Digital Agency Melbourne

As a digital agency in Melbourne 2018 has being a year of change for the business website landscape with designers, digital agencies in Melbourne and web devs scaling back on design aesthetic and keeping things clean, crisp and simple for end users, with 2018 being all about the ‘’smartphone first ‘ website its absolutely vital that these websites whilst being clean and simple respond well to different platforms.

As always this year has being a year of helping website and business owners get found in Google through effective SEO and Google AdWords and getting the websites pumping out enquiries and leads. One of the biggest and most common issues we have had to deal with throughout the year it seems has being websites we have had to rescue from platforms that just weren’t cutting the mustard either for growth, mobile optimisation, search engine optimisation or a combination of all three. By changing these websites over to a more suitable, scalable and seo friendly platform like WordPress we have being able to transform businesses in Google, something we are really really proud of.

Seeing business go from one thing to another because of our help is the reason we get out of bed each morning and we absolutely love it!

With this being said below you will find a list of important factors that will steer you towards a successful and profitable 2019 if executed correctly!

Stop worrying about speed and start focusing on conversions:

The world is obsessed with website speed, with other elements being left behind that are effectively throwing away sales and leaving money on the table. Fast websites are a luxury, not a necessity. The SEO speed argument is void if you haven’t even optimised your website in the first place it also only works with a whole heap of other factors in place working correctly so focusing on speed and forgetting about ‘’above the fold real estate’, simple effective call to actions, and making sure your website is properly mobile optimised or responsive should come before any speed concerns.

Mobile and Smartphone friendliness/responsiveness needs to be at forefront of design

As well all know Google is now favoring well optimised and proper responsive websites (this assumes you have already setup an SEO strategy and indexed your website). But its not just Google favoring these it’s the consumer too with a staggering percentage of all website traffic being made up just by mobile and smartphone internet surfing and users. Ensuring your website is truly mobile responsive and upto scratch in 2019 will see you win over competition yet to adopt this principle.

The Platform You Use can determine success long term (scalability, SEO, etc)

This one, for a lot of web devs, is up for debate but speaking from 5 years of website experience its safe to say that this is a factor and a very important one at that. Platform plays a role because the platform you choose will either have a leg up in Google due to the way its documented and made or it won’t. Take WordPress, currently powering 30% of all websites, this is the MOST documented platform on the internet! Its scalable, requires no sort of coding experience and doest have any hidden fees. Its also probably got the best add on SEO function available on the internet, not to mention out of the box smartphone ready and the most incredible community behind it.

Go local with a web hosting company that cares about your business and website success long term

From little things big things grow, often going with a small local business with a tonne of experience and someone who is accountable for your website is best. Urban Digital Co is a Melbourne and Auckland based WordPress consulting, Web development and web hosting company that take customer ownership, transparency and website care and maintenance seriously.

Unlike others, we will pick up the phone at 4pm on a Saturday. Having a smaller local company hosting your website and looking after all the updates, backups, maintenance and ongoing support is vital to your business.

Simple and Clean is the new Black

You don’t need some hugely flashy website with all the bells and whistles. Sleek, clean and simple with well placed call to actions, great easy to read content and an SEO strategy to match will see you having success.

Your Website Needs to Be Built With The Intention Of Being Found in Google – SEO is Well and truly alive

There truly is no point in having a website that doesn’t work, its like having a car that doesn’t drive you where you need to go, you may as well sell up and walk. Don’t get me wrong, you need to have other parts of the marketing mix active and a defined strategy but if people cant find you on the largest search engine in the world even locally its almost pointless. As far as the consumer is concerned if you’re not in Google, or some form of Social Media strategy and producing content, then you don’t exist.

Get it live, stop worrying about perfection

Stop worrying about perfection, get your website up and live and it will organically grow, take shape and evolve over time anyway, don’t let the unfinished side of it stop from launching.

SEO and AdWords Shouldn’t cost thousands, work with a small Google partner company with proven results

A mistake a lot of business owners make is they assume that going with a big company is good. This is not always the case especially when it comes to SEO (organic search) and AdWords (paid campaigns). By going with smaller and local companies this leaves someone accountable for the actions and success of your SEO and AdWords campaigns, better still engage someone who is a Google partner and has all the necessary qualifications as this means they are actively learning and studying more on a regular basis. Going small and local is also beneficial for building a personal and long term relationship. Don’t know what SEO is? Learn more here.

For the love of business get rid of your ‘@gmail.com’ email address

This is a critical error for any business that wish to be taken seriously. Do not use an ‘@gmail.com’ email address. Instead use Gsuite to acquire a very affordable personalised business email. Something as simple as this will send the right message to your clients, its also incredibly easy too hook up to other devices simply by using the Google Mail App.

HTTPS – Padlock and SSL

Making sure your website is secure is absolutely vital. You can easily obtain an SSL cert from your hosting company who should be able to provide you with a free SSL cert also known as a DV cert (Domain Validated). These SSL certs Automatically renew so you never have to worry about paying for one. These have more than enough encryption to protect your website and Google will show a padlock in your browser for extra validation. Dont get caught out by having the words “connection or site is not secured’’.

KISS

Practicality and keeping things simple is key. I see way too many business owners getting hung up on long winded ways of doing things without executing simple and practical strategies. Keeping things simple will mean you dont spend a long time dwelling on things when instead you can be executing.