA to conspiracy theories about 5G. Social media platforms have long been under scrutiny for allowing ‘fake news’ to spread but, perhaps more than ever, pressure is growing on firms to tackle the spread of misinformation. Twitter marks Trump tweet with fact check label Donald Trump had a tweet marked with “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” after he stated that Mail-In Ballots will be “substantially fraudulent”. It was the first time that Twitter marked one of the president’s tweets with a fact checker as they felt it was misinformation - and it did not go down well! In the aftermath, Trump accused social media platforms of interfering with the election and threatened to shut companies down. He signed an executive order arguing against the 1996 website operators’ rights that says: “Sites are protected from lawsuits if they block posts deemed obscene, violent or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected.” 1996 Legislation Trump tweet is hidden for glorifying violence Moving on, Twitter decided to take firmer action against another tweet, composed by the president. The platform decided to hide one of his tweets behind a warning and reducing its algorithmic distribution, meaning people have to click view in order to read it. The tweet read “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” which referred to the anti-racism protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd. A couple of hours later, the tweet was hidden behind the warning which read “This tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the tweet to remain accessible.” In typical Trumpish fashion, the tweet was copied and put in quotation marks and sent out by the official White House account, which again was hidden by Twitter. Facebook turning a blind eye Twitter was praised by many for helping to stop the spread of misinformation and antagonising messages. This led to increased pressure on Facebook to do the same, forcing Founder, Mark Zuckerberg, to make an announcement. He took the position of “the leader of an institution committed to free expression.” The company let Trump’s tweets remain unaltered, something that has caused a stir both outside and inside his organisation. Several Facebook employees have voiced their discontent. “I work at Facebook and I am not proud of how we’re showing up,” Jason Toff, Director of Product Management tweeted. While Design Manager Jason Stirman tweeted that he “completely disagrees” with Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to “do nothing about Trump’s recent posts, which clearly incite violence.” “I’m not alone inside of FB”. “There isn’t a neutral position on racism.” Jason Stirman added 5G conspiracy theories  Fake 5G news on social media A topic that Facebook HAS taken action against is the false information being spread about wireless technology 5G being the cause of Coronavirus and/or coronavirus being a fake distraction from the set up of killer 5G masts designed to depopulate the world. In response Facebook said: "We are taking aggressive steps to stop misinformation and harmful content from spreading on our platforms and connect people to accurate information about coronavirus". "Under our existing policies against harmful misinformation, we are starting to remove false claims which link COVID-19 to 5G technology and could lead to physical harm." Facebook Trust is a big issue on social media, and we often have to educate our clients on different ways that they may come across as fake accounts or scammers due to poor wording and visuals. For help with your social media, get in touch. #### Providing A Complete Solution For BGS Utilities BGS Ltd have been providing complete utility solutions for over 15 years but were finding that their standalone logo wasn’t attracting the right audience, as their name wasn’t giving enough insight into what services the company provide. BGS Ltd decided to rebrand to BGS Utilities and came to Fifteen to put this into action with a new brand and website. Brand Design The new brand incorporates the three colours from the old BGS brand, chosen for their association to the three main utilities services: gas, water and electricity. A quality that is easily identified in the industry and keeps a nostalgic link to the old logo. The new emblem not only draws reference from pipework but was also chosen for it’s connotation to working together, a key selling point for BGS Utilities who work with their customers to provide complete utility solutions from feasibility to completion.     As part of the rebrand the new visual style was applied to the company literature and marketing materials, including stationery and vehicle livery, to create a distinctive and consistent identity across all customer touchpoints. Website Design & Development The next step was to tackle the BGS Utilities website, which had become outdated and behind the times in latest technology. We evolved the new brand through the design of the website and made sure BGS’s unique selling points were clearly reflected. We added new features to the website such as the Quick Enquiry form, helping to drive users to take that first step to getting in touch. For those on the go, the website is now fully responsive, meaning it can be accessed from any device without compromise on user experience. The website is designed and built to grow with BGS and the CMS allows the team to easily edit and add to the website at any time. #### Quality Packaging Design On A Small Budget Recently I stood on my prized earphones and killed them. Not just cracked them, but totally sent them into the next life. They weren’t particularly expensive earphones but they were good and the sound quality was amazing. I’m going to miss them! I listen to music at night to relax and when finished I simply toss the earphones on the floor next to my bed. Normally I spot them in the morning and place them out of harm’s way but this particular morning I’d slept in slightly so I was in a bit of a rush, I jumped out of bed and that’s when it happened, sad face! I started to do a little research on the net for a replacement pair as the earphones I had stood on and killed were discontinued. And I came across a brand that I’d never heard of before. Normally I would stay clear of random brands, but the reviews that people were giving these guys were all five stars. In fact, they had over 70 five star ratings for this particular pair of earphones. The earphones themselves were under £20, which is the perfect price point for me - not too cheap, not too expensive either. I thought I’d take the risk, and purchased them. Good Branding on a Tight Budget When the earphones were delivered, I was completely blown away by the design and finishing of the packaging. It was exquisite. Keeping in mind that these were budget earphones – £19.99 to be exact – they looked like a premium brand like Bose or Apple. Every detail of the packaging was finished to such a high standard. Nothing had been overlooked. The box the earphones arrived in was made from high quality black board, and also had a sleeve around it. This was also black, but finished in matt with a red foil on the front for the company logo. Inside the box there were more smaller boxes, also finished in black uncoated card. It fitted so snugly into the main box that It was a task to actually remove them. This got me thinking, and it’s the reason for this blog: how could a pair of budget earphones look so good and so expensive? The agency who were commissioned into producing the packaging design for the earphones are obviously extremely passionate about design and different finishing techniques, as well as producing exquisite results on a shoestring. But how did they do it? And can the same kind of thinking be used in my world – graphic design? To a designer, it’s a great challenge Firstly, working to a tight budget doesn’t have to mean minimum design effort, restrictions or compromise. Think single-sided, one-colour flyer. For a designer, working to a tight budget means ‘challenge’. How can you get awesome results without blowing the monies? One way is ‘do your research’. Look at different more cost-effective production processes and materials; after all these have a huge impact on the end result. Also, looking for resources that are already in place, like cutting forms and templates, would save on time and money, rather than have a finisher or printer starting them from scratch. Another way to help keep the budget in-check is to always use your in-house capabilities. Outsourcing can be very costly – photography, illustration and app design are specialist areas, and having a team that can cover these specialisms is extremely useful and cost effective. ‘Skill swapping’ is another way that can help too. Use networking events to discuss your needs. Maybe you need an app design that you can exchange for a logo design and branding work. There should be no compromise when it comes to design regardless of budget. As a designer, all the projects I work on are a labour of love, and hopefully this is reflected in the finished design. Now it’s time to plug in those earphones - not only do they look great but sound great too. I’ll keep this pair off the bedroom floor! For advice and support with packaging design for your brand, contact us here. #### R.I.P Vine | 2013-2016 Vine, the 6-second video sharing platform, has been discontinued by its owners, Twitter. But, and there is a massive but, according to almost every Vine/Social Media star, Vine didn't die. Vine didn't get pushed over the edge, it dived. This is all according to DeStorm Power - an online phenomenon, who has made his fortune posting on Vine. He created a YouTube video explaining why Vine died, and that it had been coming for a while. So, why was Vine going downhill so quickly? Well, DeStorm says that the Vine users stopped using the app over a year ago due to Vine not caring about their users. He says, "They were selfish and they were arrogant. They were the hardest people to reach. There should be no reason I had over 6 million followers, 3 billion views and I didn't even have an email to contact somebody if something went wrong." Unlike other social channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, Vine's customer service was almost non-existent. DeStorm went on to say, "Vine was the worst run platform I have ever witnessed." "Platforms come and go, so learn to love the creator themselves rather than the platform they post on, then you won't be disappointed." In my opinion, Vine was never going to reach the heights of its social competitors. YouTube was always going to be bigger and better than Vine, because of one small, simple detail. Time-span. YouTube allows you to post videos that are any length, which lets you say what you want for as long as you want. Vine only lets you shoot 6 second clips. How can that be a competition? With Snapchat being a similar format that allows you to share short videos, as well as Facebook Live and Periscope, which is Twitters live video platform, Vine was always going to struggle as they were not updating or progressing. People say that Vine will be missed as it provided short snippets of laughter everyday. I disagree. It was the users that provided that, not the platform. Never the less - RIP. For more on Twitter's Periscope, read our blog: How Can Marketers Get More Out of Twitter #### Rebrand and web design for Design Innovation We were lucky enough to be awarded the opportunity to rebrand a company called Design Innovation, this included web design and build, exhibition design, brand guide and tone of voice documents. The Brief So why a rebrand? Well, for some clients they feel the need to keep moving forward, continue to evolve and stay ahead of their competitors to reach new customers and propositions. For other clients, it might be that they wish to update their current branding as it may be out of line with their mission, vision and company values. The Process The Design The first thing we did was to understand exactly what Design Innovation do, what makes them get out of bed in the morning, who their customers are and how we could reach new customers. We wanted to find out what their goals and company milestones are too. We also boiled down key information to achieve the perfect result in terms of a new visual identity. The new identity had to reflect the companies vision and values and it also had to connect with their target market. Design Innovation are home automation specialists. Design Innovation design award-winning systems that fully integrate into homes. Using smart devices you can perform everyday tasks like preheating your oven, turning on and off lights and checking who’s at your front door. They also design and build home cinema systems with state of the art equipment and mood lighting. The possibilities are endless and can be tailored to each clients lifestyle. All their builds are bespoke and can be controlled remotely or within the home using any smart device. We wanted to reflect this in the new branding. The Logo We explored the relationship between bespoke design, innovation and the personal touch they give to each of their clients. The resulting logo was a combination of a stylised fingerprint which formed a letter ‘D’. We were really happy with the result as was the client. We also evolved the brand language. The overall look and feel to the new visual identity was strong, unique and reflected the company perfectly. Creating a brand guide is essential when designing a new visual identity for a client. It gives the client a clear understanding of their brand, their vision, values and the brand promise. The team also explored the brand archetypes. Archetypes help define the tone of voice in all marketing materials. The Experience Our designers also redesigned the client's website incorporating a clear and more streamlined sitemap with refined user experience. We worked on imagery and video content to enrich the experience. The site needed to give the impression of high quality and sophistication, after all, Design Innovation only use the very best equipment in all of their projects so the site had to reflect this. Throughout the site, there was a clear call to actions to help conversion rates. To complete the rebrand we looked at the client's exhibition stand. The current stand lacked focus and the messaging was a little disjointed. What we did was focus on key messages with a clear call to action. The branding and design were consistent with the website and all other marketing materials. It’s important that all the dots are connected and customers experience a consistent journey throughout. The Result Working with Design Innovation has been great, they know their stuff and were more than happy for us to guide them through this process. The resulting rebrand is a great success and both us and the client are extremely pleased with the final result. Contact us to see how we can rebrand your business and set you on a path to success. #### Redsmith is Pretty in Pink Gin Label Design Have you ever found yourself buying a product due to the packaging alone? Our sole aim was to create a label that demanded your attention. We decided to design a label that made you need to pick it up to have a closer look. Maybe, even take it home to display proudly on your shelf. This isn’t the only reason you should be reaching for the bottle though. Redsmith has won a multitude of awards since its launch, including the title of Classic Gin of the Year in the Craft Distilling Expo 2016 and a double gold medal in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. So when Redsmith Distillery came to us to design a second label for their Rose Old Tom Gin, we were excited to push the label design further and create a unique design that told a story for itself while still demanding the same attention. Pink Gin Gin has been rising in popularity over the past few years and the introduction and evolution of unique flavours line the back of any bar you enter. Moving with the times, Redsmith worked on a pink gin, perfecting the ingredients and taste to create something truly unique. The Brief Our initial briefing meeting included a little bit of gin science, where we learnt the long-lasting pink colours of gin tend to come from artificial colouring, something that Redsmith wanted to avoid to keep the natural quality of their gins. So setting our first goal for the label, to create a design that would give the illusion of pink. The Solution Stripping our original Redsmith label back to the basics gave us the best opportunity to create this illusion. We wrapped the bottle with a subtle rose design at the back. This would allow the inside label to be visible from the front. Flooding this with pink gave the pink illusion we were looking for. Our design and pattern tells the story of the pink gin. This pattern lines the inside of the bottle. The mesmerising label design is created from the silhouette of the old tomcat. The tomcats spiral together to form an abstract image of a rose in the centre. This design is a nod to the rose garden where the petals are harvested to create the sweet rose flavour of the gin. Keeping synergy between the 2 bottle designs, the outer label utilises the same typography. A traditional, simple yet elegant, serif font that sets the tone of the bottle, coloured in a palette devised to represent the pink gin perfectly and adorned with a silver foil. The label catches glimpses of light and shines to demand attention. Our design works perfectly on the luxurious textured paper that adds a touch of elegance. In similar fashion to the London Dry Gin label design, there is space on each bottle to be individually hand-numbered and signed by Wayne Asher, the man behind Redsmith Distillery. All of these elements come together to create a unique, premium look that catches the eye and deserves a spot in any gin collection. If you are looking for drinks packaging or label designs, get in touch with a member of the team who can begin your journey today. #### Regeneration For Elfed High School's Website What Is It Like To Work With Fifteen? Fifteen started working with Elfed High School in 2013 when the secondary school, based in North Wales, was in a process of regeneration. The school had recently established a new brand identity and was making plans to achieve positive changes to both their results performance and pupil intake for the next year. After doing an internet search for ‘school website design’, the headteacher at Elfed High School, Rosemary Jones, found Fifteen, saw the great results we had achieved for other schools across the UK and decided that we were the design agency to help her team showcase Elfed High school as one of the leading secondary schools in the region. Projects that we have worked on with Elfed High School include print design for their school prospectus, Key Stage 4 brochures and monthly school newsletters. We also worked with them to create a new school website design that is responsive and built in an easy to use CMS so that the school can update it and change the content whenever they want. Additional projects include school campus signage and also large infographic boards that are displayed around the corridors of the school. There are plans to increase our service offering with Elfed High School with proposals in place to help improve their online presence with digital marketing opportunities and a refresh of the website to bring it up to date with modern development technologies as although it is still performing for the school, it is now three years old and could be improved to suit the latest findings in user experience design and user interface development “Working with Fifteen has helped us to create a new visual identity for our school community.  Through the development of the website and a range of school print publications, we have created a really effective system for communicating our good news stories with our students, families and the wider community. When we first contacted Fifteen in 2013, we aimed to create a new and vibrant online presence. In the three years that have followed, recruitment has increased dramatically, with families approaching us to enrol their children at the school based on the positive impression gained from the website. Our newsletters, prospectus and signage design has also been widely praised by both students and visitors. After an initial face-to-face project start meeting at the school, the remainder of the three-year period of working with Fifteen has been purely via electronic communications across e-mails and telephone conversations. I have never visited the Fifteen office, due to the distance from our base in North Wales, but this has not hindered our working relationship or the quality of the work produced in any way. This way of working has actually proven to be very time efficient and has enabled us to develop designs and ideas in a thoughtful and considered way. Our link with Michelle has been consistent throughout this time and has been a significant advantage as we now have established routines that make the best use of the time we have available. It’s like having our very own designer at the school. All of the staff at Fifteen are helpful and well informed on all the projects that are introduced into the studio. Communication between the entire team at Fifteen is very good and I always receive great service from every person that I speak to. Finances permitting, I would love to develop our range of graphic products and the scope of the website in future. We have spoken about refreshing the website, adding to our signage system on the school campus and also embarking on a digital marketing campaign to improve our online presence, along with maintaining our current printed newsletters, school prospectus design and publications.” Rosemary Jones, Headteacher at Elfed High School. #### Reimagining REQM's Website for Modern Education REQM (Religious Education Quality Mark) works with the Religious Education Council of England and Wales to acknowledge and celebrate outstanding RE in education.  The team at REQM approached us to take a look at revamping their previous website into something sleek and modern which could pave the way for the future of the awards programme.  About REQM:  The RE Quality Mark (REQM) is an award that schools can apply to achieve based on their RE contribution to those who are in education. The team at REQM believes that RE provides learners and teachers with a safe space to explore the important ideas of what it means to be human and learn about religion and worldviews.  The quality mark has two core purposes; the first is to recognise good practice in RE within schools. Second, is to provide a powerful tool for the development of the programme within the school. The mark helps emphasize the importance of RE within a learning environment and makes it known to prospective students.  What We Did:  After meeting the team and planning out what they wanted to gain from the new website, we created a new sitemap for the site, allowing users to be guided through the process, and find information easily and quickly.  We then went onto to produce a design that utilised the current branding but gave the site a modern and clean look that feels in line with web design trends.  Images on the site were important, as they needed to remain neutral to signal a wide variety of religions and not pigeonhole the award. This heavily influenced the visual style - throughout the site, you’ll notice that we’ve used stylized images and iconography-based graphics to demonstrate the core information and important areas.   The site also has some functionality behind it, with the creation of an award holders map, where uses can find other bodies across England and Wales who are part of the REQM community. This map also allows the REQM admin to send out the certificates to the relevant members of the school.  REQM previously handled their applications using a Google Form, on the new website, we implemented this on the website itself so it creates a streamlined process for users from start to finish. This keeps users on site so they never have to leave the website.  Allowing the client to edit the website, was a vital element of the job. We built the site using WordPress as the CMS system. This platform has a range of flexible components which allow the client to build on the site moving forward and makes it super easy to add any future functionality or sections within the website.  Old site New site courtesy of Fifteen This project was a joy to work on, we are really happy to see it go live, and we can’t wait to work with the team again in the future.  If you would like to find out more about our web design and build services or are interested in digital marketing, contact us today. We'll supercharge your website and maximise your visibility. What they had to say:  “Fifteen Design has been an incredible design and development partner. They worked diligently to a difficult brief and produced a spectacular update to a tired website. The team were attentive and responsive throughout the process, and any issues that came about were swiftly resolved. The price was exceptional given the amount of work that went into refreshing our site. You never really know what quality of service you'll get when searching for a provider through Google; but based on the excellent results, we will putting a recommendation to our board to continue working with Fifteen in years to come. Thank you in particular to Sophie and Martika who worked so hard to make this a smooth and enjoyable process.” Joshua O'Loughlin, Communications and Executive Assistant, Religious Education Council of England and Wales #### Reverse Image Search: The SEO Secret What is Reverse Image Search? Reverse image search (and reverse photo search) is one of those hard-to-place search methods with a lot of marketers wondering why their audience search for specific images. Several sites and search engines have popped up to fill the demand for image search with major players the likes of Google Images, TinEye, eBay, SK Planet, Pixsy and Pinterest. With such a high demand and a growing competition, we look at why people are using reverse image search or content-based image retrieval (CBIR). Finding Original Sources With the proliferation of blogs and other websites finding the original source can be difficult. A screenshot of a blog post can find its way to social media and news outlets with the original context often lost in the broken telephone chain. Users can use an image and reverse search their way to the source to find out who the original creator may be. This can be helpful for several reasons, maybe you want to collaborate with the creator or reach out them for a guest post. Whatever the reason, performing a reverse image search is an invaluable resource. Tracking Your Infographic Spread One of the go-to campaign decisions any digital marketing strategy is to use your data and create an interesting infographic. By presenting the data in a fun and intriguing way it makes the content much easier to share and hopefully build up a buzz. However, with dark shares via social media and other sites using your infographic for their own posts, it can be difficult to see where and how your infographic is performing. A reverse image search will bring up all the instances of where your infographic is used. This makes it easier to see how big a splash you’ve made and possibly seek a credit. Getting Past the Crop Cropping an image is popular for several reasons. It can draw in on what you want the viewer to focus on, create emphasis or just be more aesthetically pleasing. However, you see a cropped image of a football tackle and want to know what match it comes from. A CBIR will return all instances of that image and help you find the bigger picture. Copyright and Getting Links Copyright is a hot button topic in today’s day and age with internet users not above using somebody else’s work as their own. One way of protecting your work or at least asking for the link is to use a CBIR to see which URLs are using your image without your consent. Once you have an idea, send them a friendly email asking them to stop using the image or at least credit you on it. Most sites who are guilty of copyright infringement are unaware they are doing so. Searching for Similar Content Searching for the perfect image for your blog can be difficult with words and phrases alone. Often you’ll find the perfect image by using an inspirational image and reverse searching it to see what similar images may look like. These can be similar images with different actions, angles or resolutions. Locate Your Dream Home Finding your dream home can be tricky. Not all listings are stored in the same place and finding all the properties in a particular area can be tricky. One out of the box approach is to search for a house in your desired location using google images. Once you’ve got you’re a few homes in mind, search them using a CBIR to see if they come upon any property websites. Find the Perfect Gift Imagine you see the perfect top for your Summer holiday or the perfect gift for your mate’s birthday. Using reverse image searching on products can bring you directly to the seller and save you trawling through thousands of products in the hopes of finding that hilariously bad Christmas jumper. Recipes Research Similar to looking for a product, you may come across a delicious-looking dish that would be perfect for your next dinner party. Reverse image searching can help you find the source without trying a combination of words. No more guessing the ingredients like a game of battleships. Find what you need instantly with a CBIR. Figure Out a Famous Face Have you ever experienced that moment where you can picture a famous face but not the name? Every pub quiz is full of people berating themselves as they snap their fingers and try to remember who that actor was in some obscure 90’s film. With CBIRs like Google Image, you can easily find the name on the tip of your tongue. Debunk Myths and Fake News In today’s day and age, the internet is awash with opinions, both good and bad. In extreme cases; posts, articles and blogs can border on defamatory or dangerous. One way of fighting misinformation is to take inaccurately used images and find their source. Calling out the publisher on using an image in the wrong context can be one of the easiest ways to get the post taken down. The old adage; ‘A picture speaks a thousand words’ has never been more relevant as reverse image search becomes an ever more useful tool for internet users. Understanding how to optimise images for search is a must for any SEO team. At Fifteen, we’ve managed countless campaigns and seen the benefits of optimising images, so the next time you pick an image, be sure to consider what your audience might use it for. #### Rolls-Royce unveils new logo rebrand Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited is a British luxury automobile maker. The famed car manufacturer has joined forces with Pentagram, a multi-disciplinary, independently-owned design studio, to refresh the Roll-Royce brand strategy, tone of voice and visual identity. Following in the footsteps of recent rebrands, especially automobile manufacturers such as BMW, Volkswagen, Nissan and Mini Cooper. The new branding brings simplicity and clarity, while successfully implementing digital applications that will hopefully appeal to a younger audience. With that said, the refresh still portrays the heritage of the brand as it is still instantly recognizable as Rolls-Royce. According to Pentagram, the challenge for the designers was to fine-tune the brand for the small-space digital world. This arena can be difficult to make a visual impact with detailed marks. With a lot of people now using mobile and social media platforms in today’s society, ensuring your logo stands out on a small screen is immensely important. Your logo accompanied with a device may look great on a desktop screen or up onto a billboard. However, if we were to zoom out a couple of pixels, to the size of your mobile phone screen, would your logo still have legibility? The well-known Spirit of Ecstasy ornament, originally designed by English sculptor, Charles Robinson Skyes in 1911, will now play a larger role within the new brand strategy. Pentagram has simplified the female figure so that it portrays a bolder and more minimal Identity. With the simplified version, they will be able to work across all digital and social platforms. The symbol has also been flipped to face towards the right, this is to represent facing towards the future. While the Spirit of Ecstasy ornament is found on the bonnet of every Rolls-Royce, the company also identify themselves with the “RR” monogram. The monogram will only appear on the car itself and as a metal badge. With that said, the Spirit of Ecstasy symbol will now replace the “RR” as the company’s main symbol. Pentagram expand on this by saying; “Placing the Spirit of Ecstasy at the heart of the new brand language marks a shift in resonance from an automotive to a lifestyle context." The designers at Pentagram have also worked on a new visual treatment for the Spirit of Ecstasy. They created the design using a unique fluid, projection-like, pattern which was created through a coding processor. This visual can be used across several platforms; from projection to embroidery, printing and engraving. The new visual portrays a 3-dimensional feel to it and almost replicates the real thing, even though it is a flat design. The new visual identity takes Rolls-Royce further and shows they are a forward-thinking, technological brand. Compared to previous rebrands such as BMW, Volkswagen, Nissan and Mini Cooper, it is refreshing to see that Rolls-Royce has not simply gone down the route of flat design. Pentagram has introduced subtle typography updates to the new logo as well as an impressive visual identity and voice. The thought that has gone into this rebrand is stunning. With this refreshing finish, the established luxury automobile company will make its mark in the digital age.   What do you think of Rolls-Royces’ rebrand? Let us know. We love everything design and keep up to date with current trends to stay sharp. Interested in refreshing your logo or updating your website design?Contact us today. #### Sales Geek App wins at Web Excellence Awards We are delighted that our app design and development project for Sales Geek has been selected as The Excellence Award Winner for the Education sector. With more than 950 entries from 35 countries worldwide, Web Excellence Awards has become one of the most prestigious web competitions to win and the award of excellence is given only to those entrants whose ability to represent them as the best of the web. The Sales Geek app now has thousands of users from many countries around the world and has made sales training accessible for both large and small organisations and, most importantly, for sales people who are out each day and dont have many opportunities for training and development. More information on the sales training app can be found by following this link. #### Search Engines: How You Can Save The World With A Click January resolutions are in full swing and, for anyone who has made themselves a New Year promise to help out the world, there’s a simple digital solution you might not have heard about: Ecosia. What is Ecosia? In the organisation’s own words, ‘Ecosia is the search engine that plants trees’. Use Ecosia as a search engine alternative to Google, and you can surf the internet whilst contributing to positively to the environment. Advert revenue generated from the platform helps the team plant trees all over the world – most currently in the desert in Burkina Faso. The project is dreaming big – with the aim of planting one billion trees by 2020. With over 5 millon trees having been planted as a result of the project so far, and awareness growing rapidly, the team are well on their way to hitting that goal. Users can watch their contribution in real time as the counter clocks up how many trees you’ve helped plant. So, how does it work? Ecosia’s search engine is powered by Bing, and runs Bing Ads in their model. 80% of the commission from these Paid Search adverts on its platform is filtered back into the environment, as the project makes use of the income to plant trees. The business firmly believes in transparency, and as such it publishes monthly business reports, donation receipts and planting partner receipts. You can check out more about their values here. Adding Ecosia as an extension to your browser means that you can automatically search with Ecosia every day. Why would you want to advertise on the Search Engine? Understandably the biggest question on most advertisers minds: what’s to stop people clicking my adverts unnecessarily to drive up revenue for planting trees? Ecosia’s creators are on hand to reassure you though. Algorithms are in place to detect fake clicks and invalidate them, leaving you safe in the knowledge your adverts are only being used by relevant consumers. How do I advertise? Paid adverts for Ecosia (known as EcoAds) are run by Bing. To advertise you’ll need to run a Bing Ads account. Despite a smaller market share, Bing Ads typically run on a much lower cost-per-click than Google’s platform. To find out more about the benefits of Bing, read here. For more help on Bing advertising, read here. #### Search intent in SEO: What is it and why is it important? In the world of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), it can be easy to focus entirely on aspects like rankings, backlinks, and keyword performance. But there’s a more fundamental question every marketer should be asking: ‘what is the user really looking for when they type this into Google?’ This is where search intent becomes essential. If your content doesn’t match the reason behind someone’s search, no amount of optimisation will help it perform well. Google has made it clear that content must serve the user’s intent to earn visibility, and this just highlights the importance of search intent. In this blog, we’ll explore search intent in SEO in more detail, including what it is, why it matters, and how to successfully implement it effectively into your SEO strategy. What is search intent? Search intent, also known as user intent, refers to the purpose behind a particular search query. In other words, it’s the reason why someone made that search. They may want to buy something, learn something, compare two solutions, or just find a specific page. Search engines like Google use sophisticated algorithms to interpret the intent and deliver the most relevant content in response. That’s why two searches using similar keywords can return completely different results, based on what Google believes the user wants. What are the different types of search intent? Understanding the distinction between similar keywords is key to the success of search intent in SEO. The best way to understand this is to first understand the four primary types of search intent. Informational intent This type of intent is where the user is looking to learn something or gather more information on a particular topic. This could include pieces of content such as blog posts, how-to guides, video tutorials, or explainer pages, where you provide informational content around a subject. Some example searches might include: ‘What is search intent?’ ‘How does digital marketing work?’ ‘Tips for small business branding’ Navigational intent With this intent, the user will already know about your site or brand and they’re using Google to get directly to you. The type of content that is relevant to this search intent would include branded landing pages, your homepage, and account login pages for example. Some example searches might include: “Fifteen Design website” “Fifteen LinkedIn page” “Canva account login” Transactional intent A transactional search intent is when a user is ready to act. They may be ready to buy a product or service, book an appointment, subscribe to a newsletter, or download a document for example. The content pieces you would need for this type of search would be product or service pages, high-converting landing pages, and seamless checkout pages. Some example searches might include: “Sign up for SEO audit” “Download product brochure” “Buy ergonomic office chair” Commercial intent This type of search intent is where the user is comparing their options before making a decision. Essentially, they’re not quite ready to buy, but they’re close, so they might be comparing you to your competitors, or comparing your products or services. Content that would appeal to these users include case studies, review content, testimonials, and comparison guides for example. Some example searches might include: “Best email marketing software UK” “Shopify vs WooCommerce” “Top-rated laptops under £1,000” Why is search intent important? When it comes to search intent, you could write the best piece of content in the world, but if it doesn’t match user intent, it’s unlikely to perform well. As previously mentioned, Google wants to serve users with content that isn’t just relevant to the keywords targeted, but also content that is relevant contextually and purposefully. Here are some other reasons why search intent is important: It can improve your rankings - when your content aligns with the intent behind a query, you have a better chance of ranking higher in search engine result pages (SERPs). It can boost user engagement - when users find what they’re looking for, they stay on your site for longer, click more, and explore deeper - all of which are positive signals to search engines. It can increase conversions - if someone is ready to buy, a product page will convert better than a blog post. If they’re researching, a helpful guide builds trust. If you match the intent, the conversions will follow naturally. It future-proofs your content - search algorithms are ever-evolving, but their direction is clear: to provide a better user experience. Building content around search intent means you’re aligned with this long-term trajectory. How to implement search intent in SEO Now that you have a better understanding of the different types of search intent, it’s time to implement it into your SEO strategy. Here are some key steps to creating practical, high-performing content for search intent. Step 1: Research the intent behind each keyword - before you write anything, Google your target keyword. What kind of content currently ranks? Is it blogs, product pages, videos, or guides? This will give you inspiration. Step 2: Match the content type and format to the intent - don’t create a blog post for a transactional query, or a product page for an informational one. You should mirror what the user expects - and what Google is rewarding. Step 3: Build content clusters around each intent - one way to do this is to start by addressing informational searches with blog content. Then build out supporting landing pages or product pages for commercial and transactional queries. This will help support the full journey. Step 4: Use clear structure and intent-focused language - make it obvious that your content matches the query. This can include using headings, FAQs, and internal links to guide the user through the experience. Step 5: Optimise your metadata and UX for intent - your meta title and description should clearly reflect that content’s purpose. And once the user lands, they should be guided smoothly to their goal - whether it’s to learn or to buy. Need help with search intent in your SEO? When it comes to search intent, it’s important to ensure your content not only matches user intent, but that it’s also authentic and speaks to people on a personal level to truly appeal to your intended audience - and Google for that matter. Whether you’re planning a content strategy, refining your user journeys, or looking to boost organic visibility, we can help. At Fifteen, our SEO specialists use search intent at the core of every campaign, helping you attract the right users, at the right time in their journey, with content that genuinely performs. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today and learn how we can make your SEO more intelligent, targeted, and effective. #### Searching for Content Truths: Search Leeds 2019 Search Leeds this year was one for the record books. With four stages, amazing speakers, free beer and the sunshine, it was a school trip worth the wait. I’d earmarked several talks on content marketing and SEO and with paper and pen in hand prepared to drink in the knowledge. These are my highlights. How science can help you have better ideas - Kirsty Hulse (Many Minds) Kirsty was one of the first speakers on the day and enraptured the audience with her sincerity, knowledge and sharp wit. Her topic focused on the science of creativity and the need for agencies to allow more freedom for creative thinking and development. Kirsty opened with a few statistics such as 76% of the 200 marketing directors she interviewed were unlikely to take a creative risk. This led to a hypothesis that 87% of content creators can’t get their best ideas signed off as a result. The ‘risk’ is what drives fear as more and more clients look to cookie-cutter solutions to their unique problems. This reliance on going with tried and tested formulas is flawed as we are bombarded with adverts every single day. The average consumer is exposed to 4,000 ads a day with the use of ad blockers reflecting the feeling towards online ads. Rand Fishkin, a paragon within the SEO industry, has also warned that a 20% drop in mobile and organic CTR is going to start affecting SEO too. This means the goalposts are shifting and content creation needs to move with it. Kirsty used the example of Starbucks and how they don’t sell coffee but an indie rom-com aspiration. This formed the basis for the three tenets Kirsty sees as key to future content creation. Authenticity – it has to be real and come from a place of meaning Timing – is it relevant and on our press agenda? Are we talking about it? Originality – is it a new concept or an interesting take on an old concept? Kirsty analysed high ranking sites across different needs by investigating the top 150 links earned manually in 2018. For each site. This daunting task revealed that the boost from a truly original concept far outweighed the risk. Kirsty went on to use problem-solving in the space race as an example. What she discovered is that creativity is not genetic but built by belief. Creativity takes many forms and Kirsty suggested several exercises and resources to practice being more creative. These ranged from taking a walk in nature or changing your scenery (a move towards more flexible working patterns) to a useful book (with truly terrible cover art) called How to Have Creative Ideas by Edward de Bono. One of the overarching truths was that our best ideas come to us when not under stress. Hint, hint, would-be employers. Other ideas included using Slack and other messaging services for sharing ideas and becoming better at dealing with criticism. In the end, it doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you have a space where you can think of creative concepts that your clients will love. Why most SEO audits are SH*T! - Bastian Grimm (Peak Ace) Bastian Grimm was another presenter who got to bask in the lights of the main stage. His no-nonsense approach was perfect for his aptly named presentation as he got right to the core of SEO audits. Bastian opened with some startling stats. According to a survey of 212 participants by his company, Peak Ace, he discovered that only 12% of clients are completely satisfied with their SEO audits. The majority fell into the ‘only partially happy’ while just over 30% thought their report was a ‘total disaster’. The reason for this gulf is due to that fact that most SEOs equate the number of pages to the quality of the work. This is wrong. SEO audits should be tailored to the needs of the client. Exporting a CSV file from Screaming Frog isn’t an audit and is more likely to annoy or mystify your client than help. Bastian outlined the three key issues that need to be addressed before writing up an SEO audit. 
Wrong Format/Output - What does your audience really need? Symptoms vs. Causes - Start thinking in patterns No Priorities - What are the reasons for the audit and how are they structured? The format is key to understanding as it allows your client to read through the report in a way that doesn’t alienate them. This empowers your client to take your advice and make informed decisions. Symptomatic planning is fairly obvious but is worth mentioning. Don’t just put insert a massive table of URLs or results. Break it down into chunks and look for reasons/areas where your client can improve. 

Lastly, be sure to prioritise your report. Start with the most important areas of concern and work from there. This doesn’t mean always focusing on quick wins first or worrying about what the next Google update might do. Evaluate and decide on an order that is actionable and services your client in the long run. Bastian’s talk was insightful and well worth listening to. He went on to break down example reports by the number of users and the industry of the site in question. If you have a moment’s time it’s worth finding a copy of his slides to see how your client fits into this dynamic. Content marketing frameworks that will get you paid more - Stephen Kenwright (Rise at Seven) Steven Kenwright is a popular figure at Search Leeds, kind of like a local football player playing for his hometown team. He has spoken at Search Leeds for several years and his insights and humour leave his audiences feeling inspired. This year was no different as he broke down, via gifs, memes, graphs, and insight, how to build, track and report on a content strategy. Steve broke out some staples like the Hype Cycle and Laswell’s model of communication but used them in an interesting way. Steve asked the question, engagement is all good and well but did anyone care? Planning content means understanding your end-user and what they will do with your information. There are a few exercises that Steve highlighted including understanding the emotional drive behind a search query, forming an editorial board to revisit content and tweak it to fit the needs of your current users, understanding what the KPIs are for your industry or piece and following up with checks on performance. Overall Stephen Kenwright provided insight and a healthy supply of gifs. Two great ingredients for a talk so close to the end of the day. His talk centred on how focusing, planning, executing and tweaking (even months and years after generation) are necessary to ensure the success of your content. Search Leeds 2019 was an incredible experience and we can’t wait to see what 2020 brings. Till then we’ll be using all we learned to develop killer digital campaigns. If you’re interested in working with us on your next project contact us today and we’ll bring all we learnt to the fore. #### Seasonal SEO tips: 4 ways to optimise your site for Christmas Having a solid SEO strategy for the Christmas period could be the difference between making it or breaking it over the festive season. Christmas seasonality often sees an increase in online activity and purchasing for many businesses - granted that you leverage your online business to its full potential. So the last thing you want to do during a busy period is lose visibility and customers.  The key to combating this is preparation. So with this in mind we’ve put together some need-to-know seasonal SEO tips and we share four ways you can optimise your site effectively for Christmas. What is seasonal SEO and why is it important? Seasonality is often described as the predicted trends that occur every calendar year for an organisation. Businesses can be affected differently by each seasonal trend, but more often than not, they will see an increase in traffic and sales, and that’s all down to the preparation. According to WebFX, there are two types of seasonal SEO strategies almost all brands will optimise their site for at some point in the year: Time-based - this strategy tends to be centred around specific seasons within the year, like summer or winter, or a certain time of the year, like a particular month for example. Event-based - this strategy is all about focussing on certain events throughout the year, such as Christmas, Halloween or Black Friday for example. Seasonal SEO is important for businesses because it’s the period where they can boost their conversions and increase their brand awareness. By optimising your site effectively at the time where your audience are looking to buy, you’re taking advantage of your seasonal popularity, which increases your revenue and balances out those times where conversions are low. When should you prepare for seasonal SEO? When you should start your Christmas marketing can be highly dependent on your industry, however, with Google Trends you’ll get a lot more guidance. This free and valuable tool monitors trends based on the popularity of the specified search queries in Google across various regions and languages. It can highlight to you when the interest in Christmas related search terms started picking up in a specific country, which allows you to determine the best time to begin your festive campaigns. This should become your go-to tool when brainstorming ideas for a new seasonal campaign. How to optimise your site for seasonal SEO Conducting effective SEO for Christmas can be simple if you take the time to prepare well in advance. Here are four ways you can optimise your site effectively for seasonal SEO. 1. Bring your seasonal products and offers forward By using what you already know about your target audience, data from previous years and your best selling products, you can easily identify what products you can use to entice your customers with.  Your homepage should feature any special offers you plan to promote along with the products that sell well during the festive season. You could also promote a product bundle to further entice your audience. Whatever offers and products you showcase, ensure they suit both new and existing customers. 2. Thoroughly plan out your seasonal content strategy Not only is seasonal content more inclined to attract natural backlinks and organic social shares, but it also can bring in more sales. However, to ensure it attracts sales, it ideally needs to match the following criteria: Caters to your audiences seasonal needs Offers gift ideas Can help with Christmas planning in some way Compliments your products Your content can combine an array of formats, from articles to blogs, and whitepapers to infographics. You could also consider creating some collaborative content to widen your reach. Many businesses opt to run Christmas competitions and giveaways too as it’s a great tactic for enhancing brand awareness, boosting conversions and retaining customers.  3. Create your social media marketing strategy To truly reap the benefits of your seasonal SEO, you need to create a social media marketing strategy that features strong and solid campaigns. Your strategy should include cross-team collaboration, keyword and hashtag research and a solid asset library. This allows your social, sales, content and customer support teams to work together to know what products are being promoted, what discounts are being offered and what questions customers may potentially ask. 4. Ensure your site is reliable Issues with your site can mean your shoppers become angry, which over a busy period like Christmas can result in a loss of revenue. Therefore you need to make sure you have an emergency plan for any potential site issues. You should avoid adding new functionalities until this crucial period is over and load test web pages to handle the rise in traffic. Additionally, you should ensure your site is fully optimised and fix any minor technical issues so your website is reliable and runs consistently over the festive season. What should you do after the season is over? Many marketers wonder what they should do with their seasonal content and SEO landing pages when their busy period is over. In most cases, many do nothing and this isn’t always a bad thing because although the search terms and keywords are no longer relevant, they are still ranking and benefiting your site. However, you should still update some parts of your website after the season ends. For example, you should update your homepage as your offers, products and bundles may no longer be relevant. Keep an eye out on sold-out product pages as well and any essential outdated pages as these could negatively impact your potential conversions. Once seasonal services expire and the SEO landing pages have no more use, you should clearly state on them that the product or service will be available next year, or show a clear list of the products that are still available. Don’t delete these landing pages if you plan to use them again the following year as you can retain these rankings. Need a helping hand with your seasonal SEO? Although seasonal SEO can be time consuming and at times overwhelming, it’s something that gets easier year on year. This is because seasonal campaigns and offers are reusable and processes are recyclable. Additionally, you can learn from what went well and what didn’t to create an even stronger SEO strategy going forward. If you optimise your site for Christmas, you’ll find your visibility and conversions will skyrocket. Get in touch with us today if you feel you need an expert hand with your seasonal SEO efforts. Our digital marketing team and SEO specialists can devise a killer SEO strategy and provide you with campaign ideas that will help boost your conversions and increase your brand awareness during this crucial period, and we can implement the campaigns for you on your behalf. #### Selling a digital web design agency? Talk to us. We are looking to acquire small UK and European based agencies so if you are thinking of selling your digital web design agency then please get in touch. Fifteen has made multiple acquisitions of digital agencies already and are proud to have a confidential, smooth and streamlined and fair way to handle the process. Whatever the reason for sale, whether retirement, not wanting to run a business any more, geographical move, financial difficulties or even a career change, we’re interested to hear from you if you are looking to sell your web design company. Maybe you’re a small agency owner looking to capitalise on what has been built over the years or simply a freelance web developer looking to sell your portfolio and make sure they are looked after. Running an agency isn’t easy, especially with the current tough economic climate and agency competition at an all-time high so we appreciate that business success goes up and down over the years of running a web design company. We have met many web design agency owners who have been in financial difficulty and are happy to have allowed them to walk away with something for their endeavours rather than have to close the doors in a few months time with nothing. We also welcome talent in to Fifteen so if you are looking to sell your web design company and looking for a job then please do reach out to us. There are various ways a sale of a web design or digital agency can work and we’re completely open to agree something that works for both yourself the agency seller and us. You may wish to stay on and be a part of a bigger group or you might want to want to walk away and do something totally new. Either way, we can be accommodating and make sure that you get what you want out of selling your web design agency. If you are looking to sell your agency, then we would typically follow the process outlined below; 1. Arrange a call where we can ask you some top-level information and find out what you are looking to achieve post sale. 2. Have a face to face or zoom meeting to get enough detail on the agency to allow us to provide you a fair offer to purchase the agency 3. If all agreed, we would then request to see certain documents to validate the information discussed 4. Have a meeting with you to talk through what we will need after the sale is complete 5. Sign the paperwork, transfer the money to you and complete the transaction We try and make buying web agencies as simple and as streamlined as possible to ensure that you feel like selling your agency was easy. Clients will see a continuation of service and will be given a named contact of who they can get in touch with if they need anything doing. We will also try and get out and meet as many clients as possible as we understand that the selling of an agency can some times unsettle clients but looking after each and everyone of them is a priority for us. All conversations will be kept 100% confidential and we will be happy to sign a NDA for peace of mind. We are a friendly bunch who are very down to earth so we trust that you will find conversations are straightforward and easy. If you’d like to open discussion around the sale of your digital agency, please call John on 0115 932 5151, email hello@fifteen.co.uk or put an enquiry through. #### Sentencing Forrest Williams to an Award-Worthy Website Fifteen are pleased to announce the launch of a brand new website for Forrest Williams Legal! About Forrest Williams Legal Forrest Williams are a multi-award winning nationwide firm of solicitors.  They represent clients throughout England and Wales from their bases in the Midlands and London. They are recommended in the prestigious Legal 500 guide to the top UK law firms, and have also won national awards for client care. The Task Forrest Williams approached us during a short tendering process in which they were looking for an agency that could not only provide a modern, refreshed website and brand, but also a team that was able to fully understand the user experience. Forrest Williams were invited down to the Fifteen office for a brand workshop, which included brainstorms about the target audience, the user journey throughout the site, the tone of voice of not only the content on the site but the designs and colour schemes. With our results and findings, we were able to implement certain things into the new site. The colour and font choices were key for this project, they wanted their audience to feel calm and relaxed when on the site. The Website Once we had got the designs for the website signed off by the client, we got the project into development. With Mikey building the majority of the website and Pav building the calculators and configurators that feature on the site, teamwork and communication were key. The site is built in WordPress, using a number of custom post types that are specific to this site. Content Management System Built in WordPress, the website uses the best coding practice and makes it easy for Forrest Williams to upload and manage content, imagery and services across the site. It is also fully scaleable and will respond to all devices and browsers as needed. Key Features While the new website is slick and well built to really focus the user on a journey, making information easy to find, there are a few key areas of the website that make it so special and unique. Homepage - The configurator on the homepage is specifically unique to Forrest Williams. It allows the user to search for the service that they require in a friendly manner, where they have to select whether or not they are looking into a personal or business matter, then what sector they are looking for. This will then unveil a series of services that the user gets to choose from. Menu - Forrest Williams new website includes 2 menus. You have the main navigation and the top navigation. The main navigation includes all of the sectors and services, with the top navigation showing all other pages, like About Us, Careers and Contact. It means the user can dive straight into the site and it is great for the user journey. Who Worked On The Project?   Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="www.forrestwilliamssolicitors.com"]Visit Forrest Williams Legal[/fifteen_button] #### SEO in the Snow – Christmas Marketing Campaigns It’s that time of the year again when you collect your thoughts and start getting ideas together ready for Christmas. Some companies keep it simple by making quick changes to logos and banners to get their social pages and websites ready for the festive season. Others do much more. Christmas is a time for giving and as such it’s a perfect time for brands to get their products and services in front of eager shoppers. Personally, Christmas is my favourite time of the year and it is certainly full of cheer – meaning I’m usually the first one to volunteer to put together Christmas marketing campaigns even months in advance! Things to consider for your Christmas campaigns Creating campaigns around the Christmas period presents a range of challenges that you need to take into consideration. If your brands been running for a while you have a good idea of your usual audience demographics and how to target them. This presents an issue in the way that few people buy things for themselves around this period, and instead you need to target the family and friends of this audience. This is easily achievable with powerful targeting on platforms such as Facebook. It’s all about putting in the time to do your research into this new audience – and it’s simpler than you think. Soon, you’ll hit your second challenge. How do you make your brand stand out from the crowd? With everyone offering massive discounts plus savings and wooing people with their own Christmas campaigns - you need to make sure yours is special and is going to reach the people you want it to. The best Christmas marketing campaigns When I think of Christmas marketing campaigns, I think of John Lewis. A few of us in the office have already watched the John Lewis Christmas advert for 2017, meaning the Christmas period has well and truly started. My favourite one of all time was definitely the Man On The Moon – proven by the fact I remember the advert down to the finest detail even two years later. There are various reasons that this is my favourite campaign. I can remember how it made me feel at the time and I still feel the same when I watch it now. I can remember where I was sat when I first watched it, and the way my coworker cried at the thought of the old man sat up there all by himself – connected by a simple telescope. John Lewis is very clever in the way that they pulled at everyone’s heartstrings and made the whole advert memorable. The smile on the old man’s face to the tear that rolls down his cheek as he discovers the little girl who sent it. All accompanied by the message “Show someone they’re loved this Christmas” which hits deep. How to create the ultimate Christmas campaign Taking all the above into consideration, it’s time to tackle how you’d start a Christmas campaign and what assets you need before you start. Most of us don’t have a million pound plus budget or team of ten people who are dedicated to working on our Christmas campaigns, yet this doesn’t mean ours can’t be amazing. Competitions are great. We’ve already spoken about how consumers are ready to stock up on goodies for their loved ones, so offering a hamper or anything that would be a nice gift is sure to go down a treat. They’re usually liked and shared, and although the gift may have cost you £100, the volume of traffic now visiting your social channels and website is worth way more. Once you’ve got people following and looking at your business, it’s time to team up the campaign with some other clever marketing techniques to make them a success. Using remarketing to recapture your audiences Remember those pair of shoes you glanced at on ASOS for less than ten seconds that then followed you round on Facebook, Google and pretty much every website you visited since? That’s remarketing at work. Once these people have visited your website – say to look at your competitions terms and conditions or to see if there are more competitions that they could enter, they become a part of your audience that you can retarget to try to convert. Using remarketing is an easy way to put your products and services in front of potential customers who have already shown an interest, for very little cost. Allowing your campaigns to follow people around the internet also gives that user the impression that your company is a lot bigger than it actually is, due to your brand presence being everywhere. Wait, this blogs meant to be about SEO in the snow? I was getting to it! No matter what campaign you’ve decided to go with, SEO is always going to be at the heart of it. Any extra traffic acquired through competitions, social channels or any other sources are a massive tick for your SEO. The main ranking metrics these days include direct traffic to the site, time on site, pages per session and bounce rate – all which can only be improved by giving your users no reason to go anywhere else because everything they need to know is right there on your website. Remember that every good marketing campaign is supported by a landing page. Did you think John Lewis was sending all that added traffic back to the man on the moon!? Of course not – they had a dedicated landing page designed to capture anyone searching for the campaign online, that then had a call to action to buy nice things for your Grandad. Now that’s smart. Of course, other companies are going to try to piggyback off the back of any good campaign, so it’s important you create your landing page as soon as possible and make sure it's optimised to allow you to rank in position one for terms related to your campaign. Using different types of content throughout the page such as images and videos will also help to support the feel of the page and encourage users to stay on it longer to explore, or encourage them to go and have a look at other parts of the site. No matter which way you go about, use all the channels you have available to you. Do you have an email marketing list of over 25,00 leads? Great – use it! Do you have a bit of budget you can dedicate to a PPC campaign? Get bidding! The more you put into your Christmas campaign the more you’ll get out of it. If you need help creating an awesome Christmas marketing campaign get in touch with our Digital team today. #### SEO is dead… Or is it? Anyone who knows anything about SEO – literally, even if all you’ve ever done is Google it, I can guarantee you’ve come across the phrase “SEO is Dead”.  Now being an SEO Executive I pretty much live and breathe the subject of search engine optimization, and are often the butt of jokes around the office about my “slowly dying career”. I was at a popular search and analytics conference last month and walked into a room where the phrase “SEO is DEAD” was labelled all over the speaker’s presentation. But…. Is it? It's getting harder to rank It’s no surprise Google is making it more difficult for SEO specialists to know how they rank sites, making it harder for us to spend time optimizing them for better organic results. This is part of a paid shift in advertising, by making it harder to rank organically websites are forced to spend money on pricey PPC campaigns, which is more money in Google’s pocket. That’s why SEO is such a fast-moving forward thinking career. We always have to be one step ahead of the game and work as a community to work out our own perspectives on what’s good and bad for organic optimization. Personally, I check trusted sources such as Moz and Search Engine Watch on a daily basis, digesting the latest shifts in search and the way they’re digesting websites and analyzing them. Every single day without fail there’s something new for me to learn, due to search engines doing constant algorithm shifts that are no longer officially released. The last official update from Google was way back in March, which came in the form of a tongue and cheek response from Google’s Gary Illyes, simply telling us all updates from this point forward were to be referred to as “Fred”. The Fred update did, however, cause a big shift with high ranking changes in the SERPs over several large industries, but the main purpose was to penalize ad-heavy low-value content sites.  All high ranking sites now days tend to be clean sites, not blighted by pop ups or adverts, that have the user journey down to a T. We can remember websites five years ago and how SEO worked then, and you’d have content blocks crammed with keywords and meta titles stuffed with as many variations of keywords as you could possibly think of. You’d add your site to as many directories as humanly possible, and if you didn’t mind a bit of black-hat you might even have some keywords in white text on a white background… Yes, people really did that. My point is people used to create website’s content with SEO in mind, and that’s why they implemented all those dodgy techniques. Unfortunately, Google has now come full circle, it doesn’t want you to do SEO anymore with techniques like the above but instead ranks your site on factors that prove its popularity and usability. If techniques like the above are what you class as SEO, then you’re completely right. SEO IS DEAD! Creating quality content that can be understood is essential What is alive is creating top quality content that can be understood by both users and search engines. According to research conducted by SEMRush, the biggest ranking factor is now “Amount of sessions” – or how many people visit your site in a month. I know that sounds crazy, you need SEO to boost your sessions and you need your sessions to boost your SEO – but Google never said it was going to be easy. Other top ranking factors include “Session duration” – or the time users spend on your site and your “Bounce Rate” which are both indications of how easy it is to navigate round your site and find the information your users are looking for.  All the above are indicators of the quality of a site if your site is well structured with top quality content, it’s going to tick all the right boxes and chances are you’ll start to see better rankings. As I mentioned above, as well as quality, Google rank sites in terms of popularity, which is where backlinks come in to play.  No, you can’t add your site to hundreds of directories and that guy who’s been calling to say for £30 a month he can get you 15 new backlinks… put the phone down. Links now have a completely separate ranking algorithm of their own. Your domain authority is now made up from the quality, quantity and relevance of the links you have acquired. As a leading digital/web agency, a lot of our links are acquired through the websites we build alongside a constant flow of fresh content outreach. We aim to make at least one new piece of “content” each month including guides and infographics and then go through an outreach process sending the content to relevant outlets and hoping they share it with their users. By using content outreach to build up backlinks, search engines can see you’ve put time into creating content and have actually supplied a high-quality resource, and will, therefore, mark that link as highly relevant and top quality – giving you a rankings boost. Stay on top of best practice Other SEO factors are still important – Title tags, ALT tags, headings, amount of words on the page, internal linking and all the other “best practice” techniques that we apply to our websites. I guess my point is that whilst old spammy SEO techniques may be dead the practice certainly isn’t, and SEO will just continue to grow as fewer people can work out Google algorithms for themselves. I guess the phrase “SEO is dead” is just another celebrity style outpour. Here’s a list of celebrities rumoured to be dead, that people claim to still be alive. Elvis Presley Tupac Shakur Biggie Smalls Michael Jackson Your guess is as good as mine… Just like SEO. #### Short website pages versus long website pages Well we do get asked this a lot and if I’m totally honest, the answer is’ they each have their place’ But what exactly is it that determines the length of a webpage when it comes to conversion.  And what determines the length of the page to being found organically in the first place. The purpose of this blog is to give you the information and arguments for both, so that you can make an informed decision about the website page you are designing and building.  Follow these simple thought process to make your ultimate decision and this will be a really strong and valid basis to start from. Think fold of the page Now, this is a term referred to by designers and UX experts as to what content, CTA’s etc. is seen without any scrolling at all. It essentially means the top of your screen.  Now the really important stuff needs to be in this kill-zone. This is your first point of focus for the user as the page loads so consider carefully what content goes on this area. Think Conversion It's pretty clear that short pages convert better.  This of it like an enclosed checkout on an eCommerce website. The less you see, the less choice you have giving you more of a chance to engage the user the ultimate ‘BUY ME’ button. Think User So, back to the point of the user. And to touch on my last point about CRO.   You should never underestimate the users roll in this process.  It's them that count, it's them that ultimately make the buying decision. It's them that are basing all their decision on your work as a UX designer. Put yourself in their shoes, what would they like to see and how much would they like to read.  Often, more text, to make it visually pleasing requires more pictures.  Is this necessary?  Like I said.  Put yourself in the mind of the user. Think load times To refer back to the previous point about more text means more images, remember this creates a longer page with the likelihood that it will take longer to load. Load time will, of course, affect conversion too. Think Search Engine Optimisation Many factors that result in the ranking position of a particular web page in terms search, its often said that the more words you can write on a particular product or service, the better. That is true, however, you do have to consider the user. If the user is buying a £9.99 product, do you need 3000 words to describe it.  Probably not.. If you’re selling a £9,000 car then maybe you do need more by way of technical specification, quality, optional extras etc. Now the more you competently write, the more you look like the expert in a subject and the more believe it looks, not only to the user but to google in the first place to get you ranked. Always think Conversion rate Optimisation So in short,  know your stuff, do your competitor research and choose content length wisely.  And if you’re just not sure, then there is always Conversion Rate Optimisation to fall back on. Just something to think about. If fact,  something that you should be doing anyway. If you're interested in optimising your current site or creating a new one then contact the experts. At Fifteen, we have spent years designing, creating, and smashing complete digital marketing solutions. #### Should I use free stock images for commercial use? They say a picture can tell a thousand words, and we believe that to be true. The use of imagery is extremely important, especially throughout web design, social media, email marketing and other digital marketing channels. Images can immediately evoke feelings, and providing you choose the right ones, can really help the end user identify with your company. Whilst using your own imagery may be preferred by many businesses, we think using free stock images shouldn’t be so quickly dismissed. In this blog, we explore why you should consider using free stock images for commercial use and we provide you with our top tips to choosing the right ones for your next campaign. What is stock imagery? Stock imagery is the supply of licensed photographs, illustrations or other images for purchase, and in some cases for free. Some of the most common paid sources include iStock, Shutterstock and Getty Images.  Often, stock imagery sites will offer packages, such as annual subscriptions, or bulk downloads. However, there are also ways of finding free images through websites such as Flickr, Pexels and Pixabay. Why should you consider using free stock images? A lot of businesses may immediately dismiss the use of stock imagery, but it can be a hugely successful and cost effective tool to use for your digital marketing campaigns, as it can suit businesses that are working on a budget.  The best way to use free stock images for commercial use is to make sure you spend your time carefully choosing images that are appropriate to your content and to create a ‘lightbox’ as you search. Complimentary photography can make or break a campaign and by creating a lightbox, it lets you collect various images into a folder for you to compare and choose images that work well together. When should you avoid using free stock images? There are times where you should avoid using free stock images for your campaigns. For example, it can go wrong if the imagery chosen is inappropriate or conveys the wrong message. This is why it’s extremely important to invest the time in carefully choosing the right image. Some stock imagery sites are chock-a-block full of photos that are irrelevant - we can’t believe anyone would ever use them in a serious design! Our top 5 tips for using free stock images for commercial use 1. Avoid using cheesy images By cheesy images, we mean the very obviously staged photos. It’s worth keeping in mind that a lot of the most popular stock imagery sites are based in the US, which means you’re probably going to have to sift through a few obviously staged images to find the right one for your campaign. 2. Don’t search for an image for the sake of it Don’t go wasting your time and searching for an image if you really don’t need one as sometimes you can find yourself looking to fill a gap. This is where you’re more likely to use an irrelevant image and in these cases, it’s sometimes better to leave white space alone. 3. Choose an image that will compliment your content It’s important to try and choose an image that will compliment your campaign content. Sometimes you don’t have to be all that literal with your images either as conceptual photography can work if the image is engaging. 4. Don’t be afraid to edit your images If you choose a free stock image that’s not quite right for your campaign, try modifying the image to suit your content. Whether this is simply cutting out a background, cropping the image or getting a professional graphic designer to work their magic on Photoshop, don’t be afraid to get creative with it. 5. Try before you buy If you’re unsure whether you should buy a licence for a particular stock imagery site, you can always try out the watermarked versions of the images first. It won’t be of any quality, but it gives you an idea of what the finished campaign will look like, without buying a licence first. Just make sure when you do buy and licence and download the image, don’t let a watermarked image creep into your final design! Why not let our experts handle your campaign creatives? If you’re still unsure whether you should be using free stock images for commercial use, then we can help. We’ve curated imagery for a wide variety of clients as part of their digital marketing campaigns and web design, and so have a wealth of experience in guiding you in the right creative direction. Get in touch with us today to see how else we can help. #### Should I use WordPress for my business website? WordPress is by far one the most popular content management systems (CMS) out there. In fact, over 40% of websites on the Internet use WordPress. The majority of websites we’ve built for clients are integrated with WordPress. However, many people ask themselves; should I use WordPress for my business website? If you’ve asked yourself that question before, keep reading because we might be able to help you answer that question. What is WordPress? First of all, let’s look at what WordPress is. For those who don’t already know, it’s one of the most popular CMS and website creation tools out there. It’s a highly scalable, open-source CMS, meaning anyone can use and modify the software for free. The best thing about WordPress is you don’t have to know anything about coding or programming to use it, hence why it’s a popular CMS to use for most businesses. Is WordPress easy to use? We think WordPress is very easy to use. As mentioned, you don’t need to be a professional web developer to use it. It has a relatively straightforward dashboard where you can customise and install plug-ins for your website. For this reason, WordPress is favoured by many businesses, because depending on the technical requirements of your website, building it can be as simple as you want with WordPress. Is WordPress business worth it? To help answer this question, we’ve outlined some of the top reasons why many businesses think WordPress is worth it. It’s free to use We’ve previously talked about the costs of a website and the fact that there is so much to consider when building an online presence for your business. Hosting, domain names, digital marketing and web support are all ongoing costs for any website. But using WordPress can alleviate some of those costs because it’s free to use. WordPress allows you to build bespoke websites, all with the same core management system, at no cost. This saving can then be used on other elements of your marketing strategy for example. You can customise your website as you see fit There are many templates and plug-ins available on WordPress, which means you can normally get the look and functionality you need at the click of a button. The beauty of WordPress is that you are not limited by the choice of templates and plug-ins. If you find a plug-in that would be perfect with a few tweaks, or you want a completely bespoke theme building, you can do that. WordPress provides the framework to create literally anything you want. You can build in a number of features including parallax animation, responsive web design, and custom menus for example. Google favours WordPress The simple framework that WordPress provides, is a framework highly favoured by Google. It allows the site to be crawled by Google’s bots with ease, and adding regular content to your website is something Google also likes to see. You can read more about the importance of content and why Google likes it here. All of this has a positive effect on your SEO efforts also, and will improve the rankings of your keywords. It’s mobile friendly Google also favours websites with mobile compatibility and this comes as standard with WordPress. Many of the themes available provide two versions - one for desktop and one for mobile. Again, this is down to WordPress’ brilliant framework. It allows you to build truly responsive designs and tick off another item on the list of Google’s requirements for success. WordPress offers complete security A lot of companies have sensitive information they have to deal with, whether it be payment details, personal details, or anything else that is extremely sensitive information. WordPress offers complete security for all websites on the platform. Being so well known, WordPress can be a regular target for hackers, so they have created a secure platform that businesses can trust. It can be used for content marketing Arguably one of the best things about WordPress is its content management system. The CMS is so easy to use, it allows you to easily add pages and copy, blog posts, images, videos, and much more. You can even program your site so that all of your content is presented consistently throughout your site and play around with the layout on each page to create some truly engaging content. It’s always improving The team at WordPress are constantly working on improvements to the CMS. If you find something that you don’t quite like about the CMS, it’s more than likely there’ll be an update that improves it in a couple of months. So, should I use WordPress? We’ve already mentioned that we integrate WordPress for the majority of our clients' websites and just like many other businesses, we think it is easy-to-use, secure, highly customisable, and adds a level of compatibility that can’t be found on other platforms. So, if you’d like to start using a WordPress business website, be sure to contact us today and we can chat to you about our range of template sites we build as well as our bespoke web design services. #### Single or Plural: Why Google Ranks Keywords Differently A recent meeting between Google’s John Mueller and Search Engine Journal’s Roger Montti saw them discuss a small but significant question. Why does Google rank singular and plural keywords differently? For example, if you rank for the keyword, ‘spatula’ you’ll find your score differs to a page ranking for the word ‘spatulas’. The reason behind this difference is user intent. Roger and John’s fascinating discussion expands on this but to help you out we’ve put together some of our thoughts about this discovery.  This SEO score difference is one that works in general, so don’t apply it to all your sites and expect to get the same result. It’s important to first understand your client’s needs and the user’s intent and work from there.  How does Google rank different sites for the same queries? While singular and plural words are synonymous they are often used to ask very different questions. For example; when looking for product comparisons you may use plural e.g. Best headphones for working out? Whereas you’ll use the singular for a specific product’s information, repairs and informative pieces. This is the crux of Google’s thinking and shows how important it is to write for the user’s intent.  Mueller explains how the Google algorithm works; “…we would see those queries as being different… And when we see them as being slightly different, then we might think that one or the other of these pages makes more sense to show.So usually with singular and plural, we do recognize that they’re synonyms, more or less.But we also recognize that maybe there’s something kind of unique to one of them or to the other one.Such as, if you’re looking for a plural maybe you’re looking more for like a list or a comparison page or maybe a category page of different kinds of these items.So that’s something where our systems try to take that into account and it can result in slightly different results being shown for one or the other.” This thinking makes sense and highlights the importance of writing for your user. By focusing on their intent and tailoring keywords, even synonyms, to user needs, you can get a boost in rankings and move up the SERPs.  But why not rank for both? This is where things get a little more complicated? Adding semantic variations is important to improving SEO scores but it should be done selectively. Mueller goes on to expand on this.  “That’s something where you… can’t really force that, other than to tweak things subtly, that you kind of make sure that the right words, the right phrasing is on these pages, that you link them internally properly." But that’s sometimes kind of tricky. “It’s also worth keeping in mind that just because when you take a step back that these words or these queries sound very similar and they seem very much the same, it might well be that users do treat them as different queries and do expect different kinds of results.So… before just jumping in and saying oh I need to have the same page rank for both of these, maybe check with some other people to see, does it make sense to change this?Or is this something where it’s actually not that bad?  …Another thing you can do is the page that’s currently ranking, put some kind of a call to action on it and say hey, if you’re looking for this, also check out this other page.” At the end of the day writing for your user is the key to improving SEO. Write in a style that they expect and use keywords that fit into their narrative and you’ll find your Google rank rise. Contact us now to find out more about how we can improve your SEO, content, social media, and PPC. #### Sir David Attenborough Breaks World Record for Instagram Followers At the young age of 94 and with a lifetime of achievements, Sir David Attenborough bagged himself a Guinness World Record. The famed presenter reached 1 million followers on Friday last week. It took the legend just 4 hours and 44 minutes to get to 1 million! This smashed Jennifer Aniston’s previous record of 5 hours 16 minutes - set in October 2019. He is now (end of September 2020) on almost 5 million as his explosive start to life on Instagram continues. Being arguably the biggest influencer in the world when it comes to environmental issues and nature, Sir David has reached the hearts of generations through several platforms however Instagram has not been one of them. Saving the planet through social media The reason for his new adventure is simply to widen his horizons so he can spread the word further as he continues to fight for the planet. In his first video, he said: “Saving our planet is now a communications challenge”. Being nearly 100, social media isn’t his natural habitat by any stretch of the imagination, so he has got helpers on hand to produce and post the content. His first post (which has received over 17 million views at the time of writing), came in the shape an IGTV video and reads as follows: “David Attenborough has spent a lifetime travelling, exploring the wild places of our planet and documenting the living world in all its variety and wonder. He’s also witnessed the damaged caused. Saving our planet is now a communications challenge. We know what to do, we just need the will. That’s why we want to share this message on Instagram. Because there is hope and together, we can inspire change. Social media isn’t David’s usual habitat. so while he’s recorded messages solely for Instagram, like the one in this post, we're helping to run this account." "In case you’re wondering, ‘we’ are Jonnie and Colin. Jonnie and Colin worked with David on A Life On Our Planet. So, as well as sharing the messages he’s recorded especially for this account we’ll also post some exclusive clips and behind the scenes content. Stay tuned.” Sir David Attenborough heads up a pretty high profile leaderboard. H's beating some interesting people including literal royalty, sports superstars, Hollywood actors and none other than the Pope. Here’s the top 6 Sir David Attenborough - four hours 44 minutes (September 2020) Jennifer Aniston - five hours 16 minutes (October 2019) Duke and Duchess of Sussex - five hours 45 minutes (April 2019) Kang Daniel, K-Pop star - 11 hours 36 minutes (January 2019) Pope Francis - 12 hours (March 2016) David Beckham - 24 hours (May 2015) P.S. we love you Sir David #### Slack Is Here For The Long Haul, No Matter What Within 8 months of being launched, Slack, a cloud-based team collaboration tool, achieved a huge valuation of $1 billion dollars, and it wasn’t long before tech giants Microsoft got a whiff of the rich tasting pie and fancied a piece. And now, the multi-billion-dollar corporation, owned by Bill Gates, has released their own workplace chat tool called ‘Teams’. With Skype integration, allowing online video calls between various members of the team, Microsoft is really going for number one spot in the industry. However, Slack isn’t sweating about this. They aren’t getting uncomfortable about the thought of Microsoft pushing them out of the game. Anything but. There is a striking resemblance between Slacks reaction to the news and Apple’s response to IBM joining the computer revolution back in 1981. A full page, open letter in a major world newspaper is the way that both Apple and Slack have approached the news of a new major competitor. “That feeling when you think "we should buy a full page in the Times and publish an open letter," and then you do.” These are the words of Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Slack. The letter, posted on a full page in the New York Times, has a strong scent of sarcasm about it, and you definitely get the feeling that Slack are not going to roll over and die, they are here for the long run. “Dear Microsoft, Wow. Big news! Congratulations on today’s announcements. We’re genuinely excited to have some competition.” Slack clearly aren’t phased, and they know they are big dogs that can stand their ground. They ‘genuinely’ believe that. The rest of the letter, in which they go on to tell Microsoft how to be the best, further emphasizes this. Cocky? Arrogant? No, they just know exactly what they are talking about, and their current valuation and the amount of users they have backs this up. “First, and most importantly, it’s not the features that matter.” Okay… please Slack, do tell me more. “You’re not going to create something people really love by making a big list of Slack’s features and simply checking those boxes. The revolution that has led to millions of people flocking to Slack has been, and continues to be, driven by something much deeper.” Something much deeper than copying your biggest rivals? What on earth could that be? Well, in the open letter, it says that the key element of creating such a popular, trendy tool was love. Slack said, “we love our work, and when we say our mission is to make people’s working lives simpler, more pleasant, and more productive, we’re not simply mouthing the words.” They carried on by saying, “If you want customers to switch to your product, you’re going to have to match our commitment to their success and take the same amount of delight in their happiness.” A final quote from Inc. Magazine’s 2015 company of the year – “Slack is here to stay, and we’re just getting started.” So, does this mean there is more to come? Well, from Microsoft, yes. Slack? Many people are not sure, and are using former music app Rdio as an example. Rdio did exactly what Slack have now done. A startup company with a great idea and a fantastic piece of software that was joined by a huge business in the industry and got cocky about it and showed off. When IBM joined the computing world back in ’81, Apple released an open letter titled “Welcome, IBM. Seriously”, and ended the letter with “Welcome to the task.” So, when the Steve Jobs-founded company announced the arrival of Apple Music in June 2015, Rdio, one of the companies in the industry at the time, sent them this note on Twitter:               A similar arrogance to Slack, Rdio seemed to be getting too big for their boots. And, well, it backfired. Big time. After Apple released their own music app, The amount of users Rdio had rapidly decreased, especially with Spotify already flying high. In November 2015, after putting a lot of love into its product, just like Slack do, it died. I'm not saying that Slack will go out of business with the arrival of Microsoft, but I just don't think they should get too carried away. With the funds available to Microsoft, anything can happen. To read Slacks open letter in full, head over to https://slackhq.com/dear-microsoft-8d20965d2849#.w05qu0hwz. #### Sleaford Quality Foods is a Recipe for Success About Sleaford Quality Foods Sleaford Quality Foods are a family run business supplying high-quality ingredients to the food industry, they are the supplier of choice for many food manufacturers and foodservice providers throughout the UK and across the world. Based in Lincolnshire, Sleaford Quality Foods are a multi-award-winning company who while are completely engaged with their local community they have global aspirations and goals. Sleaford Quality Foods work with a multitude of partners on new innovative products and opportunities to their customer base and are always ready to discuss new innovative ideas with their clients. The Brief and Vision Sleaford approached Fifteen at the start of the year, looking for a website that showcases their innovative approach to their ingredient and foodservice solutions and services. The team at Sleaford wanted something that would stand out against their competition, making them appeal to the wider market - showcasing their products, services, team members and fun side all at the same time. What We Did Working closely with the team at Sleaford’s we designed a website that breaks the boundaries between development and the printed design form, using a range of elements to demonstrate the friendly and fun side of the company. The site is unique in its look and tells the story of Sleafords using strong imagery and iconography throughout the site, creating a style that could easily be translated into printed media and marketing literature. Throughout the website, we wanted to bring the ingredients to life on the pages, demonstrating their true forms and showing the freshness of the products, rather than showing the standard ‘sold’ state, making it look more like an e-commerce website, rather than an information site. The Ingredient and FoodService Solution pages showcase this in the best possible way, with a wooden chopping board effect background and the ingredients placed on top, the user can scroll through the various categories finding the ingredients that they may need, and add them to their enquiry list, creating a shopping basket that is custom to them and their requirements. The Global Family page showcases their suppliers/growers and factories/plants across the globe, allowing the user to click on the various points to see what is grown and produced in the various locations, allowing users to truly see the global reach of Sleaford Quality Foods. On the Innovation Hub, we wanted to demonstrate their expertise within the industry, and create a hub and a section that is dedicated to this, this is also where the news articles are showcased. We’ve developed the website using WordPress - which will allow the team at Sleaford to make updates and amends to the website whenever they need to, adding new team members, locations, blog posts and amending information across the website as they need to, they have full flexibility on many elements and can really alter and change the website to suit their needs. The Results  The design of the website showcases Sleafords fun nature, quality service and products and their knowledge and experience within the industry. The new website allows users to access the various product offerings with ease, and find out as much information about Sleafords as possible in an interactive, interesting and dynamic manner. What They Said “Thank you Fifteen team... you really took the time to listen and understand our business and its needs from the outset, which has resulted in a stress-free and smoothly executed project. Me and my team are all delighted with the end result and excited to launch our new web site and share it with the world!!! You’ve all been a fabulously positive and friendly team to work with”  -Tracey Siddy, Head of Innovation and Marketing, Sleaford Quality Foods Fifteen offer website design services to many businesses in Lincolnshire. #### Smooth transition for New Tech Lubes Fifteen are proud to showcase a new website for Nottinghamshire based manufacturer, New Tech Lubes. About New Tech Lubes New Tech Lubes is an innovative family company with a wealth of knowledge, who thrive on providing a personalised service and high-quality products. The Task As an independent UK based lubricant manufacturer, New Tech Lubes produce a range of products with user applications in mind. From oils and grease for use in the food and pharmaceutical industry to high-temperature chains, they specialise in premium quality products that perform. Backed by their expert knowledge and friendly approach, they thrive on providing excellent service to all their customers, big and small. With New Tech Lubes' family background in mind, we went for a soft, clean approach to the website. The main task was to create New Tech Lubes a site that showcases their products in an organised and seamless manner throughout website and literature. We also wanted to design and build a responsive website that is user-friendly for all ages, introduces some new colours, yet still mainly uses the companies original colour scheme of purple and hints of yellow and blue. To introduce the new colours into the website, we decided to assign each product category a unique colour, so that that colour relates to a category. The site is built with a focused user journey and allows the admin to edit the site via a content management system, which is also easy to navigate and user-friendly. Although you do not purchase products from the website, you do download technical specifications and safety sheets for whichever product it is you are looking at. To do this, New Tech Lubes wanted a log in area where you can register, then log in to download your desired document. There is also a form which uses a third party application which has been integrated into the contact page, allowing them to collect data of who is submitting the form in the backend of the site. Who Worked On The Project?         Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="www.newtechlubes.com"]Visit New Tech Lubes[/fifteen_button] #### Snapchat To Launch Adverts Manager It has just recently been announced the Snapchat are going to be launching Snapchat Adverts Manager to the public next month. This opens up the opportunity for agencies and brands-a-like to start creating their own Snapchat adverts. Over the past few months, Snapchat has been testing their adverts tool with over 20 top brands across multiple locations worldwide before launching it to be as accessible as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest’s advertising tools. As you’ve been flicking through your friends Snapchat stories, you may have experienced sponsored video adverts between posts. These 10-second video clips are currently skippable, meaning you either need to capture your audience’s attention within moments or make it blend in and appear to be a real Snapchat. It's all about being snappy and creative with your video. The new platform only allows you to create the 10-second adverts, if you wish to create Geofilters (the visual location tags) or Lenses (the facial recognition filters), you still need to do these directly through Snapchat’s website. Snapchat adverts have been bringing in great success stories in. For example, the CD, Now 61, created a video ad using deep-linking to allow viewers to listen to their perfect playlist in a matter of a couple of clicks. Their Snap received a swipe-up rate of 3.37% and an engagement rate of 17%!  These adverts are great, in the sense that they are put right in front of the viewer, automatically playing as they flick through. Therefore, the chances of them scanning past it, like on other social networks that rely on feeds. The mobile-only social media platform has been pushing these new features since a similar time last year. Have a look at our post ‘Business Owners: Fix the Snapchat Lens Firmly On You.”, filled with more details about Geofilters, Lenses and their statistics. Once the new Snapchat, self-service tool goes live in the coming month, we look forward to opening the opportunity for our digital marketing clients to get involved. #### Snapchat: A Snapshot in 2017 We've already taken a peek at Twitter in 2017 and now we'll look at the often perceived juvenile world of Snapchat. Teenagers, filters and the little white ghost is usually what we associate with Snapchat but there’s more to this platform of social media than meets the eye. Here we take a snapshot of Snapchat in 2017, to see where it came from, what’s happening and what the future may hold. THE STORY OF SNAPCHAT. It all began in 2008 when Evan Spiegel met Reggie Brown during their freshman year. The two of them joined Kappa Sig where they both met Bobby Murphy. But this was all before Snapchat existed! Fast forwarding to Spring 2011 and Reggie had a dream where the photos he sent to a girl would disappear. As superficial as this idea seems, this is essentially where the seed for Snapchat was planted. In Summer 2011, the multi-million-dollar idea of Snapchat was born and they named it Pictaboo which had only 127 users so a rebrand was undertaken and in the Autumn of 2011 the team changed the app’s name to Snapchat with the hope that it would become more popular. By Spring 2012, Snapchat had grown to 100,000 users and it continues to grow with a whopping 350 million users who are active monthly. This overtakes the number of users on Twitter in 2017. As they invest heavily into their business to keep up with their social media rivals, Snap Inc. is working at a loss and warns that it ‘may never achieve or maintain profitability’. Sadly there are no filters to gloss over the truth that underlies this multi-billion-dollar business. NEW FEATURES Snapchat have updated their beloved stories, so they now they have a story for everything. This aims to provide behind the scenes Snaps from interesting events all over the world. The stories use advanced machine learning to understand what’s happening in the Snaps which is submitted to ‘Our Story’. You can now search over 1 million unique stories on Snapchat. We’ve all experienced the frustration of not being able to fully enjoy a Snap because the timer has ran out.(even after replaying it.) The limitless Snap allows you to enjoy watching the Snap for as long as you like. As the popularity and accessibility of Augmented Reality grows rapidly among the digital sphere, Snapchat have decided to jump on the band wagon and put its own mark on it therefore enabling users to paint the world around them with lenses to create new 3D experiences. Geofilters for Snapchat is becoming a hugely popular thing to add to your personal, community and business events. With prices starting from £5.99 it’s a fantastic way to increase awareness of your brand or event with the custom filter. Snapchat is slowly following in the footsteps of Instagram and Facebook where you can access everything on just one site. Snapchat have teamed up with Shazam allowing you to find out what track is playing. You can also use their explore page to scroll through some of the biggest news outlets and popular social channels, such as National Geographic or Buzzfeed. How to use Snapchat for businesses With 60% of Snapchat users being between the ages of 18 and 34 this it is a great way for a business to target the young adult audience. With the variety of different marketing options Snapchat offer, you’re spoilt for choice and may well find it difficult to choose the right one for you and your business. Here’s an overview of all of the features that Snapchat offer and how you’re business could best utilise them. Snap Ads build brand awareness Snap Ads are a 10 second video advert that appear in between Stories with an option to swipe up to view more information. According to Snapchat, Snap Ads receive a rate that is 5 times higher than the average click through rate  comparable to social media platforms. Increase engagement with Geofilters The aforementioned Geofilters have been proven to be a highly effective method of creating new leads. Your Geofilter can be cleverly designed by your own creative teams and become a campaign in itself, alongside special events such as National days. Support your account to be Taken-over Allowing celebrities and influential people takeover your business account can boost your connections and spread awareness to a demographic that would be hard to reach with traditional forms of media. Take a look at Alexa Cheung’s takeover for Vogue in London Fashion Week. It’s pretty much filled with Alexa and her fancy photo effects with behind the scenes shots and front row seats. What’s not to love? IS SNAPCHAT KILLING IT?  Snapchat is killing it with their features. They’re not only following trends but they’re becoming the trend setters. With Instagram and Facebook clipping at their heels, they’re fighting to stay relevant every day. Check out their idea of having photo and world filters. Both Instagram and Facebook were sure to be following that soon after Snapchat. However, in the financial side of things Snapchat is truly flopping. Even their CEO predicts that they may never be profitable. This may suggest that Snapchat is investing heavily into their business in order to keep up with its competitors and if their revenue begins to decrease, Snapchat could become a sinking ship.     #### Social Media Image Size Guide: 2019 Introduction to Social Media image sizes for 2019 Consistency is the key to building a strong visual identity that will build your reputation as a company and create a distinguishable brand that can be identified in any environment. It also helps carry your brand values and ethos in every application. From brand promotion to special offers and videos, it is important to not let standards slip in an environment that is saturated with content. A simple scroll will replace your post with the latest meme that is spreading across every social media platform at the moment so be sure to stand out. Unfortunately, social media is not a ‘one size fit all’ situation and can be a minefield when it comes to finding the best size to use. We have gathered all the sizes you need to ensure your images are displayed as effectively as possible in every post, across each platform you share on. The below values are the recommended sizes, you should be able to use larger images but you should stick with the same aspect ratio for the best possible effect. Facebook Social Image Sizes As the world’s largest social media network, Facebook has the chance to get you in front of its 1.18 billion monthly active users. There’s a variety of different image size across its two profile options that you can utilise to convey your brand and tell your story. Facebook Profile Picture: 180 x 180 px Your profile picture will represent your company, appearing on your profile page and alongside any posts and interactions you have on Facebook. This will appear 16px from the left and 176px from the top of your cover photo when viewed on a desktop so bear this in mind when creating your cover photo. Facebook Business Page Profile Picture: 180 x 180 px We are working to the same sizes as a standard profile picture but the layout of the business page keeps the profile image over to the left of the page without overlapping the cover photo. This style allows us to easily identify personal pages from business pages. Facebook Cover Photo 820 x 312 px The cover photo sits at the top of your profile and gives you a large area to display something creative. This can be used to unfold your brand story a little further and set the tone for your company. Facebook Shared Image: 1200 x 630 px In a quick paced environment, posts with images will help to catch the attention of scrollers. These images will appear on your timeline and in the news feed of your followers. Twitter Social Image Sizes With a massive 330 million users Twitter gives you another chance to reach a large audience. The pace here is fast so using images can help to grab attention and engage your audience. Here are the sizes you need to know. Twitter Profile Picture: 400 x 400 px Sitting on your profile and alongside your interactions on Twitter, your profile picture is a great place to display your brand. Remember this will be round so your image will be cropped to fit the circle. Twitter Header Photo: 1500 x 500 px Similar to Facebook, the header photo sits at the top of your profile and gives you a big area to convey some key brand messaging. Twitter Image Size: 1024 x 512 px Appearing in your follower’s stream and on your profile, images help to engage the potential audience. Twitter may crop your image but following the recommended aspect ratio and ensuring any text is centred to the image will help to minimise this. LinkedIn Image Sizes Things are more professional over on LinkedIn but the same rules still apply. Uploading good quality images is going to present your brand in the best possible way and could lead to your next big lead or recruit. LinkedIn Company Profile Picture: 300 x 300 px Your company profile picture will appear on your page, with posts and interactions with other business, as well as in the search. For this reason, it is important people are able to identify you through your profile picture, a great place to pop your logo. LinkedIn Company Cover Image: 1536 x 768 px The cover image spans the top of your profile. This area is partially covered by your profile picture so imagery should be chosen carefully. LinkedIn Company Banner Image: 646 x 220 px The company banner is one of the newest additions to LinkedIn. This gives you the option to display an image just below the header that will get the attention of your visitors, this area can be used to display key brand messaging or special offers. LinkedIn Company Shared Image: 1104 x 736 px This recommended size works great for sharing a photo or a link with an image. If you’re only sharing a photo, you could a bit larger if you’d like. Instagram Image Sizes Instagram is all about the image, with 600 million users it is vital you are sharing top quality images to catch your audience attention and get them to interact. Instagram Profile Picture: 161 x 161 px Your profile image will sit with your posts as well as head up your profile page. You will most commonly see a company’s logo within the profile picture as this will help to identify you. Instagram Photo Size: 1080 x 1080 px This visual-based social media network is all about the image, so making sure everything is high quality is key. This image size will ensure a good resolution when displayed in the feed and on your profile. Images tend to be square but you can upload other dimensions, Instagram will fill the empty space. Instagram Story Size: 1080 x 1920 px With the option to upload image or video, you can engage your Instagram audience in a different way through an Instagram story. Follow the above sizes but take into consideration where the story features will sit at the top and bottom of the screen. Still struggling with your pixels or what content you should be sharing? We can work with you to develop a social media strategy that will create awareness and build relationships with your audience. Get in touch today or give us a call 0115 932 5151 to speak to our team. #### Social Media Round-Up: July 2019 It’s been a while, meaning it’s been busy at the Fifteen headquarters on the social media front, but we’re back again with another social media round-up, and it’s hard to pick where to start! Love Island As it usually tends to blow up social media for the eight weeks that it runs, it’s probably best to cover Love Island first. We all know the concept, a bunch of fame hungry insta models travel to a villa in order to pretend they’re looking for love, and every now and then it works. On the social media front, Love Island is a massive hit with the Fiat 500 with the hashtag #lovesiland dominating Twitter, instagram and facebook become riddled with memes and videos of the contestants pulling funny faces and usually making fools out of themselves.   Companies can obviously jump on Love Island, granted their brand matches the program and its audience well. For our client Kitchen People, which sells luxury kitchens, it might not be the best strategy. But if you’re a beauty brand, for example, then there is a lot of potential when it comes to piggybacking on social media, using catchphrases and utilising the hashtag. Face App - Age Filter FaceApp has been around for a while, but in July the app blew up on social media. Celebrities and businesses jumped on the trend of making your face age through the app. Then there was speculation about Russians running the app, but what’s a bit of face recognition compared to that time they got Donald Trump elected as president? Here are a couple of the big names that jumped on the bandwagon: Drake   View this post on Instagram   Best caption wins ovo tickets A post shared by champagnepapi (@champagnepapi) on Jul 16, 2019 at 1:36am PDT Ludacris   View this post on Instagram   Fast & Furious 50 ??? and we still haven’t stopped at a gas station. Or for Diapers. ?? A post shared by @ ludacris on Jul 16, 2019 at 5:47am PDT Then we obviously have the old gang at Fifteen: The Planned Invasion of Area 51 July also saw a fun little Facebook event created, named Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us. This little event then turned viral and over 2 million people signed up to raid Area 51 on the 20th September, with a further 1.4 million interested in the event. Now, we don’t know what is actually going to happen, nor does the US government, but as a precaution the Air Force released a statement: “[Area 51] is an open training range for the U.S. Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces. The U.S. Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.” If you fancy a bit of Area 51 invading, head over to the event for more details https://www.facebook.com/events/448435052621047/ Bottle Cap Challenge To round things up, we’re gonna cover the bottle cap challenge. It all started with a pretty impressive spinning kick that managed to twist the lid of a bottle….and then things escalated. Everyone wanted a taste of the bottle cap challenge. First we have Jason Statham executing the challenge perfectly   View this post on Instagram   #bottlecapchallenge #challengeaccepted @erlsn.acr This thing landed on my head from @johnmayer but will quickly go to a couple of fellas we’ve seen do push ups badly. All yours @guyritchie and @jmoontasri A post shared by Jason Statham (@jasonstatham) on Jul 1, 2019 at 9:09am PDT Then we have Kendall Jenner who just hit the bottle and the lid fell off, not exactly impressive but she’s in a bikini so of course it got the likes.   View this post on Instagram   you asked for it @haileybieber ... A post shared by Kendall (@kendalljenner) on Jul 8, 2019 at 1:24pm PDT Ryan Reynolds then upped the game with magnificent production value… And finally we have the best of the lot (sound on) If you want to stay on trend with social media marketing, or learn about how your business can take advantage of social media channels in your overall digital marketing mix, get in touch with our digital team today. #### Social Round Up: August It’s that time again. We’ve been keeping an eye on what's trending and what’s been blowing up on social media in the last month or so. Enjoy. Football is back After an agonisingly long wait, with no major International tournaments - aside from the glorified friendly cup that was the UEFA Nations League finals, football finally returned. Fantasy football fans around the world went from couch potatoes to OPTA statisticians for a week of careful research into who and what will be a success, before ripping their hair out when Alisson Becker got injured after 39 minutes, losing a certain clean sheet and an unnecessary waste of a free transfer. Football and social media go hand in hand so, unfortunately for non-fans, most channels were bombarded with highlights, funny moments and banter - something the likes of Paddy Power are the kings of utilising. Their Twitter channel is a must-follow for sports fans, even if you don’t have any interest in betting. Pep Guardiola seeing VAR checking a late goal against Spurs... pic.twitter.com/2CSRZpMIZO — Paddy Power (@paddypower) August 17, 2019 Chris Eubank Sr The man, the myth, the legend that is Chris Eubank Sr. has been providing comedy gold for decades, but his appeal has been underrated for long. After starring on Celebrity Gogglebox, however, Eubank finally started to get the recognition that his quotes deserve. A highlight of his stint on the show includes a bowl of Smarties and his son, Chris Eubank Jr. Eubank Sr. offers his son a “sweetie” to which his son sarcastic responds “I’ll take a Smartie”. “These are SMARTIEEES indeed” Sr. replies before adding “an absolutely stupendous confectionary” - the first time Smarties have ever been called that! After his appearances on the show, clips of him started to pop up all over social media channels, and an account called ‘Out Of Context Chris Eubank’ was created on Twitter. And to be honest, it’s possibly the funniest page on the whole of Twitter at the moment. pic.twitter.com/QhvBO49i5K — Out Of Context Chris Eubank (@NoContextEubank) July 9, 2019 Trump wanted to buy Greenland Another month, another Trump quote. But in this case it was the response that was the funniest. Just to get you up to speed if you didn’t follow it, Trump is keen on buying Greenland from the Danish Government. According to The Wall Street Journal he was advised to look into buying the land as “Denmark faced financial trouble from supporting the territory” and has raised the question during meetings and dinners with associates. After it was published, he even tweeted the following. I promise not to do this to Greenland! pic.twitter.com/03DdyVU6HA — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2019 The Danish responded in brilliant fashion. “As we have stated, Greenland is not for sale,” a spokesperson for the Danish government said on Friday. “We have noted, however, that during the Trump regime pretty much everything in the United States, including its government, has most definitely been for sale.” “Denmark would be interested in purchasing the United States in its entirety, with the exception of its government,” the spokesperson added. Before finishing off with: “We believe that, by giving the U.S. an educational system and national health care, it could be transformed from a vast landmass into a great nation”. Well played Denmark, well played. Festival season It’s festival season, which means people have an excuse to dress as clowns without being embarrassed about it. This obviously is a dream for instagram addicts as they can post pictures of themselves in horrendous bucket hats, crazy tops and fishnet stockings that normally would only be used in the bedroom. During the Summer Bank Holiday, the annual Notting Hill Carnival took place in the capital, and as per usual the street festival provided endless social media posts. One of the things that usually gets the big hits is police officers dancing with the public, but there was a limited amount of that this year due to the heat - as officers were banned from dancing!   As ever our social team is always keen to keep our fingers on the pulse. Knowing who, what and why a tweet exists helps inform marketing strategies and create reactive social campaigns. Contact us today for more on social media marketing and digital strategy. #### Soothe Reimagines Luxury and Care with Stunning New Design When Soothe Therapies approached us back at the start of the year; we were super excited to be able to work with them. This amazing brand wanted to expand on their new venture to bring luxury skincare and treatments to Nottingham.  The team at Soothe wanted to explore updating their brand to reflect its new direction and update their website to accommodate more products and treatments. Soothe also focused on the quality of the service that they offer.  About Soothe:  The team at Soothe are all experts in their fields, they work hard to promote positivity within the Skincare industry. Soothe encourage their clients to look after their skin and develop healthy approaches to ageing and lifestyle. This allows their customers to get the youthful glow that they are after.  They work hard to understand your skin, and what your skin needs. Soothe creates treatments around you. They also recommend products that are suitable for your skin so you notice the difference when going through your daily skincare routine.  Working with a range of eco-friendly, high-quality products they offer a unique service of treatments and experiences. This is something that would be a perfect treat for you or a loved one!  What We Did:  The first project we worked on with Soothe was looking at getting their brand updated. As with any of our branding projects, we started with a project start. This allowed us to understand the new direction, as well as a look at the aims and ambitions of Soothe. We then got to work producing a range of new concepts before a winner was chosen.  The new Soothe brand uses a range of colours to convey the core messaging of what a client should feel when approaching Soothe for their services.  The new typography has been chosen for its simplicity. It brings all the qualities of a sans-serif but with added personality. This is accomplished through the soft flick we see on the ‘h’. The introduction of a gold/yellow aims to add an extra layer of luxury to the brand.  As part of the brand, we also provided brand guidelines. These guidelines assist any future marketing literature and design work for them.  Once the brand was finalised, we worked with Soothe to produce gift cards, tissue paper and other stationery. These extras allow them to push their new look and tie the brand and service together.  Clients can purchase products online and in their shop in West Bridgford. Shoppers receive the same level of care with luxurious eco-friendly packaging and customer service. This helps deliver the message of quality and luxury further.  The website was a continuation of the previous version of the website. Utilising what was already there, we worked to build on the site.  We improved the user journey and experience. We highlighted that users can Book an Appointment online, and purchase products from the online store. The general look and feel of the website continue the brand scheme.  The site uses WordPress as the CMS and is built so that the client can add, change and amend content and products as needed moving forward. Making it super easy for them to grow and change the site to fit their needs and future business requirements.  This project was a lot of fun to work on, and with the upcoming work in the digital department, I can’t wait to see what more we can do with the team at Soothe to help drive their message for healthy skin and lifestyle home.  Take a look at their website: https://soothe-therapies.com/ and why not treat yourself! If you're interested in redesigning your own website or logo then contact us and we'll get you started on an incredible journey. #### Split testing: What is it and how can it benefit me? Split testing in digital marketing has revolutionised the industry, because marketers can truly understand their audience and how they’re reacting to their marketing efforts. It’s one of the easiest ways to know if your marketing campaigns are performing well, and allows you to see how best to optimise your campaigns for maximum effectiveness. Businesses everywhere should be conducting split tests across every aspect of their digital marketing for many reasons. Keep reading to learn more of the benefits split testing can bring for your business. What is split testing? Split testing, also known as A/B testing, is the practice of running two strategies simultaneously that are identical, except for one element. When the split test is launched, a certain percentage of your audience will see one version of your campaign, and the rest will see the other version.  The purpose is to determine which technique is more effective at converting your customers. Split tests can be conducted across multiple marketing channels including PPC, email and social media for example. You can test just about anything including content, email subject lines and call to action buttons to name a few. How can split testing benefit me? Split testing is widely acknowledged as a great practice to improve results of your marketing efforts. It’s a simple practice that marketers use to evaluate several factors in their campaigns. Here are a few other benefits it brings: You can find out what your customers are thinking By conducting split tests, you can get a better understanding of how your customers engage with your business. You can run tests on something as simple as button colours, which allows you to review what people are interacting with more effectively. With this knowledge, you can optimise your campaigns so you can convert your target audience. You can avoid marketing faux pas If you want to test the waters on a new marketing strategy, split testing provides the perfect opportunity to do so. You can simultaneously run your current campaign alongside your new campaign, meaning you can reduce the risk of any marketing faux pas. You can see what elements of your new campaign work best and optimise effectively to help generate more leads and conversions. You can apply it to anything and everything No matter what part of your marketing strategy isn’t working quite the way you want to, you can split test it. If you find your email open rate has dropped, or you’re not getting the conversion rate from your PPC campaigns, or some of your landing pages aren’t performing as well as others, you can conduct a split test to see how you can improve it. Split testing can be, and should be, applied to all aspects of a digital marketing campaign. Need some help with your split testing? If you need help with your split testing, why not get in touch with our experts today? We can do all the hard work for you from testing your campaigns, to analysing the results and even implementing the improvements, so you can get the best from your marketing campaigns. #### St George's Day - Looking Back At Iconic British Graphic Designers St George's Day is here again and it’s time to get patriotic. Raise the flag and celebrate our Patron Saint, a truly Great British icon, a dragon slayer and the saviour of a fair maiden. But, in fact, he wasn’t English, there was no dragon to slay or a fair maiden to rescue but all that is another story. For this particular St George's Day I thought we could look at other iconic Britons, but within the graphic design world. A world that is familiar to me and one that I have loved for many years. There are so many great designers to choose from so I’ll pick a few of my favourites. Harry Beck First on the list is the awesome Harry Beck, without this guy, there would be a lot of confused Londoners wandering around the tube station! Harry Beck created the iconic London Underground Tube map in 1931. He designed the map in his spare time as a side project and based it on an electrical diagram rather than a more traditional geographical design. He believed that customers were more interested in how to get from one station to another and where to change trains rather than geographical references. When he pitched his ideas to London Underground, they were received with a lukewarm response but they tentatively introduced the radical new map to the general public in a small pamphlet in 1933. It was immediately popular and the rest is history. Harry continued to make sketches and drawings of the map until he passed away in the 1970s. Although the map has changed quite a bit since Harry’s original design the overall concept remains the same. Abram Games I’ll continue with Abram Games one of the 20th Century’s most influential graphic designers. A designer whose work has spanned over 60 years. He is well-known for his posters and use of vivid colour, bold ideas, and well thought out typography. Many of Britain’s most iconic images include those by Games. For example,  ‘Join the ATS’  recruitment poster of 1941, ‘Grow your own food poster’ a campaign to get people to grow their own food during the war. He has worked with many clients including Guinness, BP, The Times and Shell, although he wasn’t a fan of the commercial world working with such clients gave him large scale recognition but his true passion was designing social posters, posters with a reason. Peter Saville Next on the list is Peter Saville, a real favourite of mine as I love many of the bands he has worked with. He was born in Manchester and he’s famous for working on many record sleeves for Factory Records, most notably for New Order and Joy Division back in the 1980s. ‘Unknown Pleasures’ by Joy Division features a solid black cover with a waveform on it. The waveform is from CP 1919 the first pulsar from deep space. It’s likely that this graphic waveform came from the Jodrell Bank Observatory which ties in well as it is local to Manchester and Joy Division. For me this has to be one of the most iconic and recognisable album covers ever designed. I still have the t-shirt! Other clients Peter Saville has worked with include, Selfridges, EMI and Pringle. He’s still going strong so keep an eye out for more amazing work. I know this is such a short list and there are many other iconic British designers I could have chosen, Alan Fletcher, Vaughan Oliver and Peter Sullivan to name but a few. #### Start-Up Websites with Fifteen Whether you’re a brand new start-up company or a small business, the need for a great start-up and professional website design is integral to getting anywhere. If potential customers or clients cannot find you, you’re highly unlikely to have your services used or your products purchased. Fifteen know the importance of good, modern website design for your start-up company, so let us help you. Fifteen has had over a decade’s worth of experience in start-up website design and marketing. Sure, we’ve worked with numerous large companies on their own bespoke websites, but we want to make that experience accessible to all. In using a Fifteen Starter Site you will get an easy to use, well-designed website design for your start-up company at a fraction of the cost. We want you to end up with your perfect website and so we will bring all of our expertise to help you reach that. The Start-Up Professional Website Design A 5 page brochure site with the following site map: Home, About, Services, Blog/News, and Contact. Our expert team of designers, developers and project managers will make sure that your website is easy to use and understand, not just for your user, but for you as well. #### Stress Management Techniques Around The World As Fifteen are focusing on a year of wellbeing, we thought it would be interesting to have a look into what stress management techniques are being used around the world. We may even start trying them for ourselves! There are different methods of stress management and relief all around the world. Some you may have heard of and then others are unique to their country. Most of these methods are simple and easy for anyone to do at home, at work or during your lunch break. Russia With much of Russia being particularly cold, it’s common practice to have a sauna in your home or to visit a spa with saunas on a regular basis. The heat helps your muscles to relax from the strain of bad posture and the sweat can help cleanse your skin. The peace and quiet of saunas can also help relax your mind and salve the soul. Thailand The art of the massage has been mastered in Thailand, and they know exactly what pressure points to work on to help with muscle relaxation. It is also said to be an anti-depressant. Not everyone can afford to have regular massages, but treating yourself every once in a while, perhaps when you know a big deadline is coming, is worthwhile. Argentina The Argentines have a herbal drink called ‘maté’. This drink is then passed around a group of friends which encourages socialisation, a drink and a moment to relax. India In India, they have a great way to help de-stress. They simply encourage laughter! Doing so triggers positive endorphins that will aid stress and negativity. Perhaps after work, go to see some stand-up comedy, or meet up with a hilarious friend of yours. You could even pop on one of your favourite comical shows once you get home after work. Simple, go and get the giggles. Sweden In Sweden, it’s popular to take ‘fika’. This translates to having a coffee. Again, this may seem so simple, but making sure you stop to have a break is so important for your mental wellbeing. If you need help reminding yourself, set up a notification on your phone to remind you. This could just be grabbing a coffee at work, or even taking a short trip out of the office to have a drink with a colleague or nearby friend. Ireland The Irish like to get out and enjoy the outdoors. It’s common to see lots of families going on walks in the afternoon to grab some fresh air and get away from the business of home or work life. Denmark Denmark is known for getting dark early in the afternoon, so the Danes are experts at being cosy. One of their concepts of hygge is to go and relax at friends houses. No stress of fancy hosting, just a casual catch-up or chill out together. The interaction with those outside of work and occasionally changing your environment will help with stress levels. France After work in France, it’s common to have a petit aperitif. This is simply a small glass of wine accompanied by a selection of savoury snacks. A small alcoholic beverage is enough to be a relaxant and it also creates the feeling of comfort on your arrival back home. If you aren’t a fan, then finding a different post-work ritual of perhaps a healthy smoothie might help you cool off after a long day. At Fifteen, we have our Friday beer o'clock to help wind down after a week at work. #### Successful Digital Campaigns In The Beauty Industry There are many beauty brands all trying to gain the most attention online, but only a handful of campaigns bloom into successful ones. I've picked out a selection of different types of digital campaigns from brands in the beauty industry that are creative and successful, through high engagement and compelling experiences. Burberry Kisses Back in 2013, Burberry were looking for a way to immerse themselves with millennials, a new consumer group for the company. With millennials being consumed by technology, making an engaging digital experience was a must. They came up with the campaign, 'Burberry Kisses'. The concept behind the campaign was to build emotion through technology. This was done by getting people to send a personal kiss from their mobile to anyone in the world. Burberry created an app where if you kissed within a certain space on screen, it would capture the shape of your lips to make each message extra personal. You could then change the colour of the lip mark to match with the lipsticks they were launching at the time and type a message to the recipient. So, not only were they getting people to enjoy a digital experience, but they were also featuring a discreet but effective product placement. During the campaign, there were over 253,000 search results for ‘Burberry Kisses’ and in the first 10 days over 13,000 cities were involved in the campaign. An incredible 109 million miles were travelled by the kisses that were sent across the world. Essence BeautyBox #GenGorgeous This time last year, Essence Beauty Box launched their #GenGorgeous campaign in the run-up to Mother’s Day. Many people's beauty habits have been passed down from their mothers, and so they wanted the campaign to be all about the words of wisdom our mothers pass down to us. The hashtag allowed people to get involved by tweeting or Instagramming about their mother’s words of wisdom. Alongside the hashtag, they also created a video advert with successful women sharing their mum’s advice on personal appearance and confidence. During the campaign, Essence had an offer running that if you gifted your mum one of their beauty boxes, you would also receive one. This helps to build brand advocacy and aims to make you and your mum long-term subscribers to their boxes. Always #LikeAGirl Always isn’t your classic cosmetic beauty brand. They’re a personal hygiene brand and created a powerful digital campaign. In their research, they found that 7 out of 10 girls felt like they didn’t belong in sports, just to conform with social expectations. However, those who got involved in regular sports clubs were twice as likely to feel confident in themselves. There’s a common social expectation that certain sports aren’t suitable for women, just because they are seen as ‘manly’ sports. So, what Always did was create a powerful video called #LikeAGirl and it talked about sports situations where girls are told that they’re doing things ‘like a girl’. This campaign didn’t focus on the actual products that they supply, but focused on empowering women and building an emotional connection with potential customers. Their hashtag was featured in the corners of their adverts and have created a huge conversation across different social media platforms. Dove #SpeakBeautiful                                              Dove is well-known for creating impactful campaigns that improve body confidence in women. In 2015, they launched their #SpeakBeautiful campaign after finding out that 4 out of 5 negative beauty related tweets were about the person themselves. They wanted women to complement and empower each other, by speaking beautifully to one another. The campaign began with a high profile advert during the Oscars. After this, the campaign went full blown with people using the hashtag. During the campaign, it was used more than 168,000 times and produced over 800million impressions across all social media channels involved. Estee Lauder - The Beauty Of The Night Estee Lauder already had a strong community of people who use their Night Repair range, so they wanted to build this campaign for existing fans, as well as introducing new customers to the range. The 'Beauty Of The Night' campaign was all about getting people sharing their evening rituals with other woman across the world. If they made a connection with someone else, then they would either receive a special offer on the product range, or if they were new to the range, they would receive a sample of some of the key products. This campaign created a poll to find out what most women did in their evening rituals, and these ended up being featured in top beauty, fashion and lifestyle magazines. #### Symbols of Superheroes In light of the recent surge of comic book movies being released this year, including the recent epic Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, we have taken a look back at some of the most iconic symbols that represent our favourite heroes.   Superman It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t start with the original Kryptonian who put the ‘Super’ in ‘Superhero’! I’m sure we’ve all seen the symbol that is emblazoned across the chest of Superman and read it as an ‘S’. In actual fact the ‘S’ is a symbol from Superman’s home planet of Krypton, it means ‘Hope’. To the human eye, however, it looks like a giant ‘S’ and that’s how the Man of Steel gains his title of Superman! Rather fitting for the alien who has saved Earth from the perils of General Zod, Lex Luthor and Doomsday to name but a few! Since Superman’s creation in 1938, the symbol has evolved over 20 times across comics, TV shows and movies. The symbol has been relatively unchanged and has mostly stayed in red and yellow upon a blue backdrop.   Batman Despite being the hero with no powers, Batman’s symbol packs a punch in terms of it’s recognisability! Since his creation in 1939, Batman has seen too many different versions to count! His appearances in comic books, movies, and tv have cemented the logo up there with Superman’s emblem as one of the most iconic comic book logos of all time. From backpacks to mugs, this emblem has made it's mark within our culture, even from those who may not have seen him in the comic books. The blockbuster status of the Batman movie franchise has seen the Dark Knight become a pop icon. As well as the Batman symbol, the franchise also created other recognisable emblems from it's sidekicks and villains, such as The Riddler, Robin, and the Joker.   Captain America “When Captain America throws his mighty shield, All those who chose to oppose his shield must yield…” Captain America’s emblem is most often depicted as a visual from his shield, forged from an alien metal called ‘vibranium’, an almost indestructible material that can absorb an attack from Hulk and even repel Thor’s hammer. The shield has taken several forms over the years, but it’s most common depiction has been used since 1941, a circular shape with visuals representing the USA - 3 stripes in red and white, with a white star on blue resting in the centre. We can’t think of a more appropriate symbol to represent the patriotic powerhouse that is Captain America!   Wonder Woman Since 1941, Wonder Woman has been a female icon of the comic book world. Her character is a badass princess of the Amazons. She wields a variety of iconic weapons including the ‘Lasso of Truth’. What is most iconic about the princess however, is her symbol which has been given many forms since the 40s. The most recognizable version of Wonder Woman’s emblem is the 2 W’s which take the form of a set of wings. Originally the icon started life as an eagle, which had ties to the Greek goddess Athena. It has evolved many times since but has always remained recognisable amongst her red, yellow and blue themed outfit. Since then, Wonder Woman has almost always retained a breastplate emblazoned with her trademark. The current logo has had a makeover for the release of Batman V Superman and the solo Wonder Woman movie we’re to expect in 2017.   Daredevil One hero that’s making a huge comeback is the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, better known as Daredevil. Left blinded as a child, the hero in red inherits superhuman senses, as well as being trained by the hard as nails martial arts master, Stick. In his day to day life as Matt Murdock, he also is a skilled attorney who works alongside his partner in law, Foggy Nelson. The devil’s main emblem comes in the form of two letter D’s, representing his name. As simple as this sounds, we think it’s a damn cool logo. Evolving from the original single ‘D’, Wally Wood incorporated a second one in 1965. This arrived alongside a darker costume that is often said to be Daredevil’s classic look, embracing a more menacing look against his foes. We’ve seen this emblem used throughout his comic book appearances and also in the (less popular!) Daredevil movie starring Ben Affleck. Whilst the movie wasn’t given the best critical reviews, the emblem makes for an awesome calling card in the subway scene.   Spider-Man He’s been our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man since the 60s, and his emblem has always remained a favourite. Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man after a tangle with a radioactive spider, this gives him arachnid-like powers such a web slinging and the ability to climb walls, as well as that ‘Spidey Sense’! Since his first appearance in the comic book ‘Amazing Fantasy’, he has appeared in a suit that hasn’t changed appearance dramatically since. The emblem appears emblazoned across the chest as a huge spider! What else? This makes for a dramatic shot as Peter Parker rips open his shirt to reveal the Spidey outfit underneath. There have been several incarnations of the Spidey suit in the TV and movie universe too, and although it’s taken many forms there’s no mistaking this emblem for anyone but the Amazing Spider-Man!   #### The 10 Principle Laws of UX As a design agency, it's our job to keep on top of the latest trends in User Experience (UX) and Interface. But, like in most areas of design, there is a general set of principles that most will refer to. As documented in Laws of UX by Jon Yablonski, there are 10 rules that all UX designers should refer to and apply across their field. 1. Fitt’s Law The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target. Fitt’s Law was conceived by psychologist Paul Fitts in the 1950s. His law dictates that fast movements and small targets result in a greater rate of error. Therefore, the width of the target and relation of distance to the target will determine the time required to rapidly move to it. While this law was originally developed in relation to movement in the physical world, it can be applied to digital interactions too. To put Fitt’s law into very simple terms, clickable areas such as buttons should be bigger and the distance between related content should be minimal. This law is applied to UX and UI design and has influenced the design of interactive buttons. This is most notably on mobile devices. However, in the online world, we often see a disregard for this law within a lot of web applications. Where we see users having to place their cursor directly over an area of what we would expect to be the link, instead of linking a larger area. 2. Hick’s Law The time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices. Hick’s Law (also known as the Hick-Hyman Law) was created by William Edmund Hick and Ray Hyman in the 1950s. Their experiment examined the correlation between the number of stimuli present and a users reaction time to any given stimulus. They discovered that the more there was to choose from, the longer the decision time would be on which stimuli to react to. In relation to User Experience design, this means that when users are given a great deal of information to choose from, it will give them extra work they don’t need. Thus, they will take a longer amount of time to interpret this information and make a decision. In some cases where there is too much choice or options that are not visually prioritised, the user will abandon making a choice entirely. This can be curtains for your website. Web users typically make decisions within seconds, if you provide too many options at once then perhaps it’s time to think of restructuring that content. 3. Jakob’s Law Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know. Jakob’s law was originally created by Jakob Nelson. He was the co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group alongside Dr Donald A. Norman (former VP of research at Apple Computer). He found that users spend most of their time on other websites. Meaning that they prefer your website to work in a similar fashion to the sites they are already familiar with. It’s been a long time fact that the most successful websites standardise their design and work very similarly to the most commonly used websites out there. If you think about the last ten websites you used, I’m going to safely bet that the majority of them have the company logo in the top left corner and if you click it, it will take you to the homepage. This is one of the most common parts of a website, and users expect it to work the same way on Amazon, Youtube and Facebook as it will on yours. Unless you’ve really set out to reinvent the wheel, we’d suggest sticking to Jacob’s Law and standardising common elements throughout your website design. 4. Law of Prägnanz People will perceive and interpret ambiguous or complex images as the simplest form possible because it is the interpretation that requires the least cognitive effort of us. In the early 1900s, psychologist Max Wetheimer observed a set of flashing lights around a movie theatre marquee. He viewed this as a single light moving around the marquee, whereas really it was a series of bulbs turning off and on again, not moving at all. It was this that led him to a set of description principles about how people visually perceive objects. These principles are key in how we work as graphic designers, creating work that excites how our eye builds relationships between elements. 5. Law of Proximity Objects that are near, or proximate to each other, tend to be grouped together. The Law of Proximity dictates that objects that are near to each other tend to be grouped together. It is part of the Gestalt Laws and psychology founded by Max Wertheimer. Applied to UX and UI design, The Proximity Law allows us to use whitespace and grouping to nest elements of a design in categories or groups based on their proximity to each other. The human eye more closely associates objects that are close to each other than ones that are spaced far apart. While this may seem like common sense, the Law is often disregarded within web design, making the user’s journey more complicated. 6. Miller’s Law The average person can only keep 7 (plus or minus 2) items in their working memory. During the 1950s, Psychologist George Miller claimed that our immediate memory span and judgment had a limit of around seven elements of information at a time. While this law may act more like a guideline, it is relevant to specific ways of utilising our short-term memory when browsing online. Regardless of the number of units, what Miller’s Law should guide within UX design is to chunk information into logical groupings. This helps our user absorb information quickly and easily. To put this into simple terms, Miller’s Law should be used when you’re looking at categorising and grouping information to help a user find exactly what they’re looking for. 7. Pareto Principle The Pareto principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Also known as the ’80/20 Rule’ or the ‘Law of the Vital Few’. The Pareto principle was originally penned by Wilfredo Pareto. He noticed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by just 20% of its population. This law can provide an insightful analysis application within UX. Without getting intensely hung up on the numbers, the crux of the principle can be used to conduct research. If you can focus on the 20% of elements people use the most within, for example, a website, it usually means that the majority of users are landing there. Where we can see this in action, with sites that may pre-populate forms without prompting, such as hotel booking websites. They will pre-populate the most popular number of nights staying and the number of people staying within the search bar. Because, during their UX research, around 20% of bookings will fit these criteria. 8. Parkinson’s Law Any task will inflate until all of the available time is spent. Initially, this law was published by the Economist in the 50s by Cyril Northcote Parkinson. Without going into great details about its originality, the principle can be applied to UX design. In it’s purest form; If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do. The law applies to inflation and deflation of time concerning the task we’re applying that time to. We can use this within UX design in the assumption that our users don’t have a great deal of time to complete a task. Or that they will bend the time to suit their needs. In this case, we must make sure that instructions and actions are transparent to complete and follow quickly. It’s a simple law that sounds like a bit of a no-brainer when we apply it the design. 9. Serial Position Effect Users have a propensity to best remember the first and last items in a series. Initially coined by Herman Ebbinghaus, the Serial Position Effect suggests that the position of an item will affect how accurately we recall that item. This concept explains that terms at the beginning and end of a sequence are recalled more accurately than items that sit in the middle. We can apply this principle very simply in UX design by prioritising things to follow this way of thinking. Most notably you can see this within the design of header navigation items. ‘Contact’ will usually be at the end of the list where the company are looking to gain enquiries online. Websites such as charities may have a ‘Donate’ button at the start of their navigation list. It’s a simple way to gain results without too much investment. 