Here are our top 7 reasons why you need an expert to work on your website:

1. You’re not on the first page of Google – There is an old saying that the best place to hide a dead body is on the second page of Google search. If you aren’t getting found, then you are not getting business (and it’s much more than just simple SEO).

2. If you hear “Google Penguin,” you think it’s just a cute animal that probably wears glasses -Every time Google updates and changes the algorithms for search results, they give it a cute animal name to distract you from your quickly declining rank. Proper SEO and backend design ensure that you maintain your ranking and business.    

3. You think Mobilegeddon is the next film from the guys that made Sharknado – With over 60% of web traffic coming from mobile devices, Google began giving preference to websites that are compliant with mobile design and responsiveness. By not being mobile friendly, your website is ranked significantly lower and you are losing millennial’s business.

4. Your website is not responsive – Screens now come in all shapes and sizes. By making sure your site is responsive enables any of your visitors to navigate and use your website effectively. 

5. Your competition has changed their website – Search engines not only give preference to constantly updated websites but so do consumers. If your competition’s website is new and shiny, then it looks even better when compared to yours that has collected dust on it.

6. You haven’t touched your website in a year – Much like fashion design, web design aesthetics are constantly changing and evolving. With a sleek modern design, you are able to catch new potentials’ attention and convert them to your business. Also, it’s about time you took Jim off your staff page; he was fired 11 months ago.   

7. You don’t have nor know what an SSL Certificate is – Not standing for Some Stupid Lingo, SSL Certificates are small data packs that allow for a secure connection between web servers and browsers. Not only is is safer for you and your customers, but search engines give priority to websites that have them!

What are you waiting for? You are missing out on business right now by not working with an expert when it comes to your website! Get in touch with us and let us elevate your business!

Since its creation, Zero Six Media has worked with many different clients on software development. Each project was brought to Zero Six Media with a clear vision and intent and varied in scale of development. Some of the systems we created took months, while others took closer to a year. Each time, the software has successfully been completed for the client. Implementation and use of the software is where we began to notice the key to success when it comes to developing software.

The biggest factor we saw that led to a success in software is when the software solution begins from a place of “why.” This is to say that the clients knew exactly why they were creating this software solution.

To be successful, these clients begin by observing a problem or inefficiency in a specific industry. Once this is fine-tuned, they then begin the process of determining how exactly to solve this challenge. It is at this stage that the client can clearly articulate and specify the features that the software would require.

This specificity makes the software development phase significantly easier for our in-house developers. From a more thorough brainstorming session with our clients, we are able to program with goals in mind and not have to second guess ourselves.

Where the specificity really shown is when the software is ready to be launched. We noticed when the client has clearly defined why they were doing something, then the users are more likely to embrace it. This translated into massive successes as they succeed in capturing a big part of their target market.

Much like all marketing, knowing your demographic and what exactly you are promising is a vital part of success. 

This is not only lazy marketing, it is bad marketing.

Since the dawn of emails, email lists have been coveted by marketers. Emails are one of the most direct ways to contact your patrons/customers and continually convert them into repeat business. It allows your business to stay in their lives, just so long as they don’t unsubscribe.

An issue we have seen in the recent trend of email marketing is that many poor marketers are taking the BLAST part of e-blast way too much to heart. They are abusing the outlet of customer contact and are illustrating all of the Don’ts that we see when it comes to email marketing.

Don’ts:

• Aggressively demand emails from people – While a good opt-in works, demanding their emails at checkout in brick-and-mortars is how you end up with a lot of NoSpam@Yahoo.com entries on your list. Numerous studies have shown that when it comes to e-commerce, allowing for guest checkout without an account/email increased sales by 30%.
• Constantly bombard your list with emails – This not only will increase your unsubscribe rate, but also desensitizes readers to your brand. These desensitized readers then become false open rates that don’t gain any traction.
• Farm lists – For the love of all that is holy, when you send that intern to rip emails from various websites you are damaging your reputation and brand through irate people having to unsubscribe from you. Additionally, once someone has unsubscribed from your list, most email marketing services like MailChimp and Constant Contact will not allow them to be re-added.
• Send emails in the middle of the night – While the wake-up emails may have a higher open rate, they will have a lower conversion rate. This makes for a wasted opportunity and will, over time, lead to unsubscribes.
• Reuse and resend the same content over and over again – This dilutes your brand and irritates recipients.
• Sell people’s information – It’s illegal and can get you dinged by Google and is just a bad business practice. 

