The scenic half takes in some of the capital’s world-famous landmarks, on closed roads and within four of London’s eight Royal Parks – Hyde Park, The Green Park, St James’s Park and Kensington Gardens – so plenty to distract when the legs start to get a little achy along the way!

Mark ran in aid of Tommy’s – The Child Birth Charity. They support the millions of couples and families that experience the heart break of child loss each year in the UK, whether that be through miscarriage, still birth or infant death.

They also fund research to hopefully reduce the amount of people that must endure the pain of losing someone they never got to meet, someone they got to cherish for just a few moments, or for not long enough.

There are a lot of charities you can support, but if you could donate even the smallest amount to their work then please do; it could mean the world of difference to a couple when they need it the most.

The post Mark completes The Royal Parks Half Marathon! appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Our Managing Director Mark Worden said “We’re delighted to be able to continue our support for these awards, which shine a light on those leading the way in the tourism and hospitality marketplace. Having been involved with the awards for so many years, we know that the bar is set incredibly high; anyone who wins an award on the night deserves all of the recognition and praise they receive and are instrumental in making the South West such an attractive destination for those not only in the UK, but all over the world!”

We will be sponsoring the Visitor Information category, which fits well with our own work within the industry; we are proud to say that seven of the region’s most significant destinations now use MiHi as their web development agency.

Winners will be announced on the 16th November. Good luck to everyone involved in this year’s Devon Tourism Awards.

The post MiHi Digital continues support for the Devon Tourism Awards appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Their reputation means that their work takes them way beyond their base in Swansea, just as ours does from our little office location near the Tamar. That’s actually how they got in touch with us; they were facing some SEO problems and were referred on by another agency who knew that we were the perfect fit for them.

Having solved their SEO issues, we then moved on to building their new site. Taking a relatively primitive original version of just five pages, up to one with more than thirty pages full of tree surgery services and advice, will help them rank for even more key phrases, as well as reach more people in the process.

This one really has been a win, win, win!

You can visit their new website here: cantellowtreesurgery.co.uk

If you want to know more about how MiHi Digital can help your business grow, then get in touch with the team!

Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

The post New website launched for Cantellow Tree Surgery in Swansea appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Title/H1 tag

The blog post title is called a H1 tag and is the largest text on the page. It is often the first thing your reader will see, so it’s important to make sure your H1 accurately and concisely describes what your blog is about. It’s also a good idea to put your keyword or phrase into your title (this should happen naturally) as it assists search engine crawlers with determining what your post is about, speeds up indexing and increases the likelihood of you ranking higher on a search engine results page.

Use related keywords

The keyword to focus on (no pun intended!) here is related. Making sure that the keywords you’re targeting are actually related to your content is crucial. Similarly, you don’t want to keyword stuff your blogs nor do you want to use your main keyword or phrase every other sentence. In fact, doing any of these things can make your content look spammy and do more harm to your site rather than good. Instead, look for keywords and phrases that are related to your topic.

Fill in your metadata

This can be an easy one to overlook, but filling in your blog’s metadata is so important! With so many websites all competing for a user’s attention, filling in a compelling meta title and description that encourages them to click on your blog is vital. Plus, good metadata can help you rank higher in search engines – win win! To help you write good metadata, we’ve put together a few things you need to keep in mind:

• Be specific and concise.
• Stick to a 50-60 character limit for the meta title and 50-160 characters for the meta description, anything longer and it will get cut off.
• Include the focus keyword.
• Ensure your metadata is relevant to the content.
• Make sure all your metadata is unique, never copy and paste the same metadata for different pages.

Link to existing content

If possible, it is a great idea to link to existing content on your website. Only do this if the two posts either interweave or logically link together, don’t interlink with subjects that aren’t relevant to one another. Linking content together on the same website is called internal linking and when done correctly it offers some great SEO benefits to your website. It shows Google that you’re an authority on your subject and have quality and relevant content that website visitors may be interested in which means they’re more likely to rank your site higher. Similarly, it is very useful for your website visitors who may want to learn more about a certain subject and can help to avoid them clicking away to another website.