10. Tesler’s Law The Law of Conservation of Complexity, states that for any system there is a certain amount of complexity which cannot be reduced. Larry Tesler, while working for Xerox PARC in the 80s, realised that users interact with applications in a way that is just as important as the application itself. The law states that every application has an element of complexity that can’t be removed and instead should be dealt with in UI or product development. It ultimately poses the question of who should deal with complexity, the user or the person designing the interaction. If the user is interacting with a website for a complex piece of software, for example, should their interaction reflect the complexity of the software? Or should the user be given a more straightforward journey to that point? It is a long-debated idea which should be dealt within the context of the product you are designing for. These are the 10 Principles of UX which all lend themselves to each other and work together to create a user-friendly digital experience. #### The Basic SEO Concepts – Core Fundamentals of SEO So what are the Core Fundamentals of SEO? SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), also known as the organic channel of digital marketing is a set of optimisation best practices to make a website more readable and findable for search engines; by optimising the web. The four pillars and basic SEO concepts are On-Page optimisation, Off-Page, Off/On Page Technical SEO and User Experience.Let’s go through some of the basic SEO concepts and the SEO core fundamentals. What is on page optimisation in SEO and why do we use it? On page optimisation refers to the website's content, such as; a pages HTML titles, internal links and meta data, which include meta title, meta description and keyword density.It is the practise of optimising website pages for specific, researched keywords in order to earn organic traffic by improving search visibility and a websites rankings in search engine results pages.On page optimisation helps search engines analyse your website and the content so it is able to identify and show relevant content to the searcher. It is important that you can understand a consumer or customers possible intent when searching the web, putting yourself in the mind of the searcher also helps when researching keywords that can be used to optimise.Google is constantly updating their algorithm to deliver search results that meet that user’s needs. As Google’s algorithm updates, so should your website, on-page needs analysis and refinement to gain visible results. Learn more about our On-page SEO Services here. What is Off Page SEO and why do we use it? Unlike on-site SEO, off-page looks beyond the website. It covers all areas within SEO that take place outside of your website, such as link and citation building, content marketing and social media. This type of SEO builds your sites authority, and helps you to rank higher. Without this, your site won’t be able to outrank others with higher authority. Off-page is one of the most important parts of a successful marketing strategy. What are the benefits of Off Page SEO? There are many benefits of off page SEO. The main benefit is it helps to improve your websites domain authority. By improving your sites domain authority your website can start ranking higher for more relevant, highly competitive keywords. Without off page SEO, your site won’t be able to outrank others with higher authority.Off-page is one of the most important parts of a successful marketing strategy. What is on page Technical SEO and why do we need it? On page technical SEO refers to website and server optimisations that help search engine access, crawl, interpret and index your site more effectively, and this helps improve your organic rankings. This SEO type does not have anything to do with the websites content, but mainly optimising the sites in infrastructure. This pillar of SEO helps to enhance crawling by covering the requirements of search engines.Read more into the do’s and don’ts of SEO here. Learn more about our Technical SEO services here. How do SEO and User Experience work together? UX is about creating an effective user experience, leading to great user engagement which plays a key role in your SEO rankings.Things that can effect UX can include website menus, headers and titles, such as; when a menu design is confusing, this can be hard to navigate a website and it is likely the user will leave the site because they cannot find what they were looking for easily. This is where UX and SEO need to work together to provide a well-optimised but still user-oriented website.Load times and responsiveness of the website can lead to users leaving before the landing page has loaded and this can negatively effect your rankings.Aspects such as; reducing file sizes, optimising photo resolutions, CSS and JavaScript file optimisation can help load time.Read more on how User Experience has an effect on your SEO here. The benefits of UX and SEO? The benefits of great investment in UX and SEO is; visible improvement of SEO rankings, increased brand credibility and a longer or increased audience retention.Good UX design engages users, this positive data will help rank your website, and with good UX you will often see improvement in SEO rankings. Looking for help applying the fundamentals of SEO on to your website? Here at Fifteen we can use our expertise to help you create a full proof marketing strategy using SEO. Get in touch with our team. We provide many SEO services from the basic SEO concepts to Local & International SEO. #### The Beginner's Guide To Internal Linking What are internal links? When we talk about internal linking, we’re talking about the practice of including links on your website, pointing from one URL to another. In order to be considered an internal link, the two URLs must be on the same domain. These are usually used as a way to direct users towards another relevant page on the website, or guide them towards a conversion. If you're running a website for your business currently, you've probably already implemented a fair few internal links without even considering the benefits or consequences of what you're doing. That's what we're here for. What are the benefits of internal linking? UX (User Experience) - By adding internal links throughout the website; not only does it make it easier for users to navigate, but you can present them with more useful information on the subject at hand too, should they choose to follow the link. A navigable and well laid out website will encourage users to stay for longer, increasing the possibility of a conversion, and improving the interaction rates on your website. Crawl Bots - As well as making it easier for users to navigate your site, internal linking helps point search engine crawl bots in the right direction too. A properly implemented structure with appropriate anchor text highlights the most important pages on your website, helping the bots identify the best possible landing page for each keyword you rank for. Page Authority - Your domain normally receives the majority of the “SEO juice” from backlinks, meaning some of your most important pages have little to no power. By implementing internal links, you can spread the authority across your important pages, lending more power to each one. Ranking - As it is easier for search engines to identify which pages are most relevant for each keyword on your website, and they spread authority across the whole domain, internal links can help improve your rankings. Relevancy plays an important part in the Google ranking algorithm, and links with the correct anchor text promote relevancy. This is why it is considered such a crucial part of SEO. Promotion - Whilst most internal links are normally used to offer further reading on a subject, they can also be used as a great way to promote events, products or services across your website. Including a link on one of your service pages to a related event can encourage users to follow through and contact you. How to properly implement an internal link structure Now you know the benefits of internal linking, you may be tempted to go straight in and add a bunch of links across your website. But, before you can even think about implementing a link structure, there are a few things you need to take into consideration first. We’ve not even gotten on to the possible consequences of poorly implemented links yet… Content - Before you can start linking between pages, you need to ensure that you actually have enough pages to be able to do so effectively. It makes sense - If you don’t have much content on your website, you can’t create many links. Because of this, it is regularly acknowledged that a content marketing strategy is one of the core foundations of a healthy internal link structure. Sitemap - In order to make yourself aware of the pages you want to link between, and which pages need the most authority passing on, it helps to create a map of your website. List all the categories that stem from your homepage, and all the subcategories that then stem from them. Keep going until you reach the bottom level pages of the site. These are the pages that will have the least amount of authority but aren’t necessarily your most important ones. Link Deep - Once you’ve mapped out the structure of your website, you’ll be able to see which pages need more authority. These will be the pages that are important, but low down in the structure. Starting with these pages, you can start adding links from pages higher up in the hierarchy. This will simultaneously pass authority on to the “linkee”, as well as making it easier for your users to get to the most important pages on your site. Relevancy - Filling each page with lots of unnecessary links will actually have a negative impact on the SEO and UX of your website. Without relevancy, users are likely to “bounce” on the next page they come to, and it negates the hierarchal structure of your website, making it difficult for search engines to make sense of the relationships between pages. Before implementing an internal link, you should ask yourself, “Would a user actually follow this link?”. If, for example, you had a pet supplies website, a link from the ‘hamster food’ page to the ‘budgie cages’ page would not make sense. Sure, there may be the occasional user that owns a hamster, and is also thinking of buying a budgie too, but most people looking for hamster food want just that. A link to the ‘hamster food bowls’ page would be much more appropriate. Anchor Text - Anchor text is probably one of the most important factors to consider when looking at internal linking. What is it? It’s the text that shows instead of the URL when you present a link on a page, much like the links within this blog. This makes it look a lot neater, but also has other benefits. In addition to telling the user what to expect when they click on the link, anchor text is also read by search engines. When bots follow the link, they will already know that it is about content marketing, making it more relevant. Internal Linking Tips How can you be sure that your internal linking structure will have a positive impact on your SEO? Well, as long as you’re following the guidelines above, you shouldn’t have a problem. Just in case, here’s a few additional tips to keep you going. Pick a page you want to link to - If you’re wanting to improve your ranking for a certain keyword, you need a landing page. Pick the most relevant page to the subject, and optimise it accordingly. If you’re unsure what you need to optimise it, check out our blog on creating the perfect landing page. Find all the related pages on your website - In order to promote relevancy, you need to find the relevant content on your website. If you’ve already created a map of your site, this should be easy. If you haven’t (you really should) you can find all the relevant pages by using Google. Simply go to the search bar and type in “keyword(s)” site:yourdomain.com. That’ll then bring up every page on your website relevant to the keyword(s). Insert links - Now just go to those pages and add in the links where appropriate. Be careful not to overdo it though. Too many internal links will have a negative impact on your SEO. Want to find out more about internal linking? Why not get in touch with one of our Digital Marketing team? Happy linking! :) #### The Benefits & Risks of a Facebook Business Page Facebook is the world’s biggest social networking site, with over 1.44 billion monthly active members. Between them they upload 136,000 photos, post 293,000 statuses and 510 comments every sixty seconds. The audience is huge. As part of Facebook, there are Facebook business pages. These allow you to input important information about your business including contact details, opening times, prices, and a your web address. On top of this you can upload photos/videos and statuses, like a standard page, to interact with your “fans”. Because of this, Facebook can be a great marketing tool when used correctly. But, there are some risks as well… Benefits of a Facebook Business Page Potential Engagement As mentioned above, there are 1.44 billion active members on Facebook; and with five new profiles created every second this is growing exponentially. Of course you won’t want every single user to like your business page, as not everyone will interact with your content, but there are plenty of users that you can reach out to in order to build your following. Once you have an audience, you can start interaction. Brand Loyalty Users trust other users’ opinions. It’s a fact. If you are active on a number of social platforms, interacting with your audience, answering queries and addressing complaints, other users will look upon you more favourably. Not only does interaction make your customers feel closer to your business, but also by dealing with complaints quickly and publicly, you can actively show how good your business is. This helps to promote brand loyalty from your customers. Community Linking in to the above point, Facebook business pages help build a sense of community between your business and customers. You are essentially creating a central location for people to gather and talk about your brand. You can share news about products or services, and encourage members to comment on these. Likewise, customers can share photos/videos/comments about your product for others to see. Even if your customers are only interacting with each other, the sense of community is increased. SEO There is some debate as to how much a Facebook business page can help your SEO, but it definitely does to some degree. Google automatically indexes pages created on Facebook, so any information shared on your page could count towards your overall rankings. Think of all the times you’ve searched for a business on Google, and their Facebook page has been in the top few results. A link back to your website from your Facebook page can pass on some of that SEO goodness. Risks of a Facebook Business Page Facebook is great. We’ve established that. But before you go charging in and create an account, there are a couple of things you need to consider. Organic Reach There are a lot of users on Facebook, and a lot of business pages (over 16 million to be precise). There was a point a few years ago when Facebook realized that it was getting a little too crowded. They’ve since introduced a number of algorithms that restrict the amount of users your posts may reach organically (they’ve done this for normal users too). Now, each post initially only has the potential to reach approximately 5% of your followers. If this 5% engage with your posts, the potential reach expands to include others. Alternatively, you can pay to boost posts. Whilst this allows you to select a targeted audience, including your followers and more, wouldn’t it be better if your followers could actually see your posts without you having to pay? Bad Customer Service We’ve talked about how publicly dealing with customer complaints and queries can be beneficial to your business. Now it’s time to look at the flipside. It is important to ensure that you are dealing with queries in a consistent and timely manner, or it could be detrimental to your business image. You just have to have a quick look around the Internet to find articles about how businesses have dealt with complaints on social media. If you don’t have the manpower to manage a page effectively you should maybe consider hiring an agency to do this for you. No Support Facebook has no customer support. If you have any problems, you can ask a question in the Help Centre forums in the hope that another Facebook user sees it and knows the answer, but that’s about as far as you can go. Make sure you have a full understanding of how Facebook works before rushing in, especially if you plan to boost posts. Still unsure? For more information about Facebook business pages and other social media marketing, contact our experts today. #### The Benefits of Digital Events Much like sports, business events have had to adapt to a new normal. Expos and events are migrating online with businesses keen to network and advertise to make up for lost ground. Industry experts believe that these digital events are only ‘a third as effective as their in-person equivalents’ when generating revenue but is there more to a digital event than revenue? Here are some of the ways digital events can improve your offering and win you clients.  Free Events Digital events are free. Hosted on streaming platforms or a video communication service like Skype or Zoom, you don’t need to hire out a venue, charge for entrance or cover any other real-world costs. The virtual space doesn’t require food stalls or cleaners so you can save while still reaching out to interested parties. This is especially useful for businesses with limited cash flow who still want to engage with their customer base. You can theme events, ask attendees to take part in polls, and add some ice breaker games to the mix. The scope for creativity is endless.   Increased Reach Another benefit of going digital is that your event is no longer locked to a single location. For live expos and events, attendees and speakers would need to weigh up the time and cost for things like flights and accommodation. Digital events are beamed directly to offices and homes around the world saving you and your attendees time and money. You can also target specific areas and markets with event invitations shared to specific groups. Are you looking to lead a thought leadership conference for local businesses? Introduce a new service to a market in another country? Whatever your intention you can reach that audience with targeted invites.  Lead Generation Lead generation is another key result of digital events. Emails, key information like the companies attendees work at or their position can all be garnered through attendance forms, reviews, and other digital forms. This provides you with a wealth of information for curating prospective clients and creating bespoke adverts for specific groups. Target your market more effectively by testing the waters with a digital event and you’ll reap the benefits. Less Time Consuming If there’s one thing we all need more of, it’s time. Digital events are free, quick and easy. Much like the first point, you don’t need a physical space so there is no need to plan and set up stands or stages. You don’t need to source hundreds of chairs or make sure there are enough facilities for all your guests. All you need is an audience, an internet connection, and a webcam.  Easy to Measure Results and Feedback Last, but not least, digital events are easier to mine for results and feedback. While hosting an event you may feel the audience respond to a certain section or some might take the time to fill in a review form. Online you have a captive audience that is more likely to engage. You can send out polls during your presentation or use the emails provided to reach out for feedback after the event. You can also use the chat window to gauge interaction. All of this information is saved in written form and can be viewed, analysed and used ad infinitum.  At Fifteen Design we have been creating, delivering, and analysing digital marketing strategies for years. Our team covers social media, PPC, SEO, design, development, and content allowing us to create tailormade marketing strategies that bring you results. Contact us now for more on digital marketing techniques. We are here to help you reach your full potential. #### The Benefits of Google Remarketing Google remarketing, otherwise known as retargeting is a technology that allows Google to detect future buyers as they use across the net. When a user enters the page, a short fragment of code (remarketing code) is attached to the comments list. Then, when they visit another website that uses the Google Ad network, they'll serve your ad. Google lets you customise who gets your advertising. For example, new or returning consumers should be prioritised. You need to have a Google Advertising account to proceed with a Google remarketing campaign. You may use Google AdWords as well. Google will grant you a badge to be put on all pages of the web. Once there, the data regarding your guests will continue to be processed. You will steer the Google remarketing tag to gather data on single-user behaviour to attract audiences (also known as remarketing audiences), such as sign up for a mailing list or check for a specific product. You will also use this information to create plans for unique campaign remarks. It is necessary to set your remarketing targets in line with your marketing plan. For example, if you wish to give free shipping deals to someone who bounces out of products in their cart, you can build an audience for that category. You should then create an ad to illustrate your bid, and Google can show it to the target audience. Here are the few benefits that google marketing provides: Maximum reach Facebook can function well for companies that rely on social capital, but its usage as a remarketing tool is minimal. If your customers aren't on the site, the advertisements won't reach their viewers. The Google Show Network contains more than 2 million domains worldwide and serves 88% of Internet users. In contrast, fewer than 25 per cent of all Internet users are on Facebook. Customisable With the Google Show Network, you're more likely to tailor your remarketing campaign. For example, if your cart-departure shopper is interested in women's clothes, you can put your advertisements on women's clothing websites or create a portion of women's audience. In addition to demographic info, the network also helps you to tailor your ads based on: Various systemsDesktop softwareEntire nations or certain regional regionsNames of places used in Google SearchLanguages. This helps you to target different layers of your advertising. For example, if a women cloth shopper walks through a neighbourhood where you have a brick-and-mortar store, you can have Google show your ad when they open an app to check the weather. Track ad performance and refine your customisation with Google Analytics If you have Google Analytics, you can add tracking codes to your Google Ads campaign and see how it works. If some are exceptionally well, you can spend more on these networks and save money on others. Analytics will also help you tailor your remarketing strategies even more. You should go to your account to let demographics and interest reports know what the people who respond to your advertising have in common. You can also use this feature on our website, which doubles the advertisement targeting possibilities. For example, let's imagine that you allow Analytics on your platform and discover that many of the people who quit before making a purchase are under 28. You plan to post deals on pages that attract demographics, and Analytics informs you that those sites have higher response rates. The next time you target the age bracket, you will rely on these sites and increase your investment return. You can add a UTM or Urchin Monitoring Plugin to your URL as well. UTM is a code that helps you to monitor a particular campaign—and also specific content—within that campaign. If you're referring to customers who have viewed a product website, for example, you set up a UTM code to see how many of those users are reacting to the promotion. You may want to see if free shipping or discount is more effective. Adding UTM content to all deal forms lets you see if free shipping gets further conversions. You will customise the style of your ads. Google enables you to pick your ads' graphics and content, helping you retain the credibility of your brand's voice and image. This versatility allows you greater control over how your marketing strategies look, both in individual advertising and through campaigns. Ad-Building Tool Is User-Friendly The Google Show Ad Builder helps you select the theme, colour scheme, and quality of your advertisements. Using your photographs or choose free stock imagesCreate and update advertisements in just a few minutes. And if you're not a talented artist and you don't have a budget to employ one, you can always make personalised advertisements for all of your campaign comments. This is especially important if you submit multiples. Google AdWords work faster than SEO The main advantage of Google AdWords is that it works efficiently than SEO. Bothof these are search engine marketing techniques designed to generate more traffic and leads. But a well-optimised AdWords campaign can work many ways quicker for a business to get the much-loved first spot in search. Here are some of the reasons why it's faster and more efficient: At a time, you can focus on multiple keywords.Ads that appear at the top of the page will get immediate visibility. With Google AdWords, there's a great chance of driving more traffic and driving immediately. In comparison, the platform is more straightforward, and you know exactly what's going on with the advertising. Advertising will give you immediate exposure at an instant expense. In contrast, SEO will provide you with long-term popularity based on your content's commitment to quality. But I'm not here to explore the merits of one approach or the other. You ought to use them simultaneously but be rational about the period of performance and the effort/money required for both. To find out more about Google AdWords and how Fifteen can help you refine your ad spend contact us today. Our team is on hand to turbo charge your business with new and exciting campaigns. #### The Benefits of Using A Content Management System in Website Development An enterprise content management system is the core strength of many modern small to medium-sized companies and corporations' digital presence. CMS users can use several document types and content on a website, then edit and extend the details without needing a web programmer to set up the site and make the changes. Best of all, since CMS relies on templates, only rudimentary HTML knowledge is required. When it comes to in-text editing and image sharing, CMS software comes in handy. Users may also work together on content. Companies may rely on CMS to store content online and direct contact with their intended audience while developing a functional, appealing website. All of these benefits, of course, come at a price. Each organisation must determine whether or not investing in CMS is a good investment or a waste of money. Continue reading to discover the most important benefits of buying a content management system in website development. Simple to Understand While not all users are familiar with technology, the essential CMS functions of writing and publishing content and the slightly more advanced functions of adding media are typically simple to understand for all. It should not be appropriate for content editors and contributors to rely on a developer to add or modify content on your website. Instead of depending on someone who knows how to code, the workers will make adjustments whenever they need them with minimal training. Anyone who can use word processing software can use a CMS for the most basic functions, so you won't need to invest much time in practice. A WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) toolbar offers an editing interface close to that of widely used text editors. Editors can change text styles and incorporate multimedia, but their choices are restricted to what's needed to keep your website consistent. Collaboration and Multiple access A content management system (CMS) helps many people to have easy access to the website and collaborate on various tasks while working on it. Individuals can build their accounts, and multiple users can manage, edit, or update content on the website from their computers or devices by logging into these accounts. The CMS assists in collecting and disseminating all online material to those with access to the website. As a consequence, you won't have to send files to various people several times. People who are always on the move or who need to access a website's backend will find content management systems incredibly useful. Content management systems are beneficial for users who are always on the move and need to access the website's backend from various locations. Customisable permissions Access controls in content management systems allow you to grant custom user rights to particular parts of your website or limit which websites and content users can access. As you can see from the list above, there are many advantages to using content management systems. Additional CMS benefits include the ability to support content in several languages, providing process management tools to business customers, and reducing IT resources and costs. One of the best applications for enhancing your web portal applications' usability and introducing collaboration tools that boost communication and efficiency is a content management system (CMS). Powerful SEO Plugins and Tools Various plugins and tools are available in content management systems that can help the site rank higher in major search engines. This isn't to suggest you should get rid of your online marketing squad, but these tools will help you implement a simple SEO plan to improve online traffic to your website. Other website options lack the tools and plugins necessary to help you optimise your content for major search engines. WordPress plugins include options that include web page names, meta descriptions, alt tags, and other elements required to customise the website for Google and other leading search engines directly within the interface. They'll even warn you if any of these elements aren't completed correctly. Furthermore, these plugins are updated regularly to reflect any changes in major search engines that could affect your ranking. As a result, the website will still be configured, regardless of updates or changes. CMSs, especially WordPress, are the only website options that allow you to easily optimise your website for search engines using user-friendly plugins and tools directly within the editing interface. Content Easily Manageable, Efficient and Cost-Effective Using a content management system as the website portal comes with a slew of advantages, all of which are game-changers. Content management systems centralise all of your web content, facilitate easy collaboration, help develop dynamic web pages, allow for fast and easy updates, and provide useful plugins and tools to make your site as efficient and safe as possible while saving you time and money. If you remember nothing else from this post, keep in mind that a content management system will make your website much easier to handle, more efficient, and cost you a lot less money.  If you remember nothing else from this post, keep in mind that a content management system will make your website much easier to handle, more efficient, and cost you a lot less money. You don't need any more tension, nor do you need any more time or resources lost. So, what do you have to lose? Today is the day to upgrade to a content management system. Easily Control your Work Flow Your team would streamline workflows and work more effectively if you develop your website with a CMS. Your team will be able to build and edit content without the need for developer assistance after just a few hours of training. Your website will be simple to set up and update, and it will have all of the required functionality to help your business thrive. Verdict A content management system organises all of your content into a logical structure, making it easier for your website users to find what they're searching for. Getting a CSM helps with SEO because you can start a blog and edit existing content. It's a basic content management system that doesn't need any technical expertise, and the content is easily manageable, efficient and cost-effective. #### The Benefits of Using Umbraco For Your Content Management System Umbraco is an open-source content management system built on the Microsoft ASP.NET framework that lets you create everything from small brochures to large applications with its fully-featured environment and a slew of extra tools. Umbraco is one of the most popular platforms for professional programmers, and it is built with ASP.net. More than 100,000 websites currently use Umbraco. For those who don't want to spend time setting up and managing personal websites, Umbraco offers cloud hosting for e-commerce platforms. Umbraco is a popular, powerful, extendable, and flexible content management system. As a result, it can handle everything from simple websites to complex applications. As you can see, thousands of business owners and developers choose Umbraco for e-commerce for a good reason. Following are the benefits of using Umbraco for your content management systems: Umbraco Is A Free Content Management System There are no fees associated with using Umbraco CMS creation services. The design service is the only thing you have to pay for. This platform is open-source, which means you can save money on your website's launch. If you download additional products to add enhanced features, you will be asked to pay for them. Since it's open-source, you can use it whenever you like and aren't bound to anyone. So, if you don't want to use future services, you can easily employ another Umbraco-experienced web designer. Responsive User Interface Umbraco's mobile-responsive user interface is one of its most common features (UI). Changes to the material can be made right from your phone or tablet. It's as simple as tweeting or changing your status on Facebook. The user interface is simple and does not necessitate comprehensive technical expertise. Umbraco looks and behaves like an HTML page, allowing you to copy and paste content. Capabilities of API Other content management systems' APIs are add-on modules, while Umbraco's API is built-in natively using.NET. Another distinction is a read-only API that is restricted to content provided by their content API. CMS That Is Consistent and Reliable When it comes to web creation and content management, having a dependable CMS allows you to build whatever you want pays off big time. It is strongly encouraged to consider Umbraco whether you're creating a new website or migrating to a new CMS. It's ideal for sites with a broad content database, marketing and promotion features, e-Commerce, user-generated content, corporate and governmental content, and areas with many transactions and events, such as gaming sites. Tools for SEO and Marketing We all understand how crucial SEO and marketing are for a website's success. When creating a website, it's critical to include these features that help search engines find your site and, if necessary, provide different marketing features. We can use a Umbraco template as part of our regular website construct since it provides a complete collection of SEO features, including the ability to create and update title tags, metadata and descriptions, canonical tags, index and follow robots' tags, sitemaps, redirects, and more. Umbraco allows developers to add tracking pixels, integrate analytics, and make any other changes needed for marketing. Promotions, games, and banners are all common customizations. They can, however, be as complex as long-running sports competitions with thousands of participants. Scalability One of the best things about Umbraco is that it allows for scalability with its flexible load balancing built right into its codebase. It means you can start small (at a lower cost) and scale your website as your company grows. Customizability Umbraco is easily customizable, so if you ever want to expand your website, you can do so whenever you want. Advanced features, such as membership, database, eCommerce, and anything else you might need later on in your website's life, can all be built on demand. Some website builders have their plugins, while others require additional development to integrate third-party content, which can be time-consuming. Umbraco, on the other hand, makes it simple for developers to incorporate providers with its system. This is due to its open-source platform once again. Ideal for Content Publication You're also aware that content is the foundation of every website. As a result, it makes sense to use a website to upload and manage content as simple as possible. You can use Microsoft Word to create and publish content with Umbraco, ensuring that you can take advantage of the accessibility it provides. You can also save copies of the content from flipping and connecting later. Inserting images and records are particularly easy. The media library is simple to use, and you can manage your pictures and other materials without spending hours learning how to use it. The Perfect Way to Start Optimizing When you launch it on Umbraco, you would be in the best place to optimize your site. SEO needs time and effort after the website is launched, so make sure you're not up against an uphill fight. Both websites will start optimizing right away with Umbraco, so you can get the most out of your marketing efforts once your site is live. Umbraco CMS has a Huge Support Community You do not want just to launch your website and leave it on its own. You get the benefits of a large support community with Umbraco CMS development websites, where you can ask questions and get advice from expert developers or other community members. They'll be available to assist you at any time of day, so you'll never be alone. There are also Umbraco's user resources, which include a thriving online community of IT experts as well as over a hundred video tutorials on their website. They also provide a premium support service for a fee. Final thoughts When it comes to web development and content management, having a dependable CMS allows you to design whatever you want pays off big time. As most leading website development businesses, they strongly advise you to consider Umbraco if you're going to build a brand-new website or move to a new CMS. Suppose you want to build a website with a broad content database, marketing and promotion features, e-commerce, user-generated content, corporate and governmental content, and those with a lot of transactions and events, such as gaming sites. In that case, Umbraco is a good and recommended option. #### The Best of Google Web Fonts When it comes down to using fonts across the web, Google has supplied designers and developers with an invaluable tool – Google Web Fonts. The Google Web Fonts library contains over 800 different font families, which is a fantastic and diverse resource, but how do you choose the right typeface for your project? We have compiled a list of some of the best fonts available from Google Web Fonts.   Open Sans The big daddy of Google Web Fonts, we find Open Sans to be one of the most versatile web fonts out there right now! It comes as a welcome alternative where Arial or Helvetica may have otherwise been used and is subtle enough to work for body copy and titles without overpowering other elements within the site design. The font family consists of 5 different weights with italic versions of all. The differing weights work really well together and can be used as a sole font family across a website because of this. What’s awesome about Open Sans is that there is also a condensed version available through GWF! We can’t recommend it enough as it’s such a versatile font family that works across so many different styles of website without the threat of all sites looking the same.   Poppins If you’re looking for an endearing geometric style font family that comes in several different weights, then look no further! Poppins is a fantastic web font that works well on its own or part of a combination of fonts. The geometric style means it can always be used as an alternative to fonts like Gotham, Mark Comp Pro or Proxima Nova. The font family consists of 5 different weights, unfortunately, it doesn’t include italic versions which is it’s only real flaw. If Poppins doesn’t quite do the job, another GWF ‘Montserrat’ is also a flexible geometric font but only comes in 2 weights.   Roboto Slab A fantastic little slab serif font, Roboto truly compliments it’s Serif and Sans Serif siblings too. The whole range of Roboto font families are a great addition to any site but we particularly enjoy the feel of the Slab Serif version. Slab Serifs are making a comeback and Google have their fair share of types across their library, given the choice, we would use Roboto Slab as you’re given the most flexibility when you can use other versions of Roboto alongside it, it’s a no-brainer!   Merriweather This serif font is a really popular addition to the Google Web Font library and we can see why! A simple serif font that comprises of 4 different weights and italic versions of all can be used widely across headlines, titles and works best in the form of body copy. Merriweather was designed to be easy and pleasant to read on the web, which makes it an excellent choice for large sections of copy to be formatted in.   Playfair Display If you’re looking for a fancier style serif font then Playfair Display is a really elegant family of fonts. It comprises of 3 different styles with italic versions of each. The style of font is very traditional, influenced by quill style brush strokes but retaining a tidy look. As it’s title suggests, the typeface is best used for headlines and titles rather than body copy, as it does have some thinner areas to some of the letterforms. What’s great about this font family is that it can be easily paired alongside body copy in either serif or sans serif styles which is why we would recommend it as an eye-catching title typeface.   Dancing Script If you’re on the lookout for a beautiful script/handwritten font family to use across the web, our favourite is Dancing Script. The font family comes in 2 weights which is great for use across the web and unusual for a font style like this. The letterforms are lively and have an energy to the way they sit across the baseline which allows them to look more ‘hand drawn’ than computer generated. The informality of this typeface makes for a great addition to a site and would work well as a complimentary font These are just some of our recommendations on getting started with Google Web Fonts. However, with over 800 to choose from, we would recommend trialling some for yourself! Google Web Fonts can be implemented into sites easily due to its open source platform and licenses allowing for personal and commercial use. Visit the Google Web Fonts site and get started! #### The Best SEO memes of 2018 Working in the digital industry can be strange at times. Everyone is on social media and assets such as memes have become a big part of the average person’s day-to-day life. I have been described as the Queen of Memes a few times. I spend time everyday scrolling through my news feed tagging my friends in various posts and continuing our meme wars. It wasn’t until the other day that a joke about schema markup went too far and before we knew it - we were elbow deep in SEO memes. Since then, our digital marketing slack channel has been filled with everything from Gordon Ramsey to Liam Neeson. Here are some of our favourite SEO memes of 2018: 10. If you could just make us #1… Not every client knows what SEO is. Never mind all the hard work that has to be put in to rank for highly competitive terms. We like to understand our client's goals, whether the point is to raise brand awareness or boost conversions. Getting a company page to rank is part of the package with SEO, but we’re not going to do it by the weekend. 9. Is this link spam?! Often during our “discovery” phase with a new client, we’ll tell them about the importance of having high quality and relevant backlinks. We’ll usually disavow a lot of their current links. With a plan to replace them with a high-quality link building plan. Yet a lot of them see their backlink count halve overnight and panic – don’t worry, it’s link spam. It won't be missed. 8. I will find you… again. And again. And again. Ahhh a good old remarketing joke! We love following people around the internet, freaking them out at every twist and turn. What’s better for your brand exposure than being EVERYWHERE. Especially where your potential customer visits? 7. I don’t always use Schema Markup… Oh, wait. Yes, we do! Every SEO knows that Schema and other types of markup are one of the biggest changes in how we translate our pages for search engines. Schema provides more information in the SERPs and it has been proven to improve CTR. (We had to at least give a shout out to the meme that gave us this blog inspiration.) 6. We also (don’t) like to live dangerously… Every website that comes out of Fifteen has been designed to be user-friendly but also easy to optimise. Little things like setting ALT tags, metadata and heading structures should happen without a doubt if you ever want a chance of ranking. 5. You know nothing about featured snippets… Featured snippets are an interesting concept for SEOs everywhere. Known as “position 0”, being featured in a featured snippet allows you to rank above all other organic pages for a certain term or question. It can be hard to secure these spaces, and we’re sure Jon Snow knows nothing about it… 4. Blogging actually works… It’s no surprise that business owners believe blogs are just there to look pretty. Most don’t completely understand how much of an impact they can have. Blogs allow you to target relative keywords and questions. As well as providing your site with fresh content on a regular basis – something that we know Google loves. 3. Google's guidelines are there for a reason… Google's Webmaster Guidelines are there as a guide for SEO’s everywhere. Google no longer releases algorithm updates as a heads-up. But, everything you need to know is available at your disposal if you look hard enough. If you decide to go against these guidelines by using black-hat techniques, you’ll soon know about it. 2. Thou shall not pass without a content strategy… Even here in 2018 – Content is King. Without an effective content strategy, none of your channels can thrive and perform to the highest standard. Get your strategy in place or you shall not pass in to the world of good rankings and heightened traffic. 1. SEO isn’t rocket science… Way back when, you could add white text on white backgrounds or link build through directories. A rumor was made that SEO is “easy”. Any SEO specialist like myself knows that’s not the case. If you don’t know the ins and outs you will never have a successful strategy. Not to say it’s rocket science, it just takes a little work. #### The Best Social Media Faux Pas of 2017 2017 has seen a rise of social media like no other year before it. 50% of most major brands are now on Instagram and this is expected to rise to 71% in 2018. But, with such volume comes great responsibility. Social media is now a saturated pool of opinion. Whether that’s positive or negative, everyone has the opportunity to have their say. Once you say the wrong thing - there often isn’t any going back from (even delete tweet can’t save you.) Yet, in these misjudgments comes a sort of twisted enjoyment for both user and brand. Hence, we’ve piled together some of our favourite mis-tweets, faux pas and Instagram blunders for your enjoyment. Prue Leith’s Bake Off Bombshell The Twitter-sphere erupted in a GIF fuelled frenzy when Great British Bake Off co-host Prue Leith accidentally revealed the winner 12 hours ahead of the scheduled TV final. She profusely apologised and the tweet was fairly swiftly deleted. But, the damage was already done. Prue cited differing time zones as the reason for her gaffe. Poundland puts on a show Images a little too outrageous to share over here. Budget brand Poundland embarked on what can only be described as an extremely out of character Twitter tirade. The highly publicised stream of content featured creative from the brand incorporating popular ‘elf on the shelf’ in uncompromising positions. What a storm in a teacup. See you again at Tw-elf o’clock. pic.twitter.com/HkpJKAnxFT— Poundland (@Poundland) December 22, 2017 This one is tricky, whilst we’re not sure this is the best way to approach a brand strategy, short-term brand awareness has gone through the roof, with earlier tweets going from around 100 to upwards of 5,000. Now, you can’t argue with that sort of engagement…can you? Even the U.S. press secretary doesn’t change his password…apparently As part of the U.S. government, you would have thought cybersecurity would be pretty high on your priority list. Apparently not for Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who accidentally tweeted his password, twice. Don’t go on an admin adding spree My Twitter account was taken down for 11 minutes by a rogue employee. I guess the word must finally be getting out-and having an impact.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017 As an intern, the general idea is that you make coffee, fill in some relatively pointless spreadsheets. Above all else, you do whatever is asked of you. For this intern who on the last day of his experience, deleted the president of the United States’ Twitter account for 11 minutes. President Trump’s team of people got the account restored speedily, not without the world noticing. A real David and Goliath tale of social media in the modern digital age. Even the biggest brands make mistakes You may think the big brands are some sort of well-oiled social media machine. Almost devoid of any human error. But, sometimes, just sometimes, we all receive that little glimmer of hope, that actually they’re like the rest of us. And, even they have that moment in the morning where they aren’t quite concentrating enough to post the perfect tweet. This may well be the perfect example of the very best way to deal with such a gaff. Laugh at yourself, social media is the way brands can now bridge the gap between corporate and personal. Sometimes it isn’t the worst thing in the world to show your users, there really is a person on the other end of that smartphone. Just try not to ruin the ending to one of UK’s most viewed TV shows. #### The best web design software to use in 2024 There’s no denying that technology plays a huge role in the modern world and is central to how we all live. A prime example of this is the websites which help us connect with people and businesses online. It’s unthinkable to imagine life without these websites and impossible to overstate how crucial they are. Of course, websites do not appear by accident and they are the result of carefully curated web design. Building a fast, user-friendly site is vital to an organisation’s success and this can only be achieved by using the best web design software on the market. If you’re thinking of creating your own site for your business, you might be thinking “what web design software should I use?”. In this blog, we explore the top four best web design software used to create creative and compelling websites and why you should use them in 2024. 1. Webflow Webflow ranks highly when it comes to top web design software. This package is a comprehensive site builder that not only has masses of features, but also delivers superb results. It’s comparable to something like WordPress, but actually builds front-end coding into its design. This enables you to create beautifully coded websites with lots of cool functionality – but without having to actually code it all yourself. Although Webflow does need some knowledge of basic web design (such as box models, CSS rules and hierarchy), it’s not too hard to use. It’s also a web design software that offers true creative freedom and options like JavaScript to come up with any kind of site you like. With a neat editor interface as well, this software is ideal for making professional, responsive websites. 2. WordPress This is arguably THE most popular piece of software for creating websites on the planet. As a classic example of top web design software, it is tough to beat. Many websites are based on WordPress and it helps many global businesses maintain their online presence. But why is it one of the best website design software to use for 2024? There is no doubt that this makes web design easy and enjoyable. With no coding skills needed, you can just get on with making your site look great and deciding which features to include. There is a range of free templates to use and they can be customised however you like. WordPress also has a streamlined user interface and is well-supported if you get into any difficulties. This web design package also comes with a wide array of third-party plugins and SEO tools to use. As a result, it’s fairly simple to come up with a cool, unique site that visitors will love. 3. Adobe Dreamweaver Dreamweaver from Adobe is an iconic package for web design and has been around in the industry for a while now. Its legendary status has not diminished over this period and still continues to be one of the best website design software for many businesses. Although there is a bit of a learning curve when you start using it, there is no doubting the professional websites you can make with it. The use of templates in this software means you can start creating top-class sites without too much effort. There is also the ability to fully optimise your website on both mobile and desktop for best results. For the more experienced web designer, features such as multi-monitor support and the ability to code in Dreamweaver direct from Git are also a bonus. This is a piece of software that does require a paid monthly subscription though, so is best for professional web designers or those who will get lots of use from it. 4. Wix When it comes to the best web design software, the Wix website builder is worth considering. Although it is more of a web builder tool than a coding platform, it is still somewhere you can create awesome websites. Wix is especially good for beginners and those who could find something like Dreamweaver a bit too complex. Very easy to use and with no coding skills needed, Wix is packed full of powerful features to make your new site stand out. Available as a free version, there is also a paid version which has extras to enjoy. This can be worth it because the paid plans not only have extra storage/bandwidth, but also no Wix branding on sites. There are around 500 professional-looking templates to build your site with here and this helps you achieve faster results. Their drag and drop editing tool is also quick to pick up and fun to use. Features like Wix Turbo bring increased site speed and there are image editors, video backgrounds and much more to discover. Need more advice on web design software? As the above shows, there is a decent choice of easy-to-use web design software tools out there as we move into 2024 that make creating fantastic sites a breeze. Whether you are a web design professional, a complete newbie to the world of web design, or someone who is looking to build their own site simply for fun, these platforms certainly are worth considering. If you’re unsure on what web design software is right for you and your business, why not get in touch with us and we can give you all the help and advice you need. You can also take a look at the full range of web design services we offer and see how we can help boost your business. #### The Business Case for Mobile App Design Today's business is technologically driven and mobile app design is crucial. Whether you're running a small business, whatever you sell, technology will play a significant role in what you do and how you work. And the reason for the recent boom in workplace app development is that an increasing proportion of the workforce is working remotely and requires access to information. What is a Business Mobile Application? An enterprise application is a software program designed to increase work efficiency, simplify jobs, facilitate workflow integration, and facilitate organizational operations. Businesses and workplaces are increasingly implementing mobility programs that enable employees to connect to the firm and one another via their mobile devices. At the enterprise level, mobile apps are assisting in closing that gap. How to properly leverage a Mobile App design for your business? Businesses are interested in enterprise apps due to the potential for increased efficiency. And these efficiencies can be classified into three broad categories: Enhancing total productivity (e.g., simplifying admin processes). Empowering remote workers by providing them with additional information and a stronger link to their home base. Improved data collection, application, and accessibility. Most business cases fall into one of these categories. It will either increase productivity, allow remote workers greater autonomy, or provide better access to vital data. To be more specific, the following are some ways in which a mobile application design might benefit your business: Communication inside the Organization Workplace tasks necessitate effective communication, coordination, scheduling, and efficiency. Numerous workflow approaches and management systems have been developed to streamline chores and achieve results, such as the Getting Things Done methodology and Scrum, both of which are extremely beneficial on their own. However, internal enterprise apps can supplement existing systems by condensing workflow communication, tasks, and scheduling, among other functions, into a portable and easily accessible app that the entire team can use without leaving their desks. Consider the fundamental mechanics and benefits of optimized workflow approaches made available to your employees for constant reference and use via an iPad application that enables rapid peer-to-peer contact via something like a chat client with several channels. Management of Documents Throughout the life of a project, documents such as schedules, spreadsheets, workflow charts, and code are regularly changed. An enterprise app can be used to exchange and manage documents and notify users of real-time modifications via push notifications. You would be able to append a document and immediately sync the update with your team members, notifying them of the change. A document can be moved from the "In Progress" to the "Complete" categories within the program, visualizing work as it is completed. Content Access in the Absence of Internet While most firms have migrated some of their processes to the web, this data is only accessible via an internet connection. With a custom-built iPad or tablet app, content may be programmed to sync regularly or on-demand, ensuring that employees can access their files and log pertinent information regardless of whether they have an internet connection. Preventative Problem Solving Consider the following scenario: an employee completes the transcription of a handwritten office message, submits it to the central document, but makes an error somewhere along the way. Historically, this has resulted in a great deal of retracing, logistical complications, and wasted time. A tablet application developed internally might be used to provide real-time data entry, allowing for instant transcription of notes and memos without memory lapses or misread handwriting. This may then be quickly distributed to all project participants, ensuring that everyone is on the same page at the same time. With everyone's devices updated, an internal company app can detect problems before they occur. Eliminating the Middleman Employees would no longer be required to physically travel to the office, wasting valuable time and becoming distracted by the task of conveying information from one person to another. Management is delegated to the application, not to the employees. This enables you to concentrate on the task at hand rather than communicating it to others. Why Should You Create A Mobile App Business Plan? According to statistics, mobile apps are expected to produce over 935 billion dollars in income in 2023 via paid downloads and in-app advertising. According to another Statista analysis, the annual number of app downloads worldwide is expected to reach 299 billion by 2023. Now you understand the value of mobile apps and the critical nature of developing a business plan for your mobile app. Attractive investing opportunities As you might have guessed, the primary reason mobile app entrepreneurs create a business strategy for developing an app is to attract additional investment. This is to attract investors and even co-founders of start-ups – the choice is yours, and occasionally you'll need both. A strong business plan can aid in crystallizing your vision while also outlining the extent of your mobile app concept and business app concepts. Taking precautions Unplanned activities imply risks, and risks are synonymous with cost inefficiency and loss in business. When you create a business plan, you are effectively mapping out the entire journey of your enterprise. This can provide valuable insight into the numerous unanticipated and potential hazards. Assists you in maintaining perspective When making significant decisions, it's natural to overlook or overlook critical details that could build or break the foundation of your organization at a much later stage. However, it becomes much easier to recall when you have a blueprint that includes a series of points that serve as reminders of those critical areas. That blueprint is the mobile application development business plan. Verdict Regardless of the category to which your mobile application belongs, the business plan for each is, for the most part, identical. A business plan is static in comparison to an application business proposal, which is dynamic. This is because it is a one-time document that is not modified once the objective has been accomplished. We hope that this post has provided you with extensive and useful information about creating a business plan for your mobile application. Read about hybrid app development here. #### The Cardinal Sins of User Generated Content Campaigns User-generated content has fast become one of the most powerful weapons in a brand’s arsenal. Brands have been keen to give consumers creative control over a campaign and it’s easy to see why. Users are more invested in something they’ve created, especially if there are giveaways and prizes. What’s more, it saves companies from having to make content themselves, instead of cherry-picking what they want to share. However, this approach can backfire with poor taste, mismanagement and timing burying a campaign in negative press. So, if you’d like to avoid the brimstone of a PR nightmare and bask in the warm glow of a successful UGC campaign heed these cardinal content sins. …Timing The key to a good joke is timing. There have been many wannabe comedians and brands who have erred on the side a ‘too soon’ joke. British Gas made this mistake in 2013 when they released a Twitter social campaign on the same day they hiked the residential energy prices by almost 10%. Titled ‘#AskBG’ the energy supplier had their Customer Service Director, Bert Pijls, on a Twitter Q&A. Users were quick to hijack the Q&A voicing their displeasure over the price hike. British Gas was soon inundated with tweets from the silly ‘Hi Bert, which items of furniture do you, in your humble opinion, think people should burn first this winter? #AskBG’ to the macabre ‘@BritishGas will you be sacrificing your social media team for fuel this winter? #AskBG’. The gas giant learnt the hard way that the British populace was well-versed in biting sarcasm and quickly shut down their campaign. Insensitivity The NYPD attempted to rebuild trust in the community in 2014 with a Twitter campaign asking people to share photos of themselves with police officers along with the hashtag #MyNYPD. As well-intentioned as this campaign was, it came about in the wake of the tragedies of Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell, the Occupy Wall Street protests and several other negatively-charged events. Twitter users soon took to the platform in a moment of dark levity, posting photos of police brutality with tongue-in-cheek captions. The NYPD at first tried to ignore the negative press and retweet positive pictures but soon had to issues a statement to the press before any more damages could be done. Loss of Control UGC is renowned for its viral ability. Given the participatory nature of the campaign, it’s best to know how and what your audience will share. McDonald's learnt this the hard way. McDonald's have become one of the most recognisable brands in the world with the golden arches a universal symbol. Their mission was a simple one. To get people to open up about touching experiences at McDonald's with the hashtag #McDStories. Instead of tear-jerking stories of sharing meals with friends and family, users commandeered the tag and started posting unflattering images and describing horrible dining experiences. What made this campaign even more damaging is the fact that McDonald’s had paid to have their hashtag promoted on the Twitter homepage. This only fanned the fires and by the time they had pulled the campaign, it was too late. The McDStories went down in history as one of the biggest brand burns to date. Do the Research A plucky employee crossed a line while working on London Luton Airport’s social platforms. In an attempt to make a wintry joke, they posted a photo a plane that had landed and slid on a snow-covered main road with the caption; ‘Because we are such a super airport… This is what we prevent you from when it snows… weeee’. Instead of receiving reposts and perhaps growing the pic into a meme for users, the airport was inundated with complaints. Unfortunately, in their haste to post a picture, the employee in question failed to realise the picture they shared had been from a plane crash in which a young child had died. The airport dealt with the incident quickly, removing the picture within 90 minutes and issuing an unreserved apology for any offence. It could all have been avoided though had the eager social employee googled the image beforehand. Don’t Ignore Criticism Brands on the wrong end of social media often think by ignoring a problem it will go away. How wrong they can be. United Airlines discovered this when they chose to ignore Canadian musician, Dave Carroll. Dave submitted a claim for damage to his guitar after a less than professional handling of his case. United Airlines stated his claim had missed the standard 24-hour window and thought no more of it. In a tale akin to David and Goliath, Dave wrote a song and music video which he posted to YouTube and iTunes. To date, the video has over 18 million views and also spawned a book about the incident and a career as a public speaker. United Airlines eventually apologised but not before the damage had been done. Read the Room Mastercard was thrilled to be the official sponsors of the Brit Awards in 2014 but was soon left red-faced after their user-generated content plan backfired. The PR firm hired to run the event asked journalists to tweet about Mastercard using the hashtag #PricelessSurprises in exchange for official access to the awards. This was a bitter pill for many journalists to swallow with many calling the move an act of bribery. If there’s one group of professionals who regard the freedom of speech highly it’s journalists and they soon took to social media to turn the hashtag into a bashtag. One journalist summed the situation up best with the tweet; “Good press is hard to bribe. For everything else there’s Mastercard. #PrincessSurprises” If the PR firm had done the research this could all have been avoided. Instead, they were left red in the face. If you can keep these cautionary tales in mind when planning your next UGC campaign should be a breeze. Working with a stellar social and digital team can make all the difference so be sure to consult the best before diving into a user-generated campaign. There is no better as you watch your followers carry you into the promised land of retweets, shares and conversions. #### The Challenges Faced By A Modern Web Developer Being a Web Developer is a bit like being a professional problem solver. Every single day we face very different challenges in our day-to-day tasks, and it’s our job to find ways to solve those problems. Whether we come up with very elegant solutions or just a simple quick fix depends on the size of the problem and the amount of time we have to fix it. I’m going to outline some of the more consistent problems and challenges faced by our Web Development team on a weekly basis. Remember though that every day presents it’s own different set of challenges! User Experience Sometimes referred to as User Journey, a Web Developer has to keep the end user in mind constantly during the development cycle. This usually means making the end product (the website) as easy to use as possible, while also remaining powerful and doing everything the user may need. Sometimes there are compromises between usability and features, and usually that means we need to re-think how we’re approaching a problem. Latest Web Standards The web is constantly changing, and that’s a great thing. However it does mean that we as a Web Development team need to have our finger on the pulses to keep up with the latest in Web Standards, and often we need to be ahead of the curve and know exactly what is coming up. For example, I know that there’s a new specification for Web Payments currently in draft by the W3 Working Group - who make the Web Standards. Knowing when to use Web Standards We can’t just know about these brand new Web Standards, but we must also know when it is advantageous to use them. For example, there has been a new way to position blocks on a page that iss nicer to work with, Flexbox. But we have had to wait for all major browsers to support it before we can use it on any of our websites. Internet Explorer Internet Explorer is by far one of the biggest challenges that we as Web Developers face. We extensively test every single website that we put online against every major browser. So that list includes: Chrome Firefox Opera Safari iOS Safari Android Browser Internet Explorer Even if the website works and looks perfect in every browser, Internet Explorer always introduces new quirks which need to be addressed. For example, the way we create rounded corners was not supported by Internet Explorer for the longest time, so we had to find creative ways to work around that, or live with the fact that we wouldn’t have rounded corners on IE. Task Automation We often perform little, repetitive tasks every day. This can range from deploying a new development environment to compiling our stylesheets. Luckily there are tools such as gulp, grunt and webpack which do a lot of the work for us. We simply have to write the task in a language gulp understands, and then gulp will automate that for us. An example of a task that one of our developers, Chris, has recently written is something which will compile our CSS, minify it, compile our javascript, minify it, backup the database, bump the version numbers in the code and create a new ‘release’ in our version control system. Each step on that list doesn’t necessarily take that long, but this task makes it take less time, meaning we have more time to write new features or start new projects. Performance Performance, as with usability, is also something Web Developers have to constantly keep in mind throughout the development cycle. Every action we take during development has the potential to impact the performance of the finished site hugely. If, during development, we upload large images to test - that’s going to come back to bite us at a later stage. If we’re not correctly managing our assets (css, javascript, images) from the beginning, then it’s going to get harder and harder to optimise them as we move forward. What we always want is a blazing fast site that looks amazing and performs exceptionally for the user. That’s the award winning trifecta of performance, usability and design that we strive for in every single project which comes through the studio, and that's usually what we get if we manage to solve all of these problems. #### The Challenges Of Coding An Animated Homepage As someone with previous experience in whole page animation, I was tasked with building the shiny new homepage for IDBS. You can see the site here https://www.idbs.com/ in its full glory, but we had to get over a few challenges to get it up and running. The design process Firstly is the design. Our website designs are built in photoshop which is a great creative tool. The problem is you end up with still images. So, we also need a way to get across the animation. Consequently, we worked through a workflow process describing everything that was going to happen as the user scrolls, to create the perfect user journey for exploring the company. The development process With that all sorted, it's time to start coding but that's much easier said than done. As with most coding we start with the easy bit's and go from there, so everything that doesn't move was built first including the general page layout, text, links and images. So, now we've got something to work with, it's time to look at the trickier bit breaking down each part: - Content fading in as you scroll. - Fixed side navigation highlighting the related dot. - Clouds appearing and coming out of the screen. - Explore area moving sideways. - Industries popping up as the explore area moves sideways. - Finally The light bulb following a specific path. The first 2 are quite common so I created these first. Then I came to tackling the clouds. This is where the maths that you had no idea why you were doing it at school comes in. The clouds need to come in slowly and accelerate out wide as they get bigger so they don't cover the cloud below. By multiplying the distance scrolled by 2 you can make the clouds move twice as fast as your scrolling speed. But, to make it accelerate you've got to think to those curved graphs made using powers. With a bit of trial and error, the position ended up equalling ('the scroll distance' ÷ 500) ^ 6 using various other functions to calculate the blur, opacity, and size. For the sideways scrolling, I was happy to say a plugin came to my rescue, though it wasn't completely straightforward. The plugin I used was called ScrollMagic and you can see this example shows slides moving sideways as you scroll down the page. I, therefore, modified the example and was able to recreate what you can now see on the site. To tackle the industries popping up, yet another plugin came into use, this one called scrollr but I had to use to use some custom code to get all the timings right. Then finally with the light bulb, we ended up using ScrollMagic again but this time it was even more complicated. Which I don't think I'll be able to go into in this article. Hopefully, as you can see by tackling these things one at a time and breaking it all down we're able to create a full user journey displaying content in new and exciting ways. if you're interested in website development or website design, get in touch with us today here. #### The Digital Marketer's Guide to Video “Within the next 5 years Facebook could be All Video.” That was the spine-tingling battle cry echoing throughout the digital marketing world. It was commented last year by Nicola Mendelsohn, the Vice President of EMEA Facebook – to some, the most prominent digital soothsayer within the British digital marketing sphere. Whether it’s true, or the intention behind this was genuine, this sort of trickle of information is something marketers scramble to dissect. The general insight that we can gain from it is that video is big, but it’s going to be even bigger – like super-massive. With this in mind, let’s take a look at the current state of play showing all the tools at your disposal. What Video Content Works? Over a 100 years ago an Englishman by the name of Eadweard Muybridge was one of the first ever people to truly capture motion and did so by sequencing a series of shots of a galloping horse. Why did he do this? To answer a burgeoning question: during a horse’s gallop at any point does all its feet leave the ground? What does this reference to a Victorian stop-motion pioneer (who shot and killed his wife’s lover) have to do with video marketing? Well… Content needs to have a purpose – and it needs to have meaning. Even if you’ve spent a grotesque amount of your marketing budget on creating fantastic looking content, if it does not serve a need from the consumer then it’s going to be seen by as many as Blackbeard’s treasure. Gaining insight into what types of content is working and what’s popular is worth finding out. Look at what attracts the most search volume at any given moment, but also pay some cold hard attention to the sort of content being presented to you. For example:   I’m not too sure about ‘How to be an Anime Superhero’, but you get a general gist of what’s being watched and who the general audience is – which we’ll come to shortly. If you’re creating an informative piece, emphasize the type of person or presenter who might lead to more shares of the video. A more neutral character is more likely to get shared more – this is similar to how vloggers look to create their content. Instructional videos gain a lot of views. This is due to bringing in traffic via search engines within a particular niche. Users can then see the volume of what’s been viewed and how many likes the video has, which helps to validate the video in the viewer’s mind. Look at the words or language used in the titles: words like ‘best’, ‘everything’, ’how to’, ‘all time’. This sends almost primal signals to the user that this is definitive The first couple of seconds of your video is the most crucial element. This is where the viewer decides to fully commit to watching it in its entirety. Don’t waste their time by spending the first part with a fancy animation of your logo – the user is simply going to turn off. In fact, from our own research, we’ve noticed a 25% drop in views for videos that start with a logo. I can’t emphasize enough about quality being a major part of your video content. ‘Corporate video is often given a bad reputation. It conjures up images of extreme close-ups of customer testimonials, with the faux leather sofa in tow, or hard-hatted near-retirees pointing at labyrinthine machinery. Think about how to make your content appear natural because that’s what glues our eyeballs to our devices. We’re able to emphasize and feel as if we’re being taken on a journey. This is especially important if you’re a B2C setup. Another key aspect of your video content is actually how it’s structured. With video, you need to be telling a story, and a story traditionally has three acts that you might want to follow: 1.The Setup Set the tone and establish your narration. For example, focus your audience comfortably on who’s telling the story or where the video is set. Outline a challenge that your company has faced. 2.Confrontation Show your audience how you tackled the challenge, all the pitfalls, and how your workforce developed new skills in the process. 3.Resolution The payoff. This is what the whole video has been building up to, the best place to tie everything up in a neat package and show off your best qualities. And let’s face it, if your viewer has come through this far, they’ve more or less invested themselves in the video, so it’s peak time for a return on their investment. What are the benefits of Video? One of the less obvious benefits of creating video content is Time. The ratio of information you can get across in a short time is much larger than, say, that 7,000-word whitepaper. Video is then by its sheer growth the true future usurper of content marketing. We need to be looking at some of the key developments over the last year, such as: 360 videos Live streaming Interactive Video Platforms Virtual Reality Being on the cutting-edge is becoming less expensive. Depending on your type of business any of the above may suit a particular aspect of your company. There’s no need to feel that you do not have access to any of these capabilities, as most of them can be easily developed. The Right Platform for the Right Audience We had a quick peek last year at which video hosting platforms are right for your business. So I’m not going to retread on anything there, but obviously, the most popular destination for video online is Google’s mega-behemoth YouTube, it has by far the biggest reach with 1.5 billion users per month. Facebook video has gained enormous pace in becoming online video champions, with expansion into 360 videos and Facebook Live. Snapchat video may have the appearance of being pubescent, but if you’re targeting a younger audience this might be an easy-win. Instagram is also a great way to show off short content with features like Boomerang. Vimeo might be right for your business if you produced a visually high-quality video (1080p to 4k) and you don’t want to lose any of that to compression. It may be a good option if you’re B2B company that is not really interested in visibility, but only want to show off to a certain few with a high-quality offering. If you’d rather bypass all the external hosts, take a look at Wistia. This allows you to self-host any video that you’ve produced, and also benefits from getting a better control of your SEO. Unfortunately, unlike the others, it does cost money – not very Web 2.0. Whichever platform you choose, make sure you make the content bespoke. Do not duplicate – diversify. What works on Vimeo won’t work on Instagram and vice versa. Plus you also want to all your traffic to be funnelled into one place. Optimizing Your Video for the Web When it comes to adding that extra layer of visibility, don’t miss out on optimizing its appearance. Let’s take a look at YouTube, as it’s the second most used search engine on the web and should be treated as such. Search engines crawl these pages like anything else so there are some key SEO points: Adding captions is an absolute must, not only from the perspective that Google gives preferential treatment, but it’s excellent for being user-friendly as more people are watching on their mobile devices - possibly in a public space where sound is not an option. Treat the description as you would any piece on your site. Create original content, don’t be afraid of a high word count (in fact, the higher, the better). Make sure to put any CTAs in there too, or else your product will be hard to find. Do not forget your channel page. Literally, write the grandest articulation about your company under the about tab and don’t forget links! Look for keywords that attract big search volumes when it comes anything you’re posting including the title. Create an awesomely attractive banner for your channel page. An easy tool you can use to do this is Canva. You can also get some great stats in Google Analytics if you embed your video within the desired page on your website. You'll see dwell time becoming higher, especially if there’s not a lot of text. Video tags, unlike the defunct meta tags, actually have some benefit. They do appear to help YouTube get to grips with what your content is actually about, and if you share a certain keyword with another video, you’re more than likely to pop up as a related video. If you have the option, depending on what platform you’re using, customize video thumbnails with branding. When shared via other platforms you’ll boost your imagery. But try to keep it minimal – don’t over-stuff it. This is also an opportunity to put in your most appealing shot – think of it as the film poster to your content. With Facebook, you’ll be able to gather your data through Facebook Insights. The important metrics you’ll need to track is duration and completion rates. Do not link to YouTube in a Facebook post. It doesn’t look pretty and Facebook is generally biased towards its own video hosting service. It pretty much doesn’t like you leaving the social media site. There’s also some argument in using YouTube like you would a social media platform, interacting with other content, creating playlists and so on. But the benefit of this would be at your business’s own insight and discretion. There are also various other ways to optimize video content across other platforms, such as Twitter or Instagram, where it's recommended to use between 10-15 hashtags to really get full exposure. Measuring Your Success and others Like your rankings in the search engine results page, the data in your video analytics is a crucial part of seeing what works – like the number of sessions. The number of views you receive is not what makes your video a success, it’s actually the retention of your audience. If your total viewers are only watching a few seconds you wouldn’t call that great content. Other metrics to keep an eye on are on any particular video is the comments to views ratio and the views per subscription. Use free browser extensions such as VidIQ or Socialblade to research your competitors. See what content works for them but also look at what tags they’re using for their videos to help boost their visibility. There’s a lot more with video and we haven’t even skimmed the surface with targeting demographics or paid ads. But before we get into that it’s worth having a try and just create content. Vacuum up all the above information, take a look around your company, note any opportunities worth punctuating through the visual medium. More importantly, find your own ‘flying horse’. (If you’ve skipped to this sentence I appreciate that this makes no sense at all.) #### The Digital Marketing Starter Pack An online presence for businesses has become almost vital to success. Where shops on the high street can attract some footfall from their shop windows, many companies don't have their location at an advantage, or it is just not useful for their business. With consumers researching information online about services, opening times, price and location, it means you will not be considered if your business is not visible. So you have made a website or had someone build one for you. You've made a great start, and you are now ready to enter the race. . . . or did you think just being there was enough? Just like offline marketing, online marketing requires a strategy, effort, and the use of different tools. Some more complicated than others, it depends on your skill level and time how much you can do on your own. In this article, we'll discuss the different channels of online marketing. With this starter pack, you'll be able to make informed decisions about your online marketing strategy, whether you go at it on your own or choose to outsource (some of) it. Organic Search Marketing, or SEO SEO, or search engine optimisation, is the ways you can improve your site so that it will rank higher in the search engine result pages (SERPs). There are many facets to SEO, such as keyword optimisation and link building. The core thought to get ranked is to focus on your site visitors. Make sure your website and your content are both relevant and of high quality. If you provide screws and nails, make sure you talk about screws and nails on your pages, and not hacksaws or lawnmowers. Make separate pages for your services or products, so that each page targets only one keyword. Instead of having a 'screws & nails' page, have on the page all about screws, and one for nails. This is, of course, a very one-dimensional example. Think about how you can display your service offers on dedicated pages. Not only will you target specific keywords, you will also create space to explain your service offering, so that you can help answer peoples' questions, and convert them into leads. If you work within a specific region, you can leverage your business location with local SEO. This type of SEO is based on being relevant only for your local area, so that you do not have to compete on a national level, with a lot more players. Google has their tool to help businesses be visible: the Google My Business listing. Claim your listing and update it to all the latest details. A matching website and Google My Business listing is another signal to Google that you provide specific services in that area. Therefore you will be considered more relevant to show up in search results for that area and service. Paid Search Marketing, or PPC While organic rankings are based on your website and are entirely in control of the search engines, there is also a paid option. Paid search marketing, also known as pay-per-click (PPC), relates to the search results seen on top of the page, with the little 'ad' marker in front of them. These websites are not ranking because of their quality and relevance to your query, but because they have paid to show for the keywords you used. Paid for results are more prominently visible in the SERPs, above the organic rankings and Google Maps/Google My Business listings. Though they will cost you money every time someone clicks on them, they will be the most visible to the searcher. With a good description and title, these ads could potentially get you traffic that otherwise could have chosen your competition. However, paid search marketing is not as straightforward as buying advertising space in a newspaper. There is a process of bidding, and again relevancy plays a role in if Google will show your ad or a competitors'. For more information about paid search we recommend you read the basics of PPC. Social Media Marketing Depending on your business, some of your target audience might frequent social media a lot. Including social media in your strategy can then be an excellent way to improve your brand awareness. It is essential that you know what your brand is, your tone of voice, and the type of messages you want to send out. Most importantly is to remember that social media is not an advertising platform - it is a social platform. Your message should not just be about you, but instead be relevant for your audience. Reply to comments, interact with your audience. Would you want to communicate with someone who only talks about themselves; whether you wanted to hear it or not? Think of your brand as a person, and how your target audience can build a relationship with your brand. A social media strategy will help you what content to post, how to interact and how to measure results. You can read more about how to successfully use social media in our five ways to maximise your social media article. Lastly, don't just start on social because "it's a thing". Research where your audience is most active and what content they like to consume. Also look at your content offering, and what social platform is best suited. Longform articles are easily linked on Twitter, but if you have a highly visual product, Instagram would be a much better choice. Start small, and use your more comprehensive strategy to grow and nourish one platform, before you move on to add others. Here are some further helpful articles: Social media image sizes Creating the right content Digital Marketing Strategy With your knowledge about the tools mentioned above, you can start thinking about a digital marketing strategy. Just like in offline marketing, you will need to think of how you want to approach specific audiences, with what content, and via what channel. We don't want you to lose sight of your end goal after all these short introductions, so get started on your digital marketing strategy with these foundations. If you feel like digital marketing is not your cup of tea, or you don't have the time or the resources to do it yourself, get in touch with us. We have experience in an extensive array of online marketing channels, and we gladly help your business in getting the most out of its online presence. #### The elements of user experience Welcome to our blog, covering the different elements of UX, also known as User Experience. UX design holds huge importance within the digital world, with Google placing an increased amount of ranking value behind it. We have more information on how UX fits into SEO and how UX can improve SEO in our other articles. For more information on how we can help you with your UX strategy please visit our User Experience sector page. What is UX Design, and Why Should We Learn it? So, what is User Experience? UX design is simply keeping the user at the heart of everything you design. Not to be confused with UI, which is how the user interacts with your screen. UX involves constant research into your users, obtaining user feedback and implementing necessary changes to put your users wants and needs first. But why does UX Design in websites matter? 79% of users that dislike what they see on a website will go back and search for a different site, abandon rates and drop off rates highlight bad UX. Good user experience directly impacts your businesses profits and engagements. The Foundations of user experience ·  Keep users at the centre of every decision ·  Try and understand your user ·  Base decisions around real users and real data ·  Approach UX with empathy and get rid of any preconceptions ·  Consider all areas of user experience: delivery, store visits, websites UX Design Key Stages: 1. Discover more about your users and products 2. Describe and define your concept 3. Design the Behaviour 4. Develop your design 5. Release your product/site 6. Continually improve your design What is good website usability? Firstly, a website needs to be simple, easy to understand and intuitive for all users. If a website has good usability, then it’s engaging and efficient. Customers should come away feeling as though they’ve had a really good experience from start to finish. Another important element to good usability is ensuring your user feels supported, whether that be with live chats, FAQ’s, advice, and help. From a design aspect there should be consistency across all pages from where the buttons are located, fonts chosen and branding. Learn more about how UX design changes mobile usability. User Feedback When it comes to choosing the best research method for user feedback, first you need to decide what you’re looking to find out from it. Here’s a few questions to ask yourself prior: ·  Who are your users? ·  What needs are you fulfilling for them? ·  What are their pain points? ·  Is it a familiar or brand-new concept to them? User Experience Research Methods ·  Focus Groups ·  Surveys and Questionnaires ·  Market Research / Report Statistics ·  Site and App Usage ·  Formal Lab Based Usability Studies The User Journey Before you can even begin to think about building your website you will need to create and online and offline user journey. The offline journey may include the returns process and delivery processes whereas the online journey would involve how the user navigates the site, adds to basket, and pays for products. It’s important to create alternative paths around the happy path. The happy path is also known as the ‘desired path’ which is the one we hope our users take. However, it’s important to prepare for all possibilities that might occur, such as spelling errors, payment fails, low stock and many more scenarios. What is Visual Design? Visual design is the process of adding aesthetics to your design which in this case means ‘how it looks and feels’. Typography: describes what you use for writing text: body text, headlines, and buttons. This includes things such as font, text sizes, and colours Colours: are something you can use to draw attention or categorise items. Colour schemes are also important for your branding Image styles: are important for the look and feel of your page. Are you using, for example, photography or a cartoon image? Spaces, shapes, and lines: are ways to construct and visually divide your page and can help add clarity or emphasis Symbols: are icons you can use for menus, user actions, or content categories – these should be familiar visual cues to help a user Branding: what is the message that you’re trying to convey? You may be creating a brand from scratch, updating one or working within existing ‘brand guidelines’; each of which are different challenges in how you approach the above. When to do Visual Design Visual design can be done at three different stages throughout the UX Design process depending on your product or service. Visual design may begin in the early stages for you to demonstrate your ideas to others and build enthusiasm. You may also use this to gather feedback while still in the early concepts. Interactive prototyping is also encouraging during the analysis stage as it provides a visual way of defining how your site or app would work. Finally, as expected, visual design takes place within the design process. Once confident with functionality and technical design you can build more visual aspects into prototype this is called making it higher fidelity.  Information Architecture UX Information architecture is done to help organise the content on a site so that users can easily adjust to the functionality. Organise your content: Use sticky notes and take time arranging different journeys. Labelling: Are icons, downloads, next steps clear? Are you using words your persona will understand/engage with? Navigation: How your user interacts and moves around on the site. They need to know where they are, how they get back and navigate to another part. How do they search? How easy are pages to find? Personalisation is key. Test and refine: This is done in case of mis translation in cultures, generations, something’s clear to you but not others. Card sorting: add variations of subtitles, description words and ask test group what these words mean to them and how they make them feel. Interactive Design Prototyping It’s important to have interactive design prototypes to eliminate any risk of mistakes and to keep your project in line with the user’s needs, and any objectives and goals. A wireframe is a very basic and simple drawing of a digital screen showing where things are placed and how they link together. It’s a great way to visibly see your user’s journey. With a wire frame you can visually plan the navigation and menus, screen area and responsive design. What is User Experience Testing? People are bad at knowing what they want, explaining their needs and thinking of everything/situation and exception. User testing lets people mimic what will happen on the site.  By doing user testing in the design phase you can save time, effort and money. Investing 10% of the budget in UX can improve sales by double. User testing is crucial for nailing and enhancing your design to suit users. You need to take into consideration, some comments may conflict or be based on misunderstanding, or not be possible. Therefore you should weigh up the impact of the issue, how many times it occurred and the value of solving the issue before prioritising what should be resolved. Different Types of User Experience Testing Task-based testing Task based user testing tests user journey and alternate journeys. Providing simple, detail free instructions, to see how easily they can navigate the site. It’s crucial you don’t provide any leading information. Closely watch for areas they hesitate or struggle on and alter your design accordingly. Real world testing With real world testing you need to consider testing the different devices users have and the different environments such as home alone, out shopping, stressful situations, and relaxed ones. Gorilla testing Gorilla testing involved going out into the wild with your prototypes and asking questions, there and then, relating to your project. Diary testing With diary testing, you would give your tester the protype to go home with and ask them to record their experience within a diary. A/B Testing With A/B testing you can directly test how different images, sized Call to Actions, text variation and navigational changes impact user experience. The Importance of Analysing Data Finally, we will talk about the importance of analysing data. Data holds huge value when it comes to improving your user experience. You should always keep analysing your UX Design, even once launched, so you can see how real people interact with it. The only way to stay ahead of the everchanging market is through combining data with real world insights. Such as, how people get to your page, conversions, where users drop off, how much time they spent on your site, how many users bounce and how they move around your site. What’s next? If you’re looking to widen your UX knowledge even further then make sure to read our 10 Principle Laws of UX and Laws of UX Part Two. Or maybe you’re interested in finding out more about the different Digital Marketing Services we can offer alongside our UX Service?At Fifteen, we take time to carefully understand your organisation and your market. We adopt a user and goal-centric design approach – taking both the user’s needs and business goals into consideration at every stage of your users’ journey through the website. Contact us today to see how we can improve your websites user experience to generate more profit. #### The Evolution of Instagram – From camera app to the second most important social network. Instagram has been one of the fastest growing and developing apps since its launch in 2010. The app itself hasn’t changed much in its core purpose, but there have been small but impactful developments over the years. We’re going to be going through the evolution of the app and how it’s become one of the most powerful social media networks, as well as how you can be utilising Instagram for your business. The evolution of Instagram Instagram launched as a mobile photo-sharing social media platform in October 2010. The app allowed users to share square shaped pictures onto their profiles. Users were also able to edit their images with a selection of filters including, X-Pro II, Earlybird, 1975 and more, which was the key difference to other media sharing apps. After just 2 months from launch, the app had over 1million active users, with more joining by the day. A couple of years later, in 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for over $1 billion, even with the risk that Instagram had no revenue coming in. The app continued to build up in popularity and within just a few more months the app reached 80 million users. At this point, it was clear that this app wasn’t disappearing anytime soon. To help create revenue out of Instagram, Facebook launched sponsored posts in 2013, to allow brands to advertise on the platform and help bring in revenue for the app. These sponsored posts can be created through Facebook’s Business Manager system, which now has many different styles of campaigns available to run. Prior to this, the only way to advertise on the platform was to do it organically, which is a far less targeted method. After a few more filter updates and general system style updates, Instagram started to release in-app features and external apps to continue developing the programme to keep up with competitors. For example, Boomerang is one of their most popular external apps which is neither a photo nor a gif. It’s a burst of photos, which are then compiled into a short video clip that goes forward and back in reverse. Within the app, they more recently launched Instagram Stories, where you can add photos or video clips that only stay up for 24hrs, or you can even stream live video. Not far different to what you can do on rival apps like Snapchat. It was announced just towards the end of 2016 that Instagram had reached over 600million users on its system. Making it one of the most popular social media apps out there, for both personal and brand use. How brands can be utilising Instagram As Instagram is one of the top social platforms, it's important for brands to be utilising it for their own benefit. Some brands may not fit into the use of Instagram, for example, some public services like law firms or non-visual brands. As Instagram is all about visuals, it's the perfect platform for creative industries and brands. Don't expect to get conversions on Instagram, it is much more of a brand awareness platform, with the potential to bring in conversions. As you're unable to link directly back to products featured in shots, it's difficult to directly drive traffic organically. They are drip launching an in-app shopping experience which currently, is only available for larger established brands. However, they are slowly allowing slightly smaller but still recognised brands. The other option to drive traffic is through Instagram stories, as you can add links in that if people swipe up, they can be directed to them. If you're a fashion brand, we've got an even more in-depth blog post about how fashion brands can succeed on the platform. The future for Instagram The future is looking bright for Instagram, with its ever tactical improvements, but still keeping to a similar version of their original app. Its revenues are heard to just keep going up and up, along with the users. I'm just wondering what their next venture may be! #### The Features of Google My Business That Rank… And Those That Don’t Google My Business is crucial for local SEO. It’s important to know which customisation options are going to help you rank and which aren’t. Within this blog, you will discover the four Google My Business fields that directly affect how you rank. Not only will you be sure where to focus your attention but also where to avoid spending too much time on. GMB Ranking Fields The Business Name Surprisingly, the business name plays a part in impacting your overall ranking, perhaps more of one then it should. Those businesses with keyword-rich names will see a bigger advantage. Unfortunately, if this doesn’t apply to your business then there isn’t a lot to be done as changing your name is highly unrealistic. This is a good opportunity to look at what your competitors are doing, are they adding descriptive words into their business name? This is against Google's guidelines, so not a method I would recommend following. However, if you spot any competitors breaking the rules then the Google business complaint redressal form would be where you could report this. Google My Business Categories Categories are the second aspect of Google My Business that influences rankings. This is relatively simple as it is an area you choose yourself. Although there’s only 10 you can add on there, Google is regularly (monthly) adding more and removing others. Google currently has around 4,000 categories. In that past year, Google has added an increasing amount of auto dealer and restaurant categories. Whilst the dentist industry has gained more categories for dental implants. Therefore this is an area that you should check and update accordingly. The Website field  Most people don't even think about what page of their website to link GMB and often just link the homepage. There’s nothing wrong with this, however, with some testing you might discover a better page to link to. For example, if you were a business in multiple locations often it's better to link directly to a location page. Reviews  The final area of Google My Business that is influential to ranking is reviews, more specifically the number of reviews. However, the returned results from this can vary. You may see your business rank further away from your pinpoint location as you jump from 20-30 reviews. But this could then not be replicated when you go from 30-70 reviews. Areas of GMB With No Ranking Impact Q&A Although Q&A isn’t on the GMB dashboard it is on Google’s knowledge panel. You should also receive alerts following a user posting a question to your listing. However, it's important to know that Q&A is an area that has no impact on ranking. Tests have shown that even with the use of keywords and specifics in both questions and answers there has been no impact on rankings. Services  The service section allows you to not only tell Google about the services you offer but also is an opportunity to add descriptive keywords. Although the service section looks like an SEO’s dream it does not influence the overall rankings. The area also isn’t made very visible so is an aspect that's not worth investing too much time into. Products The product feature has only been about for the past year and is a very visual aspect that allows you to showcase the products you offer. Although it has no ranking value the products become very visible in the knowledge panel for both mobile and desktop. Therefore if you're a business where visualising products is crucial, such as a florist or car dealer then you could still reap conversional benefits. In conclusion, there are four clear areas to focus your attention on which is the business name, categories, website field and review section to boost your local rankings. However, if you're new to the world of SEO, here at Fifteen we provide a complete SEO service which also includes boosting your local SEO. #### The Fifteen Fitbit Challenge Fifteen have embraced the Fitbit challenge! In an effort to take on a more active lifestyle, each employee has been equipped with a Fitbit tracker to monitor their steps and we’ve set our sights global – walking the distance around the Earth, to be precise! After recently achieving a Green Investors in Environment award, we’re hoping to compliment our reduced carbon footprint with an increase in physical footsteps. Fifteen are hoping that by setting ourselves such a momentous target we can focus on a long-term commitment to leading active and healthy lifestyles. Our team is hoping to complete the challenge in fifteen months. To help us we’ve got a host of active socials lined up, from department tennis, badminton and squash fixtures, to a Fifteen football match and a monthly Fifteen 8-mile ramble across the countryside. And it wouldn’t be a challenge without a bit of friendly rivalry. Our departments will battle it out every 7-days to be crowned walkers of the office - and watch out on the website for our individual hotstepper of the week! #### The Flying Fifteeners: Results From Our Charity Run You may have noticed that in recent weeks we were making quite a lot of noise on our blog and socials about our plans for a team charity run, for which we make no apology. If you didn’t see, we were raising money for the Movember Foundation in memory of our greatly missed friend and colleague Tony ‘Big T’ Austin, whom we lost earlier this year. That was why, last Sunday morning, 15 intrepid members of Team Fifteen took to the rolling hills and muddy fields of Wollaton Park for the 2017 Nottingham MoRun. I’m pleased to report that all of us made it round a very demanding course in respectable times, including several who are not regular runners but took on the challenge nevertheless. At the front of the pack, our FD, Julie ‘Ju-sain Bolt’ Cannon, smashed the 10k, finishing in 55 minutes and 23rd fastest in the women’s race. Digital Producer Josh ‘Paula Radsmith’ Smith was the fastest Fifteener in the 5k race, taking 24th place of the men and raking 6th in the U20 category with a time of 26 minutes. Meanwhile, others were taking things a bit more casually, with Laura ‘Lolo Farah’ Timson finding time to post Instagram updates on her progress as she completed the course! We were cheered on by supportive friends, partners and dogs, as well as Tony’s sister who came all the way from Kent to see us run in tribute to her brother! So far we’ve raised over £760 to help raise awareness of men’s health issues (over £900 including gift aid), but there’s still time to donate to a fantastic cause. Just to prove we did it, here are a few photos from the day. Don’t let the smiles on our faces after the finish put you off – it was hard work and there were plenty of aching legs in the office on Monday morning! [fifteen_button link="https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/big-t-15"]Sponsor the Fifteen team[/fifteen_button] Race Photos T's for Big T Laura, Charlie, Sam and Julie in race trim Mo Runners... Mo Winners Race Results 10k Runners In it for the long-run... 155:34Julie Cannon 258:59Alex Walker 359:52Jacqueline Smith 41:06:26Charlie Cammack 51:07:54Alex Howe 61:09:49Laura Timson 71:11:59Sam Stead 81:12:31Lucy Goodwin 91:12:31Michelle Hazelgrove 5k Runners Short and sweet... 126:54Josh Smith 228:52Ben Vickers 338:25India Gumbley 439:14Holly Law 540:10Alex Lofthouse 641:26Dave Sloan #### The food service industry: Adapting to COVID-19 The food service industry has been hit hard by COVID-19, the government hasn’t officially told restaurants, bars and pubs to close but has actively told the public to stay away from their establishments. On social media over the past week we’ve witnessed restaurants, bars and pubs go from maintaining a “business as usual” stance to gradually tapering off their confidence. Now with the government cranking up measures and rumours of lockdown protocols increasing, the food industry has sadly seen lots of businesses close for the foreseeable as remaining open is just not affordable and for the sake of staff and customers, food business owners are putting their health as a priority. Whilst the hope is that these measures will be short-lived, the truth is that no one knows how long this may go on for. One thing that is for certain, many foodservice businesses have adapted quickly and we can learn from their actions in marketing, here are our top picks of adaptability from the food and drink industry: Tips for Dealing with COVID-19 Measures Emphasising hygiene measures and adherence to Government guidelines – if choosing to stay open then highlighting the measures that are being taken to help with customer safety is all-important to encouraging people through the door. Adapting service offering – inventive companies have adapted their skills and expertise to provide new food services. There are caterers providing meals on wheels to their local communities. Local suppliers such as butchers and wine merchants have offered home delivery services if they can’t get to people through restaurants and bars they’ll get through direct. Healthy takeaway chain Leon has gone so far as to change their restaurants into food shops where customers can get the essentials so in demand. Incentivising customers – as purse strings inevitably tighten, now is the time to incentivise customers through offers and promotions. It’s also possible to encourage social media followers to share promotions through competitions. Selling gift vouchers – many restauranteurs are encouraging supplementation to cash flow by offering gift voucher sales for future use. By emphasising their ‘support local’ messaging alongside this they’re able to enter the hearts and minds of their communities and hopefully bolster sales. Keeping in touch with customers – maintaining customer connections will be critical over the coming months to ensuring that momentum can be regained once restrictions are removed. For many customers, the uncertainty creates anxiety and providing clear and transparent information this can only stand a business in a good light. Living by your values – authentic brands are more than just businesses and their work can influence whole communities from their customers to employees and suppliers. Many businesses have adapted their teams to deliver community help. These brands will gain some future brand loyalty and memorability in their efforts during a national crisis. The foodservice industry is one that needs to change to survive. If you would like some help making your offering appeal to changing client needs contact us today. Fifteen Design is an award-winning digital agency with years of experience creating and carrying out effective digital marketing campaigns. #### The Foundations of a Digital Marketing Strategy Updated: 26th February 2020Originally Posted: 6th June 2017 Digitally transformed businesses with a strong digital marketing strategy outperform their peers every time, it’s fact. Many businesses will delve into the world of digital marketing with little or no strategy in place. They may set up social media accounts, have a go at Google Adwords, or plan a regular blog.  The motivations can be just as varied. Maybe it’s just to test the waters or keep up with competitors. Whatever the case, when it comes to brand strategy, there’s no longer such thing as separate digital and offline approaches. The tipping-point came years ago – the number of online shoppers now far outstrip their physical counterparts in numbers. Brands need to recognise that an online presence is as much a part of their identity as all previous marketing strategies and, more importantly, acknowledge how these channels affect buyer behaviour. This shift in consumer focus makes a digital marketing strategy all the more important. A defined digital marketing strategy is a comprehensive document that forms the foundation of all your marketing activities. It should highlight your goals, your online value proposition, agility (ability to adapt and try new things) and optimisation opportunities and more. Marketing isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, and many practices that are suitable for other businesses may not suit your model or objectives. A digital strategy may seem time-exhaustive but it’s a worthwhile investment. Without getting the basics right your brand will struggle to grow online and, without mapping out your digital activities in advance, you could find your business steered towards a channel of marketing that isn’t right for you. But where do you start? A digital strategy can be as comprehensive as the time you have to invest, filled with marketing models, theories, analysis and forecasts. Here are the fundamentals for anyone looking to start: Define who you are, what you want to achieve and why Your brand needs a solid identity and missioning statement. It’s no longer good enough to just want to do something, you need to know why. If you haven’t already, watch this great TED talk from Simon Sinek on the ‘why of brands’. A brand is more than just a name and a logo. It’s an identity. Your brand should reflect your company’s DNA, from your office culture all the way up to PR and customer relations.  In crowded markets, brand positioning is vital. Your business needs a clear, focused approach and it’s important that your messaging and tone of voice is consistent across all channels. Already know who you are? Great. If you need more help, check out our branding strategies here. Know your audience Your customers are real people. So you should view them and treat them as such. Build a portrait of your key customers in your mind. Who are they influenced by?What platforms do they interact with most?How and what are they searching for?What devices are they most likely to look for your product or service? These are just a few of the questions that can help you understand them better. You need to visualise and connect with your customers, find out what they need, and provide services that answer these needs. Authenticity goes a long way online so don’t be afraid to get to know your audience. Customer Insight Technical insight can also be helpful. Market insights, national trends, historical data… put them all down on record and you’ll be surprised how quickly (and thoroughly) you can build up a profile and spot patterns. Take the time to develop buyer personas. Map their customer journey.  Customer segmentation is another key insight. Your market is made up of people from all walks of life looking for different solutions. Identify your main customer segments and weight them according to importance. This way you can decide how much time to spend on each and tailor your online strategy to meet their demands. Get your finances in order It’s important to know not just how much budget you have, but also where that money is best spent. Tallying up the costs and forecasting your expected returns from each practice allows you to prioritise your most cost-effective channels and plan for future investment. Budgets can be throttled to meet your manpower. For example, there’s no point offering ads across the country if you only service a single county. It’s a race (of sorts) The purchase funnel is made up of several stages, and not all of your customers will be at the same one when they interact with your marketing campaigns. This is where the marketing model RACE comes in. The principals of RACE are simple, covering all the stages of a customer journey: Reach, Act & Convert and then Engage. Different channels will be relevant for you at different stages of this funnel. For example, PPC may give awareness to a consumer searching for your product. User-experience of your website will act and convert. Delivering an effective content marketing campaign will engage the buyer and bring them back as a repeat customer. The key to creating a successful strategy is understanding the different role each marketing practice plays in guiding the user into conversion. Each channel has a different part to play and should be optimised accordingly. Choose the right channels For many businesses there are simply too many marketing channels to apply; so how do you choose the most effective for you? When considering each channel refer back to your goals, KPIs and challenges. Do you need immediate sales? Paid Search is going to be a more effective channel than SEO. Does your business rely on building a community? Content marketing or an e-mail strategy will engage and delight your customer base. Even within the marketing disciplines themselves, there’s an abundance of choice. Take Social Media: Is your business highly visual? Instagram is perfect for you. Business-to-business marketing? LinkedIn is a minefield of opportunities to target your audience. Every channel has different strengths (and weaknesses) that you need to consider when planning your digital marketing strategy. Measure and evaluate your Digital Marketing Strategy Google Analytics is your friend. Familiarise yourself with the platform quickly – it will be invaluable for measuring results and pulling some meaningful data from your marketing campaigns. Set some KPIs, and ensure they’re right for you. Not all KPIs are as important, and all of them are contextual. Some companies are looking to simply drive traffic to their website. In this case, visits and sessions are a vital KPI in their analysis. But what if you’re looking to deliver good customer experience? This situation would see the session time as a more relevant KPI. Your digital marketing strategy is not fixed; it’s fluid and reactive. Think of it as a living, and breathing document. Add to it, change it, record results and change your plans accordingly. Need more help in creating a digital marketing strategy? Speak to one of our experts today. Fifteen Design is an award-winning digital agency with years of experience creating and carrying out effective digital marketing campaigns. #### The Future of Fine Art: David Hockney's iPad Canvas Art has taken many forms with the invention of the internet and electronics. From photography to sculpture and even interactive projects, the possibilities are endless. One artist who has taken tech to heart is David Hockney. Hockney's Ipad Art David Hockney is one of the UK’s greatest living artists. An important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s he has recently become the darling of the fine art world with his Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) set to become the most valuable work of art by a living artist. Christie’s in New York has set an estimate in the region of £61 million and for good reason. His work has resonated for decades and even in his 80s, Hockney is a prolific artist creating vivid works from his childhood home county of East Yorkshire. While the art world fawns over his work from yesteryear it is his current work which is most intriguing. Hockney has, for the last few years, created all of his paintings on an iPad. Without the resistance of a canvas and the need for paint, Hockney has created hundreds of paintings and sent them to friends and family far and wide. “One day last summer I got a text message from David Hockney. It read: “I’ll send you today’s dawn this afternoon, an absurd sentence I know, but you know what I mean.” Later on, it duly arrived: pale pink, mauve and apricot clouds drifting over the Yorkshire coast in the first light of a summer’s day. It was as delicate as a Turner, luminous as stained glass and as hi-tech as any art being made in the world today. Hockney had drawn it on his iPhone.” Martin Gayford His usual subversion of perspective has morphed into a subversion of traditional art itself. The pinnacle of this new approach to art can be seen in the stained-glass window he designed for Westminster Abbey. Commissioned to create a scene that honoured the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, he designed the entire work on his trusty iPad. The window depicts a vivid pastoral scene that is meant to reflect the Queen’s ‘deep affection for and connection to the countryside.’ From one glass pane to another, Hockney has shown that artistic genius doesn’t have to be put on canvas to be valuable. His success with a digital form begs the question, what does this mean for digital art as a whole? Why shouldn’t web design or graphic design be venerated in the same way traditional art is? If art on various media can draw out emotion and feeling, is one any less valuable than the other? Ai Wei Wei A classic case in point is Ai Weiwei. The dissident Chinese artist created a photo series in which he dropped a priceless Han Dynasty Urn. Weiwei shows a similar level of digitisation to Hockney using a camera to capture the moment as an ancient piece of Chinese history is destroyed. Interestingly, the prints themselves, by documenting the moment he destroyed the urn have become priceless themselves and are regularly featured in exhibitions across the world. Again, we can see how digital art has become valuable in its own right. What it Means for Digital Design Wei Wei and Hockney are just a few of the faces shaking up the creative world but they highlight an important question. In a digital world, the value of good art is the same, whether on a screen or canvas. Art in all its forms is becoming an increasingly valuable currency as AI and machines take on more menial tasks. With this in mind it is only a matter of time before we see the first piece of electronic art sold at auction, and as soon as it does happen it will send shockwaves across the globe. The quiet reverence reserved for gallery paintings will be applied to all well-made digital art. Keep this in mind the next time you see a great website or stellar hero image. It could go on to become a record-breaker.   #### The Google Zoo – Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird So, you might be here because you don’t understand the Google Algorithm. Don’t worry you’re not the only one because it’s so hard to keep up with the regular updates, it can be very confusing but after reading this blog you’ll be a smart-pants at it. Let’s start off with the easier part first by explaining what the Algorithms are. Algorithms work by scanning through finding the pages that contain relevant keywords that match what the user wants. The more the keyword appears, the more good links you have, good page speed and mobile responsiveness the higher you’ll rank! The Google Algorithms were created to improve the relevancy of the results to make sure the most relevant websites rank highest in search engines. The Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird updates work to search through the billions of web pages and other information, to return what they believe is the most relevant. What is Google Panda? First of all, let’s start talking about Google Panda. Google Panda was released in February 2011 to change the way search engines rank pages. The purpose of Google Panda is to eliminate the results that aren’t relevant or useful for the user.  When looking for poor content Panda looks for old content, low quality and spammy content. So, make sure this is not on your site or you know who is coming for you, the Panda! The panda is on the hunt for sites with poor quality content to stop them making their way to the top on search engines results. It then puts higher quality content at the top of the results allow the user to get the best content. If you have a page showing low-quality content but you are getting a high number of visitors visiting that page then instead of deleting the page, I recommend changing the content to make it more relevant for the user. When a user is searching for a keyword they expect to receive the correct information so you need to make sure the information you’re changing still meets what the user wants. What is Google Penguin? Let’s get onto the next algorithm, Penguin. Google launched Penguin on the 24th of April, 2012. Penguin is out to find them websites that are cheating their way to the top of search engines by buying links and using black hat SEO techniques to boost their rankings. Just to let you know this doesn’t get passed the Penguins eye, because the Penguin update will find them bad links leading to your site being penalised as a result. Having a strong set of links pointing to your site will improve your rankings, then Google will see your site as a strong site offering good and relevant of information. But, buying these links can give you a low-quality source, and doesn’t look good from an SEO point of view. Google are constantly updating the Penguin to catch people buying links without being penalised. There is no way you’re getting passed the penguin now! Google Penguin has a big impact on your SEO if you’re breaking the rules, buying your links. From an SEO point of view, it can be seen as a good thing because the penguin helps to point out the black hats that are cheating their way to the top of search engines. What is Google Hummingbird? Last but not least, Hummingbird. Google made their announcement on the Hummingbird on September the 26 2013, but It was released before it was accounted on August the 30th 2013. This update seemingly had little impact on SEO as there were no huge ranking differences reported at the time. The purpose of Hummingbird is it ensures that the best results are used in search engines allowing the user to receive the quality information they need. Hummingbird brings you better results. Let’s say you Google a question such as ‘where can I buy women’s shoes’. Google then knows to bring you shops in your local area where you can buy women shoes. But, if you were going to type in ‘women shoes’ then Google would bring you a wide range of page such as blogs, shops and information about women’s shoes. With Hummingbird, it will read through the context on each page to see how important that context is and if it meets what the user wants. It also looks if your context is good quality and if the keyword matches. Yeah, I know you’re probably stressing out about your SEO, then stop because there is nothing to stress about because it shouldn’t affect you. Unless… you’re breaking the rules! If you have good quality context on your site are following SEO best practices, you should be just fine. If you still feel like you don’t understand or have any questions about the Google Algorithms Panda, Penguin or Hummingbird then please feel free to contact us today and we will be happy to provide you with any information you need. #### The Grand National Goes Virtual For the first time in history, the grand national is not going ahead due to the continuing restrictions on movement in force from the government to protect as many people as possible from the coronavirus. This means that the thrill of the races, the betting and the anticipation of your horse taking a place or even better winning the whole thing is about to be re-imagined online as the Virtual Grand National!  Although it has been running for a couple of years, this year it is now the main event and source of our entertainment to break up the continuing Netflix binges. We have done the digging on the Grand National Website for you and pulled out the key facts for everything you need to know about the big virtual day. First things first, what about the horses? Well, they are all going to be recreated using the latest state of the art technology in CGI.  Unfortunately, we don’t have a confirmed list of CGI runners yet, but we do know that they are expecting the original runners from the actual day to be ‘there’. Of course, we are expecting at least our favourites to be there such as Tiger Roll.  But how can a virtual race happen? So with all the horses loaded into the virtual race, we have been told that the race will then be run with a range of algorithms, which (thank goodness) matches all our betting choice criteria, such as; Weather conditions on the day Ground Recent formTrack form Past grand national trendsWeight Age and more All this information should then produce a virtual winner likely to have been the real winner if the event had taken place! So we have a race, but can I bet as I used too? Horse racing betting is thin on the ground overall and the official grand national website has expressed that they are expecting bookmakers to support the virtual grand national with their betting odds and betting offers.  And from the information that has been provided so far, these odds look even better than the usual betting. While we are used to placing a cheeky bet each way and hoping that one of our many options will get us into places 1-2-3-4, they are expecting bookmakers to enhance their each-way place terms as far down as 6th, 7th and 8th. Some have even hinted at down to 9th, but you will need to continue looking out for the best virtual Grand National Odds and Offers. The site also states that they believe all bookmakers are close to announcing that they will donate all proceeds to the NHS to support them in dealing with the effects of coronavirus. With such limited social interaction available to us and limited entertainment as we stay housebound, the organisers are hoping that this popular event will bring in an even larger crowd, even if it is simulated by a computer. I'm in! Give me a tip! Who should I be betting on? Of course, we have Tiger Roll, who continues to be a hot favourite after winning the previous two years.Irish Grand National Winner Burrows Saint is in the mix!2019 runner up Magic Of Light is a firm favourite, one of the only mares in the race, she will be the same age as Tiger Roll when he won last year and has been running well this season.Forth one on the list of our top tips is Walk In the Mill, he acts well on the track and was only beaten in 2019 by 16 lengths! I think I might be opting for these 4 each way! I'm in, I have got my tips and done my betting, where do I watch it? The event will be streaming live on ITV at 5:15 pm, Saturday 4th April.  Re-runs will be expected to be shown on YouTube and we are also expecting your chosen bookmaker to stream it live (if you have met their minimum betting requirements) #### The Ibiza Weekender – Fifteen Style So first of all I welcome you to a place where digital began, A little place where anything’s possible and a team that always ‘can’. So It seems last year was great for us, a busy one at that, Ollie won another award and Sophie took more pictures of her cat, MASSIVE clients joined us, And new team members came in too, A fastly growing family and an even cooler crew. It’s true we all get on! In fact, I’d say we’re mates… I mean that’s until somebody mentions that a biscuit’s a jaffa cake… It splits the team in two, the arguments always the same, I mean it’s pretty obvious though, The clue is in the name!? But anyway, let’s move past that, because as I say it's neither, And deep in the fifteen office, a goal was set, that was IBIZA! The numbers were all in and all counted with precision, The target blown out the water !.... Ollie quickly regretted his decision. Because not only one night was the trip no, it was two, Three days filled with sun, sea and sand and enough alcohol for Jules. The flights were booked and paid for, a brilliant boss who’s far from lame, Unsuspecting though of a requirement list as long as his last name. The days have been fast approaching and now it’s time to go, A year of very hard work equates to massive steam to blow. So Al picked up some converse, And Tony some Lacoste, But Mikey may actually surprise us all and take his hoody off!? India started her diet, although 60 days too late, I suppose it will help though that she skipped on Sundays cake. Lofty's hit the sunbeds so her Scottish skin won’t burn, And Ben has dyed his hair brown as Ginger = a concern. The first night will be a BBQ, Some serious grilled lovin, Baps have all been ordered but Kates buns already in the oven. Josh has been in training, The idea of free beer makes him happy, It doesn’t seem that long ago though that he was in a nappy, The baby of the group, and a liability at best, Let's hope the months of drinking WKD help pass the test. Alex Howe has sorted her make up, She was one of the first to pack, I wonder if we can get to Ibiza without her mentioning MAC? The excitement slowly building, It wouldn’t surprise me if there are tears! Probably from Michelle though who’s been planning this for years. #### The importance of content marketing Content is the backbone of digital marketing. It’s one of the main ways to engage with your audience and is becoming a key focus with many businesses, especially following Google’s content update in 2022. Businesses who are using quality content to market themselves are gaining the upper hand. So why has the importance of content marketing become so prevalent in the digital marketing sphere? Read on to find out more. What is content marketing? Content marketing is the creation of a unique and informative resource, which helps and inspires your customers. Content isn't just about words. Great content can take many forms including high quality video, interactive media, informative infographics, blogs, and so much more. High quality content helps tell your brand story and more importantly, provides relevant information for your audience. Why is content marketing becoming so important? In August 2022, Google began the roll out of what it calls its ‘helpful content update’. This update saw users being provided with more original, helpful content that’s written by humans, for humans in search results. The aim of the update is to put a focus on people-first content, meaning content that serves a purpose, is relevant and gives users the information they want, will perform better in search engines. This update has meant websites that have poor content (even on just one page) and don’t meet Google’s requirements, will more than likely not show up in search results, therefore impacting their overall organic traffic performance.  So creating content that’s useful, has a purpose and can provide expertise for your audience has never been so important for businesses. What are the benefits of content marketing? There are huge benefits to creating quality content marketing, but below are a few benefits almost all companies and users can expect. Increased site traffic Many organisations adopt a SEO strategy to increase the amount of visitors to their site, and content marketing is a very powerful tactic to generate traffic to your website. The more relevant and rich content you create, the more searches your site will appear for. Content provides targeted audiences with relevant information that can provide a solution to a particular need or problem. The more highly targeted content you surface, the higher the amount of traffic to your website. Knowledge and expertise Content marketing is a great way to promote your capability and unique selling proposition. You can do this through educating your audience on common practice and addressing common questions and issues that are relevant, and this will be particularly favoured by Google. Therefore, if your site is fully optimised with relevant information and calls to action, once a visitor comes to your site and engages with your content they will be more likely to turn into a highly qualified lead.  Increased leads and sales This leads us nicely onto our next benefit. Adopting an effective content marketing strategy can generate more leads than those who do not have a content rich website and blog. The more the user understands the benefits of your product or service and the more you educate your audience, the more likely they are to become a paying customer. Build brand awareness through engagement Audience engagement with your content is what powers this strategy. Therefore, quality and significance are vital here. Any content you publish is a reflection of your business and its brand. Content is a great way to build upon your brand and get key messages across to your audience. Videos can be a powerful way to communicate and engage with a large audience. Generate quality links Generating high-quality, valuable backlinks to your website can improve your page and domain authority. So, when users link to your content, it can earn a certain degree of authority and is great for an SEO boost. Your content can be used as a link resource to aid you with your link building efforts, which will also help you to compete in online search results. We can help with your content marketing strategy With all of the above benefits, it’s easy to see why content marketing is so important. Creating a solid content strategy is imperative to the success of your website, because not only will it establish your company as a leading expert within the industry, it will also complement your existing marketing strategy. If you need help devising your content marketing strategy, speak to us today and see how we can help. From copywriting to video creation, we can help. #### The Importance of Device Testing (and Fifteen's Device Lab) Back in February 2015, Google announced plans to increase the rankings of websites that were considered mobile friendly in mobile search results. It’s important to note this will only affect mobile search results; desktop and tablet search results will not see their rankings change. Due to the increasing number of people viewing websites on mobile devices, many companies were desperate to get their sites mobile ready for the April 2015 deadline. Using Google’s mobile-friendly tool users could check to see if they'd pass the test. How Fifteen do it Stage 1 - Browser tools There are a number of ways to test a website’s responsive design capability throughout the development process. Initially, we use our browser’s developer mode, I tend to flip between Firefox’s responsive design view as I use Firefox as my default browser and Google Chrome DevTools’ Device Mode. As we near the end of a project and we think we’ve got everything pretty much there we’ll hop onto our device testing lab to really put the site through its paces. After all, there’s no better way of testing a device but on the device itself! Stage 2 - Device Lab   There are a few reasons why we can't just rely on the browser based responsive tools: Our development computers will (usually) be a lot faster than mobile devices, so we need to test our sites on the devices to make sure they load in an acceptable amount of time. The rendering engine used by our desktop browser tools will be different to the ones used by mobile browsers, so websites may end up rendering differently. While we know the resolutions for each device, they each have their own user interface which will affect how much of the site you'll actually be able to see. Our custom built testing lab has a huge range of devices (increasing by the day) that allow us to test for device specific problems much like we test for browser specific problems. To speed up the testing process we’ve linked all of our devices together so interactions are carried across to all connected devices at the same time, including scroll events, button clicks and even page changes! After the completion of our device lab, we've been able to speed up the time required to test on separate devices dramatically and concentrate our time on giving our users a better user experience. [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/contact/"]If you're concerned about how your website works on mobile devices get in touch today[/fifteen_button] #### The importance of devising a rebranding strategy When it comes to rebranding, you have to consider that it takes a lot of time and thought. You will need to set a series of goals and reasoning for your new website rebrand and that’s where a rebranding strategy will come in. A rebranding strategy will allow you to set a definitive plan, develop an insight to where you see your site along with its design, and make a plan for measuring the success of your website rebrand. So if you’re thinking about a rebrand for your business, keep reading as we explain why it’s important to devise a rebranding strategy as well as sharing some tips to creating a successful strategy. What is the importance of a rebranding strategy? The importance of a rebranding strategy shouldn’t be underestimated. By putting extra thought and attention into a carefully planned strategy, it will allow you to breathe new life into your business and revitalise your image.  However, your rebranding strategy should go beyond just changing your logo or slogan, it requires a comprehensive plan that should outline your goals, target audience, messaging, budgets and implementation tactics. Essentially, it should provide you with a roadmap for implementing changes across all touchpoints consistently. A well-thought-out rebranding strategy can help to attract new customers and differentiate you from your competitors. It can also allow you to effectively communicate your changes to your audience, helping to spark interest and create a buzz around your brand, which can lead to improved brand loyalty. Ultimately, a rebranding strategy is a powerful way to further drive growth when you decide to transform your company identity. But when do you know it’s the right time for a website rebrand? How to know when it’s the right time for a website rebrand Knowing when it’s the right time to rebrand can be difficult. Your brand and website is what keeps your business afloat, so getting it right as well as knowing you have the budget and resources, is crucial. However, there are some signs that may indicate it’s time for a website rebrand such as: Your current image no longer aligns with your values Your brand no longer resonates with your target audience You’re experiencing a decline in sales or leads You’re struggling to differentiate yourself from your competitors You’re feeling outdated or irrelevant in current market trends Ultimately, your audience will be the judge of your current branding (and new branding), so a great way to help you decide is to conduct market research and gather feedback. That way you can ensure your rebranding efforts align with their expectations and preferences. By staying attuned to the above signs, you can make an informed decision and set your brand up for long term success. Tips for devising a successful rebranding strategy As we’ve mentioned throughout, devising a comprehensive rebranding strategy is crucial for businesses as it allows you to connect with your target audience in a more impactful way. Here are some tips to help you create a successful strategy. Set a decisive definitive goal The first place to start with your rebranding strategy is to have one main goal in mind from the get-go. It’s a good way to keep your team together and ensure you’re all working on the right track. Consider it good for structure, morale and discipline in your work space, setting the high standards of practices of work. Set clear directions as to where you want your website rebrand to take you. Consider the why, when, how, where and what and ask yourself these constantly throughout the whole process. This allows you to determine if you’re considering every possibility in your rebrand. It’s also what will keep your a strong goal in mind and help achieve all your objectives to reach the final goal. Always refer back to your analytics Your data will be crucial to determining your approach to your new rebranding strategy, and by reviewing the data in Google Analytics 4 (GA4), it helps towards making the all important decisions needed. Anyone is capable of letting their mind get carried away, so regularly referring to your analytics keeps your mind focused and on track. You’ll also be amazed when you realise how many of your team members will be involved in your rebrand process. There will be many who take authority and ownership on certain areas, so you need to make sure you have some factual and statistical data that helps towards your logistical thinking. Your analytics will show you what already works, and what really needs improving on. Include an optimisation plan within your strategy When you launch your new website rebrand, you need to ensure you have a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy and the first step is to research your keywords and trends. This is because you can set a basis for optimisation and help towards implementing good rankings for when you launch. Be sure to have your SEO specialist or digital marketing team conduct some keyword research and lay out some good fundamentals before you start your website rebrand. Look for great and easy SEO opportunities and don’t be afraid to try something new that feels outside the comfort zone of your already existing strategies. Ensure your metadata and imagery are optimised for your target keywords so you’ve got your SEO base set.  If you ensure you have a solid SEO strategy in place, search engines will be able to identify your hard work and reward you nicely in terms of organic rankings. Need help with your rebranding strategy? There’s no denying the importance of devising a thorough rebranding strategy. It can help you identify your end goal, communicate your message effectively to your target audience and stay on track throughout the whole process. If you’ve decided your business is ready for a rebrand, get in touch with us today. Our talented web designers can work closely with you to ensure your new branding is flawless, true to your values and meets your marketing objectives. We can also help roll out your new branding across your new website design too! Speak to us today to see how we can help. #### The Importance of Google Analytics Google Analytics is a very important digital marketing tool, but seriously underused by most businesses. It allows you to measure the results of individual campaigns in real-time, compare the data to previous periods, and so much more. Here are some of the reasons that you should be using Google Analytics to measure the success of your website. Overview of All Channels   > Analytics shows you data from all channels that are directing traffic to your website, including: Organic Search (SEO) Paid Search (PPC) Social Media Referrals (Backlinks) Direct Traffic Being able to monitor all the platforms allows you to review what is working well in terms of advertising, and what isn’t. Having all the data in one place makes it easy to compare the different channels. If you are currently putting money into your SEO, PPC, or Social Media Marketing, you can monitor your ROI. Perhaps you need to find out how you can maximise your social media strategy. Or your PPC campaign is not performing as well as you thought. A look at metrics like bounce rate and time on page can show you if you need to improve your landing pages for better ROI.   Conversion Tracking   It’s all good knowing how many people have visited your site, and where they came from, but how do you know if those users are actually converting? Google Analytics allows you to set up goals to track when a user completes a certain action on your site. Regardless of how many users each channel is driving to your site, you need to know that this traffic is converting.   Customer Engagement   Google Analytics has a number of features that allows you to review how well users are interacting with your website and content. These metrics monitor different aspects of the customer journey, showing how the customer has interacted. Bounce rate – The percentage of visitors that navigate away from your website without interaction, after viewing only one page. Pages/Session – The average number of pages each visitor has viewed (this does not include those that have bounced). Average Session Duration – The average amount of time spent on the website by each visitor (again, this does not include those that have bounced). You can also view these stats against individual pages, giving you a better idea as to what pages are performing well, and which may need optimizing to improve the user experience. Device Overview With the introduction of mobile first rankings, this section has become even more important. As your website now needs to be mobile friendly if you want them to be included in rankings for relevant search results. Google Analytics allows you to monitor which devices your users are coming from, giving you some indication as to how well your mobile site is working in comparison to the desktop version. If you are receiving a similar amount of visitors from each platform, but less conversions on one, it may be a problem with the user experience of that version of the site. Combining Data With Business Goals Google Analytics data on its own can tell you a lot about website performance. This information can be very helpful. However, if you don't know what you are trying to achieve, it's just that: information. True performance tracking and improvement comes from comparisons on KPI's against previously set goals. Do you want people to get in touch? Download your white paper? We've set out a handy guide on setting business objectives and how to break them apart to track performance: Digital Marketing Measurement.   