Do’s: 

• Collect data from your customers – This can include things like names so that you can have your template include that which makes the email more personal. Age is also important and birthdays are great for that personal Happy Birthday email.
• Make email marketing sound like a person – People are more likely to buy from people rather than faceless brands. By making your copy sound human, people are more likely to read it.
• Make your email marketing fit your brand and your resources – If you are not a graphic heavy business, don’t force that. If you are a product based business, then don’t use a massive wall of text.
• Provide space in your copy – Walls of text are no fun to read and space makes people feel like they are accomplishing more by moving down the page more easily.
• Segment your list – By knowing who you have on your list, you can target specific segments for products and services that are applicable to them. Then you can email them at appropriate times and appropriate intervals. For example, you are more likely to get opens from 30 somethings at 3:00pm when they are pretending to work but are more likely to get conversations at 7:00pm when they are at home and can get out the credit card.
• Test and track everything – Never assume what you are doing is perfect. Everything changes and can be improved upon. Through proper tracking, your marketing can go to the next level and take your business with it.

If you follow these Do’s and Don’ts, you are guaranteed to improve your email marketing. You will effectively take the blast/shotgun/spray-and-pray approach to a targeted focus that will elevate your business.

1. Keep it short – Often creative types brim with ideas and when they put those ideas to paper, fill pages upon pages. Even before the rapidly decreasing attention span of modern audiences, the shorter the effective copy, the better. This allows your audience to get to the point quickly and not necessarily be bogged down by fluff. Additionally, if you combine shorter copy with more space in between paragraphs, your reader will actually read longer. This is because of the human mind’s need to complete things. As they progress more rapidly down a page, they are more likely to have the need to finish. 

2. Know and write in your brand’s voice – It is very important for several reasons to be able to channel your brand’s voice. First, it assures that your writing is consistent and appeals to your audience that you already have. Second, it makes your copy writing sound personal. Too often when writing in a “professional setting” without a voice, the writing can become robotic and unappealing. By appeals to everyone you can appeal to no one. Finally, consistently maintaining your brand’s voice leads to increased brand awareness over time. Bonus! If you are working from a brand vocabulary, it also helps with SEO.

3. Research, research, research – Trends in the marketing world are constantly evolving and changing. Keeping up to date on lingo in your industry and in your clientele’s vocabulary allows you to be savvy and accessible. This will also force your style to evolve and prevent your copy from becoming stale and formulaic. 

If you apply these three tips to your copy writing, you will see improvements in no time.

However as technology that marketers use becomes more complex, it is necessary to assemble the right team in specialized areas in order to meet marketing goals. This is due to the incredibly specific skill sets that are now growing more complex with each new piece of technology.

Take for Instance:

The Programmer

The skills needed to be a website developer or programmer are beginning to become so complex that there are sub-groups of programmers each specializing in their own coding language. The problem that arises from expecting a programmer to create an entire website is that while they can create the structure of the website, they lack the skillset to fill it with effective words. This leads to:

The Copywriter

Perhaps one of the softest sciences in marketing, copywriting is the creation of all words and ideas that marketing or your website portrays. Effective copy is clear and evokes a response from anyone reading it. A good copy writer is hard to find but in the end will deliver language that enhances your brand. Where the copywriter falls short is the visual aspect of business, which turns to:

The Graphic Designer

Combining artistic talent with theories of aesthetic design, these masters create the most memorable part of your brand. The digital tools and equipment used in the modern age of graphic design are often so complicated that degrees are held in the field, clearly something that is incredible difficult to be self-taught.

These are just three of the major players in any marketing team, but are generally the most visible in any form of marketing. Through their collaboration, a product and brand will take flight. However, if one person attempts to perform all three job fields, the end result will be severely lacking as a jack of all trades is master of nothing.

Teamwork makes for the best marketing!

1. Be consistent – Regardless of the medium, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or blogging, consistency is very important. Pick a schedule that works for you, your team, and your audience and then stick to it. Not only will this ensure that Google is constantly indexing your website and content, but your audience is consistently seeing your business and brand. Additionally, if your content is good, your audience will begin to check back on a schedule, constantly increasing your traffic and building trust with your brand.    

2. Be an expert – The term “thought leader” gets thrown around a lot and is definitely on the list of buzz words we’d like to never hear again, but there is some validity to it. When you position your brand correctly as an expert in your field, your audience will know who to come for business and advice. This makes your audience more likely to purchase from you as they know you are an expert.

3. Know your voice – This is quite difficult when differentiating between your actual voice as a writer and your brand’s voice. To best overcome this, look at exactly what your band voice is and write down outlines/best practices for that voice. This style sheet will help guide you and any additional writers in maintaining that voice. Through proper maintenance, the consistency will not only speak to your audience, but deepen the bond to them.   

4. Know your audience – This is probably the most important and ties into all three of the pervious tips. When you know your audience like the back of your hand, you realize when to talk to them, what they want to hear and how to phrase it in a manner that best speaks to them. Through this audience awareness, your brand and content will grow virally and thereby grow your traffic and business.