Their mantra is “Everyone. Welcome. Always” with inclusivity being at the heart of their business. There is a strong emphasis on the belief that quality care is person-centred, and this is celebrated throughout all the services provided.

Founders Terri Lawes and Rhiannon Williams wanted to make a difference in the world of care, providing a personal, professional and responsible service to their clients whilst driving a positive change in health and social care. 

With excellent care comes an excellent website, and that’s exactly why Terri and Rhiannon approached us to build theirs and help share City Care Southwest’s ethos. Having previously worked with their partner company City Security, City Care Southwest knew of our proven track record in building successful websites and were confident that we knew exactly how to get their new care venture up and running online.

Offering a comprehensive web design service, we built their branding from scratch – from designing the logo and developing a clear and concise webpage with City Care Southwest’s core values at the forefront of our minds. Here, you can gain a clear understanding of the care and compassion that goes into their work, book a service, learn more about how their team of expert carers can help, and even apply to join the team yourself. The site is now live, so you can take a look here: www.citycaresw.co.uk

The post New Website Launched for City Care Southwest appeared first on MiHiDigital.

James from Summerbreeze had been taking bookings through Airbnb, but knew in the long-term it was important to be able to take bookings directly through their own website. Having scoured the internet looking at hundreds of websites for holiday cottages, James came across one that stood out. It was one our ours. He got in touch and we got to work.

Having built hundreds of holiday cottage websites and worked with many more, we knew exactly what James needed – from cottage pages, to his chosen booking engine integration. It’s now live, so you can take a look at the site here: https://www.summerbreezeorchard.co.uk/

The post New website launched for Summerbreeze Orchard Holiday Cottages appeared first on MiHiDigital.

We were first approached by Birchill Farm toward the start of the summer period. They knew we were specialists in tourism marketing and wanted our guidance on how to increase bookings, having taken the business over just a couple of years ago.

Once we’d visited and looked around, it was clear a large gap existed between what was on their website and the heavenly reality of what is there. With that in mind, replacing the old site with one that does them justice was a central part of our plan; there is no point in driving lots of traffic if people can’t easily see how blooming awesome it is!

We also gave guidance on their approach to listing sites, as well as their approach to email marketing.

You can view their new website here: https://birchillfarm.co.uk/

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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.

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So, if you’re wondering if you’re on trend, behind or perhaps even a little ahead of the curve, here are our Managing Director’s thoughts on how the South West Tourism Sector has been shaping up in the second quarter of this year…

When are we now comparing to?

You’ll be familiar with the saying you want to be comparing ‘apples with apples’ or ‘oranges with oranges’. It’s certainly no different with website data; you want to be comparing like for like, season with season, year with year. However, Covid has obviously made that very difficult; if you compare 2021 with 2020, you’ll likely be filled with a warm fuzzy feeling. Compare 2019 with 2020 and you’re likely to be brought out in lockdown sweats.

But when should you be comparing to? Up until the start of this year, I had been a strong advocate of comparing your data back to 2019. It was the last year of ‘normality’ and a decent gauge of where you stood against that stasis. However, far too much water is now under the bridge, so it’s time to move that comparison forward and reflect on where you stand against the same period last year.

Although there are of course variances to take into consideration, we can factor those into our own thoughts and feelings on overall performance.

Let’s take a look at the average performance against last year….

Bookings are still being made late

I highlighted at the start of the year that people were making booking decisions a lot closer to the date of arrival. This trend has continued throughout the second quarter of the year, with those looking forward in their booking calendars still seeing gaps where they’d usually not. But, when looking back, thinking to themselves that performance on the whole has certainly not been as bad as they would have anticipated.

Late bookings are an obvious breeding ground for uncertainty and nervousness. However, with website traffic starting to rally, my belief is that bookings should pick up from here, although they will be made later, even as we head into the school summer holidays in some cases (read on for more on that!).

The exception to any late booking rule is repeat bookers; they will always book earlier and more regularly, so if you aren’t already putting in place methods to woo people that have already been with you, then now is the time to get moving.

Your cash flow will look better as will your booking calendar.

Website traffic has strengthened through May

The first four months of the year represented a 10 – 20% drop in traffic for most websites when compared to last year. That kind of makes sense; they’re booking later, so they won’t be looking earlier!