Why Should I Use Google Analytics? If you’re not already convinced, let us summarise. Google Analytics allows you to track many important metrics, covering all aspects. You can monitor the effectiveness of your online marketing strategies, onsite content, user experience, and device functionality. All these statistics show you what is working well, and more importantly, what isn’t. Once you identify any issues your site may have, you can create a solution. Google Analytics allows you the information needed to improve your website, and make it the best it can be. Got more questions about Google Analytics, or digital marketing in general? Contact our friendly expert team for help and advice today! #### The Importance of Keeping Your Website Up To Date First impressions are frequently the most powerful influence. This is your website if you own a business! Keep your website up to date. Your website is the face of your business. It is often the first place your customers will learn about your business and the services you offer. In this instance, it is critical to maintain an up-to-date website and concentrate on the material you provide for your website. Attractiveness When visitors come to your site, they perceive it as an extension of your organization. If your website is well-designed and packed with relevant material, visitors will regard you as an authority and expert. Similarly, if your site appears badly designed, structured, and out of current, people will make the same conclusions about your business. The website should showcase your product and service with a logical and consistent structure. Does your material contain dates – blog entries, events, and the like? It's rational to delete or update out-of-date content. As websites evolve and grow, it's common for specific components to stop performing properly and become obsolete. The usage of flash is an obvious illustration of this. Mobile-Friendly & Responsive keeps your website up to date The United Kingdom has evolved into a smartphone society. We spend two hours online on our smartphones, twice as long as we do on laptops and desktop computers. When combined with Google's planned mobile-first indexing change, ignoring the mobile market is highly risky. Making a website mobile-friendly is currently considered best practice (responsive design). Responsive Web Design is a collection of strategies that enable a website to adapt and flex to the size of the screen on which it is being viewed. Someone accessing your site with a small smartphone may be displayed on the same page as someone accessing it via a laptop, etc. It may even make sense for many firms to design their website "mobile-first." “Every day, the number of devices, platforms, and browsers that your site must support increases. Responsive web design heralds a sea change in the way websites will be built in the coming decade.” — Veen, Jeffrey To summarise, if you haven't updated your website in a while, you risk alienating mobile users and potential consumers. Discover more about our responsive and mobile-friendly website design. More on why you should design with Responsive Mobile in mind Website Content Although the reader's initial impression of your website will be the general layout, they are searching for relevant content. A site redesign may also help you rethink how you connect with your visitors and write more succinct, targeted, and effective text. Remember, in today's "go faster and faster" world, and you only have two to four seconds to engage new visitors. A website's content should be prioritized, as it contributes to deciding how effective a website is. Fresh and distinctive website content is critical for enticing visitors to return to your site more frequently. See more about wining website content. SEO & Website Maintenance As with a website, your digital marketing and SEO may require an update. If you fail to maintain your website, you can be certain that it will fall in the search engine ranks. The most recent material on a website is considered the most relevant to web visitors by search engines. While your material may be gold, if it is the same as five years ago, search engine crawlers may not consider it relevant. Additionally, the makeover provides an opportunity to reconsider your keyword targeting and your website's overall conversion rate. The way people search and search has shifted considerably over the past several years, which is even more true now that smartphone usage has exploded. Understand the fundamentals of SEO here. Maintain an Informed and Up-to-Date Audience Another reason to regularly update your website with great material is to keep existing subscribers informed and provide crucial information to convert new visitors to clients. You may use an RSS feed to notify users whenever you publish new information on your website. By maintaining engagement with your audience, you may foster long-term loyalty, which turns into repeat visitors that adds enormous value to your website. Similarly, your constantly updated content can educate new visitors about your small business and its products or services. If a visitor arrives at your site via a search engine link, you must persuade them that your product is the best option for them among the thousands (or millions!) of other results displayed in their search. Provide them with customer satisfaction articles. Inform them of your product's benefits. Assist them in comprehending why they require your stuff. The more information a prospective customer has access to, the more likely they will make an informed purchasing decision. Regularly updating your website with new information will earn you the respect and loyalty of your visitors and help you maintain a positive relationship with the all-powerful Google. Keeping your website up to date verdict: In summary, you must constantly upgrade your site to provide the best possible service to your clients. Even if you wish to keep the site largely unchanged, you can make a few easy changes behind the scenes to make life much easier for everyone involved. This improves your ability to handle additional business while also promoting additional business. #### The importance of Mobile SEO Working in marketing or web design in any capacity, you cannot escape the importance of SEO. Strong content, combined with well-thought-out SEO, can be one of the main drivers of authentic traffic to your website, and helps to keep you at the top of Google results. While you may have spent a lot of time refining the SEO for your website when it comes to desktop usage, have you stopped to consider the importance of mobile SEO? Read on to explore why you should make mobile SEO a priority and how this can make a big difference to any business. Why Mobile SEO matters Some statistics state that more than half of the internet traffic across the world is coming from mobile devices. This is a huge number, and if your website is not optimised for mobile, you could be missing out. Google favours showing the mobile version of a site when users search, so if your website does not have a mobile friendly design, you might be pushed to the bottom of the pile. No matter what kind of website you run, it needs to be optimised for mobile so that the Google algorithm recognises it as a high quality result. Websites that have a design that looks great on desktop but also translates well to the smaller screen of a mobile device are a real must have in this modern age – but what does this mean, and how can you focus in on mobile SEO? What does good Mobile SEO look like? For a user, the end result is all that matters. With this in mind, it’s important to note that good mobile SEO has certain characteristics that consumers on the go might look for. The site should load quickly and easily on either a smartphone or a tablet, and not be littered with popups. You should also consider the importance of font size – is it readable even on a small screen? Because of the reduced space offered by a mobile device screen, the navigation should be easy and user friendly, and the entire site needs to fit to the screen size so that the user does not need to tilt their phone to a different angle. Anything where users need to enter details or click on buttons must be fully functional on mobile – if it isn’t, it is unlikely users will reach for their laptop to continue a difficult transaction. How to check how good your mobile SEO is The easiest and quickest way to check how well your mobile SEO performs is to run a check through Google Lighthouse. It’s an automated tool many web developers use to check the quality of web pages. It allows you to see suggested improvements for key factors relating to your website such as performance, accessibility, SEO and more. Google Lighthouse can provide you with many website audits, but we think there are 3 key elements you should focus on above anything else when it comes to your mobile SEO. Concentrate on your website speed A website that loads slowly, with pages that also take a long time to come up, is frustrating for anyone – so improving mobile SEO can cut down on users being annoyed and clicking away too quickly. However, there is another reason that you should optimise for mobile with speed in mind. Google favours sites that load faster (preferably in under 2 to 3 seconds), and this will increase your ranking – making it easier for users to find you. Read our blog for 6 tips on how to increase page load speed. Consider user experience One of the most important factors when considering mobile SEO is user experience. Having to hold your phone at an angle, zoom to read text, or scroll to see an entire image puts roadblocks up to users. Good mobile SEO means that your site will look and feel better to use, no matter what device users are utilising. Focus on reducing bounce rates If a user visits your site and only gets to your home page, they have bounced. Your bounce rate indicates that a user has struggled to use your site and could not easily find what they wanted – and this means you have lost a potential customer. Having good mobile SEO, which is easy to navigate and highly responsive, encourages users to browse for longer. They will be able to find what they want quickly, and fill out any forms easily – creating happy customers who could return again and again. Find out more about our Mobile SEO Services As you can see, mobile SEO can contribute greatly to the success of your business. With more and more consumers using their phones rather than a laptop or desktop PC to browse the web and find what they need, optimising your mobile SEO is essential. Hopefully with this in mind, you will be well on your way to creating the kind of mobile SEO that can give any business a great boost. If you’re looking for a mobile SEO company that can help with your SEO strategy, be sure to get in touch with us and see how we can help maximise your visibility online. #### The importance of writing blog articles for SEO Content is essential for SEO; without it, search engines would not correctly index your pages and assist you in the ranking. Your website's pages will never be used or posted if you don't have a good SEO plan. They'll simply exist online with no guests, which defeats the intent, doesn't it? SEO blog content increases your search engine exposure, which increases traffic to your website and allows people to buy your goods or services. You can bring real value to your company's bottom line by investing in SEO blog content. Here is the reason why there is such importance of writing blog articles for SEO: Improves organic search results Did you know that 70% to 80% of people reject paid search results favouring organic search results? Find organic quest to be your grocery store produce. Organic exploration refers to a search in its most natural state. This means no paying advertising, auctions, or bidding to get your company to the top of the search results. You generate a new URL for your site every time you write a new blog post, and each new URL represents a unique opportunity for your website to be ranked in a search. Though blogging takes time, you can carefully craft keywords and topics that will make you appear as an expert in your field and help you rank higher in search engines. Produces Fresh Content The more often the material is indexing, the fresher it is. The more posts, downloads, and new web pages you add to your social media sites or website, the more likely a search engine visits and favours your site. Updated and search engines highly regard related content. Sticking to a weekly blog that integrates the most important topics will help you develop a relationship with your readers while also offering fresh material for search engines to index. Your homepage and landing pages cannot change, so staying to a weekly blog that integrates the most relevant topics will help you develop a relationship with your readers. Only make sure the material is of good quality. Creditability of Backlinking Backlinking is the practice of using links on one website that lead to another well-known website. A popular link serves two purposes: it helps search engines figure out how to rank these links in a searcher's results by finding and creating new web pages for websites. And it helps search engines figure out how to organise these links in a searcher's results by finding and developing new web pages for websites. To efficiently and adequately backlink, you must include a trustworthy site important to your current topic and comment. Backlinking helps in the creation of relationships with other websites to aid in the growth of your own. It's even better if the website returns the favour by listing yours. Increase Over-all SEO/SERP of your Website Your SEO will boost if you have a blog. Fresh content is always a must if you want to outrank your rivals in the SERPs. In your posts, use keywords. Create a list of the keywords, subjects, and categories you want your organisation to be found. When writing your posts, use these phrases and similar terms. Whether you actively seek them out or not, blogging about your company, industry, product, or consumer lifestyle regularly will naturally increase your search keywords. Being deliberate about your words will only help you produce better results. Google (and other search engines) use keywords and subjects on your website to find your website for these searched terms. Boosting your SEO Ranking  New and appropriate content is still in demand by search engines. You can quickly generate new material for the search engines to index by writing an article. To begin, research to identify important high-volume, low-competition keywords to use in your papers. However, loading your writing with keywords to draw the search engines' attention would have the opposite effect. A competent SEO firm will assist you in creating blogs that contain just the right number of keywords. Boosting your Sale Your readers are more likely to buy from you if you share content that adds value to their lives. Rather than sending people to a website full of links from your paid ads or social media, you can send them to blog posts that compliment your product or service. Well-written copy presents the ideal opportunity to educate and encourage people who are now more conscious of the importance of what you have to offer. Building relationships with your customers  Blogs are another way to strengthen your relationship with your customers. Your clients can learn about your company or product from the convenience of your online home base by interacting directly with your website. Make use of it. Establish trust by being a credible source of knowledge once more. Consumers love being taught, and they appreciate it when you are the one doing the teaching. React to feedback and connect with your clients, just as you would on your other social networking pages. React to them directly on your website if they have concerns about a product you're writing about. Unlike many social media sites, a blog usually is searchable for a long time on your website. Yours is an outstanding example. Friendly User Interface User experience is an integral aspect of SEO, and it will continue to play a more significant role in where the website ranks. Search engines want to provide users with a unique experience that keeps them coming back. Blogging helps businesses to do this while also encouraging them to be creative with their content. Creating an infographic blog is one way to be innovative with your blog. Users will be attracted to these posts, so they should be the subject of your SEO efforts. Creating Trust Among Targeted Audience. Blogging helps you to communicate with tourists and customers on a more personal level. You'll start to be seen as an expert in your industry if you regularly deliver high-quality content to your target audience. However, gaining people's confidence cannot be hurried. Don't use high-pressure sales tactics or pump out a dozen posts in a few weeks, expecting a significant rise in readership and sales. For the best performance, be patient and honest. #### The Latest IONOS Scam: Domain Renewal Every day there seems to be a new phishing scam that we all need to be aware of. Scammers are becoming more and more convincing with their sophisticated tactics and it's not just individuals that can fall victim to these clever phishing scams. Businesses also need to be on the ball with the latest scams and as a digital agency that cares about our clients and the wider community, we feel it's our duty to keep you updated. This week, we've been made aware of a new type of phishing scam specifically targeting domain customers of IONOS. IONOS are a domain registrar that the Fifteen developers utilise. They offer great service, support and have a wealth of Domains, Top-Level Domains (TLD) and Second-Level Domains (SLD) available. However, they do seem to have been targeted threat actors. Keep reading to learn all about the latest IONOS scam and how you can avoid falling victim to it. What's going on with this IONOS scam? Quite simply, someone is sending out emails to owners of domain names which are registered with IONOS. The content of the email alludes that the customers domain is about to expire and if they don't renew quickly, their domains will be lost. As you'd expect, the wording of the email is very strong and is intended to provoke fear and panic. The emails themselves are quite convincing and are fully branded to IONOS normal standard. The wording is also very professional and doesn't contain the normal spelling and grammatical errors red flags you'd normally see in phishing emails. What are they trying to achieve? They're trying to take your money! The email states that IONOS have attempted to renew your domain but the payment failed and features a button to click which will take you to a renewal payment form. Of course, that money will never make it to IONOS. Chances are, you won't even be charged the €9.99 they state you need to pay to renew your domain. What is certain though, is that your card details will be sold on the dark web. How can I stop this IONOS scam? A domain name has certain publicly available information registered against it, and this is usually in the form of contact details (admin/technical/contact etc.). On this basis, there isn't a great deal you can do stop receiving the emails, but there are a number of things you can do if you receive such an email to ensure it's legit: 1. We take care of your domain The first thing to note is that if you're a client of ours, we take care of your domain and you shouldn't receive any payment requests from IONOS. We take care of this for you. So if you receive an email like we've described above, it's more than likely a scam and you should ignore it. If you're unsure, you can contact us for more advice. 2. Check your domain renewal date In the examples we've had visibility of, the domain name(s) in question are not near their renewal date, so it's important to know when your domain renewal date is. You can use a website like Domain Tools to check your actual renewal date and perform a 'whois' lookup. Simply enter your domain name and then in the return information, look for your "expiry date" or "renewal date". 3. Check the 'FROM' address in the email If you receive a IONOS scam email, check the 'FROM' address because at first glance, it might look like a legit email address but generally, when you look deeper it can be pretty obvious that it's a phishing email. In Gmail for example, you can click the 3 dots at the top right of the email and click 'show original'. What you see here might look like nonsense but search for the word 'from' and it might just show you the actual email address the email is coming from. 4. Check the payment link It's very important to not click any links within the phishing email. Instead, hover your mouse over the payment button and your browser will usually show you the link in the bottom right or left hand side of your screen. One of the scam payment URLs we have seen looks like the below. hxxps://ionos-secure-manager-pmiv8.ampfibian.co.nz/ml/?domain=yourdomain.com&email=your@email.com 5. If in doubt, don't do anything If it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't! If you're unsure, you can forward the email over to our Technical Director, Sam, sam.doyle@fifteen.co.uk and he can give you more advice and very quickly tell you if the email is legit or not. Speak to our experts for more advice We hope we've provided you with more insight in to this latest IONOS scam. If there's anything you takeaway from this, it's to not act if you receive a domain renewal phishing email and contact the experts here at Fifteen for more advice. Alternatively, you can check out some resources on this subject IONOS website. #### The New Facebook Logo Introduction to Facebook's Logo Redesign Love it or hate it, it’s hard to not know about Facebook but have you heard about the latest update to the Facebook brand? When the first logo was created back in 2005, Facebook was new to the scene, they needed to come across as professional and build trust with the audience. In 2015 the company undertook a rebrand to refresh the overall tone the brand emitted. Now an established brand, the aim was to modernise the logo, making it friendlier and more approachable. The rebrand was more of an update than an overhaul, seeing the introduction of a custom typeface that took away the recognisable harsh edges of the old logo and adopted a softer approach. Since the rebrand things have remained unchanged but from the beginning of May you will begin to notice the rollout of a new logo. So, what’s changed this time around? All about the circle One of the most obvious changes is the switch to a circle. The now official Facebook logo has done away with the square we are all familiar with and now sees the ‘f’ contained within a circle. The once offset ‘f’ has now been brought into the centre of the icon to complete the new look. The old “Facebook” logotype containing the name of the company is now reserved for use by the company only. You may have noticed things have been turning circular for a while now, with the introduction of the round profile picture over the last few months. A new Facebook blue The brand has been given a new look with the introduction of a new blue. The new colour scheme replaces the tired, corporate looking blue with a fresher, lighter shade that now matches the Messenger app icon, creating synergy between the two applications. What the Facebook's logo redesign means for you While it may take a while for the full rollout to happen, now could be the time to start looking at updating anywhere you have used the Facebook logo to promote your page. Don't forget to refresh you knowledge on social media image sizes too. While this will not be enforced it is always good to follow the guidelines Facebook have published and taking advantages of the benefits this can bring. As the new look becomes more familiar the new icon and colour scheme will be quicker and easier for your audience to recognise and stops your website from looking outdated. Updates to the Facebook Brand Facebook recently unveiled their new branding logo, which covers Facebook app, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, Workplace, Portal and Calibra and will be appearing across all their apps in the coming weeks, Do you need help updating your website with the new Facebook logo, rebranding your own logo or assistance with your social media strategy? Get in touch with Fifteen today! #### The Power of Voice Search I went to a design conference and a few years ago and never had the opportunity to express my feelings about Voice search and power it has on our society. The rise of voice search Approximately 20% of quotes through mobile phones are done through voice and where this number is expected to increase so much, it’s so important the awareness and effects that this may have. With virtual technology increasingly important, we are seeing a trend that is revolutionising people’s search patterns for content. This rise in using voice for search is getting to the point that businesses should be starting to take voice search more serious. What's more, businesses should think about where they fit in with customers' UX and SEO.   So, what is Voice Search? In its basic form Voice search is something that allows a user of a product to simply use their voice to command a device to search the internet or interact with an application. But in the broader sense voice search is using keywords query information available on the internet. Instead of typing queries into a search box you just state them into a voice-activated device. Using your voice to search involves you to be very interactive. It takes several interactions to make the system you are using to better understand the questions that have been asked of it. This is normally what you would do to guess someone’s personality, asking them questions in the right way will give you a better understanding of the person. The 3 main voice assistants Searching without typing allows for greater accessibility without having to lift a thumb. There are many search bots out there however there are 3 main ones that dominate the market. Apple - Siri Google - Assistant Amazon - Alexa How do voice assistants work? Input into these machines is known as automatic speech recognition and for the output, it gives you the text-speech. In many cases, a device that uses this would have to be awoken by using trigger words. Once these words have been spoken aloud then the device will be fully reactive in listening out for what you’re asking it to do. Depending on the device and the output skills the device will return the results, all of this can be done without the device having a screen. So now we know how it works and what voice search is all about, why is the market so caught up on them? Plus, what are these companies (knowing full well they could be listening to us) wanting the public to buy into it? The benefits of voice search Convenience is the main draw. It's easier to ask for information if you're lounging on the couch or preparing dinner. According to Hitwise (a leading marketing company providing data on visitor trends and search behaviour), nearly 60% of the searches are now performed on a mobile device. Like I’ve mentioned before, using this kind of technology can get information quicker, a definite perk in this fast-paced society. You’re also able to set reminders make calls write messages via dictation ask them play your favourite tracks With users becoming more aware of this, it’s not a wonder how people have found voice searching or voice typing easier to use than physical typing. What’s more, this will only increase in popularity. I think voice search is the next step in the technology evolution. It’s a small one, but it’s massive at the same time so knowing how it all works within UX and SEO can be very beneficial for any digital campaign. Why does it matter to my business? With mobile devices, voice search is being used more for queries rather than traditional searches then why not stay miles ahead with your competitors? Three core factors play well into the success of voice search with local business. What’s the proximity of you and the searcher? What sort of engagement is there with the consumer? How is the business ranking in search? Studies suggest that by the year 2020 (which is only a year away) that just over 50% of searchable content will be searched by voice. This is where businesses should take note and understand this important way of thinking and take care to get their results found on voice search engines. The difference with this form of searching is in the style of the queries. Searching with your voice is conversational and completely different from traditional searches. When Voice searching some of the queries that go through the device are somewhat longer in details rather than typed searches. So to give you an example, when you’re searching Google and you’re wanting to search for ‘Nottingham’s Best Pubs’ you’ll probably use a full sentence instead of just keywords. For example; ‘can you tell me the best pubs in Nottingham city centre area’.  To get better results searching is that business in voice search you will need to understand and adapt to new SEO strategies.  It’s also apparent that the right context for searching is important, too, to evolve the search by voice. But what exactly needs to change? Below are ways in optimising your website to become better at voice search.  1) Your site should be friendly with mobile devices  Create a website that is mobile friendly is THE most important part of all this because designing a website in this way will allow you to be noticeable on mobile devices.  2) Making crawlable content Make sure that the company’s mobile website never blocks JavaScript, CSS, any images and any videos.  3) DO NOT USE FLASH I don’t mean the cleaning products, but Flash is unfortunately not viewable by many mobile web browsers. Flash has been around for a while but lately, it’s been moved away due to the rising usage of Apples Safari web browser. Google Chrome will no longer support Flash in search result; it will not be indexed, from December 2020. 4) Loading time 40% of shoppers will wait no more than three seconds until they bounce so, therefore, you’ll need to provide a quicker way to enhance the UX. 5) For the locals Voice searching is fast becoming the primary search for local queries. You need to rank quite high within your local area of search to allow for a better digital experience. 6) Tracking Consumers still feel that the quickest method of getting ahold of someone is by calling. So if the consumer uses their voice searching device to find their local takeaway, they’ll probably end up using type search or calling the restaurant to book a table rather than doing it through Google. Therefore tracking is somewhat important in helping a business to identify what channels or adverts should be used.  7) FAQs One very important asset to have for voice search is succinct answers to their questions. A FAQs page is where users find the answers they need very quickly to the most common questions. Many voice search queries start with the where what, why, who and how.  I’m going to eat my own words… Google (as I am normally an Apple enthusiast) has led this whole voice searching and sharing these would maybe change your mind too on using a device such as Google assistant. It’s for sure starting to change my mind.  Google and their mighty thinkers have worked on some amazing things throughout the years and it’s just getting better. Google Assistant makes table reservations Making a simple table reservation over the phone with person to person interaction is now a thing of the past. You heard me right. You’ll never need to book a table again, Google assistants can do that for you in the background. All you have to do is let Google Assist know that you would like to book a table at a certain restaurant, with a time, date, and number of guests. Then it’ll call the restaurant for you - speak to the person at the end of the phone and book a table for you.  It’ll then prompt you with a message to say it’s done. With Google assistant, it takes the stress of small things allowing you to make bigger things happen.  Check out this video: https://youtu.be/D5VN56jQMWM It’ll blow you away.  So to conclude there are even more reasons why voice searching is something you should adopt within your business. Voice expands optimisation efforts and shows how you can become more relevant to local and international audiences. Where next for voice search? There are many reasons why voice searching technology is such a pioneering piece of digital development. This allows people who are not capable of using a computer to communicate with others faster. It also helps us to communicate with others when there is a language barrier - what I mean is that we can simply ask a device “how do you say “hello” in German?” It should reply with “Hallo, or Guten Tag”. Other important ways in which it’s something that you might need to spend some time thinking about this market is that more and more people will be able to access more content quicker and be able to shop, browse, buy and even sell through your business using the power of their voice. At Fifteen we are constantly looking for new ways to communicate with your audience. Contact us now for concerns be they design, digital or development. Our specialist digital marketing team are on hand to offer award-winning expertise. #### The process of mobile app development: what are the basics? Mobile apps are part of everyday life. Whether you’re checking your bank balance, ordering lunch, or booking a weekend getaway, apps are how modern users engage with brands and services on the go. However, the process of mobile app development is a complex one, with lots of moving parts all working at the same time. If your brand is thinking about developing an app, it’s important to understand the basics - not just from a technical perspective, but in terms of planning, purpose, and long-term performance. In this blog, we’ll explore the basic process of mobile app development, as well as highlighting some of the essential tools available to help get you started and produce the best work possible. Why build a mobile app? There are many benefits to building a mobile app, such as unlocking new value for your business - whether you’re enhancing customer experience, streamlining internal operations, or creating a new revenue stream. Some other key benefits include: Improved accessibility and convenience for users Greater control over branding and customer experience Opportunities for personalised content and notifications Offline functionality, ideal for travel or service industries Deeper user engagement and customer loyalty Whatever industry your business resides in - ecommerce, healthcare, retail, or hospitality - building a mobile app can transform the way your audience interacts with your brand. How to develop mobile apps: the basics The process of mobile app development involves more than just writing code. It includes strategy, design, testing, and ongoing maintenance, all of which need to work together to deliver a high-quality product. Below we break down each typical stage of the process. 1. Create a clear strategy The app development process should start with a clear strategy. When you develop an app, you’re developing it with a specific purpose in mind - usually to solve a problem your audience is experiencing - so you should conduct a strategy session to help define this. As well as identifying how your app will solve a problem your audience is having, you should decide what the core functionality of your app will be and the features you want it to have. You could conduct competitor research and see what brands similar to yours are doing and set measurable KPIs so you can monitor performance effectively. Also at this stage, you want to ensure you have enough budget for your app project. 2. Plan your timeline After you’ve developed your strategy, you should create a timeline. The complexity of your app will affect the time it takes to have it ready. Make sure the timeline for completion is realistic and includes time for analysis, UX design, application testing, and deployment.  You should also factor in which members of your team will be responsible for each element of your app, such as content creation, development, and design. 3. Design your app This part of the process isn’t just about designing how it looks, it’s also about designing the architecture of the app. It’s essential to keep your customers’ needs in mind while staying true to your style guide and branding. Creating wireframes and user journeys will help you stay true to good UX design so your users can navigate your app intuitively, without friction. You should also think carefully about what pages you’ll need and how your app’s going to work – will users swipe left to right to move between pages or do you want some kind of interactive menu? If you’re selling products or services, you’ll also need to consider how to incorporate a payment gateway too. 4. Begin developing your app Once you have your design and structure nailed, the next stage of the process is developing the app itself. There are two ways you can develop your app which include: Developing using a template - this will include dragging and dropping information into an existing format. Developing from the ground up - this will include a team of professional developers to create a bespoke app for you. Developing an app using a template costs less than developing from the ground up, but removes some of the customisability you may be wanting. You should choose the right option for your budget and functionality requirements. Be sure to consider both frontend and backend development too. Frontend development focuses on the user interface, while backend development handles data storage, user authentication, APIs, and any other integrations. You’ll also need to decide whether to build native apps (specific to iOS or Android), a hybrid app (using shared codebases), or a web app. 5. Thoroughly test your app After you’ve developed your app, you absolutely need to test it before it goes live. This will include trying out all of the features, testing performance on different devices, scouring for bugs or glitches, and ensuring accessibility and security is up to standard. You can do this in-house or you may even want to consider asking some members of your target markets to test it for you and provide feedback. Whatever you choose, thorough testing ensures you can release a high-quality app and retain a strong reputation. 6. Continually update your app Once you’ve successfully deployed your app, you need to keep on top of maintenance and update the app over time. Successful apps require regular updates, analytics tracking, and bug fixes. These kinds of updates will keep your app secure and protect users’ data, which is especially important to adhering to GDPR guidelines. As well as that, users will undoubtedly provide constructive feedback on the quality of your app, which can help fix any issues and advise you on potential new features that need to be added in the future.  Key tools for mobile app development If you’re thinking about bringing your app to life yourself, there are plenty of tools available to help you build, test, and launch your mobile app. However, the right platform will depend on your goals, technical resources, and whether you’re building for iOS, Android, or both. Some of the most popular tools for mobile app development include: Flutter - backed by Google, Flutter lets you build fast, cross-platform apps from a single codebase with a native look and feel. React Native - a flexible, open-source framework from Meta that is ideal for building high-performance apps for both iOS and Android using JavaScript. Swift (iOS) and Kotlin (Android) - the go-to native languages for building platform specific apps when performance and hardware integration are a priority. Firebase - a powerful backend platform that supports real-time databases, authentication, analytics, and crash reporting - ideal for managing app performance post-launch. These tools can form the foundation of your tech stack if you’re building in-house. Choosing the right tool can simplify the process of mobile app development and help bring your app to the market more efficiently. Want our professionals to help build your app? Developing a mobile app is a big step, but understanding the basic process of mobile app development can put you in a strong position to launch something that delivers real value for both your users and your business. At Fifteen, we help businesses design and build digital products that work seamlessly across mobile and desktop. Whether you’re planning your first MVP or scaling an established app, our team of professional app developers can guide you through strategy, design, and development - from idea to launch and beyond. Get in touch with us today to find out more. #### The Quick Social Media Image Size Guide for 2018 No matter where your brand is being displayed - it’s important to make sure you are always looking the best you can. Digitally the best way to do this is by displaying high-quality imagery. Social media is no exception, it's a platform that is always being updated. It can be hard to keep up with the latest social media image sizes. We’ve gathered the latest dimensions that you need to know. Especially when it comes to creating your profile images, cover photos and uploaded images. Facebook Size Guide Quick View Profile picture: 170 x 170 pixels Cover photo: 851 x 315 pixels Shared image: 1200 x 630 pixels Note: all dimensions are width by height Facebook Profile Picture – 170 x 170 pixels This is the image that will represent your company. It will appear on your profile and alongside any interactions you have with other users. This will be with posts and comments. With its high visibility, make sure it is of the highest quality and represents your company. Most companies choose to display their logo or a recognisable device from their brand here. One thing to bear in mind when creating your Facebook profile picture – your profile picture will be square on your profile and cropped to a circle in any posts and ads. Facebook Cover Photo – 851 x 315 pixels Your Facebook cover photo displays at the top of your profile and gives you a large space where you can begin to tell your brand story. The cover photo will display at 820 pixels wide by 312 pixels high on desktop computers and 640 pixels wide by 360 pixels high on mobile devices. We have provided the recommended dimensions for the fastest possible loading for files under 100 kilobytes. Facebook Shared Image – 1200 x 630 pixels Facebook shared images appear on your timeline and ideally in your follower’s news feeds. The more interaction you can get with your posts, the greater the chances for more of both yours and their followers to see the post, based on their activity. You can pay a small fee to boost these posts to reach a wider audience so make sure these are high quality and present your company in the best way possible. Twitter Quick View Profile photo: 400 x 400 pixels Header photo: 1500 x 500 pixels In-Stream photo: 440 x 220 pixels (2:1) Note: all dimensions are width x height Twitter Profile Photo – 400 x 400 pixels Your profile photo will be the main image that represents your company across Twitter, displaying on your profile, in-stream when you tweet and alongside a link to your profile in the “Who to follow” box. Being the face of your brand on Twitter, it’s important to make sure this image is created to the correct dimensions and high quality. Most businesses use their Twitter profile photo to display their logo or your brand's emblem if you have one. Remember, your profile photo will sit in a circle, so make sure any important elements aren’t cropped from view. Twitter Header Photo – 1500 x 500 pixels The Twitter header photo sits edge to edge at the top of your profile and provides you with a large space to display an image that represents your company. Due to its dominance on the page, it's crucial this is high quality and sets the tone for your company. Bear in mind the maximum file size for your Twitter header is 5MB so make sure you optimise the image as best you can. Twitter In-Steam Photo – minimum 440 x 220 pixels (2:1) We can now say more on Twitter thanks to the recent increase in characters from 140 to 280 but sometimes pictures are better than words. Twitter allows you to attach an image to your tweet which will display underneath the text on your profile. This can also be seen in your follower’s streams and even in their follower's streams if they retweet it. When creating your images, it’s important to remember that the visible area may be cropped to 506 pixels by 253 pixels on a desktop. This is to fit into users streams. To avoid cropping any important elements, make sure you set the width to the minimum recommended size (440 pixels). Also, centre your content to the height of the image. If you need some help when it comes to setting up your social media accounts get in touch. #### The Reality of Advertising Virtual Reality is here, and it could be the future for your business. The Virtual Reality market is exploding. Global search interest on VR has grown by nearly 4X over the past year. VR already has the world’s largest library of content, with every video on Youtube available to be utilised by the technology. Despite its relatively young age, Virtual Reality is already widely accessible. Google shipped millions of Google Cardboard viewers to customers, Oculus Rift launched to the general market to high anticipation and technology giants like Samsung followed suits with their own headsets. Advertisers are already taking advantage of the new shift in digital marketing. The Advrtas ad platform enables advertisers to serve interactive content which can be viewed in any browser and responds to phone movement – letting the user explore content and clicking on hot spots to go through to even more new ‘spaces’ of content. VirtualSKY is a new platform that allows advertisers to deliver breathtaking and immersive 360-degree advertising shown on an abundance of devices including XBOX and PlayStation. The company already lists Adidas amongst its clients. Instead of pushing adverts in users’ faces, advertisers are confident that VR technology will finally allow them to serve adverts that the user wants to experience. Now that it’s hitting the mainstream mark, it’s time for your business to optimise the technology to your advantage. Below are a few ways you can use Virtual Reality to enhance your consumers experience. Your digital marketing campaign will need to be well thought out, but the future opportunities for your business are exciting: Content now goes so much more beyond than the simple frames of a video or picture. You need to create engaging content that your consumer wants to immerse themselves in. Think of it like building a world of content. Make sure your advert’s environment is rich and vibrant. Give consumers plenty to look at. Filming at a busy event or in a bustling city is much more engaging than in an empty room or surrounded by a blank backdrop. A study by Ericsson ConsumerLab shows that shopping was the worldwide top reason smartphone users were interested in VR. The technology is a chance for consumers to see items in real size and true detail when online shopping. Use VR to give your consumers a virtual fitting room and catwalk experience. It’s not just the retail industry that can take advantage though. Why not give consumers a front-row seat to your sold out event? Or give them a personal taster of your company’s services. A VR experience of bouncing would be perfect for a trampoline park, and the perfect way to appeal to your customers. Want help with your Digital Marketing strategy? Contact one of our specialists today. #### The Rise of E-commerce in Lockdowns Today, every company is trying to determine how customer behaviour can shift once the lockdown opens and which goods and services will see a growth spurt to revive demand. The market demand gives a sense of the categories that continue to succeed with customers as many countries opened for industry, partially in some and entirely in other zones. The coronavirus pandemic has put retail e-commerce at the frontline. The statistics show the rising effect on online retail of the COVID-19 outbreak, including massive online sales growth in the United States, retail bankruptcies, curbside pickup, and traffic on Amazon.com. Impact of Lockdowns on E-commerce The strong and steady growth of internet users and increased awareness of online shopping increased online launch of goods, low prices due to bulk sales, and so on are the factors driving the e-commerce industry's growth before the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the direct distribution channel and economies of scale, a growing number of unique items on the market and lower prices of goods further lead to the worldwide e-commerce market. Moreover, social distancing and staying home are expected to drive customers towards online shopping after the COVID-19 pandemic. The e-commerce industry, however, may be impacted by volatile market demand and supply chain problems. The COVID-19 pandemic can also affect major retailers such as Walmart, experiencing a decrease in casual shopping, disruption of the supply chain, and a rise in basic toiletries, groceries, and other items. Segmented goods, including electronics, beauty and personal care and others, are part of the global e-commerce industry study. Because of the instability in the supply chain and market demand worldwide, the outbreak of COVID-19 affected these segments. In China, the US, and other countries, e-commerce supply chains are primarily strained by COVID-19 and factory closures. As China accounted for most cases of COVID-19 and as per the International Trade Union Federation (ITUF), the country is the biggest manufacturer of electronics and its parts worldwide, the most affected industry segment due to the COVID-19 outbreak is electronics products. The electronic components that are assembled into finished goods, such as consumer electronic products and computers, and then exported constitute many of China's imports. However, owing to the plant's closure, the supply chain of electronic goods is now close to further affecting the electronics e-commerce sector. The latest COVID-19 pandemic has affected e-commerce in different regions, such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world. Italy, Spain, France and Germany in Europe and China in the Asia-Pacific region are the countries in which most cases have been registered. During an economic downturn in its domestic market and faced with the coronavirus outbreak's uncertainty, China's giant e-commerce service provider Alibaba has struggled to maintain growth rates.  Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Amazon.com, Inc., Qoo10 Pte. are prominent companies influencing the market. Ltd., JD.com, Walmart Inc., eBay Inc., Shopify, Rakuten Group, and others. Amazon, for instance, has made some heavy investments in one-day shipping that are still not compensating. Its net profits fell by 26 per cent in 2019, and shipping costs increased by 46%. In the first half of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic will impact Amazon's earnings. E-commerce Shopping in the Lockdown The global pandemic has entirely solidified the need for e-commerce. It used to be only one of many choices we had when making a purchase. Instead of making a purchase, e-commerce became the predominant shopping process. With all non-essential stores closed for broad swaths of 2020 worldwide, and a growing number of us worried about social distancing, online shopping became the norm, and we saw drastic growth in e-commerce sales. However, with different nationalities, races, ages and income classes purchasing and shopping differently during the pandemic, this influenced e-commerce differently globally. Some companies were much better equipped to broaden their digital offering than others. Below, we'll look at how lockdown has changed e-commerce in the mass market and luxury and whether its effect is here to stay. Development of E-Commerce Revenues Through Various Nations During the pandemic, shoppers in developing economies made the largest move to online shopping, a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) survey has found. Looking at 3,700 consumers in nine developing and developed economies, including Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, South Africa, Switzerland and Turkey. Since the pandemic began, more than half of the survey's overall respondents shop more frequently online and rely more on the Internet for news, health-related information and digital entertainment. However, China and Turkey were the countries that saw e-commerce grow in popularity the most, with the lowest increase in Switzerland and Germany, where more users were already shopping online. Even in highly developed countries, e-commerce revenues rose during the pandemic at an unprecedented pace. In April 2020, Forbes reported that the online year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth of US retailers was up 68% from 2019, surpassing an earlier peak of 49% in early January. What's more, from April 2019 to April 2020, there was a 129% year-over-year increase in US & Canadian e-commerce orders. Deloitte also observed that the pandemic in Denmark had ignited an increasing dependency on e-commerce. Will the Rise of E-commerce Continue in a Post-Lockdown World? I think the pandemic has led to irreversible shifts in shopping conduct - a firm step towards e-commerce that is likely to continue in the post-Lockdown world. The study endorses this, stating that COVID-19 has illustrated the risk of germs picking up while shopping, meaning that another health crisis's anxiety may well drive longer-term behavioural change. What's more, even for those who may have previously chosen to buy in-store to do their shopping online, the pandemic has made it possible, and many of those people have recognized the advantages of e-commerce. Boasting convenience and low prices driven by high competition, it seems likely that the growing popularity of e-commerce will continue long after the pandemic memories have faded. This is why it is essential to change or become redundant for brands that still emphasize in-store shopping and lack a robust online experience. As Yomi Kastro, founder and CEO of Inveon's e-commerce operation, points out, there is now a tremendous opportunity for brands capable of setting up pioneering channels; that can gain widespread use within industries that are much more used to physical shopping. That includes fast-moving consumer goods and pharmaceuticals. However, when it comes to digital experience, there is potential for change in all industries. Smart companies will concentrate efforts on ensuring that their online service is still best-in-class, realizing that the power of e-commerce is only set to increase. To find out more about SEO or start your digital marketing journey contact us today. #### The RSPCA's New Site Gets Tails (and Tongues) Wagging RSPCA Nottingham and Notts are a branch of the household name RSPCA, servicing the animals across Nottinghamshire.  The work that the team at Nottingham and Notts do is vital to the success of getting as many animals rehomed as possible, they provide vital care to animals that are sick or injured and in need of treatment, they transport animals between locations and cover those all-important vet bills from basic treatments to the more server treatments saving animals lives on a daily basis. The team at the RSPCA based in Hyson Green are completely dedicated to their roles, it’s clear that they love what they do, and have dedicated many years to helping thousands of animals.  It’s been a pleasure to work with the team on this project, and we hope to work with them more in the future.  The Task  The RSPCA approached us and tasked us with revamping their old website.  The website wasn’t mobile responsive and contained a lot of information on one page which made it difficult to navigate and follow, lacking user experience and wasn’t accessible for the team to make updates to the content with ease.   The Website  Understanding what they do, and having many animal lovers within the office, we knew from the start that the RSPCA Nottingham and Notts website would be a great project to work on.  We started by understanding exactly the involvement that the Nottingham and Notts branch do within the RSPCA, and how they operate within the bigger picture, we wanted to bring personality to the website, using the brand colours and wide range of images available to us.  Creating something easy to digest and navigate with a strong call to actions was key and important to the success of the website, making the website visual with images was always going to be a key focus point for us - because who doesn’t love a cute animal picture?!  In the picture above, you can see how we’ve bought the website into the modern-day and age, displaying the content in easy to digest bites of information that is engaging and dynamic.  The website is built in WordPress and allows the team at the Hyson Green site to access the content management system to update the website and change the content, images and stats that are on there, allowing them to tailor the site to fit the times of year, and push focus onto their services which match in with the wider picture.   The team at Fifteen are proud to have been able to work with the charity, and we’ve loved having a bit of insider insight into their world, finding out more about the fantastic work that they do.  Have a look at the new website: https://rspca-nottinghamandnotts.org.uk/ and if you would like to donate to the Nottingham and Notts RSPCA please do here: https://rspca-nottinghamandnotts.org.uk/donate/  What They Said  “Our old website was more than tired. After Ollie from Fifteen visited us here at Hyson Green we click immediately and felt assured that our ideas, budget and requirements would be respected. However, we didn’t expect the process it to be quite so easy and the whole team, especially Sophie and Lucy made our revamp a dream. We’ve had all our queries answered promptly, felt supported and at the helm throughout. It is vital for a self-funding charity to have a good ‘shop window’ but to also be mindful of cost, Fifteen rose to that challenge and excelled. The fact we can update the site ourselves is amazing. The team have a passion for animals which obviously endeared us and understood the brief completely. They were professional, encouraging, full of enthusiasm and made the whole project fun. We know we’ve got a fantastic new website but also have support from Fifteen. Goes without saying, we highly recommend the business. Thank you very much once again, we know how much work has gone into this and we are VERY proud of the site. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with you all."Donna - Dep Manager RSPCA Nottingham And Notts #### The Secret Recipe to Rank 1 Content Marketing Reaching that #1 spot on SERPs (search results) can seem like an impossible task. The internet is the marketplace of the world with more and more businesses trying to claim keywords for themselves. Luckily, Google’s algorithms are constantly searching for new and improved information, trawling new and old pages alike, looking for the most helpful information to offer users. Marketing experts even estimate that conversion rates are 6x higher for sites that use content marketing. This is why writing quality content is one of the most important parts of a digital marketing strategy. Readability Readability is the ease with which a reader can understand a written text. When writing great content it’s important to know what level of difficulty to write for. As an example, take a look at any law firm’s site. Law pages are often filled with complicated sentences, longer words and language specific to the industry. This language is perfect for building trust and authority with people who are looking for specific services or information.  However, when you compare a law firm’s website to a day nursery’s site, you’ll see stark differences. This is because website expectations are framed by experience. When we think of a lawyer, we think of someone in a suit who speaks in legal jargon. When we imagine a teacher, we think of someone more approachable and friendly. Your content should reflect these expected perceptions with a level of comprehension that fits the needs of the user. Understanding readability also affects your user experience, an increasingly important aspect of website development. Tone of Voice The tone of voice (ToV) goes hand in hand with readability. Word choice, sentence length and more technical grammar all inform your ToV. Before writing, think of your business as a person. What are they like? What adjectives do they use? Are they professional or friendly? Picturing your brand as a person allows you to get into character and use phrases and words that fit that image. Consistency is key so make sure you understand your ToV before writing anything. Originality Originality is another key ingredient. Not just because of the fresh perspective or take, but also to avoid the dreaded ‘duplicate content’ tag. Originality look at many different aspects of your content. Word choice and order are some key metrics with web crawlers studying a text and comparing it to thousands of other pages to see if any part of the copy is taken from a competitor. This protects you and any other pages from being deemed duplicate content. Duplicate content can cause your page and the page that’s been plagiarized, to be blacklisted and struck from SERPs altogether.  This means that even if you’re writing about a similar topic across your site, it’s important to make sure the bulk of the content is original. SEO The binding agent in the recipe for success is SEO. While a well-written phrase may delight the reader, if it isn’t optimised with keywords it’s useless. Placing keywords throughout your copy gets your content in front of users. It can shoot you up through the rankings and spread your keyword net with alternative phrasing and lateral connections. A clever technique is to use a varying length of keywords. Content writers will often research short-tail and long-tail keywords before writing to pepper throughout their copy. This allows Google to index the page and score the content high on the natural value of the insight as well as keywords. It also captures specific and broad searches increasing your hit rate. These ingredients make for winning content marketing. If you can get the balance right, you'll see a long term increase in your marketing efforts, from brand awareness to increasing sales. For all you creative marketers out there it’s time to break out your best quill and get writing. If you don’t know your past perfect from your past continuous then try Fifteen Design. We have a team of dedicated wordsmiths who can turn a phrase and make even the most mundane topics sound interesting. #### The Secret to Memorable Slogans Do you remember any slogans and/or their taglines when you were younger? Did you manage to memorise their hooks? I know when I was a child I could remember loads and still to this day I know them. It means what they did - worked. How? Well, it’s clear that I’ll only seem to interact with the slogans if the products that I am interested were on at that time. Slogans make for an important part of the business identity and most would agree on this point too. Well, in this market, slogans, taglines and hooks are effective when brands utilise them effectively and continuously. First of all, what is a slogan? Slogans are either a catchy catchphrase and/or grouped words which are connected  in a way that will identify the product.” But in its simple terms, it is a tiny statement regarding your business. The goal is to leave a key brand message in a consumer's mind. In this blog, I have outlined 5 supportive reasons why slogans and taglines can be an important part of creating a great business. 1. Planning Planning by far is one of the most important of them all, but at the same time can be one of the more boring of the steps. You’re good in what you’re already set out to do, however, you are not when it comes to planning a distinctive slogan. The strategy – however crucial is in my few THE step to get right and at this stage, you’ll bring in more clarity and though around the missions and values that run through the business. When the slogan and or tagline has been decided, you are now able to work with this and create what the business you are selling is all about and also how do the benefits bring to your chosen market. The slogan in which you have finally created could now do more or less the same or even better than the current memorable ones. Consumers will then, intuitively associate with the business, knowing what you’re all about and what you have to offer. 2. Standing Out Working alongside the planning, you will have to also – heavily – research your competitors on what they are saying about themselves. I cannot stress this enough, it’s so important that you do this. When you’re wanting to have some shares of the market, you really want to make sure that you are setting an example and also improving the benefits that competitors of your business are setting. Once you have launched the business alongside the business proposition, you will become a competitor in your own right. In this world, it’s a flooded market place with less expensive products for consumers to purchase because manufacturing and it’s processes are getting so much more cheaper and therefore people are trying to make a business from this demand of consumers wanting more for less. There are many examples on how lower-cost processes made elsewhere have been simply copied instead of being innovative. Making them more improved, if unfortunately costing the consumer, but the quality is not improved much. Your very own competitors may copy the ideas you may have too, but what they may not be able to copy. However, the things that the competitors of your business will not be able to do is copy your slogan. Once you have made it then it’s YOURS. 
3. USP Your USP is something that will set yourself apart from your competitors. There’s so much discussion out there whether should you need a simple USP that makes you stand out and be different. What I feel why people are asking this is are these USPs truly unique. If something unique is – unique, or it’s not. The question for all to make something unique, who claim the services, the products and the business they provide say they are fully unique? I feel that it’s very possible to partake in a unique selling point or USP, as this would really associate with your brand and its story with your business, services and products. But the reason that really makes the business unique I hear you say? You. The slogan plays the leading part in how the brand is where it will grow loyalty and then be very memorable. Having this will then make your brand very different from others. 4. Sharing Your Benefits A slogan that is in-keeping with your brand values will then inform your consumers of your values, and what they are with your services or products but ultimately having a slogan should never confuse a customer it should evoke on excitement and trust. Slogans that are read by your customers should quickly and instinctively get the customers the clear benefits they will be expecting from your services and products. Will these goods ever change the consumer’s lives? Will they ever meet the need that the consumers hope for? This is where the slogan would say all that. 5. Remembered It Once you have all those elements in place, and there is plenty of evidence around in which top market-leading brands have resulted in memorable slogans and this will be as well as yours. But something I have learned over the years when crafting slogans and taglines is also adding one more thing: 6. Make It Very positive Avoid the words such as ‘hate’. Having more positive and helpful words could result in a lasting impression. A difference between the tagline and a slogan are often similar, but actually, they serve two separate purposes: Slogans are normally what the company actually stand for in which can have longer character length than the tagline. But the tagline, therefore, is normally the quicker, more catchier phrase which puts the brand’s image in the minds of your customers. Taglines can often accompany and sit alongside the business logo or device, on such as adverts. This is more committed when a brand is showing it’s awareness, therefore they would use a tagline rather than a slogan. Slogans do carry the company’s value however they are more like the company’s main tagline. Your organisation, however, does not need to create a tagline or a slogan. However, sometimes it can be easier to have a slogan that is generally used but you can use taglines that are different for other materials. Also with a motto that your customers will remember could be used in normal discussions in our day to day chats. Great advertising slogans don’t just get consumers talking or interacting about your brand – it brings it to life. Below are some of my favourite slogans that are memorable and have raised the bar with their business. McDonald's – “I’m Lovin’ It” McDonalds’ “I’m Lovin’ It” slogan most commonly recognised and established straplines. This slogan really ties in well with brand’s values, sticking in everyones minds. Working in harmony alongside the adverts they have created – this has led to the company with a very successful campaign. Kit Kat – “Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat” When I was a kid, this was a for sure favourite chocolate bar (and Superdreamers!), this iconic ‘Have a Break’ slogan is one that I can always remember far back in the past and also it’ll be here for the end of days. Used across all their media such as TV adverts and printed materials like their chocolate, this tagline mirrors how quick this bar of chocolate can be eaten. It’s very simple but most important, it so rememberable – just like their branding. Dr Pepper – “What’s the Worst That Could Happen?” In early 2009, the “What’s the Worst That Could Happen?” campaign was a great success for Dr Pepper. This catchy yet memorable song that is featured on their adverts, is what sets them apart. The humour they’ve used has helped make them memorable and effective. Dr Pepper really knew their brand, including their audience too. This is why their campaign is why it’s one of the most famous of them all. Tesco – “Every Little Helps” Tesco (a UK Supermarket) is famous for its strapline “Every Little Helps” perfectly reflects this and has been used in printed and television marketing for many years. These words, in particular, are one of my most memorable slogans which are so effective. L’Oreal – “Because You’re Worth It” A cosmetics brand that continuously makes women and some men feel amazing, L’Oreal. Their unique and the most used tagline, “Because You’re Worth It” is the only tagline they have used and it’s been used that long – many people only when hearing this they know exactly who the brand is. This tagline, really tells a unique story whoever the model or celebrity endorsement is on the advert, where it’s telling the consumer that they really do deserve that treat, because they are worth it. What they have done in the past to gain more traction on the brand is use twists on their slogans, such as when they have been selling bottles of shampoo for children, these children would shout out… “Because We’re Worth It Too”. Apple – “Think Different” Apple pushes its boundaries all the time, especially with their technology. Always thinking up new ideas and that is the reason for their slogan “Think Different”, a tagline which works that well, they continuously tell a story to their customers why they’re better and allows the customer to buy right into the lifestyle, plus they are miles ahead in this sector. Conclusion Having a tagline or a slogan for your company can be crucial. A USP with the benefits will protect you from your competition. You might be starting a new and exciting product or launching a new service or you’re an established company in which you need a new set of consumers, then running a memorable and compelling slogan can drive your business – whilst bringing your benefits and beliefs into it can provide you with a slogan that is very catchy and memorable to your audience and more. Contact us to find out more about crafting memorable slogans. We're here to supercharge your marketing and help you define your brand. #### The Strange(r) Thing about Nostalgia Marketing Nostalgia is a powerful emotion. A familiar smell, a long-forgotten song, a goofy character from a cartoon cancelled a decade ago. These moments are poignant reminders of lives well lived. This emotion has been used for decades to get a response out of consumers, one need only think of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things to see how powerful this emotion can be. Stranger Things, now in its third season is one of the world’s most popular television series. Set in a little town called Hawkins in the 1980s, this series has, for the past 4 years, meticulously stuck to its nostalgic roots. Whether through obvious 80’s tropes such as the shopping mall-style trailer for season three or the long list of references to classic 80’s films such as The Terminator and Ghostbusters, this series knows how to engage young and old audiences with a nostalgic lens. This approach has also extended to their marketing with other companies such as Microsoft. Microsoft’s release of a ‘new’ operating system was teased on social media before releasing the ‘all new Windows 1.0 with Ms-Dos Executive, Clock, and more!!!’ Accompanied by a promo video Windows partnered with Stranger Things to hit those nostalgic notes, reminding consumersabout the heritage of Microsoft and how it’s been a part of homes around the world for decades. This model is by no means new. Coca Cola has always stuck to this strategy with adverts, bottle designs and even the brand typeface embracing their heritage and nostalgia. However, what is intriguing is why it’s so big now. With technology accelerating more and more, why is it that society, and millennials who aren’t from the era, so taken with nostalgia? What is Nostalgia Marketing? Simply put, nostalgia marketing looks to tap into cultural memories from the past to drive goodwill and energy into a modern campaign. For most people, nostalgia taps into childhood and adolescent experiences and portrays them through rose-tinted glasses. This feeling has never been more relevant as our exposure to advertising, social media and information can make the world seem like it’s moving faster and faster. Cue all the memes about ‘adulting’. Digital media has become more impersonal too. Algorithms define what content and ads we see creating echo chambers and targeted content. People have largely fought back against this trend with ad blockers and a general distrust for ‘fake news’. However, nostalgia marketing sidesteps this brawl with an important weapon as it taps directly into the amygdala, the emotional seat of the brain. Nostalgia is one of the many ways to create an emotional hook and that is what all brands, marketers and SEO experts go mad for. A few examples of successful nostalgic marketing include: Adobe’s ‘Joy of Sketching’ series - Played on the universal love for Bob Ross’s televised painting lessons with a tongue in cheek parody Herbal Essences - Revival of their 90’s packaging drew in new and old customers alike Spotify’s Neverending Story campaign - This  campaign riffed on the popular 90’s movie with a reunion between Atreyu and Falkor the luck dragon Even major cinema has followed this trend with the likes of Baywatch, Lion King, Child’s Play and Mid ’90s reimaging popular classics. What Does This Mean? Going forward nostalgia is one of the only marketing techniques that has no sell-by date. That being said landing nostalgia is not easy and it requires attention to detail, an understanding of historical context and the right campaign. 

Attention to Detail Details are what make nostalgia work. Sentimentality is tied to the little things. Smell, touch, sounds and sights can be strong triggers. This means that even if you dust off the designs from twenty years ago, it won’t be an instant hit. Nostalgic campaigns need to recreate the magic of that time. Take cues from movies, music and styles of the era in question. If you lived through the time period in question draw on your own nostalgia, you’ll be surprised how much your audience will resonate with your feelings. Take a leaf out Stranger Things' book. The above mentioned season 3 trailer used fuzzy VHS styles, retro brands and 80s music to bring the malls of 80s America to life, complete with mall rats, terrible food court uniforms and brilliant wooden acting. Understand the Past Creating nostalgia is a minefield when it comes to context. Emotions can cloud judgement and a focus on the positives can often overlook the negatives. Yes, the 80s were a technicolour dream with sharp lines and big hair but it was also the culmination of serious world events like The Cuban Missile Crisis and the atrocities of the Apartheid in South Africa. This difference in view can be understood with the differences ‘restorative nostalgia’ vs. ‘reflective nostalgia’. Restorative nostalgia can be insensitive and send up ideas of ‘the good old days’ without thinking of other points of view. Reflective nostalgia, on the other hand, is more critically aware and should be the target to aim for. Stranger Things has done well to address these issues. It uses the setting of the 80s while maintaining modern cultural sensitivities such as representing different genders and races in an equitable way to show all perspectives. Overall, you should understand the type of nostalgia you want to practice and make sure you do your homework on the time to avoid any negative backlash. Find the Right Campaign via GIPHY Not all campaigns need to be nostalgic. Choose campaigns that make sense. Time is great for enhancing the impact of a campaign, be it the incongruity of a smartphone ringing at Queen Victoria’s coronation or a cutting edge video that plays on the tropes of the past. Last but not least don’t be afraid to use the 21st century to your advantage. VR, 3D and other technologies can be used to enhance the experience and send your audience back in time. 

Nostalgia marketing is a powerful tool that has served some of the world’s biggest brands and created some truly incredible emotional hooks. The strange thing is nobody else is talking about it. If you’re interested in working with us on your next digital campaign or website contact us today and we’ll help you make something memorable. #### The time I used the H6 tag I have to confess, I was an H6 virgin. I’m currently with the H1, but I’ve been around many H2 tags and dabbled with the H3. Sometimes the H4 and I once had a fling with the H5. But I never had the H6. If you’re thinking “what the hell is he talking about?” or concerned about my state of mind, then please don’t because my potential crisis will hopefully not be in the form of a blog. What I’m actually talking about is the HTML heading structure of your website, and please don’t go anywhere else because this is actually… mildly interesting. Headings and subheadings are incredibly important for your website. Not just for your content, but also for SEO. This content that this is sitting in now is below the H1, which can be seen as the introduction to what the content is about. Always insert your keyword(s) that you’re trying to rank for in both the title and the H1 tag e.g. my target keyword for this blog would be – “H6”. The H1 tag and title are usually the same, but this doesn’t have be the case. If they are the same, you must make sure your page title isn’t too long as it will not be seen in the SERP. And now I’ll tell my tale. So when did you use the H6 tag? Not so fast. We’ll get there. There’s a long way to go before the aforementioned tag so let’s take a look at the subheadings. This is where you’ll want to divide your content into chunks with clear headings that tell the user what that bulk of content is about. I’ve cheated here a little with the title of this H2 tag (which this content is sitting in) as I’m not going to tell you about the H6 tag yet. I’m trying to build suspense. I hope you appreciate it. Don’t think you’re stuck and beholden to the structure. Content should come first with the headings, complimenting what you’re writing about. It would be good to think of H2 tags as chapters of a book. They should be used accordingly to split out content into sections. Therefore, you can use multiple H2 tags and should apply these as the main subheadings. Can we just go straight to the H6 tag? No, you can’t. Heading structures follow a lineage, meaning one tag can’t exist without the preceding tags number. For example, you can’t use the H4 tag if you haven’t used the H3 tag. This is an extremely important rule and can be confusing to both user and bots. It’s law of the web and has been defined by the grand webmaster of the internet. So why are there so many tags? Six heading elements may seem slightly extreme, especially since we’re only sitting in the H4. Think of the heading structure as the spine of your content, organising it into a logical rigid hierarchy. So, all your important stuff should be in the top positions (H1-H3). The bottom echelons (H4-H6) should be where you put your content that only exists to back up the previous headings – and should be the least important. Sorry if I hurt your feelings H4. Which tag are we in now then? It’s a H5, we’re crossing into the singularity and reaching unknown territory. Let’s be honest, for most of us we’re never going to need to get this far. But it could come in handy if for example you were an e-commerce site and had quite in-depth product specification that you wanted to deep dive into more detail. You’ve never used the H6 tag before have you? Nope, I just did now though. Thanks for the ride! #### The top 10 best digital marketing courses for 2024 In some way or another, every business is utilising digital marketing as part of their marketing strategy. Whether that’s advertising on social media, or improving their organic visibility on search engines through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). As time evolves, so does digital marketing and it’s vital to ensure you keep up with all the latest trends. A great way to do this is by completing a digital marketing course, and there are so many different courses available for you to choose from. If you’re looking to pursue your interest in digital marketing, or you’re looking to develop and enhance your skills, keep reading as we’ve compiled a detailed list of the best digital marketing courses UK-wide for 2024. Our top 10 best digital marketing courses for 2024 Here is our list of the 10 best digital marketing courses UK-wide for 2024: 1. Digital Marketing Institute The Digital Marketing Institute offers an extremely popular digital marketing course. The first thing you will be asked to complete is a 15-minute quiz that assesses your skill level amongst others considering the course and to determine what level of the course is most appropriate for you to begin with. With various learning levels available, the resources from the Digital Marketing Institute – including a 3-hour content analysis and dissemination course – are valuable for developing your basic knowledge and understanding. 2. Copyblogger Copyblogger is a digital marketing course that focuses on providing valuable knowledge and content on digital marketing. Throughout this course, there is a range of certifications you can achieve. Users can partake in a 20-part course, which is free, to enhance their knowledge on the subject. Becoming a member of Copyblogger is a great way to access webinars, papers, e-books, forums and other content all designed to strengthen your knowledge. 3. HubSpot Academy HubSpot Academy offers a more in-depth digital marketing course that can be customised and tailored to your preferred learning style. Consisting of 12 courses, each with a duration of 5 hours, students can really develop and refine their knowledge of digital marketing here. These courses culminate in questionnaires at the end, which evaluate what the student has learned and determines whether they have been successful or not. Once completed, attendees receive a qualification. 4. Lynda.com Lynda.com is a valuable option for those looking to further their skills and boost their career development. With premium and monthly payment plans available, Lynda offers over 5,000 courses covering both business and creative sectors. They have digital marketing courses available for both beginners and more advanced students, which last between 1 and 10 hours. 5. Udemy If you’re looking for a simple digital marketing course that you can partake in to increase your employability and generally boost your skills, Udemy’s digital marketing course is a valuable option. With masterclass options available, you have the opportunity to teach yourself at your own pace. As one of the largest online learning markets in the world, Udemy is a popular resource for excellent online courses with over 14 million students using it every day. 6. Global Edulink Global Edulink offers advanced digital marketing courses for advanced professionals, such as execs, who are looking for in-depth training in IT and other business-related courses. In terms of digital marketing, the course covers a range of topics and offers a high-quality education for those working to develop their skills. Global Edulink’s trainers are specially selected to ensure that they design the most beneficial and educational courses. 7. Coursera Coursera is determined to offer accessible and educational digital marketing courses for students globally. With a wide range of different certifications and courses to choose from, and with the opportunity to achieve a recognisable diploma, Coursera allows you to control what you achieve. With an extensive range of accessible resources available to use alongside your studies, Coursera prides itself on offering courses that suit your schedule and learning needs. 8. IIM Skills IIM Skills offers some of the most popular and best digital marketing courses across the UK. With a high-quality curriculum, their digital marketing course offers Master training and includes the achievement of 15 other certifications that are extremely valuable for boosting your knowledge and your employability. The IIM Skills digital marketing course lasts for 3 months and covers a range of sectors within digital marketing, including search engine optimisation and content writing. 9. British Academy of Digital Marketing The British Academy of Digital Marketing offers students the opportunity to learn digital marketing skills from the comfort of their own home or within a physical, classroom-based environment, depending on their learning preferences. As a standalone course, their digital marketing course equips students with professional-level knowledge following the completion of 5 practical assignments. With no prior educational requirements needed, this course is accessible to all students with a passion for digital marketing. 10. The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM UK) CIM’s intermediate digital marketing course is one of its most popular, taking just 3 days to complete. Covering essential topics like SEO, pay-per-click marketing (PPC) and site content and copy, the CIM course is well-rounded and is sure to expand and strengthen your digital marketing knowledge. Want to learn more about the best marketing courses? We hope our list of the 10 best digital marketing courses have inspired you to develop your skills in the new year. If you’re unsure which course is right for you, or you want to learn more about the courses we’ve highlighted, get in touch with us today. Our experts can provide you with more information and can even provide digital marketing training for you. Or why not find out more about how we can manage your digital marketing on your behalf? #### The Top 5 Social Media Mistakes Businesses Make Social networking is too critical for any organisation to neglect. For companies of all sizes, social media has been the most commonly used marketing strategy. Regardless of your business, a significant portion of your consumers is likely to be involved in one or more social media sites. You will develop customer loyalty and grow your company if you can connect with them there. However, if you're going to use social media to promote your company, you must do so correctly. It's no secret that having a solid social presence helps brands communicate with their consumers, but social networks aren't as simple to use as they seem. Many company owners make critical errors when it comes to social media marketing. With benefits come drawbacks, and small companies often face social media pitfalls due to errors and omissions.  With that in mind, here are five of the most popular social media blunders that businesses make. Using too many Platforms There are many social networking platforms to choose from, and you may be tempted to think that using all of them is the right strategy because you'll be more likely to find your customers than if you just used one or two. In reality, the opposite is true. It's crucial to keep in mind the social element of social media. If you're going to use a website, you'll need to be involved and post regularly. You can't expect people to follow you if you don't put in any effort, and an inactive account is worse than none at all. Posting Content That Is Contentious, Personal, or Insensitive Unless your company is specifically religious or political, it's best to stay away from these sometimes-controversial subjects. Keep it to yourself if you're very excited about a candidate in an upcoming election. A large portion of your audience isn't, so keep it to yourself. Avoid taking a divisive stance unless your target group is nearly unanimous on a specific social issue or the issue is directly connected to your brand. Some companies go overboard with personal material, and if you can't think of one, you may be one of them. While work culture has undoubtedly changed as Millennials have entered the workforce (visible tattoos, casual attire, funky workspaces, and unusual perks), there are still good social content guidelines. Some personal posts are simply inappropriate. Customers/Followers Aren't Engaged A popular social media marketing KPI is increased interaction. On the other hand, many brands do not respond to user comments on their feed, giving the impression that they are uninterested in fostering conversation with their audience. If anyone comments on your message, make sure your social media team reacts as soon as possible. Customers may want to communicate with you more if you answer (like or comment back). Each comment on your company page is an opportunity to boost engagement and encourage more people to participate. When you participate actively, you should expect to gain more followers and have a higher interaction rate. Failure to Interact with the Audience Social media's goal is to involve people in conversation, but far too many companies make the mistake of just sharing promotional material. Social accounts are often mistaken as sales tools, and they are often judged based on how many people they refer to your website. Still, they can also be successful customer support channels that help you create brand loyalty and resolve customer service problems before becoming a liability. When your team encounters brand criticism, it's important to react quickly. Ignoring complaints sends the message to your followers that you don't care about them enough to respond, or, even worse, that the complaint is genuine and normal. Since comments on your social media accounts are public, anyone who follows you can read the thread and see how you react to issues. Companies will learn a lot from their followers by asking questions, starting polls, and welcoming input, aside from negative comments. Isn't it a good idea to poll your followers before releasing a new colour or product? Perhaps you're developing a software tool and want to know all of the features that your customers need. As a phone, social media is much more helpful than a megaphone. Unprofessionally Reacting to Criticism Just responding inappropriately to negative social media comments is worse than not responding at all. To transform a negative brand experience into a constructive one and maintain your image, you must adequately handle public criticism. A single rude response to a legitimate complaint would be amplified by your number of followers and could even make it into the national news as part of a "social media fails" post. Bickering, removing comments, and banning users can quickly escalate an already heated situation. Be professional, empathetic, and try to understand what triggered the case while dealing with criticism. Consumers typically use social media as a last resort to vent their frustrations at a company and alert other customers to a problem when they believe their issue has not been resolved. Providing a simple way for customers to express their dissatisfaction on your website can deter them from airing their bad comments on your social media accounts for all to see. Acting without a strategy Getting on the social media bandwagon is not easy, and if not done correctly, it can be a waste of time and money. Followers lose interest when you post to accounts infrequently, share random content once in a blue moon, and take shortcuts like mechanically sharing the same content throughout all platforms. You can't expect a successful Tweet to have the same impact on LinkedIn. To determine measurable targets, budgets, and a plan of action, each platform must have its own social media strategy. A strategy sets out what you want to achieve, how you'll get there, how you'll chart your success, and how much money you'll need to put into your efforts. Execution without careful preparation will jeopardize the company's and social media presence's performance. All actions should be deliberate, with a common goal in mind and a well-structured communication and measurement strategy. Taking the time to strategize yields better results by establishing a solid basis on which your social media presence can develop. Does this sound a bit out of your element? Enable a team of experts to handle it. #### The Ultimate Guide to External Links External links, also known as outbound links, are crucial to a healthy link structure across your website. By adding these throughout your content, it can help your website achieve many benefits, but many businesses don’t like the thought of directing users to another domain. However, this is something Google favours. The search engine giant wants you to offer great content and provide as much information as possible to users…even if that information is not on your website. In this blog, we explore what external links are, the benefits they can bring as well as how to successfully implement them on your website. What is an external link? Unlike internal linking, which are links that direct users towards another page within your domain, external links are links that you place within the content of your site in order to direct users towards more information on the subject at hand. They point towards another domain entirely, taking your visitors away from your website. For example, if you want to read more about what external links are, check out this article from Moz. Adding external links throughout your content can help you acquire backlinks. These are links on other websites that direct users back to your website. By adding external links on your website, you’re adding credibility to your content, meaning other websites are more likely to link to your website on a particular topic. The more backlinks you acquire, the more authority your website gains. Let’s compare it to a real-world example. If you owned a bookstore, and a customer came in asking for a book that you don’t have, you have two options. You can tell them that you don’t have the book in stock, or point them in the direction of another bookstore that you know does have it. Whilst pointing them towards the other store means you won’t receive the conversion yourself, you’ve provided valuable information to the customer, meaning they are more likely to return for any other book-related queries they have. The same applies to your website. If a user comes to your website looking for information you don’t have, and you point them in the right direction, this means they’re more likely to remember you next time they need relevant information. What are the benefits of external linking? We’ve already mentioned some businesses aren’t keen on the thought of directing customers to another website, but there are many benefits external linking can bring.  You add relevancy to your website The most important benefit received from adding outbound links is relevancy. Whilst Google (and other search engines) look mostly at what backlinks are pointing towards your website as a sign of relevancy, they also pay some attention to the links that are pointing away from your website. For example, if a lawyer had a webpage about divorce processes, and linked to a government webpage outlining the same thing, the two would be linked in terms of relevancy. Improved user experience If you’ve read our internal linking guide, you’ll know that one of the reasons you should include links throughout your content is to improve user experience. The same applies to external linking. When linking out to a relevant website, you are offering the user more information should they need it, improving their overall experience, and encouraging them to view your website more favourably. Improved page authority Search engines are looking for one thing when scouring the web – a collective hub of information. We’ve already established that outbound links help improve the relevancy of your website, but relevancy helps improve your page authority, which in turn can help improve your rankings and organic visibility in search engine results. Better backlinking opportunities The negative stigma attached to external links makes it really hard to get decent quality backlinks from relevant sites. Nobody wants to hand out backlinks anymore, for fear of being penalised by Google, or for fear of directing the user away from their website. But, if you already have a link to their domain on your website, they might be more easily swayed. Most webmasters will check their backlinks on a regular basis, so are likely to find your website anyway. Give them a reason to link to you, and they will. How to successfully implement external links Like everything related to SEO, there are some things that you have to bear in mind when implementing external links within your link structure, in order to prevent poor optimisation. Make sure your outbound link has relevancy There’s that word again – relevancy. It’s one of the most important things to consider when adding external links. There’s no use in an outbound link to a website that has nothing to do with yours, and in some cases it can actually have a negative impact. Seek out good-quality links As with inbound links, the quality of the websites you link to have an impact on the power you receive from them. If you fill your website with links to low quality directories, it can have a negative impact. If you seek out good-quality websites with great content, it can have a positive impact. Avoid creating a ‘link farm’ You might now be tempted to start adding outbound links everywhere, but be careful about the amount you include within your website content. One thing you really want to avoid is creating a “link farm”, a webpage whose sole purpose is to provide external links, or adding links where they’re not really necessary. Before adding an external link, ask yourself the following questions: Does this link add more to the subject of my content? Does the website I’m linking to follow Google guidelines? Am I just adding this link for the sake of adding an outbound link? The answer to the first two questions should be yes, whilst the third one should be no. If you have the wrong answer to any of these questions, stop. This is probably not the kind of external link you want. Speak to our SEO specialists for more information Our SEO specialists can help you learn more about external linking, how to identify a good external link and even do all of the hard work for you with our link building services. Be sure to get in touch with us today to see how else we can help. #### The ultimate guide to image optimisation No matter what web page you’re adding an image to, it’s incredibly important to ensure it’s optimised for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). And when it comes to image optimisation, you’re contributing your website's SEO more than you might think. For example, not only are you helping search engines better comprehend your site and content, but you’re also increasing your visibility in image search results, which is beneficial for increasing interest in your products and services. In this blog, we provide you with the ultimate to image optimisation including the importance of SEO image optimisation as well as sharing some top tips on how you can optimise your images for the web. Why is image optimisation so critical? The technique of search engines assessing and ranking websites can be complex, but effective SEO enables your audience to find you quickly online. It’s one of the most effective digital marketing strategies for achieving a top ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). Many people believe that SEO is solely concerned with title tags, headers, and body content and while these are some of the most crucial elements of SEO, it doesn’t end there. Image SEO is vital because search engines can’t analyse images the same way a human can and image optimisation is the only way to ensure that. As mentioned previously, image SEO is another way to boost your ranking in search engine results which in turn, can increase traffic to your website, boost engagement and ultimately lead to more conversions. Although the technique of SEO image optimisation can require some expertise, there are some simple best practices you can carry out to ensure your images are optimised for search engines. Our top tips for image optimisation Be familiar with your keywords and phrases You should conduct some research, just as you would for the rest of your website’s SEO. You’re probably already aware of the primary search terms people use to locate you online and it’s even better if you’re familiar with the keywords you rank for. So with this knowledge, you’ll already know which keywords to use when optimising your images for SEO. If you’re uncertain about your keywords, now is the time to conduct some keyword research. Utilise Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMRush or any other keyword research tool to determine what search terms are being used relating to your business. Once you’ve identified your target keywords, you’re ready to tackle the process of SEO image optimisation. Name your images appropriate for SEO We understand the temptation to go down the easy route and name your images using the default title provided or something basic like “image2.jpg.” However, this is not ideal because search engines study image file names, so you should ensure your images are named appropriately for SEO. Be sure to include one of your target keywords in the file name if it is relatable to the image. That being said, avoid using random keywords to enhance your image SEO. While a search engine may not immediately recognise a description is irrelevant, keyword stuffing is never a smart idea. Add your images to your sitemap Since search engines can’t gather information from images, you must include as many hints as possible about what they display. As a best practice, Google suggests generating image sitemaps when adding an image to your website. This means that you will need to adhere to their guidelines when uploading an image to your site, otherwise your images won’t perform as effectively as they could in search engines. Enhance your image alt tags As search engines can’t process visuals in the same way a human brain can, they rely on alt tags to tell them what is being displayed. So as part of your SEO image optimisation strategy, each image on your site should have its unique alt tag explaining what it is showing, with as many relevant keywords as possible.  Not only will this provide a huge benefit for your website’s SEO, you’ll also improve your accessibility and enhance the experience of those who are visually impaired.  An alt tag is displayed when users hover their mouse over an image when everything is configured correctly. However, if a browser can’t display your image, an alt tag is the text that appears in its place. Remember, you should never utilise alt tags to fill your site with your target keywords. Google and other search engines will ultimately catch on and this will harm your SEO in the long term. Don’t forget to include image title tags Along with alt tags, title tags should be used when you optimise your images for the web. Many people get these two parts mixed up; however, unlike alt tags, title tags won’t substitute for images that can’t be displayed correctly. This means your title tags don’t have to be keyword-heavy. You can utilise them to communicate directly with users and they can be written similarly to image captions or used to offer further explanations. Avoid hiding your text with images Hiding any text with an image is a black-hat image SEO technique that will harm your SEO efforts. You might want to substitute an image for the initial page heading, generally known as the H1, but we recommend avoiding hiding your header text. If you insist on wanting to use an image as your header, be sure to properly identify the image to reap the benefits of SEO image optimisation. Always compress your images Rankings in search engines are determined by a variety of criteria, including website load time. When image files on a web page are huge, the page will take longer to load. If your pages load slowly, your rankings may suffer as a result. And if they take so long that users become frustrated and exit before seeing your content, your rankings may suffer even further. Reducing the file size of your images ensures your web page loads quickly. There’s no hard and fast rule about file size, though anything more than a few hundred kilobytes (KB) will certainly slow down your site speed. There are many free online tools you can use to compress your images including Tiny PNG, Optimizilla and Ezgif to name a few. To maintain the quality of your images, aim to keep them as clear as possible and reduce the file size to the point where the quality decreases. You’ll also want to avoid changing the file type to anything that would result in a drastic change in look. JPGs are normally a safe bet because they provide the highest quality at the least file size, but other file formats also work. Need help with your image SEO strategy? If you need help with your image SEO strategy, or you’d like us to create a wider SEO strategy and do all of the hard work on your behalf, why not get in touch with us today? Our SEO specialists can conduct an SEO audit and advise you on the best course of action for your website’s SEO. From technical SEO to on-page SEO, we can help! #### The value of using Video on your website Video is the primary method customers consume material on the internet, and your business should be prepared to capitalize on this potential. According to statistics, viewers are more engaged with video than with reading and are more likely to convert to leads after watching a video. This is because video enables your business to communicate with its customers in a straightforward but effective manner. Deliver Your Message Immediately Unless your website visitors possess superhuman speed reading abilities, it is a reasonable bet that people will process the information they see and hear more quickly than they would process the information they read. As a result, a personalized video is an excellent approach to convey your information in a way that viewers will swiftly and easily comprehend. While we are not advocating using video to replace textual material, it is an excellent supplement and will help improve your message overall. Engage Visitors to Your Website We alluded to this benefit previously. Custom video is an excellent approach to attract visitors to your website via higher search engine rankings, engage them in many ways (visually, audibly, etc.), and encourage them to spend more time on your site. This means they will be exposed to your value proposition, calls to action, and so on for a longer period. The custom video has a distinct benefit over other forms of content in that it not only informs visitors about your organization, product, or service – it demonstrates them. This is the distinction between passive and active participation. By and large, people learn and retain knowledge more effectively when they are actively engaged. Custom video contributes to your website's goal of actively engaging users. Expand Your Reach As with linking your blog with social media networks, you can accomplish the same thing with unique videos. By sharing your video on your own social media networks and allowing viewers to do the same on theirs, you increase your film's chances of going viral. Remember to upload the film to your YouTube channel (Google loves YouTube videos) so that you have another avenue for promotion and exposure. Social media is the only way to truly optimize your reach and ensure that your video is seen by customers or businesses who may not have seen it otherwise. If the video is interesting and contains compelling calls to action, it will rise in new website traffic. Demonstrate Your Brand's Uniqueness People increasingly shop, work, and communicate online in today's digital world. While this is convenient, it decreases the frequency with which we put faces to names. To humanize your brand, utilize video to establish a connection with your audience that is as near to face-to-face as feasible. Because our emotions drive our decision-making and behaviors, the use of both music and moving visuals appeals to all our senses. Utilizing video to demonstrate your brand's personality helps website visitors better understand who you are and what you stand for—which helps establish trust in your business—and the emotional connection is one of the reasons buyers return. Internet Video Consumption Statistics Between 2013 and 2018, internet video consumption increased by an average of 32% every year. Consumption is predicted to continue growing steadily over the next few years.YouTube currently has over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide.Eighty-five percent of internet users in the United States access content via online video.In 2021, the average individual spendS 100 minutes per day watching online videos, up from 84 minutes in 2020.By 2022, internet videos will account for more than 82 percent of all consumer internet traffic.Reasons to Include Video on Your Business Website There are numerous reasons to include a video, or multiple movies, on your website: Boost Your Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Position The adage "Content is King" also applies to videos! While search engine crawlers may not index the video's content, the way the video's data is optimized makes a difference. Utilizing keywords in the video's title, description, and tags helps increase SEO. YouTube Channel Optimized Furthermore, Google owns YouTube. This is a built-in benefit for your business, as it increases its visibility on Google's search engine results page. Create a dedicated channel for all your video content, even if the video is hosted on your primary website. The channel and videos promote your website by providing high-quality backlinks and content. Demonstrate Your Company's Brand, Products, Services, and Personality A video is an excellent tool for humanizing your business and establishing a connection with your website visitors. This connection is a necessary component of relationship and trust development. Consumers purchase from businesses they trust, and a video can help bridge that divide. Establish Trust Videos provide a message about your commitment to your product or service. A subconscious trust signal between your brand and the viewer is established even if a video is not seen. Therefore, creating a video for your services or products is an excellent approach to elicit emotional responses from your consumer base, prompting them to contact you. 3. Distinguish Yourself from the Competition Many organizations are still unaware of the value of video, but that window of opportunity is rapidly closing. As more businesses become aware of the effectiveness of online video marketing, your competitors may take advantage of the chance to outrank you in search results and brand messaging. Videos will aid in the acquisition of new website visitors and will leave a lasting impression. Video Enhances the User Experience and Retention Rate on Websites A video supplemented the static content on a website, assisting in creating a more appealing experience for the consumer. Videos are an excellent approach to establish a lasting connection with web visitors. Consumers will recall your video more than the material on your competitor's website. When you combine this with the ease with which video links can be shared, you create an opportunity for your clients to distribute your content throughout their social media channels. Check out how Images are also valued here. #### TikTok advertising: What is it, why it works, and how to succeed at it. Once known mainly for viral dances and trending audio, TikTok has rapidly evolved into one of the most powerful platforms for paid social advertising. With highly engaged users, creative-first formats and an algorithm that rewards relevance over budget size, TikTok has become a serious channel for brands looking to increase awareness, engagement, and conversions. For businesses willing to embrace a more authentic, content-led approach, advertising on TikTok offers a unique opportunity to reach audiences in a way that feels natural rather than disruptive. In this blog, we’ll explore what TikTok advertising is for business, the benefits it offers, and the most effective ways to advertise on TikTok successfully. What is TikTok business advertising? TikTok business advertising essentially refers to paid video placements that allow brands to promote products, services, or brand messages directly within the TikTok app. These ads are designed to blend seamlessly into users’ ‘For You’ feeds, appearing alongside organic content rather than standing apart from it. Unlike traditional paid social formats, TikTok advertising prioritises creativity and relevance over polished production or overt sales messaging. The platform’s algorithm is designed to surface content that resonates with users, regardless of whether it comes from an individual creator or a brand. Through TikTok’s ad platform, businesses can: Target users based on demographics, interests, and behaviour Deliver short-form video ads optimised for mobile viewing Tap into trending sounds, formats, and cultural moments Drive users to websites, landing pages, or in-app destinations Whether you’re an ecommerce brand driving sales, a service provider building awareness, or a business launching something new, TikTok offers a flexible and scalable advertising solution. What are the benefits of advertising on TikTok? There are several reasons why TikTok has become such a compelling platform for brands investing in paid media, including: A highly engaged audience TikTok users spend a significant amount of time on the platform, often engaging with it multiple times per day. This level of attention creates a strong opportunity for brands to capture interest, particularly when content feels entertaining, useful, or culturally relevant. Unlike platforms where users may scroll passively, TikTok encourages interaction through likes, comments, shares, and recreations, helping ads gain momentum beyond their initial placement. Creative freedom that drives recall TikTok’s creative-first environment gives brands room to experiment. Ads don’t need to look like traditional adverts to perform well - in fact, content that feels authentic, lo-fi, and creator-led often resonates more strongly. This freedom allows brands to test ideas quickly, adapt to trends, and build campaigns that feel part of the platform rather than imposed on it. Cost-effective reach and awareness In many markets, TikTok still offers relatively competitive Cost-per-Milles (CPM) compared to more saturated platforms. Combined with strong organic-style distribution, this makes TikTok business advertising particularly effective for awareness and upper-funnel campaigns. Brands that understand how to work with the algorithm - rather than against it - can often achieve impressive reach without excessive spend. Cultural relevance and trend amplification TikTok isn’t just a social platform - it’s a cultural engine. Trends, sounds, and challenges shape what people watch and share, and brands that tap into these moments can benefit from organic amplification. This makes TikTok especially valuable for brands looking to stay relevant, modern, and visible to younger or trend-aware audiences. 6 ways to advertise on TikTok successfully Success on TikTok doesn’t come from repurposing ads from other platforms. It comes from understanding how users behave and designing campaigns that feel native, engaging, and timely. Here are six of the most effective ways to approach TikTok advertising. 1. In-feed ads that feel native In-feed ads appear directly in users’ ‘For You’ feeds and are one of the most flexible formats available. They autoplay with sound and allow users to like, comment, and share, just like organic content. For your in-feed ads to perform well, ensure you: Capture your users attention in the first 1-2 seconds Keep your videos short, punchy, and visually engaging Use on-screen text to reinforce the message Avoid overly corporate or scripted delivery Remember, the goal here is to blend in, not stand out as an ad. 2. TopView and Brand Takeover campaigns For brands looking for maximum visibility, premium placements such as TopView and Brand Takeovers offer immediate, full-screen exposure when users open the app. These formats are great for product launches, major announcements, seasonal campaigns, and high-impact awareness pushes. While they require larger budgets, they deliver instant scale and visibility. 3. Branded hashtags challenges Hashtag challenges are one of TikTok’s most recognisable advertising formats. They invite users to create content around a branded theme, encouraging participation rather than passive viewing. When executed well, these challenges can help generate large volumes of user-generated content, drive awareness, and create strong emotional connections with a brand. But remember, success relies on a clear concept, simple instructions, and alignment with existing platform behaviour. 4. Branded effects and AR experiences Custom filters, stickers, and augmented reality (AR) effects allow brands to become part of the content creation process. These tools give users a reason to interact with your brand visually and often leads to repeated exposure as content is shared. Branded effects work best when they’re fun, intuitive, and tied to a broader campaign or message. 5. Creator partnerships and influencer-led ads Collaborating with TikTok creators allows brands to leverage established trust and platform expertise. Creators understand what works, how to hook attention, and how to communicate in a way that feels natural. Rather than heavily scripting these partnerships, the most successful campaigns give creators creative freedom with clear brand guidelines. This approach helps maintain authenticity, which is a key driver of performance on TikTok. 6. Retargeting and funnel-based campaigns TikTok supports advanced audience strategies, which allows brands to retarget users who have viewed videos, engaged with ads, visited websites, and taken specific actions. By layering retargeting with prospecting and awareness campaigns, you can build full-funnel strategies that nurture users over time rather than relying on single-touch conversions. Creative best practices for TikTok advertising To get the most from advertising on TikTok, creative execution is just as important as your strategy. Here are some best practices to keep in mind: Start strong - the opening seconds are critical, so use movement, intrigue, or bold visuals immediately. Lean into authenticity - TikTok users value real, human content over perfection. Use sound intentionally - music and audio play a huge role in engagement. Design for mobile - vertical video, large text, and clear visuals are essential for success. Test and iterate - TikTok rewards experimentation and frequent testing helps you uncover what resonates. Brands that treat TikTok as a creative playground rather than a traditional ad channel tend to see the strongest results. Ready to make TikTok advertising work for your business? TikTok has huge potential, but getting real results takes more than just launching ads. It requires a strong understanding of the platform, audience behaviour, and creative best practice. At Fifteen, we help brands plan and deliver TikTok advertising that feels native, engages the right people, and supports clear business objectives - from awareness through to conversion. If you’re ready to advertise on TikTok with confidence and want expert support from a team that understands both creativity and performance, get in touch with us today. We’ll help you build a TikTok advertising strategy that cuts through the noise and delivers meaningful results. #### Tips for local SEO: How to be seen by nearby customers. For businesses that depend on local customers, appearing in the right search results can make a huge difference. Whether someone is searching for a nearby service, looking for a business in a specific area, or comparing local options, strong visibility at that moment can directly influence enquiries, footfall, and revenue. That’s why the importance of local SEO can’t be underestimated. As more people rely on Google to find businesses near them, local search has become a key part of how customers discover and choose who to buy from. If your business isn’t showing up in those results, you could be missing valuable opportunities to connect with people who are already looking for what you offer. In this blog, we’ll explain the importance of local SEO for business growth and the key local SEO ranking factors you need to be aware of. We’ll also share some practical tips that can help improve your visibility in local search. What is local SEO? Local SEO is the process of optimising your online presence so your business appears in location-based search results. This includes searches such as: “Digital marketing agency Nottingham” “Best coffee shop in London” “Plumbers in Birmingham” Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on broader visibility, local SEO is specifically designed to connect your business with people in your area who are actively searching for what you offer. It typically involves optimising your website content with location-based keywords, your Google Business Profile, and your business listing across directories. The ultimate goal is to make it easier for local customers to find and choose your business. What is the importance of local SEO? More users than ever rely on Google to find local businesses, with a large percentage searching for nearby services. That means if your business is not visible locally, you’re missing out on demand that’s in the area. Local SEO is important because it: Captures high-intent traffic - local searches often come from users who are ready to take action, whether that’s making an enquiry or visiting a business. Improves visibility in key areas - appearing in local results and map listings increases your chances of being seen by nearby customers. Builds trust and credibility - a strong local presence, especially with reviews, helps users feel more confident choosing your business. Supports mobile search behaviour - many local searches happen on mobile devices, often when users need something quickly. Drives measurable business results - from calls and enquiries, to store visits and purchases, local SEO has a direct impact on performance. For many businesses, local SEO is one of the most effective ways to generate consistent, qualified leads, which further highlights the importance of local SEO. What are some key local SEO ranking factors? To succeed with local SEO, it’s important to understand what influences rankings.  Google uses a combination of signals to determine your rankings, but the three core signals are: Relevance - how well your business matches the search Distance - how close your business is to the searcher Prominence - how well-known and trusted your business is Alongside these signals, the below local SEO ranking factors also play a key role in influencing your rankings. Google Business Profile optimisation Your Google Business Profile is one of the strongest local SEO ranking factors. A complete and regularly updated profile helps improve visibility in map results and gives users more confidence in your business. Keeping your contact details, opening hours, categories, and services accurate is essential, while adding images and updates can help strengthen engagement. Online reviews Reviews influence both rankings and trust. Search engines look at the quantity, quality, and recency of reviews, while potential customers use them to judge whether your business feels reliable. Encouraging reviews consistently - and responding to them where possible - can support local performance. Local keywords and on-page SEO Using location-specific keywords on your website helps search engines understand what you offer and where you operate. This should include more than just page titles. Local terms should be used naturally in headings, service pages, metadata, and supporting content to improve relevance. NAP consistency (name, address, phone) Keeping your business name, address, and phone number consistent across your website, Google Business Profile, and external directories helps reinforce trust. Inconsistent details can confuse search engines and users, which may weaken your local SEO performance. Backlinks and local authority Links from relevant and local websites help build credibility. These could come from directories, partner businesses, local publications, or industry organisations. Strong local backlinks show search engines that your business is trusted within its area and sector. User behaviour signals How users interact with your listing and website can also influence local performance. Clicks, calls, direction requests, and on-site engagement all help indicate whether your business is a good match for local searches. A stronger user experience supports better results over time. Together, these local SEO ranking factors determine how visible your business is when people search locally. 8 local SEO tips for success If you’re looking to improve your local visibility, these local SEO tips will help you build a strong foundation: Fully optimise your Google Business Profile - make sure all details are complete, accurate, and regularly updated to improve visibility and trust. If you don’t have a Google Business Profile, be sure to claim it and complete all details. Use location-based keywords naturally - include relevant local terms naturally across your website content, headings, and metadata. Be sure not to stuff keywords in your content for the sake of it. Encourage and respond to reviews - positive, recent reviews signal trust and can directly influence local rankings, so be sure to encourage customers or clients to leave reviews and ensure you respond to reviews in a timely manner. Create localised content - you should develop pages or blogs that target specific locations or services to help strengthen your relevance to searches. Ensure NAP consistency across all platforms - make sure your business name, address, and phone number is the same across all channels, including directories and listings. Build local backlinks - gaining backlinks from local organisations, partners, or publications can significantly improve your authority. Optimise for mobile users - just like traditional SEO, you must ensure your website is fast, responsive, and easy to use on all types of mobile devices. Use internal linking to support local pages - connect related content through internal linking to not only help strengthen your site structure, but also improve your overall SEO performance. These tips for local SEO aren’t just one-off actions. They should be integrated into a consistent and ongoing optimisation strategy as they’re key to long-term success. Need help improving your local SEO? The importance of local SEO continues to grow as more users rely on search engines to find businesses nearby. If your business isn’t visible in local search results, you’re missing out on valuable opportunities to connect with customers who are ready to act. However building a strong local presence takes time, strategy, and consistency. At Fifteen, we help businesses improve their local visibility through targeted SEO strategies that drive real results. Whether you want to increase enquiries, improve rankings, or strengthen your local presence, our team can help you build a strategy that works. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with our SEO specialists today to find out how we can support your efforts. #### To Rebrand, Or Not To Rebrand? Rebranding is no rash task to take on. At Fifteen, our job is to help facilitate a company's decision to rebrand. But why exactly would you decide that the time is right to do so? We’ll take a look at the reasons why you should, why you shouldn’t and some real examples of rebranding done right and rebranding done so so wrong! Good times to rebrand… A merger, take-over or renaming of the business. During a merger, take-over or renaming of your business, there is a certain message you have to portray to your audience. Your logo will most likely need to change during this, so it is the perfect opportunity to roll out a rebrand. We saw this happen back in 2015, when T-Mobile and Orange merged in the UK and became EE. The brand launch was a huge success and their latest campaigns starring Kevin Bacon have helped establish EE’s brand across a variety of channels. One thing to bear in mind: if your business name is changing but your current branding works, you might just want to tweak your logo to fit into your current branding. A great example of this is Opal Fruits. In 1998 they changed their name to Starburst but kept the successful branding. In fact it hasn’t really changed a great deal since then either! Your core message or product has changed If your business goes through a period of growth, or starts heading in a new direction then perhaps your brand needs to as well. We know from experience, as we rebranded in 2013 when we went from ‘Fifteen Design’ to just ‘Fifteen’ due to the growth and expansion of our digital and online marketing services. This is usually the most common reason for a business to rebrand, as it works as a visual metaphor to communicate the change in the business. Apple’s early rainbow logo was eventually rebranded to a slick chrome look motif. This represented the update in image and technology of their product base. Getting up to date Now it’s all well and good having a fantastic brand that worked for you 5 years ago, but if that phone ain’t ringing, you’ve got a problem! Sometimes it’s a necessary process for a business to move with the times and make sure that they aren’t putting across an old fashioned way of thinking. It’s a very common problem that can sometimes be solved with a large rollout or a small update to your branding. A recent rebrand for Netflix saw them ditch their old cinema style for a fresh, stripped back look, while retaining enough familiarity for the rebrand to launch slightly under the radar. Standing out from the crowd It may be the case that your market has been flooded, and you’re currently sat alongside a range of competitors who all have a very similar style of branding to your business, now’s the time to make your mark! When you probably shouldn’t rebrand… For some, rebranding can be an expensive and lengthy process, so the last thing you want to do is rebrand when it is unnecessary. When your branding already works Some businesses have made the mistake of launching a new brand to which their customers have reacted badly. Sometimes it’s takes a period of adjustment and the new brand will sink in well, but in other cases businesses are forced to scrap the new brand and take a step back. One famous instance of this occurred in 2010 when GAP tried to refresh their style. The Internet caused such an uproar that they had to retract the rebrand. Luckily they hadn’t gone into a full rollout and the brand only lasted 3 days before being replaced with its predecessor. For the sake of change You might be fed up of your branding, but that’s fine! As long as you are delivering the right message and your branding works then there’s no need to invest in a rebrand just yet. If you assume you should rebrand because others are doing so, you’re not looking at the best way to inject more life into your business. Steps to follow before you go ahead with a rebrand Understand your core messaging It’s all well and good going ahead with a rebrand, but what is at the centre of any great brand launch is the underlying message conveyed. Know your audience If you have a good understanding of your audience, you should have a good understanding of what they want from your business. Some companies have such large brand recognition that they can drop their name entirely from their logo. Starbucks did exactly that in 2011. Hire the experts If you want a rebrand done right, we suggest hiring an agency that have experience in rebranding. At Fifteen we have been involved in a great deal of rebrand projects, including Hendrix Media, UK WON and Westridge Golf Centre. If you want to find out more about how we can help you, please contact our friendly, helpful team today. #### Top 5 Brand Blogs We like reading blogs. We’re guessing you do too, which is why you’re spending time here. But what makes a good brand blog can be incredibly subjective – we’ve each got our own likes and dislikes. Without getting under the dashboard of those blogs with Google Analytics, it’s tough to really say which are actually being read, let alone if they’re achieving their goals. So what we’re really left with is: what do we (people who work in the world of digital) think makes great brand blogs from the outside? What we’ve chosen today are five interesting and varied business blogs that have a mix of great visuals, good user experience, and approach their respective industries in an effective manner. In short, these are great examples of blog content for 2016/17.  Red Bull Can you even remember what Red Bull do anymore? I think they made an energy drink years ago. But you wouldn’t think they do in 2016, as they’ve snowballed over the year into an amazing content marketing entertainment machine. Their reach stretches from the best new music to Formula 1 sponsorship. They host tonnes of extreme sports events. And all of this gets prime coverage on their blog. Red Bull pretty much cornered the market in providing this style of content to adrenaline-seeking millennials. You could argue now that they’re all about creating content and not selling the energy drink. That they’re a brand that’s more famous for being a brand. But they are still the textbook example of using blogging to promote a brand over using a blog as a sales pitch. (And the latter won’t work these days.) Jack Wills Fashion retailer Jack Wills has undergone significant rebranding recently, and the blog has formed a key part in displaying the new look and feel. The brand has always been about selling a lifestyle around its clothes, and its blog is the perfect way of showing that associated lifestyle. For those of us with long memories, Jack Wills always used to have physical handbooks that showed its products in an idealised lifestyle photo shoot. The digital handbook today lives on through the blog, but it’s opened out to become a fashion lifestyle magazine – focusing on locations, people and events that the brand wants to show an association with. What the Jack Wills handbook also highlights is the distinction between product pages and blogs. Brands should use product pages to sell their products. Blogs should be about other things: to retain customers or bring in new ones via increasingly engaging, Google-loving methods. General Electric Isn’t energy one of the most boring industries you can imagine? Maybe. But General Electric have set the benchmark for producing some super-engaging content around this subject, with more than just one blog. They’ve looked at the industry from a different angle entirely, used amazing photography, gifs, infographics and more to captivate and inform about a complex industry. The subjects on their GE Reports blog on their industry and technology generate a sense of wonder. It just goes to show that no matter how dry you think your industry might be to people, there’s always a way to make things engaging. Etsy Etsy’s blog is a great example of providing content that's fit for purpose. And it’s simple in reality. To attract and retain people who are interested in all things craft-related (so users use the Etsy site and platform) they discuss relevant topics. The latest trends, gift ideas as well as their own awards. Every post is visually engaging and uses beautiful imagery. Medium Maybe this is cheating a bit. (It almost certainly is.) Though Medium is itself a brand, it is an amalgamation of writing from both individuals and now other brands. It is a magazine made up of blogs. It is the ultimate form of content curation, as Medium gets other people to create all this content for them. Getting so many users to contribute also means it becomes a central destination for thousands of social shares too (that’s because if you’ve written something there, you want people to know about it). In short, Medium is the ultimate content distribution platform. It’s a simple way for users and other businesses to reach a large online audience – without their users navigating a complex content management system. It’s a smorgasbord of storytelling, creativity and user interaction, putting words (which is really what blogs are about) at the centre of their whole world. What’s best about Medium in our eyes though is its exceptional interface. The user experience is phenomenally clean, with large, crisp fonts. Reading any post is simple and pleasurable, and highlights how UX helps make strong content even more effective. Vote For Us In The UK Blog Awards We have been nominated for both the Digital & Technology and PR, Media, Marketing & Communications categories and we would really appreciate if you could spare a minute to vote for our blog in these awards. Voting for the UK Blog Awards 2017 is live and closes on Monday 19th December. The public vote is an important aspect of the judging procedure as it allows the contestant's community to have their say and show their support for the content on the blog. Once the public vote is over, the top entrants from each category will go through to Phase Two: The expert judging panel. #### Top 5 website development frameworks to use in 2022 A website development framework is designed to simplify the process of building a website and is the standard way that web developers create websites and put them on the internet. It automates certain parts of making a website so that this process becomes quicker and easier with shorter and better codes and easy maintenance. Although web frameworks are designed to make the web development process easier, it can be difficult to choose the best one, as there are so many out there with different features and benefits. In this list, we will run down our top five website development frameworks to use in 2022. This will include both back-end and front-end frameworks. Ruby on Rails Ruby on Rails is a back-end framework that supports the model-view-controller architectural pattern and comprises everything that is needed to form database-backed web applications, including a vast library of tools and the ability to run its own set of tests on codes. It is considered one of the best as it uses unique Ruby code, that is as simple to understand as Python. In addition, it has a Localization feature that integrates pre-designed code for bigger projects. This all means that time and effort are saved while quality is maintained, making this a cost-effective framework. It is highly popular and is used by many well-known companies such as AirBnb, Groupon and Hulu. Laravel This free, open-source back-end framework features many out-of-the-box functionalities and toolsets meaning users can build solutions using PHP quickly without writing SQL code, making it highly accessible. Like Ruby on Rails, it supports MVC patterns meaning development processes can be faster, as well as a template engine for flexible and dynamic design. Laravel offers different ways for accessing relational databases and utilities that aid in the application of deployment and maintenance. It values simplicity and creativity, making it a very popular web development framework, used by the likes of Disney, WWE, Warner Brothers and Twitch. Django Django is a Python-based backend framework that has many features (including the ability to plug in third-party applications) that make it highly scalable and versatile. Security is one of its main focuses, providing developers with the tools and techniques to build a safe website with security features built within the framework. It offers an impressive speed of development while remaining relatively simple to pick up, so it is no wonder that it is one of the most popular backend frameworks, used for the likes of Google, Youtube, Instagram and Spotify. This is a testament to its reliability and robustness. Ember Ember is an open-source JavaScript-based front-end framework that has a group of APIs and new features added frequently. This means it offers comprehensive solutions for data management and application flow. It is a component-based framework that offers two-way data binding, meaning the view and the model are synchronised in real-time. It offers perhaps the best routing of any frontend framework, with URLs that have route handlers enabled to view conceivable states of applications. One downside is that it can be difficult to learn but is considered worth this effort by tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Netflix and LinkedIn, for its quickness and reliability. Angular Angular was developed by Google and launched in 2016, the same year as Ember. It was originally released in 2010 under a different name (AngularJs) but this version has been significantly improved to overcome the limitations of conventional frameworks. It is unique in that it is the only framework based on Typescript meaning developers can use HTML as a base template and extend this syntax clearly with just a few lines of code. Like Ember, it supports two-way data binding and is very stable in function. It is considered one of the most secure frontend web development frameworks because it offers DOM sanitation which is a highly secure feature. It is extensively used meaning it has large community support and offers end-to-end development experience. Various popular brands use Angular as their framework, including Microsoft Office, Gmail, Lego and PayPal. The framework you use, will all depend on the objectives of your project. Our expert web development team will look at what you’re trying to achieve and guide you on what system will be best fit for you. Get in touch with us today and see how we can help turn your next development project into a total success. #### Top Editing Tools for Your Content Tool Box Writing copy is standard practice for any business. More and more people turn to their search engines to answer important questions like ‘Where can I find tattoo artists?’, ‘How much does an MOT cost?’, and the timeless classic ‘Who would win in a fight between Steven Seagal and a bear?’ Whether searches look for serious or silly information, you can be certain your site’s content is going to be the draw. ‘Content is king’ is one of those phrases that seems to be in every SEO presentation and for good reason. Internet users are on the lookout for intriguing, instant information and making your copy stand out is a sure-fire way to rise through those SERP rankings. While there is never a substitute for human editors, there are loads of online tools to speed up initial edits and track those niggling errors. To that end, we’ve gone through our well-worn toolbox to bring you these 5 quintessential editing tools to turn your copy from Hemingwho into Hemingway. Hemingway Speaking of Hemingway, the famed writer and professional drinker is the namesake behind this free and easy-to-use tool. Digital content is all about short, punchy text and Hemingway channels the master of brevity himself with an app that highlights all the instances of passive language, complex sentences and verbose diction. What’s more, it gives you a handy grade rating for readability to highlight how accessible your content is. Hemingway is a must for all content but especially content that aims to satisfy mobile users. Smaller screens and short attention spans make long reads a chore so embrace your inner Ernest and trim the fat. Grammarly Grammarly is a free app and extension that is great for finding hundreds of grammatical errors. Grammarly also explains errors allowing you to learn from your mistakes and refresh your grammar rules, only with fewer stern looks from your English teacher. Quick and easy-to-use, it gives your article a score out of a hundred to keep you aiming for the elusive 100. Grammarly also has a premium option that provides greater insight into your work. Grammarly does have a few cons though. It doesn’t currently plug into Google Docs so you’ll have to do this check manually. It is also an American product meaning you’ll have to ignore the Americanised suggestions for a UK English-based site. AutoCrit AutoCrit is the Penguin Books editor you never had. This premium service is one of the few non-free options on this list starting at $5 a month. It’s well worth the cost though and goes way beyond free tools. AutoCrit is aimed at fiction writing and manuscripts and focuses on everything from dialogue to word choice, repetition, and even momentum. What’s more, it’ll keep you away from cringey pitfalls like clichés, filler words, adverbs and excessive passive voice. All of this means you never have to wake up in cold sweats wondering if your blog post makes you sound like a Twilight fan. Autocrit provides all of this in the form of suggestions, allowing you to reject anything that doesn’t take into account slang or stylistic choice. This handy self-editing stage is ideal for writers of all styles. editMinion editMinion takes a different approach to other editing tools and keeps track of the errors in your work. This free app gives you a comprehensive overview of your work and shows you interesting statistics like the longest sentence, average sentence length and the most frequently occurring words. While editMinion may lack the depth of paid tools it is easy to use and free, making it the perfect starting point for editing. Slick Write By now we’ve established that online editing tools can all help you improve your writing. Slick Write does all the usual tricks but also sports a thesaurus to save you digging through the grey matter for a synonym. This thesaurus is especially useful when you need to shave off a few characters to fit a paid ad or tweet. Slick Write is free and easy to use with five tabs to choose from including writing, editing, analytics, settings and thesaurus. WordRake WorkdRake is a nifty little tool that plugs directly into MS Word. It doesn’t check for grammar or spelling, instead hunting for cumbersome phrases that muddy the waters of your content. Phrasing is an integral part of content and picking the perfect phrase can often be the difference between a conversion and a bounce. WordRake is best used in conjunction with another editor to make sure grammar, spelling and phrasing are all vetted before final edits. Headline Analyzer Even if you write the most beautiful article around it won't count for anything without a killer headline. Headlines, sometimes referred to as H1's or titles, are the first thing a reader scans when scrolling through their feed. This is where you need to draw them in with a descriptive and engaging headline to draw the clicks. The Headline Analyzer is a free tool that analyses a title to let you know how you can not only improve SEO and skimmability but also clarity, sentiment, and other key metrics. Death to Stock As content creators, we've all seen our share of stock imagery. The cheesy smiles, the pointing at screens, the offices filled with uncanny valley faces and plastic plants, all these have become hallmarks of the 'stock image'. That is until you try Death to Stock. Death to Stock is an Artist owned Co-Op that works with the likes of Spotify, Complex and Puma, supplying them with unique and interesting images. You can also browse specific projects, choose the ones you want to support and receive hundreds of images every month. The only downside, this service is a paid subscription so try the free trial before deciding if it's what you need. All of these tools are handy and can cut down your editing time to ensure you can focus on the fun part, writing the content. However, while using digital editing tools can be helpful they are no substitute for the human eye so be sure to edit yourself or have someone else read over your work before putting it up on the web. As copywriting experts, we know there’s nothing more damaging to credibility than poor grammar so make the most of what you’ve got and ensure you have the answer to draw clicks. Oh, by the way, the bear would win. Obviously, the bear would win! Find out more about the magic we offer with our content marketing here and if you feel like you don't have the resources to do this for your business... get in touch and one of our Content Marketing wizards will help you out. #### Top Tips For Maintaining Your Website Over Christmas It’s coming up to Christmas, and many companies will be closing down over the holiday to enjoy some well deserved time off. If, like us, you're closed between Christmas Eve and the 4th of January, you need to make sure that your website is kept updated over the break, even if you aren’t in the office. Here are some top tips on how to keep your clients happy and how to drive traffic to your website and socials over Christmas. Schedule Blog Posts  One of Wordpress’ features is ‘Scheduling’. This nifty feature allows you to schedule posts and pages to go out at dates and times, which makes it perfect for arranging posts to update to your website while you aren’t in the office. Here at Fifteen, our SEO clients will have blog posts scheduled over their Christmas breaks to keep the website fresh with content, and to keep traffic visiting the site, encouraging return users and shares online and across socials to keep the business moving. Schedule Social Activity If you’re a B2B business, scheduling social activity over the Christmas break will help keep your socials active, and continue to drive traffic to your website. Schedule your socials inline with your new blogs, schedule a ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Happy New Year’ message to your followers and customers as well! If you’re B2C the chances are, you’ll be back to work from Boxing Day dealing with customer queries about products purchased over Christmas, while you’ll have your own strategies in place with dealing with these, scheduling social posts will help ease the pressure and take the strain off remembering to post those little updates reminding people that you are on hand to answer questions and queries! Replying to Enquiries You don’t want to miss out on a business opportunity, any enquiries that come through take some time out to speak with the potential client and note down important information, and tell them that you will send them relevant information when your back in the office. This shows the client that you are interested in their query, and have taken time out to speak to them. Showing great Customer Service! Replying to Queries Your bound to get some queries over the Christmas Period, from service level to product level questions, it’s important to make sure that someone is on hand to help answer these. For example, here at Fifteen, our Account Managers are all on hand over the Christmas holiday’s to answer any questions that our clients might have about their website or digital marketing. We will deal with urgent queries as quickly as possible, and other queries that can be dealt with in the New Year we will do so then. #### Touch, Sense and the Future of Design Ask a 60s futurist what they’d imagined the 21st century would be like and I think you’d find they weren’t far off the truth. From molar mics that transmit sound directly into your head to in-depth studies of Mars, the world of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov seem more reality than fiction. However, while some dream of androids and electric sheep it seems the digital community has started turning back to their analogue roots. From the hipster tropes of record players and film cameras to grand architectural designs incorporating texture, the pendulum has reached its apex and is beginning its slow swing back to feeling, sensation and tactile design. Vinyl Revival   A brief glimpse down a town’s high street shows the seeds of this movement. Tucked away in a corner is a dusty record shop that ten years’ ago stood empty but is now packed with people flipping through second-hand and new records alike. This phenomenon, known as the ‘vinyl revival’, has taken hold across the world with global trade increasing from $55 million in 2007 to $416 million in 2015. In the UK alone, sales reached a 25-year high in 2016 and look set to continue to rise. This may seem odd considering the capabilities and convenience of music streaming programs like Spotify and Google Music but it seems there is space for both the clarity of a FLAC file and the crackle of a vinyl. Film Fans A similar trend can be seen in the rise of film cameras. From SLRs to instant cameras there has been a boom in the production of not just film but new camera models too. In a report by The Guardian, the first new single reflex film camera to be designed since the 1990s has been released. Named the Reflex, this camera rose off the back of Kodak’s fall from grace. After selling nearly a billion rolls of film in 2003 there was a sudden collapse that saw the film giant fall into bankruptcy protection in 2012. However, much like vinyl, the mid-20-teens saw a huge revival of the film market as people wanted to bring the ‘gram’ to life. Nothing New Here The reason behind this need for the physical has been the subject of much study. Studies in the 1950s discovered that infant monkeys chose artificial surrogates covered in cloth over those with milk, while the University of Miami’s School of Medicine found that premature babies make faster recoveries if they have regular physical contact as opposed to being left in incubators. Other studies have reached similar conclusions with experiments showing people who hold warm objects are more inclined to be friendlier to their peers. This desire for sensory experience is inbuilt and has been exacerbated by more and more of our daily lives migrating to the other side of a screen. Touchblindess ‘Touchblindess’ is the result of this shift to the digital sphere with fewer hands using physical notebooks, pens, maps, calendars and other everyday objects. The Finnish neurophysiologist, Matti Bergström, laments this fact in a lecture stating: “The density of nerve endings in our fingertips is enormous. Their discrimination is almost as good as that of our eyes. If we don’t use our fingers during childhood or youth, we become ‘fingerblind’.” This lack of feeling can have real-world effects. From changing perceptions of dating (in person vs. dating apps) to making transactions, there is a difference in understanding the reality of something in the hands versus on a screen. Take a transaction for example. Imagine you had to spend £200. Handing over physical notes feels a lot more real and costly than using your banking app to send a digital payment. This disconnect is central to the current trends in design with everyone from architects to designers moving towards a tactile experience. They may not be obvious at first but these subtle flourishes speak to a deep urge to feel and sense again. Design Playing Catch Up Apps and websites have begun to feel the effects of this trend and started developing in a more human way. From the mid-2000s flat design has been the staple of web design. A quick look at your smartphone will show prime examples of this. Skype’s pared-back design, a light blue background with an ‘S’ created in the negative space of a white circle is the epitome of flat design. Apple has also maximised on this trend with the clean lines and use of space reminiscent of a space-age future. There is no gritty humanity, no cracks with roots and shoots poking through, no evidence of texture. When Flat isn’t Flat This is where ‘semi-flat’ or ‘flat 2.0’ design steps in. It combines the best parts of flat design, clean lines and professionalism, but adds emotion. ‘Flat 2.0’ is also described as the marriage of minimalism and skeuomorphism and it accomplishes this in several ways drawing on retro techniques, usability, mixed media or by challenging the very taboos of flat design itself. Highlights, gradients, shadows, multiple typefaces and variable colour palettes are all broken in this new trend adding much-needed texture to the digital experience. Instagram’s logo is a great example of this as is Spotify’s playlist styling. Both apps use gradients and colour palettes in a playful manner to create a flow hierarchy. Another way this new trend takes form is by introducing various forms of decay. Glitches, tears, burns, sepia and colour bleeding bring texture to a pristine glass screen and create a striking image that draws not just the eye but also touch. Throwbacks are popping up more and more and are a great way to add some artistic flair to the purity of flat design with illustrations, photos, and mixed media bringing the real and the digital together with a bang. Using shadows is one of the most common ways to challenge the norm. Long shadows add an extra dimension to the image and bring a sense of depth and reality to designs. All of these techniques are often used in conjunction with skeuomorphism and minimalism to create the best of both worlds. While we may be looking back to analogue lives it doesn’t mean our digital lives are left behind. Instead, designers much like the everyman, combine elements of both to create a uniquely 21st-century experience. Instagram alongside Polaroids, Spotify alongside record players and cash alongside contactless cards. Tactile Design While Flat 2.0 is leading the charge there are other movements not far behind. Tactile design has become a hugely popular movement. From detailed photography to borderless design, responsive logos and micro-interactions there are a plethora of ways designers have tried to bring the real to digital. Photos and a lack of borders are an easy way of emulating this technique. With no hard borders sites and apps become an extension of the world around them while photos introduce texture and real life images to dominate the digital sphere. Responsive logos and micro-interactions are more subtle ways of achieving a tactile response. Responsive logos change with the devices, for example, Google may be spelt in full on a PC but will appear as a colourful ‘G’ on smaller devices. This change in scale seems to shift with the device creating a sense that the logo is responding to the world around. This brings the very brand to life. Micro-interactions, by comparison, are far less cerebral and speaks directly to the kid in all of us. For example, when you take a photo on your smartphone and the screen snaps shut like a real camera lens. This micro interaction is purely for the user. The phone has already captured the image. Retro Lives On This last trend is hard to place. Whether it’s because Gen X and Millennials have become major consumers or the aesthetics of the 80s and 90s are just in vogue, retro has become cool again. While some may argue that vintage is timeless there is certainly a niche market for shoulder pads and awful 90’s party posters. Neon, geometric prints, patterns and other retro revival techniques bring about nostalgia and texture in equal measure and create an anchor point of reality in the digital sphere. As design moves closer to feeling we may seem other retro trends revived, often with a modern twist. Taking Cues from Architecture Architecture has been an augury for design for centuries. Rococo, gothic, modernist, Bauhaus, all these and more influenced art movements across the globe and tactile structures are no different. A focus on organic material and shapes has taken hold of architecture with the likes of the timber lobby at Hotel Hotel in Canberra winning the World Interior of the Year award. Other winners and finalists employing textured surfaces and organic shapes include the Produce Workshop at Fabric Wood in Singapore and the Fucina Restaurant in London. This alongside design shows a yearning to reconnect with the natural world and blend the real and digital into a homogenised vision. All of these styles, trends and flourishes speak volumes about how people experience the world. Designers and brands would do well to heed the change in the wind and set a course for a future of tactile, multi-sensory UX. A far cry from calling for the return of the Luddites, the future of design is an exciting space for the marriage of the digital and the real into something far more exciting than the dreams of androids. #### Twitter Launches Customer Service Chatbot Twitter, the 140 character social network, has announced the launch of a new customer service chatbot feature for brands. This has been launched in the bid to encourage brands to use Twitter as their customer service platform. For a while, brands have already been able to create automated direct messages, that are triggered when someone likes their account. However, this feature will allow more in-depth actions. It's only been a couple of weeks since I was talking about how brands can make the most out of Twitter, and now they've launched something that makes it even better for brands. You can read up on that post here. How Will It Work? Well, it's fairly simple in the way it will work. When a customer tweets a brand with a complaint or enquiry, this will prompt a private conversation between the brand and customer. Then, a variety of buttons will come up that will let them become more specific about their enquiry. For example, they've tweeted a company regarding the status of their order, the chat will open up, and they'll be prompted to give their tracking number. Then the brand can find out the location of the order, and reply to let the customer know. There are already a handful of brands using the new chatbot service, including, Evernote, Pizza Hut, Spotify, Tesco, Norton and Airbnb. So, hopefully this means it's going to become a much needed success for Twitter! This new feature will make things a lot simpler for brands, as I know from experience, that when you tweet a brand, they often have to tweet you back to tell you to direct message them, then you have to reiterate what you've just asked, and then they may have to manually ask you a series of questions to help you out. Now it's done with just the chatbot popping up and then a few clicks of a button. #### Twitter: A Snapshot in 2017 It seems as if almost every news article today quotes someone from Twitter, whether it’s a celebrity or an eye-witness. Clearly, Twitter is ubiquitous. But how did we get to this point? And is Twitter really just fodder for journalists, or does it serve a wider purpose? We take a snapshot of Twitter in 2017, to see where it came from and what’s currently happening on the network. TWITTER’S STORY BEGINS… It all began in Noah Glass’s apartment with a start-up called Odeo which was going to become a podcasting platform. However, Apple launched iTunes Podcast, and Odeo became an irrelevant site. This called for urgent action so Jack Dorsey came up with the idea of Twitter – a global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question in 140 characters. But the investors of Odeo didn’t like the idea of Twitter, so Jack Dorsey did them a huge favour and bought all of their stock back from them. By late March in 2006, Twitter was officially set up and it was only four months after that till Twitter had its first media coverage. Twitter took to the internet like a storm and by the end of 2008, there were more than 4 million accounts. Its popularity just began to grow from there and has given it the position as one of the most popular methods of social media for businesses. In the words of Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, you should ‘make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.’ With the focus on the amount of characters you use, every word counts for what you say and is what truly differentiates Twitter to all of the other social media networks. But whether people actually do reach for perfection in their tweets is a different story - take Donald Trump’s tweet that baffled the internet with ‘covfefe’... Fast forward to 2017 and Twitter now welcomes more than 328 million monthly users with 80% of these accessing their accounts through their mobile devices. That means, if Twitter was a country, it would now have the same population as the United States of America. However, it’s not all good news for Twitter. In July 2017, they announced a $116.5 million loss and had failed to grow its monthly user base. As a reaction to this, their stock prices fell by 14%. Potentially, this could be down to Twitter being notorious for online abuse which puts people off from signing up. This then would have an effect on the number of advertisements that businesses post on Twitter as it wouldn’t be as effective as posting on other social media platforms like Facebook. Therefore, Twitter begins to work at a loss and it’s a downward spiral from there. This called for major action and a time to start listening to their users to see what they wanted and how to try and attract new people and prevent users from leaving. TWITTER'S NEW FEATURES Twitter has had numerous fresh licks of paint and their latest redesign to their desktop site and mobile app was to create a ‘lighter, faster and easier to use’ Twitter. To do this, they: Decluttered their User Interface by offering a sidebar menu making it easier to navigate to profiles, lists and personal settings. Created a real-time reply, retweet and like counter. As your engagement goes up, so does your counter without having to refresh or reload your tweets. Clearer typography and iconography to attract attention in a busy feed. Rounded avatars are now a thing rather than squared. With one of the biggest complaints against Twitter being the ease of harassment, Twitter has decided to create a series of new features and services in response to the intimidating and threatening comments to keep people safe. These additions include: Notification filtering allows you to specify which accounts you do not wish to receive notifications from. Mute option to silence specific keywords and phrases for a chosen length of time. Reporting transparency means that the user will now receive notification when Twitter intervenes on an abuse report Time-out for some users who are reported whilst Twitter investigates the report Safe search by machine-learning technology to prevent users from seeing potentially abusive content Hiding abusive tweets by making them harder to find by showing the high-quality tweets first Reducing the amount of new abuse by preventing reported and flagged users from creating new accounts Even though Twitter started as a text-based platform, images seem to be one of its top sources of engagement as tweets with images receive 89% more favourites and 150% more retweets than those without. This has led them to adjust the size requirements for photos so most photos will not have to be force-cropped anymore. Along with the uncropped photo update, they have also introduced a multi-photo display to allow their users to seem more of the individual photos included, displayed as a collage. Their latest new feature is being able to use up to 280 characters in one tweet, which is still being tested to see how people react to it. Here are a few reactions to the 280-character change- mostly in 140 characters. Since Twitter was created 11 years ago, they have always had the 140-character limit and the brevity of tweets was one of the most appealing features. This change may seem quite controversial as big changes can be the thing that people dislike however in time, the new feature will be embraced. WHAT IS THE PERFECT TWEET? Twitter is a great form of social media for businesses for many reasons. It creates good brand awareness and trust, enables you to access global communities and helps you quickly sort out any queries that customers may have. According to surveys, the ideal tweet is: Between 20-40 characters long and includes 1 hashtag, so pick your words wisely Includes an image Doesn’t include any question marks IS TWITTER KILLING IT? Twitter killed it back in 2006. They came up with a concept to keep communication short and sweet but still informative. That was something that none of the other social media channels did and was a unique selling point for them. Their ability to keep up with what their users want sent them downhill. Social Media became a place to express your views and with only 140 characters, that expression became more obviously limited in comparison. This may explain why Twitter is considering a raised character limit. Twitter is not dead yet though. Businesses still thrive on Twitter with the ease of communicating with their customers directly and there are many potential updates for Twitter to increase their rate of user growth in the future. Let’s just keep an eye on Twitter to see what they do next!   #### Twitter’s New Desktop Layout: What’s New? Twitter has been trialling its new update for a few months and it has now been rolled out to everyone. So in order to save you some time, we thought we’d show you what’s new. As expected, some have taken the news with scepticism. Just like every other layout update in the history of social media. But 90% of the time, it turns out that the new version is better (apart from that terrible Instagram version that lasted for around one day or the Snapchat version that helped accelerate its impending death). So what’s new in this version of Twitter? Here’s the new look, with a much tidier navigation menu that directs you to all its major features such as your profile, notifications and messages. The menu has been reordered to make the main functions more accessible. Some have complained that the new navigation bar might be a bit too big and takes attention away from the timeline. You can, however, reduce the screen size which collapses the menu into just icons. Bookmarks Personally, I used to use the “star” button and then the “like” button as my bookmarks tool, so when the bookmarks button was launched on mobile it meant that I could be a bit more generous with the likes, spreading the love across my accounts! The bookmark feature has now, a year later, become part of the desktop. A very useful feature for saving Tweets you might want to reference or re-read in the future. Refreshed Message Section The message section has also changed, giving it more of an email inbox look where you can jump and reply to different messages more effectively. Navigate Multiple Accounts on Desktop On the desktop, you can now switch between accounts from the navigation menu. As a business that runs multiple Twitter accounts for different clients, this is a very useful feature for us, which stops the hassle of having to log into different accounts. The only negative is that you can only add five different accounts, which isn’t a particularly high number. On mobile, there is no such limit.   Display Settings Dark mode has entered the desktop space, with two shades - dim and lights out. The latter comes as a result of people requesting an even darker version. The new display settings also let you personalise your profile in a quick and easy way. Why Change? Twitter has struggled with user growth for a long time and has seen a decline in monthly active users. According to Statista, the platform lost 15 million monthly active users in 2018, and it wasn’t exactly in steep incline before then either. The new features scream user-friendliness and foolproof solutions that should make even to least computer-literate person able to navigate the site easily. This is a move that could potentially attract new users that have been put-off by the complex look in the past. Overall I think the changes have been positive and have tended to steer clear of the desktop version, despite sitting in front of my computer all day, I am now more likely to do more monitoring and posting via desktop. Although the majority of my activity will still be through the mobile app. If you’re interested in how to turn this new-look Twitter into a powerful social media marketing tool contact us today and let us add this global platform to your arsenal. #### Ultra Violet – Pantone Colour of the Year 2018 Highlights the Power of Purple Branding I get so excited about Pantone’s ‘Colour of the Year’ announcement. When the sassy hue of Ultra Violet 18-3838 was crowned just recently it sparked a whole train of thought. Which explored the use of the colour purple within design, branding and advertising. Perhaps a choice more fitting to a teenage girl, my favourite colour is purple. As a child, I was asked what colour I wanted my bedroom, and of course, the answer was purple. Being less evident than the girlie pink all my friends liked, I thought I was somewhat rebellious.Preferring purple as a more mysterious alternative (Of course, I wasn’t). Fast forward 25 years and I still have a purple bedroom. Although in a delightful shade of velvet plum rather than princess periwinkle! But why can’t I see my bedroom in any other colour? Why did I choose it in the first place? The decision sprouted from personal taste, but what’s going on psychologically to lead me to this choice? Personally, its familiarity. I have always fallen asleep to the harmonious tones of purple, the nostalgia makes me feel safe. Purple is a secondary colour, made up of red and blue. The former signifying love and femininity and the latter serene and calmness. Purple takes on the properties of both – which makes it perfect to decorate a place of sleep and rest. This being said, purple is not reserved for a favourite colour of teenage girls. On the opposite end of the spectrum, for example, the stereotypical image of a pimp depicts extravagant purple attire. Presumably because of its connotations of dominance and luxury. Roald Dahl’s fictional character Willy Wonka strikes an uncanny resemblance with his purple coat and top hat. (Pimp of chocolate or Oompa Loompas, you decide.) Long associated with power and wealth, purple has been the colour of royalty and nobility. Cleopatra was said to have been passionate about purple, with gowns, sofa’s and sails all in the shade. In Egypt, purple is sacred and a symbol of faith. Even Julius Ceasar came home wearing a purple toga after a visit to the ruler, then becoming the royal colour of the Ceasars. Purple’s elite status originates from the cost and rarity of the dye used to produce cloth and other items in this colour. ‘Tyrian purple’ as it was then known was created using the mucous of sea snails. Nice. Even the smallest amount of dye needed an awesome amount of mucous to produce it. Laws were even introduced to protect the use of the colour purple. When Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey was accused of high treason against Henry VIII, one of the pieces of evidence used in the trial was that he had been ‘seen wearing purple’. Purple is a colour only the King could wear. Queen Elizabeth I followed in her father’s example and also forbid anyone but close members of the royal family to wear it. It wasn’t until 1856 when William Henry Perkin of the Royal College of Chemistry stumbled across a cheaper and more available way of producing the synthetic colour purple. It became more accessible and acceptable to the masses. His Royal Purpleness The colour’s history and heritage may explain why it has never been a mainstream choice. Those that did choose it, being creative and often eccentric types. Music legend and icon, Prince, became synonymous with the colour throughout his career. From the album and film Purple Rain to his exciting wardrobe and even a custom made purple piano. It cannot be disputed; the unique hue captures the mystery and intrigue of an unconventional but brilliant performer. Pantone even created a distinctive shade of purple Love Symbol #2, in honour of Prince in 2017. Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute, says; “While the spectrum of the colour purple will still be used in respect of the ‘Purple One,’ Love Symbol #2, will be the official color across the brand he left behind” And there’s that word, brand. When creating a business’s branding or logo, there’ll be many design decisions to make including the use of colour. You need to have an understanding of tone and its perceptive power, impact on the audience and ultimately how it enhances and supports the business messaging. Purple, as I stated earlier is a dichotomy of red and blue. A colour blend can cause uneasiness if the undertone is not clearly defined. Once it is, the colour embodies the characteristics of its undertone. For example, a purple with a blue undertone will be calm and serene, a purple with a red undertone will be lively and warm. Overall purple’s colour associations are positive, representing quality and luxury. However, it’s mainly easy to get the use of purple wrong. It’s a colour that can easily slip into arrogant and even cheap, tacky territory. It is perhaps because of this that brands shy away from the use of purple. It also lies at the very shortest of wavelengths visible to the human eye on the colour spectrum. So, from a design point of view, it’s a hard colour to work with. Perhaps all this explains that if a brand gets purple branding right, they get it really right. I explored those brands that have had the confidence to do just that, use the colour purple to illustrate and represent them as a business. I’ll examine the connotations with each particular example. Cadbury Perhaps the most famous brand to heavily use the colour purple in its branding and for the longest time too. Cadbury’s chocolate bars were first adorned with royal purple wrappers over a hundred years ago. The packaging honoured Queen Victoria, who was said to have favoured the shade. It explains the chocolatiers decision to use the colour to attribute the same luxury and grandeur on its product as associated with royalty. Cadbury tried to trademark this particular hue of purple in 2004 (Pantone 2685C). But it was rejected after objections from competitor confectioner Nestle. Yet, Cadbury’s successful 1995 bid means the colour can’t be used when explicitly wrapping chocolate bars or drinks. Interestingly ‘The Big Purple One’ of Quality Street fame is Nestle owned. So, in reality, any brand can use the colour. But there is no denying its distinctive character and relationship with the Cadbury brand. As one spokesperson says; "Our colour Purple has been linked with Cadbury for more than a century and the British public has grown up understanding its link with our chocolate." Kraft, Cadbury’s parent company also hold a trademark for the particular shade of lilac used by its Milka brand. Premier Inn Premier Inn was founded in 1987 by Whitbread leisure and hospitality company. The British chain is the UK’s largest hotel brand. A little bit like my bedroom, Premier Inn’s purple has a red undertone. Which conjures up feelings of calm, peace and relaxation. Supporting the brand's message of ‘A good night’s sleep guaranteed’. Of course, like Cadbury and many other brands, Premier Inn will be benefitting from the implied sense of quality and trust associated with purple. In 2014, Premier Inn played on its specific colour characteristic with its Purple Sauce campaign. In collaboration with chef Ed Baines, the sauce was marketed as a perfect addition to the Premier Inn breakfast. It was only available for a short time. They ran competitions alongside to win family breakfasts and bottles of the limited-edition sauce. Premier Inn had been working with comedian Lenny Henry since 2008. This campaign perfectly complimented the light-hearted, tongue and cheek style they had adopted. Vimto Vimto is not a brand associated with a long history, but the soft drink has been around in some form since 1908. Initially, a type of ‘medicine’ called ‘Vim Tonic’ hence the brand name of Vimto. Its inclusion of raspberries and blackcurrants meant that the purple branding of Vimto has become recognisable. But not so obvious was that Vimto’s previous branding was based on stripes of the patriotic colours red and blue which weren’t dropped until 1988. Now, the red and blue are still present, just within the purple. Although the text based logo itself is red, it’s almost always accompanied by the multi-purple gradient background. Fresh and fruity, even a bit groovy or wacky. A standout, unique brand, Vimto made the colour purple the forefront of many of its campaigns. Purple Ronnie featured in Vimto adverts for several years. The animation, created by Giles Andreae was a simply drawn stick figure, often wearing a purple t-shirt. Alongside the drawings were rhyming captions which sometimes including rude language. Later, in 2005 the slogan ‘Schlurple the Purple’ follow ads where a person drinks Vimto then a weird thing would happen to them like their head shrinks or their ears grow. This cheeky and sometimes peculiar approach to its adverts echoed the mysterious and magical qualities of the colour purple. Ribena and WKD also have purple branding. They've have used similar formats with playful, quirky and sometimes downright strange setups. E4 Moving forward with both advertising and branding as a whole, it is the emergence of those identities which are made rather than heritage names that have evolved. A project by Matt Rudd of Rudd Studios, Channel 4’s younger sibling E4 needed a brand which was rebellious and different. The studios themselves describe the project as ‘young, purple and cheeky’. They were set on the colour purple from the offset. Orange was the only other potential, but many brands were using this at the time. Encapsulating a certain feel and energy, E4 was purple. With its unique logo, the brand has become a classic. Like Vimto, but with more of an adolescent edge. E4’s campaigns are also ambitious, sometimes random but imaginative. In Conclusion Considering the brands discussed, it seems purple manifests itself to radiate distinct connotations. Which are dependent on the shade or undertone and the, of course, the broader branding or situation in which is it used. I’ve broken them down below. Royal, quality, dignified, proud, luxurious and noble Like Cadbury’s these brands often have a wealth of history. The heritage signifying trust and confidence. Connecting to these names makes the consumer feel they’re indulging and revelling in a product of great quality. Calm, serenity, relaxation, safety and peace Premier Inn was my example of how purple can signify a place of relaxation and calm. Its there for the customer as a place of comfort and safety when perhaps they are at their busiest. A brand you can trust and rely on to deliver a service. Wacky, groovy, fun, young, imaginative and ambitious Vimto, Ribena, WKD and E4 all take on these characteristics. Not necessity products, but ones that inject a little bit of fun into ordinary and everyday life. They are ambitious, imaginative and sometimes edgy with their campaigns, hoping to strike a chord with their audience. Mysterious, wise, devoted, eccentric, intriguing and creative The best example for this I have explored is Prince. He created a brand represented by himself as a performing artist. He portrays mystery and intrigue. The audience believes he is more intelligent and more creative than themselves, so they enter a state of devotion and worship to feel closer to this. If you think there are other avenues I’ve not investigated when it comes to purple branding, do let me know. What are your favourite purple brands? What message do they look to convey and how does the use of purple support and enhance this? #### Unleashing The Power Of An IDE The power of a what what what?! I hear you exasperatedly cry into your computer monitor. An IDE, my dear reader, is one of those handy acronyms we love to throw about in the Developmental community. It stands for Integrated Development Environment. What is an Integrated Development Environment? So what is an Integrated Development Environment, I hear you ask. Never fear, I have the answer! An Integrated Development Environment (or IDE, for short, let’s not boost the word count of this blog post too much) is a software toolkit which all developers should either use, or at least know about. What does an IDE do? You can think of an IDE as the equivalent to Microsoft Word for writers. A good IDE will step in and be your developmental assistant. It will notice any mistakes you make and highlight them with a little red underline. A bit like when you make a spelling mistake in Microsoft Word.   An example of a spelling mistake I must confess, by comparing an IDE to Microsoft Word I may have been understating the power of an IDE. It can do so much more than highlight your mistakes. For example: Autocomplete A good IDE will autocomplete your code for you, and offer handy shortcuts for you to write in your own shorthand and then expand it automatically. Version Control Integration Another nice feature is integration with Git or Subversion - which are version control systems so that every change is logged in it’s own changeset, meaning you can revert to a change if you decide that it is the wrong approach. A lot of IDE’s come with this as standard right from within the editor, so you don’t even have to leave the program. Syntax Highlighting This is now actually pretty standard for programs which aren’t IDE’s, but all good IDE’s should come with Syntax Highlighting. This is where code is highlighted in different colours based on what it does. A function gets a certain colour, a css class gets a different colour, and it helps developers differentiate at a glance what is what. Testing An IDE will also help you perform programmatic tests, for Test Driven Development. This is achieved through a small program called PHPUnit which runs the code and reports any errors. This is especially useful for back end developers who cannot really run their code in a web browser without some hassle. Debug A lot of IDE’s come with XDebug as standard which means they actually RUN your code as you write it, and then reporting errors inline. This again means you do not need to run your code in a browser, you never have to leave the IDE. Much, MUCH more. I am really not doing justice to the sheer power of most IDE's. The simple fact is that most IDE's features are not things I have needed on a daily basis, and therefore cannot represent them adequately. What IDE’s are there? It’s worth noting here that we here at Fifteen tend to opt for Sublime Text as our Development Environment, using only the parts of an IDE which we need, as it’s more lightweight and often faster for what we need to do. If you’d like to learn more about Sublime Text please see Pav’s blog on Sublime Text and the Packages we use to make it better for our own workflow. Zend Studio The big daddy. Zend Studio has been around for many years and does all of the things I mentioned and more. It isn’t free software and is licensed per version, though one version of Zend Studio will last you for years. You can find out more at http://www.zend.com/en/products/studio PHPStorm PHPStorm again is a paid for IDE, and is not as heavy as some IDE’s out there, having been written in Adobe’s AIR platform. This doesn’t take away from it’s power, and it’s pricetag is a bit smaller than Zend Studio’s. You can find out more at https://www.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/ Microsoft Visual Studio Microsoft’s Visual Studio offers the same as the above, but it is written by Microsoft and so will be guaranteed to work better on your Windows machines. It also offers a free option as well as two paid tiers, so if you’re looking for a nice Free IDE, check this out: https://www.visualstudio.com/vs/ Eclipse Eclipse is what Zend Studio is built on top of, it’s an Open Source IDE which has thousands of contributors to it. It’s also free! So if you tried the Zend Studio free trial but cannot afford the pricetag, Eclipse will feel very familiar: https://eclipse.org/downloads/ I’m a new Web Developer, do I really need an IDE? Well, no. An IDE is not required at all. Especially if you’re not going to be doing much back-end programming such as PHP, Ruby, C or Java. Sublime Text, Notepad, TextEdit or Notepad++ are all perfectly adequate for HTML, CSS and JavaScript editing. Though as mentioned, we’d recommend Sublime Text for beginners! #### User journey pain points: how to identify and fix them If you have had a website for a while, it’s important to regularly address any user journey pain points to ensure your users stay on your site. Customers expect faster loading speeds, mobile-friendly websites, and a tailor-made user experience, and if your site is failing on any of these points, you can expect to see a drop in conversions. As there’s so many different potential user pain points, it can be difficult to learn where your users may be getting frustrated. In this blog, we’ll guide you through some of the most common user journey pain points and provide practical tips on how to address them effectively. What are the different types of user pain points? There are many different types of user pain points that businesses need to ensure they’re addressing sooner rather than later. Some pain points that can hinder a seamless user experience include: Functional - these are related to usability, such as broken links, confusing navigation, or slow loading times. Emotional - these stem from negative emotions users may feel during their journey, like frustration, confusion, or lack of trust. Financial - this is where users may be deterred by high costs, hidden fees, or complex payment processes. Process - these happen when users face obstacles in completing tasks or achieving their goals on a website or app. Examples of user journey pain points and how to fix them Here are some examples of the most common user pain points and how you can fix them if you identify them on your site. Compatibility In today’s modern world, your users will often be coming to your website via different devices, search engines, and browsers. For example, one user may search for your brand on Google on a mobile device, whereas another may find you through Bing when searching on a laptop. With this in mind, you have to make sure your site is versatile. Luckily, online tools like BrowserStack allow you to test your URL to see if it works on new and older versions of specific browsers, while tools such as Screenfly allow you to test your site on different mobile devices.  If you have quite an old website, chances are it won’t be responsive and you may be losing customers to your competitors purely because their site is mobile responsive. In this case, you should audit your website and get an experienced web development agency, like Fifteen, to test your site’s speed, security, and compatibility. These key features could be the reason you keep losing traffic. Tired web design When users interact with a website that has a tired design, it can be a major pain point that hinders their experience. Outdated layouts, slow loading times, and cluttered interfaces can frustrate visitors and drive them away. What was once a popular web design feature a few years ago, may now be outdated.  That’s why it’s vital to speak to expert web designers, like Fifteen, to see how you can update your site’s design. Your site doesn’t have to have bells and whistles, it simply needs to be aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly to avoid turning users away. But remember, your web design should reflect your values and communicate your brand and that includes everything from choosing the right colours, to your tone of voice. Unoptimised sites SEO is integral to a website’s visibility and if your site isn’t optimised for search engines like Google, your brand won’t be found by your intended audience. SEO is also vital for your site's performance, which also contributes to your online visibility. For example, if you haven’t optimised your images or your site is prone to slow loading times, then not only will your users become frustrated, your site could be penalised by Google. If you don’t have an internal SEO team, speak to a professional SEO agency, like Fifteen, for expert advice and help. Optimising images for accessibility, technical fixes, and targeting your web pages for keywords are all improvements any brand can make to reach a wider audience. Security concerns Security concerns are a common user pain point and people are becoming more cautious about sharing personal information online due to the rising threat of data breaches and cyber attacks. As well as this, the rise in online scams are also making people cautious about who to trust. As a business, protecting your customers personal and sensitive information should be your number one priority. It’s vital to ensure your website has a secure SSL certification as this will encrypt data transmitted between users and your site. Another way you can instil trust with your audience is to implement two-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security for user accounts. Any and all security measures you have in place should be clearly communicated with your audience so it alleviates any worries they may have. Intrusive marketing Intrusive marketing can be a major turn off for users and easily turns them away from your brand. An example of this would be a customer signing up to your email marketing list and they begin to receive too many emails from your brand that are irrelevant to them. By being overly aggressive with your marketing, it can have a negative impact on your users experience and can even damage your reputation. One of the key ways to fix this is to implement a more subtle and personalised marketing strategy. Give your customers an opportunity to set their preferences so you can enhance your marketing efforts. When you have a better understanding of what type of content your audience wants to see, you can create a targeted marketing strategy based on their preferences, behaviour, and interests which will engage them without being intrusive. Need help identifying your website pain points? Now that you have a better understanding of what user pain points are, the most common type of pain points your audience might encounter, and how you can fix them, it’s now time to take action. By providing a positive and seamless user experience on your site, you’ll have the ability to attract new prospects and ensure your retained customers remain loyal. If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you find your website pain points, get in touch with us today. Our multi-disciplined team of digital, design, and development experts can conduct a comprehensive website audit and provide recommendations on how to update your site and make it pain-free for your users. #### Using Twitter to Promote Your Business One vital element of a powerful social media marketing strategy is to use a variety of platforms.  Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and increasingly Google Plus are the mainstays, and it is critical for most businesses to use all of them. That doesn’t mean that you repeat the same content on each.  Each one has its own style, and you need a suitable style for each. You can repeat the same key message on each one, but not in the same way.  If you are using Twitter to promote your business, you need to know how to make the most of this particular platform. Twitter is described as a micro-blogging site.  You have only 140 characters per tweet to communicate your message clearly, so that’s pretty micro alright. But it would be a mistake to equate the low character count with low power.  Tweets might be short, but Twitter is not small.  Here’s how to get the maximum impact using Twitter to promote your business. Start by setting up your account strategically so it is consistent with your brand’s image in tone and visuals.  Think of every blank to fill in as a marketing opportunity and use it to promote your image. Choose a user name and profile photo consistent with your other social media outlets.  For example, you can use the same profile photo for Facebook and Twitter, and use your Facebook cover photo as your Twitter header photo. Keeping your social media outlets integrated helps you reach more people with the same message and create a stronger brand image. While tweets are limited to 140 characters, you can and should use images and video in your tweets.  Visuals are always powerful, and your words are so limited, it makes images and video even more important. You can put videos directly into a tweet, but you can link to your video on YouTube or if your video is six seconds or less, you can use Twitter’s Vine video service. Of course, you need followers to see these great tweets.  Start by following business connections you know and participating in conversations.  Watch and learn how hashtags are used effectively. The right hashtag is far better than three or four almost right hashtags.  Just like on any other social medium, focus on creating compelling content that gives the reader something useful. You can make Twitter part of your strategy to drive traffic to your blog or website, and you can use it to announce special offers and events. Have a good look around Twitter and see how similar business succeeds – or fail – on Twitter before you dive in. You will learn by trial and error, of course, but it’s best to learn from others’ trials and errors when you can. #### Vlogging: How Brands Can Be Getting Involved Blogging doesn’t just have to be words on a screen; one of the most successful ways of blogging is through vlogging. Vlogging simply stands for video blogging, where you simply either talk about a specific subject on video or even go through filming your daily life. Vlogging has grown considerably over the last few years and is set to continue. How Can Brand's Be Vlogging? Most will think of vlogging and think about all those YouTubers out there who film their daily life and have 100,000's of followers. However, this isn't the only type of vlogging. There are several things brands can be doing to be a part of the vlogging community. How To's, Q&A's and Latest Topics Brands can be vlogging through how to's, Q&A's, latest topics and loads more. Get inspired by the comments and feedback you get from customers, these will often help to drive new content ideas. Document the process Companies and brands often sit on a wealth of useful insight into an industry, and people on the outside may find it fascinating to know what you go through. Documenting your brand's processes or real stories is an authentic way to engage an audience. This doesn't have to be a professional production either - you could use the power of Facebook Live or Instagram Stories to give behind the scenes insight into what you have to offer. Use Influencers If you don't have an in-house video team, then you can still get your brand involved with blogging, but instead through influencers. Do some research and find out which YouTube influencers may be able to help you out and you can then offer them product placement or sponsorship. One short mention of your product or service from a strong influencer could create an increase in your sales, following and trust. Why Should We Vlog? Year on year, 'how to' video views go up by 70%, more people are looking for videos on how to do things via YouTube, rather than heading to a Google search. You will often hear the phrase 'an image says over a 1000 words'. If one single frame can say that much, then how much can a one minute video say? It will say around 1.8million words. Vote For Us In The UK Blog Awards We have been nominated for both the Digital & Technology and PR, Media, Marketing & Communications categories and we would really appreciate if you could spare a minute to vote for our blog in these awards. Voting for the UK Blog Awards 2017 is live and closes on Monday 19th December. The public vote is an important aspect of the judging procedure as it allows the contestant's community to have their say and show their support for the content on the blog. Once the public vote is over, the top entrants from each category will go through to Phase Two: The expert judging panel. #### Vote for Liberty Leisure in The Good Web Guide People’s Choice! We have some exciting news about the website we’ve launched for Liberty Leisure. After submitting the website into The Good Web Guide Award nominations, it has been named as a finalist in The 2016 People’s Choice Award and we need your help to vote for it to be the winner! Liberty Leisure is the new name for leisure and culture and is part of Broxtowe Borough Council. We’ve been working with the council over the past year to help them launch this new venture providing ideas for the name, the brand, literature, signage and finally a new website. The website launch last month and has so far proven to be a great success. The Good Web Guide is an online guide to some of the best websites on the Internet. The guide is full of recommended websites across a range of industries and consumer interests. The Good Web Guide Awards allows for people to enter their website into the competition for the opportunity to be listed as a recommended website in their online guide. The websites are reviewed on their content, usability and efficiency. In previous years, several of our website have been highly recommended in the awards and we also went on to win the Charity category in 2015 with the Imran Khan Cancer Appeal (IKCA) website. This year, we have submitted several websites into the awards once again and have been successful in securing the Liberty Leisure website a place in the People’s Choice Award. This award is based on public votes, so we very kindly ask if you would go to this website and vote for our entry: www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk/votefor/libertyleisure Visiting this link will take you to a page that will automatically register your vote. Visitors can only vote once and as a reward for your vote, you will be entered into a competition to win a Kindle Paperwhite. The voting period is from Tuesday 1st November until Monday 14th November. The three leading websites will then be able to go on collecting votes until Monday 21st November and the winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London that evening. We thank you again for your continued support and hopefully we can help Liberty Leisure to win The 2016 Good Web Guide People’s Choice Award title! #### Ways to Make Your Contact Form a Hit Contact forms are one of the most useful and important parts of a website. The reason being they help you to connect and win leads. At the same time, from a user's point of view, it can be the most boring and time-consuming part of a site. You'll see forms like this on a contact page of a website where a user would get in touch or enquire by filling a short simple form. In some cases they are much longer - these are normally registration forms.  Studies have shown that contact forms don't convert that well. But everyone has a form of contact us page on their site, so why do they have a low conversion rate? In many cases, this page, in particular, is the afterthought.  This page has another name, rather than a contact page it’s a call to action page. You need to make sure it’s not an afterthought. We will show you the 10 ways to make them a hit. I love a form and if your's isn't working then it's time to change: Copy Copy is king here. You should explain to your users what they are meant to do. Lead them into the form. Explain to them why contacting you will be the best option.  Don’t beat around the bush - make a statement and tell them to contact you. However, don’t overload a user with lots of information. The true purpose for a contact page (call to action between you and I), is a page that should be quite direct. Information that’s not explaining why someone should contact you, then it should not appear on the page - keep it simple.  Overcrowding Honestly, any form should keep to a minimum. Reduce the number of fields that a user has to fill in as this will increase conversion.  MarketingExperiements have shown that a form that consists of 5 fields gives a conversion rate of 13.5% over a form that is on the same page but with 9 fields having a rate of 10%. Therefore, shorter forms can increase your conversion. However, it all depends on what the form is and where it is too.  Engagement A contact us page should have one main form. Having others will make it look like you're desperate for contacts. But what it should also include is other ways of engagement. What if someone doesn’t want to fill in the form? Sometimes people don't want to speak to someone. So why not add a contact number and email address or live chat service.  Another form of engagement of a contact us page is adding in a map with your address and social links.  Giving your users options to contact you makes for a more comfortable experience where users can choose which method giving them the control without actually giving them control.  And most importantly, when someone has filled out the form, give the user a reassuring thank you and you’ll be in touch. Maybe highlight the time you will respond giving them another friendly user experience.  Converse A contact us page has other purposes other than contacting you. It is also the perfect place to show off your social feeds. Allow the user to be in the moment and want to be there. It is normally the page that someone visits when they want to get answers about you as a business. Make them feel welcome. Give them something to convert to. Maybe show an image of you or even your team, give the users info on who they will be having a conversation with - if they end up meeting you face to face. It will make them feel like you already know each other.  Inspire A contact us page along with its form, should invoke trust and always inspire confidence allowing your users to contact you and feel comfortable in contacting you. For example, if you’re offering a great menu and a user is there to book a table at your restaurant - immerse them into your world - show them a picture of your food - it should solidify their booking.  Make it one-sided Try and make your form with its fields sit into one column. Forms that follow a vertical path allow a user to easily and naturally flow through the form, especially if you’re tabbing through them.  Keeping the form on one column allows for better site responsiveness and provides a more seamless user experience.  Labelling Google loves mobile. It’s why it’s called Mobile-First Indexing. So when thinking about forms, especially on your contact page, think how they will appear to your users on a mobile device first - but still have a desktop device a close second. Here’s the trick, try and use the label of the field ahead of its field, therefore, you’ll be able to display information in a field way before a user scrolls towards the field. However, if a field label, (strangely some folks practice this) is positioned below, a user could get stick in a loop of having to scroll up and down to see what the field label is.  There are clever ways to clean it up even more below. Buttons These are what a user clicks on to finish the form. If this is not clear then how do you think a user will feel if they are not sure how to submit.  Designing a button can be the forgotten rule in a form. It needs to be visible. Think about using a colour that contrasts. Make it so it tells the user it’s the end and home into the copy for this button too, tell the user exactly (in a few words) what will be happening when they hit it.  Then once complete make sure you visibly display a validation message on completion of the form.  Validation A study from Formisimo has shown only 60% of forms use inline validation and when asked, “When you fill out a form, do you want to be told about mistakes as you type?” 90% of users said yes they would.  This saves so much time allowing the user to quickly enter what they need to do and enquire quicker. These little effects can increase conversion and have huge ramifications.  Lastly - That Annoying Asterisk There is so much talk about this small point - I mean star! Some experts say you need to say which ones are optional and also which ones are mandatory. My advice is to stick to one. If you want to declutter a form then mark the ones that are optional as optional.  Yes, most people know what the small red star is next to the field title is, but does everyone know? The number of the optional fields within the form really should be kept to a minimum. The minority should be the ones that are marked. So if you have 10 fields and 9 of these fields are needed to be filled out, then marking the one that isn’t mandatory as optional makes perfect sense.  To finish up… Make a form especially on your contact page spick and span, using proper field labels, using one column and the use of proper validation and buttons you surely will see a page that will increase its conversion and also be a hit with your digital team.  If you need a hand updating your site or would like to know how to optimise a page for conversions contact us today. We have decades of experience creating web forms, websites and digital strategies specifically tailored to your needs. #### We Found just the Tonic for Redsmith Distillery It's not every day that a client shows up with a box full of gin. But that's exactly what happened when Redsmith Distillery came to kick-start their project. Looking for a new venture, Wayne Asher took his background in engineering to handcraft two copper gin stills. One of which, Jenny; is thought to be the smallest commercial ten bubble plate, carter head still in the UK. After a year crafting the perfect recipe, which contains a secret blend of nine botanicals that remains top secret to this day. Redsmith Distillery came to Fifteen to create a distinct identity for the bottle. It was the first gin distillery to open in Nottinghamshire for more than 100 years. The launch of the Redsmith London Dry Gin was going to attract a lot of well-deserved attention and needed a design that would match its highly anticipated launched. The new gin brand was developed alongside the packaging, giving full control over the look and feel for the brand's identity. The Redsmith Distillery Brand Teamed with a sophisticated serif font, the emblem extends into an elegant swirl incorporating a copper hammer, reflecting the craft behind the two custom stills used in the production of the gin. A unique and loved feature of the brand and story behind Redsmith Distillery. Influenced by the copper stills, the brand adorns the label in a rich copper foil that strikes against the black finish. The Redsmith London Dry Gin Label Breaking away from standard labels, the final label design works to engage the audience and reflect the unique taste of the London Dry Gin. Wrapped in a luxurious textured paper with a striking monochromatic pattern sitting on the inside. The unique label design allows a glimpse of the pattern to be visible from any angle of the bottle. The plan is brought to life through the gin which causes the pattern to transform and distort. Creating a mesmerising experience whether a glimpse is caught while passing by or pouring a glass. The small-scale gin is distilled in small batches, individually hand labelled and numbered. With the added bespoke touch, personally signed by Wayne Asher. In their first year of launching Redsmith's LondoDry Gin was awarded Classic Gin of the Year in the Craft Distilling Expo 2016. Making them officially the best gin in Europe. And more recently won Label of the Year 2017 in the Packaging Awards UK, which received incredible feedback from the judges; This is gorgeous. Perfection in a label. Instantly attractive and endlessly pleasing. The award was won by award-winning UK label manufacturer Royston Labels who brought our design to life exactly how we had envisioned. We look forward to working with Redsmith Distillery in the future, evolving the style further and creating a collection of eye-catching gin labels. [fifteen_button link="https://www.roystonlabels.co.uk/"] Visit Redsmith Distillery [/fifteen_button] #### Web Design Do’s and Don’ts: Tips for Creating a Stunning Website Creating a visually appealing and user-friendly website is crucial for any online business looking to make a lasting impression on visitors. From captivating graphics to seamless navigation, there are key web design do's and don'ts that can make or break your site's success.  In this blog post, we'll delve into the essential web design tips that will help you create a well-designed website that not only looks great, but also drives traffic and boosts conversions. Whether you're designing your website from scratch or you’re refreshing your existing design, these tips will set you on the path to digital success. Let’s dive right in. The do’s of web design Here are some essential ‘do’s’ of web design that any business should keep in mind when starting out. Do map out the user journey and create a sitemap The whole purpose of your website is to navigate the user to your service or product. Before you design a website, you need to understand how you can effectively achieve this. Designing a sitemap of your website is vital and understanding how to get the user from point A to point B is what will separate a good website from a bad one. Do keep your style consistent Throughout the entire design process, one of our top web design tips to remember is to ensure the design is consistent overall. The look and feel should be the same across all of your site's pages. This includes colour schemes, typefaces and the style of imagery. Following these rules will visually satisfy the user and ensure their experience on your website is a good one. Do optimise for mobile In today’s modern world, people are browsing and shopping on mobile devices over desktop. With that, customers expect websites to be fully responsive for the mobile experience. The biggest principle when optimising your website for mobile is ensuring that when the user is on your website, that all critical information is displayed correctly and easily accessible to them. Do optimise your website for search engines Your web design is important but so is your content. Ensuring you’re optimising your site for SEO is important for driving traffic to your website. This includes using target keywords throughout your headings and titles, meta descriptions and content. However, overwhelming your pages with too many keywords can affect the readability of your content and have a negative impact. Websites that don’t follow these rules, don’t rank well on Google and other search engines. There are so many web pages being added every day that some websites suffer and find it difficult breaking through the noise. Do always keep the user in mind As we’ve mentioned above, your web design should be all about the user journey and experience, so it’s vital to keep them in the forefront of your mind. A successful website is one that is easy-to-use and clearly mapped out for the visitor. Ensuring this is the main focal point when designing your website is essential. The don’ts of web design Now we’ve highlighted the do’s, let take a look at the don’ts of web design. Don’t create clutter When designing a website, you want it to be as easy-to-use as possible. This can be achieved by making things simple. When it comes to the top-level navigation links, limiting these to as few as possible is beneficial to the user journey. The ideal number of links to have in the navigation would be about 7 links (yes, the lucky number 7). It’s understandable that this may be difficult, as you don’t want to make it hard for the user to find critical information. This is where a strong sitemap comes into play, ensuring all critical pages are easily accessible, such as your about page or contact page. However, not everything needs to be in the top-level navigation – this can be reduced by adding links in the footer. Don’t use too many typefaces or colours When you start to design a website, it’s good to limit yourself to how many typefaces you use. Limiting yourself to a maximum of two to three typefaces is the recommended amount. Including more than the recommended amount will make the website become much more distracting and confusing for the user. Similar to typefaces, it’s always good to avoid using too many colours in your design. Colour has meaning and conveys emotions and feelings. Usually, the colours chosen for a brand have a deeper meaning and message. Using too many colours in your design would be like trying to portray a million feelings and mixed messages all at once. This can become very confusing to the user and it’s best to keep your colour pallet limited throughout your website. Don’t forget to test your functionality Ensuring your website looks good on desktop, tablet and mobile is not enough. Testing the functionality of your design is vital. Just because your website is designed for a mobile-responsive platform doesn’t mean it’s going to look great on every phone or tablet. Test your website on as many mobile devices as you can and double-check the look and feel on the overall design. Sometimes websites need to be tweaked on mobile to improve the user experience. Don’t forget about the speed and performance The speed and performance of your website are vital to keeping the user on your website. If the user has to wait for your website to load, the chances are they will click off your page before it has loaded. The amount of time it takes for your website to load has a huge impact on SEO and conversion rate. This is why it’s very important to ensure that the images you use across your website are resized and compressed to the smallest size without affecting the quality. This will speed up the loading time of your website and ultimately keep the user on your page for longer. Don’t forget to test, test, test Once everything has been completed on your website, the next stage is to take it for a test drive. Making sure everything is working properly is critical before you launch your new website. Be sure to think like a user when testing too. Imagine different scenarios the user will take on your website to ensure you don’t miss any critical bugs or performance issues.  Looking for professional web design services? We hope our above do’s and don’ts of web design help you with your next design project. By keeping these web design tips in mind, you can create a well-designed website that is visually appealing and provides your audience with a great user experience. However, if you’re looking for professional web design services, you’ve come to the right place. Contact us today to learn how we can supercharge your new website and maximise your visibility online. #### Web design vs web development: What's the difference? Web design and development are two terms that are often used interchangeably, but they're distinct fields with different skill sets and specialisations. Here we'll explore the differences between web design and web development, including their similarities and how both professions relate to each other. What is web design? Web design is the art and science of planning and laying out the structure or format of a website (or any information resource) to achieve a particular aesthetic or functional effect. It encompasses many different skills such as graphic design, information architecture, interaction design and usability engineering, but focuses primarily on the visual presentation of content for consumption on screens. Web designers work to create websites that are visually appealing and easy to navigate through the use of colour schemes and fonts—the tools at their disposal include Photoshop for graphics creation/editing and Shopify for incorporating digital storefronts to name a few. What is web development? Web development is broader than web design in that it encompasses all aspects of building websites: from conceptualising and defining requirements to coding them into existence. Web development, therefore, includes web designing tasks and programming tasks (such as developing software). Web development can range from developing a simple single static page of plain text to complex web-based internet applications, electronic businesses, and social network services. A more comprehensive list of tasks to which web development commonly refers may include client-side/server-side scripting, web server and network security configuration, and e-commerce development. Are web design and development similar? While the terms web development and web design are often used interchangeably, web design is technically a subset of the broader category of web development. Web design is a creative process, while web development is a technical process. Web designers aren’t necessarily developers and vice versa. Web designers create the look and feel of a website, whereas web developers build and maintain the site. They both work with other team members like UX designers, interaction designers and information architects to deliver the final product. Creativity allowance In many ways, web design is more creative than web development; it’s about creating an experience rather than just building functionality for users to interact with online content (like we see on social media platforms). Conversely, web development requires more technical knowledge than does web design — understanding how all those different platforms work together (for example, HTML5 vs Flash vs JavaScript) takes a lot more time/money investment. Both need a good understanding of technology While both web development and design require a certain level of technical knowledge, the two disciplines are fundamentally different. Web development requires a higher level of understanding of technology; this means understanding how computers work and how websites are built from the ground up. Designers need to understand how people use websites to ensure those sites meet user needs. There are some key differences between being able to operate complex technical machinery and being able to fix it when something goes wrong (or even just being able to troubleshoot). Specialisations There are various specialisations in both fields. You could be a web designer without knowing how to code, but you wouldn't be a web developer without knowing how to design websites or develop software (or vice versa). Web designers work mostly with graphic design while developing user interface (UI) concepts and visual elements. They focus on the way things look instead of what they do or how they work behind the scenes. On the other hand, web developers work more on front-end engineering like HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript frameworks like AngularJS which allow them to build beautiful interactive websites. Web design and development are two related but different fields that require a broad range of skills. The work in both fields can be challenging, but it’s also rewarding when you see your creation online or in person. The most important takeaway from this article is that both web design and development are constantly changing and evolving with technology. Our web design and web development teams are always up to date with the ever changing technology so you can be sure you’re getting sound advice from the word go with your next website project. To how we can help, get in touch with us today. #### Web Development Essentials: Your Comprehensive Career Guide There are certain web development essentials that you need to have a strong knowledge of to enter this career in 2022. It takes time and dedication to learn and practice the skills necessary to succeed, and you need to know what type of web developer you wish to be. The career opportunities are strong if you have the necessary skills. They are not as difficult as you might think, and people can learn web development from scratch. The following is a guide to the web development essentials that will see you towards a lucrative career in this profession. Specialisation You need to decide whether you want to be a front-end or back-end developer. At the front-end, you will be working on what people see when they browse the internet, and it may involve working with UI/UX teams to create visual elements and interactive features. A back-end developer, meanwhile, focuses on everything that happens behind the scenes. This means things like databases, server requests and the development of supporting applications. You could also be a full-stack developer by learning skills for both to offer a more comprehensive service, but this is naturally the most work to learn. HTML Hyper Text Markup Language is the basic language that all websites are written in. Browsers download the HTML for websites they load, and it is composed of very specific syntax. This language enables a browser to understand the contents of a webpage, including: Buttons Links Pictures Videos Animations HTML5 is the current standard for websites to follow. While various plugins are still necessary, HTML5 has most of the capabilities you could need to build and run a website, so it is important to learn it thoroughly. CSS Cascade Style Sheets (CSS) works alongside HTML for browsers to interpret and load a webpage. HTML dictates the contents of the page and CSS defines how it will be displayed. This includes things like fonts, layout and colours of text and other standard design elements of the page. CSS3 is the current standard for telling browsers how to present the HTML and visual styles. It works in conjunction with HTML, aligning tags and headers for the required website appearance. Programming languages Once you have a strong knowledge of HTML and CSS, the most common programming language to learn is JavaScript. These three things will generally be enough to build high-quality projects and get you through your first interviews towards starting your career. There are, however, various other languages that are frequently used in the professions. They include: Python PHP GO Ruby on Rails C# Objective C and Swift To begin with, focus on the HTML, CSS and JavaScript combination. Once you have gained some experience with these and have a few demos to showcase, you can begin the process of branching out and specialising. You will also need to educate yourself on Structured Query Language, or SQL, to be able to work with databases. This is relatively simple, but it is nevertheless important and you will be expected to know it. Education There are courses to learn the things listed above, but you can teach yourself using books and online tools. Once you have those skills in your arsenal, you need to get yourself ready to actually start applying them. Web development courses are abundant, and many of them can be accessed for free. However, if you want formal certification, you will probably need to pay. Certification programs can be beneficial in that they give you certificates to demonstrate your credentials, and this can be something that employers and clients look for. Portfolio Once you are ready to start building websites, you will need a portfolio under your best to showcase what you can do. You can work on generic projects to build demonstration websites for various common purposes, or you can work with companies and brands to develop projects specifically for them. Building a portfolio is a great opportunity to practice your skills and learn on the job. Once you have it, you have everything you need to showcase your abilities and present them to potential clients and employers looking for developers with your skillset. Final thoughts It's never too late to learn coding. There are a myriad of training opportunities out there to learn and practice your skills and the career potential is fantastic. The things listed above are the web development essentials you need to be able to start out in this career. As you go along, you will learn more skills and discover new areas of study to grow throughout your professional life. Venturing into the world of web development can be exciting but also a slow process. You may have a development project you’d like to start sooner rather than later. That’s where we can help! Take a look at the full range of services our web development experts can offer you and be sure to get in touch if you’re ready to get started. #### Web Development Updates - Visual Studio 2017 and ASP.Net Core Last month, Microsoft released the latest edition of their computer programming software suite - Visual Studio. This is the first release of Visual Studio since Microsoft released ASP.Net Core last year. ASP.Net Core is a major rewrite of their flagship web development framework. Whilst there have been improvements across the board, the most dramatic has been the incredible increase in performance. Web development frameworks are always a balance between features and performance. The more features a framework has, and the more amenable it is to rapid software development, the more the application performance suffers. ASP.Net has always performed well in this regard. Despite being arguably the most fully featured framework, it has performed well; beating many less powerful frameworks for performance. In the past, the choice has been relatively clear cut. If you had a need for performance above all else: go Java. If you needed rapid development: go PHP. ASP.Net sat in the middle ground; a nice balance between the two. However, independent tests by TechEmpower have shown ASP.Net Core to be thirty-six times more capable at serving standard website requests than its predecessor (ASP.Net 4.6). This makes ASP.Net Core the fastest mainstream web development framework available today - shoving Java Servlets into second place. As TechEmpower put it: ASP.Net Core is "like an F1 car that anyone can drive". Whilst PHP is still the clear-cut choice for websites that don't have a massive number of visitors or a requirement for a lot of complicated computer processing - the prime candidate for high-performance websites has swung away from Java to ASP.Net. So, apart from jaw-dropping performance improvements... What's new in ASP.Net Core? Multi-platform: ASP.Net can now run on a wide range of operating systems and devices. Previously it was mainly limited to Microsoft Windows Servers running on PC Architecture. Now it can run on Windows, Mac and Linux, and, thanks to Microsoft’s acquisition of Xamarin last year, Visual Studio now supports simultaneous mobile app development on iOS, Android and Windows 10 Mobile. Open Source: The entire source code has been released under the Apache 2.0 licence, which is approved by the Free Software Foundation as a free and open source licence. This means that developers are free to extend and improve the framework themselves without needing permission from Microsoft and then release improved versions of it. This could potentially improve the rate in which new features and improvements are added to ASP.Net Core in the future. Dependency Injection as standard: Dependency Injection (DI) is a programming methodology that makes computer code easy to modify and easy to test for bugs. It's become so ubiquitous that it's now considered bad programming practice if you don't use it. Whilst ASP.Net has, for a long time, supported Microsoft's own Unity DI framework and third-party DI frameworks, such as the ever popular AutoFac: it has always been an add-on rather than integrated into the design of the framework. This shift makes it easier and quicker to develop modern web applications. Standardised Modularity: All but the simplest of web applications will use a number of 3rd party add-ons or modules (known as packages) and these are obtained by using what's known as a Package Manager. Up until now, Microsoft has pushed their own NuGet package manager. With Visual Studio 2017 and ASP.Net core: Bower and Node package managers are integrated as standard with every project. These are much more popular with the wider web development community and it will make the transition to ASP.Net easier for developers used to other frameworks. #### Web Development: Front-End vs Back-End Development Building a new website requires a broad set of skills including design, development and copywriting. It is unlikely that any single individual has all the skills necessary to build a successful website on their own. That means they have to work with individuals with the skills required. When it comes to web development, these skills are broken down into front-end and back-end categories. While there are some similarities between them, they are very different skill sets. So what is the difference between a front-end and a back-end developer? In this article, we’ll look at these two skill sets in more detail. What is web development? First, let’s look at what web development is. Say web development to anyone outside the industry and they will immediately assume they design web pages and spend most of their time in Photoshop. But most web developers don’t touch the design of the page at all. That is the job of the web designer or user experience designer. A web developer writes the code that turns the static designs into a fully functioning website. A pure web developer doesn't need any design skills at all, although it does help to have a basic understanding of design. However, they do need to be able to write code and integrate technologies using APIs. Front-end vs back-end developers This brings us back to the next question. What is the difference between a front-end developer and a back-end developer? You may not realise it, but websites are split into two parts, the front-end, the bit you see, and the back-end, the database etc. While they are similar, they require two different skill sets. Front-end developers focus on the front-end while back-end developers focus on the back-end. There is another type of developer that can do both. These uber-geeks are called full-stack developers. Let’s look at each role in more detail to give you a better idea of what each of them does. What is a front-end developer? The front-end developer writes the markup and code that make up the individual web pages. This is what’s shown in your browser, and that is an important consideration. Front-end developers only write code that is run in the browser. So when you go to a web page and see all those fancy transitions, that is the job of a front-end developer. If you buy something online and complete the checkout form, that is also the work of a front-end developer. What skills does a front-end developer need? A front-end developer needs excellent coding skills. Front-end development focuses on just three languages – HTML, CSS and JavaScript, so all front-end developers need extensive experience with these skills. But front-end developers that build websites on Content Management Systems such as WordPress or shopping carts such as Shopify will need some knowledge of web application frameworks such as Ruby on Rails, ASP.net and Laravel. Front-end developers work as part of a team, so along with good coding skills, they also need good communication skills. But they also spend a lot of time working on their own, so they need to be good at motivating themselves and managing their workload. Front-end development languages HTML Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the foundation of all websites. This is used to build out the structure of the page, including text blocks, images and font sizes. CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are used to present information in the browser. Font styles, colours, borders and basic animations are all written in CSS. JavaScript JavaScript adds dynamic functionality to the page. When you click a button or complete a text field, JavaScript is working in the background. What is a back-end developer? Back-end developers write the code that allows the website to process data. These so-called server-side functions are split into three areas: application, server and database functions. These processes run on the server, not in the browser. So when you access your online bank account through a browser, you are communicating with a back-end database. The interaction between the two interfaces is programmed by the back-end developer. What skills does a back-end developer need? Back-end developers require a different set of coding skills than front-end developers and because many apps are written on frameworks such as Ruby on Rails or Java, back-end developers need to have expert knowledge of these platforms as well. And much like front-end developers, back-end developers work as part of a close-knit team, so they need excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Plus, they spend many hours working alone, so they must be able to manage their workload. Back-end development languages PHP PHP is a popular general-purpose scripting language that is used to create dynamic web pages. WordPress and Facebook are both written in PHP. Python Python is a high-level object-oriented scripting language. It is used to build applications, automate tasks and conduct data analysis. .Net .Net is an open-source cross-development platform that is used to build many different types of mobile and desktop applications. Which type of web developer do you need? Now you know the difference between front-end vs back-end developers, it should be obvious which one you need. A small project such as a basic website built on WordPress will require the services of a front-end developer. A more complex project such as a dedicated app or online store will require the services of a back-end developer. If you need help with your next development project, get in touch with our web development team. We have experience in developing effective online web development solutions that deliver ROI. Be sure to take a look at our full range of services today. #### Website development checklist: Top 10 factors to consider in web development Every website should be aesthetically pleasing, abide by brand guidelines, provide a seamless user experience and meet the goals of the business or brand. Various factors are integral to ensuring complete website success, and by following a web development checklist you can be sure to deliver a high-performing final product. A web development checklist helps you to stay on track and is a concise way of ensuring all touch points are completed successfully and efficiently. In order to hold yourself, or your team, to account during the development phase follow our web development checklist: 1. Secure the web domain There's nothing more frustrating than establishing a business or brand and realising the domains are unavailable for your brand name. Acquiring your domain name as soon as possible can help to mitigate risk and reduce the likelihood of entering frustrating bidding wars and paying a higher price for the domain of your choice. 2. Set up the SSL SSL certificates are essential to consider in the initial phases of web development, particularly as Google has confirmed that a secure website with an SSL certificate will have an advantage over other websites that are not as secure and encrypted. 3. Arrange a hosting provider During the development phase, setting up a hosting provider is standard practice and simply refers to a company that houses your data and manages the demands of your traffic. Compare providers, do your research, outline your budget and see which ones align with your technical requirements. 4. Optimise your website for SEO Ranked by the quality, quantity and relevance of content and keywords, SEO (search engine optimisation) is essential to a website's growth and performance. Choosing the correct keywords requires a solid understanding of your target audience and including this in your copy makes an easier process for both Google to crawl your site and your visitors to engage with the content you create. 5. Generate an XML sitemap Generating and maintaining an XML sitemap works hand in hand with an SEO strategy, simply because this acts as your website's roadmap, leading Google to all your important pages, even those buried within your site. For new sites, a sitemap can speed up the process of Google recognising that your content has entered the digital space and can be served to a user for their relevant search query. 6. Map out the design Web design refers to the look and feel of the site, as opposed to the functionality that comes under web development. Taking design into consideration focuses on the user experience and the interface elements which may include drop-down tabs, mega menus and data fields to name a few. Once the desired design has been established, a developer can ensure the site's infrastructure can accommodate its planned design features. 7. External tools and integrations During web development, consider any external tools you may require to improve your workflow, design, or user experience. Consider the intentions of the website and research relevant tools that enable your site to perform as intended. 8. Prepare for errors Coding can be complex and even expert coders can be faced with errors and bugs. Preparation is key. When errors appear in code, have a plan in place to tackle them and fix the issue to avoid downtime or inaccuracies on your site. Web development is always ongoing; even if a site is perfectly developed now, the digital landscape is always changing, which is why you should keep on top of its maintenance to ensure performance stays high. 9. Optimise security settings Protecting your site from potential threats is critical, as without sufficient security your website may become vulnerable to hackers and other malicious users. Poorly coded sites, out-of-date software, weak passwords or an unsecured hosting provider may hinder your security and compromise your site. 10. Analyse performance Analytics gives you a systematic way of identifying weaknesses within your site, forming one of the final stages in web development. Analysing key metrics is important for understanding how your site is performing. From page speed tests to evaluating the readability, usability and responsiveness of a site, testing ensures you can continue to deliver a high-performing site with quick serving content and an elevated user experience. Web development can range from developing a simple static page to a complex website application. Whatever the web development task it can be a long and complicated process when either dealing with clients, writing code or programming and testing. There is a lot to keep track of. A web development checklist can help to deliver a higher standard of a website without overlooking the fundamental components that help a site perform to its optimum and stand out in comparison to its competitors. If you need a helping hand getting your website up and running, why not see how our web development team can help you? We can even promote your new website through our range of digital marketing services. Alternatively, take a look at our blog which provides a great checklist to follow when launching a new website. Contact us today to see how else we can help. #### Website Launched For Tombstone Suppliers Podium Designs Fifteen are sending them out of the studio this month, with another project launched for Tombstone suppliers, Podium Designs. About Podium Designs Podium Designs are a UK supplier of bespoke deal tombstones, toys and corporate awards. They have worked with a range of household names including RBS, Barclays, BP, Google, HSBC, KPMG and Warner Bros to name a few and create some of the most fantastic tombstones and awards that are out there. The Task The task for Podium Designs was to create a fresh modern website, with a clear user journey and align the look and feel with the products that are produced by the company. It was important that the website showcases the range of tombstones, toys and awards that have already been produced, and to inspire those who may be interested in one of the above to contact Podium Designs to create their own. The Website The Design The website design is clean and fresh, using large images and blocks of the main colour scheme where suitable to make the pages easy to process and guide the users through the website to the relevant areas. At every point in the website, the user has the option to view a range of images that fit within the section they are looking at, enquire to find out more, and view related case studies, really tailoring their user journey and allowing them to see what they want to see. With the previous Podium Designs website, the sectors were hidden within the main product services, so to improve user journey we split the section into its own tab and focussed on allowing the user to see everything within their sector. Introducing new sections such as a gallery and making key improvements on other areas of the website, has meant that the new website is fully lined up with their marketing material and ongoing marketing strategy. Content Management & Key Features Built in WordPress, the website uses the best coding practice and makes it easy for Podium Designs to upload and manage content across the website, the site is fully scaleable and will respond to all devices and browsers as needed. What They Said “Fifteen times better than the rest! Clued up, dynamic and patient with pesky clients. The perfect agency!” - Richard Mckie, Owner, Podium Designs Who Worked On The Project?         Why not take a look at the website, and let us know what you think? [fifteen_button link="www.podium-designs.co.uk"]Visit Podium Designs[/fifteen_button] #### Website not converting? Here’s how to fix it. You’ve invested time, energy, and budget into building your website…but the enquiries aren’t coming in. Sales feel slower than expected, and you’re asking yourself the question every business owner dreads: “Why is my website not converting?”. The truth is, it doesn’t matter how good your website looks if it’s not turning visitors into leads or customers. A beautiful but underperforming site is just a digital brochure, not a tool for growth. In this blog, we explore the most common reasons why your website might be underperforming and, crucially, what you can do to fix it. Whether you’re an ecommerce brand, service-based business, or a lead gen site, we’ll show you how to fix what’s not working and build a website that converts. What is a ‘good’ conversion rate? Before we dive into problems and fixes, it’s helpful to understand what “normal” looks like, so you don’t unfairly judge your site. According to Blogging Wizard, the average conversion rate is typically around 2.9% - however this will be dependent on a few factors such as the industry you’re in and your main objective. It’s also worth noting that “average” isn’t a goal, it’s a baseline. Many high-performing sites convert at 5-10% or more, depending on their niche, traffic source, and funnel quality. If your site is converting below 1% or you’re getting hundreds or thousands of visits a month and very few actions - whether that’s sales, contact form submissions, phone calls, or downloads - it’s a sign something in your messaging, design, or targeting is getting in the way. That’s where improvements can make a big impact. 6 reasons why your website is not converting Below are some of the most common culprits behind a website not converting, and more importantly, steps you can take to move from a site that’s underperforming toward one that consistently sells. 1. Your value proposition isn’t clear When a user lands on your site, they should instantly understand who you are, what you do, and why it matters to them. If your messaging is vague, generic, or buried in dense paragraphs, you risk losing visitors within seconds. How to fix it: A strong value proposition should be clear and benefit-led, so avoid any jargon. Focus on the problem you solve and the outcomes you deliver. Simple headline changes can significantly boost clarity and engagement. 2. You have poor mobile and page speed experience With mobile traffic now dominating online activity, a clunky mobile experience or slow-loading page can kill conversions. If your site takes more than a few seconds to load - or users have to pinch, zoom, or scroll awkwardly - they’re far more likely to abandon the journey. How to fix it: Run your site through tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to see where you can improve your site. Be sure to compress your images, streamline code, and ensure your layout is responsive across all devices too. The smoother the experience, the more likely users are to convert. 3. Your user journey is unclear A confusing navigation structure, multiple competing calls-to-action (CTA), or a cluttered layout can derail even the most interested visitor. Users should be able to find what they need without effort, and know exactly what to do next. How to fix it: Instead of overwhelming them with options, guide users with clear CTAs placed in strategic areas across your site. Think about the flow of your pages - each one should lead the visitor toward a specific goal, whether that’s making a purchase, booking a consultation, or signing up to your newsletter. 4. There’s a lack of trust signals Trust plays a huge role in converting new visitors. If your site looks outdated, lacks testimonials, or doesn’t show who’s behind the brand, people may hesitate to take action. How to fix it: Make sure you incorporate elements like client reviews, case studies, and industry certifications throughout your site, especially near conversion points like forms or checkout pages. These visual cues can help users feel confident in their decision. 5. There’s friction in your forms or checkout process If your contact forms or checkout pages ask for too much information, don’t display errors clearly, or force users to register accounts, you’re more than likely going to introduce unnecessary friction. How to fix it: Keep your forms short and intuitive, and only ask for the information you absolutely need at that stage. For ecommerce sites, enable guest checkout and offer multiple payment options. Every extra field or step increases the chances of user drop-off. 6. You have low-intent or poor-quality traffic Even a perfectly designed website won’t convert if the traffic it receives isn’t a good fit. If you’re attracting visitors who aren’t ready to buy - or who aren’t looking for what you offer - conversion rates will naturally stay low. How to fix it: Take a closer look at your SEO and paid efforts and learn where your traffic is coming from. Are your paid ads targeting the right audience? Are your keywords aligned with buyer intent? Getting more sales from your website starts with attracting the right visitors in the first place. Further tips to build a website that converts Improving conversions doesn’t always mean starting from scratch, sometimes it’s about redefining what’s already there. Here are some further tips to achieving a successful website that converts: Analyse your data - tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Mouseflow, or Microsoft Clarity can highlight where users drop off or get stuck. This insight helps you identify high-friction areas or underperforming pages. Refine your messaging - once you’ve analysed the data, make sure your headlines and CTAs speak directly to your customer’s needs and clearly outline the next step. Reduce distractions and focus your page layout around one clear goal per page. Test and iterate - Small changes like a new CTA, a reworded headline, or an adjusted layout can make all the difference between a website not converting and a high-performing site. Implement small changes and monitor the results so you can make any strategic tweaks. We can make your website work harder for you A website not converting doesn’t mean failure, it means opportunity. With the right analysis and improvements, your website can become your most powerful sales tool. At Fifteen, we work closely with businesses to help them understand their users, refine their journey, and deliver measurable results. We offer monthly reporting and analysis to uncover where your site is falling short, and highlight what we can do to fix it. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today to unlock more value from your online presence. #### Website Sliders - Good or Bad? I'm sure that, in our travels across the web, most of us have encountered a slider in one form or another. It's usually right at the top of the page and has a button on it with some important information. Not sounding familiar to you? Keep reading to find out why! Orphans in Need and Grimsby Auditorium use their sliders to either promote products, events and campaigns. They often have multiple campaigns running at once so a slider is important to showcase them all within the same area. Why do we use sliders? Sliders are quite common on most websites nowadays, especially if the website owner wants to present you with some information in an interesting way. A slider usually will have some information, and what is known as a call to action button on it. This is usually "Read More" or "View All Products", etc. Why are they important? Sliders are great at accomplishing three main tasks (in my humble opinion): Presenting a lot of information in a limited amount of space Presenting that information through a visual medium which is engaging to the end user. Offering the user a chance to act on what they have read. Netdocs and Nexstor use sliders to illustrate what they do and showcase the benefits of choosing them as a B2B service provider. What are the drawbacks? Sliders are pretty good at the three main tasks which I mentioned above. However, they do have a downside - that is that they are often missed by the user. This is because the user is so used to seeing advertisements where the slider is usually placed on the website that they simply scroll past it. This is a well-researched phenomenon called "Banner Blindness", and as I mentioned at the start of this article, this may be why you're not familiar with sliders. How do I fix it? There are several things you can do to fix this "Banner Blindness", and a few are: Don't have your slider right at the top of your page. If it's central then it's less likely to be missed. Make your slider a full-screen slider. You'll often see these on one-page websites, and they'll cover the entire window. You scroll down, and then the content appears. It's a pretty good way of saying "Don't ignore me!" Check if your slider is too fast. Remember, people have got to read the content that you put on there, otherwise it WILL get ignored. On the other side of the coin, check that it's not too slow as well, as then people will only read your first slide, and that's opportunities to share your content lost. Whether it's photographs or products. Should I use a Website Slider? In short, yes! We here at Fifteen use sliders quite regularly and they are often a great asset to a website. They're a great way to display information in an alternative format. #### Website Timeline - How Long Does It Take To Build A Website? Similarly to the well-known phrase regarding Rome, websites don't appear overnight. There is a lot of work that needs to go into a website, especially if you are looking for a completely bespoke site. It is very much a collaborative effort, and an investment of time as well as money. We've put together an infographic that should answer all your questions about website builds, including: How long does it take to design a website? How long does it take to build the website? (They're two different things) Why does it take that long? How much time do I need to invest? How much do I need to contribute to the overall process? What do Fifteen contribute to the overall process? As always, the below is a rough guide. If you need a more tailored solution, please contact our team today. Stages Before the website build can begin, there are many things that must be done. After receiving your initial brief and site outline, we begin our initial research. We will research your industry, current web trends, and suitable functions to include in the site build. This research is then presented in our initial meeting. Together we can discuss your brief, and our initial research, deciding on what suits your needs most effectively. After the initial meeting, we will work on putting together an official proposal, allowing you to see exactly what your new website will include, and the estimated time frames. Then it's back to the research for us, whilst you get a little break. We will look into the structure of your site, any analytical data that is available, and build on any comments that were made during our initial meeting and the proposal stage. Then we meet again. Think of this as a second proposal, with Fifteen presenting everything we've researched and taking your comments on ways to better to tailor our research to your specific needs. Overall, this first stage will take up to one month. This might seem like a long time, but it is important to ensure that there is a secure plan in place. This allows the next steps to go ahead much more quickly, as we are working towards a much clearer goal. Once we've managed to secure a plan for your website, it's time to start designing. Our in-house web design team will work on creating the initial designs, based on the structure decided on in the previous stage, which we will then present to you. As before, this is a collaborative effort, so we encourage feedback at this stage. We will do everything we can to ensure your website portrays your business accurately and professionally. We can then make amends to the designs in light of our meeting, and present them again for approval. Once the initial designs have been approved, our team will work on the responsive designs. Responsive design allows the designs to be compatible with all devices. For example, a user viewing your site on a mobile device will see a slightly different layout to a user viewing your site on a desktop computer. Once these responsive designs have been signed off, it's onwards to the actual build of the site. Overall, this stage will typically take up to three weeks. Now that we have a design for your site, we can start building. Our web developers will work on turning the approved designs into a working website, integrating any functions required, such as e-commerce or log-in portals. All of our builds include Responsive Design, and this is integrated from the beginning. Whilst this is happening, we ask that you start preparing the content for your site, whether you are preparing it yourself or outsourcing it to a copywriter. We will then send over a link to your site, and request your feedback. This will allow our developers to complete the final stages of the development, including building any news feeds or blogs to be included as part of the final site. Once the build and development have been finalised, we can start inputting the content that you've prepared, and the site is ready to go live. This stage typically takes up to three weeks. Now it's time for the exciting part; getting your site ready to go live! Our Digital Marketing experts will ensure that all the pages are SEO-ready for your new website launch, and that the user experience is suitably optimised. The development team will test your site's responsive design on a wide variety of devices and browsers. We'll organise a training session for you, so you can get to grips with your new content management system, and then we'll hold a final review of the site. After the final review, there's still time for a few refinements before your site finally goes live. This stage typically takes two-three weeks. Once your site is live, there's still more to do. As well as continued support for your site, Fifteen will organise a performance review six weeks after your site goes live. This gives you an idea of how your new site is performing, and what you can do to improve your results, including digital marketing strategies. If you're looking for a new website, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly, helpful team of experts today. We'd be happy to discuss your needs and how we can tailor a solution for you. #### Welcoming TLH Marketing to the Fifteen family. We’re excited to officially welcome TLH Marketing into the Fifteen family as the latest acquisition. This marks an exciting step forward in our continued mission to build one of the UK’s most capable, creative, and collaborative full-service marketing groups. By bringing TLH into the fold, we’re strengthening our offering across the board. This gives us even more expertise, even greater depth, and a shared passion for delivering results that matter. A shared vision, a bigger team TLH Marketing brings over 20 years of experience delivering strategic marketing solutions to B2B and B2C brands across a wide range of sectors. Their team is known for building close relationships with clients, offering personalised service, and creating marketing that’s as smart as it is impactful. Combined with Fifteen’s award-winning team of designers, developers, digital strategists, content creators, and brand specialists, we’re now a 40+ strong collective with expertise in every corner of modern marketing. Together, we offer: Integrated marketing strategies grounded in data, insight, and creativity High-performing websites with intuitive UX and best-in-class design Branding and creative that captures hearts and drives growth Performance marketing across paid, organic, and content channels And most importantly: a joined-up team that truly cares about our clients’ success More than the sum of our parts At the heart of this partnership is a shared belief - that marketing should be collaborative, honest, and results-driven. TLH’s values align perfectly with ours: a deep commitment to client relationships, a strategic mindset, and a love of bold, creative thinking. With TLH joining Fifteen, we’re not just growing - we’re evolving, and we’re excited to have a Lancashire based marketing agency to expand our client base in the North West. What this means for our clients This is great news for everyone we work with. Whether you’re already a Fifteen client or part of the TLH family, you’ll now benefit from: A broader pool of expertise and experience An expanded team with more flexibility and resource Access to new services and specialist skills The same friendly faces — with even more support behind them Get in touch with us today We’re proud to welcome the TLH Marketing team to Fifteen, and we’re excited about everything we’ll achieve together. Visit TLH Marketing today to find out more information, or get in touch with us to learn more about our partnership or our range of services. #### What Are Brand Archetypes? Jungian Archetypes Successful brands always have a very strong sense of identity. They understand who they are, what they want to achieve, but also the aspirations and the hopes of their customers. But if you’re a small business, trying to figure out who you are can be both difficult and costly. This need not be the case though with a little bit of armchair psychology and a lot of adverts. You might notice that in films and television programmes we see the same characters. The hero, the villain, the lover… they pop up all the time in popular culture. Swiss psychologist Carl Jung believed that these characters are instantly familiar to us because they are instinctive, primal associations - a part of a ‘collective unconscious’ that we human beings all share. These familiar character types are called Jungian archetypes. We specialise in working with businesses to work out what personality - and which archetype - your business fits with, based on your ideologies, and your target audiences personalities. We then work with those businesses to create an identity and a strategy that matches and appeals. Here are the top branding archetypes: The Innocent (aka The Dreamer, The Romantic) The main, core desire of The Innocent is to be happy and to be free. Their biggest fear is doing something wrong and getting punished for that. Think of movie characters like Wall-E. They are enthusiastic, honest and optimistic. The Innocent customers prefer simple, straight-talking advertising that doesn’t mess about. They are drawn to brands who are naturally optimistic. Brands that fit The Innocent archetype include: Innocent Smoothies, McDonald's, Original Source water. The Innocent Smoothie advert uses funny imagery with straight forward language. This is especially crafted to appeal to innocent customers. It makes them feel good. The Hero (aka The Warrior) The main motivating factor for The Hero is to prove their worth. Their greatest fears are weakness and failure. Think of a person like Michael Jordan. They are determined and brave but can be arrogant and aggressive in nature. They want to triumph, and actively promote this. They believe they are superior to the competition. Brands that fit The Hero archetype include: Duracell, Nike, Apple The Nike advert is all about being a hero. Overcoming adversity and working hard to create an aspirational story. This is central to the Hero archetype.   The Everyman (aka The Citizen, The Good Guy, The Regular Guy) This is the regular person, who just want to belong and feel a part of something. They hate to be left out. Think of characters like Homer Simpson. They’re both friendly and reliable, but can also be superficial. The Everyman likes quality and dependability from a company, and prefer the familiarity of something that they know. They will emotionally invest in a brand that they feel they can trust. Brands that fit The Everyman archetype include: Castle Lager, Vodafone, eBay This famous Castle Lager advert is all about friendship amongst men. It shows regular guys coming together to share a meal and a cold beer. The Caregiver (aka The Nurturer, The Saint, The Parent) This archetype, The Nurturer, is driven by their need to be protective and to be caring for others. They are generous, strong and can be very compassionate, but also manipulative and codependent. Customers that fit The Nurturer archetype want to get recognition for their efforts and hate aggressive adverts. They like adverts that are emotionally driven. Brands that fit The Nurturer archetype include: SMA, Ford, Go Compare The baby formula brand SMA is one of the best examples of The Nurturer brand in the UK. This advert is all about celebrating the unsung heroes, parents. The Creator (aka The Artist, The Dreamer) The Creator is strongly driven by a desire to produce some exceptional work that is revered and endearing. They are afraid of being average. Think about a character like Doc Brown from Back To The Future. They are both expressive and innovative, but also self-indulgent and have narcissistic tendencies. The Creator customers are likely to prefer adverts that are quirky or novel. They can be a difficult category to appeal to… although many successful Creator brands have a strong fanbase. Brands that fit The Creator archetype include: Apple, Lego, Canon This lego advert shows the power of being a creator. It exposes the inner creator from the perspective of a child and a parent blending in emotion into the creator story. The Explorer (aka The Seeker, The Wanderer) The archetype of The Explorer wants adventure, mystery and exploration. They want to discover the world. Think of a TV character like Indiana Jones. They are very strong, independent people, with great ambitions and desires. Customers that fit The Explorer archetype love a brand that promotes freedom and self-discovery. Brands that fit The Explorer archetype include: The North Face, Land Rover, GoPro In this advert for GoPro, they actively promote exploring and adventure, with strong, beautiful imagery of incredible places you could take your GoPro camera, and adventures and experiences that you can have at the same time. The Outlaw (aka The Rebel, The Revolutionary) The archetype of The Outlaw seeks revolution and revenge, they hate the idea of being powerless. Think of movie character James Dean. They are brave, free-spirited and adaptable. 'The Outlaw' customers appreciate things that are different or unconventional. They actively reject the status quo. Brands that fit The Rebel archetype include: Levis, Diesel, Harley Davidson, Apple In this advert for Apple is called "1984". It has nothing to do with computers but everything to do with the rebel archetype. The Lover (aka The Dreamer, The Idealist)   The Lover is an archetype who wants to experience pleasure in their relationships, with their partners, colleagues and friends. They want to be loved. Think of someone like Marilyn Monroe. They are very passionate and committed. The Lover customers highly value the appearance of products and the aesthetic appeal. They likely love premium-feel brands. Brands that fit The Lover archetype include: Galaxy chocolate, Herbal Essences, Victoria’s Secret This advert is extremely powerful in sending a message. By glamorising women, it makes them feel sexy and empowered. It’s aspirational, saying “buy our products and you will be loved.” The Magician (aka The Shaman, The Visionary) The archetype of The Magician wants knowledge, they want to understand the universe and find their place in it. Think of someone like Steve Jobs, or Elon Musk of Tesla. Extremely driven, and charismatic, they have a strong effect on people. Their customers want to feel like they become wiser, or influence people. They like imaginative and inspiring adverts. Brands that fit The Magician archetype include: Disney, Lynx, Dreamworks The Disney advert here doesn’t show off the theme parks or the rides. It simply focuses on the magic and imagination of their characters. They want you to feel like you can influence your children’s happiness. The Ruler (aka The Leader, The King) The Ruler archetype is driven by a strong desire for control and for power. Think of someone like Margaret Thatcher. They are confident, in control and responsible. Their customers are naturally dominating people, they don’t appreciate patronising adverts. Brands that fit The Ruler archetype include: Hugo Boss, American Express, Rolex The advert above from Rolex is all about luxury, and power. Opulent locations, formal clothing and models sporting their watches all scream royalty. The perfect embodiment of the aspiring Ruler customer. The Jester (aka The Fool, The Comedian) This archetype of The Jester wants to enjoy life, be happy and live in the moment. They don’t like boredom. Think of someone like Jim Carrey. Joyful and carefree, they are original but can be irresponsible. A Jester customer will find a standard advert somewhat boring, but like anything that is unusual or playful. Brands that fit The Jester archetype include: Skittles, McVities This Skittles advert, "Midas Touch" is all about being funny and silly. The whole advert is just a surreal joke which portrays the brand as a fun and enjoyable thing to experience. The Sage (aka The Teacher, The Scholar) The Sage is an archetype who seeks out the truth and knowledge, they want wisdom. Think of popular Star Wars character Yoda. They are both wise and open-minded, but can also be self-absorbed. The customers that fit The Sage believe that knowledge can come from growth. They look for new information all the time. Brands that fit The Sage archetype include: National Geographic, University of Oxford The above advert from National Geographic has some fascinating, thought-provoking statements alongside some gorgeous natural and historical scenery. It’s all about learning and curiosity and appeals to anybody wanting to understand the world. Conclusion At Fifteen we love nothing more than solving problems and creating cutting edge design and digital solutions. To find out more about archetypes, branding or your business' identity contact us today and we'll help you find the universal identity that makes you, you.                  #### What are micro interactions in web design and development? When it comes to web and app development, it’s often the smallest details that make the biggest impact. That’s where micro interactions come into play. These tiny animations, effects, and design cues that respond to user behaviour might seem subtle, but they play a crucial role in shaping the way users experience your site. In this blog, we’ll explore what micro interactions are, how they work, why they matter, and how they can be used to enhance functionality, improve user experience, and boost conversion rates for your site. We’ll also look at some key micro interactions examples and how you can measure their effectiveness. What are micro interactions? Micro interactions are the subtle, functional moments on a website that respond to a user’s action. Think of them as the visual or interactive cue that reassures your audience something is happening - or has happened - when they engage with your website or your app. They’re often so seamless, you barely notice them. But that’s the point. When done well, micro interactions feel intuitive and natural. They help improve clarity, build user confidence, and elevate the overall experience, and help to guide visitors through your site without friction. They’re also a great way to express your brand personality, adding tone and flair without overwhelming the design. Why do micro interactions matter? While they’re small by nature, micro interactions play a big role in how users perceive and navigate your site. They aim to: Reassure users that something is happening, or has happened once they’ve made an action Improve clarity by highlighting interactions or progress during a task Encourage exploration through smooth, natural transitions Add professionalism, which subtly reinforces your brand Help guide users through tasks, especially on mobile devices When these interactions are missing, users may feel unsure whether their action worked, or worse, they think your site is broken. But with a well-placed micro interaction, it builds confidence and momentum, making your site feel both functional and friendly. How do micro interactions work? In his book Microinteractions: Designing with Details, Dan Saffer states that every micro interaction has four key components, which are: 1. Trigger This initiates the interaction. It can be user-initiated, like clicking a button, swiping, or scrolling, or it can be system-initiated, which happens when a user has completed a custom event, such as submitting a form or adding an item to their cart. This type of trigger will initiate a notification or a pop-up once the user has completed the interaction. 2. Rules These define what happens next, or the logic behind the interaction. For example, if a user enters an incorrect password when trying to log in to their account, the rule might dictate that the form should shake and display an error message. The rules must be logical to the user, meaning when they take action, like clicking the ‘Next’ button on a form, they expect the next logical step - in this case, the next page of the form to load. 3. Feedback Feedback is what confirms to the user that their action has been recognised - essentially keeping the user informed about what’s happening during a micro interaction. This can come in the form of a visible, audible, or tactile response to the action. Some common examples include: Visual response - this may be icon animations, button colour changes, or loading spinners Audible response - this could be a notification sound or a confirmation tone Tactile response - also known as a haptic which might be phone vibration when completing an action on a mobile device 4. Loops and modes Loops determine how long a micro interaction lasts whereas modes alter how they function. Essentially, these control what happens over time and in certain set conditions. For example, a user might watch a video on your social media channels, and until they react to the post, the “Like” button will be greyed out. When they like your post, the thumbs up or heart icon will stay highlighted once tapped. What are some common micro interactions examples? There are endless micro interaction examples you could use for your site, but knowing how to use them can make all the difference. Here are some of the most common examples and effective ways to use them: Hover states When a user hovers over a link or button and it changes colour, size, or displays a tooltip (a small popup that provides extra information to the user), it provides them with the reassurance that the element is clickable. These would work well for online forms, product cards on ecommerce websites, and calendar events. Button feedback Adding animations when a button is clicked - such as a ripple, bounce, or a change in colour - tells the users instantly that their action has been registered. These are particularly useful if you’re an ecommerce business and you want to acknowledge when a user has added an item to their wishlist or cart. Loading indicators If your users are completing a form or uploading a file, instead of having a static loading screen, incorporating progress bars, spinners, or subtle transitions can help keep them engaged during small wait times. This reduces frustration, manages expectations, and lowers bounce rates. Interactive icons Interactive icons, like email and telephone icons, can animate on a click. An envelope that opens or a telephone that highlights when tapped shows that an action was successful. These particular micro interactions are useful for contact pages on a website or an app, as it confirms to the user they can quickly contact your business in just one click. Notifications and alerts A bell icon that shakes or glows in a corner, or a simple red dot to show an unread notification, draws user attention without being intrusive. If you have an app and you want to share an important update to your users without being invasive, these types of micro interactions work very well. Form feedback Form feedback micro interactions are very popular. Many businesses validate input fields in real time on their forms as it prevents errors and confusion, and keeps the form-filling process smooth. This usually comes in the form of showing a green tick or a green coloured border to indicate success. It’s not just forms these work well on either, many checkout pages utilise these when a customer is entering their card and billing information. Mobile gestures Mobile gestures can come in many forms such as swipe interactions to delete something, pull-to-refresh animations, and long-tap to edit content or apps for example. These micro interactions really help to improve usability and make your site feel modern and responsive, whether users are simply visiting it on a mobile device or on an app. Together, these small touches help create a website that converts and keeps your users engaged by removing friction from their journey. How to measure the impact of micro interactions While micro interactions are small and subtle, they’re not implemented just for aesthetics. Their success can be measured and you can analyse their impact by: Monitoring completion rates - look at how many users completed a key task - like submitting a form or completing checkout - before and after introducing micro interactions. Ask yourself; do they drop off less? Are tasks completed faster? A/B testing - test two versions of the same page, one with and one without micro interactions, and compare metrics like bounce rate, dwell time, and conversion. Session recordings and heatmaps - tools like Mouseflow and Microsoft Clarity let you track how users behave on your site. You can spot where they click, where they hesitate, and whether micro interactions are helping to guide them through your site. User feedback - get direct feedback through surveys or user testing to help gauge how users feel. Do they find your site easy to use, frustrating, or enjoyable? This insight is key to understanding emotional responses to your web design. Trust us to make the small things count Giving users a seamless, intuitive experience is more important than ever when it comes to the success of your website. It’s often the small things, like the micro interactions, that shape that experience. Whether it's a simple hover effect or a helpful loading animation when completing a form, these details build trust, improve usability, and help create a site that not only works well, but feels good to use. At Fifteen, we don’t just build good websites; we build websites that work hard. Our team of web designers and developers understand how micro interactions can improve user experience, increase engagement, and help your business convert better online. If you want to deliver a digital experience that feels polished, intuitive, and effortless, be sure to get in touch with us today. #### What are Progressive Web Apps Google has put a greater focus on the mobile user experience in recent years. Mobile traffic is at an all-time high, and it's only expected to rise even further soon, which is why Google is focusing more than ever on enhancing the mobile UX. However, it's not all about adding Google AMP, a contentious solution for mobile-first indexing; at the Chrome Dev Summit in 2015, Google went even further and announced Progressive Web Apps (PWA). It was a step in the right direction for improving conventional websites and mobile applications. It wasn't widespread at first, but that changed over time. PWAs had made fantastic careers stand out from mobile websites all over the world by 2016. What exactly is a PWA? A progressive web app (PWA) is an app made with web technologies we're all familiar with, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, but with the look and feel of a native app. You can transform almost any website into a progressive web app with a few clever additions. This means that, in comparison to a native app, a PWA can be developed relatively quickly. You can also include many of the features found in native apps, such as push alerts, offline support, and more. Many of the websites you visit on the internet are simply radical web apps. Take, for example, twitter.com. You can add the website to your home screen if you visit it on your smartphone. When you open the Twitter site you saved, you'll find that it now looks and behaves just like a native app. There isn't even a browser window. It makes no difference whether you use an iPhone or an Android phone to run it. You just need to log in to get started. That is a significant advantage of designing your web app with a PWA in mind. PWAs are becoming increasingly common. Many popular websites, such as Starbucks.com, Pinterest.com, WashingtonPost.com, and Uber.com, are available as PWAs installed on your home screen and have a similar experience to their native apps. The fact that all PWAs run in a web browser is their most striking aspect. Web browsers function as virtual machines for these applications, allowing PWAs to run in their settings. Though native apps need the use of an Android or iOS operating system to run, PWAs only need a browser. The majority of web browsers support PWAs. On the other hand, others are only getting started with the technology (Internet Explorer or Safari), while others have already done so (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Edge, and Brave). PWA (Progressive Web Application) Architecture The PWA architecture consists of the following components: Worker in the Service Industry In a browser, a Service Worker is an abstraction layer that connects the backend and frontend. It's a javascript file that links to the HTML code of the website. The Service Worker is in charge of all user requests and has access to the cache and database for data storage. It means that a PWA can function even if the user goes offline or has a slow internet connection. Manifest for a Web App The Web App Manifest is a JSON file that defines a PWA's key parameters. It can, for example, specify the name of an app in a browser, the app icon to use, how a PWA will be displayed, and a variety of other features. PWA is installed as a standalone device on a mobile screen using App Manifest. HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP The HTTPS protocol ensures that data sent via PWAs is safe. HTTPS uses the SSL protocol to encrypt data. It means that software developers can use PWA to build banking or finance apps that require personal data encryption. App Shell is the component that gives PWAs the appearance of native apps. An app shell is the skeleton of a PWA's Graphical User Interface (GUI). It is made up of the bare minimum of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and it helps you load the essential elements of an app and inject the data you've loaded into it instantly. Notifications by Push A pop-up alert on a website is known as a push notification. It usually helps users download an app to their mobile device and subscribe to news alerts and updates. After that, even if the user does not visit the website, subscription notifications with the latest news and updates can periodically appear on their smartphone. What are some of the benefits of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)? Webmasters can benefit from Progressive Web Apps in a variety of ways: A PWA is much less expensive to create than a native app.It is not difficult to keep a PWA up to date.PWAs can be updated regularly.There's no need to depend on app stores. PWAs can be self-promoted by webmasters.A Progressive Web App's contents can be indexed and therefore ranked by search engines.There are no restrictions in terms of the platform. This means that a PWA's content can be viewed on any mobile device.Web content can be accessed over nearly any service quality. The PWA's "installation" strengthens the bond between the user and the web material. Why Google favours Progressive Web Apps? It's no surprise that Google encourages the use and adoption of Progressive Web Applications, given that smartphone apps account for the vast majority of mobile internet use. This ensures that search engines like Google have restricted access to user data and, more significantly, the apps' contents cannot be crawled completely. Thanks to Progressive Web Apps, Google, and other search engines will now collect data on user activity even while using applications. PWAs can also be used to view Google advertisements at the same time. As a result, PWAs will represent an extra revenue stream for Google. Verdicts Progressive Web Apps have already proven to be a technology with significant benefits for many companies. They allow businesses to meet their target markets better, attract customers, and boost sales. Furthermore, in contrast to native and hybrid apps, PWAs are much less expensive to build and maintain. As a result, we anticipate that more companies will turn to PWAs soon to reap commercial benefits and remain closer to their customers. #### What are some of the best email marketing strategies to implement? Email marketing has long established itself as a pillar of digital marketing, with SaaS and ecommerce businesses alike relying on it as a go-to method for converting customers and building traction. As online shopping has now pretty much become the norm, there is an increased need for engagement and connection, meaning you need to develop a plan that speaks directly to your customers. The key to achieving this is having a good understanding of the best email marketing strategies that can set you apart from the competition. But with so many approaches out there, how do you know which ones will truly resonate with your audience? In this blog, we’ll explore some of the best email marketing strategies that not only capture attention, but also drive results. Adding personalisation Users want to feel more than just simply another cog in the machine; they want to feel valued by the brands they invest in. A great way to do this is to add personalisation to your email campaigns. This can be addressing them by their first name, suggesting products similar to their previous purchases, or sending tailored content based on their interests. Personalised recommendations like this can help guide customers toward products and services they’re likely to enjoy, which increases the chances of conversion. Even simple things, like acknowledging birthdays or anniversaries, can make subscribers feel valued and appreciated. You could also take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to send personalised emails to your audience by analysing their purchasing habits, engagement, and interests. For example, maybe you have a group of customers who tend to abandon their carts before making a purchase. You could set up an automated email campaign that includes call to actions (CTAs) within your content to gently remind them to complete their purchase. Using user-generated content Including user-generated content (UGC) in your campaigns is one of the best email marketing tactics to increase organic traffic and conversions. Users are more likely to trust a service or product if they see favourable feedback from other happy customers and boost their likelihood of converting into a paying customer. The benefit of UGC is that it’s completely free to use in your communications. For example, you could have a ‘Customer Spotlight’ section in your emails where you include customer reviews, testimonials, or images of your customers using your products or services with compelling CTAs to help build trust.  As well as that, if you have a sizeable social media following, you could encourage users to share their experiences on your channels with a specific hashtag, so it’s easier for you to collect and curate the content. UGC serves as social proof because it reassures potential customers that they are making the right choice by choosing your products or services. Not only is it a cost-effective way to gather content, but it’s a great way to resonate with your audience on a personal level while enhancing credibility and engagement. Making use of email segmentation Utilising email segmentation is one of the best email marketing techniques to significantly enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns. Dividing your email list into smaller, targeted groups based on specific criteria - such as demographics, purchase behaviour, or engagement levels - you can tailor your content to truly resonate with each segment more effectively. For example, you might send special promotions to frequent buyers while providing more informative content to new subscribers. Not only does this increase open and click-through rates (CTR), but it can also form stronger customer relationships by delivering relevant information to the right audience at the right time.  A/B testing your email campaigns If you’re looking for a way to enhance your efforts, A/B testing is a strategy you definitely need to implement. By sending two variations of your email campaigns to different segments of your email list, you can compare which version performs better in terms of open rates, CTR, and conversions. Be sure to experiment with various elements such as subject lines, images, CTAs, or even the overall layout of your emails. Analysing this type of data will give you valuable insights into what resonates with your audience and a better understanding of your customers’ preferences, allowing you to tailor future emails accordingly. Top tips for getting the most out of your campaigns As well as implementing the above email marketing strategies, there are a few other tactics you should carry out to enhance the overall effectiveness of your campaigns including: Regularly cleaning your email list - routinely reviewing and updating your email list helps to improve engagement and enhances your sender reputation. Aim to clean your list monthly and remove inactive subscribers so you’re only reaching those who genuinely want to hear from you. Provide value - you have to ensure you’re providing value in every email you send as your recipients are more likely to engage with your content. Whether it’s helpful information, exclusive offers, or actionable tips, give your audience something that makes them feel like they’re gaining something from your emails. Optimise your CTAs - continually try out different wording, positioning, and styling of your CTAs to see what resonates best with your audience. Doing this will help you to understand what captures your audience's attention so you can improve engagement and conversion rates in your campaigns. Utilise Send Time Optimisation (STO) - this powerful tool analyses your audience's behaviour to determine the optimal time to send emails. This allows you to maximise the impact of your campaigns and increase engagement as you can send your emails at a time where your audience is most active. Analyse your data - this is a crucial task as you gain a better understanding of what strategies are working and which areas need improvement. Dive into top metrics like open-rates, CTRs, and conversion rates so that you can look for patterns and trends that can inform your future campaigns. Need a helping hand with your email marketing? Creating and sending an email to your audience is all well and good, but if it doesn’t resonate with them, they won’t engage. That’s why implementing clever email marketing strategies like the ones we’ve highlighted will enable you to optimise every element of your campaigns so you can maximise engagement and drive conversions. If you need a helping hand implementing these techniques and strategies, we can help. At Fifteen, we specialise in helping businesses of all sizes enhance their email marketing efforts. From creating engaging content that captures attention to segmenting your audience for targeted campaigns, our email marketing specialises are here to support every aspect of your campaigns. Get in touch with us today to learn how we can elevate your email marketing game. #### What are the advantages and disadvantages of blocking keywords? Keyword blocking is a practice used by many brands who want to control their image online and not worry about being associated with negative content. However, overusing this tactic can potentially prevent hefty ad revenue. That’s why understanding the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy is crucial for success. In this blog, we’ll delve into the pros and cons of blocking keywords, helping you make informed decisions on how to best utilise this tactic for your business. First, let’s take a look at what keyword blocking is in more detail. What is keyword blocking? Keyword blocking is a digital marketing tactic used to stop ads appearing on certain online platforms or next to certain pieces of content, such as new articles. This practice is mainly used when brands want to control where their ads appear, or if they are concerned about their reputation being tied to negative, irrelevant, or sensitive content.  For example, advertisers are unlikely to want to associate their products or services with negative stories or tragic events. Naturally, this practice is useful in preventing negative connections from forming with a brand and ensuring ad placements align with the company’s values. However, taking a heavy-handed approach to keyword blocking can often limit the reach of ads and potentially hinder campaign performance by restricting visibility. Overly restrictive practices can harm news outlets, advertisers, and brands alike and should be monitored wherever possible.  What are the advantages of keyword blocking? When it comes to managing ad placement, keyword blocking is a powerful tactic that offers several benefits as we outline below. Protects brand reputation One of the main benefits of blocking keywords is ensuring your ads don’t appear alongside inappropriate, controversial, or damaging content. When you block keywords that may be negatively associated with your ads, you can avoid the potential harmful connection and protect your brand reputation. Enhances ad relevance Blocking irrelevant keywords ensures your ads are displayed in the right context and reaches audiences more likely to engage with them. This can improve the overall effectiveness of your campaigns by reducing wasted impressions on irrelevant users. Reduces wasted ad spend With keyword blocking, your ads may appear on low-quality or unrelated websites and this can lead to wasted budget. By filtering out non-converting or unsuitable content, you can ensure your ad spend is directed towards more valuable placements. Improves user experience Keyword blocking helps ensure users are not served ads that feel out-of-place or irrelevant based on what they are searching for. This creates a more seamless and positive user experience and reduces the risk of ad fatigue or frustration. Helps maintain compliance Certain industries, such as finance, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals, must adhere to strict advertising regulations. With keyword blocking, you can comply with legal requirements by preventing your ads from appearing next to non-compliant content. Minimises association with misinformation or controversial topics In today’s digital landscape, misinformation and controversial content can spread quickly. Keyword blocking allows you to avoid being linked to unreliable sources, safeguarding your credibility and consumer trust. What are the disadvantages of keyword blocking? While keyword blocking is an effective tool for protecting your brand and ad targeting, it also has potential drawbacks. Here are some potential disadvantages of overusing this tactic. Risk of over-blocking valuable content A broad or overly strict keyword blocking strategy can unintentionally exclude high-quality, relevant content. For example, blocking a broad keyword like “crime” to avoid negative news stories, could also mean your ad will not appear in important discussions about crime prevention or legal services. Reduced reach and missed opportunities When you restrict too many keywords, you may potentially limit your audience and miss out on valuable traffic. That can particularly affect industries where certain blocked keywords might have both negative and positive associations, such as “debt” in financial services. Increased costs due to limited inventory Again, blocking too many keywords means the available ad inventory shrinks which increases competition for safe placements. This could potentially drive up your costs-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM), making your campaign more expensive and less efficient. Potential impact on campaign performance metrics A highly restrictive keyword blocking strategy may result in lower impressions and engagement, which leads to lower click-through rates (CTR) and overall campaign performance. This could mean you might struggle to achieve your conversion goals if too much content is filtered out. Let our paid specialists take care of your ads Brands that want to have more control over their paid ads, keyword blocking is a popular tactic to utilise. The key to ensuring it’s successfully implemented is to devise a solid keyword blocking strategy that factors in these pros and cons. Paid advertising is a useful and integral part of any digital marketing strategy. In particular, PPC and paid social media advertising allows you to quickly expand your reach and target new markets.  If you need expert advice on your paid advertising strategy, or to learn more about any of our other digital marketing services, get in touch with us today. Our specialists are on hand to turn your paid efforts into success. #### What are the benefits of a website to a business? In today’s digital-first world, a website is often the first touchpoint your audience has with your brand. A well-designed website acts as your digital storefront, providing potential customers with essential information about your products and services. Whether you’re a local startup or an established business, the question of “do I need a website?” should not be up for debate because the answer is almost always yes. If you’re still relying solely on social media or offline methods to reach your audience, you could be missing out on major growth opportunities. From increasing visibility to building long-term customer relationships, there are countless benefits of a website to a business, as we highlight in this blog. A website builds instant credibility and professionalism Let’s be honest - when was the last time you trusted a business that didn’t have a website? According to Hover Blog, 83% of UK consumers say they’re more likely to trust a company with a professional online presence. A website shows customers you’re serious, established, and ready to help. Whether you’re in retail, hospitality, trades, or B2B services, your website is the modern-day shopfront. It gives potential clients the reassurance they need to take that next step - whether that’s booking a service, requesting a quote, or placing an order. And for smaller businesses wondering “do I need a website for my business?”, the answer is even more crucial. It helps level the playing field with bigger competitors and gives you the chance to make a great first impression, 24/7. It increases your visibility and reach The majority of purchase journeys begin online. Whether people are searching for a product, researching a service, or checking reviews, your website needs to be there when they look for it. By having a search-optimised website, you make it easier for people to find, not just your name, but your services, your location, your prices, and your expertise. Appearing in local search results or industry-specific searches puts your business in front of the right people, at the right time. And unlike social media, where algorithms control your reach, your website is fully in your hands. With the right structure and content, it’s one of the most effective ways to expand your audience and grow your brand long term. It gives you control over your brand and messaging A website offers something no other platform can: full control over how your business is presented. From the tone of your content to your visual identity, you decide how you show up. Unlike some platforms that limit what you can say and how you can say it, a website allows you to showcase your products or services in full, highlight testimonials, explain your process, and tell your story, all in one place. And because your website can be updated as your business evolves, it becomes a flexible tool that grows with you, rather than needing to be rebuilt every time something changes. It supports your marketing and sales strategy One of the biggest benefits of a website to a business is how it underpins your entire marketing strategy. Whether you’re running paid ads, publishing blog content, or sending out email campaigns, your website acts as the central hub for converting interest into action. You can create tailored landing pages for campaigns, use SEO optimised content to attract organic traffic, and track performance using analytics. It’s a fully measurable platform that allows you to see what’s working and where to improve, unlike print or word-of-mouth marketing, which can be hard to quantify. It’s a cost-effective, scalable investment Many business owners assume building a website is expensive or complicated, but that’s not the case anymore. With the right partner, like Fifteen, your website can be designed around your budget, goals, and future plans. And once it’s live, it works around the clock. Whether you’re closed for the day or on holiday, your website continues to do its job - answering questions, collecting leads, and supporting sales. Think of it like hiring an always-on member of your team that costs a fraction of a full-time salary, but delivers value every day. It builds long-term trust and loyalty Your website isn’t just there to attract new customers, it also keeps existing ones engaged. By providing helpful content, FAQs, user guides, or members-only resources, your website becomes a valuable resource that customers return to. It also opens up opportunities for email marketing, loyalty schemes, or subscription services, all of which help turn one-time customers into repeat buyers. And in an age where customers care about who they buy from, your website gives you space to showcase your values, team, and community impact - all things that build stronger relationships. Ready to build your website? If you’re still wondering whether you need a website, the answer is simple: yes, because it gives your business credibility, control, visibility, and flexibility. It’s one of the most effective and scalable tools for growth, especially in a digital landscape where first impressions matter. So, if you’re ready to build your dream website for your business, get in touch with us today. At Fifteen, we help businesses of all sizes design websites that aren’t just visually impressive, but built with purpose. Whether you’re launching something new or looking to improve your current site, we’ll help you create a digital presence that reflects your brand and supports your goals. #### What are the benefits of affiliate marketing? Many businesses today are increasingly recognising the value of affiliate marketing as part of their marketing strategy. That’s because it enables them to efficiently sell a product on a low budget, with little effort and time, at a low-risk level, all while ensuring a solid return on investment (ROI), increased brand recognition, and business development. In this blog, we delve into the various benefits of affiliate marketing to give you a better understanding as to why so many brands are turning to this marketing tactic. If you’re new to the concept, this blog will provide you with valuable insights on why you should be leveraging this dynamic marketing approach for your business’s growth. What is affiliate marketing and how does it work? The concept of affiliate marketing involves individuals, known as affiliates, partnering with organisations to promote their products or services and earning a portion of the profits for each lead or sale they generate. This means a fixed commission is given to the affiliates for completing a specific task related to the promotion of the goods, which is usually agreed in advance.  Affiliate marketers often work as self-employed promoters of a single product, service, or even a collection of items. As a business, you’ll have complete control over the tactics and methods you use as you can define a target group and choose the ideal set of members to represent your brand in order to attract the most significant number of consumers.  What are the benefits of affiliate marketing? There are a plethora of benefits of affiliate marketing for both businesses and affiliates alike, making it a win-win situation for all parties involved. Here are just some of the main benefits. It’s a reasonable business opportunity Affiliate marketing offers a fantastic business opportunity for individuals looking to earn money online. By partnering with companies and promoting their products or services through unique affiliate links, you can earn commissions for every sale or lead generated through your marketing efforts. By focusing on driving traffic and conversions, it becomes a flexible and scalable way to generate passive income. With the right strategies and dedication, affiliate marketing can be a rewarding venture for those willing to put in the effort to succeed in the competitive online marketplace. High return on investment (ROI) You won’t get a high ROI because you have the keys to product creativity and strong management skills; you’ll still need to nail your marketing. Unlike other forms of digital marketing, affiliate marketing offers a high ROI because you’re using affiliates to influence your target audience to tell them about your product or service, with little money being spent. In other words, you’re funnelling your marketing efforts through an affiliate who has direct access to and control over a highly targeted audience that’s interested in what you’re selling. The performance-based nature of affiliate marketing means you only pay for actual sales or leads generated, ensuring that your marketing budget is spent efficiently. No experience necessary You don’t have to be an expert in affiliate marketing to succeed. Affiliates can choose to partner with companies that align with their interests and audience, making it an accessible and potentially lucrative venture for aspiring entrepreneurs. They can also choose which online tools they wish to use to promote the company's products or services. This normally tends to be blogs or social media and it can be a great way for affiliates to master those platforms. Relevant traffic, specifically targeted Since you handpick the affiliates you work with, you can be confident that the traffic coming to your site is from people who are actually interested in your product or service. This is because affiliates who connect with your brand often share the same values as you and will most likely have an audience who will benefit from your offering. This targeted approach increases the likelihood of conversions, as the audience is already interested in the niche or industry you operate in. Freedom and independence A particularly key benefit of affiliate marketing is the independence it offers. As an affiliate marketer, you have the freedom to work on your own terms and create your own schedule. You don’t have to obey any company rules, be involved in office politics, or work in a noisy crowded office. This flexibility allows you to balance your work with other commitments and prioritise tasks based on your preferences. This means you can choose when and where you work, allowing for a flexible lifestyle that fits your needs. Improved SEO By partnering with affiliates who promote your products and services on their websites, blogs, and social media, you can almost guarantee you’ll increase your brand's online visibility and reach a wider audience, which in turn improves your SEO. When affiliates link back to your website, it boosts your search engine rankings and drives more organic traffic to your site. This increased exposure not only helps to attract more potential customers, but also enhances your website's authority and credibility in the eyes of search engines. Ultimately, affiliate marketing can be a powerful tool for improving your SEO efforts and growing your online presence. Only pay for actual leads and sales As we’ve mentioned with affiliate marketing, you only pay for actual leads or sales generated, making it a cost-effective option for businesses. Unlike other traditional advertising methods where you pay upfront without guaranteed results, affiliate marketing allows you to work with partners who promote your products or services and earn a commission only when a desired action is taken. This performance-based model not only helps in reducing risks, but also ensures that your marketing budget is allocated efficiently towards driving real business outcomes. This allows you to increase brand awareness and boost sales while maintaining control over your marketing spend. Ready to get started with your affiliate marketing campaign? As you can see, this dynamic marketing approach is rapidly becoming a key component for many businesses' marketing strategy. This is mainly because one of the key benefits of affiliate marketing is a high return on investment that other marketing methods cannot match. This and all the other benefits of affiliate marketing are becoming much more visible to organisations of all sizes as the market grows, so if you’re ready to get started with your affiliate marketing efforts, contact us today. Our comprehensive affiliate marketing services allows you to capitalise on sales as we ensure every campaign is optimised for maximum impact and growth. Speak to us today to learn more about how we can help your brand. #### What are the benefits of digital marketing for small businesses? Marketing is a powerful tool for businesses. It allows you to connect with prospective customers in a bid to persuade them to subscribe to your service or buy your product. That said, for a long time, marketing was reserved for well-established organisations that could afford to pay for expensive TV ads and billboards. Fortunately, things are taking a turn thanks to the increasing popularity of the internet and social media. Digital marketing is now the front runner in reaching prospective customers, and the good news is that it is accessible to all businesses. If you are yet to adopt this marketing type, here are five benefits of digital marketing for small businesses that you should know about. What is digital marketing? Digital marketing, also known as internet marketing, is the use of digital channels to promote products and services. These digital channels include search engines, social media, email, websites, and mobile apps. Benefits of digital marketing 1. Budget-friendly Digital marketing has levelled the field for small businesses. It allows small business owners on a tight budget to market their products and services and reach their target market, thus increasing their competitiveness. Most digital marketing channels are very affordable, and some are completely free. For example, posting a picture of your products on social media costs absolutely nothing, but it can have great returns. If you decide to use a paid channel like pay-per-click advertising, you can start with a low amount and gradually increase your investment as performance increases. There are no minimums on ad campaign buys for PPC advertising, so you can reach your target audience regardless of your budget. 2. Wider reach One of the major shortcomings of traditional marketing methods is that they are restricted by geography. Digital marketing, on the other hand, offers a broader reach since it happens over the internet. With a website and a solid social media presence, your small business can reach an international audience. While international reach is a great advantage, most small businesses rely on nearby customers. Digital marketing also helps improve local reach through locally targeted ads and local SEO. The combination of global and local reach opens many opportunities for small businesses looking to grow and expand. 3. Increased brand awareness Brand awareness is a priority for small businesses and start-up brands trying to penetrate new markets and make a name for themselves. Because digital marketing employs multiple strategies, it can really widen your reach and increase your brand awareness. For example, optimising your content for SEO helps drive more organic traffic to your website. Social media, on the other hand, allows you to connect and engage with your target audience, further increasing brand recognition. To increase brand awareness for your small business, combine multiple strategies for the best results. Optimise your website for SEO, run ads on social media and search engines, partner with social media influencers to create content, create a blog, etc. 4. Precise targeting Digital marketing takes the guesswork out of audience targeting by using reporting metrics to show exactly who interacts with your content and advertisements. Keyword research from SEO and demographic information from social media provides you with a wealth of information about your target market, allowing you to customise your marketing strategy appropriately. Effective audience targeting reduces marketing costs and increases the likelihood of conversions. In addition to audience targeting, digital marketing also allows for customer segmentation. Segmentation breaks your audience into smaller groups allowing for a personalised customer experience. This increases the chances of sales further and improves customer loyalty. 5. It is measurable Another great benefit of digital marketing for small businesses is that you can track and monitor results over time. Using analytic tools such as Google Analytics, Mixpanel, SEMrush, Optimizely, etc., you can find out which strategy and campaign brought you the highest return on investment. If you have a website, you are also able to learn more about your customers, like their demographic, how they got to your website, and how much time they spent there. Read our blog to find out what the best marketing reporting tools are out there. Tracking the performance of marketing campaigns is especially important for small businesses because it helps you spend your money only on the campaigns that work instead of blindly pumping money into campaigns that might bring no results. Conclusion Digital marketing is a must-have for all small businesses. It allows you to advertise to your target market without breaking the bank, and the great news is that you’ll get a great return on your investment. If you need a helping hand with your digital marketing efforts, why not get in touch with our expert digital marketing team? They’ll advise you on the best strategies to utilise from SEO to PPC and more! Take a look at the services they offer to help boost your business. #### What are the benefits of influencer marketing? Influencer marketing has grown rapidly over recent years. More and more social media influencers are emerging and they are helping businesses of all sizes to promote their products or services. Business owners who are utilising this marketing tactic have realised just how useful it can be. In this blog, we’ll explain the benefits of influencer marketing, why influencers are so important, and why you should be using them while you can. But first, let’s take a look at what influencer marketing is. What is influencer marketing? Influencer marketing is a powerful strategy that involves collaborating with individuals who have a significant following on social media platforms. These social media influencers can help spread your message to their community and they also have the ability to sway the purchasing decisions of their audience due to their credibility and authenticity.  By partnering with influencers who align with your brand values, you can tap into their engaged followers and reach a wider audience in a more organic way. Essentially, influencer marketing allows brands to connect with consumers on a more personal level, build trust, increase brand awareness, and drive sales.  What are the benefits of influencer marketing? Influencer marketing offers a myriad of benefits for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with their target audience in a more authentic way. Below are some benefits of influencer marketing. It can help you reach your target audience effectively It can often be difficult to get the targeting right for your audience for paid campaigns. It can also be hard to work out what your customers interests are compared to their backgrounds, but that's where influencer marketing can be useful. Social media influencers can use your data on your target audiences and explore this in more detail themselves - not through their own research, but by the results of their own work. They can effectively remove the aspect of targeting a specific audience, as they can influence their audience to find you. However, for this to work successfully, it’s vital to partner with the right influencer that sees a lot of engagement on their channel. Increased social media engagement Social media allows you to create engaging content such as short simple videos, eye-catching images and the use of relevant hashtags. One of the main benefits of influencer marketing is that without much work, social media influencers can share your marketing efforts with their loyal following and encourage engagement on your social media pages. For example, if they help promote one of your latest products, the interactions and followers you could receive by the influencers efforts could grow exponentially. This can lead to expanded awareness of your products or services with little to no effort from your side. Minimal budgets required It’s easy to get carried away with big budget marketing campaigns, especially when it might not even be necessary. Influencer marketing is a tactic that is just as effective, for much less cost. This is hugely beneficial for all businesses, but especially so for a small business who is just starting out. A small budget and providing social media influencers with your products or services is enough for them to get started and begin promoting your brand with their followers. That’s how simple it works and it’s incredibly effective. The more and more business owners are starting to realise this, the more they are taking up the initiative. Builds trust in your brand Social media influencers will have already built a name for themselves which makes them highly credible and in some cases, their followers may have a ‘worship’ level of trust in them. This can work to your advantage. When your product or service is shared by an influencer with trusting audiences, they are highly likely going to be invested, even slightly if it’s not their thing because there is already a basis of trust in what they are presented with.  