Optimise images

Whilst your words are (obviously!) the most important part of your blog images can enhance them. That said, when used incorrectly, images can do the opposite and create a bad experience for your user, so optimising them is essential. We’ve included a few tips below on how to make sure your images are optimised:

• Compress your images so they’re not too big. Image compression reduces bandwidth usage and ensures your page loads quickly.
• Add descriptive and relevant ALT tags. These help visually impaired users understand your images which improves the site’s accessibility and user experience. Plus, it tells Google what your images are about.
• Be consistent with your images wherever possible. Having images that are a range of different sizes or move between landscape and portrait can make your blog look messy, or worse spammy, which could put a user off. It’s best to pick how you want your images to look and then keep that style throughout all blogs you write.

We hope these tips have helped you to either get started on your blog or improve your current blog posts. Whilst it can take a bit of practice, getting your blog content right is really important for driving that organic traffic to your doorstep.

Struggling with your blog and need help with your content marketing strategy? Give us a call on 01566 232323 or email us at hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post How to Optimise Your Blogs appeared first on MiHiDigital.

By now you should have your draft copy of your website content – congratulations! To help you not only refine your draft but also future proof your website copy, we’ve pulled together some tips and tricks that you need to be thinking about even after you’ve put your pen (okay, laptop!) down.

1. Proofread

Proofreading should be an obvious first task when you have completed your website copy. Spelling mistakes or grammatical errors make your business look unprofessional and can cost you potential customers.

• If time allows, write your copy, then look at it again the next day. Often when we’re looking at our own writing for long periods of time, we can miss mistakes we have made.
• Even better, ask another person to read your copy for you! They may spot errors you didn’t notice.
• If spelling and grammar are not your strong points, there are a variety of apps and programmes available that will spot mistakes for you and help you correct them.

2. Keep up to date

Updating the information on your website to ensure it is current is crucial. This creates a good impression on your visitors, ensures your website continues to rank in search engines and even provides new opportunities to rank higher.

• Updates keep your audience informed with the latest information on your business.
• Fresh content means more frequent indexing. This doesn’t mean you will automatically move up the search engine ranks but it does give you the opportunity to have search engines frequently re-evaluate your websites position. Remember that the quality of your writing is still more important than quantity.
• A blog is an excellent way of frequently updating your content. It allows you to not just publish fresh content, but also establish yourself as an authority within your field. This helps to generate trust and reputation for your brand. Try to answer questions your customers are searching for.

Phew! You made it to the end. Give yourself a pat on the back! Writing effective copy can seem complex at first but we hope this guide has given you the tools and confidence you need to get started.

If you’re still wrestling with your writing, give us a call on 01566 232323 or email us at hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post How to Write Content for Your Website: Part 3 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

“But how do I do the actual writing part?” we hear you cry! Well, we’re glad you asked because part two of our guide focuses on exactly what you need to be thinking about whilst you’re writing!

1. Captivate

Often you will have mere seconds to capture your reader’s interest. You can start your copy with exciting news, a question, or even a short story. The key is to get them eager for more information.

• Talk to your readers the same way you would a friend. Techniques such as directly addressing them as “you” and using the active voice feels more personal and is more likely to create a bond between readers and your brand.
• Include strong calls to action by using phrases like “Join Here”, “Sign Up” or “Learn More”. These deliver a clear message to your reader and help initiate the action you want them to take from reading your copy.

2. Accessible

The layout of your copy might seem trivial, but it is important. Make sure your content is simple to scan and easy to navigate.

• Often readers will want to skip ahead or are seeking a specific piece of information. If you make your content easy to read, they are less likely to click off and use another website to get that information.
• Avoid jargon and over complicated sentences. This can alienate some readers as well as make your content difficult to read.

3. Be yourself

Whilst in part 1 we noted the benefits of identifying your competitors, it is important to develop your own brand voice. This may take time and practice but having a unique tone of voice that visitors can instantly recognise as your brand will be extremely beneficial in the long term.

• Your previous research on your target audience can help you identify how you want your brand to sound.
• It is okay to be inspired by others but make sure you’re not directly copying them. Customers will always be able to recognise authentic content produced with passion.

Now you’re armed with this information, you’re ready to go and write your content! At this stage, it’s fine to just get all of your ideas out onto paper as a first draft and then decide what you want to delete afterward. When you’ve finished writing, you can take a look at part 3 of our guide where we go over how to refine your draft into your final masterpiece!

If you’re wrestling with your writing and need help, give us a call on 01566 232323 or email us at hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post How to Write Content for Your Website: Part 2 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

If you’re here, it’s likely that thought is going through your mind! Writing content that enthrals potential customers and appeases search engines can seem like an overwhelming task. Fortunately, we’ve created a step-by-step guide and broken it down into three easy parts to help you produce thoughtful and targeted content, that will deliver traffic right to your digital doorstep.