However, May was the first month that we saw most sites rally above their 2022 traffic levels; sometimes only marginally but some are up by 10 – 15%. These are certainly encouraging signs for those still looking to fill the months ahead and do buck the trend of lower traffic often seen on bank holidays (if you’ve forgotten, May was rammed full of them!).

Further evidence of the late booking culture is the level of traffic seen during school holidays; this is riding higher than usual and does suggest that some are looking for a holiday during the actual period of the school holiday. Very last minute indeed.

The July and August divide

Funny one this; if I tell you that people are booking later, then logic would suggest that July is booked before August. Not the case for many; several of our clients are busier in August than they are in July. If I cast the data net wider, that’s not necessarily uncommon and we’ve often seen a trend of August booking before July in the past.

However, if you’re reading this and thinking you’re the opposite, then you’re also not alone! Several of our other clients are seeing strong July performance with a more hollow August.

The only common denominator here is that there are still gaps in these school summer holiday months when there are usually not. Remember though, later bookings suggest that not all is lost here.

Deals aren’t gaining traction

We’ve seen a poor response to deals and offers. Why might that be? It’s important to remember that a deal or special offer is there to nudge someone over the line; it won’t change their mind completely. What I mean by this is that if someone is wanting to stay during July, when they can get time off work or it’s during school holidays, offering them a discount for June is not going to work. Having an offer that makes your price competitive for when they are staying will.

But what I would say there is that that is more about price than the offer itself. We’re undoubtedly in a strange pricing stage; we had Covid and the resulting period where prices went up purely because demand was so high. Since then, the input costs for you as a business have soared, so the temptation is to now rise again. That’s understandable but getting your pricing right now will mean you’ll gain more than any deal or special offer you have to resort to down the line.

Our overall feeling?

Reasonably optimistic. We’ve had a slow start to the year and all indicators are suggesting that the late booking trend will continue into the busiest part of the year. The growth in traffic during May and into June gives definite hope that demand is picking back up (although there is still too much in the way of supply on the market), so getting your pricing and proposition right now will stand you in good stead for what’s to come.

If you’re a business in the tourism industry that needs help from experts in the field, then get in touch with the team. 

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

The post Our Overview of the South West Tourism Sector During Q2 of 2023 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.

And we know exactly where we want to stay when we finally make it to East Anglia…in a converted windmill of course! The stunning 7 storey Old Mill at Big Stay Norfolk is the perfect place to take the whole family.  The quirky circular bedrooms in the mill tower are beautifully cosy but the 105 square foot living space is just breathtaking.  It opens out onto an epic garden with sweeping views across the Norfolk countryside. Big Stay Norfolk also boasts the historic Hall Farmhouse.  In a quintessential village located in the heart of Norfolk, the farmhouse is another substantial family escape with a 120sqm kitchen opening out onto an acre of garden. 

Better yet, both are pooch friendly so you can explore this lovely corner of the country, with the family hound too.

Take a look around this gorgeous pair over on their new website bigstaynorfolk.com

The post A New Website for Norfolks Historical Holiday Cottages appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Here we explain exactly what that means and how you can avoid potentially costly mistakes.

What exactly is copyright?

Whilst we’re not lawyers, we’re going to give you a quick overview; if you take a photo, then you own the copyright to that photo and can choose where it goes and who is able to use it.

You could choose to use it on your own website, or you could allow someone else to use it on theirs if you were happy for them to do so.

The key point is that you have control of the image and you’re happy for someone else to use it.

Where problems arise is if someone uses that image without permission. If you were browsing the internet and found that someone else was using your photo and hadn’t asked, you’d probably be annoyed and rightly so.

And this is where people are being caught out when they (hopefully innocently) use a photo that they don’t have permission to.

When can you use an image and when can’t you use an image?

You can use an image if:

–        You took it yourself.

–        You have asked for and gained permission to use it.

–        You have purchased a license to use it (usually from a stock photography website, such as iStock or Adobe Stock).

How about images you see on Google?

When you do a google image search you will see an option to allows you to select USAGE RIGHTS (you can get to this by tapping on ‘tools’ under the search bar).

There are two types of image copyright you can choose from:

Creative commons licences:

Creative Commons licences are free licences that a rights holder might attach to an image. It lets people know how they can reuse an image without having to go back to the rights holder to ask for their permission.

Commercial or other licences:

Commercial or other licenses: These images have non-Creative Commons licenses and can be from either site available at no charge or commercial sites that require payment.