You must therefore make sure that what you provide your influencers with, is fully functioning and not broken, misprinted or faulty. This will avoid any kind of embarrassment over your promotion and build further trust. We can help with your influencer marketing strategy As we can see from the benefits of influencer marketing, it is a great and highly effective marketing tactic for any business to invest in. When done correctly, you can have incredible success and boost your sales more than you might expect. If you’re thinking about adding influencer marketing to your strategy, speak to us today. Our digital marketing experts can help find social media influencers that are relevant to your brand and devise an influencer marketing strategy that is guaranteed to drive sales, increase brand awareness and build trust. #### What Are The Best Fonts For Dyslexia? Searching the web on studies around accessibility has me guessing what are the best fonts to use. I have also read a few blogs regarding the matter on how typography should be your first port-of-call when the brief demands accessibility. What I am trying to say is that if the typeface you’re thinking of using isn’t right for all abilities, the design simply isn’t comprehensive for every type of user. This includes the huge number of users that include the visually impaired, the elderly and users who in-fact endure having dyslexia. I have dyslexia (a mild form of it) and I do struggle every now and again when it comes to reading or even surfing the web. What is dyslexia? Dyslexia a general term for disorders that involve issues with the learning to read or interpret words, letters, and alternative symbols, however, that doesn't have an effect on the general intelligence of someone. They say even Albert Einstein was dyslexic. The signs and symptoms of this learning disorder do differ from person to person. Every individual with the condition can have a unique pattern of strengths and weaknesses. Dyslexia may be a learning difficulty that primarily affects the abilities involved in fluent and accurate word reading and spelling, but according to The Rose Report the definition of dyslexia is “characteristic features of dyslexia are difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal process speed.” And the “Co-occurring difficulties may also be seen in aspects of language, motor coordination, mental calculation, concentration and personal organisation, however, these don't seem to be, by themselves, markers of dyslexia.”   Now that we have dug a little into the meaning, I thought I would make it even more relevant to what Fifteen do which is design including typography. Which fonts are the easiest and best to read? Dyslexia may be a disability that can be incredibly sensitive to some typefaces, in both websites and print. In this blog, we will show you of some of these typefaces that are recommended to suggest in what materials that are being created, they're accessible to a everyone. Dyslexic individuals notice all kinds of different texts where it can vary greatly relying on that the font used. I actually wish to stipulate that some typefaces are recommended to be used and to be used by people who have dyslexia throughout all types of materials and technology. Font, especially fonts that are Serif typefaces, ‘ticks’ and their ‘tails’ located near the top and end, with most typefaces the strokes (as located in most traditional fonts like Georgia or even Times), do tend to uniquely obscure shapes of the letterforms, therefore sans-serif typefaces can be generally the most well-liked. Thus we tend to see many dyslexic individuals browse a font easier that appears almost like handwriting as they’re familiar to this and this is the reason why teachers prefer to them. So, most of those forms of typefaces could result in confusion, and therefore combinations of letters like “oo” and “rn”; “oa” and the “m”, in my experience, could get extremely muddling and impair how I would read something that is in front of me. This said, reading a sentence incorrectly and I worry about people are judging me or completely misunderstanding what I am reading is something that I had to deal with. This scale of the ascender letters and the descender letters (which are ‘stems’ on such letters like y) are additionally vital. Dyslexic people do believe in recalling that the letter form of words is thanks to poor awareness. When the ascenders and the descenders are short, the word which is formed can get harder to spot and may make the reading of the sentence slower, or even read incorrectly. In that case, what makes a typeface accessible? What must you look out for once you opt for one with people who have dyslexia? 10 tips on type styles for accessibility Having a clean user-friendly sans serif typeface with large open counters is to be the more suitable of all the typestyles. This could be used for sub-headings where the text is 16pt and above Fonts with an optimum character are best to assist legibility Take care with the negative areas and also the positive areas too, in and around the letters - proper kerning Using a serif font to be added to the ‘i’ could enhance the character’s recognition A character stroke that is about 20% of the x-height Letterforms on darkened backgrounds could look tighter. With this, it could also appear to have a glow Numbers should be clearly simple. 0 (zero) might have a dot to assist the legibility Choosing a typeface with an oversized height, extended ascenders and descenders helps for better legibility Open terminals can really aid the clarity of letterforms to be simply read People with that have learning disabilities, are usually treated as childlike. This is more apparent with the jokes around the font Comic Sans. Fonts shouldn’t mean childlike, they have been created to be accessible and better for readability. A well-designed typeface with all the above considered is highly recommended So with these points, below is a list of fonts that I think would be perfect for you to use for all kinds of materials from the web to print. Preferred Typefaces Read Regular In 2003, Natascha Frensch, a graphic designer at the Royal College of Art, designed a font specifically for dyslexic readers, taking into account the issues discussed above. There are examples of Read Regular on her web site at www.readregular.com and the children’s publisher Chrysalis is now using it for two-thirds of the 150 children’s titles it brings out every year. In May 2012, Dutch educational publishers Zwijsen adopted the Read Regular typeface, where it is known as Zwijsen Dyslexic font. Lexie Readable This typeface is designed specifically for dyslexia. You can download it from www.k-type.com free for individual use. It was developed quite a bit over the last few months, although it still has some minor irregularities. It tries to avoid some possible dyslexic confusions (e.g. b-d) by using different shapes and is broadly based on Comic Sans, see below. Please let us know what you think of it. Tiresias Has been designed for Visual Impairment. Originally produced for subtitles and signs, there is now a screen version Tiresias PC font. It is good for legibility but doesn’t address the issue of dyslexia confusions. Century Gothic A sans-serif font which maintains the basic design of Monotype 20th Century, but has been modified to ensure satisfactory output from modern digital systems. The design is influenced by the geometric style sans-serif faces which were popular during the 1920s and 1930s. Calibri Calibri is a modern sans-serif typeface with subtle roundings on stems and corners. Its proportions allow high impact in tightly set lines of big and small text alike. Calibri was included with Windows Vista and Office 2007 and is now the default typeface for Microsoft Office. Sassoon This font is often recommended for dyslexia but was actually designed for early reading. Also, it is quite expensive and can be bought through Adrian Williams Design and elsewhere on the web. Letter shapes are similar to those that schools use to teach handwriting, and ascenders and descenders are exaggerated to emphasise word shapes. Myriad Pro A modern typeface designed by Adobe. We have begun to use Myriad Pro in our designed materials and in part on this dyslexic.com site. Myriad Pro has a clean sans-serif aesthetic making it suitable for people with dyslexia. Web Safe Fonts Nowadays you have a choice with fonts. You can either go to Microsoft to download the fonts that have been only given to them, or even fonts that are only available through Google Web Fonts, with their aims of making the on-screen experience easier to read, and for designers a better choice of fonts available. Some of the faults that these new fonts have can be having larger weights, short and even long ascenders and even descenders, which will make the forms of the letters more difficult to distinguish them. However, there are ones that have been commissioned to be very professional and make them possible for people to read across all kinds of media.   Trebuchet MS Trebuchet MS has short descenders but reasonably long ascenders, small body size and generous line spacing. We find this font suits many readers. Other Fonts Even though there are hundreds and thousands of free fonts available worldwide, however, most of these are too fancy for someone to read or be web safe and therefore are unsuited for reams of text such as blogs and articles. But you do have fonts on your computer already that we fall back to. Our other two choices are Geneva for the Mac and Arial for older Windows systems. A hand full of people who are dyslexic would say that Comic Sans can be the one font that is most readable which luckily enough it’s also widely available across all devices. But on the other hand, there are many people who make jokes about this font, saying that its childish or not formal enough. Conclusion All in all, know your audience and also be aware of the other users who may not be able to read something without difficulty. However, be creative too! So if you need any more information on what you need for your customers or need us to design that perfect piece of work that can be accessed by all then please drop us an email or give us a call on 0115 932 5151 and we can discuss more. #### What are the different types of hacking attacks? Hacking is a term that will no doubt spark concerns for any online business owner. IBM defines hacking as “the use of unconventional or illicit means to gain unauthorised access to a digital device, computer, or computer network.” Typically involving a broad range of malicious activities and practices, understanding the different types of hacking methods is essential to protecting your business’ and customers' sensitive data online. In this blog, we explore some of the most common types of hacking methods so you’re armed with the basic knowledge of the different types of threats your business could potentially face. We’ll also provide you with some simple tips to better protect yourself and your business from a cyber attack. What are the different types of hacking attacks? There are many different types of cyber attacks and hacking methods that all businesses and online users should be aware of. Below we highlight some of the most common types and what they entail so you can quickly recognise these threats and tackle them effectively. Brute force attack A brute force cyber attack, also known as ‘brute’, ‘exhaustive key search,’ or ‘dictionary attack’, is a hacking method that essentially involves trying to guess the password to the backend of your website, online bank account, or any other online account you may have. You may think that the hacker will be aimlessly trying to guess your password manually, however their process is much more sophisticated than that. Instead, they use password-cracking software like John the Ripper or Hashcat to automatically make repeated guesses using predefined algorithms. This is why this particular cyber attack is also known as a ‘dictionary attack’ as it is the cybercrime equivalent of starting at ‘aardvark’ and working your way through to ‘zyzzyva’. Most brute force algorithms involve known trends in password-setting - such as a single word followed by a year, or the length of a password - and to save time, they will run these formats first. Of course, this still leaves billions of possible combinations and requires a lot of processing power to find the right one. But if a hacker is determined to access your account, they’ll do whatever it takes to crack your password. SQL injection SQL injection, also known as ‘sequel injection’, is a type of cyber attack that bypasses a website’s security system and talks straight to the database powering it. SQL stands for ‘Structured Query Language’ and is the standard language for website databases as well as the place where all your content, settings, and passwords are stored. Websites, along with content management systems (CMS), will be constantly talking to their corresponding SQL databases. Usually, only the information you want to make public makes it onto your web pages, but bad coding will sometimes result in SQL data being spewed into the public domain, which is something hackers take advantage of. If there is no bad code on your site, a hacker can try and add some themselves. Using features on your website that are designed for user interaction, like contact forms for example, they can attempt to ‘inject’ bad code that breaks the barrier between them and the database. For example, a hacker could write a line of code, or an SQL syntax, with a command as simple as ‘SELECT email, password FROM users’, in a form field designed for other user input. This line of code translates to, ‘Dear website, please get me the columns “email” and “password” from the table called “users”, much obliged.’  An SQL syntax like the above is designed to allow websites to retrieve any data they need from the database, so there are thousands of different commands and combinations an SQL hacker can inject. However, it’s important to note that an SQL injection cyber attack like this is only possible when the code allows it. Almost all modern websites are built to disallow anything that looks like an SQL injection in form submissions and your hosting firewall should also be on the look-out too. Denial of Service attack A Denial of Service, or a DoS attack, aims to deny an online service to customers and internal users by overloading it with traffic. Attackers will bombard a website with fake requests with information until the server is completely overloaded and breaks. A common variation of DoS is ‘DDoS’, which is a Distributed Denial of Service attack. The idea behind this particular cyber attack is that it is distributed across a whole network of computers, meaning more server requests can be made from more locations. Many computers involved in such attacks will have been commandeered in previous hacks or via the distribution of malware and their owners will have no idea what is taking place. The difficulty for victims of DoS attacks is that the attack will come from many directions at once, including from genuine users repeatedly refreshing the page trying to get the site to work, making it difficult to block the malicious connections. To prevent your server crashing, you could shut it down yourself, but that is more often than not what the attackers are trying to achieve in the first place. Other types of hacking methods to be aware of As well as the above cyber attacks, there are numerous other online threats businesses should be aware of including: Phishing - these types of cyber attacks usually involve a scammer or hacker stealing or tricking users into sharing sensitive information such as passwords, usernames, or banking details for example. They often come in the form of an email or a text message, encouraging users to click a link to share/steal information. Malware - this is virus-like software that is normally used to gain unauthorised access to a device like a computer or a mobile phone. It will usually track your activity in order to obtain your sensitive information like passwords. Waterhole attacks - these are usually targeted attacks on specific users within an industry or organisation. The aim is to infect websites they usually visit with malware to gain access to an organisation’s network. Remote File Inclusion (RFI) - similar to an SQL injection, this type of cyber attack uploads a whole file of malicious code from a remote server with the aim to compromise a system, website, or application. Social engineering - this is a psychological manipulation tactic that aims to steal sensitive information or gain control of a computer system. It can take form in many ways such as pretending to be someone else online, or an unauthorised person gaining access to an unattended computer. Backdoor attacks - a backdoor attack is essentially a hacker gaining access to a system that bypasses normal security procedures and authentication.  Our tips to preventing these types of hacking methods Now that you’re aware of the most common types of cyber attacks, you might be wondering what you can do to prevent these threats from your business. Here are some basic principles you can follow to reduce the risk of a cyber attack on your website: ALWAYS keep your website’s software up to date - each update to your CMS will contain fixes for zero-day vulnerabilities that are already in circulation amongst the hacker community. Use established and reputable software and plug-ins - poorly written code can leave you vulnerable to an attack or worse, it may contain malware. This is exactly why you should always use reputable software and plug-ins. Don’t cheap-out on development - building a secure website takes time and expertise. If you are using bespoke functionality, don’t cut corners, rush deadlines, or rely on inexperienced developers. Back your site up regularly - if you are unfortunate in that you get hacked, you’ll most likely need to revert back to a previous version of your files and database to ensure there are no nasties still lurking within. Hackers will generally litter a compromised site with malware in different locations, as well as creating their own ‘backdoor’ to re-enter the site at a later date, so it’s vital you restore a recent backup of your site. Monitor file changes and user log-ins - reputable website security software will do this for you, alerting you if there is suspicious activity and automatically block unapproved users who might pose a threat. Be password smart - always use a complicated password, preferably a randomly generated one. You can use your browser’s password manager or a service like LastPass to remember complex passwords for you. You should also avoid using common usernames like ‘admin’ or ‘root’. Trust no one - don’t enter your passwords anywhere without checking the link you have followed. Don’t be afraid of asking questions of anyone claiming to be technical support - a true tech specialist will appreciate your concern for security and won’t take offence. If you share an office space, lock your screen when you leave your desk. In need of secure website support services? No matter the business you own, or the industry you reside in, these types of hacking and cyber attacks are a real threat. But as we’ve highlighted, there are best practices you can adopt and implement to your site to ensure protection and avoid becoming a vulnerable target. At Fifteen, we understand these types of cyber attacks and hacking methods worry many business owners, but we’re here to help. Our web development specialists are always at the forefront of the latest web security trends and best practices, so you can be confident your website is built with security in mind.  We also offer website support and hosting services where you’ll have a dedicated point of contact on hand to fix any issues that may arise with your site. Don’t hesitate to contact us today to learn more about how we can protect your online business from these types of cyber threats. #### What are the fundamentals of ecommerce marketing? With the ever-growing world of online shopping, it’s no surprise that the majority of website traffic comes from ecommerce websites. With that in mind, if you’re an online business, mastering the fundamentals of ecommerce marketing is key to standing out in a digital crowd. From creating compelling product descriptions, to optimising your website for search engines, there are numerous ecommerce marketing tactics that can help boost your online sales. In this blog, we highlight the essential fundamentals of ecommerce marketing. Whether you’re just starting out, or looking to revamp your existing strategies, these core fundamentals can help take your ecommerce business to new heights. Understanding the ecommerce market Before you begin implementing any ecommerce marketing tactics, the first thing you need to do is get a true understanding of the ecommerce market. You need to ensure you have a clear grasp of the market landscape including, trends, competition and consumer behaviour. This will allow you to tailor your ecommerce marketing strategy to effectively reach your target audience. In order to expand and bring in a high-volume of customers to your business, you should consider conducting marketing research as well as staying up-to-date on industry news as this kind of insight will help towards making informed business decisions. It’s also important to understand the unique challenges and opportunities within the ecommerce market as it will allow your business to adapt and innovate and stay ahead in the constantly evolving digital landscape. By laying down these foundations and spending the time to really understand the ecommerce market, you can position yourself on the route to success and growth in a competitive online marketplace. Ecommerce marketing fundamentals The place in which your business lies is where you should be advertising, which is why you need to devise a digital marketing strategy. Ecommerce marketing is all about increasing awareness of your products or services and effectively reaching your target audience to increase your conversions and boost brand awareness. There are many ecommerce marketing tactics you can utilise to promote your business such as pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, influencer and affiliate marketing, and video marketing to name a few. However, there are a few key fundamental digital marketing strategies every business should be implementing. Search engine optimisation (SEO) SEO plays a crucial role in driving traffic to your online store. By optimising your website and product pages for search engines like Google, you can improve your organic visibility in search results and attract more potential customers. Some key SEO strategies include conducting keyword research and targeting relevant search terms, optimising your products descriptions and meta data with those target keywords, creating high quality content to attract high quality backlinks, and ensuring your website is mobile-friendly to improve user experience (UX). Implementing SEO into your ecommerce marketing strategy helps put you right in front of your customers and can not only improve your online presence, but also result in higher conversion rates and increased return on investment (ROI). Content marketing Content marketing involves creating original content in the form of blogs, videos, articles and your product descriptions. The aim is to engage and convert your visitors into customers. In order to do this, you need to address their needs and problems, and encourage them to purchase what you’re providing as a solution.  You also need to prove that you are a reliable brand and establish yourself as an industry leader and you can do this through your content. Your content will work in tandem with your SEO strategy as you’ll need to optimise your content with your target keywords to help increase your visibility. By creating high quality content that is relevant and engaging for your audience, you can effectively promote your products or services which will help to increase sales and ultimately, build long lasting relationships with your customers. Email marketing An important aspect of an ecommerce marketing strategy is email marketing. When you leverage the power of email, you can engage with your customers on a more personal level, build brand loyalty and drive sales. To make the most of your email marketing efforts, it’s essential to segment your audience list based on customer behaviour and preferences, and personalise your email content to make them much more relevant and engaging. You also need to make sure your emails are optimised for mobile devices and you test them on different email clients as they will display differently on each client. In order to analyse your performance, you should monitor key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions as this will help you refine your email marketing strategy over time for maximum effectiveness. Social media marketing Social media marketing is a crucial component to any ecommerce marketing strategy. Leveraging popular social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) can help you reach a wider audience and engage with potential customers in a much more personalised way. Creating compelling content and including engaging images and videos can capture your audience's eye and help drive traffic to your online store. If you have a specific audience you’d like to reach, you could run a series of targeted ads and ensure your posts are shown to certain demographics. Social media is a great opportunity to interact with your audience so be sure to do this regularly as this will help improve customer loyalty. As with all your digital marketing efforts, it’s important to regularly analyse your social media performance and monitor key metrics such as post likes, engagement and reach so you can understand what’s working well and what isn’t. This will allow you to make adjustments and optimise your social media strategy where necessary. Speak to us for help with your ecommerce marketing Without a doubt, ecommerce is a booming industry. All around the world, it’s forever growing faster than ever before. If you’re a retail business, and you’re not already online, you should consider the move to the digital world today and with the above ecommerce marketing fundamentals, you can be sure to propel your online business very quickly. If you’re an already established ecommerce business and you’d like expert help with your ecommerce marketing efforts, get in touch with us today. Our digital marketing experts will work closely with you to understand your goals and objectives and devise a killer ecommerce marketing strategy that will take your online business to new heights. #### What Are The Main Differences Between B2B & B2C Marketing? When you're creating a marketing campaign, one of the early decisions that should be made is whether it's going to be for Business-to-Business or Business-to-Consumer. These two different markets are often known as B2B and B2C and require different approaches to be able to successfully convert. What is B2B & B2C? Firstly, if you aren't sure, Business-to-Business is simply when a company is offering a product or service to another company, for example, Fifteen are a B2B company as we offer services to other companies. Business-to-Consumer are the brands you will often see on the high-street or online, those who are selling a product or service directly to a single user. For example, Nike is a company that are selling sportswear directly to an end user. What Are The Differences Between Marketing For B2B & B2C? How To Talk About The Product or Service When marketing a product or service to another business, they will want to know the logic and further details about what you're offering. The tone of voice will be more professional and direct. Consumers tend to prefer knowing the end benefits of the product or service and are less bothered about knowing the heavy details on the process and technical terms. They want to be excited through simple, shareable and humorous adverts, which is expressed through tone of voice and great on-brand imagery. The Decision-Making Process When a business is making a purchase, the decision-making process is much more thorough. It is likely that the decision will be discussed and passed through a whole team of staff before they decide whether to make the purchase or not. This means that when you're marketing to them, you need to find a way of convincing all these different members. This could be done by advertising to a variety of audiences that will cover the different job titles. Consumers have a whole different decision-making process. First of all, they are most likely to be making the decision alone, or potentially influenced by a couple of others that they may ask the opinion of. To speed up a consumer's decision-making process, if they have initially interacted with an advert of yours, you will then be able to remarket to them by reminding them with a different advert that could be tailored to what they were previously looking at. You will see this a lot with fashion brands. When you've browsed through some items on their website, it won't be long until you see an advert reminding you about the products that you were looking at. The Relationship Due to the decision-making process, you're going to also build different relationships with the end users. With B2B, you're going to be building a relationship that may be long-term, as your product may require maintenance or your service requires regular communication between the two businesses. This means that your marketing should make them feel at ease, and believe that they will have a good process with you. Those who interact with a B2C company will usually have an on-off relationship, they will receive their product or service, some may then advocate and some may only go there as a one off. The best way to look at these types of customer relationships is by reading up on the loyalty loop. What Marketing Platforms You Should Use B2B's and B2C's should be using different social media platforms to communicate, as different platforms have different types of users. For B2B's, I would recommend using LinkedIn and potentially also Facebook. At this point, LinkedIn would be best, as it is the least saturated, making content created more visible. The platform is also primarily those who are interested or are already in a business, also many businesses have their own company page. LinkedIn also has detailed targeted when creating adverts, you are able to target people in specific job roles, industries and more. For B2C's, I would recommend using Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. You're more likely to find consumers on these platforms, and consumers also want to see things more visually. Instagram and Pinterest are highly visual, and you can inspire the consumer through imagery that may feature your product or the outcome of your service. Twitter is great to be using as a customer service platform, where consumers can get in contact with the business quickly and usually get a response quickly. Facebook allows really detailed targeting and enables you to easily remarket to those who do end up buying or getting close to buying from your business. Want some help in improving your digital marketing strategy?  [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/digital-marketing-strategy/"]See What We Can Do For You Here[/fifteen_button] #### What are the stages of website development? Every website goes through a creation process known as the development cycle. This cycle typically consists of six key steps and following them in order helps keep the development of your website simple. The website development process is more than just design and build, it’s a structured process of developing a website that helps reduce risk, avoid costly rework, and improve outcomes like usability, performance, and conversions. When businesses understand the full site development process, it becomes much easier to plan budgets, timelines, and internal responsibilities - like providing content, approvals, and assets - without the project stalling. The six stages below form a practical website development procedure that keeps things moving in the right order - from early research through to launch and ongoing improvement. Step 1: Information gathering The first stage of the website development process is information gathering. The main goal of this phase is to understand what kind of site you’re trying to create. This will involve gathering information that will help you determine how your site should look and function. Some ways this can be done include: Researching your industry, competitors, and current trends in web design to understand what works Establishing your brand identity through your logo, colour scheme, and tone of voice Defining content requirements for each page and sections of your website Reviewing performance data to understand what’s working, what’s underperforming, and where users drop off if you have an existing site This stage is also the best time to get clear on what ‘success’ looks like for you. Are you aiming for more enquiries, online sales, bookings, downloads, or simply better brand credibility? Defining these goals early makes the rest of the process for website development far more focused, because it shapes decisions around navigation, page content, and key calls-to-action (CTA). Step 2: Planning Once you have an idea on your goals, it’s time to enter the formal planning phase. Planning involves creating a more structured and specific outline for your site. One way to plan your website is by creating a visual map or diagram called a sitemap. A sitemap can be used to show how pages relate and connect to your site. It may also help you identify any gaps in content that need filling to create a cohesive experience for users. A wireframe is another document that can help guide planning efforts by visually depicting what elements will appear on each page of your site. This helps you to determine what text needs writing, where images need inserting, and other finer details. This means that everyone involved in developing the site has an idea about what content they need before construction can begin. A strong plan also considers how users will move between pages, not just what pages exist. That might include mapping out key journeys such as: Browse > service page > enquiry Browse > product page > checkout This is also the ideal point in the website development process to think about SEO foundations, including which pages target which search intent, what content needs improving or creating, and whether any redirects will be required. Step 3: Design Design is the third stage of the website development process, where designers create the look and feel of your website. Designers work hand-in-hand with developers to ensure that everything works seamlessly together. It includes things like page layout, graphics, and fonts used in your content. The design elements of your site are useful for far more than aesthetic purposes. When composed properly, designs should guide your users through the site in an intuitive way. Try to zoom out and think from the perspective of a user seeing your site for the first time. To make the design genuinely effective, it should be shaped by how people behave online today. That means designing with mobile-first layouts in mind, keeping key information easy to scan, and ensuring CTAs are visible without being intrusive. Accessibility should also be part of this stage of the site development process. Things like readable font sizes, colour contrast, button spacing, and keyboard-friendly navigation all contribute to a better user experience - as well as supporting SEO too. Step 4: Development The fourth stage of the website development procedure is development - the process of actually creating the website and its content. Some elements of this phase, such as content writing and image gathering, can begin during the earlier phases to speed up development. This phase also includes coding, where the actual website itself is created. Static page elements created in the design phase can then be integrated with interactive elements or special features also added. Many businesses choose to use a content management system (CMS) to make this stage of development easier. This is also where technical decisions can have a big impact on performance and future scalability. Choosing the right CMS setup, implementing clean code, optimising images, and ensuring the site loads quickly all contribute to better user experience and stronger search visibility. This particular process of developing a website is also the ideal stage to implement tracking properly - for example Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google Tag Manager (GTM), and conversion events - so you can measure what matters from day one. Step 5: Testing and delivery Once you’ve completed the build of your site, it’s time to make sure the functionality meets your requirements. Testing is a routine and methodical process where every element of your website is checked. This includes testing page links, spell checking, and using code validators to ensure your code meets current web standards. Beyond basic link checks and code validation, real-world tests should be conducted before launch too. This will often include: Testing every form submits correctly Checking that confirmation messages are clear Confirming enquiries land in the right email inbox Ensuring conversion events fire as expected in GTM Checking your site across different browsers (e.g. Chrome, Safari, and Edge) Making sure your site is responsive across different devices (e.g. desktop, mobile, and tablet) This stage of the process of website development is also where SEO checks should be completed, such as reviewing indexability, confirming redirects (if relevant), and ensuring page titles and metadata are in place. Once you’ve rigorously tested your website, it’s time to upload it to a server and launch. This is usually done by using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) software. It’s also important to give files one final test after they’ve deployed to make sure they have transferred properly. Step 6: Maintenance Maintenance is essential for the life of your website. It’s a continuous process that allows you to complete regular bug fixes to keep everything secure and running smoothly. It also gives you the option to add new features and performance improvements too which helps the long-term growth of your site. This might simply include small iterative changes such as refining page content, improving navigation, adding new landing pages, or strengthening conversion paths based on real user behaviour. Listening to user feedback can help you with these changes, but it’s important to address any issues quickly so your visitors don’t find an alternative site they prefer. This is ultimately why many businesses treat the website development process as cyclical rather than a one-off project. Launch gives you a strong foundation, and ongoing updates help keep your site competitive, secure, and aligned with changing customer needs. Talk to us about your web development project If you’re about to embark on a new website build or redesign, it helps to work with a team that understands the full process of developing a website - from early planning through to launch and ongoing optimisation. At Fifteen, our specialist web development team delivers websites that aren’t just visually strong, but built to perform, convert, and scale with your business. If you’d like professional support navigating the website development process, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today and we’ll talk through your goals, timelines, and next steps. #### What are Trust Signals and How Do They Help Businesses Thrive Any meeting about updating a website or creating a new site will always include a discussion about trust signals. In an increasingly competitive digital landscape, brands and businesses need to do everything they can to get ahead of their competition. Trust signals can often be the difference between a conversion and a click away, so don’t overlook these little signals.  If you’re scratching your head wondering what counts as a trust signal? Fear not. Here are some surefire trust signals that consciously and subconsciously build trust with your audience.  What are trust signals? Trust signals are logos, visuals, reviews and any other graphical assets that sit on your site. These signals reinforce your professionalism, service, and trust. Trust signals can also be subconscious markers. Website copy with no spelling errors, links to reputable sites, and high-quality imagery are a few examples.  Website security certificates This one goes without saying but having ‘HTTPS’ at the front of your URL is critical to trust. Without up-to-date SSL certificates, your website will come across as vulnerable to malware and viruses, and some search engines may even warn visitors that a site is unsafe before they click through. Reliable security is a must for any e-commerce sites as people will have to put in banking details.  Make sure you have up-to-date security; it’s a cornerstone of good website practice.  Awards and Accreditations Accreditations and awards are markers from the industry that your goods and services are sound. These are especially useful trust signals when working in B2B contexts. Customers will be familiar with the accreditations necessary and the testing required to win awards and accreditations. These simple logos placed on the homepage will help confirm your authority.  About Us This one seems a little odd to include but even with most businesses moving online people still like to see a human face. Creating a bespoke About Us page/section and telling your customers about who you are, what you do, and why you do it can help them connect with you and link a human connection to your brand. This trust can be built; through USPs such as experience, location, customer experience, and humble beginnings.  Partnerships and Brands We associate a lot of meaning with brands and logos. For example, if you work within the motor industry and you partner with BMW, adding their logo or name to your partner’s list will show that you are a brand that works with tried and trusted names. A few logos add immeasurable value to your brand identity and shows off the level of your work. Create a section on your site for partners or projects; near the footer is often a great place to highlight these connections. You can also double up on the SEO value by creating case studies and linking them to trusted brands and partners. Who knows, one day someone may use your brand to build trust. Reviews Customer feedback is another great way to show transparency and customer experience. Adding widgets to review sites, social media, or even adding a quotes section can help prospective customers decide on whether or not to complete a transaction with you. It’s important to remember that if you use reviews, you should respond to them timeously and professionally. A lot of people put stock in how you react to criticism and praise. Social Media Presence A social media presence is another part of the digital landscape and, one people often look at before making a decision. Whether you are a hairdresser, a construction company, or a law firm, there are social media platforms designed to help you reach your audience. Keep on top of your social media or hire a specialist to do so and, you’ll see users flock to your site.  Images and Content Last, but not least is the quality of your content. Make sure your copy is interesting, helpful, and free of errors. You should also make sure that they are easy to understand and only link to internal pages or reputable external pages. Spelling errors, subconsciously, make users think your site is less professional and if you can overlook a spelling error, what’s to say you won’t make an error on an order or a project?  High-quality, bespoke images speak a thousand words. Photo of your teams onsite, the products you make or any other proof can convince a user that you are who you say you are. Avoid generic and low-quality images, and also try to stick to a similar a syle. Continuity and quality are paramount.  At Fifteen, we have spent years mastering the mystical arts of SEO and can help you reach new heights. Whether you want more bookings, sales, or even just visibility, we can assist you with market-leading expertise. Contact us today to find out more.  #### What Design School Doesn't Teach You What you don't learn in design school When you graduate university you would assume that you would know everything there is to know about the essential software you’ll be using when working in the design industry, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought too. Now then, I’m not saying I left university clueless about the software but within the first 2 months working at Fifteen, I have gained more of an understanding of the software, than I did in the three years I was at university. Having said that, I’m not talking about the ABCs of the software, considering it’s fair to say we all know how to use the pen tool, right? I remember at the beginning of university when we would have a weekly two-hour slot in which we would all try and squeeze into a tiny mac room to at least try and familiarise ourselves with the basics of photoshop and illustrator. However, in my third year of university, this wasn’t the case. We were expected to know everything about the software at this stage and ‘just get on with it’. Nevertheless, you’re probably thinking why I didn’t put in more time and effort to learn the software in my own time? Well, the reality is, I did. I would watch tutorial after tutorial to gain an understanding of the software. Granted, this taught me the essential skills I needed to navigate through the software, but it didn’t teach me the most important skills when it came to looking out for the errors in my artwork, especially when it came to typography. To begin, we all know what Kerning, Leading, Tracking, Widows, Orphans, Rags and Rivers are right? Well, if you are a typography guru, you might be more familiar with these terms. But, for others who aren’t, let’s break it down. Kerning What is Kerning? Kerning is the spacing between characters. Now then, this might sound like something everyone should know (which they should without a doubt) but in university, they do not teach you this. Well, at my university they didn’t. For example, when you are designing a brochure and it has a huge amount of text, depending on the typeface you use, at times the copy can start to look a bit pressed together and this can become challenging for the user to read. Additionally, If you want to learn more about Kerning, this website type.method.ac lets you practice kerning and it even scores you on your ability to kern! Tracking What is Tracking? Tracking is the spacing between groups of letters Similar to kerning, but instead of looking at the spacing between each individual letter here we look at the spacing between each word. The same rules apply for this method as they do for kerning but, again it all depends on what typeface you are using. Nevertheless, this is something you should take note of if you are ever working with typography. Leading What is Leading? Leading is the spacing between each line of text. This method is one of the most important rules when it comes to typography. For example, when you have a large amount of body text, the lines in a paragraph can start to merge together. Manually reducing or increasing the leading will almost always improve the design to make everything work well together. Widows What are Widows? Widows are a lonely ending line at the end of a paragraph or column and left dangling and separated from the rest of the paragraph. This is considered poor use of typography and never looks great in huge amounts of body text. There is usually too much white space between paragraphs. Which will often confuse the user's readability when there is a lot of text. Remembering this issue and resolving it as soon as possible will defiantly help when it comes to proofreading future projects. Orphans What are Orphans? Orphans are a lonely word separated from the rest of the paragraph. Very similar to a widow but instead this rule applies when a single word appears at the end of a paragraph or when the word appears alone at the top of the column or page. Learning this rule and knowing exactly what to look out for will defiantly help you improve as a designer. Rags What are Rags? Rags are uneven vertical margins of a block of type. You can have a bad rag and a good rag. A good rag goes in and out from line to line and bad rag doesn’t. Sometimes breaking up the sentences is always a better option than relying on your software application which may generate a bad rag. Rivers What are Rivers? Rivers are gaps that run through the white areas of a paragraph. Now, if you have made it this far you were probably unaware of most of these terms and may have a better understanding of what they are now. Having said that, let's dive right into rivers… Rivers (or rivers of white) are the lines formed in between the gaps of the text in a paragraph. This is most commonly created when the ‘justify tool’ is applied to a body of text. For example, when the alignment of the spaces between each word on each line conflict with each other creating what looks like a ‘river’ running between the body of text. Conclusion So, how would you fix all these issues you ask? For widows and orphans, some techniques you may use to avoid or fix them would be by forcing an early page break, this can be accomplished by adjusting the kerning and/or tracking to produce tighter or looser paragraphs. You could even adjust the hyphenation of words within a paragraph, this always helps too. Additionally, rivers and rags can be avoided or fixed by also adjusting the hyphenation and the justification settings on your text. If you don’t already you will probably want to avoid using the 'justified' type tool as much as you can. Right now, you’re probably thinking how on earth you are going to remember all these issues that can occur when using typography? Don’t worry, it comes with practice. However, once you are familiar with each issue and how you can resolve them, you should correct them as soon as you can, especially if you don’t want other designers judging you (don’t worry I won’t, promise!). With all that said, remember that typography doesn’t just consist of selecting a typeface, choosing a font size and whether it should be in regular or bold! If you need help with your typography in your designs, don't hesitate to contact our team of design experts. #### What does AI in web design mean for designers and developers? Technology is evolving at pace and artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a key trend in web design and web development. If you work in either of these industries, you may have questions around AI in web design. One key concern that is often highlighted is that AI and machine learning (ML) might threaten the future of these two professions. So, as AI is reshaping the way we approach design and development, and with two key agency career roles potentially at stake, we’re asking; is there room in the future of agencies for web designers and web developers, and are web designers becoming obsolete? In this blog, we explore AI web design in more detail and the role it plays in these industries. While there is no stopping the growth of AI, we look at how the fear may not need to be as grave as you might think.  What is artificial intelligence web design? Daily life is now heavily reliant on technology, and our smart devices are the primary example of this. This kind of technology is created by humans, but now we fear it may take over from its creators and replace the very programmers and developers who created it. Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) combines AI and ML to create high-quality websites with next to no human involvement. Whilst this sounds intimidating for web designers, there is plenty of reason to be excited about this technology rather than fearful of it. Let’s look at it as of right now in 2025. AI in web design can be used to unpick a client's brief, to enhance the creative concepts, and expose web design to new lanes in thinking, as well as: Interacting directly with project decision makers Experience of web design trends and audience reactions Ability to think outside the box Collaboration with other developers and people involved in website creation Surely there’s only positives to see in this, right? It just goes to show that AI in web design can help provide better results all around. What role does AI and ML play in traditional web development? Web development works alongside AI without threatening the careers of web developers. For example, human beings will do the thinking and creative planning for a project, then AI can work on the automation to help reduce the amount of time and effort it takes to make the vision a reality. It also helps with faster code delivery, meaning quicker project delivery, and a win-win for both agency and client. This highlights that the power of AI and ML only enhances the capabilities of a web developer - man and machine work together to ensure higher-quality websites and better user experience (UX) across the board. What are the advantages of artificial intelligence website design and development? With the assistance of AI, you can refine client experiences like never before. Here are just some of the advantages you will experience by incorporating AI into your work: 1. Simplified coding with self-learning tools Imagine the power to create codes that correct themselves if any errors are detected. AI can do this with algorithms that analyse code and identify areas for improvement. It can even make those changes automatically without you having to review everything. An advantage that any web developer would appreciate. 2. Outstanding UX UX is everything in the creation of any website. To keep users on a site and encourage them to continue browsing and engage, they need to be enticed with exciting user interfaces and interactions. Customer retention rates are higher with better UX. AI offers a range of tools and resources to provide better user experiences. Things like chatbots and predictive product recommendations are already very prominent in modern web design, and there is much more at your disposal thanks to AI. 3. Accurate market predictions AI really comes into its own in the worlds of sales and digital marketing. Its predictive capabilities supply you with the nuances that are most effective for your end-users, like: Understanding what they really want Identifying where they spend the most time Learning problem areas of your website that need attention Getting ahead of the hottest trends Gauging how well you are engaging users The website user analysis ability of AI is incredibly useful for website designers, if not the current most important use of AI. The ability to assess a huge number of visitor patterns and habits can only enhance what the web designer themselves can deliver from a UX perspective.  Better user experience with the assistance of AI, could mean more sales for a client. More sales for a client, means more marketing budget and more agency spend. If this happens across the board then both businesses and agencies will only thrive.  4. Optimised web development No matter how great your website is or how well the UX is designed, it all amounts to nothing if users don’t find your website. Visibility is crucial, and AI can offer outstanding optimisation to ensure you are found. SEO tools benefit from huge data sets to discover the right words and phrases to attract targeted traffic who can discover your website organically. Want to achieve better results with your website? It’s clear to see that AI will not make web designers or developers obsolete. Rather, it will empower them to do their job better and create higher-quality products for clients and end-users. Designers and developers should embrace AI and learn to use its tools, as understanding the technology and how to best use and brief AI is the key to the success of the end result. At Fifteen, we offer website design services that can help transform the look and feel of your website so you can achieve higher conversion rates. If you’re ready to achieve better results for your site, don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss your project in more detail and to learn what we can offer you. #### What does it take to be an Amazing Project Manager? A career in project management is a rewarding and challenging one. It’s an exciting career and a growing market within the world. Project Management is something that is required within multiple industries from engineering through to the digital agency, while not everyone can be a good project manager, many roles within project management will suit the majority of people. What is a project manager? A project manager is someone who liaises between the client and the work-force, communicating between both parties and seeing a project through from start to finish. They are responsible for the day-to-day management of the projects that they run, managing the scope, schedule, budget, quality and resources. What skills and traits do I need? Most skills someone would have to be a great project manager are transferable, so it’s something that even if you aren’t looking for a career in project management, you should look to gain and have, as it will allow you to become indispensable within your place of work. Someone interested in becoming a project manager should; Have a keen eye for detail - part of being a PM means that you are the eyes of the client within your organisation, you always need to have them in mind when you are looking and managing the work that is coming out of this studio, and this means having a keen eye for detail - looking for potential changes or errors within the work that the client would spot and let you know about. Be organised - it’s so important to be organised as a project manager, you manage multiple projects with multiple deadlines and if you aren’t then you can easily lose track of everything! I’m the messiest person at home, and my desk isn’t much better to go by in the office, but I know where all my projects are if someone asks and I can give people updates when they ask for one without fail. Being flexible and a team player - It’s so important to work with a team, and be flexible to your work schedule, you might have 1001 things to do, but if a team member needs something from you to allow them to carry on with their work then you need to try and find a way to make that happen as it could cause a delay with the project and then this has a knock-on effect to the overall invoices for the month. Be the person that people ask for and turn to for help and assistance. Being calm under pressure - easier said than done, but you need to try and remain calm at all times, there is a popular term called ‘swanning’ and this is essentially looking calm and composed on the surface, but paddling like mad below the water. You have to perfect your poker face, and seem like you are calm all the time, as this will radiate to the rest of the team and they know that they’ve got this! Being proactive - sometimes when you get busy, being proactive is difficult, but we try and plan projects in as much detail as possible passing on information to the client as we can to prompt them for the biggest cause for project delays - content. Trying to stay ahead of the curve, is important across all your projects, so you always have to try and be a step ahead of everyone. Focused on the end goal - each project that you manage will have an end goal, whether this be the sign-off for a new brand or the launch of a new website, the goal is the most important thing within a project and it’s your responsibility to make sure that the team are all moving in the same direction towards that end goal. Always learning - each project presents its own set of challenges, the benefit of this is that you are always learning and evolving the way that you manage projects getting better and better over time. After doing this for the last 6 or 7 years I’ve learnt something new on every project I’ve managed about how to do something differently next time or to implement a new stage or process within all projects across the studio, and you must have this mindset too. Create connections - creating connections between the team and your client is vital to being a good project manager, you have to be a people person and be able to communicate with a whole host of people. You have to be the one to deliver good and bad news to clients and team members, so knowing how to speak to them is key. You are the glue that keeps the project together and you also need to work with the team to get the best out of every member to achieve the common goal at the end. Offer your expert opinion - after being involved with multiple projects across different sectors and industries, you will find that you pick up ideas and thoughts about what could work for other projects across the board. It’s important that you learn to voice your thoughts and opinions when working with the team but also important to remember that the team you work with will be putting their expert opinions into the work they do as well. Be enthusiastic and keen - no matter the project and no matter the client you need to be as enthusiastic for each project as you are the last, and you need to try and keep up this enthusiasm through the course of the project too, people can smell it when you start to lose interest in a project, and it’s important to keep this enthusiasm for the team as well. Why become a project manager? As a career path, project management is exciting, varied and rewarding. It doesn’t come without its challenges, but you will learn something every day you are a project manager, which allows you to hone and grow your skills in the industry. Being a project manager allows you to develop many transferable skills, which you can move onto put into most job roles, but there is always an end goal and a reward of accomplishment at the end of it. What jobs are available for me? There is a multitude of jobs available within the world of project management, it depends on the industry that you want to work in, but in essence, they all include the same core basics for the job roles available. For this blog, I’m writing about the roles within the world of a digital agency, and giving you some top tips on how you can progress to the next level within your company; Project Management Apprentice Project Coordinator Project Manager Senior Project Manager Head of Project Management / Operations Manager Director of Projects How do I become a project manager? There are many routes into becoming a project manager, there are loads of entry-level jobs around like project coordinators or apprenticeships to help kick start your career as a PM. Starting off as an apprentice project manager will allow you to start your career within the industry, getting paid while you learn to do the job, you’ll be expected to do college work and courses throughout your time with the company, with the hope that after you’ve completed the apprenticeship you are hired with that company as a full-time employee, you’ll have gained a heap of real work experience in the process and already know your stuff! You could also go to university and do a project management degree, this would teach you the theory behind all the different project management techniques, and give you a solid and round knowledge of what project management is, and how to manage projects in a textbook approach. Off the back of graduating you would look to get a job as a project coordinator or project manager within a company and continue to learn in the real world. You could do some professional project management qualifications too, there are loads out there such as Prince2 or APM Project Management Fundamentals, these all teach you the theory and the basics of what project management is about and the methodologies allowing you to go and get the job that you want. For me, I started as a Marketing exec within a company and was tasked with building that company's new website. I hired a digital agency to work with and managed the project from the client-side, learning as I went and fell in love with it. So I moved to become an account manager, and then project manager and have developed my skills from there. I’ve not had any formal training, but have a flair and skill for the role, and I love what I do, so there is the luck of the draw route in too! Top Tips After working as a PM in various capacities over the last 7 years, here are my top tips for those of you reading this thinking that you want to become a project manager; Take the rough with the smooth, some projects fly through while others don’t and there are constant roadblocks - always focus on the positives of your job as a whole and try and not focus on the few frustrating projects. If you make a mistake (because we are all human) make sure you hold your hands up. This is so important and just learn your lesson for the next project you run. Every project and client is different, you’ll need to adapt and change your PM skills to suit the needs of that project and client to get the best results. Always stick to the process, the process was created for a reason, try and stick the process and guide others into sticking to the process too. It works and will help you deliver successful projects constantly. Learn when to say no, being a project manager means people always assume your a yes person, it’s important to learn when to say no to both clients and team members. Learn and thrive with every project you work on, and every person you work with. The team here at Fifteen are the best I’ve ever worked with, and I learn from the team constantly. At Fifteen we are lucky to have an incredible project management team. From full website builds to stationery requests and digital copywriting to website optimisation we offer a complete marketing solution all under one roof. Contact us now to find out how we can help you with your next campaign. #### What Donald Trump can teach us about PR Ask anyone in your close vicinity what a "Donald Trump" is and you'll receive a range of emotions. Usually with enough anger worthy of an electroencephalogram graph. The web is that volatile that only extremes appear to prevail. Which is why Trumps digital PR works so well. Going viral or virality is also one of the many detriments in any digital campaign. It’s something that Donald Trump seems to be able to whip up in an astonishment. It appears akin to black magic. But there is a science behind this or as far as scientific methods go when it comes to marketing. In the book Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising the former American Apparel guru Ryan Holiday writes: “Jonah Berger, a social scientist well-known for his studies of virality, explains that publicness is one of the most crucial factors in driving something’s spread. As he writes in his book Contagious, ‘Making things more observable makes them easier to imitate, which makes them more likely to become popular’” This core principle is at the heart of a successful PR campaign. Your company needs to be able to communicate with the public. This is something increasingly difficult with the aforementioned chaotic nature of communication in the digital age. It is also one of the key factors for Donald Trump’s success. Trump needs a true spotlight not on his vitriol but on the tools that he uses to communicate. Whether you use them or not – it’s worth being made aware of the weapons at yours and his disposal. Say Hello to John Miller It's common knowledge that before he was POTUS - Trump would often call up journalists pretending to be a publicist. He would use pseudonyms, answering the phone as John Miller. He would become the sole source for many stories including affairs, break-ups and business deals. This is in essence what Donald Trump still does, albeit without John Miller - the only person Donald Trump ever regretted firing. @realdonaldtrump is the black monolith from 2001 Space Odyssey. It exists as a cosmic knowledge-expanding feed for his chosen audience, for which, a lot of the time, he is the sole source. Or the information he shares is only positive for himself. Whether this information is actually factual doesn't matter. The trustworthiness of the information is important. Because Donald Trump knows his own audience, but he also knows his adversaries. This is key to his sensationalist personality. He's able to grab the attention of everyone on the political spectrum. The fact that you talk about him, and that I write this blog, shows how successful his PR has become. Those opposed to his view can't stop talking about him – often not even on his policies, but on an ideological level. Some might call this a disaster but others would pay millions of dollars for this type of exposure. To be able to cast a wide net and always get a catch when it comes to engagement. It seems Donald Trump takes his inspiration from Oscar Wilde: "There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." Smoke and Mirrors: The Art of Distraction .@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017 Donald Trump has got the practice of creating chaos down to a fine art. He knows how to spin negative press around. To make it focus on something else entirely. Just look at how he was able to turn the phrase "Fake News" into his own vocabulary. There's something similar going on across the globe when it comes political strategy. The BBC documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis compares this to a phrase called “Non-linear warfare”. This was developed by Vladislav Surkov, an advisor to Vladmir Putin. It's a tool for publishing conflicting information to confuse or manipulate people into a frantic fury so no-one knows what's real. Adam Curtis goes into visual detail of the conflicting information that Trump curates which can be seen in this clip (contains strong language) It's a process akin to a form of psychological warfare. What can we as marketers and PR specialists learn from this?Distraction is probably the wrong term. But, your business will want to take negative press on the chin. Think of ways to counteract negative engagement. It's always best to plan ahead. So, make a plan for when that time might arise. This could be in the form of a special offer, discounts or early product launch. Unless you’re running for office don't mix your messages. Make sure you follow a clear guideline that aligns towards your business. A bit of psychology is okay when it comes to tapping into a consumer’s mindset. But, I wouldn't recommend psychological warfare for moral and for ROI reasons. Marketing strategies and big data One of the most effective strategies that Donald Trump has perfected throughout his political career is consistency. There are many key issues that Trump has not shifted his views on and has repeated verbatim his delight or disgust. This lack of flip-flopping also resonates with the audience as it gives the appearance of being authentic. This is something you'll have to think about when it comes to your PR campaign – what is your message and what do you have to contribute to the debate? Also, think about slogans. Trump has heavily marketed "Build a wall", "Make America Again" and this type of repetitive messaging not only showcases Trump ideology but he's managed to turn it into a profit. Despite the chaos, there was actually a statistical backing to Trumps electoral campaign. We've already met Cambridge Analytica in a previous blog, who created an extremely data-orientated remarketing campaign. This shows that, on the back of any great PR campaign, is a well thought out Digital Marketing strategy based on through audience insight. All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players When it comes to Trump's relationship with the public and press, he has broken every rule. But, all and all, he is a showman. And Donald Trump is not an anomaly. This showmanship is as old as time, and Trump has often been compared to the 19th-century American politician and fraudster P.T. Barnum. Some of the common traits they share is being "entrepreneurs" from an early age, engineering false information to entice audiences and, more relevantly, they are entertainers. Donald Trump, no matter what your persuasion, is entertainment. Something that news outlets latched onto quite quickly as a way to boost ratings. This is argued to actually how he got a elected so may have been an unintentional consequence. But, it takes you into the mindset of the political campaign. Imagining the output of your campaigns like TV ratings instead of polls or conversions. Donald Trump didn't care about guaranteed votes. He wants as many eyeballs watching and following him as he knew the age-old phrase: "There is no such thing as bad publicity" A classic line from P.T. Barnum. #### What Fifteen years around Nottingham as a website design agency has meant to Fifteen So, yes its true, we’ve been around a little.  Well nearly 16 years now to be exact and we’ve managed to work with some fantastic businesses in Nottingham, large, medium and small to deliver some great marketing solutions, not to mention great websites.  We’ve made a lot of friends, we’ve worked for a lot of businesses, large and small, old and new. Now, that’s not to say this is exclusively where our website design and marketing clients are of course. Not at all.  We’re lucky enough to have had clients all over the UK and now with offices in Cambridge and London we are taking on more work than ever nationally and internationally. But in Nottingham Fifteen have been creating brands and designing websites for many years. OK, so this is where I, Creative Director Ollie, name drop (no shame) some of the fantastic Nottingham brands that we have had the pleasure of working with over the years. Boots Plc was an early client of Fifteen where we got involved of a lot of their internal marketing to staff.  Certainly when you are a business of that sort of scale, you need to market your business to your employees as well as your potential customers. The Nottingham High School is a client we worked very closely with for years designing the majority of their printed literature.  What a delight it was to be involved in art directing the photoshoots in such a prestigious building. We were all very excited to be approached by The Nottingham Arena.  What a great brand to be associated with and what a great asset to the city of Nottingham Itself. We were lucky enough to work on some of the marketing for The Corner house.  The complex itself has a such a lot to offer and as a brand that delivers entertainment to us Nottingham folk, was certainly an exciting one to work on. So, I’ve mentioned here some of the larger businesses in Nottingham, and don’t get me wrong as a designer and as an agency its awesome to see billboards all over Nottingham that we’ve designed.  More often than not though, the smaller and medium sized businesses can be as, if not more rewarding for an agency. David James Estate Agents is a fast-moving Nottingham brand that not only we have had the pleasure in working with for many years now, but as an agency we’re lucky enough to work with them to develop their entire brand and marketing strategy.  There’s work in the studio as we speak so look out for that coming your way soon. The Trinity School.  Well this one is very close to my heart.  Imagine this… I loved my time at school, a lot more than my own children tell me they do. I was absolutely flattered when my former school awarded fifteen with the contract to design and develop their new school website. Firstly, I think I’ve had the ambition to do that for almost 20 years, and secondly what an honour. Genuinely, Thank you guys. RSPCA Nottingham.  With many pet lovers in the office we couldn’t possibly turn down this website project. With a vision like this… “The animals of Nottinghamshire shall lead happy and healthy lives, be treated with kindness and dignity, and remain free from cruelty and neglect” How could we say no. It’s this wonderful mix of clients, of clients specialisms and of inspirational people we work with that keeps us fresh and creative.  How does the saying go….”you become the average of the 3 people you hang around”. Well, we hand around these guys and many more exciting clients and are proud to have such great company. #### What is a content delivery network (CDN)? A content delivery network, or content distribution network (CDN) is an essential component of every modern website or programme. It essentially carries the content you see on your phone, tablet or laptop, whether it’s on a website, an app, videos or images, or any other kind of content. But what is a CDN and how can it benefit your business? In this blog post, we break down the ins and outs of CDNs to help give you a better understanding of their importance in optimising your website's performance. From faster page loading times to improved user experience, implementing a CDN can take your online presence to the next level.  What is a content delivery network (CDN)? A CDN boosts the speed, stability, and reliability of your website. It accomplishes this by getting online content closer to a user's current position. In other words, a content delivery network is a geographically dispersed network of servers and data centres that aid in the rapid delivery of web content to users. When a user requests content from a website or an app, the CDN serves that content from the server closest to the user's location, which improves loading speeds. This not only enhances user experience, but also helps websites handle high traffic loads without slowing down or crashing. For example, CDNs are particularly beneficial to large companies such as Netflix, Facebook and Instagram and Amazon to distribute their content to end-users. CDNs have been the invisible backbone of the internet for over two decades, providing web services for shopping, banking, healthcare, and other industries to end users all over the world at high speeds and size. Whether you realise it or not, you’ve almost certainly gained from a CDN when you’ve done almost anything online. What are the benefits of using a CDN server? Businesses that depend on selling content to consumers all over the world use CDNs and they reap the multiple benefits of using a content delivery network as we outline below: They can improve your website’s security Websites that often experience high volumes of traffic leave themselves vulnerable to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which can result in server failure and even server downtime. By using a content distribution network server, not only can they help with managing massive volumes of web traffic, but they can also defend against DDoS attacks by dispersing malicious requests across the network through techniques like HTTP load balancing which can help to deter and track attacks. CDNs can also provide new TLS/SSL certificates too which helps to keep websites authenticated, encrypted and most of all, trustworthy. They also ensure content is widely available to all consumers, as in the event a server goes offline, others can pick up the content requests made by the end-user. They help maximise bandwidth and latency One of the most significant advantages of using CDNs are bandwidth and latency reduction. The time it takes for web pages to load is referred to as latency. CDNs aid in reducing page load times and enhance the overall browsing experience by moving and holding website content closer to users. CDNs are a simple way to boost a website’s performance while still lowering latency. The spatial disparity between a web server and the end-user makes a significant difference in the consumer getting the content they are looking for. Therefore a content delivery network is critical for delivering information to consumers worldwide in a timely, effective, and safe manner. They assist with controlling access to various regions If your business has customers located around the world, you’ll need to be able to allow them access to your content. CDN servers can help with this as your tech teams can use a content distribution network to grant or deny access to your content for certain regions. This allows online businesses to strategically and effectively distribute their content across multiple servers located in different geographic areas. As well as this, it also helps to improve overall performance of a website and allows for better control over who can access the content based on their location. They prefetch content for faster delivery If your website contains static content such as images and media files, CDNs have the ability to prefetch this content, resulting in faster delivery for users. It can also prefetch some real time, dynamic content such as a WebSocket programme that is triggered by server events. For example, this might include live chats, in-app notifications or location tracking. However, for this to be successful there must be a solid integration between the content delivery network and the WebSocket programme. They’re not limited to just website content The beauty of CDNs is that they’re not limited to delivering just website content. They can deliver other content such as 4K and HD-quality video, audio streams, video games and operating system updates.  When consumers demand content whether it’s to buy, chat, learn or play, online businesses can face numerous problems. For example, this may include delivering various forms of content, adapting that content for different devices, and protecting their users data. With the intrinsic advantages of a content distribution network, CDN servers are best suited to help companies overcome these various obstacles. Is a content distribution network right for you? The value of a content distribution network has become undeniable as almost every company today relies on digital content to entice consumers. However, a CDN may not be the right option for you. Businesses that offer video streaming services, ecommerce products and online video games are just some of organisations that benefit the most from a CDN.  If your website is localised with minimal media content and you don’t offer content on a large scale basis (i.e. worldwide), the benefits of a CDN may not outweigh the cost and actually harm your user experience. You should consider your website's specific needs and goals to determine if implementing a CDN is the right choice for you. Speak to us today for more information As we’ve highlighted, a content delivery network can provide a plethora of benefits for businesses that need to serve content to a large user base in numerous locations. If you’re not sure whether a CDN is right for you, or you’d like more information, contact us today. Our web development specialists can work with you to understand your goals and objectives and provide expert advice to ensure your business thrives online. #### What is a CTA and why are they important? If you’re a digital marketer, chances are you’ve almost certainly heard of a call to action (CTA). A CTA is like a digital handshake that guides your website visitors towards taking a specific action, whether it’s signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or downloading a resource. In this blog, we’ll delve deeper into what CTAs are, why they’re essential for driving user engagement and conversions, and how you can create compelling CTAs that resonate with your audience and turn a dead-end webpage into a sale, a booking, or an all important phone call. What is a call to action? A call to action is a prompt on a website that encourages a user to take a specific action. Usually in the form of a hyperlink or a dynamic button, they often use phrases such as ‘Find Out More’, ‘Contact Us’ or ‘Buy Now’ for example. They aim to instil immediacy and action in a user after they have consumed your content, helping you to drive conversions and achieve your marketing goals.  This simple, yet effective feature is at the very bottom of the conversion funnel. By the point your audience reaches your CTA, you should have already supplied the user with all the information they need to make a decision. As such you’ll usually find CTAs at the end of a blog or next to a product listing, however it’s becoming increasingly common and beneficial to include CTAs throughout the whole of a webpage. What are some call to action examples? In their most basic form, CTAs are used as a lead generation device for sales. However, depending on your marketing goals, they can be used for a huge variety of other purposes. Here are six of the most common call to action examples you’ll find. Newsletter Sign Ups Newsletter sign ups are one of the most common call to action examples you’ll see on almost every website. It’s a CTA that can be included almost anywhere on your website, from your homepage, to your contact page, to your checkout process. A simple yet compelling way to encourage sign ups is to offer an incentive, such as a discount, as a reward for signing up. Another common approach is to create a sense of urgency by using phrases like “Join now for exclusive updates” or “Subscribe today and never miss out.” It’s also a good opportunity to emphasise the benefits of signing up to your newsletter, such as receiving exclusive content or being the first to know about sales, offers, and promotions. Form Submissions Forms submissions are a great way to engage with your users and gather valuable information about your audience. Encouraging visitors to fill out a form on your website can help you capture leads, gather feedback, or allow users to sign up for newsletters and promotions. If you want someone to fill out a form with their details, it’s important to ensure your forms are user-friendly, have clear instructions, and visible buttons. You should also include positive phrases like “Get started today” or “Get your free quote today” to further entice them to complete your form. Keeping the number of form fields to a minimum is a great way to reduce friction and increase your online form conversion rate.  Read More Space is often at a premium on a website so opting for truncated text on a webpage is a great way to increase your word count without taking up vital real estate on your site. You can add a “Read more” link or accordion button to allow your users to follow on and continue engaging with your content. A read more CTA is also a good way to invite your website visitors to delve deeper into the topic at hand and learn more information on a particular subject. Whether you direct your audience to related blogs or articles, your products, or more resources, a read more CTA entices the user to continue their journey on your website. This ultimately helps increase user engagement and time spent on your site. Social Sharing This is a CTA that is often underestimated but it’s a great way to increase visibility of your brand on social media. Social sharing CTAs often come in the form of an icon and have become a standard tactic for both users and business alike on particular channels. An effective call to action example for social sharing is to encourage users to share your message and tag their friends to increase exposure of your brand. This CTA works particularly well if you’re running a competition or promotion for example. You should use your social sharing CTAs as a friendly prompt to share your content as far and wide as possible to not only increase your visibility, but to also increase engagement. Free Trials Free trials can open the door to sales and are a fantastic way to entice potential customers to try out your product or service without any financial commitment. They also provide you with a pool of motivated users ready to take on your product or service - whether that’s for a subscription service or a software trial for example. By providing a taste of what you have to offer, you give customers the opportunity to experience the value of your offering firsthand. This can help build trust and credibility with your audience, increasing the likelihood of them converting into paying customers in the future. Free trials also allow customers to see how your product or service can benefit them, making it easier for them to make a purchasing decision. Event Registration Marketing an event online can be difficult without a means to figure out how many people are attending or interested. Tickets are certainly one way of figuring this out, however what if you want to host a free event like a webinar? This is where event registration CTAs shine. Usually displayed as a dynamic button or a form, these kinds of CTAs help convert interested parties to participate in your event, or at least gather data so you can follow up closer to the time of your event. Using enticing wording with your CTA such as “Don’t miss out - reserve your spot today!” conveys exclusivity and a sense of urgency to act quickly before spots fill up. If you’re hosting a ticketed event, you could include wording such as “Register now for early bird pricing”, which acts as an incentive for potential attendees to secure their spot at a discounted rate. Tips for creating a compelling CTA Here are some tips for creating a compelling CTA that are sure to grab the attention of your audience and drive them to carry out your desired action of your marketing campaign: Be clear and direct - you should clearly state what you want your audience to do, whether it’s to buy your product, sign up to your newsletter, or find out more information. Use action-oriented language - encourage immediate action with strong wording like “Shop Now”, “Subscribe Today”, or “Learn More.” Create a sense of urgency - consider adding time-sensitive wording to your CTA such as “Limited Time Offer” or “Act Now.” Make it visually appealing - the key to a truly powerful CTA is to make it visually standout and easy to spot with the use of contrasting colours, bold fonts, and dynamic buttons. Offer value - ensure your CTA offers some sort of value or benefit to clicking to further entice your users. Test and optimise - it’s vital to A/B test different CTAs to see what resonates best with your audience and continuously optimise based on the data. Get in touch for more expert advice As you can see, CTAs are the foundation of generating leads, encouraging engagement, and boosting conversions for any business. They can be used in a huge variety of different campaigns and by using the right wording and styling, you can create a captivating CTA that is guaranteed to get your audience clicking.  If you’d like more expert advice on how we can optimise your digital marketing campaigns, or you’re looking for a web design refresh, get in touch with us today. We can create stunning websites and captivating campaigns that are as good as they convert. Speak to our experts today to see how we can help take your brand to new heights. #### What is a good layout for web design? Web design layouts play a significant role in the effectiveness of a website. Understanding what makes a layout effective in web design is important for creating appealing web content for users to see, which is why we're going to explain two basic web design layouts that are commonly used across a wide range of websites. What is a good layout for web design? The most popular web design layouts are the grid-based layout and the F-Pattern layout. Below, we explain what grid-based and f-shaped web design layouts are and share their individual advantages to help you decide what web design layout works best for you. Grid based layout A grid-based layout is a web design layout that organises your web content within vertical or horizontal guidelines. Grid-based layouts typically feature margins and columns and purposeful spaces to create an organised and balanced look for the website. This is one of the most popular layouts for web design as a result of its simple-but-effective structure for organising web content. The advantages of a grid layout for web design Here are some of the main advantages of using a grid layout for web design: Accessibility and navigation for users Canva recognised the advantage of a grid-based design for ensuring user accessibility and navigation across a website. The grid layout organises your informational content in a structured way that makes it easy for users to identify pages and find what they're looking for whilst keeping the web page looking clean and professional. Efficient to make changes or additions The grid-based layout is also advantageous from a designer's point of view as the content is easy to change and move around. For example, if you need to update some of your content or add additional details to one of your sections, you can easily do this without needing to rearrange the website completely and start from scratch. Consistent layout is appealing The consistent, well-balanced design of a grid-based layout is very aesthetically appealing to users and gives your website a professional touch. Keeping your content layout consistent like this is advantageous for not overwhelming users who visit your site. F-Pattern reading layout The F-Pattern layout is traditionally characterised by fixating your headings and your content towards the top and the left side of your web page. This is purposeful to match the natural eye-scanning patterns that we use to read and view information. The advantages of an F-Pattern layout Here are some of the main advantages of using an F-Pattern layout in your web design: Matches eye-scanning patterns Instapage highlighted that the F-Pattern design helps your web design to establish a visual hierarchy as this layout matches our natural eye-scanning patterns (from left to right and from top to bottom). It's considered extremely effective for directing a user's attention and focus to key aspects of your content. Makes the content accessible for users Because the F-Pattern matches how we read information, this layout can help make content more accessible for users. Easy navigation of a website is key to boosting the user experience and can also improve its efficiency too. Increases user retention The fact that users can easily navigate an F-Pattern layout can make it simpler for them to retain key information. User retention is important for ensuring your content is understood and beneficial, whilst also increasing the chances of users returning to your website to review the same content or to look for similar, new content. How to choose between designs Choosing the right web design layout can be difficult, but it’s important to keep in mind the type of content you're planning to include on your web page to help make your decision. For example, if your web page is likely to feature a mixture of written content alongside visual content, such as videos or images, a grid-based layout may be the most effective for displaying this information. On the other hand, if your content is largely copy-based, the F-Pattern layout will be more beneficial as it can help users to read the content easily. If you would like to speak to one of our web design specialists about your website design and to explore your options, get in touch with us today! You can also take a look at what other web design services we offer here. #### What is a heat map and how can it help you? Website heatmaps are one of the most valuable ways to analyse how your audience are behaving on your website. With this information you’re able to make data-driven decisions about your website and your business to help convert more customers and more. But what exactly is a heat map and how can it help you and your business? Keep reading to find out more. What is a heat map? A heat map, or heat mapping, is a tool or piece of software used to analyse what your users are doing on your website. It gives you data on where they are clicking, how far they’re scrolling, what they’re looking at and equally, what they’re ignoring. The data is presented graphically and the values are portrayed in a series of colours. There are multiple different types of heat maps and it’s important to understand which one will work best for your website because each type helps you to investigate a slightly different aspect of your website's performance. The three most popular types of heat maps are: Click maps - this type of heat map shows where your customers are clicking the most on your website and is a great way to see how your CTAs are performing. Scroll maps - this heat map shows how far your audience is scrolling on your web pages and can tell you if your pages are compelling enough. Move maps - this shows you where your customers are focusing and navigating to on your website and if there are too many distractions on your pages. What are the benefits of heat mapping? Heat mapping allows you to build a better understanding of what is receiving the most attention on your website. It allows you to manipulate your website to place important information that you want your users to see in a position that is more likely to be viewed. Other benefits include: Strategic content placement If you have a piece of content that you want your users to see, it is usually best placed at the top of the page. But by using heat mapping tools, you can see exactly where your audience typically leaves your web page and ensures your content is strategically placed before they reach that ‘drop off’ point. This kind of data also allows you to place your most important CTAs in areas your audience will see them before they leave your web page. Increased conversions Whilst heat mapping provides you valuable data on how your users are behaving on your website, if you combine this with split testing (or A/B testing), you can accurately evaluate which of your changes are generating the most clicks and attention. By trying out different styles of CTAs for example, and implementing heat mapping tools at the same time, you can effectively optimise your website to help increase conversions. Better user experience Heat mapping tools allow you to provide a better user experience for your customers and the data acquired from heat maps can provide website designers with information for their usability testing efforts. It can give them an understanding on what pieces of content inspire your audience to take action, identify any patterns of behaviour as well as determine if your CTAs are placed where they should be. Want to learn more about heat mapping? If you’re looking to increase your conversions, enhance your user experience, or you’re simply looking to learn more about heat mapping, why not get in touch with our experts today? We can advise you on the best type of heat map tool for your requirements and we can even do all the hard work for you from implementation to analysing results. #### What is a mega menu on a website and what are the benefits? "Mega menus" are the most valuable resources for guiding users on subordinate pages among the essential variables in website navigation design. Most online retailers and eCommerce portals today will be inadequate without a mega menu. Nonetheless, the most popular shopping websites, such as Amazon or eBay, will not be as successful without their mega menus. The menu is one of the user's main navigational tools, and it plays a critical role in improving the website's accessibility and ability to engage and convert visitors. Nowadays, websites also use a multi-faceted mega menu to arrange vast quantities of content into a cohesive entity for the user's convenience. What is a Mega Menu? Since the early 2000s, you've probably seen Mega Menus on websites and used them, but you didn't realise what they were called. If you're familiar with them but aren't sure if you should use them on your platform or how to put them in place, this article should be of assistance. When a site user hovers the mouse over an option in the top navigation bar, a mega menu appears, a drop-down menu that shows large panels separated into groups of similar navigation choices. You will display the entire website's navigation in a single menu with multi-level expansions. Visitors will go straight to what they're searching for and spend less time on a platform by clicking fewer times. Mega Menus change how users access a website by arranging navigation options using style, typography, icons, and pictures.Allows for the graphic and user-friendly sorting of pages into logical classes.There is no need to scroll because everything is available at once; there is no need to dig down into additional sub navigations.Menu choices can be revealed by hovering over them, clicking on them, or tapping on them.It can be shown in various ways: Show the left or right column at the top of the page. Why Would You Use A Mega Menu? A mega menu can enhance the user interface when creating a massive website with several categories and subcategories. Simply placed, a mega menu is a multi-level drop-down menu that allows you to condense your website's full navigation into a single menu. The main menu of a website can access even the darkest parts of a website, thanks to a super menu. Mega menus also help drive more revenue, improve conversions, and keep the users on your website for longer, in addition to enhancing user interface and online usability. “By helping people discover more, they'll make you sell more,” says Jakob Nielsen. Following are the benefits of a mega menu on your website: Benefits of Mega Menu Mega Menus are both functional and stylish When the field of web design and creation progresses, so will the styles and methods have employed, as you've no doubt discovered by your own experiences. All of those emerging strategies happen to be the mega menu or super menu. With so many businesses and storefronts selling a diverse range of products, it's easy to see why it's become so famous. To provide everything, they'll need more space and more complex menus. Mega menus, on the other hand, despite their increased sophistication, appear to be more practical. When graphic features or pictures are used, users can find what they're searching for easier. Spend some time looking for ideas on the internet if you're having trouble deciding how to create your super menu. There is a slew of websites and designs out there that implement this very recent and exciting idea in unique ways. Comprehensive The most significant advantage of a super menu is that it is detailed and has all of your site's pages in the navigation menu. Users will now have clear access to any page on the web, allowing them to find what they're looking for quickly. Well organised and easy to follow Mega menus are much bigger and take up a lot of space than regular drop-down menus. This allows you to divide pages/products into sections and logical submenus, making them neat and tidy. By including more choices, website users are more likely to find what they're looking for faster. Adding Images and Icons Mega menus allow for the inclusion of graphics such as photographs and icons due to the available space. This tends to split up the text and add more detail without making it too text intensive. You may add photographs of the most famous brands, for example, or include quirky diagrams. Extra Functionalities Huge navigation menus can cover the width of a tab, provide more space for the options inside, and match the interface users are using to browse. If users are looking at the web app, this becomes very difficult on smartphones. Mega menus, on the other hand, deviate from conventional menus in this regard. Designers have a lot of leeways when it comes to architecture, style, and functionality. They also don't have to be at the top of the list. Mega menus may appear from the left, be placed at the bottom, or be creatively set out. Digital Spy, for example, has a pop-outside menu that also appears on a laptop. Mega menus can integrate modern approaches and features that standard menu cannot, allowing them to offer an innovative and unique experience. Mega Menus Should Be Used Wisely to Enhance The Site Mega menus are a perfect way to enhance the site's user experience. If you have a big site with many connections, adding one will make it easier for your visitors to navigate. If your website qualifies, consider incorporating a super menu right away. Interested in working with a leading digital agency on your site navigation or website design? If so, then contact us today for award-winning designs. #### What is a website mockup and why are they important? With the advent of responsive web design, it’s now easier than ever to create high-quality websites that look great on any device. However, creating a mockup before you go live is still an important step for any project. Why? Because it allows you to see how all your elements will work together before you start coding them, so your finished website will be both professional and functional. Let’s explore further why creating a website mockup is so important. What is a website mockup? A website mockup is a simulation of what the final website will look like. It shows the look and feel of your site. You can include whatever you like in a mockup however most people will include elements of its structure along with some of the content such as images and graphics that will get included in the final product. They don’t usually include working functions or transitions and are more focused on making sure the navigation is right. Mockups are used by many different professions, from web developers to graphic designers. They're also an important part of the user experience design process. A mockup is essentially a tool that helps you design websites faster and more efficiently while testing their usability and functionality in the process. Why create a mockup? A website mockup allows you to see what your website will look like when it's finished, as well as if it will function as you want it to. The design of a site can be modified at any point before or after development, but once coding begins, changes aren't so easy. It’s the best way to physically see any errors in your designs and allows you to visualise how everything will look. A mockup also helps you understand whether or not the design is what clients want and expect. You could show the client the mockup to see if it's going the way they want it. This would ultimately help you in the long run when it comes to the final design, fewer changes would be needed. How to design a website mockup There are several ways to design your website mockup. These include using a wireframe tool such as Balsamiq or Mockplus. These tools allow you to create mockups without knowing any code, and they offer many pre-built elements that make it easy for you to create your custom pages and buttons on top of them. They also allow you to move around the layout of the page quickly, which will help you see how different design elements might look when placed in various spots on the page. Using a mockup tool such as Adobe XD (formerly known as Wireframe). This tool is similar to the first option above as it allows you to build out pages quickly by dragging in pre-built components and adjusting their sizes within seconds. However, it may be more difficult than other tools because there are fewer built-in features, for example, anything not designed into Adobe XD will need to be created from scratch before being added to your design project. This tool would be better suited to more experienced web designers. Using a website builder like Squarespace or WordPress can be good for beginners. Both tools have the opportunity to practice more advanced skills like coding as well. Everything from fonts & colours down to basic layout can be changed with one click. Why are they important? With a mockup, every element you include can get easily scrutinised to see if it’s the right fit. You can measure out the typography you use which can include the style and size. You can see if the text spacing is appropriate and see if the style you originally chose works with everything else. You can measure how much white space is left over and see if there’s too much or too little on a certain page and check other elements such as the colour scheme and layout works. With so many websites out there, it is important to stand out from the crowd. A great mockup will help you do just that. By creating a mockup for your website, you can ensure that it will look professional and modern. This will also make it easier for other people to understand how your site works so they can help you out with any issues that might arise during development. Are you just about to embark on creating a new website? Let our web design team help you! From app design to developing a UI/UX strategy, our expert team will guide you every step of the way. Get in touch with us today to see exactly how we can help you and your business. #### What is an SSL certificate and why does it matter for SEO? In the vast world of search engine optimisation (SEO) and online security, SSL certificates are like the knights in shining armour protecting your website from a plethora of potential online threats. And with the threat of cyber attacks and data breaches on the rise, Google has made changes to their algorithm to prioritise sites that have an SSL certificate in place in order to protect user security. But what is an SSL certificate and why are they crucial for your SEO efforts? Well in this blog, we explore SSL certificates in more detail, why they matter for your SEO performance, and how they can impact your online presence.  What is an SSL certificate? A Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a website. It ensures data remains encrypted as it travels through the internet from a web server to a user's browser. It safeguards sensitive data such as credit card details, customer email addresses, and passwords for example. A certificate authority (CA) issues an SSL certificate for a website and this can be requested by an entity - usually a person or an organisation, like Fifteen. When an SSL certificate is issued, it will authenticate the website's identity and safeguard all sensitive records and data, assuring users that their information is safe from hackers. How important is SSL for SEO? When it comes to ranking factors, Google prioritises website security and so a stable website with an SSL certificate would have an advantage over other websites that are not as safe and encrypted — as long as other SEO factors remain constant. However with that being said, it can be challenging to determine the exact effect of an SSL credential on a site’s SEO rankings, especially when compared to another website in the same market, but with thousands of strong backlinks. In this particular case, the benefit of having over 1,000 additional strong backlinks may outweigh the downside of not having an SSL certificate. As a result, it’s important for website owners to be aware that obtaining an SSL certificate cannot guarantee that their site will appear at the top of the search engine results list.  Nonetheless, Google has previously stated that a site with an SSL certificate would rank higher in search engine result pages (SERPs), especially those in a difficult and competitive niche and they continually conduct SEO such as on-page SEO, technical SEO, and creating engaging and relevant content. Therefore, combining both SSL and SEO together is key to achieve a higher ranking in SERPs. How does SSL improve SEO? Now that we’ve learnt that combining SSL and SEO is key to achieving a higher ranking in search engines, what effect can an SSL certificate have on your SEO efforts? It improves user experience Having an SSL certificate enhances user experience. If a user visits an insecure website, they will see clear signs that the site is not protected and should be avoided. Browsers such as Google Chrome are raising much-needed consciousness about internet protection to users by deliberately shaming unencrypted websites.  For example, if a user arrives on a website that does not have an SSL certificate, they will immediately be greeted with a warning stating the website is unsafe, to which the user will undoubtedly leave and look elsewhere. This instantly gives the user a negative perception of the brand in question as well as providing a bad user experience. With an SSL certificate, it shows your website is secure and allows your audience to freely and safely browse your site, thus providing a positive user experience. It also instils trust with users and provides them with encouragement to return to your site in the future. It can lead to higher rankings in SERPs As we’ve just mentioned, if your website doesn’t have an SSL certificate, your users will know about it. This means that they will leave your website before being able to find the information they’re looking for. This can have a negative effect on your rankings as Google will see users leaving your site quickly and often and as a result, derank you which means you’ll move further down the results page. But when you combine an SSL certificate with exceptional SEO efforts, you can avoid this. This is because an SSL certificate adds an extra layer of security to your site and tells search engines like Google that your site is safe to visit which builds trust and credibility, all factors that Google takes into account when ranking your website in SERPs. It can provide more traffic With higher rankings, comes more traffic to your site. When users are deciding what website to visit when looking for information, they will more often than not choose a site that is safe and secure. This is because they will see your site as a trustworthy source and click-through to your brand, resulting in more traffic. All of this comes full circle because the more popular your site is and the more people engage with your site, the higher you rank. Google sees people engaging with your site as a positive and will reward you with higher rankings. It can boost your conversions We’ve highlighted throughout this blog that the purpose of an SSL certificate is to encrypt data sent from a web server to a user’s browser, meaning that sensitive information is protected from potential threats.  This makes users feel confident enough to provide you with personal information such as credit card details, home addresses, and email addresses to place an order with you, leading to a higher conversion rate. Similarly, the added security of an SSL certificate on your site will encourage users to fill out forms because they can have peace of mind that their sensitive information is protected. Speak to us for more advice It’s clear to see SSL certificates demonstrate to the rest of the world that your website is legitimate, safe, and secure. This leads to building trust and fostering loyalty with your audience. And combining both SSL and SEO together can provide a much welcomed boost to your efforts. We hope we’ve answered the common question of ‘what is an SSL certificate?’, but if you’d like to learn more, or you’d like to find out more about how an SSL certificate can improve your SEO efforts, don’t hesitate to contact us today. We know what it takes to make a website succeed so with all websites we design and develop, we use cutting-edge technology to ensure every security measure is added and this includes implementing an SSL certificate. #### What is Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) All About? What is CRO? Ok, so firstly let’s clear up the meaning. CRO is the practice of incrementally increasing the opportunity or the rate at which your website visitors convert to a response action. This means we turn the simple visitor into an actual buyer on an e-commerce site or a serious enquirer on a service website. So let’s cover, why this is done, how this is done, what you currently could be doing wrong on your website and what the benefits are of working with an agency that offers Conversion Rate Optimisation as a service. Why is CRO important? Well, this bit is quite simple. Most of the clients we engage with want to grow their business, let's be honest, that why most people are in business. So one way to do that is to get more customers and sell more stuff right? We’ve seen a trend in business growth between the number of visitors you bring to a website through the many digital marketing practices, SEO, PPC, social media marketing, digital PR etc, we’ve seen this in our business, but that will only get you so far. Your visitors may be coming to your site because your SEO is strong or your PPC campaigns are spot on, but it's very possible, in fact, it’s likely, that you’re missing out on converting some of these visitors into actual customers for one reason or another. How do you implement CRO? Quite simply, small or incremental changes as I mentioned before are done to a specific piece of a page of your website, that is then tested (or split tested as we call it) against the original page to see which gets better results. Let me put this into a simple example to demonstrate: You have a product page (see image below). You currently bring 100 people to your website and you sell on average 3 products for every 100 visitors that you bring to your website. This is typically in line with Google's suggested 5% conversion rate. You want to increase your conversion rate as selling more product will help you grow your business. So, an agency like us creates a scenario (this word is important so please remember it). We build you an identical page but this time, not with a blue ‘BUY NOW’ button but with an orange one. This is because we know that an orange button is 32.5% more likely to convert than any other colour button. So now we have 2 of the same pages with different coloured buttons. We serve 50% of your next 100 visitors with TEST-PAGE-A, the original blue button, and we serve the other 50% of the next 100 visitors with TEST-PAGE-B, the one with the new orange button. This is called A/B split testing. Now one of three things will happen: The test will prove that the orange button converts better. 2 people bought from a blue button and 7 bought from an orange button. RESULT!! We roll out TEST PAGE B to every new visitor after this point and that as a test is complete and we are confident that your original 3% conversion rate will be improved upon going forward. Next steps... Invent more scenarios to test. The test will prove that our assumptions were wrong and the original blue button was better than we thought. STILL A RESULT!! Because we now know that this is the best for conversion out of the two. Next steps... Invent more scenarios to test. The test was inconclusive and let's say that 49% of people bought from a blue button and 51% bought from an orange button%. This metric is neither here nor there as we are looking for better results than this. Next steps... Invent more scenarios to test. What Might Not Help My Current Conversion Rate? There is a multitude of reasons, literally thousands why your website may not be converting as well as it could be. These range from simple colours of buttons as we’ve mentioned above to page length, poor copy, lack of product descriptions, slow loading times, poor quality images, poor user experience, poor page layout, the list goes on. Why Use an Agency for CRO? THEY HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE Agencies have done hundreds of test and an agency will have a range of experts with a really good understanding of design, UX, content, development and ultimately what practices can help convert your visitors. CRO is not just about making a change, it's about great design, it's about consideration of your audience, it's about the user journey, its about colour, space, words, messaging, typography... the list goes on and on and agencies have all this knowledge behind them to use to your advantage. KNOWLEDGE SHARING Using an agency to implement your CRO can be really beneficial. Think about it. The agency is running dozens of tests at a time of a range of clients in a variety of sectors and what they learn from one client they can quickly implement into another clients website giving exceptional value for money. Best practice changes every day, the way we react to things online changes all the time, so using an agency that has their finger on the pulse can be a fast track to online success and potentially save you money. EYE ON THE BALL You paying the agency on a retainer to look after your CRO, develop new scenarios and constantly test/measure, test/measure so they will be all over it day by day. If they see a scenario taking a drastic turn for the worse, they can quickly roll back to the original solution, then go again with a new scenario. At Fifteen, we have years of experience implementing CRO techniques. From the niche to the obvious, we can help you improve your site's performance. For more information or to get started on improving your site, contact us today and watch your metrics soar. #### What is Digital PR and why is it important? Managing your identity and reputation online takes constant management and insight. Central to this is the ability to understand your audience and effectively communicate your ideals, offers and more. Enter digital PR - the secret weapon of successful businesses in the digital age.  But what is digital PR and why is it important? Well in this blog, we’re going to explore digital PR in more detail and look at how good digital PR can build and maintain your identity, enhance your reputation with your customers, and increase visibility in a busy digital space. What is digital PR? Digital PR is a strategic approach to building and maintaining relationships with online audiences. It involves leveraging digital marketing channels such as social media, online news outlets, blogs, and influencers to increase brand visibility and credibility. Such activities of digital PR include creating engaging content, securing online coverage of your brand, and managing online reputation. Brand identity is one of the most important aspects of a business. We live in a world where if your brand becomes synonymous with a particular service or product, it becomes part of our everyday life. For example, people use phrases like ‘Google it’, or ‘I have a Zoom meeting’ and that’s because everyone knows who these brands are and what they provide, meaning they have become part of our everyday language. This is all down to building a good brand identity. By incorporating digital PR into your marketing strategy, you can communicate with your audience and create connections where customers can learn about your identity and what you stand for. Having a strong digital PR strategy is crucial for establishing authority in the online space and can help enhance your online presence, reach your target audiences, and drive traffic to your website. Why Digital PR is important There are many reasons why digital PR is important to any business who is looking to enhance their brand awareness. Here are just some reasons: Reputation, reputation, reputation According to Help Scout, it’s a well-known fact that people are much more likely to complain about a brand than they are to celebrate it. Digital PR can help manage responses and help you understand why people are unhappy, as well as helping you identify positive experiences your customers have had so you can promote this. Combining digital PR with other digital marketing tactics such as social media marketing can help you stay on top of any issues and ensure you’re building and maintaining your brand's reputation. Similarly, staying on top of your reviews and responding to customers is another great way of maintaining your brand's reputation as it shows you’re listening to your audience. Contributes to growing your online visibility Digital PR supports the rest of your digital marketing objectives, and just like content marketing, SEO, and social media, digital PR is another string to your bow and adds value to these other disciplines with new insights and approaches.  When you combine digital PR with all of your other digital marketing tactics together, it contributes to growing your online visibility by enhancing coverage with online news outlets and other brands, amplifying your social media output, and boosting your organic search visibility on search engines. Helps establish your brand identity We’ve highlighted this throughout this blog, but with digital PR, you can effectively shape the way your brand is perceived by a wider audience. By strategically utilising digital platforms and media outlets, you can share your brand story, values, and achievements, helping to build credibility and trust among potential customers. This helps establish your brand identity in the online world and through engaging content, social media interactions, and collaborations with relevant influencers, digital PR can help create a strong and positive brand image. These meaningful connections you ultimately build will help drive business growth and success in the long run. What are the key benefits of Digital PR? When you launch a successful digital PR campaign, it can bring your brand a whole host of benefits including: Improved SEO efforts - digital PR can greatly enhance your SEO efforts such as higher rankings for your target keywords, improved organic search visibility, and increased quality backlinks. Increased website traffic - as a result of your improved SEO efforts, you’ll benefit from a boost in website traffic with more people visiting your site. Boosted lead generation - as more and more people visit your website and you’re sharing relevant, quality content, you should see a boost in your leads and ultimately more sales. It’s a cost-effective tactic - one of the biggest benefits of digital PR is that it’s a cost-effective tactic that can require a small budget. If you reach out to the right people with your content, that can be enough to get your brand out there. Speak to us for professional Digital PR services In this blog, we’ve explored what digital PR is in more detail and its importance to brands who want to build and maintain their brand visibility and reputation. We’ve also highlighted some of the benefits of digital PR when executed effectively. So if you’re not already taking advantage of digital PR, speak to us today about our digital PR services. We can provide full-service PR packages for both offline and digital PR where our team uses their media relations to form working relationships with influencers, publishers, and other brands to engage with your audience in new and exciting ways. We’ll help develop relationships, identify key audiences and pair these with powerful PR campaigns. Don’t hesitate to contact us to find out more about how we can help your brand. #### What is Google Ads remarketing? Have you ever visited a website and a few days later when you’re back browsing online, you’ve seen an ad for the same website you were previously looking at? That is remarketing. Google Ads remarketing is a great way to target users who have already visited your website and you want to drive them towards a conversion. But what exactly is Google Ads remarketing and how does it work? Keep reading to learn just that, as well as the benefits remarketing can bring to your business. What is remarketing? Remarketing, which is also known as retargeting, is a very common and popular digital marketing tactic. Whether you want users to make a purchase or simply get in touch, remarketing is a great way to gently remind them to come back. Many businesses choose remarketing because it’s an effective way to target people who have shown an interest in your brand, but haven’t completed a specific action. You can serve remarketing ads to people who have visited your website or a specific web page.  How does Google Ads remarketing work? Once a user visits your website, they are added to a remarketing list, which monitors their activity on your website. If they leave without completing one of your chosen conversions (e.g. made a purchase, contacted you, signed up to a newsletter etc.), they are eligible for targeting. There are many websites linked to the Google Display Network, which give space for adverts to appear on. These “intelligent” ad spaces will show remarketing ads, as well as other ads tailored to the individual user. If you have uploaded several types of ads to your campaign, these can show on any number of sites. Once the user clicks on the ad in question, they are taken back through to your website to a landing page of your choice. If they then complete a conversion, they are taken off the list. If not, the process starts again. What are the benefits of a remarketing campaign? There are a huge amount of benefits of remarketing campaigns, the main one being increasing the number of conversions and sales, but here are a few more benefits: Your ads are targeted The biggest advantage of remarketing is that your ads are targeted to only be shown to people who have already visited your website. Unlike standard PPC ads, which are shown based on keywords, these ads are shown purely to visitors of your site. This means you can target users that are further along the customer journey. They’ve already done some research, and are more likely to generate a conversion. It’s a great way to enhance brand awareness Even if the user is not in a position where they are currently looking to purchase a product or contact your company for a service, a remarketing campaign is great for brand awareness. Showing multiple ads to a user that is currently only researching your industry makes them more likely to remember your company when they are ready to purchase further down the line. Also, your ads can be shown on websites for some big companies, including YouTube. This promotes an image of trust and reputability for your business, even if the conversions don’t come in straight away. Remarketing campaigns are relatively low cost If you’re already running an AdWords campaign, you might be surprised to find out that remarketing is actually cheaper than traditional paid ads, despite being so targeted. We find for our clients, many remarketing campaigns can typically cost up to a third less than the overall campaign, and generate a good percentage of conversions. You can include image ads Remarketing allows you to include image ads as well as text ads, meaning you can create visually striking, eye-catching ads for your business. This further increases the effectiveness of the campaign, and can link in with the brand awareness we talked about earlier. It is important to note, if your ads are not designed well, or you are only using text-based ads, this could affect the number of clicks you receive. This consequently affects the number of possible conversions from your campaign, leading to a smaller ROI. Things to consider with Google remarketing Whilst remarketing can bring a huge amount of benefits, there are a few things to bear in mind when running your campaigns: Remarketing needs regular management - it isn’t the sort of tactic you can switch on and leave to its own devices. There are certain websites where remarketing will not be suitable, such as adult websites. You also need to make sure your account is set to omit these types of websites as unfortunately, they are part of the Google Display Network. It’s almost certain some of these sites will still slip through the filters, so you’ll need to manually exclude those on a regular basis. To achieve the best results, you’ll want to run multiple ads at once which you’ll need to analyse so you can optimise your campaigns appropriately. Let us help with your Google Ads remarketing Do you want to run Google Ads remarketing campaigns but don’t have the resource? Let us do all the hard work for you. We can create and manage your remarketing campaigns and analyse results for optimal efficiency. Get in touch with us today to see how else we can help with your PPC management. #### What is Google Lens? Google Lens is an AI-powered technology that not only senses an object in front of the camera lens but recognises this and provides acts such as scanning, translation, shopping, and more with your smartphone camera and deep machine learning. In 2017, Google Lens was one of Google's most significant announcements, but it was a Google Pixel exclusive feature when the phone launched. Since then, most Android devices have been reached through Google Lens - if you don't have it, the app is available for download on Google Play. What is Google Lens? And How it works? Google Lens allows you to point at something like a particular object on your phone and then ask Google Assistant what the thing you're pointing at is. Not only will you be told the answer, but in the case of a violin, you will get suggestions based on the object, like a nearby musician. Other examples of what Google Lens can do include being able to take a photo of a Wi-Fi router's SSID sticker on the back, after which your phone can connect to the Wi-Fi network automatically without you having to do anything else. Yep, there's no more creeping under the cupboard to read your password as you type it on your tablet. Now, you can point and shoot using Google Lens. Restaurants, clubs, cafes, and bars will also be recognized by Google Lens, presenting you with a pop-up window showing reviews, address details and opening times. What's impressive is the ability to recognize everyday objects. A hand will be recognized, and the thumbs up emoji will be suggested, which is a bit of fun but point it to a drink, and it will try and figure out what it is. With a glass of red wine, this functionality was tested. It didn't recommend red wine to us, but it proposed a whole host of other alcoholic beverages, encouraging you to tap in and see what they are, how to make them, and so on. This shows that, while Lens is smart and quick, but it's not always precise. Certain Ways Google Lens Can Make your Life Easier Acting as a search engine for the real world, Google Lens is best represented. It uses artificial intelligence from your phone camera to recognize text and objects both inside photos and in a live view. It then allows you to learn about and communicate in all kinds of fascinating ways with those components. But while the ability of Lens to, say, recognize an instrument, look up a book, or provide you with knowledge about a landmark is undoubtedly remarkable. It is the more mundane-seeming efficiency forces of the machine that are far more likely to find a place in your everyday life. So, grab the nearest Android gadget; if you haven't already, install the Google Lens app and get ready to show your phone some brilliantly useful new tricks. Text to Copy from The Real World The most potent power of Google Lens, and the one on which I rely most often, is its ability to grab text from a physical document, a file, a book, a whiteboard, or something else with words on it, and then copy that text to the clipboard of your computer. You can quickly paste the text from there into a Google Doc, a note, an email, a chat with Slack, or anywhere else imaginable. Calendar Event Anytime you see anything with a date involved, a flyer, a billboard, an appointment card, or even a physical invitation to the weekly canasta game of your beloved cousin, save yourself the hassle of typing the details into your digital calendar. And open the Google Lens app instead. Shoot at the paper on your phone's camera, and then tap on the date. At the beginning of its bottom-panel choices, Lens should give you a "Create calendar event option", and tapping it will beam the details right over to your favourite calendar app so that you can tweak it and save as needed. Translate the Real-World Text If you find yourself looking at a sign in another language in some theoretical future where travel is regular again and wondering what it says in the world, note that the Google Lens app has a translation function built-in. Open the app to find it, aim your phone at the email, and tap the translate button, the circle on the far left of the bottom row with an 'A' within it. The lens can substitute the words on your computer with their English equivalents (or with a translation in whatever language you choose if English is not your tasse de thé) before you know it. This makes it a powerful feature on your mobile phone. Detect Animals, Flowers, Sculptures, and Much More Google Lens is also excellent at recognizing flowers, animals, famous paintings, and many other items, such as landmarks. So, consider using Google Lens to find out what it is next time you're out for a walk and you come across an unfamiliar herb. To find what it is, you can simply point your camera at the flower, animal (or object). I find it easier to click an image of it and use the Google Lens feature inside Google Images if that doesn't work (sometimes it doesn't). Yeah, Lens is a little finicky right now, but we're going to give it some time to learn more about the environment. Access Restaurant Reviews and Ratings Easily This is a nice little trick that you can use, especially if you're in a new city and don't know the local hotspots—wondering if you can eat at a specific restaurant for lunch? Point your phone to the restaurant's logo, and it will show you a set of Google reviews instantly that will help you determine whether you should stay or continue your search. You will have access to a few additional choices from here, including the ability to open the restaurant's page on Google Maps easily. You can also review the "menu highlights" of the restaurant this way to see if something looks nice to you. #### What is Google Multisearch and what does it mean for your SEO strategy? While Google Multisearch might not be a brand-new feature, it’s quietly become one of the most important developments in the way people search. What started as a visual search enhancement is now part of a wider trend towards multi-modal, intent-rich search behaviour.  If you’re serious about staying visible in search results, keeping up with how this feature evolves is a must for a successful SEO strategy. Keep reading as we explore what Google Multisearch is, how it works, and more importantly, how you need to reshape your SEO efforts. What is Google Multisearch? Put simply, Google Multisearch allows users to combine an image and text in a single search. Using Google Lens, it enables people to take a photo or upload an image and then add a keyword or phrase to refine what they’re looking for. Think of it as a way to ask more specific questions about what you're seeing. For example: You take a picture of a sofa and add the words “leather” or “under £500” You snap a food dish and search “near me” to find restaurants that serve that dish You upload a product image and add “alternatives” to find other styles or prices This hybrid search method bridges the gap between visual discovery and keyword-driven intent. As a result, it’s becoming a valuable tool for product comparison, local exploration, and spontaneous shopping - especially on mobile devices. Why does Multisearch matter now? Multisearch has been available since 2022, but what’s changed is how users interact with it and how deeply it’s being embedded into the search experience. With AI-powered advancements, Google now understands both visuals and language with far greater accuracy, and it’s responding with much more tailored results. For businesses, this shift means the traditional, keyword-first approach to SEO is no longer enough. People are searching based on what they see, not just what they type, and this changes the rules of visibility. As well as that, Multisearch also supports higher intent actions. Someone uploading a photo and typing a follow-up like “where to buy” is already close to conversion. In other words, appearing in these results can not only deliver clicks, but also qualified traffic that’s ready to engage. What does Multisearch mean for your SEO strategy? With image-plus-text queries becoming more common, businesses need to think beyond written content and keywords. Google Multisearch demands a more holistic SEO approach - one that combines technical best practices with rich visual content and user experience. Here are some ways you can adapt your efforts for Multisearch. Optimise your visual content Images should no longer be an afterthought and therefore need to be optimised for maximum potential. You should ensure they are clear, high-res, and properly named using descriptive filenames. Alt-text should also do more than just incorporate your keywords and state the obvious - they should provide helpful context for both users and search engines. Implement structured data Implementing schema markup helps Google understand your content in context, especially when users are searching visually. For example, for ecommerce businesses, adding product schema can significantly improve how your products are shown in search. For local businesses, LocalBusiness schema makes it easier to appear when users add “near me” to their searches. Focus on local visibility Multisearch isn’t just about finding things, it’s about finding them nearby. If you have a brick-and-mortor store, you can take advantage of this by keeping your Google Business Profile up to date and making sure you’re using location-specific images and content. You should also encourage your customers to upload their own photos and reviews, as user-generated visuals like these are often used in image-rich search results to help build trust and relevance. Strengthen your content around intent As Google Multisearch combines visual interest with verbal intent, it means that the content supporting your images should be helpful and purpose-driven. Rather than stuffing your content with keywords, think about what someone wants to know when they see your product or service. Ask yourself: what are they trying to solve and how can you help them make a decision? Having strong product descriptions, instructional content, and case studies all help your page perform better. Prioritise mobile UX Google continues to place emphasis on mobile-first indexing, and Multisearch only amplifies that. If your site loads slowly, isn’t responsive, or creates friction for mobile users, you’ll likely miss out no matter how good your content is. With this in mind, you should make sure your images are compressed without losing quality, your design is thumb-friendly, and your navigation is intuitive.  Which businesses can benefit the most from Multisearch? While most businesses can take some form of advantage from Google Multisearch, there are some industries that are better placed to capitalise on it. For example, product-led businesses - especially in fashion, furniture, beauty, food, and lifestyle - will naturally benefit from image-first search. Local service providers like cafes, restaurants, florists, and health and wellness spaces will also benefit the most. If your business is highly visual and the experience matters as much as the product or service itself, Multisearch is a feature your brand will almost certainly benefit from.  We can help fine-tune your SEO strategy for Google Multisearch It’s obvious to see that Multisearch is part of a much bigger shift - from traditional, keyword-only tactics to a multi-modal, intent-rich search experience. As Google continues to evolve, businesses that combine great content with meaningful visuals and a user-first experience will see the best results. If you need help fine-tuning your SEO efforts, or you’d like to learn more about how Google Multisearch fits into your digital strategy, be sure to get in touch with us today. At Fifteen, we help brands adapt their SEO strategies to the way people search today, not the way they did five years ago. #### What is Google Quick Answers? In September 2014, Google Fast Answers was first introduced to present simple answers to 'how to' or 'what is' focused. Google can take sections of content from web pages that have already been found trustworthy by the search engine to produce these responses. Then these responses appear on the top of the SERPs in an outlined frame. Content in a quick answer box is not the best answer to the question from the first result on the list, but from the product Google finds. Solutions are featured in a box at the top of the SERP, organically ranked 1st above the result. The Quick Answer has been a top priority for SEOs in the three years since it debuted on the SERP. The Google Quick Answer is a SERP result that appears at the top of the search results, offering a fast response to user-searched questions. Google's quick answer is still above the standard organic products, just below Google ads' results. Google aims through this box to have the best response to the question searched by the individuals. This is not surprising, as the Quick Answer's content has the highest CTR of any SERP content. Often known as "zero position" or a featured snippet is Google's quick answer. In the first place, the content that appears in the answer box does not always come from the website ranking. Instead, to address the query, Google tends to highlight results that have relevant details. How to optimise your website for Google Quick Answer If you have a website and want to get search clicks in the form of a Google Quick Answer, here's what you should do. As seen in the examples above, start by figuring out whether there is a Google Quick Answer related to the content on your website or content that you might build for your website.Build content that fits the Google Answer Box go more in-depth, and make sure the right markup is used.The goal is to be either the Google Answer Box source or as close to the Google Answer Box as you can get.Make sure the SEO title and meta overview of your page tell the searcher that you have even better details to persuade them to click on your link than the Google Quick Answer. Also, make sure that the user will check to find the Google Answer Box is included. Create links to your Google Answer Box content using anchor text that matches the call-to-action Google Answer Box (if you have the software) or the question that the person is searching to find the Google Answer Box. Benefits for your business from Google Quick Answer With more and more customers turning to the web for research before purchasing a car or any other product or service, ensuring your company has an excellent online presence is more critical than ever. Fortunately, short responses will help. Ok, here's how. Quick Responses Lead To More Traffic And Better Rates Of Conversion While ranking at the number one spot will help, landing a fast response spot can be a more powerful way to increase your website activity and visitors. Fast replies, found at the top of the SERP, are typically the first thing people see when searching online. They are highly likely to check it, read through your copy, and ultimately become leads and even clients when your site is the first thing people see. Low-Ranking Pages Can Still Rank as a Fast Response Suppose you have built an informative blog and provides useful and educational material; depending on when it is posted or the competition ahead, it will not always be at the top position. It can still, however, be listed as a fast response. Only take a glance at the illustration below. As you can see, not the first or even the second page listed in organic search is the fast response listed for this question. It's the fourth, instead. So, even if your competitor's page is higher than yours on a SERP, you will still gain more traffic, conversions, and customers, because the first thing users see when they check will always be your fast response. Better Optimization, Better Results Content is essential to search engines regardless of whether you're trying to rank as the top spot on a SERP or fast response. There are variables in your material. However, that can impact how it performs. The most significant one is signed. You need to make sure that your material is educational to the reader and helpful. When you have copies intended to educate and pursue best SEO optimization practices, your blogs and web pages are more likely to rank higher on a SERP or land that coveted fast response spot. Getting top ranking web pages and blogs will help prepare to improve traffic and conversions for your company's website. You'll want to partner up with an integrated advertising agency to do that. You must build top-ranking, fast-response-worthy pages if you want your company to get ahead of the competition and succeed. Enhanced Rank The rank structure is immediately changed when the SERP contains a quick answer. This means that the top spot will be the website whose material is featured in the Quick Answer and outrank other sites. People will want to learn more if the answer is reasonable. This enhances your traffic automatically. The Quick Answers box helps to rank better quality content. Recognition of Brand It doesn't matter how much your click volume drops with the Easy Answers box in place; you will gain unconventionally. People who use those sentences to look for answers may not have heard about your business until they see it in the google quick answer. They will see your brand and connect it with their query, even if they don't end up clicking through it. This is essentially an advertisement for free. Authority Google indeed finds your page to contain valuable answers if your content has been featured on top of the SERP. Your website would also be considered authoritative concerning the search query. This ensures that it is accurate for both your content and your brand. To find out more about SEO or start your digital marketing journey contact us today. We use our extensive experience to create exciting digital marketing strategies that supercharge your visibility and conversion rate. #### What is Hybrid App development, and what are the benefits? You'd agree that business needs and user expectations influence the decision to develop mobile apps. When it comes to mobile app development, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. You have the option of creating a native app, a web-based mobile app, or a hybrid app development. Hybrid app development is the most popular option among these. That's because hybrid mobile app development comes with a slew of advantages because of their versatility across multiple platforms; they can create apps that execute consistently regardless of platform. Hybrid apps are not only cost-effective, but they also allow you to secure a space in the app store market faster. Hybrid App Development A hybrid mobile app is a combination of native and web-based app solutions. Cross-platform development is what hybrid apps are. The heart of the hybrid app is written in web technologies. Hybrid apps are written in one language and run on many platforms. CSS, HTML, and JavaScript are used to create the application's core. After that, a hybrid mobile application is contained within a native app. With the plugin, the application can have full access to mobile devices. In this article, we'll go over the summary of the most significant advantages that hybrid mobile app development can provide. As the name implies, this method comprises developing a single mobile application that works across many operating systems, including Android and iOS. Twitter, Instagram, Uber, Gmail, and other popular apps astound clients with their great performance, usability, and functionality are just a few examples. Benefits of Hybrid App Development The advantages of hybrid app development are numerous. Here are the top benefits of hybrid app development over pure native mobile or web apps. A native experience with a straightforward backend Although a native app provides an outstanding user experience, a hybrid app combines the best of both worlds by combining native UX with a simple back-end framework. To develop a hybrid app UI/UX that seamlessly integrates device-specific capabilities, you can use complete development frameworks. Even while working on fixes and updates across all platforms, this UX stays smooth. When users of hybrid apps go from one mobile platform to another, they get the same smooth native experience. Creative concepts that appeal to the target audience Ordinary web applications do not communicate with the device's operating system or built-in environment. They aren't as intelligent as today's advanced apps, and they can't compete with highly polished native programs. Hybrid applications are slick and intelligent, as they deftly combine the device's operating system with its built-in capabilities without adding much burden. This allows app developers to come up with more innovative ideas for hybrid development and attract the attention of their target audience. High-speed capability Native apps have set a high bar in terms of speed and performance thus far. When it comes to hybrid creation, however, speed is not an issue. In practice, hybrid apps are far faster than mobile web apps or responsive websites when compared to other mobile development options. A hybrid app is always intended to run swiftly on the device screen, even when many users, because they don't have to rely on network communication as much. Twitter, a social networking software that always manages massive traffic, is another example of how hybrid app development excels. Attractive user interface/user experience (UI/UX) designs Two key characteristics that attract more users to your software are a consistent experience and appealing design. With hybrid app development, you can be confident that your mobile app will provide consumers with a superior UI experience and flawless performance. Hybrid apps are more welcome in-app stores than other mobile apps because of their uncompromised operation and appearance on each platform. When utilizing it on numerous operating systems, users do not experience low performance or loading time issues. As a result, it's a better alternative for organizations looking for maximum interaction from both iOS and Android customers. Build and maintain at a lower cost Hybrid app development is a less expensive to develop and maintain as compared to native app. The programming language chosen to create the hybrid application is less expensive, resulting in lower overall development and maintenance costs. Native apps, on the other hand, were developed using complicated languages like Java and Objective C, as well as the iOS SDK and Android SDK. Hybrid apps combine HTML, JavaScript, and CSS with simpler mobile development frameworks. You'll have many potential developers to pick from if you use these fewer demanding forms of technologies. Hybrid has a huge cost saving in terms of both initial development and ongoing maintenance. Support for the Cloud & Enterprise-Level Solutions Numerous hybrid applications can be connected to the cloud using the exchange integration code approach. The Titanium Ionic and PhoneGap frameworks are the best examples. Plugins enable developers to simply enhance an app's functionality, design, and correctness. Hybrid applications facilitate interaction with leading cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Offline Usage As with native mobile apps, hybrid apps use the device's API to keep useful data offline. This might be regarded as a significant benefit provided to customers who desire to save money on data. Certain mobile users have intermittent connectivity with their devices, and the offline features of hybrid apps may amaze them as well. Consequently, they will be able to use the mobile application without experiencing any difficulties. Performance Enhancement Hybrid app development perform as well as native apps in terms of speed and performance. Indeed, they are frequently faster than progressive and responsive apps. The reason for this is that there is no reliance on network communication. Additionally, even apps with a larger user base perform better on all devices. They have established their performance standards through partnerships with brands such as Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also learn how to write a Development Tech Spec here. #### What is inbound marketing and what are the benefits? Whilst many businesses focus much of their marketing efforts on outbound marketing strategies, a strategy that shouldn’t be overlooked in inbound marketing. Of course, you want to show off what your brand can do and what it can offer, but inbound marketing can equally bring your business quality traffic, engagement and leads. So, what is inbound marketing? Inbound marketing is a marketing method that places you in front of your audience at various points in their customer journey, and lets your customers come to you. By effectively harnessing fundamentals such as content marketing, social media and SEO, you’re creating and enhancing your brand awareness and nurturing your leads. This technique is great for those who want to generate high quality leads, because it allows you to nurture your prospects from the first interaction they have with your business, right through to purchase. This in turn increases your conversions and provides you with a highly measurable return on investment (ROI). What are the benefits of inbound marketing? There are many benefits of inbound marketing including: Enhances your brand image Inbound marketing is all about positioning yourself as a thought leader in your industry, and you can do this by providing useful solutions that help solve your audience’s ‘problems’. This could be explaining how your products or services can solve a problem your customer is experiencing, or by simply offering a streamlined checkout process for example. Encourages customer interaction When it comes to traditional marketing methods, like outbound marketing, the conversation is only one-sided. But with inbound marketing, you can put your brand in the centre of the conversation and encourage interaction from your customers. A great way of leveraging this is through your social media channels. You could encourage conversations by running polls or surveys for example, and allow your customers to have their say. You can incorporate it into your current marketing strategy The beauty of inbound marketing is that you can apply it to your current marketing efforts. For example, if you produce regular blogs as part of your content marketing strategy, you can implement inbound marketing and optimise your blog posts for SEO and include powerful call-to-actions to increase leads and conversions. What are some inbound marketing examples? Inbound marketing can take many forms and some methods can cost you little, to no money at all to implement. Some examples include: Blogs - producing high quality, written content that focuses on answering questions your customers are asking can help drive traffic, engagement, leads and conversions for your business. Videos - incorporating video in your content marketing strategy like tutorials or testimonials for example, can help towards building trust with your customers. Web Design - providing your customers with a seamless user experience through your web design is vital for a successful customer journey, so ensure you give your audience what they want when they visit your site. Email Marketing - sending regular email campaigns is a great tactic for nurturing your existing customers by providing them with valuable, engaging content. Where should you start with inbound marketing? To be part of the conversation, brands need to understand what their customers are talking about. Conducting audience research and creating buyer personas are a great way of learning about your customers mindset and allows you to find opportunities to present a solution to their problems. Once you’ve understood the problems they may be facing, and the steps they may take in the lead-up to a purchase, you can begin to create an inbound marketing strategy to ensure you’re providing relevant content for your audience at each stage of the purchase funnel. Need help with your inbound marketing strategy? If you’re not sure where to start with your inbound marketing efforts, or you need help understanding your audience and their pain points, why not get in touch with us today? We can help you create audience research and form a strategy that works for your business. #### What is influencer marketing? Influencer marketing is a type of marketing that mainly focuses on using influential people to spread the brand's message to a broader audience. Instead of directly selling to a vast community of people, you encourage, recruit, or pay influencers to spread the word for you. Influencer marketing also merges two other forms of marketing: social media marketing (SMM) and content marketing (CM). Most influencer marketing has a social media aspect, in which influencers are expected to spread the word through their social media platforms. Many influencer marketing strategies have a content component, in which you either create content for the influencers or create it themselves. While social media and content marketing are often used in influencer campaigns, they are not the same. What is the process of influencer marketing? You're not alone if you're a marketer under pressure to generate more sales despite having less power over messaging. The marketing paradigm has shifted dramatically, and customers now decide what messages they want to see. Consumers now take centre stage, not brands. If you want to participate in customer discussions, you must follow their guidelines. Authentic material establishes credibility People are drawn to digital influencers because of the quality of the content they produce. Developing strategic partnerships with these influencers helps marketers to integrate their messages into the content and share it with customers from a reliable source. To make the most of this, brands must encourage influencers to work on sponsored content while remaining true to themselves. By that their followers' confidence in them, insincere or meaningless content can quickly erode an influencer's power. Brands must treat media to attract, interact, and convert prospects if they want to be necessary to customers This entails providing customers with relevant and trustworthy content. Working with influencers is an easy way to use reliable content to start a dialogue about a brand. Influencer marketing generates earned media because it generates interaction. Influencers are masters at sparking public debates because the content they produce on behalf of a company is widely discussed, shared, and reposted. That's what we call earned media. Earned media is valuable because customers trust it more. When influencers post compelling content about a brand and write about their own experiences, it can significantly impact their audience. The use of the Internet is an essential part of the decision-making process People use social media to collect information about brands and products before making purchases based on what they learn. By actively engaging in this online conversation, successful brands use social media to remain connected with customers. Advertising, on the other hand, is not the same as being a part of the conversation. Ads serve as a distraction, drawing people's attention away from what matters to them. Working with influencers helps marketers to contribute to rather than derail the dialogue. People collect information about brands and products via social media and then make purchases based on their learning. By actively engaging in this online conversation, successful brands use social media to remain linked to their customers. Advertising, on the other hand, is not the same as participating in a discussion. Ads, on the other hand, divert attention away from what matters to people. Instead of derailing the dialogue, working with influencers encourages marketers to contribute to it. A few advantages of Influencer marketing Establishing a foundation of trust Influencers have established relationships with their followers based on confidence and dependability. The audience respects their content and advice. If influencers spread the word about your product or service, you'll get your message in front of a highly engaged audience. The audience will respect and listen to their viewpoints. Brand recognition Influencer marketing can increase your online presence and variety. Users on social media have a better understanding of your brand, story, goods, who you are, and the services you provide. The golden rule of escalating influencer strategy is to have treacherous material that benefits all parties. The Target Audience Is Reached Relevant influencers will promote your content to social media users who are already interested in that niche. You save money by not experimenting and advertising to identify your target audience; instead, the influencer has already built a following social media. You successfully communicate with your intended audience—furthermore, influencers mentioning the brand influences buying decisions. Consumers turn to social media influencers for product and service recommendations. If you want to boost your sales, influencer marketing will help you do so. The New Trendsetters: Influencers Influencers are a consistent source of knowledge for your target audience on all the new products and services trending in that industry. Their followers are often easily persuaded by them. They also hold influencers views in high regard within their fields of expertise. This is why influencer marketing is so popular and successful. Influencers are often granted early access to new goods before they are available to the general public. This strategy allows a brand to partner with an influencer and builds a campaign centered on the influencer's review, which can persuade followers and bring the brand to the forefront. Generating Leads Influencer marketing's most significant advantage is lead generation. Many social media platforms now have promotional plans tailored explicitly for lead generation. Additionally, this leads to increased website and social media traffic. Influencer marketing gives future buyers a convenient way to show interest in some goods or services. Because of the growing popularity of social media marketing, lead generation has grown over time. Not to be forgotten, influencers play a critical role in forging this bond between brands and their consumers. In today's economy, using influencer marketing is essential. Contact us now to find out more. #### What is meme marketing and is it right for your brand? Memes have taken over the internet and they’ve become a part of our daily lives whenever we’re online. They’re a great way to grab people's attention and can leave a lasting memory. You might have heard of meme marketing, but what exactly is it and how does it work? In this blog, we explore the evolution of meme marketing and its significance in today's marketing landscape. We know meme marketing might not be right for every brand, which is why we’ll also take a look at whether it’s right for your digital marketing strategy as well as provide some tips on how to approach this tactic. What is meme marketing? Meme marketing harnesses the power of popular trends and relatability to captivate audiences. Memes are humorous images, videos or GIFs that can quickly spread across social media platforms like wildfire. It’s a tactic many brands are leveraging to create viral content, tap into the latest trends and cleverly reach millions of millennials and Gen Z audiences. Memes have become a cultural phenomenon and brands have recognised the power of using memes for advertising to engage audiences and increase brand awareness. By tapping into humour and relatability, marketers can connect with internet-savvy users on a deeper level. What are the benefits of meme marketing? If executed successfully, meme marketing can bring a number of notable benefits to a business including: High levels of engagement resulting in increased brand visibility Reaching a wide audience and building a strong emotional connection Increased brand loyalty through relatability A cost-effective way to create content that resonates with audiences Whilst using memes in marketing brings a whole host of benefits for businesses, it’s important to understand the risks posed if done wrong. For example, there is the potential for memes to backfire if misinterpreted and can lead to negative feedback from audiences. That’s why it’s vital for brands to understand their audience and get their messaging on point. Should I incorporate meme marketing into my digital strategy? When deciding if meme marketing is the right digital marketing strategy for your brand, there are several factors to consider. First, assess your brand's tone of voice and personality to determine if it aligns with the humour and light-hearted nature that comes with memes. Understanding your target audience's acceptance of humour and memes in relation to your brand is also crucial. You’ll also want to consider the demographics of your target audience and their engagement with memes, as this will impact the effectiveness of using this tactic.  