Why your website is important in 2024

• Online Visibility: A website provides a central hub for your online presence, making it easier for people to find and learn about your business or personal brand.
• Credibility and Professionalism: Having a well-designed and functional website can enhance your credibility and professionalism. Many consumers and clients expect legitimate businesses and professionals to have an online presence.
• Marketing and Branding: A website serves as a platform for marketing your products, services, or personal brand. It allows you to showcase your offerings, share testimonials, and build brand awareness.
• Accessibility: A website is accessible 24/7, allowing potential customers or visitors to learn about you at any time. This accessibility can be crucial for businesses targeting a global audience or those wanting to provide information around the clock.
• Communication and Interaction: Websites often include contact forms, chat options, or other methods for visitors to interact with you. This facilitates communication and can lead to increased customer engagement.

So we have a clear understanding as to why a website is still vital, even in an age of AI, Apps and advances in marketing technology.  

How do we get our first set of visitors?

Some of the methods that we can use involve a combination of both digital and traditional methods. 

Creating an launching a website is really just the start, you then have to spend more of your time marketing it and driving people to your website.  Above all else always remember that your website is never finished there is a constant desire for more and more to be added.

The days of launch it and they will come, are well and truly over.

Marketing your website in 2024 

On the 5th July 2023 the world saw global temperatures reach their highest, Threads was also officially launched on this day and saw over 30 million people sign-up to the website, aided by being members of another social network, Instagram.

Essentially, Meta the owners of Threads and Instagram simply made Threads exclusive to those who were already part of their growing social network Instagram.

With so many options available for marketing your business in 2023, let alone 2024, you maybe looking at the list and thinking, have I got to be on all of those?  Is this what the next level looks like?  When am I going to find the time. 

Well let’s hold off, you won’t need to start mainlining coffee into your arms for 24 hours a day.  However what you will need is to choose one platform to begin building up your audience.  

Social media, despite being quite an old method of marketing still saw a massive 74% in growth with 72% of all businesses using the platform reporting a positive ROI. 

Each platform is alive with its own unique user base.  

70% of all marketers have actively invested in content marketing or being a story teller.  At the top of this was video content and blogging.  A word of caution, banging out article after article on your website might feel like you’re working hard at generating leads, what you’re actually doing is producing content for that top level - for people that are in research phase not in conversion stage. 

Can you guess which method was number one for marketing a business in 2023? 

E-mail marketing still sees a staggering 69% of all investment from markets with 59% reporting positive ROI. 

How to stand out?  Get personal and automate the email marketing process as part of a step by step process.  

One of the tools, especially if you’re a business with a physical presence is GoogleMyBusiness.  This tool allows you to essentially occupy more of the space available on the SERP pages. 

You can add posts, events, links to your website and also gain reviews from customers. It’s a great tool to use for your business as it makes it easier for customers to find you and visit you. 

Use of AI

We’ve looked at some of the most traditional methods of marketing, some of these have been around for a number of years and are still the main marketing methods used by businesses today. 

I’d like to touch ever so briefly on AI or Artificial Intelligence.  The world went all out with the launch of ChatGPT, businesses were quick to see what this piece of kit could do for their business and began using it near on right away. 

Should we be quick to use AI for our business, how does it stack up against that of humans?  Like most new pieces of technology there are pros and cons. 

Lets look at the pros.

• Efficiency and Speed:
  • Pro: ChatGPT can generate content quickly, allowing for increased productivity. It's capable of producing a significant amount of text in a relatively short time compared to manual writing.
• Versatility:
  1. Pro: This tool can generate content on a wide range of topics, making it versatile for various purposes. Whether it's drafting articles, generating ideas, or providing information, it can adapt to different needs.
• 24/7 Availability:
  1. Pro: Unlike human writers who have working hours and need breaks, ChatGPT is available 24/7. This can be advantageous for tasks that require immediate responses or continuous content creation.
• Language Proficiency:
  • Pro: ChatGPT has been trained on a diverse dataset, making it proficient in multiple languages and capable of understanding and generating content in a linguistically coherent manner.
• Consistency:
  • Pro: ChatGPT can maintain a consistent writing style throughout a document, making it useful for maintaining a cohesive tone in content, such as in technical documentation or marketing materials

Cons

• Lack of Context Understanding:
  • Con: While capable, ChatGPT might lack a deep understanding of specific contexts, leading to occasional inaccuracies or the generation of content that may not align perfectly with the user's intentions.
• Potential for Inaccuracies:
  • Con: There is a risk of generating inaccurate or outdated information. ChatGPT relies on pre-existing data and might not be aware of real-time developments or changes that occurred after its last update.
• Over-Reliance on Prompts:
  • Con: ChatGPT responds to the input it receives, which means the quality of generated content heavily depends on the clarity and specificity of the prompts. Ambiguous or unclear prompts can lead to less accurate outputs.
• Ethical Concerns and Bias:
  • Con: The tool may inadvertently generate content that reflects or perpetuates biases present in its training data. Users need to be mindful of potential ethical concerns and review outputs for bias, especially in sensitive topics

In summary, while tools like ChatGPT offer efficiency and versatility, users should be aware of potential limitations, such as context understanding, accuracy, and the need for careful crafting of prompts. It's often most effective when used as a complement to human creativity and oversight rather than a complete replacement.

So, which marketing channel?

With 13 unique marketing channels to choose from, how do you know which one is right for your business?  What are the key questions that you should be asking yourself?

You may think, I need to be on them all and as we discussed at the beginning of this presentation, that is definitely not a good idea. 

Like a good rifleman you need to get the targeting spot on.  Who is your audience?  Where do they hang out?  What’s their income like? Are they eating at an a la carte restaurant or are they chowing down on a bag of fish and chips? Do they enjoy fine wines or are they into trail runs and camping?

Get specific, give your customer a name, a profile and really hone down on what that ideal customer looks like for you. 

What are your goals?  I know you have goals, aspirations as to where you want your business to be this time next year.  Write them down.  Get obsessed with your goals.  I write my goals down at least 3 times every week.  

With your goals and audience now aligned you can begin to consider the marketing message.  That message then needs to be communicated across each of the channels your audience is on. 

Don’t linger, yes be up for playing the long game, but if after 3 months you’ve not gained any traction from a platform, maybe it's time to reconsider the platform or the entire strategy. 

With any channel you are on, bring it back to your website, bring the customer back to your website and use your website for the purpose you had it made for - to grow your business. 

Your Marketing Message

As I mentioned on the slide before, understand who, what, where, how and why of your audience.  

Craft a clear message that resonates with your audience and create a compelling headline for your product/service.  

Then get to work, produce content to communicate credibility, connect with your audience via social media, optimise your website to get onto higher rankings on Google.  Above all else be clear and impactful in just a few words. 

Lastly, urgency, how many times have you been on an online store and see the words this deal ends at midnight.  They are creating urgency, you too can do the same thing.  

Repeat the same process at least once a year or once a quarter if you wish to change themes. 

Marketing isn’t static, its suppose to be fluid, and it will need to change as your audience needs and wants change.  

Drop your questions in the comment below.

That leaves me one thing to say, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from myself and our small team at Boost Digital Media.