The latter would need checking in terms of whether or not you can use it, but if in doubt, simply don’t.

What happens if you use someone’s photo without permission?

If they find that you have been using their image then you’ll likely receive an email from a company such as Alamy, who will detail the page and place you’ve used the image without permission. This will also include a fee they would like you to pay in compensation. This fee can run into hundreds of £’s, so the key point here is never to take images unless you have permission, have bought them or have taken them yourself.

Please note this article is not providing legal advice for image copyright and is only an introduction to the topic area. Always seek professional legal support should you wish to discuss or learn more about this subject.

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

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

The post Staying on the right side of image copyright appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Well, that’s exactly what’s happening right here in the South West! The scientists at Trelonk Wellbeing and the University of Plymouth have been taking crops and plants that have been grown for centuries across our green and pleasant land and putting them to real use; lavender, borage and sunflower (to name just a few) are all being put through their paces in the lab and going on to make a real difference to people’s daily lives.

So where does MiHi come in? Although we probably can’t help you sleep, what we can do is get the word out about this innovative brand. Having previously worked with a London-based agency, Trelonk teamed up with MiHi to build the second iteration of their website, which allows you to understand the right mix of products for you and buy them online.

As with all of our sites, we’ve included plenty of SEO work to enable the brand to reach further, as well as our unique understanding of ecommerce to increase conversion.

We’re looking forward to sampling some of the products in the future, but for now you can take a look at their site here: trelonkwellbeing.com

The post MiHi Digital launches new natural ecommerce website appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Located on the edge of Bodmin Moor, Ekopod is the perfect place to get away from it all and get a little closer to the nature that surrounds us in this part of the world. Having taken over the business in 2017, brother and sister team Matt and Rachael welcome guests from across the country (and even further afield) to stay in their four gorgeous geodomes, two spacious safari tents or their glamping pod (complete with stunning starlight views), all year round. 

Each pod is set in its own private area of the site, so wether you’re looking for a romantic couples break or a fun family holiday, there’s a slice of Cornish countryside with your name on it. Even four-legged friends are welcome to any of their pods and with so much to do in the local area for guests and their dogs, your pooch will enjoy the break as much as you will! 

The perfect Cornwall break for families…

When you and your family arrive at your pod, you’ll be greeted by comfy beds, beautiful bedding and everything you need to relax after your travels. Make sure to help yourselves to the complimentary pack of cookies, fresh milk, cheese, crackers, tea, coffee and hot chocolate too and find luxury toiletries from local business Kitty’s Herbery.

Read more about their family breaks and book… ekopod.co.uk/glamping-for-families

The four-legged friends dream…

If you’re away with your pooch, then the Ekopod site nestled in the stunning Tamar Valley is the perfect area to explore together. There are 75 square miles of Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) surrounding your pod and plenty of dog friendly walks and beaches close by, so you can both roam to your hearts content. 

You can find out more about dog friendly stays… ekopod.co.uk/glamping-with-dogs

The couples romantic Cornish stay…

Do you fancy running away for a romantic getaway? Well, each of the pods at Ekopod are set up to offer the best romantic experiences. With warm baths, large comfortable beds and gorgeous wood burners to keep you and your partner warm with a glass of wine under the Cornish starlight. You’ll have your own private terrace to enjoy your time together overlooking the beautiful Tamar Valley with a BBQ or picnic in the great outdoors. 

Treat your loved ones here… ekopod.co.uk/glamping-for-couples

The ideal getaway for groups…

For all the large family and friend groups out there, Ekopod is the perfect place to get together and enjoy some down time or celebrate an occasion. Each pod may be private, but close enough to enjoy time together, visit local attractions, listening to the sounds of birdsong and gaze up at the Cornish stars. If you need it, your hosts at Ekopod will be happy to assist you with your group booking and any catering required, even organising group activities like morning yoga, to help make your visit stress free. 

Although their ethos is a relaxing break away, Ekopod know some groups like to destress over a few drinks with friends and a party atmosphere. It is expected to respect the local beauty, the site and other relaxing guests. However, you can exclusively book the entire site for a celebration like a special birthday or a hen, so you can enjoy your break without having to worry about affecting the experiences of others staying around you. 

Find out more and book your groups stay… ekopod.co.uk/glamping-for-groups

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