Additionally, evaluating the potential risks and backlash associated with using memes is essential. It’s worth taking the time to analyse competitors and industry leaders who have successfully used meme marketing to determine if it's suitable for your brand. Our top tips to crafting the perfect meme marketing strategy If you’ve reached the conclusion that meme marketing is right for your brand, then crafting an effective strategy is key. Here are our top tips to creating the perfect meme marketing strategy: Stay updated on trends - keep up-to-date with the most popular memes by following popular meme accounts on social media to identify what’s trending. Infuse your brand voice and personality - be sure to add your own unique twist on popular memes to make them more relevant to your brand. Be original, relatable and use humour - whilst you want to stay on trend, make sure you create original content. You could experiment with different formats such as static images, GIFs and series of memes to keep your audience engaged. Consider your timings - capitalise on timely topics and create relevant memes to increase your chances of going viral, but also be cautious of sensitive times. Don’t forget to measure your success - analysing key metrics such as engagement, shares and brand mentions is key to gauging the effectiveness of your strategy. Let us help you determine if meme marketing is right for you There’s no denying meme marketing can be a fun and engaging way to connect with your target audience, but it's not for everyone. That’s why it’s crucial for businesses to evaluate the relevance of meme marketing to their brand and their audience. If you’re thinking about incorporating meme marketing into your digital marketing strategy and you need guidance on implementing a successful campaign, be sure to contact us today. Our experts can help you navigate the world of memes and create a strategy that resonates with your audience. #### What is software development and why is it important? Computer and mobile applications are essential tools to almost every person living in modern society. From banking to communicating with relatives on the other side of the world these tasks would be difficult (some frankly impossible) without modern software. A lot of this convenience is taken for granted as it is so easily accessible and easy to use. In fact, reports have found that the average person uses 10 apps per day and up to 30 apps per month: and this is only considering mobile devices. But where do these apps come from? How are they made and how many people are required to create them? The answer to all these questions can be found within the domain of software development: The process in which a person or team creates a piece of software which they design to perform a specific task. In this blog, we’ll outline the fundamentals and inner workings of the software development field. What is software development? The person or people who create this kind of software are known as software developers. A software developer identifies, designs, codes, and tests a software system which they have built for a company from start to finish. Once they have created the program, they will also be required in the maintenance aspect of keeping the software up to date and relevant. Software is written in a variety of different coding languages depending on the device on which the software is needed as well as how technical or design-focused the requirements are. Most software developers would know how to write code in a few different coding languages, however, they would also have a main language in which they were most proficient. It would therefore be in a software company’s best interest to hire a variety of software developers with differing skill sets to be able to take on a larger amount of client requests and generate more income. This would also mean that developers who are very proficient in multiple programming languages are highly sought after by companies. The amount of software developers required for the task would depend on a few factors such as the complexity of the task required, the time in which the project needs to be completed and the raw amount of code that needs to be written. In theory, a single highly skilled programmer could create a large application themselves however this would be the equivalent of getting a single builder to construct a skyscraper - it would take a massive amount of time and would lead to burnout of the employee. It would be far more effective and efficient to have a highly skilled software developer oversee a team of other software developers, delegate tasks to them and step in when they reach a challenge that they can not overcome by themselves. What are the steps of the software development process? The steps of the software development process are clearly defined within the stages of the SDLC or Software Development Life Cycle. There are six steps in the basic version of the SDLC and these are: Planning, Define Requirements, Coding, Testing, Deployment and finally Maintenance. Let’s look at each step in more detail. 1. Planning In this step, project managers would calculate the potential expenses and time required for a project. This phase would also involve communication with clients regarding expenses as well. This step should lead to a clear overview of the project from what is required to what resources will be needed throughout. 2. Define Requirements This step is crucial in stating specially, and without room for misinterpretation, what the software is supposed to do and achieve. This gives the developers a concrete structure under which they can begin their work. 3. Coding This is the stage in which the software developers begin their work. The tasks would be distributed by the project managers amongst the developers who would then each have to complete their modules successfully. 4. Testing The testing stage is essential for any project; it is important to ensure that the code written not only produces the required outcome for the project but also does so consistently and without failure. Any error found needs to be amended and recorded by the software developers until the software runs flawlessly. It is inevitable that there will be some errors in the code so this stage is always necessary. 5. Deployment The deployment stage is where the final product is presented and handed over to the client. This step may include training the clients’ employees on how to use the software. This is also a good time to ensure that the software works across a larger scale, there may be some final fixes and amends that need to be made in this step. 6. Maintenance When the software is live it will also need to be updated and improved over time. New issues may arise which weren’t clear before and dependent software may itself be changed and cause a conflict. It is important that the software is monitored by developers and that changes are made to correct any issues, even after release. Closing thoughts The need for software development is only increasing as technology improves. More and more daily tasks are being enhanced by software applications and there seems to be an app for almost everything these days. We’ve explored fundamentals and inner workings of software development but if you’d like to get a deeper understanding in to the web development lifecycle, be sure to check out this blog.  From app development to website hosting, our expert team can help you with your next web development project. Why not give them a call today to see how else they can help? #### What is Technical SEO? Technical SEO is a very significant step in the entire process of SEO. If there are issues with your technical SEO, likely, the expected results will not be generated by your SEO efforts. Therefore, making sure you understand what technical SEO is and how to get it right is crucial. The best part is that you won't have to deal with it again after doing a technical SEO audit of your website and fixing any potential issues. In this post, you will learn what technical SEO is, the tips and guidelines to follow, and how to use our technical SEO checklist to perform a technical audit of your website. Looking for a quick fire way to audit your websites SEO? Look no further than our free instant SEO audit tool, where you can input your websites URL and receive a top-level audit of your websites core SEO metrics. What does technical SEO mean? Technical SEO refers to the procedure for the crawling and indexing phase of optimizing your website. You can help search engines access, crawl, interpret, and index your website without technical SEO problems. It also has nothing to do with the website's actual content or the website's advancement; that is also the reason why it is called "technical". Technical SEO is mainly aimed at optimizing a website's infrastructure. Let's begin with some basic terminology to understand what the true meaning of technical SEO is. Technical SEO, excluding content optimization and link building, relates to all SEO activities. In simple terms, it covers the requirements of search engines to enhance crawling. To keep up with the search engines, which are getting more advanced each day, these specifications are continually shifting and becoming more intricate. So, we can say technical SEO is in a constant state of refinement. To build the appropriate foundation that provides your material and links with the unique available marketing environment, technical SEO needs to be optimized so that you can shine without any hurdles in the search engine results. Why does technical SEO matter? For a few factors, your firm can optimize the technical SEO of your website, including: In search results, Technological SEO affects your rankings as follows: Technical SEO impacts the actions and decisions of your visit to the website. Technical SEO affects the conversion rates, lead generation, and sales of your website. Technical SEO lets the company cope with rivals who use SEO as well. Technical SEO as a digital marketing tool maximizes your ROI from SEO You want to get the most benefit from it if your company spends its time, resources, and money on SEO, whether you are managing your SEO in-house or with the help of an SEO company, including technical SEO optimizations in your strategy. Technical SEO Tips that are Actionable and Important Now that you know the fundamentals of technical SEO, here are a few tips that you can use to enhance the technical SEO of your site and increase your search rankings. Making Mobile-Friendly Website Let's start with the technical SEO tip that's most simple. In 2015, one of the major Google algorithm updates was to give mobile-friendly, responsive websites increased preference. In "Mobilegeddon," several top websites were penalized for not adopting a more mobile-friendly web template. Currently, it is more important than ever to have a mobile-friendly website. Page Speed Optimization Page speed is an ongoing optimization of SEO, and it's a critical one. You help maximize the load time of a page when you optimize the page speed. For apps, a shorter load time means less idle time. Sooner, they will begin to read your content and connect with your blog, which improves their chances of remaining on your website. Ideally, to meet 80 percent of users' needs, you want pages to load in three seconds or less. Using the Google Page Speed Insights tool if you're going to check the speed of your pages. Boost Your Website Website speed and efficiency matters. Google will place a minor penalty on your website if your site is slow and takes a long time to respond. That means your website will rank lower in SERPs than it would if your website had faster load times, even if your content is the gold standard for that specific topic. This is an aspect of technical SEO that you simply can't afford to overlook. Website Architecture Revision The site's design refers to how information on a website is structured; for instance, how pages are arranged into categories or the paths used to move between parts of the site. Website design influences how the web is viewed by both human users and search engine crawlers. For crawlers, logical site design is best because it helps them quickly traverse and index the website. For example, if you are an e-commerce site, consider splitting your product pages into categories that flow into a series of subcategories. This enables site managers to maintain a logical structure and, where necessary, slot new pages into the established system. Build an SEO-Friendly Navigation System If you have a small or big website, you would like to take a second look at your website's navigation. Your navigation also defines your primary navigation menu, which usually appears on your website's top or left-hand side. However, in some instances, the organization can have extra menus that individuals may use to find additional content. Keep seven essential menu items in your main navigation. Make the main menu of your navigation the same across pages. "For navigation items, use keyword-rich anchor text, like "Residential Landscaping Services. Organize menu items inside the sub-menus, if necessary. Think of your most essential pages when deciding which pages to include in your key navigation. These also include pages about goods and services and descriptive pages about the organization and policies. Verdict In conclusion, technical SEO is not a simple job, but ensuring that your carefully designed content ranks well in the SERPs is essential. Without the other, one does not function. In the search engine rankings, it is not enough to write good copy to overturn the competition. Keep the website free of errors that commonly occur when users follow a broken link or incorrect redirection, such as 404 "not found." Several search engine experts advise that such mistakes will tank the scores. Using 301 redirects correctly and patch your broken links. There's a lot more to explore, but this primer should illustrate just why your website's SEO scrutiny will never deter you. The most critical aspect of search engine optimization is technical SEO, whether you like it or not, followed by on-page SEO, which deals with all types of content, and off-page SEO, which deals with link-building techniques. #### What is the difference between a brand and a logo? What is a logo? It is fair to say that everyone knows exactly what a logo is, right? But do they know the difference between a logo and a brand? A logo is the visual identity of your company. It is the initial thing people see or think of when they hear your company name. It enables customers to recognise your business and even what it does at first glance, so it’s really important to get it right. What is a brand? According to Collins English Dictionary, the word “brand” is defined as "A particular product or a characteristic that serves to identify a particular product" Here is what we think at Fifteen: “A brand is the emotional connection between you and the customer. It’s about your values and how you affect your audience.” Dave Sloan, Senior Designer “A brand is everything from the tone of voice to the use of imagery and a logo is just the visual identity that people associate with your brand.” Stephan Salt, Creative Team Leader In short, “Branding” is the practice of actively seeking to manage the meaning your audience attaches to your brand. A brand is the way you communicate with your customer, the values you have and the story you want to tell. When it comes to your brand identity you should map out exactly who you are and what your brand is way before you start your logo creation. Take this burrito analogy, for example, the tortilla wrap, meat, vegetables, cheese (and guacamole, of course) are all elements that make up the logo, and the taste/experience of eating the burrito is the brand. …Sorry, if I have made you hungry! Conclusion So, now that you can see the difference between a logo and a brand lets go into a bit more detail about how a brand works. Let’s start with an existing brand… let’s say, Apple? Ever heard of them? If you have, immediately you should be able to describe what their logo looks like. Once you can see their logo you start to remember experiences you have had with this brand – like your experience owning Apple products. These memories prompt an emotional response to the brand. You recognise you know this company, you know their products and what you liked about them (Or you are an Android user and see Apple as the enemy). With all that said, a logo is just a visual cue that allows the customer to recall their experiences with the brand, sparking conversations, which in turn triggers an emotional connection with the brand. Take a look at this visual below that showcases the differences between a logo and a brand. Now, you may look at this visual and think that the logo isn’t that important and it’s the brand that is fundamental. However, both the logo and the brand are crucial when marketing and trying to build a brand. Finding the meaning, product or service of your company and initially understanding your values and what you are offering to you audience is what makes a great brand. Finding the meaning, product or service of your company and initially understanding your values and what you are offering to you audience is what makes a great brand. Once you have some of these core things in place you can then explore how best to present this information to your audience. #### What is the future of website design? There’s no doubt as we move further and further into the 21st century, web design is going to continue to become more and more important. But what really needs to be at the forefront of businesses minds is responsive website design. The majority of people are living their lives online on their mobile phones and despite this, many businesses still have dated websites that don’t resize correctly on mobile devices. In this blog, we look at where the future of website design is heading and explore some of the key necessities businesses need to consider when it comes to their responsive web design. What is responsive web design? Responsive web design essentially allows websites and pages to render and display on all types of devices. Whether users are looking on desktop, tablet or mobile, responsive web design can automatically adapt to all screen sizes. By adopting this modern web design approach, users won’t become frustrated and businesses won’t lose valuable business leads. Where is the future of website design heading? We’ve already highlighted how most people are using their mobile devices to browse the internet, and mobile-first responsive web design is certainly the future of web design. Think about how often you use your own mobile or tablet device for web browsing. It’s where most people perform local searches, check their emails, browse social media and more.  In 2022, almost 60% of overall website traffic came from mobile devices, and this demand in mobile browsing proves just how much of a necessity a mobile-first approach really is. Taking this approach also allows you to streamline your website design and ensure you display only the key elements of your website prominently on smaller devices. And it’s not just about creating a good looking static website either. With all of the technical capabilities and technologies now available, web developers and designers can create interactive elements that were once seen as impossible over a decade ago. This provides businesses the opportunity to create something truly unique to them and their brand values. What do I need to consider for responsive website design? Designing a website is an exciting experience, no matter the device or screen size you’re focusing on first. However, when taking a mobile-first design approach, there are a few key necessities you need to consider. A positive user experience is key Google’s Insight group carried out research highlighting the importance of relevance and user experience, and they found that if a mobile user does not like the look of a mobile website or find what they are looking for they will leave for another website almost immediately. They also found that if a customer has had a good mobile experience, nearly 70% of users are more likely to buy from the business or company. By considering user experience as part of your responsive website design strategy, along with regular user experience testing, you can uncover opportunities for growth and continue to improve your website. Website speed helps to improve your rankings The speed at which your website loads is incredibly important. A website that loads quickly is likely to have a lower bounce rate and rank better in the search results. Google recommends that the ‘above the fold’ mobile content should load within 1 second and the entire page should load in 2 seconds. Many businesses have slow websites, because they’re either using a slow shared server or have incorrectly optimised their website. Google’s Pierre Farr has also stated that responsive websites are better received by the search engines and rank better, as they only have a single URL and are easier to maintain then a traditional desktop website and mobile website.  Keep your content precise and concise When you’re creating your content, remember your audience is looking for something specific - so give it to them. Don’t purposely ‘fluff’ your content to fill space. Your content should show your audience the order of importance, as this will not only explain to the user which elements of your content are most important but it also tells search engines like Google which parts of your content are authoritative.  Get in touch with our web design experts If you are looking to update your website with a responsive design, or you’re about to embark on a mobile-first responsive web design project and you’re not sure where to begin, get in touch with us today. Our talented web design team can provide you with expert advice and even do all of the hard work for you. #### What Is The Google Site Kit Plugin You probably use Google services for analytics monitoring, performance checking, and other stuff if you run a website. Keeping track of them all can be difficult, which is why WordPress now has a plugin called Google Site Kit. You can add all of your favourite Google webmaster services to WordPress using the official Google Site Kit plugin. You'll be able to access data from your WordPress dashboard, such as Google Analytics statistics, where applicable. What is Google's Site Kit? Site Kit by Google is a free, open-source plugin that gathers data from Google's most important products for WordPress sites in one location. WordPress users will gain centralised insights and Google product features from the WordPress admin panel once the Site Kit is installed. Deep links to Google products are also given for advanced reports and product configuration capabilities. The plugin currently includes four Google tools and products to help WordPress sites evolve, optimise, and monetize. Learn how Google Search users find your stuff.Analyze how people interact with the site using analytics.Set up AdSense and keep track of your earnings.Identify critical efficiency optimizations with PageSpeed Insights. Google Site Kit's Features Google Site Kit pulls data from Google about website management and results and shows it in the WordPress Dashboard. You will get consolidated data for the following items directly in the WordPress Dashboard after downloading the Google Site Kit on WordPress. Google Search Console Google Search Console is a fantastic platform for evaluating how well the website performs in Google. It provides information on indexing, traffic, and other primary search engine optimization (SEO) indicators. Google AdSense For running contextual advertising on your WordPress website, Google AdSense is the industry-leading tool. It is currently one of the best monetization/advertising networks available. Google Analytics Google Analytics is the industry-standard visitor monitoring tool. It offers several ways to track visitors' actions, real-time traffic stats, visitor journeys on your website, and other main performance metrics, including bounce rate and visitors' number (new and returning). PageSpeed Insights This influential Google tool assists webmasters in optimising their websites to load faster on visitors' devices. Simply enter the URL to get this information, which includes a performance grade for mobile and desktop visitors, as well as suggestions and tips. Google Optimize Google Optimize is a method for performing website tests and customising content for different audiences. It aims to improve the user experience by conducting managed tests of various variants and retaining those who perform best. Google Tag Manager Google Tag Manager is a tool that makes managing tags, marks, pixels, and code fragments (scripts) on your website much more accessible. It allows you to monitor and calculate every milestone that happens on your site. It's important to remember that Site Kit is not a substitute for any of the services listed above. Instead, it makes the process of integrating them with WordPress more straightforward. Web Kit, for example, will assist you in manually adding Google Analytics to your site if you haven't done so already. Site Kit also allows you to view key metrics from inside your WordPress dashboard once your services are incorporated. You will see your overall traffic, views, clicks, and goals with Google Analytics, for example. While you don't need a plugin to add all of those services to your WordPress site, Site Kit makes it a lot easier. Advantages of Google Site Kit Minimize the number of plugins on your WordPress website: When your WordPress website has a lot of plugins, it can cause a lot of problems. It raises the likelihood of a security breach and compatibility issues. One of the most significant advantages of the Site kit is removing the need for multiple plugins for different Google software and products. You don't have to worry about an overload of extensions slowing down your clients' websites with a site kit. Another advantage of the site kit is that it eliminates the need to upgrade several plugins since you just have to update one. Since Google created the tool, security is never an issue. It's also small and lightweight, and it's optimised using the latest SEO techniques. Time saver and Automated Processing: The site kit has a reputation for increasing productivity by streamlining workflow in several ways. Many hours are saved by removing many plugins. It eliminates the need to look at several dashboards because you just have to look at one. The plugin is the best because it shows all of the WordPress backend stats. Previously, viewing all of the reports and stats for each platform required downloading a third-party plugin. The time saved can be better used on more urgent issues like customer support and a deeper dive into client project activities. Google Site Kit helps you to manage multiple accounts from a single dashboard view page. Identifying possibilities: The site kit is pre-loaded with all of the vital metrics and analytics needed to maintain and control the client's sites. SEO reports, page speed results, and PPC campaigns are all included. You can select which services you want to integrate with WordPress after you instal the plugin. For example, suppose you choose page speed insights. In that case, the plugin will help you generate a snapshot overview of the tool—an examination of the homepage loading times for both the site's mobile and desktop versions. Furthermore, the Google site package scans and analyses individual pages and blogs. Customer loyalty is increased by transparency: Yeah, we're all mindful of the value of maintaining a healthy level of client contact. The more transparent you are, the more confidence you can gain, and your services will ultimately be valued. The data and the site kit provide the clients with a degree of accountability. WordPress administrators may reach a milestone at any time, thanks to automated monitoring and alerting. When you have access to it, it's less likely that you'll make a mistake while moving data and information from third-party dashboards. Final Thoughts: Many developers and website owners choose Google Site Kit because it gives them access to and manages essential resources and analytics to improve their online assets' performance. Contact us today to find out more about website management and design. #### What is the hamburger menu icon? You might have heard the term ‘hamburger’ being thrown around in the web design world. By now, we’d like to think that the hamburger icon is pretty recognisable. iPhone’s OS, the Facebook app and many of Google’s various offerings makes it a daily used piece of User Interface (UI) for most internet users.  So, what’s the hamburger menu all about? In short, the three stacked lines create a symbol for a menu, which is usually hidden until clicked. This makes the menu icon look like a hamburger thanks to its simplified design. In this blog, we look at the origins of the hamburger menu and explore whether it’s something your website should be incorporating. Where did the hamburger menu icon come from? Although it has rapidly become a popular visual icon for the web and apps, the hamburger icon is actually a lot older than you might think. Back in the 80s, Norm Cox was responsible for its design as part of the interface for Xerox Star, and not much has really changed about its use today. In an interview with designer Geoff Alday, Cox told about how the symbol was created as a “container for contextual menu choices”. The design had to be simple as there were only 16 x 16 pixels to work with. The earliest use of the symbol seems to be from Apple’s old iOS system available on the iPhone 3Gs ‘Voice Memo’ app. The symbol brought in a side menu of recording and further options within the app. Some would credit Apple for the resurgence of the hamburger icon, but its use within Facebook’s app has also caused a revival of the three little lines. All in all, it hasn’t derived too far from its initial creation back in the 90s. Is the hamburger menu icon a good design? There is some debate on whether the hamburger icon is good or bad for digital design. One of the main benefits of the icon is that you can use it to hold as much or as little information as required, so it can function to your needs.  What’s often seen as a drawback however, is that some everyday users still don’t identify it as a universal symbol. Perhaps a few more years of use are what it takes to solidify this icon up there with the trash icon (usually a trash can) and the save icon (usually a floppy disk). One particular way of using the icon and helping users identify its use is to have the icon sit alongside the word ‘menu’. In a study by New Zealand web developer, James Foster, using the word ‘menu’ in tandem with the icon can increase the click rate by 7.2%. Putting the icon inside a box (making it more like a button) is said to increase the click rate by 22.4%. Should I use a hamburger menu design on my website? We believe it all depends on your target market, nature of your website and size of your menu. We would also suggest implementing the hamburger menu on your website for mobile and tablet users. You can even see it in use on this very website when not on desktop. It’s a space saving design, keeping the pages looking uncluttered and modern. We have also seen some great examples of it on desktop sites, so we wouldn’t rule out the minimalist style if it suits your site. There’s always the option of split testing, where you run two versions of your site side by side, with different versions of a menu. This way you can see which menu works best for your audience and apply it. Will my users recognise the menu hamburger icon? Enabling an easy user journey is vital for conversion rates on your site. It is such a well known design feature, that when users spot the menu hamburger icon, they know that’s where they can find what they need. We’ve implemented the hamburger menu design in some of our recent web projects. One website where the menu icon works incredibly well, both on desktop and mobile, is on Sales Geek. What are the alternatives to hamburger menu? When you’re creating an app, or if you have a very simple website there could be other options to favour. Let’s look at Instagram for example. If they were implementing the hamburger icon design, the users would have to click on the menu, choose what they wanted to do before being able to do it. Instead they have what is known as a tabbed menu. This means that the user can immediately click on the most used features like ‘Home’, ‘Search’, and ‘New Post’. This direct access to the functionality keeps the users engaged, and able to switch between features at high speed. Speak to the experts to find out more Hopefully you’re no longer asking yourself ‘what’s the hamburger menu?’ But, if you feel you’re still not sure which menu style to implement on your site, or you feel you need to modernise your website, get in touch with us. We can help with your design and development needs and give you advice on what will work best for your business. #### What is the importance of UX in web development? Web development involves design, not just coding. UX, or user experience, is the design bit of web development. Its main goal is to present the website in a manner likely to convert your visitors into paying customers. In this blog, we’ll discuss the importance of UX in web development and how it will help you deliver and attain your website's objectives. What is UX in web development? User experience encompasses all efforts in web design to ensure a visitor has the best possible journey. UX considers how users connect with the website and how they feel about it. As such, UX in web development seeks to understand where visitors are coming from to ensure the website delivers the answers they need. How do you deliver a good user experience? It is clear that user experience is important, and we shall look into why it is important in a moment. First, how does your website deliver an excellent user experience that leads to conversions and repeat visits? Here are the desirable qualities: A useful website Your website should deliver everything visitors need when they browse for products and services in your industry or market niche. For example, an online bike shop should handle a visitor’s needs who comes asking for bike spare parts. A usable website Your website should remain user-friendly at all times. When visitors face challenges accessing certain content, they will abandon the website in favour of an easier-to-use one. An accessible website Accessing your website should never be a struggle, no matter what device a visitor uses. Whether it’s a laptop, desktop, mobile device, or another internet-capable gadget, the experience should be just as rich. Furthermore, accessibility for people living with disabilities should be excellent. A traceable website Finding your website online should be easy, especially with competition for visitor attention. Therefore, incorporate SEO into the site to make it easy to find. An attractive website This is where UX and UI somewhat merge. You need your website to have a clean and intuitive layout with all content legible without struggling. Additionally, use high resolution and tasteful images alongside engaging content. A user should find looking at the web pages a pleasing experience. Why is UX in web development important? When discussing the importance of UX in web development, consider its intention. From a customer’s perspective, UX in web design ensures the website serves their needs by presenting relevant content in the most helpful, intuitive, and convenient way. How then does UX help your website attain this objective? Good UX in web development increases SEO rankings Proper UX design improves your online presence, which improves your search results rankings. As visitors enjoy their experience on your site, they'll often visit and recommend your site to others, further boosting your ranking. Increased conversions on your website As mentioned, attracting visitors' attention is only useful if you can sustain it, and this is where UX in web development comes in. Research shows that a good UX can increase conversion rates by up to 400%, compared to UI’s 200%. Increased trust and a credible brand image People take time developing trust in brands. This trust only grows as they spend time with you. Your website is the avenue for such interaction. Since your UX determines how long and well such interaction will last, a good UX makes it easier for visitors to trust your brand. Time and cost-saving measures A thorough approach to UX in web development saves your business so much time and costs down the line. Most companies rush through the initial product launch stages with little regard for UX design. Fortunately, a more measured approach to UX design leads to greater rewards and fewer costs. Increased revenue The end game of effective UX in web development is to attract more visitors and sustain their interest enough to gain conversions, which leads to increased business revenue. Conclusion Besides working with UI to give a wholesome browsing experience, UX increases SEO rankings, leads to more conversions, minimises costs and time wastage, makes your brand trustworthy and credible, and increases business revenue. You only need to have yours professionally executed to reap these rewards. And that’s where Fifteen comes in. Our talented web development team can help to ensure UI and UX are utilised effectively across the whole of your website. And it doesn’t end there so be sure to check out the full range of services we offer including web design and digital marketing services and if you have any questions, get in touch with us today! #### What is the importance of web development? Web development is the process of creating websites that allow users to view and interact with content over the Internet. Web development includes many different aspects, including the creation of a website’s design and code to create a functioning website. In this blog post, we look at the importance of web development. The importance of web development 1. It brings businesses to life Web development is a critical part of bringing business ideas to life. In the 21st century, a solid web presence is essential for any business. This is because it gives potential customers a glimpse into the company's culture and values, whilst also helping with branding and marketing. It also provides customers with a consistent experience across different platforms. Web development is also important because it can help you stand out from competitors who aren't as tech-savvy. If your website looks dated or unprofessional, customers may be turned off by your brand, even if they're interested in your products or services. 2. It's a way of building relationships with customers Web development is important for building relationships with customers because it allows you to meet your customers' needs in a way that makes sense to them. If your website isn't easy to use, if it looks outdated, or if it doesn't do what you promised it would do, then you may lose the trust of your customers. However, if you have a great website that meets all of their needs and has features they're excited about, then they're going to come back again and again. 3. It's a way of creating more leads and sales Web development is important for creating more leads and sales because it makes it easy for customers to find your business online. If you don't have a website, then people can't find you when they go looking, and they'll probably just go somewhere else. This can be especially problematic if you're trying to reach out to a new demographic or appeal to a new market. 4. It's a way of differentiating your business from competitors Web development is important for differentiating your business from competitors because it can help you stand out from the crowd. If you have a website that is well-designed, easy to navigate, and visually appealing, you will be more likely to attract customers than similar businesses that don't have these features. With a website, your company can also offer more information about itself than it could through print advertising alone. This can help you build trust with potential customers by showing them in-depth the products and/or services that you can provide them with. 5. It's a way of increasing traffic, engagement and conversion rates for a website Web development is a way of increasing traffic, engagement and conversion rates for a website because it can help you to create a site that is easy to navigate. This will help users to find what they're looking for quickly, which can increase the likelihood that they will return to your site in future. The more effective your web development is, the more likely it is that you will have positive interactions with your audience. This can encourage users to share content on social media and encourage others to be captivated by your content and subsequently visit your website. 6. It can help increase brand awareness and loyalty among existing customers Web development can help increase brand awareness and loyalty among existing customers in a variety of ways. For example, websites that are designed to be intuitive and easy to use will create an enjoyable experience for users, which can help them develop a positive association with the brand. Also, if a website is easy to navigate, it will make it easier for customers to find what they're looking for and make purchases. Web development can also help customers build relationships with your business. For example, social media platforms can be used to share news about new products or services. This helps build trust between you and your customers because they'll feel like they're getting inside information. If you’re looking for a website development agency that offers effective online web development solutions that deliver ROI via increased sales and cost savings, be sure to get in touch with our team today! #### What Is The Loyalty Loop & How Can Brands Benefit From It? For most brands, the main goal is to capture their customers and for them to ultimately make a purchase. For this to happen, consumers have to go on a decision journey. In the past, marketers have used the marketing funnel model; where consumers start by looking at several brands, and then filter down until they choose the one to purchase from. However, the way consumers now shop is more complex and thought through. Consumers read up on reviews, take note of recommendations, research into competitors, look around for discounts and more. The best way to look into how consumers now shop, is by looking at the loyalty loop. This marketing model is a little more complex, but still very easy to understand, with just 6 key stages. I'll break this down for you below.  The Loyalty Loop Journey Consider The consumer journey now starts by considering brands for the product they wish to purchase, this may start with knowing the major competing brands. Evaluate Once they've found a few brands they're thinking of buying from, they will then research into them or rely on recommendations from friends, family or reviews. Buy Well, this is self explanatory, once they've evaluated the brands, they will then make a purchase with their chosen one. Enjoy If the consumer has had a positive experience with the brand, for example, the customer service was really helpful, the website was easy to use, the in-store experience was fun or even the quality of the product was as expected, they are more likely to want to experience it again. Advocate As a result of the enjoyable experience, the consumer is going to advocate, which is where they will recommend the brand or product to their friends, write a positive review or even make a repeat purchase. Bond If all continues to be positive, the consumer is likely to bond and trust the brand and their products. So, How Can You Benefit From Looking At The Loyalty Loop? Every business should be looking into their consumers journey. Are they enjoying it? How can your brand be initially considered? Did they bond with the brand? To find out the answer to these types of questions, you should be sending out questionnaires or reviews for those who've made a purchase. You can ask about where they heard of you, or just generally how they thought their purchase experience was. This information is vital to improve your consumer journey. If you're a new business and haven't had enough customers to get clear insights, you could create a campaign that will increase your brand visibility, so that your brand is more likely to be considered. This will put your brand at the start of the loyalty loop. If you've already had plenty of customers, but they aren't re-purchasing from you, then you could be sending out discounts to these customers, to keep them bonded and loyal to your brand. There's all sorts you can be doing to bring in more customers and to keep them happy! #### What is the web development lifecycle? The most successful websites need three fundamental things: compelling content, impressive aesthetics and functionality that's suited to the organisation’s business aims. This all needs to be wrapped in strong branding and powerful SEO and user experience (UX) values. Easy, right? Far from it. Building and maintaining a website that attracts and converts leads takes strategic planning right across the web development life cycle. Which leads to the question, what is the web development lifecycle? The first step to a high-performance website Creating a website that achieves your business goals will rarely involve taking the easy route and opting for an online template. Nor can you merrily design beautiful pages in step one! The beginning of web development involves extensive research and consideration, including a competitor analysis and work to firm up your brand if necessary. Also, the best websites are customer-centric. They are designed and built based on valuable business intelligence about user behaviour, buying preferences and decision-making. In other words, you must create a website based on an understanding of who your customers are, and their preferences, needs and expectations. Building up your content Some people prioritise the next step over this one, but deciding the purpose and contents of your website helps to inform the design process. Is your primary aim to inform, educate, persuade, sell or influence – or a mixture? Your brand identity and brand statements (USPs) then need to dictate colours and other theming choices, as well as your images, infographics, text and other content. This is when you want to plot out how to support search engine optimisation with keywords too. Designing a successful website The next part of the web development lifecycle is creating a customised design, using a versatile platform like WordPress or bespoke coding. You will probably progress through artwork that demonstrates the proposed layout – including a site plan – before the construction of a wireframe. This is when you decide where you will place menus, tabs and content on your prototype site. With that all agreed, the back-end aspects of your website, especially payment and customer relationship management systems – can be decided on. You will get a dashboard that enables you to add and remove data. Throughout all of this, it's essential to keep your website ‘on brand’, distinctive and easy on the eye. Checking your UX That last point is not just about pages looking great. One of the basic principles of user experience is ensuring that page visitors find what they need at a glance, and move to your action page (buy, register, visit or so on) in as few clicks as possible. Is the most important information at the top of the page, and is your call to action loud and clear? Beyond clarity and navigation, the other things to pin down at this stage include page loading speeds and - if it's an eCommerce site - a checkout page that’s seamless and stress-free. Functionality and simplicity One of the biggest enemies of UX is a web developer or site owner who goes overboard with data files and plugins! Of course, you need the correct functionality and content, like product directories that match your business goals. However, hefty data files and too many features will slow your site down and cause you to lose leads. Also, make sure this is a responsive website that works equally well across all browsers and devices. If you have completed the first stages in a well-researched and considered way, your website should be simple to use, streamlined and effective. After your website goes live Does the web development lifecycle end when your site is live? Far from it. As the word ‘cycle’ implies, web development is a never-ending process! You should have built in some handy analytical features that enable you to regularly evaluate how well you are attracting and converting leads. Also, refreshing your content regularly is vital for SEO and UX. Programme updates and other housekeeping tasks keep your site secure and functioning well too. Crucially, you also need to continuously back up your website data and maintain the most up-to-date cyber security measures. Much of this involves you - or an outside expert - regularly testing your website's performance across multiple fronts. In other words… the web development life cycle has a start, but no finish! If you’re about to embark on your next web development project, why not let us do all the hard work we’ve outlined above for you? Our specialist web development team can help with your project from responsive web development to website hosting. Check out the full range of services we offer to help you! Get in touch with us if you’re ready for us to take on your next project or if you have any questions. #### What is UI design for website development? In computer science, a user interface is the set of elements on a device or application that enable a user to interact with it. User interface design refers to creating the user interface for software, websites, or applications. It's about programming the appearance of objects to facilitate usability and enhance the user experience. What is the importance of a good user interface in web design? From our experience as a web development studio specialising in site design and development, we know that a well-designed user interface is critical since it enables your target audience to see your products. It is created so that it displays the services you offer, capturing your visitors' interest and keeping them on your site. Simply said, a strong User Interface is critical since it promotes interactions between the user and your website or web application. When you scratch the surface, you'll discover that user interface design is a highly sophisticated discipline that requires predicting user preferences and building an interface that understands and fulfils those desires. The user interface looks good and optimises a website's responsiveness, efficiency, and accessibility. It is professional web design since the user interface is critical. In other words, UI design will aid in increasing your website's conversion rate. An interface is a point at which a user interacts with a website. The user interface is a critical component of developing an engaging website. A well-designed user interface combines visual design, interaction design, and information architecture seamlessly: Visualization Visual design enhances a site's decorative value by strategically using elements such as typefaces, colours, and images. When done well, the visual design enhances the elegance of a page without sacrificing its purpose or information. Interactive design The interactive design examines how users engage with technology. It then uses this understanding of such interactions to produce a well-thought-out interface with well-thought-out behaviours. Excellent interaction design anticipates how a user will interact with a system and anticipates and resolves difficulties in advance. Additionally, it may discover novel ways for a system to connect with and respond to users. Architecture of Information The purpose of information architecture is to assist users in locating the data they require to fulfil specific tasks. It entails labelling, structuring, and arranging digital material in a readily accessible and sustainable manner. Additionally, you should be aware that information architecture affects a site's SEO performance. When a digital agency offers genuine SEO services, SEO specialists place a premium on information structure. User interface (UI) is a critical component in mobile application design. Over the last few years, Google and other search engines have made numerous modifications to the SERPs and implemented an updated algorithm based on evaluating the user interface and user experience to obtain more reliable and high-quality information. Thus, UI and UX design are critical components of site advertising in 2021. Choosing User Interface Design Elements Users anticipate an interface to operate and behave in a certain manner. When creating a user interface, it is advised that the interface be predictable, concise, and consistent. This increases the efficiency with which it completes tasks and, as a result, user pleasure. A functional user interface is composed of numerous pieces. These may include the following: There are numerous input controls available, including buttons, toggles, and checkboxes. Sliders, search fields, and icons are all examples of navigation components. Tooltips, notifications, message boxes, and progress bars are all examples of information components. Elements of a call to action (see how to create a perfect Call to Action button). Containers, especially accordion-style containers. Consult an expert When deciding which elements to include in a User Interface Design, it's always prudent to weigh the trade-offs. For example, an element may save you space yet burden the user unnecessarily and degrade the user experience. Best Practices in User Interface Design Creating the ideal user interface requires an intimate knowledge of the users and a grasp of their inclinations, preferences, abilities, and objectives. Bear in mind the following strategies for creating an effective user interface. Simple interfaces are preferable—use plain language and avoid superfluous components. Consistency is achieved through the use of standard UI elements. Utilize elements that users are accustomed to. This guarantees that tasks are completed quickly. Additionally, it ensures the user's comfort and satisfaction. Utilize intelligent, intentional page layouts. Attempt to draw attention to the website's most vital features. Colours and textures should be used effectively to direct the user's attention to a specific or assigned component. Utilize the typography to improve the readability and legibility of the information. Wherever possible, use defaults to alleviate the user's load.  5 UI Design Mistakes To Avoid Not implementing a user-centred design: This section is easy to overlook, even though it is a critical UI design feature. When designing, keep the user's needs, preferences, and problems in mind. Choosing not to do so may have a detrimental effect on your firm and result in its collapse. Not gaining a better understanding of the target audience: This point exemplifies what we just discussed. Rather than designing according to your interests and tastes, design as if you were the customer. Simply consider what the client would enjoy, and if possible, perform a poll or conduct an interview with several potential customers to gain a true understanding of their needs. Excessive usage of dynamic effects: Using excessive animation effects does not equate to a brilliant design. Thus, minimising unnecessary decorative animations might contribute to the user experience's optimization. Not researching further: the pressure of meeting deadlines and a heavy workload may prevent the designer from exploring further avenues for inspiration and creativity before developing their design concept. Preparing an excessive amount of material in advance. Especially in the early stages of design, we simply want to have the correct mental image of the design and begin work. However, this approach is not always effective. At times, examining additional sources can provide some startling information. Verdict: We established what a user interface is in this article, defined the term 'user interface design,' and discussed the necessity of a good user interface in the context of web development. Additionally, we discussed the elements that should be included in the user interface and concluded with a list of best practices to keep in mind while creating a user interface. If you need a hand optimising your website or want some assistance with your digital marketing contact us today and we'll help turn clicks into conversions. #### What is UX design? As technology and techniques continue to improve, the way in which websites and mobile apps are built have become increasingly sophisticated. Regardless of how much has changed in the development process, the success of a website is still determined by one major factor, user experience (UX). How your consumers perceive your website or app when they’re using it, directly influences whether they become a regular visitor or not. But just what is UX design? In this blog, we explain what UX design is along with its fundamentals, plus we share some tips to creating an engaging and rich user experience for your customers. What is UX design? Firstly UX, or user experience, refers to how individuals engage with a particular product. For example, when we wish to turn on a light in a room, we interact with a light switch. The switch’s design may affect our perception of the encounter, including its colour, material, and physical appearance. In a digital environment, UX refers to everything that influences a user’s engagement with a digital product in digital design. When a consumer wants to purchase a product online, they frequently rate their buying experience using the following criteria: Value - is this product valuable to me? Function - is the product effective? Usability - is the product simple to use? Perception - overall, is it comfortable to use? As well as this, consumers will rate their overall online experience when purchasing their product. Visitors have a goal in mind when visiting a website or app and if they can’t complete their goal with ease, you can guarantee they won’t intend to visit again. That’s where effective UX design comes into play. What is UX design for Mobile? UX design for mobile focuses on creating intuitive, user-friendly interfaces for mobile devices. It involves understanding user behaviour and needs to design seamless, efficient interactions. Key elements include responsive layouts, easy navigation, fast load times, and accessible touch controls. By prioritizing user experience, mobile UX design ensures that apps are not only functional but also enjoyable, enhancing overall satisfaction and engagement. Effective UX design leads to higher user retention and success in the competitive mobile market What are the fundamentals of UX design? When it comes to UX design, there are certain aspects of UX to be aware of. Humans are both intellectual and emotive, which both influence how users perceive a product. This is why user experience needs to be concerned with what people think and how they feel. Additionally, UX is context dependent so it’s important to understand the role a product plays in your consumers lives. If you’re able to convince your audience your products bring value to their lives and are functional and easy-to-use, this is the first step to creating excellent UX design. The next fundamental of UX design is how easy your customers can purchase their product on your website or app. This is where user experience is concerned with website speed, functionality, ease-of-use and checkout process amongst other things. Ensuring these elements are seamless is key to a consumer becoming a return customer. 3 factors to consider when creating exemplary UX design As we’ve mentioned, UX design is all about how effortlessly a website or app enables users to accomplish their goals when visiting your online business. Here are a few factors to consider when creating exemplary UX design. Experiential intuition If your business owns an app, it’s important to ensure your users can launch and use it with ease and they don’t need much advice or instructions to be able to use it efficiently. A key factor to consider here is the fact that it will undoubtedly take time for your user to use your app and therefore you need to consider experiential intuition with your UX design. A user's intuitive use of an app will be influenced by other interactions they’ve had with other apps and those experiences will almost certainly be comparable to your app. In this instance, it’s vital to ensure your app is easy-to-use. For example, ensure your content is rendering correctly for different devices, your navigation is easy-to-use and that all functionality works correctly and as it should so your users can enjoy a positive experience when using your app. Continuity and coherence Coherence should be a key consideration with your UX design. There are UX design standards that should be adhered to which are influenced by platform manufacturing rules, otherwise known as criteria for Human Interface Design (HID). Some of these standards have been set based on previous UX designs from other brands, where successful UX designs have been used for inspiration and bad designs have been ignored. As well as coherence, continuity should also be a key consideration and this tends to stem from user expectations. Based on previous experience with other brands, websites and apps, users will become accustomed to certain design elements and functionality of a website or app, and this is something that UX designers need to factor into their work. For example, a customer may expect to see a CTA button in a certain place on a page and if it’s somewhere different than where they’d expect, it can lead to a bad user experience and potentially cost you a conversion. Specifications of the platform The type of platform you are creating can have a significant impact on your UX design, as interface methods will differ in many ways. While the difference between two mobile devices may be minimal, the interface between a smartphone and a desktop for example will be significantly different. Not only will HID guidelines differ widely between platforms, they will also differ between brands. Certain organisations may have highly specific and stringent criteria for app developers to follow, whereas other businesses may offer more open-ended criteria that allow for new, more efficient designs without jeopardising design consistency. So when it comes to your UX design, it’s important you’re clear on your brief and what you want to achieve from your user experience and also be mindful of the huge range of platforms and devices available as this will impact the overall design. Let us help with your UX design As we can see, UX design is a nuanced science influenced by various circumstances. However, getting it right is vital to a website or app’s success. We hope we’ve been able to answer the age old question: ‘what is UX design?’ and we’ve been able to give you some tips to creating successful UX designs. By simply putting your customers’ needs first, learning about their expectations, and then exceeding those expectations, you’ll develop a bank of devoted consumers who will sing your praises and help spread the word about your brand.  If you’d like us to help with your UX design, be sure to contact us today. Our UX design specialists will work closely with you to understand your brand and your customers and devise you a UX strategy that is sure to provide your audience with a seamless user journey. #### What is web development language, and how do I choose the best one? Web development work’s popularity is increasing because of how websites are critical for business and all other areas of life. Competent and experienced web developers are highly marketable, earning significantly higher salaries. Understanding web development languages will not only improve your proficiency in web development, but also present more job opportunities. This blog explains the most popular web development languages and shows you how to choose the best one. What are web development languages? A web development language or a programming language is a vocabulary and set of grammatical rules used in instructing a computing device to perform certain tasks. It is commonly referred to as coding language. In web development, the developer uses coding or programming language to create websites and ensure those sites look good and are easy to navigate, while monitoring and maintaining their capacity and performance. What are the popular web development languages? Python Python has become the most popular programming language, one step higher than JavaScript. The language is beginner-friendly, versatile, and suitable for AI development. Its simplified syntax makes it beginner-friendly and easily the easiest coding language to learn. Even experienced web developers are learning the language, further stressing its importance among programming languages. JavaScript JavaScript is a compulsory language to learn for anyone interested in web development. It is arguably the best language for web development, holding the number one rank for eight years in a row as of 2020. Web developers rely on JavaScript to create dynamic web elements like interactive maps, animated graphics, clickable buttons, etc. In addition, most web browsers use JavaScript, which irons out most compatibility issues for websites. Furthermore, its simplicity means those without coding experience will have an easy time learning the language. It helps that there are numerous online institutions offering training in JavaScript, and a strong support community to help you address any issues you might face. Java Java is a general-purpose programming language that works on virtually all operating systems. It’s the preferred language for most back-end system support activities. In addition, it is a robust and secure language with an extensive library of tools for development work. It also has simple syntax, which makes it easy to learn. Java's popularity, simplicity, and versatility make it ideal for more than web development. It’s commonly used for desktop GUI applications, mobile app development, gaming, web-based, cloud-based, and IoT applications. HTML HTML is a markup language for structuring a web page and its content. While some argue that it’s not a coding language, it is nonetheless an important language to learn for web development. Without it, all the sections, headings, links, and paragraphs of text in a website would be disorganised. Besides structuring web pages, HTML is used for navigating the internet by linking web pages, enabling client-side data storage and offline capabilities, embedding videos and images, and interacting with native APIs. PHP PHP is a server-side scripting language embedded in HTML. PHP is simple, fast, and flexible, preferred by most web developers, considering that 79.1% of websites with server-side programming rely on it. Major users include Facebook, Wikipedia, WordPress, and Zoom. Web developers use it to manage databases, dynamic content, and to build e-commerce webpages. How do I choose the best language? Choosing the best programming language depends on what you aim to accomplish. As a web developer, it’s essential to be at least familiar with the languages on our list. Proficiency in several, depending on your area of web development specialisation, is a bonus. Considering that the best here is dictated by need, here are some questions to ask to choose a language for yourself: How easy is the language to learn? If you need to learn the language fast, or you can only learn it part-time, you’ll need to pick an easy one to learn. Fortunately, most of those on our list aren’t too complicated. How popular is a language for web development? While coding is extensive, those on our list are the most sought-after for web development work. How versatile is the language? Web development is extensive, meaning you also need to have extensive skills. Learning a language that matches that criterion should be your priority. Are there ample learning resources? Some programming languages have a multitude of learning resources, including guides, how-to videos and more. Others are more limited in what they provide or what other users have created. Why do you need to learn the language? If you’re learning for personal development, you have more leeway over the choice. In contrast, you probably have specific ones to learn if it's a work requirement. For career progression, learn the most marketable ones in your field. Conclusion Web development languages are critical to web development work and increasingly important in other careers, considering all organisations and even individuals have a website. Therefore, you need to learn one or two if you’re looking to accelerate your career progression and comfortably navigate the new world. We know web development language can be a confusing world for those who are not already familiar with it. That’s where our experienced web development team comes in. They’ll advise you on the best solutions based on what you’re trying to achieve. Take a look what else the team can help you with and be sure to contact us if you’d like to discuss in more detail. #### What is website migration? A website migration is a term used to describe any significant changes to a website’s setup. This can include changes such as a URL or domain name change or even more complex changes such as the migration of a website to an entirely new server host or in extreme cases moving the website platform itself. Read on to explore the process of a website migration, the risks that can come from this process as well as what you’ll need on your website migration checklist if you’re about to take on this task. What is the website migration process? Different platforms allow different features, appearances, and performances so it may be necessary to switch platforms should the need arise. Platforms also update and change functionality themselves to improve which can often lead to a need for website migration. These updates can range from minor bug fixes and small feature updates to major version upgrades with completely new features, UX, and more. Website redesign is an entirely separate type of migration. One would still keep one’s files and content yet a migration is often still necessary due to capacity or software requirements. There are consequences for updating to new and better technology and design such as acquiring new hosts, moving to new platforms, and changing to a fresh domain. This requires the website to set up competent 301 redirects in order to redirect the users to the new URLs. A crucial part of rebrands is site redesigns. Design changes can increase user experience as well as make certain functions more obvious and accessible. Over design unfortunately can lead to code with bugs or completely misalign the site's architecture. Ultimately well-implemented web redesign can lead to an improvement in traffic and accessibility yet poor redesign can lead to 404 errors and failed SEO. For example, imagine a huge e-commerce site undergoing a massive redesign. If a web developer who doesn’t know the ins and outs of the site is tasked with combining pages or re-structuring their navigation menu to fit a new design, the site could end up with many 404 pages. A website change itself can seriously affect a website’s visibility regarding Search Engine Optimization or SEO and so it is a decision that must be seriously considered before it is implemented as it can lead to a drastic loss of income and traffic if handled poorly. It is possible however to perform a successful migration without a loss in earnings or traffic and in many cases, it may even be possible to boost visibility by using a more relevant domain name. What should be on my website migration checklist? Due to the varying risks involved when migrating a website it is important to ensure that as much as possible is done to prevent or reduce damage to traffic and performance. Some of the following listed below can help with this: Decide how necessary the migration is Think carefully about how urgent it is that the migration needs to be performed. In some cases it is unavoidable or necessary for growth but it is important to understand that the migration can lead to issues if handled poorly and there may be other actions that can be implemented instead of having to attempt a full migration. If in doubt, it may be wiser to higher professionals with a great track record to handle the migration for you. Create a backup of the website In the event of the website migration or launch failing it would be very useful to have the option to backtrack changes and revert to the previous site. You should have a clear plan of action to be put into place in the event of failure and be fully confident that the backup can be utilised if necessary. This can save a lot of time and could turn a possible catastrophic failure into a minor inconvenience. Site crawling Crawling your website to create a detailed and comprehensive list of URLs and content will be a valuable resource that you can use when redirecting your old URLs in your new setup. Retain ownership of your old domain It is crucial that you have access to your old domain even after the migration is fully completed. You may need the backlinks from the previous domain and furthermore this can double up as a further backup for your site until you are certain that you no longer need it. Closing Thoughts Unfortunately there is no guaranteed way to ensure that a website migration will go fully according to plan the first time yet with a strong fail safe system one can be prepared for most contingencies and can at the very least roll back to an older version.  On the flip side, well planned migration can mean that your site will lose little to no traffic or revenue and still benefit from the upgrades of the migration itself. That’s where our expert web development team can step in to help. If you’re thinking about completing a website migration, or you’re unsure if it’s necessary for you and your business, get in touch with us today and we’ll advise you on the next best steps. #### What is website testing and why is it important? Launching or refreshing a website is a huge milestone, but it’s what happens after the design and development that often makes the biggest difference. That’s where website testing comes in. Website testing allows you to make sure your site works exactly as it should. From speed and usability, to browser compatibility and SEO, it's how you identify and fix issues before they impact your users or site performance. Keep reading because in this blog, we’ll explain what website testing is, why it’s important, and key areas you should focus on, so your website performs its best from day one. What is website testing? Website testing consists of a series of checks that are carried out on a website to ensure it performs as it should across all browsers, devices, and user types. Whether you’re launching a brand new site or making improvements to an existing one, it’s a vital part of any website project. Testing a website encompasses both technical and user-facing elements. On the technical side, it ensures everything loads properly, functions as expected, and integrates seamlessly with third-party tools or platforms. On the user-facing side, it enables people to easily navigate the site, interact with content, and complete key actions like filling in a form or completing a purchase. In short, it’s how you make sure your website is doing what it’s supposed to - reliably, quickly, and smoothly - for everyone who visits. And when done properly, website testing helps you catch problems early, improve user satisfaction, and drive better results from your online presence. Why is website testing important? Your website is often the first touchpoint people have with your brand. If something doesn’t work - whether that’s a broken form, a slow page, or an unclear user journey - your audience may leave without converting. Or worse still, you might never know they were there in the first place. That’s why website testing is so important because it helps you: Catch bugs and design flaws before launch Optimise your pages for load speed and performance Improve experience for both mobile and desktop users Spot SEO issues that could impact organic traffic Boost engagement and conversions by removing friction By regularly testing and refining your site, you stay ahead of issues and give users the best possible impression of your business. How do you test a website? There are several ways to test a website, each designed to tackle different areas of performance and usability. If you’ve ever wondered how do you test a website effectively, here's a breakdown of the key components you should primarily focus on. Browser and platform testing Not everyone uses the same device or browser, which is why testing your website across multiple browsers and platforms is vital. Browser testing ensures your site loads and runs well on a range of different browsers, like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Platform testing ensures that your site works efficiently across different devices, such as a laptop, smartphone, or tablet. Cross-browser and cross-platform testing typically checks for things like: Layout issues or broken elements Compatibility with different screen sizes Functional consistency on your menus, buttons, and forms The variety of different browsers and platforms means that it can be easy to miss these kinds of issues and it can be detrimental. If a user can’t access your site, they could potentially leave and go to a competitor’s site. But with browser and platform testing, it can help you address issues and ensure you’re not missing out on valuable site traffic. Website speed testing These days, we expect speed in almost every aspect of our lives, and the same goes for a website. If a site is taking too long to load, then it’s unlikely that a user will hang around. Speed is also a major ranking and usability factor, and a slow website not only frustrates users but also affects your visibility in search engines. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix can not only help assess page load speed, but also identify areas for improvement, such as: Image optimisation Server response time Unnecessary scripts or code bloat With a website speed test, you can get an in-depth look at how long your site takes to load and what aspects and elements could be changed to make your site run quicker. You don’t want to lose traffic due to something simple like a large image file or a faulty autoplay on a video. A speedy page load is critical for getting users to your site and keeping them there. User experience testing The most important thing for any business looking to improve their website traffic is the quality of their user experience (UX). UX is all about bringing value to your target audience and it’s what keeps users coming to a website and potentially even recommending it to others. That’s why it’s hugely beneficial to have your site’s UX thoroughly tested. User experience testing ensures your site is intuitive, enjoyable, and easy to navigate. It tracks how your users interact with your pages, what they click, how far they scroll, and where they drop off. Some common UX tests include: Heatmaps and user session recordings A/B testing of layouts or content User journey reviews and feedback sessions The ultimate goal is to remove friction, streamline paths to conversion, and create a seamless experience from the very first click. UX is one of the most important aspects of website testing and it shouldn’t be overlooked. SEO testing A beautiful, functional site won’t deliver results if it can’t be found. You have to find the relevant search terms and phrases that potential visitors will use to find your site, and you need to include these throughout your pages to improve their search engine ranking. Optimising a site for SEO isn’t just an important part of owning and running a successful website - it’s a must. This is because it gives your site the chance to stand out, climb up the rankings, and attract the right audience organically. SEO testing ensures your website is structured and properly optimised for search engines, and this will typically include: Checking on-page SEO elements like titles, headings, and meta descriptions Structured data and internal linking Mobile optimisation and Core Web Vitals Identifying indexing issues or crawl errors via tools like Google Search Console Let us help with your website testing With any website project, it’s important to ensure your site doesn’t fade into the background, and website testing can ensure this doesn’t happen. From boosting performance, increasing traffic, and generating revenue, there are a multitude of benefits to thoroughly testing a website. At Fifteen, we believe that great websites are built on insight, not guesswork. That’s why website testing plays a crucial role in every digital project we deliver. If you're about to launch a new site or you’re improving an existing one, we’re here to ensure everything works exactly as it should - for every user, every time. Get in touch with us today to find out more about how we can help with your next web project. #### What Social Media Platforms are Right for Your Business Pretty much every business should have a social media presence. Yet, a common misperception is that people think they should be on every platform. So what should you consider before choosing what platforms are right for your business? Essentially it all comes down to content - does your business have the potential to compose the right kind of content for each platform. Instagram and LinkedIn are completely different platforms that reach very different audiences. LinkedIn focuses on business relationships, while Instagram is more personable. This distinction means you would not post the same content on each. Here are some things to consider when choosing some of the major platforms. Instagram Instagram is an app that is visually led, designed to showcase interesting and beautiful videos and photographs. If your business is unable to produce images or videos that would catch people’s interest, then the platform is not for you. Say for example you’re a small accountancy firm based in a, let’s say unflattering office, with little to no meetings in exciting locations. These surroundings will make it difficult to produce content for Instagram. There are creative ways of producing content for this kind of page, but it would require a lot more effort. An industry such as travel agents is better positioned to post stunning imagery of getaways. LinkedIn Linkedin for businesses is designed for B2B companies. So anyone looking for investments, careers or business deals should be on LinkedIn. LinkedIn provides a platform for more fact-based content, as opposed to more “fluffy” stuff. Having said that, the platform has started to become a little bit more like Facebook in recent times. This may be because many LinkedIn users aren’t on Facebook- so there is no need to create distinct identities. Twitter Twitter has become an odd platform for businesses, with the number of monthly users falling to the point that they stopped releasing figures. The platform is a micro-blog that requires a lot of love, and by love, I mean a lot of posts. If you look at what I’d call the kings of Twitter, Paddy Power, they post several times a day, and during relevant events, they provide a constant stream of tweets. That is time-consuming and to be at that level, it requires full-time staff that most can’t afford. We often recommend that businesses avoid Twitter due to minimal returns for the efforts but the platform can have benefits if given a lot of love. Twitter can also act as a good customer service platform, where you can tackle issues and gain credibility and respect. Facebook One platform we rarely advise against using is Facebook. The only cases we’ve had is where a business is purely B2B - in which case LinkedIn may be the only platform for them. The reason why the platform works for so many businesses is that it is a bit of a combination of the three aforementioned platforms. On Facebook, people appreciate great photos and videos as well as informative information. So whether you’re sharing a relevant article or a great image of your product, it works on Facebook. Facebook advertising is also very advanced and allows you to target specific markets (this includes Instagram, which is owned by FACEBOOK). Another reason why it is relevant to most B2C businesses. Snapchat Snapchat lived a short and sweet high-life but was killed off by Instagram's new features. The app does still have a large number of active users, however, the market is young so businesses using the platform should appeal to teenagers. As Snapchat is video-led, it is also important to consider whether you can generate regular and entertaining video content that will appeal to this market. Only time will tell if this demographic will stick with the app as they mature. At Fifteen Design we work tirelessly to create unique and interesting social campaigns designed to drive leads, sales and influence. Contact us now to find out more about how social media management can transform the way you do business. #### What Social Media Should My Brand Be Using & Why? There are now at least 10 major social media channels, all in which have different features, aims and styles to each other. So, how do you know which social media channels your brand should be using? For different types of brands, or to market towards different people, you will need to be using different social networks. Every brand should be using more than one social media platform to communicate with their customers, as your customers are likely to be using more than one, and they're going to be using different ones, for different reasons. Facebook Facebook is still the most popular social media platform, with over 1.79billion users! Every brand should be on Facebook. You can create yourself a company profile, and on here you can be posting about latest news, offers, blog posts, videos, and loads more! Customers can also write reviews, message with enquiries and if you allow them to, they can also post directly onto the page. On Facebook, you can also be creating paid for adverts, from brand awareness to lead campaigns. They are regularly adding new features on here, for example Facebook Canvas is one of their growing new advert styles. Twitter The 140 character social platform is great for all brands who want to be creating a conversation with their customers. Many brands have started to have their customer service chats on twitter, over using call centres, as it's quick and easy for customers to enquire and for you to reply back. Read more about Twitters new chatbot feature here. You can also get involved with trending hashtags, or even create your own to start a new conversation. Instagram For brands selling products, Instagram is a great platform, especially for fashion, beauty or lifestyle brands. Instagram is a far more visual platform, and is all about communicating with your customers through visuals, rather than through text. Hashtags are also a huge part of Instagram, you can either create your own, or you can engage with existing hashtags to reach and let your customer react with. They are also soon to be launching an in-app shopping experience, find out more about that here.  Snapchat More brands have been using snapchat, especially through the story feature. Customers are loving behind the scenes clips, Q&As, and getting exclusive sneak peaks and discounts through this channel. With just 10 seconds for each snap, make each one pack a punch! Brands have been successfully using the story function to give their customers an insight into special events, and fashion weeks. LinkedIn If your brand is offering a service, LinkedIn is a great platform to be making a presence on. Loads of businesses will be on LinkedIn to look into hiring new staff, and also to be looking at connecting with other businesses. When creating a LinkedIn account for your brand, make sure you create a company profile, not a personal profile! This means that people can look at your brands posts, without having to add you as a connection. If you've got the budget, you can also create text ads and sponsored posts through LinkedIn's Campaign Manager. YouTube Selling a product that requires instructions or a demonstration? YouTube is a great platform for you to be using. You can create short snappy videos, or super in-depth hour long videos. However, I would recommend a video length of around 5 minutes, as peoples attention spans are becoming shorter! Some of the top viewed videos on YouTube are how-to tutorials, and it's also great to be informing your customers how to use your products in a visual way, as some people can't bare to read instructions! A lot of brands will also feature videos of their adverts on their channel These can then be embedded into blog posts, or just to get the advert pushed onto viewers subscriptions feeds. Vimeo Similar to YouTube, Vimeo is a video sharing platform. You can add long or short videos, without the disruptions of adverts. If you're allowing your YouTube videos to be monetised, you run the risk of having competitors adverts being shown before, during or even after your video plays. However, on Vimeo you don't get this disruption, it's a much cleaner and simpler platform. Pinterest Fashion, lifestyle and food brands work best on Pinterest. On here, customers will have inspiration boards, where they're going to pinning images that they like. This will make the image share onto their feeds, where their followers can see them. I often use Pinterest to pin images that are inspiration for either projects I'm doing, or just for future reference. For example I have a home decor board, so if I see a really nicely styled space, I will pin this to that board. If there's a link on that image to where I can buy the products, then I will often click-through and sometimes make a purchase. Tumblr Similar to Pinterest, Tumblr is great for fashion, lifestyle and food brands. Instead of pinning imagery, they will be reblogging it. Rather than the image going onto a board, like they do on Pinterest, they will instead run down on the customers Tumblr feed, for their followers to be able to see. Some brands are also using Tumblr as their blogging platform, as you can also create written posts, alongside imagery. Google+ Firstly, Google+ is owned by Google, so it's highly unlikely the platform will be disappearing anytime soon. Google+ is great to post about recent blog posts, news and events going on. Posting regularly onto Google+ has a positive effect on your search rankings, and should help to improve them. Wanting more advice on your social media? Find out what we can do for your brands social media, here at Fifteen. [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/social-media-marketing/"]View Our Social Media Services[/fifteen_button] #### What value should you attach to a Digital Agency? Having sat at both sides of the table in a creative pitch it’s interesting to see how your digital agency ‘unique approach’ can already be replicated by multiple other industry players. It leaves you wondering if there was a ‘mole’ or if they’d managed to get hold of one of your proposals! But, the truth is, we’re all so obsessed with basing our approach on how long things take or how many tools we use that we’ve all come to the same conclusion around what it will take from our internal teams to deliver. It’s left an eco-system sporting like for like offerings merely dressed in different packaging. Digital agency proposals may come in various formats, styles and sizes; but what their all saying is exactly the same… ‘We’re different, we focus on your audience and their needs’ Now it’s probably not a lie to say at some point throughout your proposal there’s a line similar to this one. You look at projects in ‘a different way’ or, your approach has been ‘carefully crafted’ using ‘data’ and ‘analytics’. It leaves me often wondering what the decision maker could possibly do when reading 3, 6 or even 10 of the same proposals. Obviously if supermarkets were all selling the exact same loaf of bread, but for different prices; you’d waste no time in choosing the cheapest. You might even be savvy enough to work out if the second presents more value because of how close its location is to you. Needless to say, these are often the responses you’ll get from clients; ‘you were just too expensive’ or ‘another agency were just down the road’. Now imagine that instead of that loaf of bread being there on the shelf when you arrived, pre-baked and pre-packaged. That the baker at the counter couldn’t possibly give you a loaf of bread until they’d found out more information about you. Information about what you like, what you don’t, what the bread would be used for and the entire reasoning behind you buying that loaf. What if the baker had to then take those answers and craft a unique recipe; and once you were happy –  that specific loaf was available to you and only you… How a Digital Agency should work. It shouldn’t be a possibility to ring an agency for a ‘quick ballpark’ with little to no background information. Practicing a ‘pre-meditated approach’ without looking at some in-depth analytics, or even sending a ‘proposal’ across without a face to face meeting first. It’s impossible to know what ingredients should go into that loaf without investigating who will be selling it, or even more importantly – who’ll be eating it. Now, metaphors aside the businesses looking for a digital agency all have exactly the same dilemmas. The only way to overcome the tireless search for an agency that ‘fits’ is to attach a value to the piece of work you’ve credited and look at who represents this value best. Say if you wanted to take your business’s turnover from £100,000 to £1,000,000; you wouldn’t expect an investment of £3000 to return that difference,  so why is it that a £3000 website can sometimes be treated like the answer to similar business situations? All too often we hear ‘Well three other agencies have said they can do it for £3000, why is your quote triple?’ – It’s triple because it’s attached to the ‘value’ of what you hope to get from the project. It’s triple because it’s the difference between buying a Lamborghini body for your Fiat 500 or upgrading your car altogether. It’s triple because it’s been based on how much effort will be put in to achieve the £1,000,000 turnover and not based on another project we did from an un-related client. And that's the value you should attach to your investment in a digital agency. Of course, budgets need to be taken into consideration but, like with any investment the return also needs to be considered. Whether that’s monetary, brand awareness, bigger clientele or just a better representation about who you are as a business. The return can be from a multitude of places and benefit you in countless ways. So the next time you’re putting a project out to tender or scheduling a day for creative pitches, pay attention to who’s going to bring the best ‘value’ to your business and not who’s simply presenting you with the cheapest solution. ‘Short term pain, for long term gain’. You may also be wondering whether to keep your design, website development or digital marketing efforts in house or to go to an agency. Read more on our blog "In-House VS Outsourced Digital Marketing" #### What voice search optimisation means for your SEO strategy. Voice search has been steadily transforming how people interact with search engines, and in 2025, it’s become more prominent than ever. Businesses therefore need to consider adapting their SEO strategy to ensure they’re not missing out on a growing share of search traffic. In this blog, we’ll explore what voice search is, how voice search and SEO are connected, and what you need to do to optimise for voice search so your business stays visible in the moments that matter. What is voice search? Voice search refers to using spoken commands to search the internet rather than typing into a search engine. It’s commonly used via smartphones, smart speakers (like Amazon Echo or Google Nest), wearable devices, and in-car systems. When someone says “What’s the nearest coffee shop open now?” or “How do I set up Google Analytics?”, they’re using voice search. It’s fast, hands-free, and more natural for users on the go. Some key characteristics of voice search include: Conversational queries - people using full sentences or questions Intent-rich language - voice queries tend to be more specific Often local - many voice searches are location-based (e.g. “near me”) Long-tail keywords - phrases are typically longer and more natural than typed ones Why does voice search and SEO matter? More than ever, users expect quick, accurate, and helpful answers to their queries and voice search delivers that. According to a report conducted by GlobalWebIndex, 27% of the global online population use voice search on mobile. Here’s why that matters for SEO: Search engines are prioritising voice-friendly content - pages that answer specific questions clearly and succinctly are more likely to be pulled into voice search results. Users are shifting behaviour - voice search is being used for everything from checking store opening times to making product comparisons or asking how-to questions. Zero-click searches are rising - as more answers are delivered via featured snippets, AI overviews, or voice assistants, businesses need to compete for visibility, even when users don’t visit a website. Ignoring SEO and voice search could mean falling behind competitors who are already adapting their content and structure. How does voice search differ from traditional search? While many of the fundamentals of SEO still apply, there are a few key differences when it comes to voice search optimisation, including: Conversational tone - people are more likely to ask “How can I clean white trainers?” than type “clean white trainers tips”. That means your content needs to match this natural, question-based format. Local queries dominate - voice is commonly used for quick, on the go searches - “best pizza near me” or “pharmacy open now”. Google uses location data to prioritise businesses nearby, so local SEO becomes essential. Device and context awareness - search intent varies by device. Someone using voice search on a smart speaker at home may be looking for general knowledge or a recipe, while someone on mobile might want directions or quick product information, and your SEO strategy needs to reflect that. 7 voice search optimisation tips Below are some of our top tips to begin optimising your website for voice search. 1. Create conversation content As we’ve highlighted previously, voice search takes on a conversational tone, meaning you should use natural language in your blog posts, FAQs, and product pages. Be sure to answer common customer questions directly, as if you’re having a conversation. You could use tools like AnswerThePublic or Google’s People Also Ask section to find the right questions to target. 2. Optimise for AI overviews A large portion of voice search answers now come from AI overviews, which is the box you normally see at the top of Google search results. You should structure your content with: Clear questions as headers (e.g. H2s/H3s) Concise, direct answers in paragraph, list, or table format Schema markup (e.g. FAQ or HowTo) to help Google understand the structure 3. Focus on local SEO Because Google uses location data for related voice search results, you should ensure you claim and optimise your Google Business Profile and include accurate contact details, business hours, and local keywords on your site. Make sure your business shows up for “near me” queries too. 4. Improve page speed and mobile performance Since most voice searches are mobile-driven, your site needs to be fast and responsive. You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to optimise your website's page load times and improve user experience. 5. Use structured data markup Schema.org markup helps search engines interpret the context of your content. Key types of schema markups to consider include: FAQ LocalBusiness Article Product HowTo Adding structured data like the above boosts your chances of being featured in rich results, which are often used for voice replies. 6. Add an FAQ section FAQs are a perfect format for voice search. They naturally use question-and-answer style content and give you the opportunity to target multiple long-tail voice search queries on a single page. 7. Think mobile-first Responsive web design, fast-loading pages, and simplified navigation aren’t just best practice, they’re essential for voice-driven interactions that begin on mobile devices. If you’re thinking about refreshing your current web design, or starting from scratch, you must design your site mobile-first. Key considerations to keep in mind While voice search is the perfect opportunity to capture first-position answers and drive top-of-funnel visibility, it’s worth noting that it does have some challenges that are worth keeping in mind. For example: Lack of screen interaction - users may not click through to your site, even if your answer is served. Tracking performance - while there isn’t a clear attribute for voice-driven traffic, some analytical tools offer alternative metrics to track performance (e.g. AI overview mentions). Tone and clarity matter more - your content must be easy to understand when read aloud. High competition - only one answer is served by voice assistants in many cases, so the competition may be high for your niche. Need help with voice search and SEO? Voice search optimisation is becoming an essential part of future-ready SEO. It won’t completely replace traditional SEO, but it’s redefining how users interact with content. Whether someone is searching on a smartphone, smart speaker, or wearable device, your content needs to meet them with clear, relevant answers. At Fifteen, we help businesses optimise their websites for every kind of user - typed or spoken. From voice-ready content to technical SEO and structured data, we can make sure your website is discoverable across all channels. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and learn how we can future-proof your SEO strategy and help you show up in all the right places. #### What's Your Creative Type? Everyone Has One I’ve been busy finding out my Creative type through a creative testing that explores the many faces of the creative personality. What fascinates me about this is that’s it’s all based on psychology research and as UX designer I’m pretty fond of. It assesses the simple habits and basic tendencies, from the actions you may take and think, to how you see what’s in front of you, to help better understand what kind of creative person you are. This isn’t just for a creative minded soul, it’s a form to make you know who you are as an artistic human. All you will need to do is answer 15 simple questions (with two answers per question) which will give you that deeper understanding, plus full insight on how to really maximize the gifts you as a creative person has right from a psychology point of few to then face challenges head-on. These creative types more complex than you might think. These are more like signposts, leading you down the path to the fullest potential as a creative. Probably there is a core type that really best fits you, you may sometimes (on occasion) change your creative type, in different stages of your life and your career. But this doesn’t stop there, these stages of changing types could ever change when you are in the creative moment – on a project. But they say, you will have all 8 different creative types within you. Here is a little more information that you might find useful about this new test, these are the people or organisations that brought you this insightful test allowing you to know a little more about yourself as a creative person: Adobe Create: Community Champion Creative Types is brought to you by Adobe Create Magazine. Through the lenses of craft, culture, and career, we celebrate and fuel creative minds with inspirational stories, Creative Cloud how-tos, and more. Anyways Creative: Creative Partner Anyways is a creative agency that helps brands to become more adventurous and meaning-driven through collaborations with the world’s best creative talent. As part of the HudsonBec Group alongside It’s Nice That, they believe in the power of creativity in brand communications. Anyways Creative acted as the Creative Partner behind Adobe’s Creative Types project, including sourcing creative collaborators and overseeing the project from ideation to execution. Carolyn Gregoire: Test Designer + Writer Carolyn is a Brooklyn-based writer and creative collaborator whose work explores the inner lives of humans. She’s written about everything from psychedelic research to neuroaesthetics to Vedic meditation for publications like Scientific American, TIME, Harvard Business Review, and The Huffington Post, and she is a co-author of Wired to Create: Unravelling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind. Carolyn created the experimental design and wrote the content for the Creative Types project. Isabel + Helen: Set Designers Isabel + Helen use simple sensory pleasures as a starting point to create ambitious installations that invite their audiences to become participants in play. Combining a stripped-back aesthetic with a sense of humour, they conceive both quiet interventions and large-scale constructions. Isabel + Helen designed and created the playful, tactile environments that appear in the videos between the Creative Types test questions. Anton Hjertstedt: Character Designer Anton Hjertstedt is a 3D artist living and working in London. He uses 3D software and virtual reality to create pieces that integrate digital explorations, still life, uncanny architecture, and materiality. Anton has worked with brands including the New York Times, Zegna, Soho house, Droga5, and Reebok. He designed and produced the Creative Types’ eight character representations. BBDE: Videographer + Film Director Brendan Baker and Daniel Evans are a London-based photographic duo whose still-life work combines the power of the surreal and the hyperreal. Collaborating since 2011, they’ve produced imagery for the likes of Apple, Adidas, Louis Vuitton, and Hermés, and their work has been exhibited in galleries in London, Los Angeles, and New York. Baker and Evans directed and photographed the sets used for the videos between the Creative Types test questions. Daniel Powell: Web Designer Dan Powell is a web designer and developer whose work explores the way people interact and play within digital spaces. Dan, who works primarily in the realm of art and design, created and produced the Creatives Types of interactive digital experience. Taking the test So I thought I would have a play and therefore I took the test and this was my outcome: I’m a Visionary: imagining the impossible Here’s what it says about me: Creative Strengths I’m full of big ideas, ability to see potential and possibilities everywhere Untapped Potential Using my visions to fuel consistent daily action Ideal Collaborator The Thinker Here’s a little more which might help you gain a little more insight into who I am as a Creative if you ever work with me. “I live in a world of infinite possibilities, preferring to see things not as they are but as they could be. Apparently, I know life is limited only by the boundaries of my own beliefs, and I would say this for sure, I’m driven to push the limits of, well, everything.” It continues to say that “I’m Emotional, passion-driven, and full of ideas, and the VISIONARY combines a vivid imagination with a desire for practical solutions.” (That’s real Deep) “My introspective and intuitive nature is balanced by a keen interest in the world around myself and a desire to contribute to society”. “I’m charismatic and expressive, (I do) love sharing my ideas and visions with others and creating a community around shared values and ideals.” “What is my greatest gift? It's the ability to see the spark of potential in everything and everyone and to inspire others to see it, too. I am able to guide people toward an invisible horizon with a rare generosity of spirit and strength of conviction, which is great as I see myself as a creative who gives back rather than holds everything in.” I'm also being told not to get stuck in the dreaming stage, “VISIONARY. My greatest challenge—and true power—lies in learning to take consistent daily action to create the future envision for myself.” “Seek out the “voice of reason” of the THINKER type to help me take a grounded, rational approach to the creative work I do. The THINKER’s deep perception and probing intellect lend a powerful clarity that can bring the visions into sharper focus.” Wow. That was some powerful insight into myself. I feel I can see myself in this and feel if you take the test you’ll be able to find your Type. There are 8 Creative Types: The Artist - seeing beauty, creating beauty The Thinker - deep thoughts, big questions The Adventurer - so much inspiration, so little time The Maker - committed to your craft The Producer - process is power The Dreamer - the power of imagination unleashed The Innovator - move, shake, disrupt, repeat The Visionary - imagining the impossible With this quiz you might start to understand a little more solved the mysteries your creativity. Some Psychologists may say that people who are creative have the tendency to avoid many things such as routine— in this, we mean that we're changing constantly. We feel that we are often misunderstood due to how we see our world, but neuroscience does show that the brains in our heads are wired differently, literally. Most creatives tend to particular have one shape in which best describes them as an individual, with that solid unique perspective on creating, including motivations, challenges, and unique ways of interacting with other people. So with this Test, "Creative Types" and this aims to show you in some clever way, the personality within us. The main goal of the simple test is to show you your inner strengths of many different personalities that are all suited for creatives, in a matter that could better the way we think of ourselves as well as the creative processes and the potentials in ourselves. The creator of this wonderful test has said; “There were countless different traits and characteristics to measure, but it all seemed to boil down into three core questions: Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Are you more intellect-dominant or emotion-dominant? Are you a dreamer or a doer?” These core questions are mixed to then create a clear combination of your creative types. Using these in your field of working as a creative you’ll get to know the strengths of yourself and the people around you. I will for sure be learning a few more aspects of the team here at Fifteen and putting their Creative Type to the Test when working with them. So if you feel inspired to know which type you are then head over to My Creative Type and discover your true inner creative. #### What’s the big web design trends in 2020 As a Nottingham based web design agency, its or job not only to spot trends in website design and development but to help develop those movements in the first place. Since the big developments many many years ago now of responsive website design, and parallax web design, there’s not been any major trends. The focus over the last few years has been one or CRO Conversion rate optimisation (see my previous blogs on this). This is something that as a website development agency we are doing more and more of. So, back to the point, right now, what is the big deal. Parallaxing with 3D objects. I know parallax has been around a while now, however, there is still more we can do with it, especially when we add in a few more of the 2020 trends mentioned further on. The Dark Web Well, I don’t mean the dark wen in the true sense of the world. Apple kindly gave us Dark mode for our iPhones with iOS13. Since then, our creative eyes (that Fifteen's very own design team) are seeing more and more of this coming to life in website designs of 2020. As well as darker screens being easier on the eyes, the dark mode approach for websites is allowing creatives to explore a whole new side of design. Also allowing a deeper contrast with a whole new pallet of colours. Go Deep Depth within a website is really important these days, with screen resolutions going through the roof right now, it’s time to take advantage of this and allow the users to be immersed in the experience you are offering. So how do we achieve this?  Well, full-screen widescreen pictures offer this by default, but how else can we designers deliver this. Soft shadows used on objects on large use of flat areas of colour with an object on the top add immeasurable depth. Make it shine We use and we see colour everywhere, but in my opinion, we are not seeing enough glow. 2020 have seen more of this come from the Fifteen design team and we are certainly witnessing more of it out there. Why not be bold and join the revolution and start using colour pops, neons and glows.  Icons We are seeing more and more use of icons in websites today, these things do work. They say that a picture paints a thousand words. Well, an icon does the same if not more. In my experience, the brain works quicker with images and icons. Well, it certainly does for the majority of people. My advise when using icons in your design is to be clean and clear, don’t add too much detail and be obvious but brave. If you're looking to revamp your website, or build a new website from scratch, Contact us today and see how we can help you. #### When brands try to tug on heart strings...but fail. The modern world is a sensitive place. Particularly online. Being so connected, we quickly can share our opinions, negative or positive. Before you know it, what might have seemed like a standard campaign has become a viral case, but not always for the right reason. Brands have little control of the reaction to a campaign once it’s gone live. It’s not as simple as taking down a poster in your shop window if it doesn’t go so well. It can spread like wildfire through the internet and on social media. You can’t do anything to rid of it completely. Creative agencies have a duty to anticipate cultural sensitivities when in the process of creating campaigns. This can be done through thorough cultural research, consumer research and testing. This is most difficult for mass market brands as their consumers come from all different types of interest groups that will have all sorts of opinions. Therefore, there’s a much higher chance that some groups will be offended. If your brand has a more niche consumer group, it can be much easier to work out what they will or won’t respond well to. Here are some mass market brands that haven’t done this so well recently; McDonalds If you’ve been listening in on the news in the past couple of days, you’ll more than likely be aware of the McDonalds advert that has recently been pulled from your TV screens. The advert was about a boy asking his mother what his father was like, and whether they had any similarities. Up until they end they didn’t have so many similarities, but what they did have in common was their favourite meal order from McDonalds. As the key emotion of the advert was bereavement, this caused much upset for those who’d lost family members or even friends. Shortly after the adverts release, there were bereavement charities in uproar and plenty of the general public all over social media. It wasn’t long until McDonald's responded and made the decision to pull the advert from TV. Pepsi It’s not just McDonald's who’ve been under fire for insensitive advertising. Pepsi created a campaign that was trying to promote the message of global unity, peace and understanding. But, unfortunately, it didn’t come across that way. The advert, featuring celebrity star Kendall Jenner, included peace protests whilst she’s having a photo-shoot. Next thing you know, she comes out and joins in the protest whilst holding a can of Pepsi, to then offer it to one of the police officers as a peace offering. This was seen as an imitation to when Leisha Evans was seen offering peace at the Baton Rouge. Dove This campaign wasn’t as emotionally intense compared to the McDonalds and Pepsi advert, but it did take offence to many women. Dove, who are normally known for empowering women and creating highly successful campaigns promoting body positivity, made a recent campaign that flopped. They released a range of body-shaped body wash bottles that were meant to represent the different shapes and sizes of women’s figures. People started complaining about why they would need to buy a bottle of body wash that is the same shape of their body and what they would do if their ‘size’ was out of stock. There was some talk that the products were never going to be on sale, it was just for the video campaign, but even after this announcement, it still didn’t go very well.   With brands having to be so careful about what they put out there, does this stifle creativity? It shouldn’t have to, but it is important that campaigns featuring sensitive topics should be trialled and tested with focus groups before going out to the general public. An insensitive advert, even if it’s only out live for a moment, can cause havoc for brands.   However, there are brands who’ve managed to create campaigns on sensitive topics but keeping them uplifting and positive. Going back to Dove, for example, they created a campaign in the past on body positivity that handled the sensitive subject really well.  Their ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ campaign explored the gap between how other perceive us and how we perceive ourselves. It didn’t focus on the brands' products, it focused on the emotions. In the advert, each woman has two portraits drawn by a forensic artist, one based on their personal description and the other by a stranger. The results of the advert were deeply moving but highly positive. Have a watch of the video to see for yourselves. It’s so important to know who your audience is and how they might react to a campaign bringing in sensitive subjects. Never assume that it’ll be taken down well, avoid the corporate bubble. #### When you should and should not outsource link building As a business owner, you want to be savvy with your marketing decisions, as you want to ensure you’re getting the most out of your efforts. When it comes to link building, deciding whether this is something you handle in-house or you outsource, is a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. There are many reasons a business might want to outsource link building, with the main reasons being lack of time, resources, knowledge, and experience. If this is something you have contemplated within your business, keep reading as we highlight some key factors to consider when deciding when outsourcing link building makes sense and when it might be better to keep it in-house. Let’s dive right in. When you should outsource link building You should outsource link building if… Hiring an experienced SEO link builder is out of your budget According to Glassdoor, the average experienced SEO link builder salary is between £26k - £40k per year. With this figure, not only would you have to cover an additional salary if you kept link building in-house, but you’d also need to have a separate budget for content development, as this comes hand-in-hand with link building. You’d also need to factor in additional costs such as the tools an SEO link builder requires to properly do their job. Outsourcing link building can be a cost-effective solution for businesses who don’t have the budget to hire an in-house professional. By entrusting this task to a link building agency, like Fifteen, you can save time and resources while still reaping the benefits of quality backlinks. You need immediate links On average, it can take in-house teams around 3-4 months to start getting at least 10-20 links every month. This is primarily because they don’t have an established strategy, they lack meaningful relationships, or they’re still learning to pitch their ideas correctly.  By outsourcing to an established link building agency, they will already have a tried-and-tested link building strategy, meaning they can acquire links at a far quicker rate than an in-house team. As well as this, many agencies have already developed relationships across industries and niches which makes gaining links far easier. All of this can help you achieve your SEO goals faster. It’s a learning experience for your team Outsourcing link building can be a valuable learning experience for your team. By bringing in external experts to handle this aspect of your SEO strategy, your team can observe and learn best practices from professionals in the field. This hands-on exposure can help them gain insights into effective link building techniques, understand industry trends, and enhance their own skills for future projects.  Additionally, outsourcing can provide a fresh perspective and new ideas that can benefit your team's overall growth and development in the realm of digital marketing. It's not just about getting the job done; it's about investing in your team's knowledge and expertise for long-term success. Even if you already have skills in link building, you’ll still benefit from seeing other strategies and following other tried and tested processes. You need guidance on your current link building efforts If you find you need guidance on your current link building efforts, outsourcing to a link building agency is a smart move. You’ll benefit from their knowledge and expertise and they can help you in your efforts to create high-quality backlinks. You may already have a link building strategy and you’re not confident in implementing it yourself. An agency can implement your strategy for you and provide you with additional guidance to ensure you’re getting the most out of your efforts. When you should not outsource link building You should not outsource link building if… You’re looking for digital PR If you’re looking to enhance your digital PR efforts, or you’re looking to share an article about your business on an industry leading website, then this is a task for your PR team and not link building. Digital PR focuses on creating compelling stories and content that attract natural backlinks, which can be more effective in improving your site's authority and visibility in search engines. From an SEO standpoint, the links acquired from such sources are usually quite weak. Successful link building is all about quality over quantity, so outsourcing link building in this case wouldn’t be the right approach. You don’t have a solid SEO strategy If your SEO strategy is not well-defined or lacking in key elements, outsourcing linking building isn’t a wise move. SEO and linking building are interconnected, meaning you can’t have link building without a strong SEO strategy. You have to ensure your website is optimised for search engines and has valuable content to attract organic backlinks. Therefore, before diving into outsourcing, take the time to strengthen your SEO strategy to maximise the benefits of any link building efforts. To successfully link build, you need to understand how many links you need to close the link gap with your competitors in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs), which will result in a higher ranking. You have very strict requirements When it comes to link building, it’s important to be realistic with your expectations and clearly understand the capabilities of the link building agency you work with. When your standards are exceptionally high and specific, it can be challenging to find an agency that can meet all your criteria. Some strict requirements agencies have encountered in the past with some businesses include: Only wanting links from a list of sites Only want links in an allocated content Only want links from pages that have already built a solid number of links This is where it might be more beneficial to handle link building in-house where you can have full control over the process and ensure every link meets your stringent guidelines. You expect to receive referral traffic Link building is a great strategy to help improve your SEO efforts such as your online visibility, domain and brand authority, as well as helping to improve your credibility in your industry. If you’re expecting to receive a high amount of referral traffic, opting to outsource link building is not the right approach. There is a slim-to-none chance you’ll receive a high amount of referral traffic from link building strategies as that is not the primary focus of this task. Before making any decisions, take the time to analyse your SEO objectives to choose the right strategies that will help you reach your goals. You don’t have sufficient budget Whilst outsourcing link building is a cost-effective solution to hiring internally, it still requires a decent budget to really reap the benefits. Building high-quality backlinks can be a time-consuming and costly process, so it’s essential to ensure you have the necessary funds available to invest in this aspect of your SEO strategy. If budget constraints are a concern, it may be more beneficial to focus on other areas of SEO that you can manage in-house until you have the resources to allocate towards outsourcing link building. Remember, investing wisely in your SEO efforts is key to achieving long-term success online. Looking for a link building agency? Overall, outsourcing link building is definitely beneficial if you lack the knowledge and time to do it yourself. It’s definitely a great way to quickly get those valuable links that you’d struggle to achieve without the agency’s relationships.  If you’re looking to partner with a reputable link building agency, contact us today. With our link building services, we can help your website earn valuable inbound links from high-authority domains that are relevant to your brand and industry. #### Who Killed Lucy? There's one question that's been on everyone's lips this week. Who killed Lucy? Not Lucy Beale (whoever that is!), we mean our designer Lucy! Our very own Lucy was found bumped off in the office and we have no idea whodunnit! There have been some suspicious goings on in the office so it could have been one of them, but there's 8 people who had the motive to do it!   We need your help to try and work out who killed our Lucy! Check out our poll on facebook and make your guess! We will reveal all tomorrow! Keep your eyes peeled! #### Why Analysing Your Website Statistics Matters? A solid online presence can help a company develop by the visibility and improving contact with potential and current customers, but what good are a fancy website and a lot of online activity if there isn't a well-thought-out plan behind it? Without reliable and up-to-date research, how can you build a strategy? This is where web analytics enter the image. With free tools like Google Analytics, there's no reason why any company, regardless of scale, shouldn't use a web analytics program to track the progress of their digital strategy. Website analytics provide you with reports and analytics about how your site visitors behave once they arrive on your site; who they are based on their age, gender, place, and other factors; how they found your site (traffic source); the most shared content on your site; total conversions; and so on. You will formulate fully informed business plans and expand your business faster with this knowledge in hand. Web statistics analysis for your website is an essential method with many benefits. Many companies have analytics programs to help you monitor your website's traffic daily and learn how to boost your site and commercialize your market. What is the Concept Of Website Analysis? The process of testing and evaluating a website's performance in terms of SEO, speed, competition, and traffic is known as website analytics. Any site will benefit from website analysis if the findings are used to enhance it, such as decreasing page size to improve overall speed or optimizing a high-traffic landing page for more conversions. Advantages of Analyzing Your Website Statistics The flow of traffic One of the essential advantages of reviewing your Web statistics is that you can learn more about your website's users. Analytics shows you how people find the web, how long they visit, and the estimated area in which they live and how much traffic it gets. If you run a commercial website, this information is particularly relevant. Consider your social media investment if you notice that social media accounts for a large portion of your traffic. Keep track of conversions The explanation for the importance of analytics is that they allow you to monitor your conversions! At the core of it all, the website must be able to turn visitors into customers. Using a web analytics tool to monitor your conversions is critical; this helps you refine your site and increase your conversion rate. Views on the website’s page Tracking your website's page views allows you to see how many people visit your site regularly, as well as which pages are the most popular among your users. Take measures to provide more of what the visitors want after learning this knowledge. If your manufacturing company's website receives the most traffic, for example, add more demonstration videos to inspire visitors to spend more time on your site. Advertising Advertising is a significant source of revenue for many websites. A website's revenue can be increased by supplying statistical data to prospective advertisers due to Web statistics analysis. A high visitor count not only allows website administrators to charge more for advertising, but a statistic indicating that a large number of visitors come from a specific geographic region is attractive to a company in that area looking to advertise. Online tracking of company objectives A successful company and its website must have a consistent set of objectives. Companies may set unique targets to monitor using web analytics. Measuring targets helps you to respond more quickly to such events by using data. It's just as important to know what goals any given company can track as it is to set them. Since not all online purposes are created equal, keeping track of so many dreams can become a problem for a company. Often keep track of objectives that assess the efficacy, profitability, and flaws of specific events. Innovative Ideas Data analysis provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity to discover new insights within the business model. Tracking your data will give you more information about your company's patterns and consumer interactions. These opportunities could serve as seeds for internal and organic development. For instance, consider a newly written article that generates more organic traffic than the rest of the web. Knowing this from the start could help you steer your marketing efforts in a more promising direction. The Importance of Web Analytics There's an adage in business that says that something worth doing is worth calculating. Website analytics provide information and data that can be used to improve the website's user experience. Understanding consumer behavior is also essential for improving key conversion metrics on a website. For example, Web analytics can show you the most popular pages on your website and the most popular purchase routes. You may also use website analytics to monitor your online marketing strategies' success reliably and use that information to guide future efforts. Should You Use a Website, Analytics Tool? You might be thinking, "What is the best website analytics tool?" now that you understand the value of website analytics. Google Analytics is by far the most widely used analytics tool, and it's completely free. The issue is that the learning curve is very steep. Setting up advanced monitoring would be extremely difficult if you aren't tech-savvy and can't code. Final Thoughts Small and local businesses can benefit from web analytics in a variety of ways. By analyzing their website statistics, such businesses can correctly define their target audience, allowing them to concentrate on this group when developing their brand. Small and local businesses may use Web analytics to propel their businesses to new heights of success, even though they have a limited marketing budget. All of those numbers, maps, and percentages can be daunting if you've never tracked website metrics before—especially if you're bad at math. However, it doesn't have to be: much of the best monitoring software presents the data in reasonably simple terms, making it understandable to everyone. The metrics themselves may seem complex, but they are monitoring a whole set of behaviors. As a result, everybody should be keeping track of at least specific website metrics. Remember that tracking metrics allows you to get an accurate picture rather than relying on assumptions. You will make actual, measurable changes to your website based on your analysis which would play the best possible role in moving forward. Contact us now to find out more or get started on your digital analysis journey. #### Why bespoke intranet design is better than an off-the-shelf solution When it comes to choosing an intranet design for your business, the decision between a bespoke design and an off-the-shelf option can be a critical one. While off-the-shelf solutions may seem convenient, they often lack customisation and personalisation that a bespoke intranet design can offer. In this blog post, we’ll delve into why opting for a tailored intranet design is superior to settling for a generic out-of-the-box solution, and we’ll also explore the many benefits of choosing a bespoke intranet design that aligns perfectly with your business needs. Why is intranet design important? Any business, large or small, requires an intranet development software to manage their data, enhance their services, and streamline their processes. The design of that online intranet software plays a crucial role in the effectiveness and functionality of your company’s internal communication platform. A bespoke intranet design allows you to tailor the features, layout, and user experience to meet the specific needs and preferences of your organisation. This personalised approach ensures that your intranet aligns perfectly with your company culture, branding, and workflow processes. Unlike off-the-shelf intranet solutions that offer generic templates and limited customisation options, a bespoke design empowers you to create a digital workplace that enhances employee engagement, productivity, and collaboration. Why bespoke intranet design is better than an off-the-shelf solution As we’ve previously mentioned, most off-the-shelf intranet solutions have little room for customisation. Even if there is room for customisation, it can be very difficult to not massively up the costs when adding bespoke features. This is just one of the many reasons why bespoke intranet design outperforms off-the-shelf solutions. Some other reasons include: Enhanced security Off-the-shelf software can easily be scrutinised by hackers, particularly for open-source software. Many plugins and enhancements are typically included with pre-built software implementations, which may increase device vulnerabilities. However, with a bespoke intranet development software, you have the flexibility to implement specific security measures tailored to your organisation’s needs. This means you can incorporate advanced encryption protocols, multi-factor authentication systems, and regular security updates to keep your data safe from potential cyber threats.  With bespoke intranet development software, you can ensure your sensitive information remains protected and your employees can work with confidence in a secure digital environment. Adaptability All intranet software should be created with the company’s specific needs in mind. It should be in sync with every aspect of your company including branding, colours, user interface, and content. If you choose an off-the-shelf intranet solution, you run the risk of it looking out of place. A bespoke intranet design allows you to tailor the platform to fit your specific requirements, ensuring it aligns perfectly with your company’s processes and goals. You can freely add or modify features as your business evolves, providing an adaptable solution that can grow with your organisation. Scalability As well as adaptability, the principle of scalability is crucial for intranet software. When looking for intranet solutions, most people overlook the importance of scalability. If a business expands to 100 employees in the future, an intranet solution that serves 50 employees today can develop issues and complications. A bespoke intranet design on the other hand can be tailored so you have the flexibility to add new features, functionalities, and integrations over time without being constrained by the limitations of a pre-packed solution. This scalability ensures that your intranet remains aligned with your business goals and can effectively support your organisation’s growth in the long run. Proprietary rights With a bespoke intranet design, you’ll have full ownership and control over your online intranet software, allowing you to customise it specifically to your organisation’s unique needs and branding. This means tailoring features, layouts, and functionalities without being restricted by pre-set templates or limitations.  You also don’t have to be concerned about any functions ceasing to work, as you can turn them on and off at any time given that you’re the sole owner of the intranet software. This is a particular key advantage over your competitors as they may be reliant on pre-made off-the-shelf intranet solutions. If you opt for an off-the-shelf intranet solution, you may be limited to your ability to make significant customisations or modifications due to licensing agreements or restrictions imposed by the provider. Budget-friendly While off-the-shelf intranet solutions may have a lower initial cost, they often come with additional fees for customisation, maintenance, and upgrades. On the other hand, a bespoke intranet design can actually be more budget-friendly in the long run. This is because it can be tailored to your specific needs from the start and this can save your money in the long run on unnecessary features that your company may not need or use. This also ensures that your system grows with your business seamlessly. So whilst it may seem tempting to choose for an off-the-shelf option, investing in a custom solution upfront means you can avoid costly modifications down the line and enjoy a more efficient and effective intranet development software that aligns perfectly with your company’s unique requirements. Speak to us for your bespoke intranet project It’s clear to see why so many businesses opt for a bespoke intranet design. Doing so can address and solve unique issues all while maintaining a business’s brand. Ultimately, the best type of intranet development software for your business is determined by the specific needs of your company. So if you’d like help with your bespoke intranet project, get in touch with us today. Our talented team of web developers and web designers will work closely with you to understand your goals and objectives. From there, we can design and build an intranet solution for you that boosts productivity, seamlessly integrates your project management tools, and provides a better user interface for you and your employees. #### Why bespoke website designs are better than templates There are numerous methods for developing a website design for your organization. You can utilize online tools like Wix and Squarespace, pre-made themes for content management systems like WordPress and Drupal, or hire a freelance web developer or web design business to design and create a website from scratch. There are advantages to each of the solutions listed above, but today we'd want to focus on why bespoke website designs are better than templates. A bespoke website design allows you complete control over every aspect of your website, from influencing the design to ensuring the user journey is optimized for conversions and providing your website is entirely secure. Every detail can be customized to your heart's content. Here are the advantages of bespoke website designs  One-of-a-kind to you and your business  The most obvious reason to have a bespoke website design professionally developed by a web designer is that you may customize the look and feel of your website. While using a template or online tool allows you to utilize your content and brand, the layout and overall style of the theme are typically somewhat restricted, which means your website may look identical to hundreds of other websites that use the same theme. With a custom-built website design, your business will stand out since it will be unique to you. You would be able to cater to your customers directly.  Rapid-fire pages  Generally, if you select a pre-made template, it will come pre-installed with a slew of plugins that enable you to alter various aspects of your website. The difficulty with this is that a large number of plugins might significantly slow down your website. By creating a custom website from the ground up, you may find that you do not require any plugins at all. All functionality can be developed specifically for you by your web design agency. This means you can truly focus on the speed with which your website loads, which is critical for ranking high in Google in particular. You can activate page caching, optimize your images, and eliminate the requirement for many scripts to be loaded, which is typically a significant issue with pre-made themes. Naturally, all of this is contingent upon selecting an excellent web design agency or freelancer to construct your website for you!  Secure  When developing a custom website, security is critical. It enables you and your web design business to verify that all files and folders on your website are secure and password-protected from potential hackers. With a pre-made template, you must ensure that plugins are updated regularly to keep your site safe. It's also worth noting that most professional web developers will offer professional web hosting with an emphasis on security. Google has also lately begun penalizing websites that do not have a valid SSL certificate, but this should be a regular feature when designing a new website from scratch.  SEO-ready  With a custom-made website design, you can ensure that the entire site is developed with search engine optimization in mind from the start. While the website templates are often quite effective for basic SEO, you will need to install additional plugins to maximize their functionality. Your custom-built website design should be far better optimized, mainly if discussed before beginning the project. This means you can truly tailor all of your material to ensure you are immediately competitive with your competitors.  A flawless user journey  One of the favourite reasons for designing and building a website design from the ground up is that you can truly understand what you are doing on your site and what you want from it. With some study and user journeys, you can design your website around your visitors and give them the optimal path. This is where User Experience (UX) comes into play and wireframing each page to guarantee a seamless user journey from their entry point to the CTA and finish point. With a custom-designed website design, you can easily customize your user journeys – something that is not possible with a pre-made theme.  Scalable  This brings us to the subject of scalability. Constantly tweaking and improving your website is one of the primary reasons it will eventually succeed. Keeping track of what people do enables you to eliminate ineffective features while introducing new elements and sections to enrich your website and ultimately increase sales and conversions. Working with a web design business after your site is established enables you to maintain control and expand its functionality. Why you shouldn’t use templates for your website No Uniqueness and Creativity Even if the data you submit is unique, the template will not be. Other corporations and businesses may use the same one, and as a result, you will need to double your efforts to stand out.  For instance, you can incorporate personalized icons, photos, and your brand, which must be prominently displayed for you to stand out. Even so, visitors will discern whether the website is unique or built on a template.  Poor user experience While templates are attractive, but the problem is that they do not address the user experience and all that it entails. Your buyer persona should feel as though the website was built specifically for him or her and should be represented in it.  When you utilize a template, the site is constructed in a general manner. It lacks the pleasure, efficiency, and excitement inherent in a site built specifically for the target users. This could be detrimental, as your buyer personas may not take the steps you want them to perform, resulting in a purchase decision.  Require revisions You must be aware of the continuous modifications required to keep the website working smoothly. Remember that updates are made to address issues with previous design flaws, but occasionally the site's content is affected.  Additionally, some plug-ins that you may require may be incompatible with the version of the website template you have chosen.  