So, grab a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit (or two!) and let’s get started with part one!

What is website copy?

In short, website copy is the term used to describe the main body of text on your website. Its purpose is to tell visitors about your brand, advertise your services or product, guide visitors around your site and direct them to what action you want them to take.

Before you start writing your content, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.

1. Purpose

Before you begin writing it is essential you understand its purpose. Knowing what you want your website copy to achieve will help you craft the perfect content to support your goals. Ask yourself questions like:

• Are you trying to sell a product or service?
• Is your main goal to attract new clients and generate more leads?
• Do you want to create a community?
• Are you trying to improve customer satisfaction?

Be specific with your aims. The more you can define exactly what information you want visitors to your website to know and what action you want them to take, the more successful your website copy will be and the easier it will be for you to write!

2. Research

Research topics will vary depending on the nature of your website, however, the most basic yet vital research you should undertake is to understand your audience and know your competitors.

Audience:

The more you know about your target audience, the easier it will be to convert them into customers. Try to get into their mindset and ask yourself, who are the people coming to your website, what do they want or need and what terms are they searching? By writing copy that speaks to them in a way they can relate to or solves problems you know they have, you can create a foundation of trust that will generate loyal customers.

Competitors:

It is almost certain that visitors to your site will be looking at competitors’ websites to determine their best option. To convince visitors to choose you instead, it is key you know what your competitors are offering. Find out what they are doing, what audience they target and what type of content they are producing. This will allow you to make strategic decisions about your own website as well as spot trends you can use to get ahead of the rest.

3. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO can seem like a bit of a scary exhausting obstacle. See what we did there? Yeah, sorry about that. Whilst it may seem daunting at first, writing with SEO in mind is important for helping your website to rank higher for relevant searches.

• Keywords: From researching your audience, you should know what words they are searching for. These are your keywords. Whilst you should avoid keyword stuffing, adding keywords to your titles, subheadings and body text will help increase traffic to your website.
• Metadata: Keeping it to one or two sentences, write clear and enticing descriptions of your web pages to encourage click-throughs.
• URLs: Ensure your URL is descriptive yet as concise as possible.
• Interlinking: Interlinks are links that direct your visitors from one page to another within your website. Including interlinks points users towards other valuable information, (potentially preventing them from leaving your website and looking at a competitors), as well as showing search engines that you have other relevant information.

These are the absolute basics of SEO, but they are a great first step in climbing the search engine ranks and reaping the rewards of more website traffic.

Preparing to write your content may seem like a tedious task, however, taking the time to really understand who you’re speaking to and what your content needs to do will help you get some top-notch content right from the get-go.

Don’t forget to check out part two and part three of our ‘How to Write Content for Your Website’ guide, where we focus on what you need to think about whilst writing and what to do when you’ve finished writing!

If you’re wrestling with your writing and need help, give us a call on 01566 232323 or email us at hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post How to Write Content for Your Website: Part 1 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

But if that isn’t enough, here are a few more reasons why you should be taking full advantage of social media for small businesses…

·      It gives you the potential to reach and attract new customers.

·      You get to know your customers.

·      You get a better understanding of your competitors.

·      You will build your brands awareness.

·      You can connect with your customers and build trustworthy relationships.

That being said, it’s a huge task if you’re not that way inclined, so we’ve pulled together a few top tips to get you started:

Top tip number one: Plan ahead!

We often hear that business owners and employees just don’t have time to be posting on social media every day, which let’s face it is completely understandable. Or they say it’s easier to spend a little bit of time every day, making something up on the spot and posting for the sake of posting. But trust us when we say that’s not doing you or your business any favours, and often ends up being more time-consuming and stressful in the long run.

Having a calendar gives you the time to find out what your customers really want from your social media, and what’s valuable to them. Just test out some different messaging in your calendar, this is called A/B testing and shows what messages work best with your particular audience, find what works and build from that! 

So, avoid the last-minute scrambling and plan ahead with a social media calendar. We’ve written a whole blog about why and how to start your own social media calendar here – Top Tips for Creating Your Social Media Calendar

Top tip number two: Schedule your posts!

Now that you’ve got your plans in your calendar, get ahead of the game and get scheduling. Not only does this free up your time by scheduling a block of social media content all at once but it also means that you can focus on the other important tasks in your week, without having to worry about what picture to post later.

There are lots of free and paid scheduling tools online to help you, including our personal favourite, the Mata Planner for Instagram and Facebook. Most of these tools make your life easier and show you when to post when your followers are online too! But if you use a tool without this feature, it’s always a good start to aim for 7pm in the evening when everyone has settled down into their socials, or 7am in the morning when people are having a morning scroll. But remember to keep an eye out when planning ahead, things change quickly in the world of business and you need to make sure your content is still relevant.

Top tip number three: Keep track of what’s working!

There’s only one way to tell if you’re getting results and that’s by checking your analytics. Even for small businesses, knowing what works and what doesn’t will be super valuable for when you’re working on your next set of content.

All social media will show some form of analytics, so take the time to understand it and try to replicate the content they’re loving! – repurpose it for other platforms e.g.

Top tip number four: Pay attention to trends!

Trends are trends for reason, so give the people what they want and get involved with a few if they are appropriate for your brand.

Although be wary, don’t just jump on every bandwagon you see on Tik Tok, if you’re a serious health brand your customers probably won’t want to see you risking damage doing the Kylie Jenner lip challenge, for example.

Top tip number five: Be social!

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, social media is meant to be social! So, once you’re done planning your content, make sure you’re spending time replying to comments as timely as possible, reacting, commenting, and sharing other relevant posts. Take half an hour out of your day every day and you’ll see the extra engagement for your accounts too, it’s a great way to get to know your customers, plus you can have a quick nosey at your competitors to see what they’re up to – Win, win!

And one last extra tip! Be consistent! The more you drop in and out, the fewer people will see your posts, so take the time to get ahead with your scheduling and watch your reach boom! 

If you want to know more about how MiHi Digital can help your business grow on social media, then get in touch with the team!

Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

The post 5 Tips to Successfully Use Social Media for Small Businesses appeared first on MiHiDigital.

If you’re creating content sporadically, not only is this taking your time, but you’re probably seeing a few more typos than you’d like and maybe even a change in tone across your platforms which ultimately isn’t the best look for your business. So, planning ahead and creating a social media calendar would be a much better use of your time as well as giving you the opportunity to proof your posts before those blasted keyboard warriors pick up on every typo or inaccuracy in the book.

What the heck is a social media calendar?

By creating a social media calendar, you’ll be able to plan your posts, manage whole campaigns and give yourself some sort of structure for creating content that week, or that month if you’re feeling brave! It’s also a good place to find any gaps in your media library that might need filling.

Depending on what floats your boat you could be setting up your calendar in a spreadsheet or in Google Calendar or some sort of over-expensive social media management tool. But our favourite is the Meta Planner because it gets the job done and even better, it’s free!

So, where to start when creating your social media calendar?

A good place is to take a proper look through your current social media profiles. See what kind of content worked before (and what didn’t) then have a good nosey at some of your competitors to see what they’re up to because odds are, you can use their ideas for some inspiration.

Next, you need to think about what social media platforms you want to focus on, do you have a photogenic, hands-on business that would work perfectly on Instagram and Facebook? Or are you more of a B2B organisation that would have value in Twitter and LinkedIn? Remember, you can start small and build up to more as you learn more about your audience and customers.

What should you be including in your calendar?

Well, this totally depends on what your business needs for example a small business might need a few details and a picture whereas a big organisation may need full tracking links budgets and management approval. but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, it’s likely that you’ll just need the basics like:

·      The platform you’re posting to

·      The date and time you’re posting

·      Your caption

·      Any media – images or videos (or a link to where they’re stored)

·      Or just a link to an already published post or webpage.

If you wanted to go into more detail, you could label what your posts are, remembering the social media rule of thirds:

·      1/3 of your content should be relevant news and tips that are beneficial for your followers.

·      1/3 of your content should be promoting your product or service.

·      1/3 of your content should be interacting with others and be personal.

Now fill that calendar with some crackin’ ideas!

Start with noting your ideas for each day and build those into captions, then plan how you’re going to create the media for your posts.

Take note, it’s always a good idea to proof your calendar with another member of your team too, just remember to schedule your posts in when they’re ready!

And that’s it, we make it sound so simple right? As with everything social media, the more you do, the more you learn about your audience and the easier it will be to get that spot-on content in your calendar!