As you can see, website templates have many disadvantages, which proves that bespoke website design is better than templates. In the end, the most critical aspect is to create a user-friendly website that potential clients feel at ease viewing. Take a look at our website design do's and don'ts or contact us to get started on a unique website design. Our designers, developers, and digital marketing team can help you realise your goals and supercharge your online performance. #### Why Buy Now Pay Later services are growing in popularity. As online shopping continues to grow in popularity - with no signs of slowing down - many retailers are turning to Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services to offer their customers more flexible payment options. These services have taken the ecommerce world by storm, allowing shoppers to make purchases and pay for them in instalments over time. But why exactly are BNPL services gaining such popularity and what are the advantages of integrating them into your ecommerce strategy? In this blog, we take a deeper dive into the growing trend of Buy Now Pay Later services, including their benefits, and some of the most popular providers to consider adding to your checkout. What is Buy Now Pay Later in the UK? Buy Now Pay Later in the UK is a type of short-term financing that allows users to purchase items and spread the cost of their payments, or pay in full at a later date - usually with no interest or fees. It provides customers a flexible alternative to traditional credit cards or store finance. BNPL is a win-win situation for both consumers and retailers, as shoppers can spread out the cost of their purchases and make them more manageable, while businesses can attract more customers by offering convenient payment options. Why are Buy Now Pay Later services so popular? The popularity of BNPL services in the UK has surged thanks to their simplicity, convenience, and alignments of modern consumer habits. In a digital-first economy where instant gratification meets financial awareness, BNPL offers the best of both worlds - enabling shoppers to get what they want now, while spreading the cost over time without interest in most cases. And because they allow consumers to make purchases and break down payments into smaller, more manageable installments, it’s especially appealing for those on a budget and those looking to spread their expenses over time, like younger consumers such as Millennials and Gen Z for example. As we’ve previously mentioned, BNPL services provide a practical solution for those who want flexibility without having to rely on traditional credit cards, especially in today’s current economic climate. And for retailers, these services help reduce their cart abandonment and boost average order value simply by offering these payment options at checkout. What are the benefits of Buy Now Pay Later services for ecommerce businesses? Incorporating BNPL services as part of your ecommerce strategy and offering a variety of payment options on your checkout page can bring a wide range of benefits including: Increased conversion rates - you’ll reduce friction at checkout by removing the need for immediate full payment, helping to turn more users into paying customers. Higher average order value - offering flexible payment options like BNPL often encourages shoppers to spend more and opt for higher-priced products, increasing your average order value. Reduced cart abandonment - unexpected costs are one of the biggest reasons shoppers abandon their carts. BNPL options give customers confidence to complete their orders without feeling overwhelmed by the total cost upfront. Enhanced customer loyalty - customers appreciate flexible, interest-free financing options and are more likely to return to brands that offer BNPL services, building long-term loyalty and encouraging repeat purchases. Broader customer reach - BNPL often appeals to a wider demographic and by offering these payment options, you can tap into a growing market of budget-conscious shoppers and younger consumers. Competitive advantage - offering BNPL can help ecommerce businesses stay competitive. Brands that fail to offer flexible payment options risk falling behind more forward-thinking competitors. No additional risk for retailers - BNPL providers typically take on the credit and fraud risk, meaning online retailers will still receive full payment upfront. With a huge array of benefits like the above, it’s easy to see why so many ecommerce businesses offer Buy Now Pay Later services for their customers. What are some of the most popular BNPL providers? There are several well-known Buy Now Pay Later providers to consider adding to your checkout, each offering slightly different features to suit a range of shopper preferences. Some of the most popular brands include: Klarna - one of the most recognisable names and partners to thousands of UK retailers, Klarna allows customers to split payments over three interest-free instalments or pay up to 30 days later. Clearpay - another major player, Clearpay is popular due to its simple four-instalment payment plan with no interest. PayPal Pay in 3 - a great option if you already offer PayPal as a payment option, PayPal Pay in 3 allows existing PayPal customers to divide purchases into three interest-free monthly payments. Zilch - not only does Zilch offer different payment instalment options to consumers, they also offer an opportunity to build and pay in rewards. In addition to the above BNPL providers, there are several other options available to ecommerce retailers, such as Sezzle and Affirm, that allow users to make purchases and pay for them in instalments over time. Looking to implement BNPL options to your site? Buy Now Pay Later in the UK is a market that is experiencing exceptional growth and that has been primarily driven by consumer demand for flexible payment options. In a highly competitive ecommerce landscape, integrating BNPL payment options enables your business to stay ahead of the curve and provide a win-win solution for you and your customers. If you’re looking to add BNPL to your site, get in touch with us today. We can help your business identify and integrate suitable BNPL payment options into your ecommerce checkout system, which can either be included during the development of a new website, or can be retrofitted into existing systems. #### Why Custom Web Design Is Better Than Templates Individuals and businesses alike that have a limited budget can benefit greatly from using a drag-and-drop website builder and a template. However, this practice does have its drawbacks. If you find yourself missing features or just needing more than a website builder and template can offer you, it might very well be time that you moved on to a custom web design and hosting solution. In this blog, we will explore some of the benefits of custom web design. Tailored to your brand The biggest benefit of investing in a custom-designed website is that it is tailored from the ground up to your brand or business. You will have complete control, enabling you and your web developers to create something truly special and unique. In the same way as brick-and-mortar buildings, websites give you the chance to showcase not only your unique product or service but your brand's personality too. As your design will be tailored to and designed for your brand from the ground up, your website will have a completely unique appearance. If you use a site template, on the other hand, your website will be almost identical to countless others, which will not be able to give your customers the unique, personalised touch that they crave. Strong focus on customer experience When compared to a website built using a template, custom web design will give businesses the chance to have a much stronger focus on the experience of their customers. Before getting started with the project, web developers and designers will sit down with you to find out more about what you want to achieve and your business goals. You'll consider your average customer's journey, from the moment they find your website to the moment they convert. Over time, a truly customer-centric design will help your visitors navigate the website easier, making them more likely to take the actions that produce your desired result, whether that is making a purchase, submitting an enquiry or booking an appointment, to name just a few. Boost search engine optimisation Website templates generally come with restrictions about how the site and its content are set up. This means it can be tricky to manage things like metadata, page URLs, alt tags and more, all of which can have a negative impact on your site's SEO (search engine optimisation). By investing in custom web design, SEO best practices can be built in from the start, helping your site to rank better in the long term. Easier to update and add new features When compared to a web template, it is much easier to make changes and scale up the development of your website if you have a bespoke design. Web developers will create a solid web architecture from the beginning, and as you go, they will be able to easily add in new features or content as your business or brand grows and develops. This kind of ongoing development is often much harder with sites that use a template, as you rarely have access to the code behind the site; and even if you did, you run the risk of making mistakes if you do it yourself. The templates themselves may not even be updated as often as you would like for simple bug fixes and improvements, as this depends entirely on how active the developer team behind the template are. This is a problem that can easily be avoided by opting for a custom web design and working with a reputable web developer who will be able to keep on top of their own code and stay ahead of major technical changes and updates. Increased flexibility with hosting Opting for a custom-designed website can often give you much greater flexibility when it comes to how your website is hosted and the infrastructure behind it. By going for a bespoke design, you can often scale your hosting as needed, enabling your website to properly support a growing customer base. This can have a direct impact on how your server performs and can prevent downtime too. If you want the chance to test new features before rolling them out, your developers may also be able to set up a staging site where new features can be experimented with and any kinks can be ironed out before making them live. These are just some of the many benefits of opting for a customer web design. If this has piqued your interest, why not get in touch with our talented web design team to start the process of building your very own custom web design template? Be sure to check out how else the team can help with the other services they offer. #### Why digital marketing is important Digital marketing is a strategic approach to promoting and selling consumer products or services through internet-connected devices. The term digital marketing is used to distinguish it from traditional marketing, where companies use various forms of mass media such as TVs, radios, billboards, or newspapers to deliver their messages. Internet use has increased significantly since it was first introduced in the 1980s. Today, the average UK adult spends over 20 hours per week online. What does this mean for your business? If you're not investing in digital marketing, your competitors are likely doing so – and they're getting results! That means you need to step up your game if you want to stay competitive. So why is digital marketing important? Read on to discover its potential to propel your business toward greater heights. Improved brand loyalty Digital marketing allows businesses to reach out to customers with targeted messages that resonate with them. This enables you to stay in touch with your customers, which helps foster loyalty. Brand loyalty is a key factor in the success of any business. It's why companies like Apple and Coca-Cola are so successful. The people who buy from them keep coming back not only because they love their products but also because they resonate with these brands. It's also a core component of customer retention and growth. Customer retention is an approach that focuses on keeping your customers happy and satisfied instead of chasing after new ones. A recent study by Bain and Company found that companies that increased customer retention by 5% increased profits from 25% to 95%. It's a cost-effective marketing strategy Digital marketing allows you to reach your target audience at a lower cost than traditional methods. Since online marketing is done through the internet, there are no physical locations to maintain. If you want to send a banner ad on YouTube instead of on TV, you just need one video instead of thousands of banners. The cost savings of digital marketing make it a wise investment for any small business looking to grow in today's economy. Its results are measurable Digital marketers use data to understand what works best for their brand. They use tools like Google Analytics and Facebook Insights to monitor their audiences' online behaviour. This includes how many people visit their website every week or month, how long they stay on it, if they return, where they come from (geographically), what search terms they used when they arrived on their site (if any), etc. This lets you know what works and what doesn't work when it comes to your online presence and marketing efforts. You can optimise your digital marketing campaigns You can use digital marketing to optimise your overall business strategy in many ways. For example, you can optimise your digital marketing campaigns using website analytics. You can then use this information to make changes to your website to produce better results for your business. Another way you can optimise your digital marketing campaigns is by using email marketing software. It allows you to create personalised emails sent directly to people who have shown interest in your brand or product. This helps you reach out to more potential customers who may be interested in what you have to offer, increasing both interest and sales over time. Helps you target specific market segments Digital marketing can help you target specific market segments by effectively targeting the right audience with the right message at the right time. For example, if you own a restaurant, you might want to target people interested in eating out. If you are selling women's clothes online, you might not want to target men who are not interested in buying those products. You will reach a larger audience The internet provides access to virtually unlimited audiences who are eager to hear your message. Digital marketing allows you to connect with these people in their preferred mediums and then target them with the most relevant content at the right time of day to maximise effectiveness while minimising costs. There are numerous reasons why digital marketing is important. Digital marketing can help your company expand its market presence, increase visibility, and boost sales. It's a complex industry with tons of potential, and it’s growing every day. However, to do this, you need a strategy that works for your business. You cannot just throw things at the wall and hope something sticks. You need a plan to help you get where you want. Need a helping hand with that plan? Check out what digital marketing services we can offer to help boost your business. Whether it’s SEO you need help with or you want to venture into the world of PPC, we can help. Contact us today and let's have a chat! #### Why does a mobile-first design matter? In today's digital age, having a mobile-friendly website is no longer just a nice-to-have; it's a necessity. With the majority of people accessing the internet through their mobiles, businesses need to prioritise a mobile-first design approach to ensure they're reaching their target audience effectively. But why does a mobile-first design matter, and how can it benefit your business?  In this blog post, we'll explore the importance of having a mobile-friendly website and the impact it can have on user experience and search engine rankings, so you can set your business up for success in the ever-evolving digital landscape. We’ll also share the benefits of having a mobile-friendly website for your business. What is the importance of mobile website design? Mobile website design is crucial in today’s digital world because of the overwhelming number of people using mobile phones to browse the internet. It ensures that users have a seamless and enjoyable experience, regardless of the device they’re using. This will lead to improved customer satisfaction and increases their likelihood of returning to your website. A mobile-first design approach also means you’re being proactive when it comes to your website loading quickly, looking great, and functioning perfectly on smaller screens. Search engines like Google will reward you for this as they prioritise mobile-responsive websites, meaning you’ll have a better chance of ranking higher in search results. This in turn improves your site's visibility and your ability to reach a wider audience.  By prioritising a mobile-first design approach for your site, you can enhance user engagement and increase your conversions, allowing you to stay ahead in a competitive online market. What are the benefits of mobile website design? We’ve highlighted a few benefits of mobile-first design, but here are a few more benefits of designing your website mobile-first: Responsiveness One of the most significant benefits of mobile-first web design is that your website will be responsive, meaning it will work on various devices. The site you see on your mobile device should look almost identical to the one you see on your desktop computer. But with that being said, working on a mobile design first can be challenging to imagine how a site will look on desktop, so it’s important to design and test all devices to ensure a seamless user experience. Fewer bugs When building and designing websites desktop first, it usually requires complex code, especially if your design has lots of styling. Then when it comes to building that design for mobile, the complicated code needs to be reorganised to be able to run on mobile and this can lead to more potential bugs with the website. However, if you take a mobile-first design approach, it’s much more straightforward because less coding is needed to build the design. This ultimately means there'll be fewer bugs, fewer glitches, and fewer errors, ultimately leading to a smoother user experience. Faster page load times It’s no secret websites with a lot of content on, take longer to load if not optimised correctly. According to Neil Patel, 40% of people abandon a website if it takes three seconds or more to load. When designing a website desktop first, it can be tempting to fill space with lots of images, videos, or other graphics. While this is entirely fine as images and videos are good for engagement, it’s important to ensure these are optimised correctly so it doesn’t have a negative impact on page load times.  If you start with mobile web design first, you can reduce the amount of content you include on your website, and when you have less images and videos as part of your design, it can result in faster page load times which can have a positive impact on your SEO. Faster page load times is a key factor Google takes into account when determining your ranking in search engine results. The higher you rank, the more traffic you’ll get, which can lead to more conversions. Improved customer satisfaction and interaction With more and more people browsing the internet on their mobile, it’s important for online businesses to have a mobile-friendly website to ensure that users have a positive experience regardless of the device they are using. This in turn improves customer satisfaction and encourages more interaction on your website from your audience. Mobile-responsive design allows for easy navigation, faster loading times, and better placed content, all of which contribute to a positive user experience. By prioritising mobile web design, businesses can attract and retain customers, boost engagement levels, and drive more conversions. By offering your audience an omnichannel experience, you can better meet the needs and expectations of your customers. Expanded use Mobile website design gives you the ability to expand your reach and engage with a wider audience. This is largely down to the fact that so many people use their mobile to access information and browse websites, and by having a mobile-friendly website, it allows you to connect with people on the go and makes your content accessible anytime, anywhere. This is a great scenario regardless of whether you offer physical products or services, as you can reach prospective buyers much more effectively. Looking for professional mobile website design services? Prioritising mobile-first design is vital for so many reasons; one being a positive user experience for your audience, and another reason is that mobile design is a key Google ranking factor, so ensuring your website is mobile responsive is key to ranking high in search engine results, boosting traffic, and improving conversions. So if you’re looking for professional mobile website design services, or you’d like to learn more about how we can elevate your business, speak to our expert design team today. We know what it takes to design a flawless mobile web design for your business that will bring you outstanding results you’d expect. #### Why Google AdWords is important Suppose you're an advertiser looking to capitalize on the huge volume of daily Google AdWords searches and quickly earn the attention necessary to increase your bottom line. In that case, there's no better place to start than by signing up for Google Ads. The world of marketing has shifted considerably in recent years, and Google Ads is one platform that has been instrumental in this shift. Google Ads, formerly known as Google Adwords, is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform that enables business owners and marketing professionals to advertise their brand on the web. By advertising on a platform with over 259 million unique visitors, 4.8 billion daily interactions, and over 5 billion daily search queries, there is no doubt that Google Ads can assist you in achieving your goals. Continue reading to learn why you should use Google Ads and how to make the platform work for your business! Read why Google Adwords to charge 2% tax back to UK clients. Importance of Google Adwords Listed below are several advantages of using Google Ads in your digital marketing strategy. It increases leads and customers. Google Ads is one of the most effective lead generation platforms available. If your campaigns are properly configured, they have the potential to bring highly targeted leads to your website, opt-in form, or other online property. Google Ads enables you to target people who are actively looking for what your business has to offer. This means you can constantly modify your searches to ensure that only users interested in purchasing your products or services are directed to your websites via this platform. It is a very adaptable marketing platform. Anyone who routinely utilizes Google Ads will attest that it is a highly versatile marketing platform. It is appropriate for organizations of all types and sizes. This method enables you to turn on and off-internet traffic. Additionally, it integrates with a variety of other marketing platforms and software systems. You may quickly tailor campaigns to target various demographics of online visitors. For instance, you can target individuals based on their location, the device they're using, and the Google-owned website they're visiting (e.g., Google search, Google Maps, YouTube). Additionally, you can budget for specific aspects of a campaign. For instance, you may establish daily budgets and cap the amount of money you're ready to spend on clicks for keywords. You receive a high rate of return on your investment. In contrast to other marketing tactics, Google Ads requires you to pay only for ads that are clicked. When Google Ads campaigns are optimized, you can achieve a high return on investment, which is not always feasible with other marketing tactics. This, however, takes time, and you must determine which technique is best for you and your organization. To better understand what will produce the best outcomes, you must constantly test and track your initiatives. Google Ads is ideal for this because it is quite transparent and provides all the necessary information. When you identify areas of your campaign that provide a positive return on investment, you should concentrate your efforts and resources there. If a campaign or portions of a campaign are a financial drain, discontinue it. Invest your savings in successful campaigns and future initiatives. You receive immediate and transparent results. Google Ads is renowned for providing easy-to-understand outcomes and reports on your campaigns. It's simple to track the development of your campaigns because the dashboard provides detailed information about each one, including the ads clicked, the keywords entered by website visitors, and the cost of clicks. Google Ads is an exceptionally transparent and intuitive system because of these features. It taps into massive amounts of high-quality traffic. Due to Google's market dominance and vast client base, the search giant can send businesses massive amounts of traffic each day if those businesses have the funds for it. See why Click-To-Message will be the future of Google Adwords. Google takes pleasure in providing relevant material and advertisements. The company's search engine algorithms are always evolving and improving to offer the most relevant search results and advertisements. This benefits businesses who advertise on Google Advertisements, as these ads direct high-quality leads and visitors to your website, e-commerce store, opt-in form, or other online assets. Google users are more likely to become consumers, opt into your email list, seek information, or take whatever action you want them to do than users from other sources. You gain a better understanding of your market. It's critical to gain insight into your ideal customers' brains. Understanding your audience makes it significantly easier to interact with clients and ascertain their needs. This, however, is exceedingly difficult to accomplish. Conventional procedures, such as questionnaires and interviews, yield insufficient data. On the other hand, Google Ads provides client behaviors and requirements that past generations of business owners could only dream of. Google Ads provides you with useful information about your clients, such as the terms they used to locate your website, their location, the devices they use, and the hours and days they search. You may utilize this data to better your products and services and fine-tune your marketing efforts to avoid wasting money advertising to those who aren't interested in what you have to offer. Google Ads is one of the most effective advertising platforms ever developed. It processes millions of internet user searches daily and then provides company owners with an unparalleled opportunity to convert a significant portion of these people into business leads and clients. Many businesses are put off by the high cost of advertising on Google Ads, particularly if they are inexperienced with its functionality. However, if your internet advertising approach is sound, the rewards from Google Ads can be enormous. See how to find if you’ve got duplicate keywords in your Google Adwords Account Verdict Google Ads is one of the most potent advertising strategies a business can use due to its reach and authority among other search engines. There are numerous approaches to construct the finest campaign for your business and its audiences, ranging from search marketing to shopping ads. By utilizing all of Google Ads' features, there is no doubt that you can create a successful marketing campaign for your organization. #### Why image SEO is beneficial for your website Quality content coupled with effective image SEO is crucial for website success for any business. Of course you’ll need to regularly post articles and blogs, as well as regularly refresh your general website content, but it’s important your website doesn’t look boring in comparison to your competitors. Imagery will make your website more visibly appealing to your user base, but it’s the image SEO that will help thrust your website to the top of organic search engine results. Keep reading to learn more about why image SEO is beneficial for your website along with our checklist for successfully uploading images to your site. Why are images important on a website? Images on a website are important for so many reasons other than visual appeal. To build brand character, you need imagery with consistency. For a more memorable experience, images can help visualise that, making it an easier and naturally flowing website. Images play a huge role in social media marketing too with Instagram being a great example of fine image marketing. The rise of visual search has also highlighted the importance of adding images (and videos too) to your website content. Platforms like Google Lens are enabling users to search for content using images, meaning the need for adding multimedia to your website and optimising it is crucial for search engines and people to find you online. Not only is optimising your images crucial, but adding embedded information to them (also known as alt-tag or alt-text) is also key as this is a vital form of metadata. Imagery metadata is a common SEO tactic and is displayed when a user hovers their cursor over an image. This is where users are shown more information on the image and it’s also where you’ll want to include your target keywords where possible as this will most certainly help to boost your organic rankings. What are the benefits of image SEO? As we’ve already mentioned, imagery can be used as a better way to tell a story quickly and is far more visually appealing and engaging than words. Here are some of the other benefits of conducting SEO for images. Higher search engine rankings Search engines like Google crawl and index your website to determine your ranking based on how relevant your content is for users. By adding relevant images to your web pages and optimising them for SEO, it adds more contextual information to your content, meaning you’re more likely to be shown in search engine result pages (SERPs). Increased website traffic When you improve the relevance of your content via image SEO, it will affect the success of your images being discovered, crawled and indexed by search engines. This will ultimately mean you’ll rank higher in SERPs, meaning more people will visit your site. Improved user experience User friendly SEO images attract more visitors even more than text does, and when they’re optimised correctly - this includes file type, size and resolution - it provides a better user experience for your customers. This is because it helps towards the load speed of your web page which attracts and engages your audience. Our checklist for successfully uploading images When it comes to optimising your images for SEO, there are plenty of factors to consider. It might seem as simple as just uploading a few images onto your website, but there’s more to it. It’s about using the right image formats, ensuring the correct resolution, and resizing the image appropriately that are vital factors. Images can significantly impact load speed times and by resizing in the right resolution, using a supported image format can make all the difference to that along with user experience and SEO overall. This in turn will help boost consumer confidence and help to increase your conversion rate on your site. Here’s our checklist for you to keep in mind when your uploading your images and conducting image SEO: Ensure the file size of your image is kept to a minimum to help increase page load speed Use supportive image formats for your content management system (CMS), such as .jpg, or .png Keep your image resolution appropriate for clear and crisp images Add your target keywords and optimise your alt-tags as part of your image SEO efforts If it’s necessary to add captions to your images, keep them short and descriptive Make sure your images are original and relevant to your content as this is key to ranking well in SERPs Optimising your images is crucial and using the above checklist will help improve your organic search performance. This is even more vital if you want to stay competitive in search rankings.  As mentioned above, you should also try to stick to using your own original imagery if possible. This is because using stock images for SEO will not have the same effect that original images will. Your images also need to be relevant to you and your brand. For example, images of your facilities or stores can have a significant impact and will also increase the value of your blogs, landing pages, and articles. Want to learn more about image SEO? The message is clear and simple - images can have just as much affect as anything else on a website can! If you want a successful and effective website, conducting regular image SEO is crucial as it will help you reach the top of SERPs. If you’d like to learn more about image SEO, be sure to contact us today. We know keeping a website flowing can be time-consuming, so why not see how our digital marketing experts can help your business. #### Why is ecommerce important? As a business owner, you’re always looking for ways to expand your reach and increase your sales. In today’s digital age, having an online presence is more important than ever. If you’ve been considering adding ecommerce to your business offering, there is no time like the present. According to Statistica, it’s estimated that the ecommerce industry in the UK alone will see an overall revenue of $188.84 billion (£151.50 billion) in 2029. This figure just goes to show how ecommerce has completely transformed the way users shop and do business, as it offers convenience and accessibility to both businesses and customers alike. In this blog, we’ll delve into the importance of ecommerce for your business growth. From reaching new audiences to engaging in a comparative market, the advantages of ecommerce are endless. Why is ecommerce important? With the above predicted spending for ecommerce in the UK, it’s obvious that the world of shopping has shifted dramatically towards online platforms - and for good reason. Here are some of the many advantages of ecommerce for your business. You can create a global presence Ecommerce opens the doors to global trade and breaks down geographical barriers, allowing you to expand your market reach significantly. If you’re a small business and don’t have the budget for an all-singing-all-dancing ecommerce website, you can use sites like Amazon and Etsy to access the infrastructure to complete sales and deliver to customers far and wide.  Online shopping is particularly useful for businesses that sell fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), such as clothing, toiletries, and other household items. With the right strategies in place, you can grow your brand on a global scale, allowing you to grow and thrive in ways that were previously unimaginable. You can reach new audiences Along with increasing your reach, ecommerce allows you to reach new audiences who may not have heard of your products or services otherwise. This opens up opportunities for growth and allows businesses to diversify their customer base. This also doesn’t just mean targeting new demographics, it also means targeting more devices. Shopping on smartphones has become a huge area for growth as people browse and purchase items on-the-go. As well as this, with the rise of social media and other digital marketing tactics, ecommerce provides a platform for businesses to engage with potential customers in innovative ways, creating more personalised shopping experiences that can help drive sales and build brand loyalty. You can engage in a comparative market Ecommerce allows you to enter a comparative market and gain insights into what your competitors are doing, such as pricing strategies, product and service offerings, or customer engagement tactics which can help you stay competitive and relevant. Online shoppers have also become much savvier too. Rather than buy an item in store, they often tend to take note of it and shop online later and look for better deals. This is where you too can be savvy with your tactics. If you offer a product similar to your competitors that is competitively priced, promoting and showcasing this will put you in front of potential customers. As well as this, analysing your competitors can also provide you with valuable information on industry trends and consumer preferences, allowing you to adapt your business strategy to meet the ever evolving demands of your customers. You can create incentive programs Another reason why ecommerce is important is that you can create incentive programs which is a great tactic for fostering customer loyalty. By offering incentives like discounts, loyalty points, or referral bonuses online, your brand encourages repeat purchases and increases customer retention. As we’ve mentioned, not only do these kinds of incentive programs drive sales, but they also help build brand loyalty and create a sense of community among customers. With the convenience of online shopping and the added perk of incentive programs, you can create more personalised and rewarding shopping experiences for your customers, ultimately leading to increased sales and long-term success. You can create precise targeted marketing campaigns One of the biggest advantages of ecommerce is it gives you an incredibly valuable resource; data. Data such as consumer behaviour, preferences, and purchase history is integral to creating targeting marketing campaigns, whether it’s for email, PPC, or social media.  This data can be used to segment customers into specific groups based on their interests and buying habits, allowing for the creation of personalised marketing campaigns that are more likely to resonate with each audience segment. By doing this, you can increase engagement, drive conversions, and boost sales. Ready to incorporate ecommerce into your business? It’s clear to see that the importance of ecommerce can not be underestimated. By adding ecommerce to your business offering, you’re opening your brand up to a whole realm of advantages, as we’ve highlighted above. We also have a great blog covering tips to improve your ecommerce checkout process. If you’d like to learn more about adding ecommerce to your business, get in touch with us today. Our web developers can talk you through your ecommerce platform options based on your goals and objectives, and our digital marketing experts can help plan, create, and manage your marketing strategy to ensure your online shop gets the most exposure. #### Why is it important to be a data driven marketer? As marketers, we understand that it is important to be extremely savvy online. Everything is happening in the digital sphere and it is where we can gather feedback, ideas, connection, and so much more. But as digital marketing evolves, we are also seeing more new ways to develop within the digital space. Striving to reach consumers and turn them into engaged customers takes a collection of different methods, but one of the most current and vital is developing marketing strategies that are driven by data. If you're not overly familiar with the concept of data driven marketing, keep reading to discover more. What is meant by data driven marketing? So, what exactly is data driven marketing? This refers to when you use the data gathered from your customers in order to make better and more accurate predictions about what their behaviour may be in the coming months and years. It is a good way to remain competitive in your field. What can data driven marketing offer? In simple terms, exploring data and adapting based on what you learn can give you a greater insight into your customer habits than simple feedback forms ever could. This raw data can give you a better framework for how to best appeal to and serve your customers in the online space, allowing you to develop in line with their evolving needs, wants and behaviours. Data can show you things that customers might not even be aware of themselves regarding their habits and what they respond to - as well as telling you how they might alter their habits and interactions in the future. How to find the right information Before you begin creating a strategy around data, it is vital that you know which data to gather, so you do not become overwhelmed. Look at which channels are most commonly used and start there. Don’t forget to look at your competition for information, too. While you might not be able to achieve the same in-depth analysis as you can with your own data, being familiar with their campaigns can help you to understand what works and what doesn’t. If your direct competitor has had a campaign that you considered particularly effective, think about why. Your customer bases will likely be fairly similar, so how can you adapt to achieve similarly impactful results? Get to know your customers It can be easy to begin to see your customers as a group rather than as individuals. With tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and other data gathering systems, you can track them on a less broad level. This can actually help you to understand how best to tailor your campaigns in the future. You may be surprised at what the data shows you - sometimes the demographic you are marketing to can be starkly different from your actual consumer base, meaning you could be trying to appeal to the wrong group altogether. Reading the data Being a data driven marketer in the digital world is a fantastic way to stay one step ahead of both your customer and the competition - but it can also feel like a whole new universe to explore. If you are not skilled in reading data, you may end up gathering incorrect information, or creating content that isn’t effective due to being too heavily entrenched in the data that has been gathered. You can always find someone, or an agency like Fifteen, who is more experienced in reading data to gather it for you and together draw conclusions and create a strategy around this. An expert touch like ours is necessary in order to make the most of data. Remember the human element While it is important to be driven by data in order to get high quality quantifiable results, as well as predicting potential trends, it is equally vital to remember that behind every data point is a person. The data you gather cannot tell you everything you need to know about your customers, but should rather be used to create a more whole and holistic picture of them to work with. Maintain your empathy and understand that campaigns with an emotional core are often the most successful. Speak to our experts today With all of this in mind, it is clear why knowing your data and understanding how to use it is imperative to creating digital marketing strategies that work. While you may have experience in one area of marketing, there is no telling whether the tactics used with one demographic will translate and work for another - having a firm grasp of the right data can help you to always hit your goals. If you'd like specialist help with your data, speak to us today. At Fifteen, we're a digital solution based agency and we can help gather and analyse your data so you can make better informed business decisions. We'll take a strategic approach and help you drive real results for your brand. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help your business grow. #### Why is it important to have good website design? With nearly every business operating online some way or another, good website design is more important than ever. By having a pleasing and easy-to-use website, not only can you attract and retain first-time buyers, but you also build a sense of trust and faith in your shoppers. In this blog, we take a closer look at the importance of good website design as well as exploring some of the key reasons why good web design is crucial for online success. Why is web design important? Good website design is about far more than appearance. While visual appeal is important, the real value of strong design lies in how it shapes user experience, supports your brand credibility, and helps turn visitors into customers. This is why the importance of good website design goes beyond aesthetics, because it directly affects how people perceive your business and whether they choose to engage with it. In a competitive digital landscape, users make quick decisions. If a website feels outdated, difficult to navigate, or is unclear in its messaging, people are far more likely to leave before taking action. This is also why the importance of website design should never be underestimated. A well-designed website helps build trust, improve usability, and create a smoother journey from first click to conversion. Truly understanding why web design is important means looking at the bigger picture. Good design supports everything from SEO and mobile usability, to brand positioning and lead generation, making it one of the most valuable investments a business can make online. 5 reasons why web design is important A website serves as a metaphorical shop window for your online business. If, on the outset it’s appealing, customers are likely to take a trip around your site and potentially make a purchase. A good website is determined by appearance, ease of use, and a lack of barriers that prevent visitors from achieving their aims. Here are five reasons why good website design is important for the online success of your business. 1. It helps build trust from the first click Good website design plays a crucial role in first impressions. Before a user reads your content, compares your service, or looks at your pricing, they’re already making judgements based on how your website looks and feels. A clear, modern, and professionally structured site signals that your business is credible, established, and trustworthy. It suggests that you’re a brand that’s going to deliver on high-quality products or services. On the other hand, poor spacing, outdated visuals, or confusing layouts can quickly create doubt, even if the service behind the site is excellent. This is exactly why web design is important because it influences perception before a customer has even engaged with your offer in detail. 2. It shapes user experience User experience is important as this is what keeps a customer on your site. If the site isn’t well-designed, it can look and operate in a clunky way. A website should make it easy for visitors to find what they need, understand what you offer, and take the next step without friction. If users have to work too hard to navigate your site, they’re unlikely to stay for long. Good design supports user experience by creating a clear hierarchy of information, intuitive navigation, and layouts that guide attention naturally. This is especially important on service pages, product pages, and landing pages where clarity has a direct impact on enquiries and conversions. Ultimately, a well-designed website shouldn’t just look good, it should work better for the people using it. 3. It helps boost conversion rates One of the key reasons why web design is important is that it can contribute to a boost in your conversion rates. If customers enjoy using your site and find it easy to navigate they’re more likely to buy your products or services. This is because design influences conversion by shaping how users move through the page, where their attention is drawn, and how confident they feel taking action. Clear calls-to-action (CTA), strong page structure, supportive trust signals, attractive fonts and colours, and well-presented content all contribute to better performance. 4. It supports SEO performance While SEO and web design are often treated as separate disciplines, they work best together. SEO only exists on quality and well-designed websites, and design decisions directly affect how search engines and users interact with your site. Elements such as mobile responsiveness, page speed, site structure, and content hierarchy all influence SEO performance. A website that’s easy to navigate, technically efficient, and is built around a clear user journey often performs better in search and keeps users engaged for longer. Making your website SEO-friendly should be at the forefront when designing any new website as it can influence how your site functions, ranks, and converts. 5. It meets modern expectations around mobile browsing It's no secret that online shoppers no longer restrict themselves to logging onto a computer to make online purchases. Users tend to move between desktop, tablet, and mobile constantly, and often make quick decisions based on how easily they can access information on the go. Good website design must be responsive, readable, and user-friendly across every screen size. Buttons should be easy to tap, text should be easy to scan, and layouts should adapt without compromising the experience. If your mobile experience is poor, users are unlikely to stay, and search engines will notice too. The rise of mobile shoppers is one of the main reasons why so many brands have taken to developing mobile apps to support their online success. Looking for professional web design for your business? It’s clear to see the importance of website design goes far beyond visuals. From building trust and improving usability, to supporting SEO and increasing conversions, good web design plays a central role in how your business performs online. If your website no longer reflects the quality of your brand, or it isn’t helping users take action, it may be time to rethink how it’s working for you. At Fifteen, we create websites that do more than look good - they’re built to engage users, support business growth, and deliver measurable results. If you want to strengthen your digital presence and understand the true importance of good website design, be sure to get in touch with our team today to discuss your requirements in more detail. #### Why is my Bounce Rate so high? - How to solve bounce rate! What makes for a positive Bounce Rate? Bounce rate is simple, companies may see a range of 75-85% bounce rate to be great, where the next company will see this to be possibly catastrophic. It's all dependent on the site and the goals of the  business. Sites should keep an eye on the bounce rate as an indication of how appealing their website is, and the possible steps they may need to reduce the number as much as possible. Bounce rate can also have an influence on your search rankings, visible through Google Analytics. So it’s clear you need to maintain constant optimization for the metrics. Optimize your page load times It's easy enough to see that if your bounce rate is high, you'd assume the issue was with the quality or quantity of content. But this is not entirely true as problems can occur even before the viewer has had the chance to view much of your content at all. Often taking forever to load is strongly one of the worst problems a web page can experience. Sometimes it just doesn't matter on the quality of content if the viewer is having a bad experience. Viewers will often expect a web page to load in two seconds or even less, otherwise it makes them tiresome, proving that the on site optimization is an important factor for reducing your bounce rate. If you want some tips on how to optimize and improve user experience, then see our guide here. Internal links in your content Including internal links in your content, it is a great way to reduce bounce rate. This strategy works really well, your analytics will show this and that it is essential to accurately measure the users time spent on a page. However, it's also possible that it can backslash, making your content appear cheap and quick.  We’ve all seen sites that link internally in every other sentence, and not only does this look awful, it doesn’t do much to enrich the user experience or offer audiences something of genuine value. If you have great blog content posts that are on dedicated topics, then it would be of importance for your audience to have links around and about your site. But take into account to not go overboard with excessive internal linking. This causes confusion and overwhelms your user base, deterring them from accessing the links. You can also see our ‘internal link’ for a guide on ‘internal links’ here. Make your site more ‘mobile friendly’ The importance of mobile friendliness is so crucial in today's society, but so many websites still haven't got there yet. Every year, the overall number of people accessing sites on mobile devices is increasing. If you fail to optimize your site for mobiles, then this could be a good indication for why your site's bounce rate increases. The reason so many skip the mobile optimisation is because it's time and resource consuming, especially for a larger website that includes multiple internal pages and complex mapping or different page structures. It's a long process, and may be out of your hands, which can be an expense when outsourcing to contractors.  However, the importance is very real, there are just too many people using mobile devices, and it's silly not to optimize your site. It doesn't matter how long it takes, if it's going to boost your site and provide more flow and influx of customers or viewers. See 5 ways to improve mobile friendliness here. Provide smoothe site navigation If you envision yourself in your viewers position, you will want an easy way to find your destination. This means that even the slightest snags to get there, they may just consider another accessible site. This is why you need to make it effortless for your viewers. To achieve this, it must be clear, easily understood, and offeran easy flow through your site to return and move forward to different destinations. Don't make your viewers guess or have to work to find what they want, make it simple by providing easy, understandable pathways that you’ve put into place. It's as simple as that. Learn how to dissect good navigation here. Bounce Rate Conclusion So after some simple diagnostics, understanding optimization, internal linking, mobile friendliness and navigation help identify simple fixes to customers heading in the opposite direction. It's down to you to challenge yourself and your site, to simplify and provide a good experience to your user base. After all, the only thing your viewers are here for, is the content and what you're providing that benefits them. Good luck and take what you have learnt into account. #### Why is user experience on websites so important? Your website is often the first impression potential customers will have of your business, and if your site doesn’t speak to your target audience, it won’t perform to its full potential. It should relate to your user’s motivations and ambitions, and take them on a journey to fulfilling their needs - ultimately converting them into a paying customer. That’s where user experience (UX) comes into play - and it’s not just about aesthetics, it’s about creating a journey that keeps visitors coming back for more. Understanding the importance of UX on your site can be a game changer, and in this blog, we explore the key fundamentals of good website user experience and why you should be prioritising it for success. What are the key fundamentals of good website user experience? First, let’s quickly break down what website user experience actually is and why you need to streamline it. User experience is essentially the experience individuals have when they encounter your website. It’s imperative you ensure you deliver the visitor the most satisfactory experience in as few clicks as possible.  You can do this by ensuring your website is: 1. Functional Functionality is the cornerstone of UX and refers to how well your site serves its intended purpose. It should allow users to accomplish their goals efficiently and effectively. When they interact with your site, they expect it to work seamlessly without any hiccups. This means that every button, menu, or interactive element should be easy to understand and operate, and enable them to navigate seamlessly without frustration. It should also load quickly, be responsive across all devices, and provide clear access to information and your offering. Intuitive website design plays a key role here and should allow users to complete tasks, such as completing a transaction, with minimal effort.  2. Helpful Your site should be helpful for your users and this is where your top level navigation comes in. Organising your offering logically, using intuitive menus, and ensuring your most important content is easily accessible is key to providing value and support to your audience. Best practice is to keep your menu to a maximum of five headings as this avoids an overly complicated navigation and ensures your users can find exactly what they’re looking for quickly. It’s also important to remember that everyone will view and use a website differently, so you should cater for all types of users. Some may prefer to read, some may prefer to look at images, and some may prefer to engage with iconography. Providing the perfect blend of all three gives everyone a fair chance to access your offering in different ways. 3. Unrestricted Creating a good user experience on websites starts with an unrestricted site that is accessible to all users. An unrestricted site essentially means an easy, free flowing website without boundaries, and gives users what they want. A good example would be an online travel company. When a user searches for their desired destination and clicks through to a hotel or resort they like the look of, you want to ensure you’re including everything they could possibly want to know. This may include images, hotel facilities, nearby attractions, videos, and even include a hotel comparison list, so the user doesn’t have to keep going back and forth between different pages to find the information they want. This approach allows users to find the information they need quickly, efficiently, and all in one place, leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates on your site. 4. Trustworthy Trustworthiness is an important element of user experience on websites because it can significantly influence how visitors perceive and interact with your site. Visual cues, or ‘trust signals’ showcase the reliability of your brand and can include things like the length of service or experience, accreditations, reviews, or testimonials for example. These all important signals help put your customers at ease, trust your brand, and make the buying or enquiry process quicker and easier. When your customers find your site trustworthy, it encourages them to return for future visits, making this crucial for your conversion rate. 5. Worthwhile Users today not only expect your site to be functional, helpful, and unrestricted, but they also expect a sense of value from their interactions. This means your site should resonate with your audience's needs and wants. Whether it's through informative articles, easy-to-find products, or interactive features, your website experience should understand who your visitors are and what they're looking for. A great way to ensure this in your user experience is to incorporate a search bar on your site, so users can quickly search for the product they want. Then, when they land on your product page, you showcase the product's key features, how it can solve their problems, meet their needs, and why they should choose you over your competitors - this can also include your trust signals too. 6. Desirable Creating a desirable website is a key fundamental to enhancing website user experience and ensuring your visitors feel motivated to explore further. A site that is visually appealing can help improve interaction. This not only involves aesthetic appeal, such as clean and pleasing layouts, harmonious colour palettes, and responsive features that cater to different devices, but also captivating imagery. If you’re an ecommerce business and you sell luxurious products - whether it’s sports cars or beauty products - you should be investing in high-quality photography to create an inviting atmosphere. The more desirable your site is, the more likely users will return and recommend it to others. This not only encourages repeat visits and fosters loyalty, but also helps boost your conversions. Why does user experience on websites matter? If you’ve ever been on a website or an app, and you don’t know how to find specific information, or have ended up on a 404 error page, you’ve encountered a lousy website user experience. Good user experience matters because bad UX can result in missed sales and leads coming through your site. Positive experiences keep users loyal to your offering and brand, ultimately leading to business success. Your website visitors will expect elements of your site to work and deliver what they need. If it doesn’t, your website is targeting the wrong audience. With a bad UX, you might need to rewind, do some deeper thinking, and create some personas and customer journey maps to understand your users better. Ask yourself the following questions when navigating through your website: How easy is it to navigate? Is it clear what you offer? How can the website be improved to increase conversions? Does content connect with the end-users? Are you using the right call to action? Tips to improve your website user experience If your website isn’t performing as expected, your website experience could be the issue. Here are some tips to improve your UX so you can retain visitors and encourage engagement: Create buyer personas so you can make sure you truly understand who your website is for. This will allow you to deliver an experience and design that’s catered specifically to them. Use analytical tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) or Microsoft Clarity to review how visitors are engaging with the content on your pages. This will enable you to make changes that are data driven. Make sure your web pages load quickly - because no one likes to wait! You can optimise images and minimise unnecessary scripts to help speed things up. Ensure your site is mobile-friendly to cater for the growing number of people who browse the internet on a mobile device. Consider streamlining your navigation and organising your content into clear categories so users know exactly where to find your products or services. Let us help with your website user experience With a well-designed user experience, you can significantly influence how users navigate your site, find information, and ultimately engage with your brand. When you offer a good website experience, you can increase lead generation and boost your conversion rate. If you’re struggling with your website user experience and you’re not sure where to start, we can help. At Fifteen, our team of experts can assess your current website design and provide tailored recommendations to enhance visibility and increase visitor satisfaction. Be sure to get in touch with us today and learn how we can create a user-friendly environment that reflects your brand’s values while catering to the needs of your audience. #### Why Laravel is the tool for Rapid Application Development. When it comes to getting a digital product or service to market without cutting corners, speed matters. That’s where Laravel comes in. For many web developers, it’s a go-to framework for building robust web applications efficiently and effectively.  If you’re wondering why this is the case, keep reading because in this blog, we will explain how Laravel supports rapid application development and why it matters to your next development project. What is Rapid Application Development? Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a software development methodology that puts speed and agility at the forefront. Rather than the usual long lead times for bespoke web development and rigid scopes before a single line of code is written, RAD focuses on speed, adaptability, and regular feedback loops. It’s designed to get working prototypes in front of users quickly, refine them based on honest feedback, and evolve the build through collaboration and iteration. If your project needs to be fast, flexible, and built to evolve with your customer experience, Laravel combined with the RAD methodology is the perfect match. Why is Laravel the perfect Rapid Application Development tool? Laravel’s feature-rich ecosystem is tailor-made for rapid development. It enables you to: Get started fast – Artisan, Laravel’s command-line interface (CLI) tool, speeds up the build process with automation that gets repetitive tasks out of your way. Build smarter - with Eloquent ORM (an object relational mapper), you can manage databases in a cleaner, more readable way. This means faster development and fewer bugs. Design efficiently - Blade, Laravel’s templating engine, helps you create sharp, reusable front-end components without bloat. Stay secure - Laravel includes robust built-in security features from the get-go, meaning less time spent on patches and more time on performance. Test confidently - integrated testing tools let you build with quality assurance baked in, not bolted on. Whether you need a customer portal, booking system, or a fully-fledged SaaS product, Laravel lets you quickly move from brief to prototype and from prototype to polished product. How Laravel and RAD can solve common issues Many businesses face common issues when it comes to development projects, such as tight deadlines or changes in their brief. But with Laravel and Rapid Application Development, these common issues can be quickly solved. “We’ve got a tight deadline.” Laravel and RAD combined results in rapid delivery. You can hit the ground running by using Laravel’s time-saving tools and RAD’s iterative model to quickly show you working versions. This allows you to keep your project moving and ensure it’s completed on time. “Our brief might change.” It’s completely normal for things to change during a development project. RAD embraces change and Laravel’s modular structure means you can pivot with minimal disruption and keep everything running smoothly. “We’re not super technical - can we manage this long-term?” With Laravel’s clean codebase and clear documentation, it makes for project handover and future maintenance a total breeze, meaning those who aren’t technical savvy can still manage their project with ease. “It’s got to be secure.” Security is non-negotiable. That’s why Laravel’s built-in protections give peace of mind from day one, with features that safeguard your data without slowing down your build. Ready to build something brilliant and fast? Whether you’re in the early stages of scoping out an idea or ready to take your product live, our in-house web development team is here to bring your vision to life. With the pairing of Laravel and Rapid Action Development, we can ensure your project moves fast, stays flexible, and grows with your business. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today to discuss your project in more detail and to learn more about the secure bespoke solutions we offer. FAQs about Rapid Application Development What is rapid application development? It’s a way of building software that prioritises speed, collaboration, and flexibility. You get working prototypes fast, test them in the real world, and evolve the solution. Why use Laravel as a rapid application development tool? Laravel gives developers a toolkit optimised for speed and structure. You can automate tasks, code cleanly, and build features without reinventing the wheel. Is RAD just for startups or smaller projects? RAD is perfect for any project where speed, adaptability and user feedback are key. And with Laravel’s scalability, it works just as well for enterprise applications. What if my needs change halfway through the project? That’s no problem because that’s the beauty of RAD. You can build in stages, so change doesn’t mean backtracking; it means improving. Is Laravel overkill for simple projects? Not at all. Laravel is as lightweight or heavyweight as you need it to be. Whether it's a landing page or a large platform, it scales to fit. #### Why Link Building is still essential for SEO There is no denying the importance of SEO to your company. SEO is more critical than ever in today's dynamic market. SEO, however, can be challenging to conduct effectively because in producing high organic search results, there are many ranking factors involved. The most significant and often most neglected element of SEO is link building. You're missing out on a substantial business opportunity if you don't include link building in your overall SEO strategy. Keep reading to learn the significance of link building and how, through won ties, you can further your SEO strategy. What is Link-building?  link building is the process of obtaining hyperlinks from other websites to your own. The way for users to move between pages on the Internet (usually only called a link) is called A hyperlink. To crawl the web, search engines use links; they will crawl the links between your website's pages, and they will crawl the links between entire websites. There are several link building methods, and although they differ in complexity, SEOs tend to agree that one of the most challenging aspects of their work is link building. The rest of their time is spent trying to do it well by several SEOs. For that purpose, it will truly bring you ahead of both other SEOs and your competition if you can master the art of creating high-quality ties. How Get Connections from Other Sites to You? To get external websites to connect to yours, there are several techniques. Here are a few examples to investigate: Content Creation: Convincing, high-quality, and distinctive content enables others to connect to your website. Remember to promote it through email marketing and social media to make it easier for people to find your content. Ask your friends and partners for links: Connection building can be as simple as asking your friends and individuals with whom you work to link to your web. But, remaining within the boundaries of your industry or niche is crucial. Bear in mind, still, importance matters! You should always place your product, service, and website in front of market leaders and influencers who can discuss you on social media or a public review. Using a link outreach service: While you can try to create ties on your own in many ways, many prefer to rely on a link outreach service or organization's assistance. A reliable way to ensure connections are established is to rely on a link outreach service in most situations. We depend solely on white-hat link building strategies at SMA Marketing, protecting our customers' integrity and ensuring that all ties are of high quality. Why is Link-building Important? Enhances your rating Link building is key to a website's success because it is the primary ranking factor on any search engine, as we discussed earlier. Most queries on the Internet start with a search engine, and one of the first three search results is clicked by most people who perform these queries. Since search engines place so much emphasis on links, it is physically impossible to rank well with search engines without some way, shape, or method of acquiring backlinks. With that being said, if you have a quality website with great information, people may connect to your website automatically without you having to put much effort into link building.  That only works, however, if individuals already know about your website. Before they can get to that point, most websites need to put their energies into link building. Drives Traffic on Websites Building links can also help improve the website's traffic. ProofHub's Nandini Sharma agrees, telling us that "Acquiring quality backlinks is not only essential to gain higher search rankings. But also to help companies drive more traffic and create a better readership base that will turn into a paying customer." Building links will maximize your organic traffic by increasing your search engine ranking, leading to more clicks on your website (especially if you make it to the first page). The more connections you get with a high volume of organic traffic on high-quality pages, the more results you can see in traffic to your website. Increase Brand Exposure Not only do you want to put these links on blogs and pages that are important to your website so that you are not penalized, but to improve referral traffic as well. You want the material to apply to what you have to say because we know that the reader is interested (they clicked on it, didn't they) in the article you are linking to. If the content is essential to your link, they are more likely to follow the link and explore your website. "Running link building campaigns work to increase brand awareness and make it more likely that you will become the go-to site for many customers looking for reliability and convenience," confirms Emily Garner, a content specialist for Blue Claw. The fundamental aim behind link building is to find external outlets that will connect back to you or "link back to the site of our customer", in LSEO's words. Your brand's search volume can increase ten-fold. Name Exposure increases Link building can also be useful for brand recognition, other than helping your site rank higher and eventually increase your traffic. For any website or business, the ultimate long-term aim is to become a household name. Verdict Without link building, no SEO strategy is complete. While connection building is recognized as one of SEO's most challenging and time-consuming procedure, it can help your site rank significantly higher, get you more traffic and significantly grow your company. For search rankings, link building is not a fast or straightforward fix - it takes a lot of time, effort, and money. That said, backlinks are still a valuable resource that can be a significant component of exposing search engines to your web assets. Although they are no longer the one-and-only search signal worth caring about, all major search engines are still significant to them. #### Why Optimising Images is Integral to SEO Images are a vital part of every page whether it's a blog, a landing page, or a special offer. Human beings are visual creatures and as such are often drawn to colours and imagery that reflect our expectations of a site. But beyond looking pretty, images also need to be optimised for SEO. We're going to look at why optimising images for SEO is integral to your success. Size Matters When loading a web page, the images are the thing that often takes the longest to load. So if you have a landing page with a simple header image you probably won't have any issues but for a gallery or case study with plenty of photos, you'll need to make sure you compress your images before uploading them to the site. Optimising images so that each image is under 1MB is the standard and improves your load times significantly. Images need to load on different devices There are plenty of free tools, such as Canva and TinyPNG, you can use to compress images or change the formats. Some CMS systems even have image compression built-in like WP Smush or Yoast SEO on WordPress. Find a tool that works for you and optimise all your images. You may find all your loading speed issues disappear. Name Your Images While it may be easy for your visitors to see images, computers and web crawlers are still learning. When uploading images remember to title images with a description of the image. Aim for keywords and phrases that are relevant to the page and you'll find your SEO rankings improve as web crawlers index not just the word content but also the images used on the page. This process also makes it easier for you to find an image when you need to instead of scrolling through rows and rows of 'img2345'. Another pro tip is to use dashes between words as web crawlers can't read spaces or underscores. Use Alt Tags and Captions Alt tags are another way for web crawlers to search for clues and index your page. Alt tags are also incredibly important for accessibility as they assist visually impaired users by providing descriptions of the images on the page. These tags should provide information and context for users and even when your images break or glitch out, at least web crawlers will be able to index them correctly. You should try and keep alt tags short and sweet to make them easy to understand. What is he checking? Captions are another useful tool for optimising images for SEO. While captions don't directly add to SEO they improve user experience. Take a case study for example. If you work in motor repairs and have photos of the process of a repair job many users won't know a gasket from a piston. Use captions to explain what you do or what you sell and your users will understand your images better. Use Unique Images Stock imagery is a pet hate of designers all around the world. You know the ones, the obviously staged photos with everyone in the room grinning from ear to ear. Stock images are available to anyone so chances are whatever image you use won't be unique. Wherever possible try to use high-quality photos of your products or services or professional photography that best encapsulates your information. Example of unrealistic stock image Trust the Experts Pictures say a thousand words so take the time to optimise your images for SEO and you'll reap the rewards. If you need a hand with SEO image optimisation or want to know more about how we can help you supercharge your website contact us today and we'll improve your visibility and improve performance. #### Why premium hosting matters Every website has a home on the internet. When it comes to selecting a host, you might think the decision isn’t that important. However, picking the wrong host can have a significant negative impact on your company. Your website's security could be compromised and sales could be lost due to poor performance and slow page loading times, amongst other issues. The good news is that you can prevent such possible traps by opting for premium hosting. Having your company’s website up and running as smoothly as possible means that your customers are satisfied and that conversions are not interrupted.  Premium hosting offers a range of benefits that can elevate your website’s performance and user experience, and in this blog, we explore the reasons why premium web hosting is a game-changer for any business looking to take their online presence to the next level. What is premium hosting? Premium hosting is a top-tier web hosting service that offers enhanced features and performance compared to standard hosting options. With premium hosting, you can expect faster loading times, better security measures, dedicated customer support, and more reliability for your website. This type of hosting is ideal for businesses who want to prioritise optimal website performance and user experience for their audience. While it may come at a higher cost than basic hosting plans, the benefits of premium hosting often outweigh the investment by providing a seamless online presence that helps elevate your brand reputation and attract more visitors to your site. Why choose premium web hosting? When it comes to web hosting, opting for premium services can make all the difference in maximising your website's potential. There are a multitude of reasons why choosing premium hosting matters and we highlight some of those reasons below.  Monitoring and protection According to Astra Security, almost 4,000 new cyber attacks happen every day - that’s one every 14 seconds a company falls victim to a website hack. As technology becomes more sophisticated, and as do the hackers themselves, that number is only likely to increase in the coming years. However, if you opt for premium web hosting, it would mean you have robust firewalls and built-in server-side security to help avoid such attacks and security breaches. As well as this, the service offers proactive security monitoring that scans the web continuously for bugs and threats and additional security layers and firewalls.  It will also have access to a list of plugins that aren’t enabled on your website and warn you if a plugin becomes potentially vulnerable. It even has the ability to deactivate any vulnerable plugins for you to secure your site if there is an immediate danger or you’re not able to respond promptly to remove them yourself.  With premium hosting, you can guarantee that someone will be notified if your site has been hacked, or if something goes wrong, and your hosting company will be on it to fix it. Better business thanks to better performance Content delivery networks (CDNs) are a massive collection of distributed servers deployed in multiple data centres across the globe. They essentially serve the content you see on a website with high availability and speed. These CDNs have been built by several premium web hosting companies to ensure sites load faster. This is necessary for attracting and retaining visitors to your site and it’s also beneficial to SEO as the speed at which a website loads is an essential factor in how Google ranks web pages on search engine results. WebFX states that 40% of online users will leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. By using a CDN to display your site's content, it will significantly reduce your page load time and you’ll notice that the cost of choosing a premium hosting service will quickly pay for itself when your visitors enjoy a positive user experience and convert into paying customers as a result of a fast performing website. Backup and restore with a single click Backing up your website is essential and ensuring it’s easy and simple to restore is equally just as important. Regular backups are ordinarily automatic and saved for at least 30 days with premium web hosting. Some hosting companies offer a “click to backup” function that you can use to save assets or items right before making updates or improvements to your site. There’s also a “click to restore” feature that you can use if you need to go back to the original saved backup. Backup and restore functions are available via ‘off-the-shelf’ hosting services and plugins, but the process can be complicated and time-consuming. It’s important to note that hacking isn’t the only cause of website downtime. Internal bugs can also cause sites to crash, and you don’t want to waste hours trying to find out what went wrong and how to fix it. You need to get the site back up and running right away. With premium hosting, you’ll have the ability to get your site back up and running in a matter of seconds which is a lifesaver (or at least a sanity-saver). Testing and updates on staging servers A staging server is a godsend as it allows you to copy your site onto a different server to make any changes you’d like such as experimenting with new designs, upgrading plugins and themes, making site improvements, and even building a new website while testing it in a stable offline environment. When you’re done, you can simply click to make the changes live. By choosing premium web hosting, you’ll have the ability to utilise staging servers and ensure any website changes are thoroughly tested and optimised before being implemented. This reduces the risk of errors or downtime on your main website, providing peace of mind and confidence in managing a professional website effectively.  Automatic CMS, plugins, and themes updates Opting for a premium hosting service means you’ll get automatic updates to your content management system (CMS), plugins, or themes and you’ll be notified of these updates too. These updates are crucial for maintaining the security and functionality of your website and not only do they save you time, but they also help to protect your website from vulnerabilities that can arise from using outdated software. Failure to regularly update your CMS, plugins, and themes is another prevalent cause of website downtime. But by opting for premium web hosting, you can ensure your website continually stays up-to-date without having to worry about manually checking for and applying updates yourself. Customer support This alone may be worth the cost of a premium hosting service - the opportunity to quickly contact someone who can assist you if you have a problem. Having access to 24/7 assistance can be invaluable, especially if you’re running a business and need a quick resolution to a website issue that might arise. Whether you have a technical question, you need assistance with troubleshooting, or require help with website maintenance, the customer support team of your chosen premium hosting provider can be there to assist you with your issue. Looking for a premium hosting provider? The majority of businesses do not consider web hosting until something goes wrong with their website. It’s then that you remember you’re usually paying for a bare-bones service with limited protection and efficiency options. Website downtime can easily result in missed sales, dissatisfied customers, and a tarnished brand.  So if you’re looking to upgrade to premium web hosting, speak to us today. We offer comprehensive premium hosting services and we’re committed to ensuring your online presence remains seamless, secure, and optimised for success. #### Why Shopify is great for making e-commerce websites? E-commerce has altered the market scenario, with retailers showing their goods online rather than in brick-and-mortar shops. As a result, there is a need to create e-commerce stores representing a great mix of aesthetics and functionality. As of 2021, Shopify is one of the top e-commerce sites globally, with hundreds of thousands of operating shops. Although numerous e-commerce stores have attained massive popularity for various reasons, the e-commerce network they have opted to work is also a decisive factor. For any little product you would like to check out in your online shop; there's got to be a part of the platform features that can support it. If you're just starting and curious what site to use for your e-commerce store, let's tell you about the advantages of using Shopify. User Friendly The method of launching a Shopify store is a quick one, and it is easy to get started within hours of establishing an account. Whether you're planning from the ground up or using Shopify pre-made themes, the process of creating the store can be completed quickly. Shopify is a full and easy solution for companies who wish to broaden their online offering. An advantage is that it provides everything you need for good online purchases. You don't have to think about hosting a website, for example. Creating a shop does not require technological qualifications to get started. Technical skills do broaden the store's customisation possibilities. However, they're not. Technical skills do expand your store's customisation possibilities, but it's not necessary to launch. Everything you need to do is build a store: An account and a subscription Preferably with a custom domain (technically not required) Products Secure and Efficient If you have an eCommerce shop., it is understood that you'll be working with the customer records, including credit card numbers. This means your site needs to be reliable, fast and always up-to-date. One of the main advantage of the hosted approach is its durability. Shopify will take care of all updates and improvements of your site to keep your store and shopping cart open at all times. to ensure the pages are loaded quickly. SSL certificates can be allowed for your store to encrypt all data and transfer it via a protected link, plus Shopify takes care of your PCI enforcement (required when you deal with credit cards). Incredible marketing tools and SEO tools Marketing is also a very critical feature of eCommerce, and Shopify makes this element even simpler. With Shopify, you can access a range of marketing resources such as social media, email marketing, and product feedback. You may also use Shopify's built-in software to build discount coupons. Build excellent landing pages for Google Ads or PPC Social Ads with Shopify. One of Shopify's main advantages is the robust SEO features that help you improve your website ranking with a clean code. Appealing User-Interface Much because you don't want to waste too much time in an ugly retail shop, the same goes for online retailers. In the latter case, you are much more constrained because all you have is a website to create the same impression that comes from beautiful furniture or decoration. Shop e-commerce themes come in a variety, both free and premium. They also offer a range of choices when it comes to redesigning the store's look. Not only can you find it enticing, but you can do it in a way that is most likely to maximise conversions. These capabilities include seamless navigation menus and well-timed CTAs (calls-to-action). You will find a clear example of a free theme with unique add-ons that can help you create a high-volume Shopify store. Bear in mind that all Shopify themes are sensitive, facilitating seamless experience on laptop, tablet and other mobile devices. These themes also give excellent performance in terms of page load speeds and other metrics. Flexibility One of the most significant features of Shopify is its simplicity. Shopify has a range of built-in tools that make it easy to adapt to your business. With Shopify, you can view sales items, offer discounts, and configure delivery options. Shopify also provides support services for enforcement, delivery, billing and inventory management. You can also monitor your store's look and sound with hundreds of talented, free, and fully customisable Shop themes. Mobile Response App responsiveness is the secret to the growth of an e-commerce store, and the number of mobile shoppers is rising every day. Shopify themes are web-friendly, which means they can be used to make use of mobile-optimised stores. There are also free iPhone and Android applications that you can use to run your store. Integrations of Payment Service Safe and stable payment providers can be incorporated into Shopify, and it's pretty easy to incorporate most payment providers and their gateways into your Shopify store. About 100 payment services from around the world are now collaborating with Shopify. Shopify's portal is called Shopify Payments, which is unfortunately not available globally, and many retailers continue to rely on other gateways to allow payments. Top-Notch Customer Support Whenever there is a problem with your service, mainly if it involves a customer complaining, you want to fix it quickly. This typically includes some troubleshooting to figure out if the fault is on your end or mine. And if the consumer is not to blame, there are also a range of potential fault points, like the drop-in provider, configurations set by you, and the network technologies. An excellent way to start is to reach out to the support staff on your website. From there, if things weren't obvious, you would figure out what to do next. Shopify has people available to support you via text, phone or live chat 24/7. This is especially important if you are selling to customers in various time zones and the requests through come in at all types of hours. Find out how to improve your Shopifys ecommerce checkout process. #### Why short form content gets a better conversion rate Content is a critical component of digital marketing as it satisfies your customers' needs for vital information. While the concept of creating content appears straightforward, it becomes more challenging when determining the type of content to include in your digital marketing campaign.  There is no universal formula for determining the optimal length of your content, as it’s all dependent on factors such as your audience, product, and business goals. This brings us to a common problem faced by content creators: should you create short form content or long form content?  While long form content is ideal for improving search engine rankings, short form content is the bread winner when it comes to conversions and we look into the reasons why it’s the go-to choice if you’re looking to improve your conversion rate. What is short form content? Short form content contains no more than 1,200 words and this can consist of digital marketing content including email marketing, brief blog entries, and social media marketing for example. It’s an ideal content format for presenting critical information quickly and concisely, and this can result in better conversion rates.  Sharing this type of content is often beneficial in the following situations:  Your target audience is already aware of your brand and products or services - these individuals are usually seeking specific information that can assist them in making a purchase, so you don’t want to squander their time with irrelevant content.  You’re selling often utilised products or services - these items or services benefit from a brief explanation rather than a lengthy one.  You’re communicating with current customers or qualified leads - if they are prepared to purchase from you, they already understand what differentiates you from the competition and are almost certainly seeking specific information about a product or service.  You’re creating copy for a variety of different marketing channels - this could be copy for PPC ads, Facebook ads, and email subject lines for example. Why does short form content result in more conversions? For many businesses and marketers, short form content is the preferred format because the golden rule of web form optimisation is that shorter content forms often result in more conversions because it’s less effort on users. But there are other reasons why it results in higher conversions including: It increases readership There are a lot of people who have a limited attention span, and that makes it tough for them to read through long form content. These individuals will instead browse a webpage for critical information. Therefore, the primary advantage of short form content is that it increases the likelihood that your readers will read your entire content.  It’s time-saving Short form content takes less time to generate and read, which is a big advantage for both businesses and readers alike. The time it would take to produce a 3,000 word blog post can be used to write six 600 word blog posts. Not only is this type of content much more digestible for your audience, but you also save time on creating the content while increasing engagement on your website or social media page.  It shows you’re consistent Because shorter content takes less time to create, it makes it easier for you to engage with your audience on a more frequent basis. As a result, you may be quicker at producing more blog posts or social media posts to maintain an active online presence. However, this would depend on the themes you want to concentrate your efforts on.  It’s mobile-friendly It’s no secret people prefer to access content via their mobile devices and by keeping your content brief, it enables your target audience to read it on their phones or tablets, which can result in an enormous amount of people viewing it. In addition, your readers would be able to read your posts immediately rather than saving them for later. It increases engagement Short form content increases engagement levels by using direct and straight-to-the-point messages. This instantly captures your audience’s attention and because it’s short, it’s more likely it will be read there and then and possibly shared with other users.  It’s ideal for encouraging a decision This content length is ideal for straightforward decision-making tasks, such as subscribing to a newsletter. When attempting to persuade consumers to sign up, you should avoid waxing lyrical about the numerous perks and features of newsletter subscriptions. Instead, you should inform them what they can expect in the fewest possible words. Need help creating short form content? It’s clear to see why short form content results in more conversions, but it’s also important to take into account the length of your content will depend on various factors. While long form content is valuable when specific information is necessary, short form content is ideal for rapidly engaging your audience’s attention. Whichever format you choose, keep in mind that the key to great content is quality regardless of its length. And of course, you can always conduct a split test to determine which style performs best.  If you need help creating short form content - or any type of content for that matter - don’t hesitate to contact us today. Our specialist team of copywriters can create short or long form content that is aligned with your brand and your tone of voice, and executes your intended message perfectly. #### Why Should Designers and Developers Work Together? Collaborative projects are at the heart of Fifteen’s success. Without communication and shared understanding, chaos will ensue. This is why we encourage our team to interact with each other, sharing ideas and helping to make our projects the best they can be. This is especially encouraged between design and development, stages of a website that can often overlap. Traditionally, web designers and web developers are two different jobs, and we like to keep it that way at Fifteen. However, it’s key that both have a good understanding of the other. We encourage our web developers to take a keen interest in design, and the principles on which our designers base their work. We also encourage designers to take an interest in web development, knowing what is achievable, what will work and try and estimate the logistics of their design. It’s not a case of learning the trade entirely, but getting an understanding of what the other is capable of achieving. Ultimately developers and designers bring their very different set of skills to a project, but they share the same goals. When a new web project is brought in by our Account Managers, it is passed onto our Digital Producer to decide who will work on the project. They will assign a designer (or more if needed) and a developer (or two) onto the project. Initial research and discovery stages on the project should be understood by the whole team working on the project from the get go, if a designer knows the brief for a website, and the developer doesn’t, that is the first place we can run into problems. With a collaborative team, problems and misunderstanding is a lot less likely, and shared goals ensures a smooth operation. Project start meetings should include a member from each team, not only from an understanding point of view, but also because we like our clients to meet the faces who will be working on their project. During wireframing stages of a project, designers will often call upon the web developers to brainstorm ideas. Wireframes provide the blueprints to a website, so it’s key to get all ideas down here. We can eliminate any unforeseen hiccups at a stage where changes are easy to make. With two very different minds approaching the same problems, we can approach a website in a collaborative and cohesive manner. Where a designer might approach a problem in one way, a developer can suggest a smoother delivery of content. Likewise, if a developer thinks of a way to solve an issue, the designer may be able to deliver it in such a way that makes the user experience as smooth as possible. We won’t send wireframes to a client for approval until we as a team have approved them first. There’s nothing worse than having shown someone a great design, then finding out that it’s not a feasible thing to achieve later down the line. Once wireframes are approved, designers will then hold the reigns for the time being, while developers will take a back seat. However, during the design period, designers will still always be asking opinions and important questions with the rest of the team. Once designs are approved and the project is ready to go into development, the digital producer, designer and developer will all have a briefing meeting before the developer puts their coding hands to work! It’s now the developers turn to take the reigns. Despite this being the developer’s main time on the project, they should always be in contact with their designer, to make sure they’re following the layouts correctly and everything is running in tandem with the wireframes and designs. While this approach suits some more than others, we always encourage open communication between our developers and designs throughout the project. Whether it’s a little or a lot, through email or using chat apps such as Slack, calling meetings to discuss ideas - it’s imperative to a project’s success that all collaborators use these channels to solve problems. What is the most important point of all, is that from day one, all of the team working on that particular website should be included. It allows everyone to work from the same page and strive towards the same goal for their client. #### Why Umbraco is a great CMS Every website owner should consider Umbraco protection as a top priority. It's becoming increasingly difficult to keep a public website safe from cyber-attacks. Every week, Google blacklists thousands of websites, and cybercrime is estimated to cost the global economy over seven trillion by the end of 2021. If you care about your brand, business, and website, you should think about some Umbraco security best practices. Umbraco is considered one of the best and secure CMS. Umbraco Umbraco is a 17-year-old open source.NET (dot NET)-based Content Management System (CMS) developed in Denmark. Since then, it has grown from a niche product to a widely used Open-Source platform with hundreds of thousands of installations worldwide, rivalling WordPress and other popular platforms. Web designers and developers can use Umbraco to create an integrated site that can feed content to and from other digital platforms. It is built on the Microsoft stack, running on Microsoft Windows servers, and benefits from the system's core security features. Umbraco is a pure CMS, which means you can create, edit, and access all of your content from the front end and place information anywhere on a single page, giving you a high level of design flexibility and editing adding pages. Security of Umbraco Umbraco is one of the most secure content management systems available, and it is much safer than WordPress. The codebase of Umbraco is subjected to routine penetration testing and third-party auditing. If problems are discovered, Umbraco updates as many versions as possible, even ancient versions. Penetration checks (Third Party) In addition to conducting routine internal research, an external security firm conducts rigorous penetration testing of Umbraco CMS and Umbraco Cloud to identify potential flaws. Penetration checks are carried out twice a year. The test results are not made public, but they prioritize all high-risk issues right away. All non-high-risk problems are ranked according to their severity. Umbraco's latest release includes new enhancements to improve CMS and end-user data security and simplify GDPR compliance. Developers are also alerted to potential problems in the site's configuration through built-in health checks, allowing our team to address security issues before they occur. Umbraco Cloud Security Umbraco added extra security-related functionality to your project setup as part of the Umbraco Cloud offering. Features that, for example, ensure that your sites are always running the most up-to-date and stable version of Umbraco. Umbraco is a free content management system. Umbraco also provides excellent Security Cloud Hosting. It is like to use because it is built explicitly for Umbraco websites and allows us to better support and manage our clients' websites. The core CMS, on the other hand, is open. Built on ASP.NET Because Umbraco is built on ASP.Net, it provides more security features to developers than PHP for WordPress. However, these security features will only work correctly if implemented by a developer who understands how they work and what they are used for. Because ASP.Net is designed for companies, it is more concerned with security than PHP. As a result, it has received more attention in quality assurance and security updates than PHP. Backwards Compatible Umbraco is also less dependent on plugins. Many security updates are backwards compatible, allowing you to apply the security update even if you cannot upload your website due to an obsolete package or bespoke feature. Active developer community Umbraco is supported by a dedicated, worldwide developer community that is active and collaborative, contributing to the core system and support packages regularly. Screenmedia, for example, is part of a global network of Gold Partners. Umbraco, on the other hand, isn't standing still. Solid and consistent development and review approaches benefit new features, resulting in full backwards compatibility. There are usually only a few breaking changes between versions, all listed in the Umbraco community forum. You are always connected, and if you need any help regarding security, you got help 24/7. Scalability and Secure Performance Umbraco outperforms WordPress when properly configured. Umbraco uses caching and indexing to improve its performance and content delivery without resorting to developer speak. The Umbraco codebase is constantly being improved and optimized to ensure that it runs as quickly as possible for both CMS users and end-users on all modern browsers and devices. The codebase in the most recent Umbraco version has been completely overhauled, and a new approach to caching has been implemented to increase security, performance ,and stability. Umbraco's performance advantages become even more apparent when considering high user volumes, advanced server setups, and cloud hosting solutions. Comparing to other CMS When you compare Umbraco to other CMS, you'll notice that many of them limit how you can make pages. They have many features, but they also force you to include a lot of HTML, which they require to render content. Umbraco is considered more secure than any other CMS. Umbraco is a unique platform. It's more hygienic and doesn't have that stipulation. Because there is less material for the systems to wade through without the extra HTML, pages perform better in web searches. Umbraco is a pure CMS, which means you create the content, edit it, and access it from the front end - no fiddling with HTML to make pages work. Why Choose Umbraco? While WordPress began as a blogging platform, Umbraco is a more general-purpose, versatile CMS that can create everything from simple websites to complex web applications. Umbraco is easy to use and set up. It's ideal for handing over to content editors who don't want to deal with coding or the technical aspects of site management because it keeps content management and development distinct. C# developers will find it simple to pick up. Umbraco comes with everything you need to build a simple website right out of the box, but it can also be easily customized with official and third-party plugins. There's also a thriving Umbraco user and developer community to assist you along the way. Umbraco could be a suitable CMS for you if you choose to build a website with a complex structure or built-in.NET features. #### Why Updating Your Website With Fresh Content Matters Your website's most crucial aspect should always be material, but not just any content fresh content. In 2017, the most popular websites were those with new, original content that is updated regularly. Search engine optimization needs you to keep your website's content up to date (SEO). In other words, if your content isn't updated regularly, you're less likely to perform well in search engine results. The days of simplistic one-page website templates are long gone. Today, companies are turning to colourful, clickable, movable, interactive websites to reach audiences and, at the very least, encourage them to stay a little longer. However, merely being bright, clickable, and movable is insufficient to draw search engines' attention. In reality, producing and updating content is the key to attracting more visitors. So, before you go all-in on a website redesign, think about these tips for keeping your content new. Frequent Indexing = New Fresh Content This term should not be confused with the notion that adding new content would improve your indexing. That isn't always the case. The more often you update your website with posts, downloads, and new web sites, the more often a search engine may visit it. You have a greater chance of earning higher rankings based on the content you offer as search engines see your site more frequently. Web crawlers (also known as robots, bots, or "Googlebots"), which are high-tech programmes that scan the internet for websites, are used by search engines. The search engine company defines various algorithmic factors that the web crawler uses to “index” a document. For example, a site's indexing can be calculated by various factors such as the number of incoming links to the site, the number and type of subject keywords used, and the frequency at which the site is updated. When you change your website, the search engine recognises and adjusts your site's ranking accordingly. As a result, if you want to boost your website's ranking, make regular content updates so that a search engine can reassess your place in its database. Bear in mind that quantity isn't as important as quality in this situation. Yeah, updating regularly is a good idea, but keep the content expectations high. You will be penalised if you flood your page with low-quality posts that are stuffed with keywords. Fresh Content Even among those who understand the content, there is some ambiguity about what fresh content means. Making minor updates or modifications to existing pages on your website is not creating new material. While some improvements and significant overhauls to existing pages could boost search engine rankings, minor updates do not significantly impact SEO. Adding new, fresh pages means adding new, fresh content. A blog is one of the most popular types of content. Recent blog posts give a website new pages. Adding these pages to your website will help it rank for more keywords, improving SEO for keywords related to its industry. Your platform will target a wider variety of keywords with fresh material on brand new website pages. This enables websites to target more long-tail keywords and phrases that are important to their industry. New content pages also generate new internal and external linking opportunities for your website. SEO relies heavily on backlinks. More traffic comes from better content. Keeping your website's content current aids in the creation of trust between you and your customers. Customers are most likely looking to your platform for valuable information on the sector you're in. Up-to-date information also aids in the creation of domain authority. In a nutshell, domain authority refers to how authoritative the website is on a specific topic. Wikipedia.org, for example, has one of the highest Domain Authorities because its content is often well-researched, checked by editors, and you aren't interrupted by unsightly or unrelated advertisements. When it comes to matching search queries with valuable and appropriate details, Google places a premium on this. Have you ever been to a website where the copyright is from 2014, and the most recent blog post is from the same year? Is it making you wonder if they're still in business or if they still offer services in your area? Having out-of-date material on your websites, such as references to your company's old location or outdated technologies, may give the impression to potential customers that your company isn't keeping up with the latest trends. When a consumer reads material on your site that makes them say, "Wait, what?" or "Wait, that's not right," you're jeopardising your reputation. Why is it Important to Update Frequently? Because of the way search engine bots and spiders "crawl" your web, it's essential to change your content frequently. Google, for example, has its own automated "bots" that search all of the websites on the internet. They do this to index information about your site and provide searchers with the most relevant results for their query. If a bot visits your site for a week and then returns a month later to find that nothing has changed, it will wait longer, maybe three months, before returning. Bots can also do the opposite and return more often if they notice that you are frequently updating. As a result, you can train bots to index your site more frequently. This is crucial because if you make a significant change to your site, you'll want to make sure the bot notices it quickly. Final Thoughts As you can see, there are many good reasons to review and update your website content regularly. This helps you by ensuring that your website's information is reliable and suitable for your actual users and assists with search engine optimization (SEO). Set a reminder to review and incorporate the material on your website regularly. Use the tips in this article to explain to your web design clients why it's essential to keep their content updated. What's the result? Your website will be more popular, and more clients will hire you to manage their website! Contact us to find out more. #### Why User Experience Is Now Essential In Modern Web Design Today, digital goods for large and small companies are increasing at an incredible rate. The majority of companies are moving to digital platforms such as mobile apps and blogs, with the shared goal of capturing consumer interest like never before. There's a lot of focus on making a great first impression or giving the viewer the best experience possible. This has shifted the emphasis to UX(User experience) design, which is now more critical than writing the code for a digital product. The term "User Experience" refers to all aspects of a customer's engagement with a business, its goods, and its services. User experience aims to find a balance between business objectives and user requirements. It refers to how users feel when using your app, website, or software in plain English. It considers the user's tastes, attitudes, thoughts, and feelings, among other things. A cheerful UX design improves the usability, accessibility, and enjoyment of your website or app. To put it another way, UX is valuable because it seeks to meet the consumer's needs. Its goal is to create positive interactions that encourage consumers to stick with a product or brand. Furthermore, a rich user interface enables you to build consumer experiences on your website that are most conducive to business success. The Importance of Website User Experience UX architecture is concerned with the user experience The user interface is crucial in web design because it has a significant impact on conversion rates. The appearance and functionality significantly affect how appealing a product appears to a customer and their likelihood of buying it. Here are some statistics that demonstrate how important it is to have a good user experience. Per consumer interacts with a website uniquely. Any company's primary aim is to boost revenue and expand its operations. The importance of UX/UI Design in achieving this aim cannot be overstated. The application's UX/UI Design enhances the user interface and increases customer loyalty, increasing the number of users. With so many options and alternatives for the goods and services you provide, the amount of time you have to capture your users' attention is limited, and you must reach the bullseye in that short amount of time. The UI and UX Design aid in gaining customers' confidence and encouraging them to use your app or website to find what they are looking for. The success of great UI and UX can be measured by the number of customers who visit your website/app. The value of UI and UX Design becomes even more critical for a start-up or a small business because first impressions last a long time, and UI and UX design can make or break brand awareness. SEO traffic has Increased The method of making your website appear higher in search results than other websites is known as search engine optimization (SEO). Your efforts will most likely be in vain if you do not make an effort to improve your site's search engine ranking. The number of backlinks pointing to your website, the quality of your content, and the number of pages on your website are all factors that influence your search engine rankings. Your website would almost certainly be more. You should be able to rank for relevant keywords if your website has strong content and is well-designed. If you don't have the time or expertise to build a high-quality website, you should consider hiring a competent website designer to do it for you. A fantastic website would have a tremendous user experience. Brand loyalty is Increased A consumer's tendency to buy the same brand of goods over and over rather than competing brands is known as brand loyalty. Any company's success hinges on its ability to cultivate brand loyalty. A hassle-free user interface not only impresses users at first glance but also keeps them for a long time. The keys to customer satisfaction and brand loyalties are user-centered UX design and continuous bug fixing. Enhanced Conversions The same product is sold on a variety of websites. On the other hand, customers prefer to visit websites that have a simple and effective user interface. When the number of visitors grows, so does the conversion rate. Support Costs Are Lower A good user interface makes it easier for your users to learn what they need to know about the products or services you provide on your website. Users would not need to contact or call you if they can answer all of their questions on the website. Your support costs will be reduced as a result of this. Increased word-of-mouth referrals Even in the digital age, word of mouth is still a powerful marketing tool. People are bought and sold. But, even more importantly, people believe in experiences, and if you have a positive experience for your customers, why wouldn't they tell their friends about it? Word of mouth is prevalent not only in everyday encounters but also in social media interactions. We all know how beneficial word-of-mouth advertising can be for your company, but how can UX design assist with this? For starters, it facilitates social networking. If you make the purchasing process as simple as possible for your users, they will most likely recommend it to their friends and family on social media. UX designers recognize the value of raising social awareness for your business, which is why they incorporate seamless social networking interactions into your product. It also aids in the development of confidence. As I've previously stated, people buy people, and they mainly learn behaviors from their peers or people who are similar to them. This is where user feedback, star scores, and "people who purchased this also bought" features start to appear. These are helpful consumer indicators that reveal honest opinions and habits about how users communicate with, review, and rate a company's product or service. And positive feedback and ratings contribute to increased sales. Conclusion Customer experience will replace product and price as an essential brand differentiator. It is necessary to consider the future and comprehend the investment in UX design and its potential. To remain ahead of the curve in the rest of 2021 and the years ahead, it's time to change the attention from company goals to user goals. Contact us to maximise your brand's potential with a customise UX experience. #### Why Using Imagery On Social Media Is The Key For Engagement On social media, it’s more important than ever to have imagery that stands out from the crowd. Consumers follow thousands of different accounts and if they’re to really engage with your brand, you need to capture them within a split second. Most social media platforms focus on being visual, the main contenders being Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr. However, imagery is also becoming more important on other platforms, including Facebook and Twitter. Why Should You Use Imagery On Social Media? An Image Is Worth A Thousand Words We process images 60,000 times faster than text, making an image far more important than the copy. Copy is still important but we remember images far better than text. If you’re selling product, think about the styling and colours used. If you’re offering a service you can still use imagery, but these could me images of case studies, or graphics of what you offer. Consumers Have A Short Attention Span Our attention spans have reduced significantly; we can now do everything from a click of a button and we want everything instantly. You need to try and capture your audience in 3 seconds or less if you want them to engage with your post. Bland or no imagery won’t capture them and they will just continue to scroll on past your post like it never existed. Using Images Improves Engagement Featuring a strong visual image on a social media post makes it much more likely to be retweeted or shared. On twitter, an image can improve post engagement from around 35% and on Facebook a post with a photo can on average receive 53% more likes and 84% more link clicks! How To Create Successful Imagery Find Your Style & Keep It Consistent You will probably already have your companies branding mix, from the colour palette, logo, brand story and brand style. If not, then this is something you need to look into! These elements should all flow in your social media imagery, to keep the content consistent and to make a brand image that people can recognise instantly. Use Product Placement If you're selling products, then use these in your imagery. Avoid using imagery of the product on it's own against a white background, as this isn't engaging and won't excite the human eye. Instead, shoot the products styled up, and be creative with it. For small items, flat lays work really well, if it's clothing, then get some models and have a photoshoot. If you're offering more of a service or an activity, get imagery of people taking part in these or case study examples of things you've created or done. Images Can Still Contain Copy Imagery doesn't just have to be a photograph of something, you can create imagery that has a quote or an offer on it. Use your brands fonts and make it bold enough for people to see it and want to interact with it. Here at Fifteen we offer a variety of social media services for you and your brand, to find out more click here or feel free to contact us! #### Why UX In Website Design Matters As our world becomes increasingly complex due to an explosion of technology, the state of design has been marked by rapid transformation in the twenty-first century. Strategy becomes an influential differentiating factor as customers have more choices. The UX designer's function is to make goods and services more straightforward and more pleasing to use. Since recent decades of technological advances have evolved the way humans communicate with one another and understand themselves, UX is essential in technology. Whether it's a commuting system, online banking, or navigation, we communicate daily with systems and digital devices. It has affected every aspect of our lives, including education, healthcare, lifestyle, transportation, and even how we schedule travel and leisure; it has taken local news and spread it worldwide. Although technology has given many benefits, the intertwining of culture and technology would negatively affect our activity levels, communication with others, future employment, and the unseen restrictions on thinking and speech. What is User Experience Design (UXD)? User interface design is a broad term with several facets. Usability, graphic design, user testing, interaction design, content management, and information architecture are UX design aspects. This article will focus on the role of user experience (UX) in website design. A good UX on a business website can help increase leads, conversions, and sales by improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. Customers experience positive feelings as they browse and connect with a website that has been designed with UX in mind. User experience (UX) aims to make engaging with a website easy, painless, and enjoyable. Graphic design is an integral part of the process, but it isn't the only one. As previously stated, UX designers must be knowledgeable in various fields and coordinate this information. Some of them include information architecture, interaction design, user testing, usability, and content strategy. A website needs to have advanced usability and accessibility to have a positive user experience. As a result, UX design focuses on ensuring that users are satisfied by comprehending and appropriately responding to their meaning and needs. Emotions, indeed! Since user experience is more about how something feels than how it appears. Why UX in Websites Design Matter? UX design is essential for a variety of reasons. And improving your user experience design can have a positive effect on almost every aspect of your company. Here are the compelling reasons why user experience is so critical: Conversions on your website increase as a result of UX Design Several websites provide the same product or service, and consumers often prefer the one that provides a simple and appealing user interface. According to research, a well-designed user interface can increase conversion rates by up to 400%. It has been shown that a website's usability and functionality have a significant impact on customer satisfaction. A well-thought-out user interface will increase visitors' desire to buy the goods or services while reducing their apprehension. As a result, partnering with a reputable UX design firm is critical for growing your company and increasing conversion rates. Optimistic UX architecture improves the company's image UX is similar to writing. Excellent writing is primarily unnoticed. It helps the reader to become fully immersed in the plot. The characters are complex, and the environments are a visceral experience. On the other hand, poor writing is readily apparent. It sticks out like a sore thumb, making it difficult for the reader to keep track of the novel, let alone enjoy it. Great UX design is effortless, allowing your consumers and prospects to engage with your brand naturally and intuitively. It maintains its commitments and does not hinder the customer's experience. Instead, it provides users with exactly what they want, when they want it. Your users will answer if you make it simple for them. They're likely to tell their friends, relatives, and coworkers about it, as well as share it on online review sites and social media networks. Boost the Sales The rise in sales and revenue is perhaps the most crucial benefit of having given a successful UX in web design. An apparel website, for example, where a customer can quickly narrow down searches based on color preference, height, and design would certainly be preferred over one where all items are displayed together with no proper sorting. If it's an e-commerce store or a daily website showcasing a company's services, a successful UX design would undoubtedly help gain the customer's confidence and, hopefully, a sale. Users stay on the website longer when they have a positive user experience Internet users today are impatient. Their attention span is less than 9 seconds, which is comparable to that of a goldfish. The first three seconds spent on a new web resource are vital since this is enough time for users to judge whether the website is good or bad and whether it is worth staying on for longer. One of the most important determining factors is user experience. Your website design should clearly express your message to visitors in seconds and be user-friendly enough to hold their attention. You risk losing all of your future customers if you don't. UX design ties your design to your company's objectives UX design will help increase conversions by optimizing your types. But there's a lot more to the CRO operation. A UX designer will scrutinize anything from the material and image relationships to the colors, logo continuity, and call-to-action placements. They work to match these features with the company's objectives. The lead generation process becomes intuitive when the design is in line with your business goals. The next move seems to be a natural progression. Your visitor has discovered what they are looking for, and taking action is a simple and enjoyable experience. Final Thoughts As previously mentioned, there are many benefits of having an excellent user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). The ball is now in your court to find the right team with the necessary skills to assist you with this crucial and vital mission. #### Why WooCommerce is most famous for web development You cannot deny that clients these days value the convenience of online buying through the website, and digital retail has become crucial for your firm to grow.  Creating an online business may be challenging, and selecting the right platform requires some thought. You must conduct research and comparisons of all accessible eCommerce platforms before deciding on the fittest for your specific business's nature and future expansion.  Woocommerce is a well-known eCommerce plugin that includes all of the necessary elements for creating a modern web store on the WordPress platform. Free to Use When a new store chooses a platform, price is almost always a consideration. Ecommerce applications range in price from free to several thousand dollars per year. However, the price difference is not always proportional to the application's capacity. Thus, the first incentive to utilize WooCommerce is that it is free to use.  While WooCommerce is comparable with top enterprise eCommerce programs because it is free, it enables any business or entrepreneur to leverage its features without committing to costly maintenance contracts or proprietary software licensing.  You should be aware that certain third-party programs for payment processing in conjunction with WooCommerce and other extensions may charge a fee, but this fee will not be passed on to WooCommerce.  Modular Platform  To truly grasp what WooCommerce is, we must explore its modular architecture. As with WordPress, WooCommerce comes with a robust set of functionality that may be expanded through plugins. Retailers who use WooCommerce benefit from this modularity twice: they have access to thousands of WordPress plugins and themes, as well as hundreds of WooCommerce-specific extensions.  The idea of a modular system fosters the growth of a developer community that creates extensions to add specialized functionality, which is impossible with monolithic programs. WooCommerce store can be the ideal eCommerce platform for any retailer with the correct plugins.  These plugins may enhance shipping, payments, and the handling of products, among other things. WooCommerce has developed and recommends several extra plugins for use with their store.  WordPress Is WooCommerce  “But isn't WooCommerce simply a WordPress plugin?”  The inference is that being a child application of WordPress, WooCommerce cannot be as good as a purpose-built eCommerce application.  The integration between WordPress with the WooCommerce plugin is a feature of WooCommerce. WordPress is quite popular due to its flexibility and functionality. Millions of businesses select WordPress as the platform for their websites because it gives the greatest foundation. It's quick, secure, and simple to use. The compatibility of your current WordPress themes with WooCommerce themes ensures a seamless integration.  WooCommerce leverages the strength and stability of WordPress to provide retailers and their customers with a world-class eCommerce experience.  Active Developer Community  Because both WooCommerce and WordPress are open sources, retailers are free to modify or add core features, develop new extensions, and create custom themes. It's tough to find developers capable of working on some less popular eCommerce systems, and even if you do, they're expensive to hire.  The WooCommerce advantage, in this case, is that retailers gain access to a wide pool of developers and WooCommerce experts. If you need to make adjustments to your WooCommerce store, finding someone to do the task for you won't be difficult. Additionally, its extensive use and developer community make implementing optimal WooCommerce security much simpler.  Robust Analytics  Analytics is another approach to answer the question, "How does WooCommerce work?" Built-in analytics is another advantage of WooCommerce, as the more information you have about your consumers and their interactions with your store and its products, the better.  WooCommerce includes a comprehensive collection of metrics by default, all of which are presented simply and easily. Additionally, WooCommerce makes it simple to link with third-party analytics platforms such as Google Analytics via plugins.  Business Expands  through website development When selecting an eCommerce application, it's a good idea to consider your business's future. It may be tiny today, but it will develop over time, and you should choose an application capable of sustaining a busy business without imposing excessive complexity in the beginning.  One of the benefits of WooCommerce is that it supports stores of all sizes. It can boost the store from a few products to many thousands and from a few shoppers per day to hundreds every second. The functionality of your online store can expand in lockstep with the growth of your WooCommerce website.  Industry-Leading Content Management  As you might expect from an eCommerce platform built on the world's most popular content management system (CMS), WooCommerce is no slouch when it comes to content management.  The importance of content in eCommerce marketing, sales optimization, and search engine optimization cannot be overstated. When used in conjunction, WordPress and WooCommerce provide a plethora of content management possibilities, including blogging, landing pages, email marketing, and product descriptions. SEO plugins for WooCommerce, such as Yoast WooCommerce SEO, make it simple for retailers to improve their content for search.  Rapidly Growing in Popularity  WordPress and WooCommerce can create an eCommerce experience that is fast and responsive for businesses of all sizes. This is a significant advantage of WooCommerce.  Additionally, you can accelerate your WooCommerce store by combining it with performance-optimized WooCommerce hosting that is purpose-built for maximum performance. While standard web hosting can accommodate WooCommerce, it cannot deliver the highly optimized PHP, MySQL, server, and network settings required for a responsive, low-latency eCommerce experience. WooCommerce Is Designed For E-Commerce Website Development Another advantage of WooCommerce is that it is built for commerce. It offers everything necessary for a new eCommerce business to get started:  Over a hundred payment gateways are available for easy integration with your store.  Numerous WooCommerce shipping methods are available, each with its adjustable shipping zone and shipping class.  A simple backend for stock management, refunds, order management, and email management, as well as everything else you need to run your eCommerce company smoothly.  You can choose from thousands of customizable and mobile-friendly free and premium WooCommerce themes or create a custom theme for a unique look for your store.  World-class documentation that guides new eCommerce sellers through the setup process.  Why Would You Choose WooCommerce?  In a nutshell, WooCommerce is a comprehensive eCommerce solution that is lightning quick, simple to use, and adaptable to the unique demands of your online business.  #### Why Yoast is the Best for SEO The Yoast SEO plugin is one of the most useful tools you can have when working with a self-hosted WordPress platform. Yoast SEO is one of the most common plugins for WordPress around, and it is simple to understand why. Yoast is a powerful tool that will help you make your website as search engine friendly as possible, whether you are running a personal blog or an SEO professional maintaining a website for a customer. If you want to survive a shift in getting their pages to show up in search engine rankings, every WordPress site needs an SEO plugin. And when it comes to SEO plugins, one of the most common choices by far is Yoast SEO. WordPress SEO is, inevitably, a complicated topic, though. And to answer that, to give you pinpoint control over the SEO of your site, Yoast SEO has built-in several detailed features. You can install Yoast SEO on any self-hosted WordPress platform. It's easily the most detailed WordPress plugin related to SEO you might ask for, and best of all, it's free! For some extra features, you have the option to purchase premium Yoast SEO plugins, but its most essential functions are part of the free plugin. Yoast makes stuff like monitor titles and meta descriptions simple for you to do, set your targeted keywords and track how much you use them, handle sitemaps, and so much more. Here are the significant features of Yoast that makes it best for SEO: SEO Yoast Boosts Your SEO Content It's time to get started with your content once your plugin is installed and configured. It's important to note that the plugin allows you with your rankings, but your content still depends on them. This means that, for the right keywords, you must build good content. You will have to start optimizing the pages and articles on your blogs for the keywords and key phrases you want to rate after you've finished your keyword study. You can establish a priority key phrase for an article in Yoast SEO to do that. Then, to assess how your content performs on various rating variables, such as how many times you use your central word, the length of your text or whether you have used any internal links, the plugin uses content SEO review. The plugin can tell you with this review of how you can optimize your post or page to rank with that main word. This is achieved by using red, orange and green bullets to demonstrate how each element scores. This gives you a simple rundown of the overall score and how to increase your rankings you can always handle! SEO from Yoast Enhances Your Readability It's necessary to optimize your content to rank with the correct key phrase, but don't forget your reader! Even if you write an excellent content for search engines, your audience will not benefit from it if they don't understand it. The probability of them purchasing something from you is close to zero if a person does not understand your material. The same is true for the chances that they will share with their friends one of your posts. So, you need to make sure that it is also easy to understand your content. And that's where the functionality of readability comes in. The readability features of Yoast SEO are well-researched analyses that give you feedback on how your writing can be optimized. This can sound weird now because it can be very personal in the way you write. So, let me describe how this works. The plugin uses an algorithm to test your content on multiple variables that have been shown to improve readability. We look at the use of words for transformation, the use of passive voice, the duration of your sentence and paragraph, and more. But to make it as accurate as possible without being too rigid, we carefully designed this algorithm. This ensures that you can embrace the input in a way that suits you, and your content will still have your voice in your unique sound. You can get more Bing and Google visitors with this SEO plugin. You will draw more visits from social networking media as well as increase the interaction of the readers. If you want to experience all the advantages of this SEO plugin, the free mode needs to be converted to a paid version. For each of the pages, it will allow up to five keywords for keyword optimization. These five keywords are those you would like to rate on the search engine pages for your website. The previews of Facebook, Google and Twitter, can be reviewed on the list. On these social media sites and others, the preview is essential because it will allow you to add traffic to your website. Ideal for Search Engines with Search Pages We may say that seducing the search engines makes this plugin very simple. If you want to make sure that your content uses the keywords right, then the Yoast plugin will also support you. It will indicate if the keywords in your content are correctly positioned and used. Yoast SEO will always ensure the mechanical setup for the search engine will roll out the carpet. If you are aware of .htaccess files, sitemaps, or clean permalink URLs, robots.txt, etc. does not matter at all. The best aspect of this plugin is that it can be modified every two weeks. This update would take place automatically, thereby ensuring that the website is configured according to Google's new algorithms. You can also check the number of internal links to your site and in an article. You should even hope to receive feedback for different sites on your website as well. Verdict For millions of SEO people, the Yoast SEO plugin is the most common tool; it has more than 1 million active installations. It helps to optimize your website for the search engine, allowing you to understand readability, keyword density, title, meta description, targeted keywords, and much more with its content analysis function. You'll have one of the best SEO guns in the basket with Yoast SEO. #### Why You Need A New Website Design The Internet is an insanely speedy ever-changing beast. In the past decade websites and web design in general have changed an insane amount. For example, compare YouTube in 2005 to YouTube today or our very own website as late as 2013, or 2014, to today. As the standards of web design continue to improve you do not want your website to look like it is stuck in the past. You want your site to get found and used; and in this constantly changing world, updating and getting a new website may be one of the best decisions you can ever make. Why get a new website design? There are a few simple reasons as to why you should make sure that you have an up-to-date, contemporary website. 1. If it doesn’t look or feel good to use, potential customers or clients are far less likely to use the service you provide or buy your products.2. Unresponsive websites are less likely to show up on search engines than responsive ones. This means that any customers or clients you may have received may struggle to find your website.3. Search Engine algorithms give precedence to websites that get frequently updated or make use of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). If your website is even five years old it probably will not have such elements as a priority or even feature them. Once again, this means that customers or clients are less likely to find you! While it isn’t necessary to change your website every year, having a fresh look every few years and/or making sure that your website is constantly up-to-date with the latest standards will greatly increase your chances of your website being found and most importantly being used. At Fifteen, we’re constantly seeking out the latest trends in web design and digital marketing to ensure that our clients get the best possible service and the best possible websites. If we become aware of anything that will help our clients, we will get in contact with them and have a conversation about its potential benefits. Core Principles of Web Design If you’re thinking about getting a new website, there are 12 core principals that need to be thought about. If you’re working with us or doing it alone, figuring out where you stand with these principles will enable you to attain the website you want and need. Purpose While your website is there to show off what you have to offer to your potential customers or clients, those future consumers should be your primary focus. What will they be looking for? Why do they need you? What do they need and not need to know? Your website should have a clear purpose, as should every single page on it. Never overcomplicate your website with useless pages, just make sure that all the information they need is easily available to them in a simple and concise manner. If you can explain the purpose of every page on your website, you have succeeded in your job. Communication When people look at a webpage they take in a lot of information. In general they tend to read in an ‘F’ pattern, reading from left to right and top to bottom with a marked emphasis on the left hand side of the screen. Not only that, they are drawn directly to larger, easier to digest pieces of information. Want to know why newspaper headlines work so well? That’s exactly the reason: if the message is easy to read and understand then the eye is drawn to it. If you place the most important piece of information, like your logo, in the top left hand of the page then you are successfully manipulating both this tendency towards the ‘F’ pattern and the desire for larger and easier to digest pieces of information. You also want to develop a level of precedence. Effectively, it is the designer’s job to direct the user through the website, leading them down the page or to other pages. Methods of doing this include using headings and sub-headings to organise information, use concise sentences to convey the information, play around with positioning, use bold and subtle colours to direct your user’s attention, ensure contrast across the page as things that are different stand out, manipulating size as generally large text takes precedence over smaller text, and finally design elements like arrows can direct a user to where you want them. Appearance Colours, images, and spacing are key to a good design. Using complementary colours will create a balance to the design while contrasting colours for the text and background will make reading so much easier. Vibrant colours are very useful in creating emotion and drawing attention, especially when used as an accent colour, but overuse of them should be avoided. Reading too much text can get tiresome, especially on the web, so images should be used to develop the right brand and tone for your website. They can also be used to convey information in a much quicker and simpler way than mere text. However, in the oncoming age of 4k monitors, image quality is hugely important. Pixelated images are more noticeable now than ever, so wherever possible get high quality professional photos to use on your website, but if you cannot create them yourself, consider purchasing stock photos. Is all of your content too close together? Is all of it too far apart? Spacing your website effectively is important as it is easily possible to make it difficult or laborious to read. In most instances text should never touch other elements, making sure there is space greatly increases readability. Then comes the issue of white space, or simply the empty space on the page. The temptation to fill up this white space can be strong, but it is useful in giving proportion, balance, and contrast to a page. A lot of white space can give the impression of being upmarket (Think of those shops on the high street that have very little in the shop windows that generally feature very expensive goods. That’s the effect white space creates.) The general principle you should always follow is simplicity, high quality images, meaningful graphics, easy to read text and a good use of colour. Typography Most websites tend to need or use a lot of text to convey their information, so, it is hardly surprising that thinking about how your text is presented is central to good web design. For some reason, the human brain tends to prefer sans serif fonts (Those without decorative letter finishes) online like Arial, Verdana, Calibri, while preferring serif fonts (Those with decorative letter finishes) on paper, like Times New Roman, Cambria, Minion, and Garamond. While making use of different fonts on one website can be useful for differentiating headings and paragraph text, you should stick to a maximum of 3 typefaces in a maximum of 3 sizes in order to keep things streamlined. If you want a helpful guide to fonts, try these 10 Commandments! The brain also prefers to see black text on white backgrounds, but, as long as the contrast between text and background is large enough, other colour combinations are perfectly acceptable. Size, spacing, line length, and paragraphing are also important. You should ensure that paragraph text is between 10 and 16px, that lines are spaced evenly and don’t go on for too long, and also try to keep paragraphs left-aligned to avoid weird word spacing. Content Remember the importance of purpose? Your website should not only look good but be good. Each piece of content on your website needs to have a purpose, otherwise it is just pointless clutter. A good method of ensuring purpose is to use short and organised copy by labelling topics and using shorter paragraphs. Unless you’re writing a blog post, your users are unlikely to want to stick around for too long so you need to grab and keep their attention. It is also important that everything is worded correctly. Typos and grammatical issues do not convey a level of professionalism or attention to detail, so either get someone to carefully proof-read your site or hire a professional copywriter to write the copy and get someone to proof-read that too. It is easy for small issues to slip through the gaps but you want to avoid them if you can at all help it. Regularly updating your content used to be something that was important only to ensure reader retention. Now, because of Google’s search algorithms placing a greater focus and position to those that follow good web practice, regularly updating content is going to help you find new visitors as well as retaining your old ones. Making use of multimedia is also important. Images, animated banners, videos, and interactive content will entertain your users and potentially keep them around for longer. However, forcing them to endure too much for too long when they aren’t interested or don’t have the time for it will not end well for you. Make sure to develop a balance between your text and your multimedia and make it so that it is available to all, any time any place. Consistency What happens when you use one design on your homepage, another on an about page, and another on the page delivering your primary content? The answer: You end up with an inconsistent mess that will confuse and turn off your potential customers or clients. What you want and need is to make everything match or at least have an overarching coherency. Keep heading sizes, font choices, colours, button styles, spacing, design elements, image styles, photo choices, and written tone consistent and matching. As was mentioned in typography and communication, the brain is very good at knowing what it likes and wants to see. Consistency is pleasant to the eyes and will make your website look professional. CSS style sheets will definitely help you when it comes to keeping this sort of consistency. Navigation If every page has a purpose, then you also need to make sure that your users can get to all of those pages. There is nothing more annoying than not being able to figure out how to get to the information you know you need or figuring out where on the website you are. Most websites do have easy navigation these days, but using common sense techniques like an easy to locate and well-described menu with a logical page hierarchy and breadcrumb trails through pages should clear up most problems. Each page should have a clear heading too so you know exactly where you are. Good web design should make sure that you are never lost on a website. If you are getting lost, go back to basics and perhaps create a site map to figure out how to prevent it from happening. Functionality It may seem obvious to say, but, your website should work. Yet, because coding is a frequently complex process and because websites, videos, images, etc. can vanish from the Internet, it is easy for things to break. No matter the situation you should strive to fix these problems as soon as possible, preferably catching them before your website goes live. In addition to working, your website should work quickly. Long loading times are just as painful as poor navigation, so it short loading times are key, 20 seconds or less is preferable. Cut down load times by optimising images, combining code into a central CSS or JavaScript file and minify HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Clever coding will be key to helping you make sure your website is perfectly functional. Usability Not only should your website be functional, it should be usable too! People know how to use websites and so there are certain things they will expect, if text is underlined or a notably different colour to the main text then people will assume it is a hyperlink. If it isn’t, they’ll get confused. While it is ok to not follow all conventions, just make sure to adhere to the basic standards as much as possible. You always want your website to have simplicity on its side, something that will aid in providing fast-loading pages which will greatly improve a user experience. Minimal scrolling is preferable, especially on the first page, but in all instances aim for no horizontal scrolling by creating a responsive website as it can be the bane of anybody’s experience. Another way of aiding this is by having a consistent layout and prominent, logical navigation at the top of each page. Limiting your menu items to 10 or fewer is definitely preferable, as your users don’t have all the time in the world. Long, descriptive link text will also help in usability as not only does it make it easier for your users to find their way around your website, it is also favoured by search engines. You’ll also want browser compatibility as different browsers have different rules for displaying content. The last thing you want is for Firefox users to be able to see everything whilst Chrome users cannot. A great way of ensuring good usability is to prototype your website via a website wireframe, as using a website can feel noticeably different than when you’re designing it. Another method is creating a fictional user and testing through how they would use the site. If it feels good to use, you’ll have done your job properly. Responsive Design These days people are just as likely to look at a website on their phone or tablet as they are on a computer. However, because these all have different screen resolutions and ways of loading websites, you really need to think about having a responsive design. It is possible to build a dedicated mobile site, but more and more websites are becoming responsive and ends up being very user friendly as it means they can use your website any time, any place. It’s good practice, looks great, and really, for new website designs there is no excuse not to use responsive design. Search Engine Optimisation The final core principle of any new website is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). If you want search engines to bring up your website then you need to optimise the site for this. The entirety of SEO is complex, but, getting the basics right is a relatively simple process, make sure to include plenty of written content in HTML format (Not Flash, JavaScript or image-only objects), keep your HTML code clutter free by using things like Cascading Style Sheets, have your important keywords used appropriately numerous times in the copy, and make your links descriptive and use those keywords. Since 2011, Google’s system penalises websites that contain duplicated content from other sites and sources, and will also penalise you for using the same content throughout your own site. Since 2012, the system began to penalise websites that attempted to use manipulative techniques to improve rankings. To avoid these penalties, you just need to make sure that you follow good web practice. Cross linking between pages on the same website is a useful technique, as are using simple URLs, long, unique title tags, SEO Trending, and social sharing. Ensuring you have regularly updating content will also be hugely helpful. To Get A New Website, Or Not To Get A New Website, That Is The Question If you have gotten this far, you should be aware of how important it is to have a good website and how to go about getting the design you want. With so much information available to you on the internet, it should not be difficult to dramatically improve your chances of turning up on search engines or get your website used by potential customers or clients. Fifteen is one of the top design agencies in the country with a team that knows how to make great websites and has expertise in SEO and responsive design. If you have decided you want a new website, get in touch with us! We’d love to work with you and since our after care service is second to none, we get in touch with you if any new tools or trends in web design occur that would be useful to you. Whether you decide to go it alone or work with us, we hope you have found this blog useful and we wish you the best of luck in your web design adventures! #### Why you need a professional website developer. Having a professional website isn’t just an option anymore - it’s a necessity for any online business owner. A well-designed and developed website serves as your virtual storefront, and the first impression you make on potential customers can dictate their entire experience with your brand. But with so many DIY platforms available, you might be wondering ‘do I really need to invest in a professional website developer?’ We’d argue that the answer to this question is yes, and in this blog, we explore the reasons why hiring a skilled developer can elevate your online presence, enhance user experience, and ultimately drive more conversions for your business. Let’s get straight into it. Your site will have a professional feel Investing in a professional website developer significantly enhances the overall feel and functionality of your site. A well-developed site not only looks polished and visually appealing, but also instills trust in potential customers.  When visitors land on a website that is easy to navigate, responsive on different devices, and is aesthetically pleasing, they’re more likely to engage with your content and convert into loyal customers. A professional developer brings expertise in user experience design and coding, ensuring that every element works seamlessly together. This attention to detail reflects positively on your brand and showcases your commitment to quality and professionalism. You’ll make a better first impression This leads on nicely to our next reason - first impressions. Every business owner knows that first impressions are crucial. Your website is often the first port of call for customers to get to know your brand, and if that first impression is negative, then you could potentially lose out on business. A typical user will spend an average of 3-10 seconds on your site before deciding whether or not to click away or learn more. When you think about it, 3 seconds is not a very long period of time, which further highlights the importance of getting a positive first impression right from the start. A professionally developed website that not only looks good but also functions seamlessly, provides customers with an intuitive user experience. Expert developers understand how to optimise design elements and layouts to draw attention to key information which helps set the tone for what users can expect from your brand. They focus on all the technical details While hiring someone who claims to be both a designer AND developer may seem tempting, it’s important to remember that they’ll never be truly accomplished in either field, which lends credence to the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none.” With a professional website developer, their entire focus will be all the technical details that often go unnoticed in the background. From optimising page speed to improving Core Web Vitals (CWV), they will make sure everything is pixel perfect. They’ll also conduct website testing to ensure your site performs well on all devices, in every type of situation, which not only enhances the functionality of your site, but also the visibility of it. You don’t have to worry about hurting anyone’s feeling During the build process of your site, there will come a time where it’s ready for you to take a look and provide your feedback. If you’ve chosen to get a friend or family member to work on your site build, you may feel obliged to not voice your true opinions as this runs the risk of hurting their feelings. However, when you work with a developer from a professional website development company, like Fifteen, you don’t have to worry about hurting anyone’s feelings. That’s because they’re just as invested in achieving a successful end result as you are. They welcome feedback because it enables them to ensure your website nails the design, functionality, and results you expect. They’ll take care of the technical setup There’s a lot more to a website than design and development. You need to ensure your site is built on a solid foundation. This includes buying a domain name, web hosting on trusted servers, and implementing security measures for example.  