If you want to know more about how MiHi Digital can help your business grow on social media, then get in touch with the team!

Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

The post Top Tips for Creating Your Social Media Calendar appeared first on MiHiDigital.

We know it has its downsides from definite limitations when it comes to categorising your business to the fact that anyone anywhere can write, well, anything about you, your service and your staff, even if they haven’t experienced it first-hand! 

But we still believe that the good far outweighs the bad when it comes to making the most of your TripAdvisor profile.  First things first, it’s largely free. There are very few other spaces in the online world that still offer such reach and marketing capabilities for nothing at all. But really making TripAdvisor work for you goes beyond simply claiming your free profile and hoping for the best.

Here are some easy things you can do right now to supercharge your TripAdvisor page:

1. Follow up and ask for honest reviews…

If you don’t ask, you don’t get and it’s just good business sense to ask every guest who visits for their feedback. Send a personalised ‘thank you’ email to every visitor with a link to your TripAdvisor page, asking for a review.

Most booking systems and CRM systems allow you to automate this so it’s super easy, simply set it up to send the first message between 24 and 72 hours after the visit and follow up with a reminder a couple of weeks later.

2. Tell them what you want to hear…

TripAdvisor of course wants its reviews to be the most useful to its users so don’t be afraid to prompt your guests on what to include in their feedback. Questions like ‘what was the highlight of your experience?’ and ‘how easy was it to book?’ for example could elicit a much richer review which will go down well with the TripAdvisor algorithm.

3. People can be lazy, make it easy…

Trust us, no one wants to search out a way to offer their feedback unless they’ve had a dreadful experience. So make leaving a review as easy as possible by including direct links anywhere you can and incorporate it into your website by adding your rating widget to your footer and booking pages.

Make sure you include any TripAdvisor certificates or awards logos into your website footer with a direct link to your profile too for extra ways in.

4. Train staff to ask…

Guests always respond better to a personal, verbal ask than an email so if you get a chance to have a conversation with your visitors, don’t be afraid to ask!  And make sure your staff are trained up and feel confident to have those conversations too especially your front-of-house team.

5. Have 10+ high quality images…

TripAdvisor is a pretty effective digital shop window, so make sure you’re setting it up just right. It’s been proven that businesses with 10 to 15 high-quality photos on TripAdvisor get double the customer interaction, so take some time to find your best images (or get some taken), get them uploaded and show off your business. It’s also a great way for reviewers to confirm they’re reviewing the right place and encourage photos in their own reviews.

6. Interaction is key…

Like every other social media platform, being social is non-negotiable. Make sure you’re setting aside time to respond to reviews, even (some might say, especially) the negative ones. People need to see that feedback is being heard to encourage them to leave reviews in the future. Thank them and remember to be respectful and professional, as you well know – it’s all very public! But don’t be afraid to let a little personality shine through.

7. Add physical signage…

Add some signage with a QR code to your TripAdvisor account around the place but especially at exit areas as a priority. If guests have had a great time, they’re more likely to leave a review as they leave. 

Check out some great examples on the TripAdvisor website

8. Lean in on your regulars…

Reach out to your regulars and membership base, if they’ve visited recently email them and ask for a review. If they’ve signed up to be a member for example, you know they love what you’re doing and they’re likely to leave you a good review.

9. Use reviews in your marketing…

Take advantage of this by using authentic, positive reviews and images on your social media, in physical marketing and on your website – just make sure you thank the reviewer! This fires up the concept of social proof in your followers and potential customers while also encouraging new reviews too! It’s a win-win!

10. Keep it positive…

Even when dealing with a negative review, keep things upbeat but don’t be afraid to challenge factually inaccurate reviews. Visitors are really wising up to the unqualified negative review now so if you find yourself on the receiving end of something like this, be professional but clear in your response. Visitors will see that you’re really engaged with your business and customers. If a negative review has merit, again, holding your hands up, apologising and outlining what you’ll do to rectify the problems raised is so much better than simply leaving it unanswered. 

Doing all the above consistently will start to see your business creep up the TripAdvisor algorithms and gain more visibility in a very busy space. Just remember the three pillars of the TripAdvisor algorithm, Quantity, Quality and Recency. So, make sure you’re getting regular reviews, of a good quality (not just ‘nice place’) and that they’re recent as reviews from 2 years ago won’t do anything for your account!

if you want to know more about how MiHi Digital can help your business grow, then get in touch with the team!

Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

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