With a professional website developer, they can take care of all of the technical setup on your behalf, which is particularly beneficial for those who aren’t tech-savvy. This not only ensures your site runs smoothly and securely from the day it’s launched, but it also saves you time, reduces stress, and allows you to focus on growing your business. They can provide ongoing support One of the major benefits of working with a developer from a professional website development company, like Fifteen, is that you’ll receive ongoing support. Unlike DIY solutions, professional developers offer expertise that goes beyond the initial launch of your site. For example, they’ll ensure it continues to run smoothly, is kept up-to-date with plugin maintenance, and stays secure from potential threats. They can also troubleshoot issues as they arise, implement any necessary updates, and optimise performance when needed, all of which are crucial for maintaining user engagement and search engine visibility. With this kind of dedicated support, you can have peace of mind that your website’s technical aspects are in expert hands. Get in touch to discuss our web development services It’s clear to see that hiring a professional website developer brings a host of benefits that far outweigh the initial investment. Not only do they bring a level of unmatched expertise, but they will provide you with specialist advice and guidance to ensure your site not only looks flawless but also functions seamlessly If you’re looking to build a website from scratch, or you’d like to revamp an existing site, get in touch with us today. As part of our website development services, we’ll work closely with you to understand your vision and goals, providing expert insights along the way.  Speak to us today to learn how we can transform your ideas into a stunning website that captures your brand’s essence and engages your audience effectively. #### Why You Need A Social Media Strategy & How To Start One Social media is the rising star in digital marketing, it is the future of digital marketing. If your company hasn't already set-up social media accounts, or if you aren't using them on a regular basis, then you should be! Why Do I Need A Social Media Strategy? You can use social media as a place to pull qualitative research about your customers and content, you can connect with influencers, it can support your marketing and communication campaigns, it can be a customer service platform and more! All the different platforms are constantly evolving to allow more features and create better campaigns. Social media isn't just somewhere to be posting content, there's so much more to it and to manage it efficiently and effectively, you need a strategy. You need a strategy set up, so you know exactly who is doing what, when they are doing it and why they are doing it. If you don't know things like this, mistakes can be made, that could potentially be catastrophic for a brands reputation. Starting A Social Media Strategy Run An Audit Across Your Channels Before you even start creating a strategy, you should run an audit across all your social channels. This is a great starting point, as you will be able to see what has already been done, what has or hasn't been successful or pick up on any errors. I always recommend that your social channels are consistent, from the account names to the brand description and even the imagery used for the profile picture and cover photo. It's also great to look over the finer details like opening times on Facebook company pages or contact details. The last thing you want is someone being unable to get in contact directly due to a mistake on your social media. You can test potential account names on Knowem, so you can see if a certain account name is already being used across multiple channels before you start setting up or altering account names. You can also take note of your following and other analytics prior to your new strategy, so you can revisit the analytics at a later date to see how well your strategy has gone. Once these aspects have been amended, you can then move on to figure out what you want to achieve through social media. Review The Industry & Competitors The next step you want to take is to look into your industry and competitors within social media. This way you can get an idea of what other companies are doing successfully, or not. You can either manually go onto places like Twitter and search through industry hashtags, or you can sign up to software that helps collate these details together for you. You may even be able to pick up on trends within the industry, and also things like the tone of voice that is used. Revise Your Tone Of Voice & Audience With social media being a conversational source of digital marketing, it's so important to know your tone of voice and who you are going to be talking to. Is your brand fun-loving or perhaps marketing to a younger audience? Then you're probably going to be using more relaxed language and perhaps even pop in a pun or two! If you're a more informative and technical brand, then you will use a different tone of voice. If you're in need of finding your audience or just want to get a better insight on what they want to see or hear. Then head over to our 'Do You Know Your Brand's Audience' post find out techniques you can try out to find out this type of information. Set Out Your Objectives You need to lay out your goals and objectives on the table and find ways through social media that can help you reach them. In marketing, we often use the term SMART objectives. This stands for; Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound. For each of those points, have a think about a few goals for each, and then how you think social media can do this for you. Not every goal will work through social media, but others definitely will. Create A Content Plan Now that you've done your research and have your goals in mind, then it's time to put together a content plan. Most like to do this through an excel sheet, with columns of the date, the social media channel and what is going to be posted out on it. You could do this to be a week in advance, or even months in advance, whatever suits your business best. Distribute The Roles The last part of your strategy should be distributing the roles out. Who's going to be in charge of scheduling posts or managing any responses? It may be that one person in your office does this, or if you're a larger company, then it may be split between a team of people. Just make sure everyone knows what they are doing, so there is no clashing or missed comments.   Once you've done all these steps, then your social media strategy is well on it's way. It's best to revisit your strategy every couple of months, as goals may get met and you will want to set new ones. It's a forever moving and changing way of marketing and you've got to keep on it!   In need of more help with your social media strategy or management? We offer a variety of social media services here at Fifteen.  [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/social-media-marketing/"]Click Here To View Our Social Media Services[/fifteen_button] #### Why you need to add keywords to your content As a brand, you're always constantly striving to improve your online presence and reach your target audience effectively. One crucial aspect of achieving this is to add keywords to your website. Keywords play a vital role in helping search engines understand what your content is about and rank it accordingly in search results.  In this blog, we look into why you need to add keywords throughout your website's content and how they can help boost your visibility and drive organic traffic to your website. But first, let’s look at what keywords are. What are keywords? Keywords are single words, or phrases, that help search engines understand the content of a webpage. They are terms which people search for on search engines like Google and the aim is for businesses to create content around these terms so they can boost their visibility and drive traffic to their website. When you strategically add keywords throughout your content, it means your website is more likely to appear higher up in search results. However, in order to have a chance of ranking for your target keywords, you must ensure your content is relevant, engaging, following Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines and fluent in the topic of the keyword. The ultimate aim is to ensure your content is the go-to source for users looking for more information on their search query. An example of adding keywords to content is our blog ‘Why image SEO is beneficial for your website’. This blog is based around the keyword ‘image SEO’, which we’ve strategically added throughout the blog to help search engines understand the context of the web page. This means when a user searches for this term, we have a chance of ranking for this keyword in search engine results. Adding keywords to your website should be done as part of your search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy alongside other tactics such as local SEO, technical SEO and link building to name a few. The importance of adding keywords to your content The power of well-researched and strategically placed keywords in your content should not be underestimated. Using the right keywords can significantly impact your SEO efforts and help your content reach a larger audience. The key to succeeding in this is to target a keyword that has a high search volume with a low-to-medium keyword difficulty. Keyword difficulty refers to how competitive a keyword is and how easy it will be to rank for it. A low-to-medium keyword difficulty means your target keyword has relatively low competition, meaning your content has a better chance of ranking on Google. Finding a keyword with a high search volume and a low difficulty can be tricky, but when done correctly it can improve your website’s visibility massively. What are the benefits of adding keywords to your content? When you add keywords to your content, there are numerous benefits and we’ve already highlighted a few of them but here are some more: Increased brand awareness If the content you’ve created is of high-quality and you’ve correctly optimised it with your target keyword, you’ll have a good chance of ranking in search results. This will result in your content and your brand being exposed to a wider audience. The more users that visit your site and read your content, the more they will recognise you as a reliable source of information in your field and look to you for future information. Increased revenue When your brand is exposed to more potential prospects, they will begin to trust you over your competitors. Over time, this will result in them choosing to purchase from you which will lead to higher revenue for your business. Additionally, you can choose to add keywords to your PPC campaigns which have a high cost-per-click (CPC) which allows you to capitalise on users who are actively looking to buy products or services related to the keyword.  Enhanced user experience When you add keywords to your content, you’re enhancing user experience by providing your visitors with valuable and relevant content - something Google wants to see! As well as this, using keywords improves your readability as they effectively help you to organise and structure your content in a way that is easy to navigate and understand for website visitors. Attracts high-quality leads When potential customers are searching for specific keywords that are related to your business, having those keywords present in your content increases the likelihood of your website appearing in search engine results. This means potential customers who are genuinely interested in your offering will visit your site and they’re far more likely to convert into paying customers. Speak to our SEO specialists today to learn more Clearly, when you add keywords to your content, you’re giving your website a huge boost when it comes to ranking on Google. And as we’ve seen, this will increase your online visibility and drive organic traffic to your site. All of this combined can lead to higher revenue, increased brand awareness and enhanced user experience.  If you’d like any help in improving your content, or you’d like expert SEO advice, contact our specialists today. We specialise in all areas of digital marketing and not only can we create compelling content for your website, we can also help improve your SEO efforts. Speak to us today to see how we can help. #### Why you need WordPress themes for your business If you use WordPress as your content management system (CMS), you’ll more than likely want to customise the look and feel of your website so it’s more in line with your brand. Fortunately, that’s where WordPress themes come in. They play a crucial role in the overall appearance of your website and the best part is, it involves no code. Keep reading to learn more about why you need WordPress themes for your business as well as the benefits they bring and some key factors to consider when using them. What is a WordPress theme? A WordPress theme is a pre-built template which you can simply slot your content into. There are hundreds, if not thousands of WordPress themes out there from you to choose from and there are a wealth of places to find a theme that suits your branding. Two of the most popular sites include the WordPress Theme Directory and ThemeForest. As mentioned, they allow you to dictate the overall appearance of your website and allow you to control everything from your site's layout to your hyperlink colours. Naturally, there are many WordPress blog themes available as WordPress is a favourite amongst the blogging community. However, there are plenty of themes that are marketed as multi-purpose which makes them ideal for matching them to your brand identity. Why should you use WordPress themes for your business? One of the main reasons you should use WordPress themes for your business is that they give you a fantastic starting point if you’re a start up business or you’re unsure how your website should look and feel. There are so many to choose from, you may just fall in love with one as it is, and you may find you don’t need to modify it at all. Additionally, the starting cost is often quite low and some are completely free to use. When you compare that to having someone design a website and then build it into your chosen CMS, it’s a no brainer why so many businesses choose to use them. This is also another reason why they’re a great choice for start-ups who need to be up and running fast. What are the benefits of using WordPress themes for your business?             A lot of the premium WordPress themes come with ‘Page Builders’, and these are tools that enable you to customise your website. For example, you can drag and drop elements to determine the layout of your website, insert new elements and add content in just a matter of a few clicks. So it’s a great way to have a play around and truly customise the layout of your site. Additionally, WordPress themes often come with a ‘Theme Options’ panel, which allows you to change the theme so it matches your branding. You can change the colours and logos of your site, customise your footer widgets and more. Both of these tools enable almost infinite customisation and flexibility, meaning you don’t have to stick with what you see, you can truly make the theme your own. What are some considerations to using WordPress themes? There are a few considerations to keep in mind when using WordPress themes for your business. For example, no matter how much you customise your theme, it is still a theme in the end. This isn’t a bad thing, it simply means that your website may look visually similar to other websites that also use that theme. Additionally, when you opt for a theme over a bespoke website, you do have to make certain compromises. The theme chosen may not do exactly what you need to, for example the gallery may not be what you envisioned and unfortunately there won’t be much you can do about it without having a custom plugin developed, or a custom addition to the theme. Get in touch if you need help with your website design There’s no denying WordPress themes are great if you are just starting out and need something quick that doesn’t look terrible. But if you want full custom functionality, then you’re probably better off with a bespoke website option. If you need a new website design, or you’d like to know more about using WordPress themes for your business, why not get in touch with us today? Our specialist web development and web design team will provide you with expert advice and can design and build your new website that showcases your branding exactly the way you want it to. #### Why you should be conducting audience research When you’re setting up your new brand, and you have an amazing product or service you want to market, you need to conduct audience research so you can identify your target audience. Consumer research is key to finding more about your potential consumer. You will probably have a rough idea of who you want to sell your product or service to, but research will be able to confirm whether they’re interested or not, and how they normally interact with brands on a regular basis. Keep reading to learn more about the different types of market research you ought to be conducting along with the benefits of what this research can bring. What are the benefits of conducting audience research? Conducting audience research allows brands to collect valuable insights about their intended target audience, and with this knowledge, it can bring businesses a whole host of benefits including: Clearly defined buyer personas By conducting audience research you can clearly define your buyer persona. This research allows you to truly understand your audience - what they think, how they act, what they like and dislike for example. This then allows you to streamline your business strategy and tailor your marketing efforts for your ideal audience. Tailored marketing comms With a clearly defined buyer persona, you can create bespoke marketing campaigns and specifically target those who are more likely to be interested in your products or services. Tailoring your comms means your leads are more likely to turn to conversions because you’re delivering content they want and like, and allows you to resonate more with your audience. Provide a better customer experience Because you’ve taken the time to truly understand your target audience, you’re able to provide a better customer experience at every touch point from purchasing, to shipping, to after sales. Through the consumer research you’ll have conducted, you’ll understand your customers' pain points, meaning you can deliver a positive experience that exceeds your customers expectations, leaving them with a positive impression of your company. What are the different types of market research methods? Primary research is going to be the most beneficial method of research. This simply means that you will be conducting the research first hand rather than using a source that already has been collated. Secondary research can be great for wider insights, but it’s not going to be as specific to what you may be looking for and you also need to be careful that it’s from a reliable source. So, what market research methods can you use to find out more about your audience? Interviews & focus groups Hosting interviews and focus groups are a great way to find consumer insights. Interviews are great if you plan to ask personable questions when you’re focusing on just finding information purely about that person. For a more in-depth discussion, focus groups are better to conduct as people often become more open and relaxed. People also tend to bounce off each other's comments and are encouraged to think of things they may not have before. During focus groups, you can ask questions about brand experiences they have enjoyed in the past, what they would like to see from brands and more. You aren’t just limited to questions, you can get them to test out experiences and see what they think or watch how they interact. Surveys & feedback Posting surveys and asking for feedback can bring you quick results, but keep the questions to multiple choice as people tend to be very vague in any questions they may have to start typing out. With surveys, you can ask general questions about the person like what they enjoy doing or what their age or occupation is for example. You can also add questions about whether they enjoy shopping in a certain way or even questions about the products and services you’re offering. Once you’ve pulled some data, you should be able to see what type of people will actually want to use your product or service. Feedback is something you should be asking for once you’re already offering out your service and products. Your consumer won’t always stay the same, as trends may make their buying habits or daily life errands change. You can ask questions like where they found you and what device they used to shop with you. These types of questions are going to help you with finding out where your consumer is finding you and whether they’re enjoying their experience with your brand or not. Create a buyer persona We’ve already mentioned this, but a buyer persona is simply a profile of your ideal consumer, almost like making a Facebook profile by including their details and interests. These help you to visualise what your ideal consumer is like. When it comes to creating a persona, you can either use a real person that you have interviewed, or you could even make up your ideal customer. You want to be making at least 5 different buyer personas to create some variety. Some information you could include could be: A name Age Gender What they do for a living What their hobbies are Where they shop What they read What they like to do at the weekend What they like to eat or drink What tech they use Alongside this information, you could also create a mood board to make the persona come to life. If you’ve interviewed someone previously, you could take a photo of them in their personal space (with permission, of course) or get them to write a ‘day-in-the-life’ blog to coincide it. Once you’ve conducted some of these market research methods, and have created your personas, you should understand your consumer, how they interact with brands and what they do on a daily basis. You’ll even learn the basic things like what age group or demographic they sit in. This type of information means you can alter your marketing comms, styles and placements to target your audience. Let us help you conduct your audience research If you need help conducting your audience research, be sure to get in touch with us today. We can do all the hard work for you and help you find your target audience. We can help you understand who they are, what they do and how to reach them as well as devise a digital marketing strategy so you can market your product or service. #### Why you should be optimising your digital marketing presence It’s an uncertain time for the majority of UK businesses, with face-to-face interaction shutting down and people staying at home, so how are people communicating with each other? Well, they are all doing it online. Now more than ever, the internet is connecting people and helping everyone stay in touch with one another. We’ve always said digital is the future! What does this mean for your business? Well, if you are like us, and have had to go from working in an office environment to working from home, then you may already be communicating to your staff, and clients over WhatsApp, Skype, Hangouts and social media.  As this is what appears to be in store for the foreseeable future, it makes sense to capitalize on your digital presence. You can do this in several ways, and considering any of these will help you stay ahead of the game and help you when the time comes to get back to it;  Take this as an opportunity to work on your website We’ve said this before, but your website is like another member of staff, who doesn’t stop working, your website is one of the first things potential clients and current clients will see when they search for you in Google, and it needs care and attention.  If you’ve had your website for a year or so, why not take a look at areas that you can improve, make some changes to your homepage, or write some blogs. If this is something that you are interested in, then please get in touch with us, we can provide you with a mini web audit, and provide some recommendations about how you can improve your website and align it with any new goals that you may be wanting to align to in the coming months as well as write blogs for you.  Keeping your website updated during a time like this will help you in the long run, it shows that you are being proactive and are still operating as a business, it will also put you in a good position to kick-start when everything opens back up.  Many clients are including some key information about how their business is operating throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and by displaying this information will help keep everyone informed. This can be updated at any time through a content management system (CMS) and can also be used in the future for any further notices that may need to be displayed on the website (is it too soon to start thinking about Christmas?)  Capitalise on social media If you can, interact with your followers on social media, whether this is offering key services, special offers or even offering a bit of humour in line with your brand to help keep people sane during this time.  Many of the top brands are pushing their online presence, encouraging those who can to shop online, which means that they can grow their online retail reputation during this time. While people are shopping online this will be the main source of income, but when the shops re-open while they may see a small dip in online orders, I suspect that many users will still choose to purchase online as well as in-store. Even local businesses are promoting on social media platforms; local garden centres are offering free delivery of products if a customer spends X, small restaurants are delivering food to the area and more. There are even posts where businesses are putting together packs for the vulnerable people and posting on local Facebook groups, doing their bit and showing how kind they are. This goodwill not only increases reputations over the coming months, but it will also mean that people will keep them in their minds when they re-open. Send out an email Emails are a great way to reach people and provide key information about services, and what you are doing at the moment. Email marketing also helps your current customers stay calm and know that they are in safe hands.  Depending on your industry you will have to tailor emails according to your audience but remaining positive is key. Keep your customers engaged and on board. Talk about the changes you're making to your business, talk about services that will help customers during this time, or even gear up for when you reopen offering a welcome back discount.  Focus on your SEO  We all know that SEO is a long game, so, why not take the opportunity to focus your efforts on really growing your organic visibility ready for everything to pick back up.  There are many ways that you can do this, either by revisiting the content on your website, writing blogs, or looking at more technical SEO optimisations.   SEO makes you stand out online among your competitors. Make sure you have the best base from which to work regardless of the world outside of the internet. Max out PPC Paid advertising might not be something that you are thinking about right now, but with everyone buying online there isn’t a better time to do it, especially if you are offering something that can be delivered.  PPC allows you to make a splash in your industry instantly by buying keyword spots and advertising directly to your target market. With more people online than ever, now is the time to invest in an analytical advertising model with effective results. While the situation at the moment is uncertain for many, the main message is clear, this will be over, and we will make it through to the other side, however long that may take, we don’t know, but there is an end and before we all know it, it will all be over. If you need any help or assistance from us here at Fifteen, please get in touch with your account manager or a member of the team, email: hello@fifteen.co.uk or call the office on 0115 932 5151  #### Why you should be using Bing PPC advertising. When it comes to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, you may think that Google dominates the search engine market. However, Bing PPC advertising is gaining an ever-increasing share of the search engine traffic. A few years ago, many would think that advertising on Bing would bring little or no benefit and would never rival Google. But we’re here to tell you that Bing should not be overlooked when it comes to reaching potential customers. There are plenty of reasons why incorporating Bing into your paid search efforts could lead to increased success, and in this blog, we share four reasons why you should be using Bing PPC advertising, along with some tips to optimise your Bing PPC ads. 4 reasons to use Bing PPC advertising If you’ve ever wanted to expand your online advertising reach, utilising Bing PPC ads could be the key to unlocking new opportunities for your business. Here are four reasons why you should consider adding Bing PPC advertising to your digital marketing strategy. 1. Bing has less competition As we’ve mentioned, many people believe that Bing can’t rival Google, and because of this, Bing is often overlooked when planning a PPC marketing strategy. However, those who do utilise Bing PPC ads, take advantage of the fact that there is lower competition.  With fewer businesses bidding for the same keywords on the search engine, there is a greater chance of your ads to be seen by your target audience and potentially higher ad placements too, giving you a competitive edge in reaching potential customers. This also results in lower costs-per-click (CPC) too, which is a particularly key benefit for businesses who have a limited budget. 2. Bing ads cost less This leads us on nicely to our next reason to utilise Bing PPC advertising - you get a lower CPC. This will be dependent on the type of campaign you’re running, and what keywords you’re bidding on, but typically Bing ads are cheaper due to the reduced amount of other businesses bidding on keywords. A lower CPC means you’ll get more clicks and engagement for your money, potentially resulting in more conversions. More conversions, means a higher return on investment (ROI), and if your investment in your ads are lower than what you’d pay for with a Google ad, the opportunity to increase your ROI is certainly there. 3. Different user demographics In any marketing campaign, one of the most important things to consider is your intended audience. If you’re not putting the time, money, and effort into the correct platforms, you run the risk of not getting the return you’d hope for.  Statistics show that Bing attracts a different audience than Google. According to WordStream, Bing reaches an audience that is slightly more mature, more educated, and more affluent. If your target audience fits well with this group, it makes sense to run Bing PPC ads to reach these users. 4. It may be a better fit for your business niche Again, this leads on nicely to our final reason to utilise Bing PPC advertising. Due to Bing’s older, more affluent, and educated audience, your business niche might be better suited to this search engine. For example, if your business resides in the medical or finance sectors, Bing’s user base will more than likely be a better fit than Google. This will result in more quality leads for your business who are more likely to convert. Should you stop using Google ads? The short answer to this question is no. While there are many benefits of using Bing PPC advertising, particularly so for small businesses and niche businesses, there is no denying that the reach is much smaller than that of Google.  Instead, Bing should be used as a cost-effective, easy way to add a little extra fuel to your PPC campaigns and spread your reach. Doing this allows you to take a well-rounded approach to your PPC efforts, and can help diversify your reach and improve overall campaign performance. How to advertise of Bing effectively Whether you already have Bing PPC ads running or you’re new to the platform, advertising on the search engine effectively involves a few key tactics to maximise your campaign’s success: Make sure you’re using Bing ad extensions - these extensions allow you to provide extra information to your ad, such as links to specific pages, location information, and contact details, to make your ads more informative and engaging. Use negative keywords - incorporating negative keywords to your ad groups or campaigns helps you refine your targeting and ensures your ads are being shown to the most relevant audience. A/B test all your ads - you should run multiple variations of your ads and compare their performance to gather valuable insights into what works best with your target audience. Utilise geo-targeting - if you have a bricks-and-mortar store, be sure to target your audience based on their location so your ads are shown to the right people in the right area. Import your current Google ads - a good starting point if you’re just getting started with Bing PPC ads is to import your current Google ads campaigns. You may have to modify them due to variations in the platform, but it’s a great way to save time building new ads from scratch. Set up remarketing campaigns - take a personalised approach with your Bing ads and create customised remarketing campaigns with Bing’s Universal Event Tracking (UET) for those who have previously interacted with your business. Make use of Bing’s device targeting - a particularly key advantage of Bing PPC advertising is their precise device targeting feature, allowing you to optimise your campaigns for different user experiences and behaviours. Ready to get started with Bing PPC advertising? Thanks to its lower CPC, reduced competition, and different user base, Bing proves to be an undervalued PPC marketing tactic. As we’ve highlighted, Bing PPC advertising can give businesses more value for their money, and a potentially higher ROI, when used effectively. If you’re ready to get started with Bing PPC advertising, or you’d like to incorporate it into your existing digital marketing strategy, get in touch with us today. Our PPC marketing experts can work closely with you to understand your goals and objectives and create a Bing PPC strategy that will bring real results for your business. #### Why you should be using SEO video marketing in your digital strategy We’ve previously highlighted how the world of digital marketing is changing and evolving all the time, and one tactic many digital marketers are realising is the way forward for 2024 is SEO video marketing. This is largely down to the fact that there are so many popular platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, where you can conduct effective SEO video marketing to get the maximum reach for your business. In this blog, we delve into the reasoning why you should be using SEO video marketing in your digital marketing strategy and include some top tips on how you can utilise this tactic to its full potential.  Why is video content marketing so important? The demand for visual content is on the increase all the time and should therefore be classed as one of the most important elements in a digital toolkit. In the age of social media and online content sharing, digital marketers understand the importance of creating quick, catchy videos that are informative and eye-catching. Producing engaging video content can not only help a business sell their products or services, but it can also help build brand awareness and help them connect with their audience on a whole different level. However, the key to reaching your audience is by implementing effective SEO video marketing to your content to boost your discoverability. You can apply most SEO tactics to your videos, but there are some extra things you can do to further enhance your reach, for example: Producing high quality video opposed to filming on a mobile phone Conduct research into what your audience are actually watching so you can target specific keywords that are relevant to your business Use good quality imagery and thumbnails Never underestimate the power of sound Consider applying transcripts to help you rank for your keywords How can you use video content marketing to its full potential? If you’re wondering where to start when it comes to video content marketing, or you already have a bunch of video ideas in the mix, here are some top tips on how you can use it to its full potential. Keep the viewer invested throughout your video The attention span of a viewer can feel like it is in decline, and you may notice people are not watching your video for as long, or they simply don’t want to be getting involved. That’s why it’s important to make sure you keep viewer retention engaged. Videos are naturally more reliable in keeping your viewers engaged rather than static images, but it only takes a few seconds for the customer to view your content and decide if they’re going to continue to watch or scroll on along.  When you create your video, ensure it’s involving a topic that your audience is actually interested in - this is where your research will come into play. Once you know your video topic, you’ll have a better sense in the video style you’ll present. Don’t be afraid to mix it up with your video style too, this will give you a better insight into what your audience likes. Create videos around your business If you sell tangible products, producing videos that visually show your products in use in day-to-day scenarios, will help encourage your customers to make a purchase, because it shows what they’ll get for their money. These particular videos can be easy to implement on your website and can be a great way to capture new business with customers who prefer watching video content over reading long product descriptions. You could also create videos showing the behind-the-scenes of your business, whether that’s showing how your product is made, or involving your team in videos. This shows a different side to your organisation and your audience are more likely to relate to these types of videos. Draw people in on a multitude of platforms Videos, more than other marketing methods, have a higher probability of attracting new additions to your customer base. Using video as a tactic not only keeps your content fresh, but also consistent because you can share your videos across a multitude of platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram to name a few. By using these platforms, you’re able to target an audience you are looking for and who are interested in your content. So if you have a specific audience to reach, it’s worth considering expanding your video content marketing across all available platforms if they’re relevant to your business. The longer your video, the better The longer your video is, the longer people will spend on your site - but it’s important to make sure you hit the sweet spot and don’t create a video that’s too long. Creating lengthy video content is a great way to help your site rank higher in Google because visitors will be spending more time on your website. And to further increase your chances of ranking, you’ll also want to implement SEO video marketing just like you would optimise your images, headings and your website copy. Be sure to include your target keywords and make sure they flow naturally to avoid keyword stuffing. Need help with your SEO video marketing? Creating engaging and consistent video content is something all marketers and businesses need to be considering as part of their digital toolkit, and when you implement SEO video marketing alongside that, it can take your digital marketing strategy to a whole new level. If you like to learn more about SEO video marketing, or you’d like help creating a video content marketing strategy and you want an agency to execute that strategy on your behalf, get in touch with us today. Our digital marketing experts can work with you to create a content strategy and our talented creative team can create professional and flawless videos for your business that will captivate your audience. #### Why You Should Create a Website Prototype What is a website prototype? A prototype, in terms of web design, is an interactive mockup of your web design. While it may not have all the bells and whistles of a final website build, it can give you a really good idea of the functionality, user journey and flow through a website. A website prototype is essentially a high-fidelity visual version of the site that allows you to link between screens and demonstrate how the website would work before going to build. Why do we create website prototypes? Creating website prototypes is useful in many ways. Most importantly, a prototype allows a user to interact with the website almost as it would behave when built. While it may not include any animation or transition styles it does operate on a basic level to let the user navigate and interact with certain elements on the site. Can I prototype wireframes or do they have to be high-fidelity? Depending on the complexity level of the website, it can be beneficial to prototype at an early wireframe stage, even if this is just for the designers benefit. In some cases, working with flat visuals can blind a designer to some areas of navigation and functionality that could benefit the design. Working with wireframe prototypes can help identify areas of improvement at a very early stage of design, thus saving time later on when working with high-fidelity visuals. What are the benefits of prototyping? Prototyping is hugely beneficial in the design process as it allows us to save a lot of time early on in a web project. Identifying areas for improvement during the design stage is a lot easier to rectify than finding out these problems once the site has gone into development. Prototyping is also beneficial to show users who may not understand flat visuals as easily as an interactive version of the site. Should I create a prototype of my website? Now this question is a bit of a difficult one, but in most cases, I would say ‘yes’. Prototyping can be done is so many different ways that it’s become a hugely easy task to complete and can be executed for free. If you think you or your users would benefit in any way from a website prototype then I’d urge you to give it a try! What tools can I use? There are a lot of tools out there to help you create your website prototype. Online and software options include (but are not limited to): Invision (Fifteen’s preferred prototype tool) Origami Webflow Marvel Vectr Sketch Balsamiq (for wireframe prototyping) Axure However, prototyping can also be achieved in more basic ways like using Powerpoint or creating PDFs, and even away from the screen by using paper sketches. At Fifteen, almost all of our web projects are reviewed through prototyping, by both our team, clients and in some cases through online user testing. This way we get the most beneficial feedback possible in order to produce the best product we can. If you’re looking to start a new web project, look no further. Get in touch with Fifteen today on 0115 932 5151 or email hello@fifteen.co.uk #### Why You Should Invest In SEO in 2017 You've heard about SEO. You're convinced SEO works well. What you are probably wondering is why you should invest in SEO in 2017. Search Engine Optimisation is a process used by millions of brands worldwide. Big or small, organisations know that to compete in todays digital market, they need to invest in SEO. It's more important than ever! Billions of searches are performed online every single day. Ranking keywords relevant in your industry can practically guarantee a steady stream of traffic to your landing pages. If you are willing to take your organisation and website to new heights, then you should invest in SEO. Here are the 5 reasons to invest in SEO 2017: Search Is Growing The rise in mobile use has made it easier and more convenient to search for anything, anywhere, anytime.  mobile technology has greatly affected how people interact with the internet, and that includes how and when people search for goods and services they need. SEO is a smart business decision. Investing in SEO are much more likely to continue connecting with customers online. Your Customers Expect You To Be There Once you have improved your search position, you can expect residual traffic from search engines, without having to constantly maintain in. If you haven't spent any time on SEO, your business could be invisible in the search engines. Why have a website if no one can find it? Continual Traffic To Your Website Once improving your search position, you can expect traffic from search engines. By targeting your keywords you want to rank for, you know that each time you're getting a qualified lead, actively looking for our service or product. Good Return On Investment SEO has among the best return on investment. If you want long term, sustainable results you need to invest in SEO. Your Competitors Are Doing It If you are interested in establishing a successful presence online, increase in sales and winning the race against your competitors, then SEO is the one for you! If your competitors are already investing in SEO and you're not, they are sure to be reaching higher ranking in Google than you are. If your competitors are investing in SEO, why shouldn't you? [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/seo/"]Find Out What SEO Services We Offer[/fifteen_button] #### Why You Should Think Of Your Brand As A Person One problem I often come across is marketing and leadership teams is the issue of not being unified in the way they believe a brand should behave or communicate. This typically stems from a culture of thinking about brands as a commodity or an object. This should not be so. One of the core aspects of our branding methodology here at Fifteen is to view brands as people and to help the people who govern them to think of their brands as people too. At first sight, this might be a strange concept but it is well grounded in phycology. Once this is appreciated by a marketing team it can be a really helpful way of getting everybody on the same page in terms of strategy and help the brand communicate clearly. Brands are not simply a logo, a set of colours and fonts. A “brand" is the meaning which your audience attaches to your offering. “Branding" is the management of that meaning and thinking of your brand as a person can help to inform the way the brand presents itself. This process of humanising brands is termed “brand anthropomorphism” (that will help you when you next play scrabble). It means; to make your brand more like a human. To think about it in a human way, how it dresses, how it speaks how it behaves. What's its story? How does it connect with customers on an emotional level? So if you can understand your target audience and how they perceive their self-image and what their motivations are and then intermix this with communications which help your audience connect with the meaning of your brand you will be on course to get a high level of brand loyalty. If you want to find out more about brand anthropomorphism why not head over to this article "Humanising a Brand: Consumer Relationships Through an Anthropomorphic Lens" by Kristen Calabro. How it works in simple terms Imagine for a moment you are motivated to achieve something in your life. Let’s say you hope to travel around Italy - but you have no idea of exactly where to visit, the culture or how to go about it. You have a friend who, a few years back, had lived in Italy for 6 months. When you met up with that friend you would discuss your plans with them, ask advice and look for guidance around your plans. You go to this person to fulfil your motivation for guidance and knowledge. Another example might be that you have had a hard week. You are looking to be uplifted, have a laugh and an enjoyable time on a Friday night. You might give a friend a call who you know is a great entertainer to see what they are doing and to see if you can spend the evening with them. You go to this person to fulfil your motivation of wanting to have fun. The truth is we all view brands in the same way. Needing knowledge about travelling? We’d head over to Trailfinders or a travel agent like Thomas Cook. Want to be entertained? We’d check out Netflix. Want to go running? Head for Nike. Need a computer which breaks all the rules? Get to an Apple store. Want to relive some of your childhood? Grab a Coke. Brands take the place of people in our minds. We go to them to help us achieve our motivations. In this way, we think of brands like we think of people. Brand behaviour Brands, therefore, are like living beings. They are born, they speak and behave, they help us, they age, and sometimes they die. Some brands we fall in love with. Others we hate. They help us make a choice. Connecting with them says something about us. So what does this mean? Well, when setting marketing and communication strategies if you know your brand personality you will have a guide on how your brand will behave. If your brand is the gatekeeper of knowledge and people come to you for serious information and insight, you will not have “jokey” and funny puns in your copy. You will behave in a way which customers would expect from a serious, intelligent, person.  If you are an entertaining “Jester” style brand then you and your team will know that boring corporate stock images and long lengthy walls of text will not reflect who you are and jar with your audience. Jargon and “serious” business talk will not appear in the presentation of your brand. Vibrant colours and visuals will be suitable. If you look to do a collaboration with a celebrity you would choose a comedian like Michael McIntyre rather than an ex-politician like Tony Blair. Brand presentation Knowing your brand personality will help you to brief creatives. If you think about people, the way we dress reflects who we are. The same is with brands. If you dress your marketing collateral like a corporate but are in fact quite the opposite you will be found out and the meaning people attach to your brand from your marketing will be destroyed when they come face to face with the reality. They will not trust you for this and so you will find it hard to close sales. Body language says a lot about people. They way they act. The way they stand. If your brand was a person how would it walk into a crowded room? Would it dance in? Would it walk in assured of itself? Would it be unassuming? Could it even be shy and bashful? How does your brand speak? What's it’s “tone of voice”? Like people brands communicate in the written and spoken word. If you don't know who you are you might find your brand is schizophrenic in its communication styles. So, to solve the issue of not being able to agree on how to present your brand why not take a step back and think of your brand as a person. Add in heaps of personality and define your brand persona. Then you will be ready to work more strategically on how the brand presents itself and how it will behave from a marketing perspective. Good luck! #### Will digital marketing ever die? No matter how much some may want to deny it, social media and the online presence touch everyone's lives. In every facet of life, be that personal or in business, the world seems to very much revolve around the internet. This has paved the way for the emergence of digital marketing in recent decades, as a new and successful way to reach customers online and help your business profit. The question many now ask is, can digital marketing sustain this skyrocketing success, or will the day ever come that we witness the decline of online strategies? In this blog post, we cover everything you need to know about digital marketing, and why some may think digital marketing is dying, plus our firm belief that it isn't going anywhere anytime soon. What is digital marketing? Digital marketing, also commonly known as online marketing, is the use of internet promotion for brands and businesses to help retain, and gain new, customers. This, for example, could be email campaigns, paid advertisements or social media strategies. The main aim of digital marketing is to reach a target audience of customers to sell products, services or provide information. What impact has digital marketing had? The rise of digital marketing has completely revolutionised the marketing industry as a whole. Mainly, it has changed forever the way that businesses and brands communicate and reach out to customers. Interaction is now easier than ever because customers are easier to reach than ever. Nearly everyone has a smartphone in the modern world and is, therefore, able to receive emails, and alerts and witness paid advertisements on their social media accounts. Boosting profits and exposure of a brand is now, quite literally, only the click of a button away. Is digital marketing dying? Though the social media boom is still riding a wave of popularity, there has been some undeniable pushback to the online world in recent years. Many people consider social media to be a toxic and negative space at times, cottoning onto many of the digital marketing tactics where some spaces feel like they exist simply to sell you something. Some even go so far as to delete their social media accounts and online presence. If this continues en masse, does that mean the end of digital marketing as some believe? We would argue no, and our reasons can be found in the points below: The world will continue to revolve online We exist in a digital world, and this will only keep driving forward. The future lies within technology and there will never be a case of "going back" to our old ways of communication or socialising. The online space will only evolve and grow as time goes on, meaning there will always be a place for digital marketing. Some people may choose to reject the online world, but there will always be a big enough audience for digital marketing to thrive, without needing to resort to the marketing strategies of days gone by. It's convenient and accessible One of the main reasons digital marketing is so popular and successful is that it is convenient and accessible to the masses. In a fast-paced world, people want things instantly and at the touch of their fingertips. Digital marketing provides the opportunity for them to hear about promotional offers and discounts instantaneously. Digital marketing meets customer demand, and while that demand remains and grows, online marketing will never die. Digital marketing will evolve rather than die As with all marketing strategies, digital marketing will likely evolve with the changing times rather than perish completely. For example, take the more conventional forms of marketing, such as television and radio, they have never died completely just amended their strategies to match with the modern consumer. Digital marketing will do the same in due course, evolving with the online platforms rather than dwindle away. The digital presence throughout the world has gone too far to ever die away, and therefore neither will digital marketing. It will, however, evolve, as all conventional forms of marketing have, to develop and meet customers' wants and needs. Whilst digital marketing continues to evolve, our team at Fifteen will be here to help businesses through the ever changing digital world. We offer a wide range of digital marketing services which you can view here. Be sure to get in touch with us if there’s a way we can help. #### Will Instagram Beat Snapchat? There has been a battle going on between Snapchat and Instagram since Instagram launched its stories feature, but who will win the fight? The Progression Of Instagram & Snapchat The fun-loving, 10-second video, filter filled, social network channel, Snapchat, was reported as the fastest growing social media app of 2016 until Instagram stepped in with Instagram Stories. Prior to this, there was little similarity between Instagram and Snapchat. Instagram was originally a platform for posting images and short video clips onto your profile feed, with the feature of image editing with a variety of toned filters. Whilst Snapchat enabled you to send either photos or video clips to your friends for a maximum of 10 seconds. However, Instagram has been fast to keep adding more to their app to compete with other social media networks. With features including Boomerang, Layout, Stories and the official release of Instagram Shopping soon approaching. They aren't afraid of creating more features to keep ahead of the game. Snapchat truly boomed after the launch of their face recognition filters and location stamps. It was something that an app hadn't really offered before, and they are now constantly releasing new filters. Brands are also able to make exclusive filters as part of their integrated digital campaigns. Let The Battle Commence For a while, the two networks had their differences, but when Instagram stories launched, their similarities grew. Many people switched to using Instagram stories over Snapchat stories. There are simple extra features that Insta has integrated into stories, including the ability to tag your friends or other accounts within the post and they are also testing to allow verified accounts to insert links within story posts. However, Snapchat very much still owns the face-recognition filter feature. It definitely allows you to take the best selfies and have a joke around with friends, but are they struggling to offer more? Other than Snapchat stories & filters, the main other feature they offer is Discover. If you like a good news or gossip piece, then you'll like this feature, as it's where brands such as Cosmopolitan, Daily Mail, BuzzFeed and more post about the latest news, or even some tips and tricks. They're almost like mini blog posts. Through the app, Wishbone, people have been voting between the two networks, and 43% of respondents said that they would delete Snapchat if Instagram started providing Lens and Geofilter options. This will most likely be due to the fact that if this was simply added to Instagram, then it's clear that Instagram has far more features available for people to use. Which Will Benefit Your Brand Most? When it comes to quality, features and creating a consistent brand, Instagram is currently where it's at. Sorry, Snapchat! For personal use, Snapchat can be great fun. But when you do compare the two social platforms, Instagram is currently offering a lot more, especially for brands. On Instagram, there are multiple styles of adverts available, the shopping feature is soon to be released and you don't lose your image after 24hours! Potential customers can come back to your Instagram account and scroll through previous posts if they wish, and this also allows you to create more of a brand presence. Now, this doesn't mean that Snapchat isn't worth looking into. It could be a matter of one new game changing feature being released, so make sure you still grab your brand domain on there before it's scooped up! What are your thoughts on the future of these two networks? Let us know in the comments! #### Will web development die in 10 years? How we use the internet has changed dramatically over the past 10 years and shows no sign of settling down. Today, almost all businesses have their own website or eCommerce site to drive sales. Despite this, a common question people are asking is, will web development die in 10 years? As it becomes easier to build websites with little knowledge, the need for a specialist web designer may diminish, which has been discouraging people from going into web development for fear that they will never get a job. In this blog, we answer this question and address the factors impacting the web development industry in 2022. Why is web development on the decline? Web development refers to the building of a website, from its server hosting to coding all of its internal links. Web design, which ensures the website looks good and is a user-friendly experience, often comes into this, but these can be viewed as separate roles. Nowadays, the use of automated website builders (such as WordPress or Wix) has integrated these two roles into one and makes it easier for anyone to be able to do both at once. It takes very little time to sign up and build your own website with all of the pages, logos and information you need easily inputted. In addition to these, there are many website templates available that require little creativity to think up. Simple drag and drop functionalities make building a website incredibly easy. So where does this leave web developers? Because anyone is able to use these platforms with little to no tech knowledge, there is less demand for web developers to be hired. It is often viewed as quicker, cheaper and easier to use a DIY web development platform instead. This seemingly leaves web developers out of a job. Are web developers still needed? Having said this, web developers still offer a precious set of skills. The coding knowledge that a web developer brings to the table is highly sought after for employers who are looking to build optimised sites rather than five-minute jobs that anyone could do. They keep up with the latest computer programming languages and web design trends to ensure your website is always up-to-date and fully functional. Also, web developers can make a website truly unique and capable of achieving what you want from it, with interactive features and a user interface that works smoothly. DIY templates are generic and do not offer the level of specialisation which will impress visitors. They are more likely to suffer from errors if put together by someone who does not know what they are doing or be unsuitable for viewing on mobile, which is where the majority of visitors will come from. Will web development die in 10 years? So, with all of the above in mind, will web development die in 10 years? It’s clear that despite automated options becoming widely available, web developers offer a unique level of expertise that just isn’t achievable from a basic Wix or WordPress website. Web developers will still be around in 10 years, but they will have to adapt to a new technological landscape. Offering a tailored approach to mobile and other device interface optimisation and eCommerce will become even more important than now. They may not be hired by businesses to build a website from scratch but may consider offering web development training or courses for those entering the world of tech. More advancements and tools make a web developer's job much more streamlined, which is a good thing as it allows them to focus on the bigger picture rather than getting bogged down in the details. They can focus instead on communicating with the client and offering a personalised service that DIY builders cannot. Takeaway The ability to write code and understand computer language is going to remain for as long as computers themselves, so even with automation on the rise, the need for web developers will change rather than die over the next 10 years. Web developers at Fifteen are constantly keeping up to date with all of the latest web development technology and content management systems. So if you need help with your website, you can be sure you’re getting the best knowledge there is. Take a look at what services we can offer and get in touch if you have any questions. #### Wireframes: The Blueprints To Your Website Whenever you see a quote from Fifteen, you may notice that we include time for site mapping and wireframes, these two elements are vital to building a website that is user-friendly, and takes into consideration a tailored user experience and journey. These two elements of the project are completed at an early stage, and normally during a project start meeting or very soon after. So what are they? Sitemapping Sitemapping is a bit like a road map, outlining the pages on your website, and what hierarchy they follow, this is useful because it helps our developers determine the URL structure, which means that our digital marketing team can onsite the website accordingly. So just like the example below, you can see that we try and split out the pages into the different areas, and this is what we use to understand the structure of your website. By outlining the pages within the website at an early stage (normally within the project start meeting), it allows for the project to stick to a structure, and we understand that any additional pages may be additional work. It also allows our design team to understand what wireframes need to be created, as each page/section may require a different design and therefore a different wireframe. The sitemaps are also really useful for our development team, who after the website designs are signed off are then presented with a clear site structure, and numbers for the designs that need to be developed. Wireframes Wireframes are essentially your website blueprints. They are squares on a white background, that allows our designers and development team to understand where things need to go on the page in order to give the user an optimum journey and experience through the website. Generally, wireframes are completed internally, with a pure understanding of the project and it's objectives and end goals. There are bits of software that if you are in the position where you have ideas you can try and put them on paper.  Balsamiq is a tool that I use on a regular basis to wireframe with and it's a great way of getting your initial ideas on a page to demonstrate to clients or members of the team. By drawing out wireframes, you can start to piece together your website, starting with the header and footer, and building on the bits that are in-between, understanding where key elements need to go in order to: Reassure the user they are in the right place Add credibility so users can see you are trusted suppliers Give them somewhere to go within the website By concentrating on these 3 elements on each page, you can start to build on a website that will cater to the user's specific needs and allow them to get all the information they need to choose your company. Each element you see within a website is there for a reason, whether it be to reassure the users, add credibility to the company or direct a user to another area within the website, it all adds up to creating something that is really user-friendly. Next Steps Once wireframes and sitemapping are complete, then we progress onto the design phase which will be quicker and more productive because we already have the blueprint to work from. Having these two elements at the start of the process makes for a smoother ride, and allows the teams within the office to have a full understanding right from the start of a project. If you need help on your user experience and journey get in touch with our team of experts today!    #### Wireframing - Why You Should Wireframe Before Design What is a wireframe? Essentially it is a blueprint or skeleton for a website, it may look very basic from a visual point of view, but the purpose of a wireframe is to develop the layout of content on a page and to determine how elements of functionality can be integrated. A wireframe should look almost like a sketch (in some forms it may only be a sketch!), made up of outlines, basic icons and placeholder elements. What are the benefits of wireframing? The idea behind a wireframe is to demonstrate to the client/stakeholder/user what elements will exist on the page and how those elements will interact with other areas of the website. Before we go ahead with a visual design, it’s incredibly important to get the structure and user journey correct first, so a wireframe can help us achieve this at an early stage. It saves us time too because when we begin the wireframing process, it’s so easy to make changes to the page structure. Doing this at the visual design stage is a hugely time-consuming process so we strive to get the wireframe correct and approved before we continue to visual design. Wireframes also allow our clients to not be clouded by visuals and focus initially on the user experience and functionality of the site. It allows the viewer to take a step back to assess why we have chosen to lay the page out as such, instead of being distracted by an image they might not think is right. As well as this, wireframes allow us to design for responsive websites a lot more efficiently too as we can visualise how the site will flow across a range of devices and how elements will shift and adapt. Fifteen doesn't do websites that aren’t responsive, so it’s a pretty key element of our design process. What cons come with wireframing? Although we would always advocate wireframing within a website design project, there are some cons involved. Firstly, if the wireframes are too ‘designed’, you can run the risk of disappointing certain stakeholders who may view it as a final design. However, as long as you make sure that the client is fully aware of what a wireframe is and why you wireframe this shouldn’t be a problem. Just make sure your wireframes are devoid of elements like logos, images, iconography and too much colour – in fact, we’d recommend sticking to black and white. Second, wireframing does create another step within website design, although we would argue that it’s an incredibly important step. While it may seem a time-consuming exercise initially, it can save you a great deal of time further down the line. For example, when structural changes are pointed out at the wireframing stage, they’re very easy to rectify, if they are pointed out at design stage it can take a much longer amount of time to put right. So while it may seem tiresome initially, it will be a time saver in the end! How to wireframe? Wireframing doesn’t require fancy tools, although it can be enhanced by using them. You could begin with good old fashioned pencil and paper, sketching our your initial wireframe by hand. Once you want to move onto a digital format there are a number of ways you can create your wireframes, choose which one works for you! There is software that can facilitate this, like the Adobe Creative Suite, Balsamiq and Axure. There are also some web based apps such as Wireframe.cc,  Moqups and UXPin. This is not a definitive list as there are lots of options out there! When to wireframe? At Fifteen, almost all of our digital projects will go through a wireframing process, whether it’s a brand new website, an app design, or a landing page – all will require a level of wireframe design. We view it as an essential part of digital design, when done well it can help ensure that a page’s content structure and functionality hits the mark and delivers what the client and their users will want. #### Word Count: A Constant Conundrum When it comes to writing blogs there is a question we get asked very often. How long should a blog post or web page be? The short answer unfortunately is it depends on the format and purpose of your content. However, even with these variables, it’s possible to have ballpark figures for content requirements in 2021. We’re going to look at a few different page formats and how many words you should look to write for each format. Landing Page First and foremost, why does word count even matter? Well, the reason is two-fold. Firstly, the more words, the greater the chance to capture keywords and rank higher on your SERP results. Secondly, more content means more useful information for users to absorb and use, potentially leading to a conversion or click to another page on your site. That isn’t to say you need to pack your landing pages with thousands of words. Optimising your copy and balancing it with the design, layout, and purpose of your landing page is key to getting the balance right. With that said, the benchmark for a landing page is about 300 words. This may seem like a lot but when you take into consideration all the titles, case studies, categories, quotes, product and service descriptions, and other information on your page it’s easy to hit that mark. All you need to do is write the relevant information for the right sections and optimise it with your focus keywords and semantic variations. A well-informed landing page is not just good for search engines but also for users as it provides them with all the information they need to convert on your site. The longer the content the greater the chance to add variations and links to relevant pages, leading to more opportunities to drive traffic further down the funnel. Blog Posts Blog posts are a completely different beast. Depending on the blog you can write anywhere from 600 words to 6000 words. Blog posts are specifically designed for content be it a short news bulletin, in-depth product review, or white paper detailing the technical aspects of your product. Determining how long your blog should be all comes down to your research. How in-depth do you need to go with the piece? Is it a quick listicle of the ‘Top 10 Places to Eat’ or is it a deep dive into what it takes to make a successful restaurant in a busy city. A good place to start is to take a look at your competitor pages and see how they’ve structured their content. You can get an idea of what sort of information users find useful and see which page is getting the most views. If you can’t find any competitor pages, you’re in luck, you can fill that search need with a unique piece that no one has created yet. Along with research you also need to consider format. Some industries thrive on text-heavy documents, especially professional industries like legal firms or engineering companies. If, however, you’re writing about sunny holiday destinations or theme park rides, you’re more likely to appease your audience by including more images and videos rather than text. As you can see there is no ‘right’ answer for the correct length of a blog. Canvas your users, consult an expert, or just google your competitors and you’ll have a better idea of how many words and what words you’ll need to include in your piece. Above all else, make your take unique and you’ll find your article will draw in traffic and lead to greater SEO results. Contact Pages Finally, there are pages where word count doesn’t matter. Pages like contact pages or product listing pages with filters are designed not for content but rather for a specific purpose. Always consider the purpose of your page before deciding on a word count and work from there. Do this and you’ll find you create optimised copy that meets users’ needs and keeps you in your designer’s good graces. At Fifteen, we work with clients to create exciting digital strategies that improve their visibility and conversion rates. If you’re interested in finding out more about our SEO and digital marketing services then contact us today and we’ll get your content optimised for search engines and users alike. #### Wordpress Guide - Part 2: Pages and Custom Sections Following on from my last blog post covering ‘how to post’, welcome to part 2 of your WordPress training guide. In this guide, we will cover ‘Pages’ and ‘Custom Sections’ within a WordPress website. Pages The pages on your website will be made up of multiple ‘templates’ formed from the designs that we’ve created. The development team create pages using ‘Custom Fields’ which mirror the structure of the designs, and then they code the front-end HTML and CSS on top of the backend workings in order to integrate the site you can see within the CMS. Pages are typically laid out in the backend in a tabbed fashion – something like this: It’s split logically into the different sections of the page, with the ability to edit all the key components you can see on the front-end like so: We try and keep the page elements as simple as possible to edit and allow as much flexibility as possible as well. This allows our clients the opportunity to control as much of their website as possible, without them having to worry about breaking anything, as the text formats automatically to match the style we’ve created. On some occasions, websites require a bit more flexibility and movement, this is why we can also build elements such as a ‘page builder’ this will allow the flexibility to build up the website, new pages and other elements using various components of the website. This works by allowing the admin to select an element to add, and then similar to the standard way of working, it will give the options for that section for the admin to populate: This is becoming an increasingly popular method of development and allows admins to have much more flexibility across the site, so you can have pages which are as long or as short as they need to be, and the styling is kept consistent.   Custom Sections Custom sections will depend on your website, and its functionality, it can include as many or as little sections as you need to! Custom sections can include things like careers, team members, case studies, infographics, testimonials, resources and more! When we create these pages, we try and make them as consistent and similar to edit and use as main pages throughout the website, to make it as easy as possible for you to edit and update the website. Custom posts generally feed into various areas of the main website, and instead of updating elements on individual pages – it’s often easier to uploaded them into a specific area, select or give the post relevant categories and tags, and then we can code the site to do the rest! Each website we build is unique in its layout and behind the scenes workings, but as part of your training, we will walk you through the core elements of how to use your website, and also produce a training video that shows you where all the necessary elements are. In the next blog, you’ll discover more about all the other little bits of WordPress! Stay tuned! If you’d like to find out more about building a WordPress website and optimising it through regular SEO activity, get in touch with us today. Our experienced team have the skills to get your new site up and running in no time. #### Working with typography for print & web When designing for a brand you will always have to consider how to choose a font which will work for both print & web. So what would help guide you to your choice of font that work’s for both? Whats the difference between web & print fonts The main difference between fonts for web and print are that web fonts are optimised to be read on screen. This is to do with the resolution of the screen. Screen resolution is usually 100 pixels/dots per inch (dpi) whereas print would be normally be around 300dpi. Traditional fonts designed for prints were designed with ink traps, spaces inside and some letter from the same family would be different depending on the font size. Points to consider when choosing 1. Size Standard sizes for print would typically range between 10 – 12 points, as compared to screen where font sizes would range from 15 – 25 pixels. This is all good for some fonts, but there are certain fonts which at these sizes can appear to be a different size due to the way they are designed. When this is the case experimenting with different sizes to achieve the best for print can mean that sizes can go below or above 10-12 points. Most printed material such as magazines, newspapers etc can be seen printed below 12 points. When considering sizing for screen, fonts can be made bigger due to distance to the screen, but considerations should also be taken for mobile devices which are held at arms length. 2 Font Characteristics Serif font or Sans Serif Font? When designing for print, Serif or Sans Serif fonts both work for body copy, but when considering a font for body text on a computer a Sans Serif font can work better over a Sans Serif. This can also depend on the font chosen, what characteristics does the font have, so the choice of font for a large amount of text needs to be considered carefully. Some print fonts will have webfont variation, but even if they don’t some fonts will still work for both or there are fonts which are similar. Google fonts similar to Helvetica Garamond is a good example of where an alternative web version of a font would be more suitable. Using Georgia as a replacement for Garamond on screen can help with eligibility due to the more defined characteristics of Georgia compared to Garamond. Finding the best fonts for web & print. With the number of fonts available to download from sources such as google fonts, dafont.com and font squirrel which work for both print and web can become quite daunting for designers, especially with a majority of the fonts being dreadful. But there are some good examples which can be found. Below is an example of some of the most popular available on Google Fonts. Open Sans Open sans is a sans serif typeface which was designed to be optimised for web and mobile devices, with its clear legibility it can also be used in print with the same effects. PT Sans PT Sans (Public Type) is an open source font and is one of the most popular fonts used on the web. Raleway Raleway designed to be clear and legible, popular on many websites and available in 18 different styles. Montserrat Montserrat is now becoming one of the most popular fonts for websites and also in print. With its clean design make it not only easy to read but also one of the more attractive fonts available. Roboto Roboto is not only a very legible font to use, but is the most popular downloaded font on Google fonts, with a staggering 6.3 trillion views since it was created. It comes in 12 styles. PT Serif Another PT (Public Type) font. Designed to be used alongside it other family member PT Sans can become a good Sans Serif Alternative for web & Print. With many fonts available for use in both situations, this insight hopefully will give some help when choosing fonts for your next project for cross platform designs. As with all type & design decisions, suitability and aesthetics always need to be considered but other considerations need to be adopted when developing your designs for use with digital and traditional design. #### Yorkshire Tea: A Brand's Proper Use of Social Media I was recently asked – what company do you think uses social media for brands effectively? Luckily, I wasn’t put on the spot there and then and had time to consider my answer. You see, it became apparent answering this wasn’t as simple as it first seemed. A go to answer would be those big brands with countless followers. But this is a common misconception; that likes (or followers in this case) equals success. social media for brands Just because you have managed to bag yourself tons of fans, doesn’t mean they are genuine. Are they engaging with your content? So actually, real business success on social media is much more than this. To elaborate I introduce Dom Dwight, Brand and Communications manager for Yorkshire Tea. What is the value of a ‘like’ or ‘follow’? “Deep down most people know roughly what the value of a like is because they’ve either got millions of people but nobody ever responds or they’ve got millions of people who say stuff without ever being asked – because they are so engaged” Yorkshire Tea This leads me on quite nicely to the brand I chose to answer the leading question in this article; Yorkshire Tea. Pre-2010 Yorkshire Tea had got a reputation for itself. An old ladies drink, out of touch with modern society and younger people in general. The brand was well known, successful and shifting a hefty number of products per year. But its competitors – Tetley , Twinings and Ty-phoo for example were looking to move their brand forward and Yorkshire Tea needed to do this too. What they needed was a plan, one to shake the attitude towards and the connotations associated with their brand. Also, to acknowledge a progression in marketing, to a more digital age – where they didn’t want to get left behind. In short, they were majorly successful in reinventing themselves. Their marketing strategy had a big focus on social media. Their approach was wise, having caution when it came to social media numbers such as the number of followers a company has. Their aim was gain genuine likes for their brand. How did they achieve this? One way, was to pay attention to the particular TYPE of content they were sharing. Non-product led content social media for brands wider culture world cup and wimbledon Social media for brands often use content which is led by wider culture and events assure they look up to date and living in the very same moment that their audience is. In the examples below, Yorkshire Tea uses sporting events such as Wimbledon or The World Cup as the perfect opportunity to share some humorous content. Their content is looking to entertain (see Biscuit Domino Rally below) inform or educate, not to spam their channels and their fans with constant salesy product pitches. Essentially, they’re looking at how they can provide value to their audience through the content they create and share. This approach looks to build a community of fans rather than just followers. Cross-platform content Yorkshire Tea are also very good at integrated multichannel campaigns. That is, creating content that takes advantage of different channels and platforms and is aware of the users viewing content on differing devices. TV campaign ‘Little Urn’ was a response to their audience (listening to your followers or industry is a very good idea – more on this later). Fans overseas were becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of a ‘proper brew’, this is where Little Urn stepped in taking quality cups of tea to the people. The original TV campaign was broken up into episodes, or chapters released over time. Their social media provided another level to this content, ramping up the activity on the build-up to air. Cleverly they ran a social competition alongside this campaign, to win a holiday in the destination featured. They also invested more into paid advertising for the duration of the campaign. Later ‘The Tea Song’ followed suit with a 3-minute TV advert which was also hosted on YouTube. Their social media acted as an exclusive behind the scenes camera – sharing videos and photos from the making of the advert. The piece itself is pretty intriguing alongside the catchy tune, makes the audience want to discover more and be a part of the Yorkshire Tea world. It’s important to mention when dealing with cross-platform content you need to have a strong set of brand guidelines and consistent tone of voice across all channels, platforms and devices. This reinforces the overall brand personality and feeling of familiarity. Partners, causes & charities social media for brands charities and partners, cricket, Yorkshire Tree Often, brands have to look to the wider company culture for inspiration and content assets. Having brand partners, supporting causes or linking with charities can provide great content for social media channels. Yorkshire Tea is involved in many aspects of the Cricket world including England Cricket, Cricket in Rwanda and Grassroots initiatives. They also have their own environmental project ‘Yorkshire Tree’ in association with The Woodland Trust. As well as something closer to them as an industry – Improving lives in Assam, where the tea is grown. Not only is the act of helping others seen as morally right, empathy and sympathy are human characteristics which are then reflected on the brand as a whole. Yorkshire Tea are incredibly successful and by recognising they are in a position of power they take the responsibility to make a real difference. From a business perspective however, this opens doors for mentions, links and wider exposure for the brand. Celebrity backing social media for brands celebrity backing including Stuart Broad Perhaps a more obvious one, the influence of getting a celebrity involved with your brand can be priceless. You are basically paying for access to their audience, a shot at having influence over their buying habits. And there’s that word; influence. Influencers can be celebrities in their own right, but they grew out of the trend to use such individuals. You could argue celebrity-first influencers are those with more trust. Yorkshire Tea adopted this approach with backing from various celebrities including the Brownlee brothers, Kaiser Chiefs, Michael Parkinson and several England cricket team members. One thing to note is how they stay relevant and authentic to the Yorkshire Tea brand, using well known Yorkshire personalities. Their campaign ‘Where Everything’s Done Proper’ subverts typical advertising, with celebrities being involved with the campaign rather than just a vehicle for the product. They happily play, narrate or perform in the advertisement genuinely enjoying themselves and the culture created by Yorkshire Tea. The use of celebrity backing for business opens a door and widens your audience. Why is Yorkshire Tea succeeding at Social Media for Brands? Using varied content types set Yorkshire Tea up nicely for those floods of genuine followers to start committing to the brand. But all this wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for the marketing team and their thinking. Success for them is down to a team with the right attitude to social media, understanding of the platforms they use and appreciation of the value of a genuine, engaged audience. Their approach I think is led by two major pillars which I outline below. Brand awareness, sentiment & community Overall the aim of social media for a brands or business is to create a sense of desire. Your audience must look, digest and be left with a feeling (unconscious or obvious) of desire to own, use or experience your product. This however isn’t easily measurable. There are no hard figures to reflect emotions or feelings generated. There is one metric which can be used to indicate loosely if this is happening and that’s sentiment. Measuring sentiment, or how many times your brand is mentioned online, that is you’re being talked about is a good way to gauge whether or not the desire for your brand is increasing. Marketing activity for Yorkshire Tea saw their sentiment rating grow immensely in the first couple of years. From 500 times a month in 2010, to 15,000 times a month just two years later. Dom Dwight illustrates their reaction to this saying “You can’t deny that the amount of people talking about you is a good thing. Especially when you have a sentiment analysis that shows it was 98% positive”. Worth noting here that not all press is good! You can have a high sentiment rating, but if its negative it will no doubt have the same effect on brand reputation and sales. Listening & interacting social media for brands listen and interact examples From looking at Yorkshire Tea’s social media activity you quickly get a sense of personality through their interaction with fans. Their customer service is top notch, addressing people as a human rather than a robot. They of course will have their own approval systems and processes to use when dealing with enquiries or complaints, but it’s about making it seem there is not. Answers are natural and conversational, no scripted jargon in sight. Injecting that all-important Yorkshire character is really important for them, present in the examples below. One see’s them acknowledging their typo error and the other a reaction to a Twitter trolls all capital rant. They’re also not afraid to admit where they have perhaps not been up to the mark or delivered. The Facebook post below acknowledges that they didn’t predict such a great reaction to their new Biscuit Brew and thus stockists were running out. Instead of not talking about it, they instead tackle the subject head-on and offer a resolution for their customers – where they can purchase the product online. What makes a company successful on social media? Yorkshire Tea are a social media for brands and business role model. They’re consistent, open and honest with their audience and deliver the best form of content, across various platforms with the right attitude. To quote a colleague of mine, Mark Newton (he has also explored social media algorithms in this awesome blog) “It’s really simple. The companies that are doing social media for brands successfully are those that are allowing some amount of real humanity. People don’t want to be spammed with product ads. They want engaging, entertaining, informative, shareable, fun stuff. They have for years. They will do forever! (probably)." #### Your Brand Tribe And Why You Need To Understand It You are a consumer. You are faced with a wall of products. They all do exactly the same thing. Which product do you choose? Globalisation and technology has enabled us to have a choice - almost too much choice one might say. We make these choices every day. Understanding how consumers buy and make those choices is an essential element to building a successful brand. Consumer tribes In this post-modern world, we no longer buy a product simply because of what it has or what it does. We do not ‘just’ buy its features. We also don’t simply buy how it will make us feel to use it. Now we buy for all of these things - but the cherry on top is understanding that we also buy because of what that product says about us. We buy from brands because they help to define and clarify who we are. In branding, we call this “tribal identification” or “consumer tribes”. As consumers, we create our own tribes. Unlike ancient tribes which were formed over territory, we create mental tribes which mainly exist in our hearts and minds. These tribes are built around set’s of beliefs and around the set state, we are in at that moment in time. For example, in the morning we grab a smoothie and join the “Innocent” tribe based on our healthy and optimistic state. On our journey to work we will be sat in our Land-Rover and reconnect with the dream we had when buying it - the “explorer” dream of taking it off road for an adventure and to discover new experiences. We get to work and power up our Apple iMac which subconsciously is telling us to “Think Differently” and we become part of a rebel tribe trying to disrupt the norm. In the evening we decide to go for a run. We reconnect with our Nike trainers and their message of “just do it”. We join the Nike tribe of heroes slaying apathy and pushing through barriers to succeed. Each of these brands says something about the people we are at the time of interacting with them.  Don't get me wrong, features and benefits are still important., but personal identity in choosing to buy is becoming a bigger part of marketing. The value of the tribe Branding is the process by which we attempt to manage the meaning that our audience attaches to our product or service. To consumers, brands which communicate meaning are the ones considered more valuable if their meaning is directed to them and appeals to them.  Today's consumers gather meaning from every little thing. They have the control and they have the power. They will find out any falsehoods in your messaging. They get meaning from where the product is sold, what the product looks like, what kind of people already buy it, what the cost of the product is, what people are saying about it and who and where it is made. There are hundreds of ladies handbags on sale but the ones which cost the most are by the brands which have taken time to tell a story and communicate what they stand for. Even though a Gucci handbag will do exactly the same thing as a Tesco handbag and could even be of a similar quality, you will pay more for Gucci. Why? Because in today's world value is attached to meaning. Gucci can charge you a premium for that meaning. You buy that handbag and it will say something about you. It’s not a bag its a statement. Consumers do not buy brands. They join them. To the consumer who believes in the luxury and indulgent lifestyle Gucci promotes they will be willing to dig deep to buy a product which helps them show this. To ‘do’ branding strategically then, two strands of thought need to be interwoven - what does our brand stand for and what does that mean to our consumer tribe? Design your tribe Knowing who your target market has long been an essential part of marketing strategy. Audience personas have, in the past, been constrained to their demographics, their sex, their income, their location etc. However, it is important to think outside the boxes of traditional marketing when considering your brand tribe and undertaking a modern branding exercise. Some good questions to ask might be: what are the pain and passion points of my audience. What do they believe in? Where are they trying to go? What are they fed up with? What motivates them? What problem do they have? Seeing how your product or service helps to answer these questions can help you to begin to see what it is you need to begin to stand for. You need to be constantly asking these questions as time goes on. As an example, we could consider the demise of Blockbuster. Blockbuster was one of the most visible and used brands on the high-street. However, Blockbuster did not ask the right questions at the right time about its brand or its consumer tribe. It did not adapt to the changing buying habits of its audience. It failed to spot the potential of the faster internet speeds and what this would mean for streaming movies. It also created a huge of dissatisfied people with its “late fees”. It set up its shop and expected its audience to tow the line. A fatal error in today's customer-centric world. Netflix, on the other hand, started out by mailing DVDs to its customers. Off the bat, it stood for fitting in with its customer's lifestyle. It later migrated to online streaming of movies. It was customer centric. It created a tribe of people who wanted to be entertained in the most convenient way. In the early days, it also did not charge a late fee allowing it to grow and pinch customers from Blockbuster. It has now swallowed Blockbuster whole. Rest in peace Blockbuster. Long live Netflix. Focus on your tribe The challenge of modern branding is to know what the brand needs to stand for and then to communicate this meaning effectively. To do this in the cluttered atmosphere of the modern buying landscape ‘focus' is required. Without focus, brands do not stand for anything. There is nothing for a consumer to join. No additional value outside of simply what the product does. It is a race to the bottom of the price barrel. The problem with focusing a brand though is that we have to give things up which goes against our instincts. However, a good question to ask is; will it be better to be the number one choice for a small consumer tribe than choice number five for a wider consumer tribe? If we want to be choice number five then the likelihood is we will need to sell on price. However, if we want to be number one, although we will be appealing to fewer people, we will be able to charge a higher premium. The value will be placed in the meaning our tribe attach to us. Our focus will not only need to be on our product and its features but on the marketing that sits alongside that product. It will need to focus on the story and the messaging and the experience our tribe will have when they buy from us. Being number one for a small tribe will also bring loyalty. It will also be harder for our competition to put a dent in our sales too because although they might be able to copy our product they will not be able to copy what we stand for. We will own that space in the hearts and minds of our tribe. Think of Harley Davison. Think of their tribe. The worshippers of the weekend open road. Think how loyal their audience is to the point where some of them will even tattoo the Harley Davison brand into their skin. What a tribe they have built based on their belief of rebellion, freedom and exploration. When you boil it down though they sell bikes. Just like Honda. Just like Kawasaki. But they stand for something which appeals to their tribe which makes them number one to that consumer group which shares their brands' values. Know your brand tribe So - if you don't know your brand tribe you might want to do some work on what it is and what it looks like. What is the tribes shared belief and is this yours too? Who can belong to the tribe? When someone buys your product how can you help reinforce their sense of tribal belonging? Roll up your sleeves and let’s get tribal. Don't know where to start? Give me a call to arrange a “brand storm” workshop where the above will be covered and much more... #### Your Facebook ads checklist for effective optimisation in 2024 By optimising your Facebook ads, you have a lot to gain in terms of company income. Facebook has been presented time and time again to be one of the most effective social media channels available today. It creates large numbers of engagements, which in turn yield a large number of conversions. Additionally, advertising on this social media platform is both cost-effective and effective in terms of results. In reality, advertising on Facebook is typically seven times more economical than advertising on X (formerly Twitter).  In this blog, we share our Facebook ads checklist for effective optimisation in 2024, and we share some tips on how to target your audience to ensure you’re getting the most out of your budget. First, let's look at why you should be using Facebook advertisements.  Why use Facebook advertisements? For many businesses, they find that having the capacity to reach out to people is a simple and good enough reason to use Facebook. The fact that Facebook has over 3 billion monthly active users worldwide means that it’s pretty hard for your brand to go unnoticed. When you have a large number of users, your first focus should be determining how to attract the people which are most important to your company. That’s when the various targeting choices come into play. How to target your audience on Facebook ads It’s possible to target people on Facebook based on a variety of characteristics as well as their geographic area, ethnicity, age, preferences, habits, daily activities and many other factors. These characteristics aid the refinement of your ad targeting, ensuring that your advertisements reach the most appropriate consumers for your company. While these are all important considerations, they’re just an introduction to the realm of social media advertising, which is rich with endless possibilities for companies of all sizes.  With social networking, you may even get a sense of the pulse of your target audience in a matter of clicks. Discovering new methods to leverage Facebook’s platform is something that may help you jumpstart or increase your advertising campaign, especially with billions of online users. Our Facebook ads checklist for optimisation If your business is already utilising Facebook advertisements, here’s our ads checklist for effective optimisation as we head into the New Year. 1. Ensure your Meta pixel is in place to monitor your advertising effectively Meta Pixel is an analytics software that allows you to track how many people visit your website. A passcode on the page is used to install it and you’ll need access to the server and have some coding knowledge, so you may need to work with your web development team to install this successfully. If you don’t have a web development team, you can speak to our experts today for more help. Having this in place before you begin your digital marketing campaign will let you monitor its success from the outset. It aids in the provision of useful information that can be used to effectively target your advertising. It’s critical that your intended audience sees your material in order to improve your Facebook ads lead generation. By using Meta Pixel, you may improve Facebook conversions like purchases and sign-ups, bringing you closer to your marketing goals. 2. Make use of a variety of Facebook advertisement formats Facebook’s business channel has grown to become much more sophisticated, providing you with additional chances to reach new audiences and entice previous site visitors to return to their company. Digital marketers, on the other hand, may find it difficult to choose which form of Facebook ad is best for each specific objective of their campaign, especially when there are so many options available to them. So, it’s important to research and make use of a variety of Facebook advertisement formats. 3. Optimise your bids and budgets Facebook spends your budget at auction which consists of different bidding strategies. When building your ad, you should always consider these different strategies against your budget as well as part of your overall plan, particularly if you want to run optimised advertising to get the greatest potential results. Each campaign is designed to accomplish a certain goal. There will be various ad sets for each ad campaign, each of which may be assigned a budget and a timeline. Ad sets may include several advertisements, each of which can be made of one or more images, copy, or videos, as well as precise targeting and budget parameters. Instead of having to manually adjust your campaign budget, Facebook will optimise it and distribute it to the areas where your ad works the best. Speak to our social media specialists today As we head into 2024, it’s important to ensure your Facebook ads are optimised so you’re heading into the New Year in the right way. By using our Facebook ads checklist and optimising your Facebook ads, you can be sure you’re on target to get the most out of your marketing efforts. If you want to optimise your ads and you’re not sure where to start, speak to our social media experts today. They can provide you with support and recommendations for your ads optimisation. They can also manage your social media marketing on your behalf and optimise your ads for you. Get in touch today to find out more. #### Your PPC Landing Page Has A Huge Impact On Your ROI Is a landing page that important for your PPC campaign? Many people undervalue their PPC landing page, which is in fact an area where a lot of people lose out on improved ROI. Your landing page is crucial as it’s the first page the customer lands on when they click through from your ad. There are a few key factors to consider when deciding which landing page to use and in some cases, you may even need to create a new landing page specifically for your PPC ad. Page design – does your page look inviting and fresh? User experience – is it easy to navigate and easy to use? Content relevancy – are you landing potential customers on a page which is relevant to what you’re advertising and is it adding value Clear call to actions – is it clear for customers to see how to call, make a purchase etc? Not only is the landing page crucial for the user interaction and conversions but it is also a ranking factor as this largely affects your quality score. This determines the position your ad appears (average position) in the search results, how much you pay for your CPC (cost per click) and how often your ad is shown. Other aspects which are considered for your quality score are your landing page copy as mentioned, your ad-copy and URL. What does a bad landing page look like? The below website has the issue of putting too many offers and deals on one page which looks cluttered and unclear. Its landing pages include an array of discounts for unrelated products, which could easily overpower a potential customer. What does a good landing page look like? The below landing page has come from an advert offering customer floral arrangements from $75. This landing page is clear, relevant, and a call to action which is easy for the customer to navigate. All the details are laid out just above the fold. All the text describes the benefits of the service and what customers will receive if they subscribe. So how do you create a quality PPC landing page? Fifteen have lots of experience in delivering clients PPC campaigns meaning we have managed to squeeze in a lot of landing page testing. Our top tips are below: Relevancy – ensure that your message in your ad copy is displayed within your landing page. For example, if your advert is advertising laptops, don’t send them to a landing page of desktops. Highlight the benefits of using your company - make sure you’re giving people insight into your business and the benefits of your product or service. Call to actions – ensure you have clear call to actions on your page such as ‘enquire today’, ‘book today’ or ‘buy now’ so the customer knows how to gain more information or order your product. User-friendly – make sure your user journey is easy to navigate through. If people find your website hard to navigate or cannot find what they are looking for they will simply leave the site and go to a competitor. Simple – is your buying process as simple as possible? The more steps they have to go through to make their final action, the more likely you are to lose them along the journey. This is similar with the payment journey, if they have to answer too many questions, you’re likely to lose them before they’ve made their purchase. Website design – What does your website look like? Does it look professional or does it look like a spam site? The appearance of your website is important as you want the customer to trust you and the only thing they can judge is your site. Once you start to adopt a few of the above techniques, you’ll start seeing some great improvements on your PPC campaigns (and it will also benefit your SEO). #### Your ultimate guide to digital marketing KPI's and metrics Digital marketing is an essential tool for businesses of all sizes today. The ability to track KPIs (key performance indicators) and metrics is essential to success. By understanding which digital marketing KPIs and metrics are most effective, you can allocate your resources more efficiently and make better business decisions. In this guide, we'll explain what KPIs and metrics are and how they can help you measure success on the digital marketing battlefield. What are digital marketing KPIs and metrics? Digital marketing KPIs and metrics are key indicators of performance that help businesses track progress and measure success. Different businesses will have different KPIs and metrics for their digital marketing campaigns, depending on their goals. For example, a business looking to increase brand awareness might focus on metrics like reach and impressions. In contrast, a business trying to increase sales might focus on metrics like click-through and conversion rates. Why do you need to track your KPIs? There are many reasons why you should track your KPIs. Here are just a few: Tracking your KPIs helps you to identify areas where your business is doing well and areas where it could improve. It allows you to set targets for improvement and track your progress towards these targets. It can help you spot good and bad trends so that you can make changes to your business accordingly. Tracking your KPIs can help you to measure the success of your marketing campaigns and other initiatives. It can help you make better decisions about where to allocate your resources. In short, tracking your KPIs is essential for any business that wants to succeed. Doing so can ensure that your business is on the right track and making the necessary improvements. How to set up your digital marketing KPIs It is essential that you set up your digital marketing KPIs and metrics using the SMART approach. Each goal must be: Specific Specificity is key when determining KPIs, as they should be tailored to the organisation's specific goals. Measurable KPIs should be quantifiable to be effective. In other words, they should be able to be measured in some way, whether that is through numbers, percentages, or some other metric. Achievable Achievability is important to keep in mind when setting KPIs. They should be challenging but not impossible to achieve. If they are too easy, they may not be challenging enough and could lead to a sense of complacency. Realistic If your KPIs are too ambitious, you'll likely miss the mark and frustrate yourself and your team in the process. So take the time to set realistic, achievable KPIs, and you'll be on your way to achieving your business goals. Time-bound KPIs should be time-bound, with a specific timeframe for achievement. By following the SMART approach, organisations can ensure that their KPIs are effective and attainable. For example, if you want to improve your company's customer satisfaction ratings, you could set a goal to increase ratings by 5% within 3 months. To measure this, you could survey customers after they make a purchase and track the results over time. This goal is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound, making it a great candidate for a SMART KPI. What are the most common digital marketing metrics? There are many digital marketing metrics that businesses use to measure the success of their campaigns, but some of the most common ones are: Website traffic This measures the number of people who visit your website and can be a good indicator of the reach of your digital marketing campaigns. Engagement This metric measures how people interact with your website or social media content and can give you an idea of how effective your marketing is in getting people interested in your product or service. Conversion rate This measures the number of people who take the desired action after seeing your marketing campaign, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. Return on Investment (ROI) This measures the profitability of your digital marketing campaigns and is a key metric for determining whether or not your campaigns are successful. Conclusion Digital marketing KPIs and metrics provide a way to evaluate your success (or lack thereof) and make adjustments when needed. But just as important as knowing which metrics to track is knowing how to interpret them and what they mean for your business. By comparing your data with industry benchmarks, you'll be able to make better decisions with confidence. If you need help defining your KPIs and metrics, our digital marketing team can help. They can help you develop a digital marketing strategy that’s specific to you and your business needs. Be sure to take a look at our full range of digital marketing services we offer and get in touch with us for more information. #### Your website's gone live... now what? You've just launched the latest version of your website, and you and your company couldn't be happier. It's responsive, looks amazing and is bringing in those all important enquiries/purchases that you need to take your business to the next level. So what next?  It's important to remember that a website's content needs to be updated at least once a week, so you or a member of your team will need to set some time aside to write an action plan of who does what on the website and when, from blog posts, to updating content, adding testimonials and team members and any other tasks that need addressing. Take a look at some of our key points about keeping your website up to date. Keeping your content up to date Keeping your website up to date is vital, there are many ways that you can do this, and if your an E-Commerce website then your most likely updating your website every day, for Brochure websites this is more difficult. One of the best ways to update a website is by blogging, and reaching out to your clients on social media, using the content that you've written in your blog to push people back to the site, this keeps the content fresh and updated, and will encourage Google to come back and crawl the website, noticing new valuable content with your keywords and boosting your website up the rankings. Changing images throughout your website on a regular basis is also a great way to keep your site looking fresh, if you've got a slider on your homepage, changing a few of these images every month will make a returning user realise that something has changed on your site and encourage them to browse and see what else has changed. Amending and tweaking content throughout your site as needed is another way to keep the site updated, ensuring that all your content is as accurate as it can be, and keeps up to date with the latest trends within your industry. Struggling to keep your content up to date? [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/seo/"]Fifteen's SEO services[/fifteen_button] Keeping your software up to date If you use a Content Management System such as WordPress, you will notice, that every few months a new update is released for WordPress or for the plugins used on the website. You may be tempted to update these yourself, as what could go wrong? Whatever you do, DO NOT do this, it could break something on the website, which will then cause your enquiry rate to decrease and potentially loose you valuable custom. The best thing to do would be to contact your development agency and ask them to update the website for you. Do you need help updating your plugins or CMS system? [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/website-support-hosting/"]Find out more about Fifteen support[/fifteen_button] Website phase 2 Websites are a labour of love, and are never finished, there is always a new web trend or design trend round the corner, and it's important to keep up to date with them in order to keep your users interested and engaged. Listen to your clients feedback about the website, things they like, things they don't like, and keep a log of these. At the end of the first 4 months of your website being launched, go back to your agency with a list of things that you want to talk to them about and arrange a meeting to go through them, they will be aware of new trends in the world of web that might aid your users to convert or engage with your business better, and you can work together implementing them into the website. Monitor your traffic and optimising conversions Monitor your web traffic on the site, what pages are being visited the most, what pages have the highest bounce rate, conversion rate and where are people sending the most time on your website, all this information can be accessed from Google Analytics, but there are other ways to monitor your traffic to. Heat-mapping is a useful tool that can provide insight to where people are clicking on your website, if for example people tend to click in the right hand corner of the screen you may want to consider placing a key call to action there? Google Analytics offers a free one, however there are more accurate tools that can also show video footage of a user using your website! Want to get the most out of your website? [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/conversion-rate-optimisation/"]Find out more about Conversion Optimisation[/fifteen_button] Have you considered digital marketing? Digital marketing can boost your website traffic and conversions, from pay per click to remarketing and affiliate schemes, there will be a practice that will benefit you and your business, and it is always worth considering looking into if you aren't already. [fifteen_button link="https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/"]Find out more about our Digital Marketing services[/fifteen_button] #### YouTube : A Snapshot in 2017 YouTube is the second most used search engine on the web. It hosts the majority of online video. We've already looked at how to market your video but now we'll focus on YouTube itself. How YouTube Began It’s difficult to imagine a world without YouTube.This was the case almost 13 years ago. In 2005 three former PayPal employees had the vision of a place where you can share videos with ease thus YouTube was born.Its popularity shot up which lead to Google buying YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion. At the time, it was 4 times more popular than their own ‘Google Video’. According to former CEO of YouTube, Chad Hurley: “[they] started YouTube to democratise video distribution. Now [they] are democratising video creation.” This outlines the success that is YouTube. It didn’t let everybody share videos, instead, it’s the place where videos are created. This was the beginning of a new video streaming world. YouTube now gets 3 million visitors each day. As of June 2017, they’re dominating the web with 1.5 billion users visiting every month. This is equal to every person who lives in China and the United Kingdom put together as of 2017.As shocking as it is, it’s quite understandable as 6/10 people prefer online video streaming to TV. Traditional TV is becoming less dominant. It’s estimated that by 2025, half of the under 32-year-old population won’t pay for a TV license or service. YouTube's Vast Availability YouTubes availability across the globe could be one reason why their site is so popular. YouTube is in 76 different languages ensures that they are covering 95% of users. Many developing countries are seeing large growth in internet usage like India. So, it makes sense for YouTube to capitalise on this. Live Video Streaming Levels of engagement increase with Live Video Streaming. It creates a sense of urgency or emulates an event as it could be the only chance to watch the video.Live Streams are much more technical to set up. There’s a constant flow of new data broadcasted. Constant stopping and buffering can have the adverse effect on engagement and views. You must take into consideration your viewers accessibility and world time zones. Streams are not regionally locked. They will reach many different countries so you have to plan ahead. Make arrangements for people who may be missing out on Live Streams due to time zones. There are a lot of pros and cons for Live Streaming.A huge positive is it can target an engaged audience. There is potential for your channel to grow even more with new subscribers. On-Site Comments There is an argument that Youtube should be a social media platform. The community inside Youtube is very active. This is seen in the lively (often volatile) comments section A great feature on YouTube is the ability to share videos while still being on the site. Its easier sharing videos without leaving the site or dedicated app. A true competitor to YouTube is Facebook. Facebook users already watch 3 billion videos every day. With YouTube offering more versatility and a specified place to watch videos. Facebook doesn't seem to be much of a threat. There seems to be no end to YouTube in the foreseeable future. It’s exciting to think about what potential updates could happen in times to come. Video marketing is our bread and butter, come and have a chat. #### Yu Energy Set to Surge with A Stunning New Site Yu Energy is an East Midlands-based supplier of energy solutions, offering a selection of price plans to suit all business needs. Born out of a genuine concern over rising business energy costs, Yu Energy is the go-to supplier for top service and great value. It was the Managing Director’s previous frustrations with many energy suppliers’ poor service and prices, that led him to set up Yu Energy in a bid to provide large and small businesses with the energy solutions and services they desire. The Task Fifteen were given the opportunity to re-design and develop a new website for Yu Energy. The site needed to provide an excellent user journey for businesses looking to get access to information on plans, prices and solutions. The Website The website’s design utilises Yu Energy’s brand guidelines to maximum effect. The warm brand hues really lift the site’s overall look and feel and when combined with the dark grey and white, they make a striking website with a professional tone. As you scroll down the home page, the journey is clear to the user. Yu Energy’s key slogan in the hero copy precedes the 3 main energy products, swiftly followed by Yu Energy’s key selling points. It was important that we used the website to highlight just how easy it is for customers to switch suppliers whilst giving them effective CTAs throughout. The main navigation menu and right-situated phone and email symbols are static and track with scrolls allowing users to quickly move to relevant pages. The inclusion of the Trust Pilot review rating adds authority and completes a concise and clear footer. The homepage is created with the customer in mind, from finding out more about products and solutions to taking the user straight to where they can get a quote. The Support page also gives the user a great resource for answering any questions they may have, which provides much-needed information to empower the customer and a signpost for their progression to a full sale conversion. The New Connections page is a strong example of attention to detail. This page, in particular, offers an in-depth description of what this service can provide, followed by clear USP. A neat slider feature shows users how to get set up in an easy to understand timeline which all add to the delivery of what customers genuinely want to know before making a sale. All of this combined with the inclusion of case studies filtered throughout the site gives the user a robust and attractive proposition for considering Yu Energy as their new business energy supplier. We really enjoyed partnering with Yu Energy on their new site. Their unique vision and position energised us and gave us more than enough inspiration to create a chic and professional site. Have a look at their new site here. Take a look at our blog if you’d like to see some of the other exciting projects we’ve worked on or contact us today to see how we can help you. ### Pages #### About Us URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/ #### Affiliate marketing   1.0.0.19 #### Amazon PPC URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/ppc/amazon-ppc/ #### App Development URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/app-development/ #### Art direction URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/art-direction/ #### Audience research URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/brand/audience-research/ #### Audits and analytics URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/audits-analytics/ #### Awards & Accreditations URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/awards-accreditations/ #### Bespoke CRMs URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/bespoke-web-development-and-crms/ #### Bing ads URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/ppc/bing-ads/ #### Blog URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/blog/ #### Brand identity and guidelines URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/brand/brand-identity-guidelines/ #### Brand tone of voice URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/brand/tone-of-voice/ #### Branding workshops URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/brand/workshops/ #### Brochure design URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/creative/corporate-literature-brochure-design/ #### Careers URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/careers/ #### Client Support Portal URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/client-support-portal/ #### Consultancy and digital strategy URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/consultancy-digital-strategy/ #### Contact URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/contact/ #### Content creation URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/social-media-marketing/content-creation/ #### Content creation and copywriting URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/content-creation-copywriting/ #### Content Management Systems URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/content-management-systems/ #### Content marketing   1.0.0.19 #### Conversion rate optimisation   1.0.0.19 #### Creative URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/creative/ #### Creative and brand strategy URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/creative-brand-strategy/ #### CRM & API Integration URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/crm-api-integration/ #### Digital Marketing URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/ #### Digital marketing strategy   1.0.0.19 #### Digital PR   1.0.0.19 #### Direct mail URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/creative/direct-mail/ #### Display & remarketing URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/ppc/display-advertising-and-remarketing/ #### E-commerce Websites   1.0.0.19 #### Email marketing   1.0.0.19 #### Exhibition design URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/creative/exhibition-stand-design/ #### Facebook marketing services   1.0.0.19 #### Free instant SEO audit URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/free-instant-seo-audit/ #### Google adwords URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/ppc/google-ads/ #### Graphic design URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/creative/graphic-design/ #### Home URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/ #### HubSpot CMS website design & development. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/hubspot-cms/ #### HubSpot development. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/hubspot-support-development-and-customisation-2/ #### Infographics URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/infographics/ #### Instagram marketing services   1.0.0.19 #### International SEO URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/seo/international-seo-services/ #### Laravel URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/laravel/ #### Laravel CMS URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/laravel-cms/ #### Lead generation URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/lead-generation/ #### LinkedIn marketing services   1.0.0.19 #### Local SEO services URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/seo/local-seo-services/ #### Logo and brand design services URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/brand/ #### Magento CMS URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/magento-cms/ #### Meet the team. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/meet-the-team/ #### New Customer Form URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/new-customer-form/ #### On-page SEO URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/seo/on-page-seo/ #### Open Cart CMS URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/open-cart-cms/ #### Organic social media URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/social-media-marketing/organic-social/ #### Our Approach URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/our-approach/ #### Our work URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/ #### Package design URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/creative/package-design/ #### Paid social media URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/social-media-marketing/paid-social/ #### Pay per click (PPC)   1.0.0.19 #### Photography and videography URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/creative/photography-and-videography/ #### Pinterest marketing services   1.0.0.19 #### Privacy Policy Last updated January 01, 2024 This privacy notice for Fifteen Design Limited (‘we‘, ‘us‘, or ‘our‘), describes how and why we might collect, store, use, and/or share (‘process‘) your information when you use our services (‘Services‘), such as when you: Visit our website at https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk, or any website of ours that links to this privacy notice Engage with us in other related ways, including any sales, marketing, or events Questions or concerns? Reading this privacy notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at hello@fifteen.co.uk. SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS This summary provides key points from our privacy notice, but you can find out more details about any of these topics by clicking the link following each key point or by using our table of contents below to find the section you are looking for. What personal information do we process? When you visit, use, or navigate our Services, we may process personal information depending on how you interact with us and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use. Do we process any sensitive personal information? We do not process sensitive personal information. Do we receive any information from third parties? We do not receive any information from third parties. How do we process your information? We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent. We process your information only when we have a valid legal reason to do so. Learn more about how we process your information. In what situations and with which types of parties do we share personal information? We may share information in specific situations and with specific categories of third parties. Learn more about when and with whom we share your personal information. How do we keep your information safe? We have organisational and technical processes and procedures in place to protect your personal information. However, no electronic transmission over the internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorised third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Learn more about how we keep your information safe. What are your rights? Depending on where you are located geographically, the applicable privacy law may mean you have certain rights regarding your personal information. Learn more about your privacy rights. How do you exercise your rights? The easiest way to exercise your rights is by submitting a data subject access request, or by contacting us. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT? 2. HOW DO WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION? 3. WHAT LEGAL BASES DO WE RELY ON TO PROCESS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION? 4. WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION? 5. DO WE USE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES? 6. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION? 7. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE? 8. DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS? 9. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS? 10. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES 11. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE? 12. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE? 13. HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU? 1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT? Personal information you disclose to us In Short: We collect personal information that you provide to us. We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and Services, when you participate in activities on the Services, or otherwise when you contact us. Personal Information Provided by You. The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following: names email addresses phone numbers contact preferences job titles mailing addresses Sensitive Information. We do not process sensitive information. All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete, and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information. Information automatically collected In Short: Some information — such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or browser and device characteristics — is collected automatically when you visit our Services. We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the Services. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Services, and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Services, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes. Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies. The information we collect includes: Log and Usage Data. Log and usage data is service-related, diagnostic, usage, and performance information our servers automatically collect when you access or use our Services and which we record in log files. Depending on how you interact with us, this log data may include your IP address, device information, browser type, and settings and information about your activity in the Services (such as the date/time stamps associated with your usage, pages and files viewed, searches, and other actions you take such as which features you use), device event information (such as system activity, error reports (sometimes called ‘crash dumps’), and hardware settings). Device Data. We collect device data such as information about your computer, phone, tablet, or other device you use to access the Services. Depending on the device used, this device data may include information such as your IP address (or proxy server), device and application identification numbers, location, browser type, hardware model, Internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, operating system, and system configuration information. Location Data. We collect location data such as information about your device’s location, which can be either precise or imprecise. How much information we collect depends on the type and settings of the device you use to access the Services. For example, we may use GPS and other technologies to collect geolocation data that tells us your current location (based on your IP address). You can opt out of allowing us to collect this information either by refusing access to the information or by disabling your Location setting on your device. However, if you choose to opt out, you may not be able to use certain aspects of the Services. 2. HOW DO WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION? In Short: We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent. We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, depending on how you interact with our Services, including: To deliver and facilitate delivery of services to the user. We may process your information to provide you with the requested service. To respond to user inquiries/offer support to users. We may process your information to respond to your inquiries and solve any potential issues you might have with the requested service. To send administrative information to you. We may process your information to send you details about our products and services, changes to our terms and policies, and other similar information. To fulfil and manage your orders. We may process your information to fulfil and manage your orders, payments, returns, and exchanges made through the Services. To enable user-to-user communications. We may process your information if you choose to use any of our offerings that allow for communication with another user. To save or protect an individual’s vital interest. We may process your information when necessary to save or protect an individual’s vital interest, such as to prevent harm. 3. WHAT LEGAL BASES DO WE RELY ON TO PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION? In Short: We only process your personal information when we believe it is necessary and we have a valid legal reason (i.e. legal basis) to do so under applicable law, like with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services to enter into or fulfil our contractual obligations, to protect your rights, or to fulfil our legitimate business interests. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK GDPR require us to explain the valid legal bases we rely on in order to process your personal information. As such, we may rely on the following legal bases to process your personal information: Consent. We may process your information if you have given us permission (i.e. consent) to use your personal information for a specific purpose. You can withdraw your consent at any time. Learn more about withdrawing your consent. Performance of a Contract. We may process your personal information when we believe it is necessary to fulfil our contractual obligations to you, including providing our Services or at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. Legal Obligations. We may process your information where we believe it is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations, such as to cooperate with a law enforcement body or regulatory agency, exercise or defend our legal rights, or disclose your information as evidence in litigation in which we are involved. Vital Interests. We may process your information where we believe it is necessary to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of a third party, such as situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person. 4. WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION? In Short: We may share information in specific situations described in this section and/or with the following categories of third parties. Vendors, Consultants, and Other Third-Party Service Providers. We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents (‘third parties‘) who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. We have contracts in place with our third parties, which are designed to help safeguard your personal information. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will also not share your personal information with any organisation apart from us. They also commit to protect the data they hold on our behalf and to retain it for the period we instruct. The categories of third parties we may share personal information with are as follows: Data Analytics Services Ad Networks Retargeting Platforms Sales & Marketing Tools Social Networks We also may need to share your personal information in the following situations: Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company. When we use Google Maps Platform APIs. We may share your information with certain Google Maps Platform APIs (e.g. Google Maps API, Places API). 5. DO WE USE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES? In Short: We may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect and store your information.   We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information. Specific information about how we use such technologies and how you can refuse certain cookies is set out in our Cookie Notice. 6. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION? In Short: We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this privacy notice unless otherwise required by law. We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements). When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymise such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible. 7. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE? In Short: We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organisational and technical security measures. We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organisational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorised third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk. You should only access the Services within a secure environment. 8. DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS? In Short: We do not knowingly collect data from or market to children under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent’s use of the Services. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at hello@fifteen.co.uk. 9. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS? In Short: In some regions, such as the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK), and Switzerland, you have rights that allow you greater access to and control over your personal information. You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time. In some regions (like the EEA, UK, and Switzerland), you have certain rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include the right (i) to request access and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) to request rectification or erasure; (iii) to restrict the processing of your personal information; (iv) if applicable, to data portability; and (v) not to be subject to automated decision-making. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. You can make such a request by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section ‘HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?‘ below. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws. If you are located in the EEA or UK and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your Member State data protection authority or UK data protection authority. If you are located in Switzerland, you may contact the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner. Withdrawing your consent: If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section ‘HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?‘ below. However, please note that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal nor, will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent. Opting out of marketing and promotional communications: You can unsubscribe from our marketing and promotional communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the emails that we send, or by contacting us using the details provided in the section ‘HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?‘ below. You will then be removed from the marketing lists. However, we may still communicate with you — for example, to send you service-related messages that are necessary for the administration and use of your account, to respond to service requests, or for other non-marketing purposes. Cookies and similar technologies: Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Services. If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at hello@fifteen.co.uk. 10. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track (‘DNT’) feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage no uniform technology standard for recognising and implementing DNT signals has been finalised. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice. 11. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE? In Short: Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws. We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated ‘Revised’ date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information. 12. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE? If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may email us at hello@fifteen.co.uk or contact us by post at: Fifteen Design Limited Cedar House Napier Street Sheffield, England S11 8HA England 13. HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU? Based on the applicable laws of your country, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please fill out and submit a data subject access request. #### Programmatic advertising URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/ppc/programmatic-advertising/ #### School prospectus design URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/creative/school-prospectus-design/ #### Sectors URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/ #### SEO   1.0.0.19 #### SEO audit URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/seo/seo-audits/ #### SEO training URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/seo/training/ #### Shopify CMS URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/shopify-cms/ #### Shopify PPC LP (Old) URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/shopify/ #### Shopware CMS URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/shopware-cms/ #### Snapchat marketing services   1.0.0.19 #### Social media marketing   1.0.0.19 #### Social media training URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/social-media-marketing/training/ #### Solutions URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/ #### Technical and development support URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/technical-development-support/ #### Technical SEO URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/seo/technical-seo-service/ #### Testimonials With a significant amount of business coming from existing customers' testimonials and recommendations, we are delighted that our customers think as much of our work as we do. Here is just a selection of kind words from our clients. #### TikTok marketing services   1.0.0.19 #### Twitter marketing services   1.0.0.19 #### Umbraco CMS URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/umbraco-cms/ #### User testing URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/user-experience/user-acceptance-testing/ #### UX (user experience) and strategy URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/user-experience/ #### Video editing URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/creative/video-editing/ #### Virtual Tour URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/virtual-tour/ #### Web Design & Development URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-design-services/web-design-development/ #### Web development   1.0.0.19 1.0.0.19 #### Website architecture and sitemaps URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/user-experience/website-architecture-sitemaps/ #### Website Design URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-design-services/ #### Website Design Cambridge URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-design-services/website-design-cambridge/ #### Website Design Derby URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-design-services/website-design-derby/ #### Website Design Leicester URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-design-services/website-design-leicester/ #### Website design Lincolnshire URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-design-services/website-design-lincolnshire/ #### Website support and hosting URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/website-support-hosting/ #### Website Testing URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/website-audits-and-testing-services/ #### White label services URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/digital-marketing/white-label-services/ #### Wireframing and digital prototyping URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/solutions/user-experience/wireframing-digital-prototyping/ #### WooCommerce CMS URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/woocommerce-cms/ #### Wordpress CMS URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/website-development/wordpress-cms/ #### YouTube marketing services   1.0.0.19 ### Case Studies #### BMet URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/bmet-birmingham-metropolitan-college/ #### Chespack Hygiene. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/chespack-hygiene-case-study/ #### Consilium Escapes URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/consilium-escapes/ #### Copley Scientific URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/copley-scientific/ #### Draycir URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/draycir/ #### Genie URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/genie/ #### Holgates URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/holgates-case-study/ #### HRX People. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/hrx-people-case-study/ #### Imran Khan Cancer Appeal (IKCA). URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/imran-khan-cancer-appeal-ikca/ #### Innes England URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/innes-england/ #### Leaders Romans Group URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/leaders-romans-group-case-study/ #### Love My Skin URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/love-my-skin/ #### Marshalls Stancliffe Stones App URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/marshalls-stancliffe-stones-app/ #### OceanLED. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/oceanled/ #### Ogre URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/ogre/ #### Raleigh Education Trust URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/raleigh-education-trust-case-study/ #### Sales Geek. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/sales-geek-case-study/ #### Smartpod URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/smartpod/ #### Solihull Sixth Form College URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/solihull-sixth-form-college-case-study/ #### The Bikeability Trust URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/the-bikeability-trust/ #### The Bikeability Trust & Active Travel England - Digitisation Project URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/the-bikeability-trust-active-travel-england-digitisation-project/ #### The Richmond Group of Charities URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/the-richmond-group-of-charities/ #### Tinplate URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/tinplate-case-study/ #### TRU URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/tru/ #### Velocity Sentinam URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/velocity-sentinam/ #### Wave Alchemy. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/wave-alchemy-case-study/ #### Wonderwall. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/wonderwall/ #### Yu Energy. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/our-work/yu-energy/ ### Infographics #### Graphic design: career path and progression infographic URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/infographics/graphic-design-career-path-and-progression/ #### Graphic design: salary and progression URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/infographics/graphic-design-salary-and-progression/ #### Halloween infographic URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/infographics/halloween-infographic/ #### Journey into the design industry URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/infographics/journey-into-the-design-industry/ #### Mental health at work - mens health To acknowledge and support Mens Health Week, we teamed up with Derby Counselling Centre to explore men's mental health at work. We all have to work, and having a well managed and organised job is good for our wellbeing. Job satisfaction has a significant impact on overall happiness and life contentment. A poorly designed and badly organised job role can lead to work related stress, which can lead onto further mental health conditions and in some cases physical illness. Take a look at the facts and figures in relation to mens mental health in the workplace, how common is it and how does it fair up against women's mental health in the same situation. How do men feel about having these health conditions caused by work place stress and what are their thoughts on taking time off work. Lack of awareness and knowledge can lead sufferers to develop physical symptoms. This is worrying for anyone, but the figures show why this is so concerning when it comes to men's mental health. Men are more likely to become alcohol dependent or even to commit suicide. It is evident the great work that charities such as Derby Counselling Centre's Stress Aid are doing is much needed within our communities. Our partnership with Stress Aid started earlier this year, when we decided to volunteer our digital services for free to help generate awareness of the great services they offer. As part of our year of wellbeing, we researched, designed and put together this infographic. To learn more about workplace wellbeing and mental health, visit Derby Counselling Centre's website. Where they provide a free downloadable PDF which advises employers and staff how to make small changes in your working environment to make for happy workers - lowering the risk of them developing worrying mental health conditions in the future. #### Safer Internet Day URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/infographics/safer-internet-day/ ### Sectors #### B2B website design. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/b2b-website-design/ #### Charity website design. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/charity/ #### Construction industry marketing. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/construction/ #### Consultant web designers. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/consultant-web-designers/ #### Financial services website design. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/financial-services-website-design/ #### Furniture website design. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/furniture-website-design/ #### Golf industry website designers. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/golf-industry-website-designers/ #### Hotel website designers. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/hotel-website-designers/ #### Manufacturing web designers. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/manufacturing-web-designers/ #### Microsite website design. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/microsite-website-design/ #### Pub web designers. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/pub-web-designers/ #### Recruitment website designers. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/recruitment-website-designers/ #### Recruitment. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/recruitment/ #### Retail website designers and marketing. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/retail/ #### RSPCA web designers. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/rspca-web-designers/ #### Schools. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/schools/ #### Solicitors. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/solicitors/ #### Training industry web designers. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/training-industry-web-designers/ #### Transport industry web designers. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/transport-industry-web-designers/ #### Web designers for the education sector. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/web-designers-for-the-education-sector/ #### Website design for accreditation companies. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/website-design-for-accreditation-companies/ #### Website design for construction companies. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/website-design-for-construction-companies/ #### Website design for jewellers. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/website-design-for-jewellers/ #### Website design for PR companies URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/website-design-for-pr-companies/ #### Website design for professional services. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/website-design-for-professional-services/ #### Website design for the leisure industry. URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/about-us/sectors/website-design-for-the-leisure-industry/ ### Additional URLs #### * URL: https://www.fifteendesign.co.uk/*