Enterprise Ireland Online Retail Scheme

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Enterprise Ireland Online Retail Scheme

What is the Enterprise Ireland Online Retail Scheme?

The Enterprise Ireland Online Retail Scheme is a grant to businesses that meet the specified criteria to help them develop or enhance their online trading capabilities.

The grant covers 80% of the costs of the proposed activity. So for example, if your proposed activities are quoted as costing €12,500, Enterprise Ireland will cover €10,000 (which is the minimum cost and grant allowed. The maximum grant is €40,000).

So what does this mean for your business?

It means that, from as little as €2,500 investment, your business can enter into the world of eCommerce and online marketing. Activities carried out by WebResults that would be covered by the grant include:

Research:

This includes analysing your current and potential online presence and opportunities. We will explore your market and learn about your brand, target audience, products or services and more. We will also present you with options in terms of the tools, applications and platforms you can use to drive your business forward. This will help you make informed decision in regards to how you want to proceed.

Strategy development:

  • Development of a written digital strategy and a roadmap for implementation including resource and business process considerations
  • Identifying how the company’s value proposition should be demonstrated online, what aspects should be emphasised and how best to present this
  • Ensuring that your business’ online presence is being fully utilised / optimised to fulfil its overall potential, supporting the overall business strategy
  • Consideration of omni-channel offering (including marketplaces and social media)

Implementation:

  • Optimising the company’s online presence to ensure domestic and international visibility (e.g. web enhancement and localisation, associated business process enhancements, search engine optimisation etc.)
  • Enhancing related “back end” systems (e.g. product presentation, supply chain management, systems integration to improve consumer experience etc.)

How can WebResults help you?

We have been involved in the world of digital marketing for over 20 years. In that time, we have learned what methods, tools and channels work and more importantly, what does not. Put our expertise to work for your business. If you want to survive and thrive during this COVID-19 crisis, talk to us today about your application. Call us or fill out our callback form and we will reach out to you.

Bord Bia Announce Marketing Support Package

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Bord Bia Marketing Support Package

Bord Bia has announced it has released a Marketing Support Package to 250 client companies to the value of over €2million.

This Marketing Support Package has been awarded in an effort to support Irish companies experiencing difficulties in the wake of COVID-19. Eligible businesses included food, drink and horticulture (edible and amenity) producers, who are client companies of Bord Bia, with a turnover greater than €100,000 and less than €25m in 2019.

“Our goal is to ensure that the Irish food and drinks industry has ready access to every support Bord Bia can provide in order to navigate the change brought about by this crisis,” said Tara McCarthy, CEO of Bord Bia, at the openin of the grant application process.

The Marketing Support Package will cover 70% of approved expenditure for these companies, up to a specified limit and up until December 2020. The awarded companies went through an application process and have already been notified. The Marketing Support Package covers activities such as:

  • Website design
  • Development of E-Sales/Marketing and On-Line activities
  • Purchase of published reports and market information
  • Marketing consultancy costs
  • Design and origination of POS material
  • Design of packaging, labels and brochures
  • Quality Consultancy
  • Quality Training and Audit Costs
  • Nutritional analysis
  • Market research visit
  • Participation at trade fairs and exhibitions and related costs
  • In store tastings

If your business has been awarded a grant and you are looking at the best ways to maximise your Marketing Support Package, talk to our Digital Marketing experts here at WebResults. Call us for a no-obligation chat, or fill out our contact form and we will call at a time convenient to you.

Don’t let the grant go to waste and make your money work for you.

Full Press Release available at bordbia.ie.

Trading Online Voucher Scheme 2020

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The Local Enterprise Office has set up a scheme to help small businesses trade online, which is so important in this current climate.

The Trading Online Voucher Scheme offers financial assistance of 90% up to €2500, alongside training and advice to help your business grow and trade online. The training and assistance they provide will help you get your site, eCommerce platform or marketing strategy up and running, and send you on your way to selling and advertising online.

The financial support can be used for new payment systems, booking systems, developing an app, or anything you need to begin your online sales journey. If you have already applied and received a Trading Online Voucher, don’t worry! You can now apply for a second one to help with any upgrades you need.

To be eligible to apply, you must attend the online workshop ‘Trading Online Grant Information Session’ on the LEO website. If you have missed your local workshop, you can attend another workshop in a different region. If you would like to attend one of these workshops, click your local office below for information, (please look for the Trading Online Grant Information Session)

Dublin City Council

South Dublin County Council

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council

Final County Council

Wicklow County Council

Meath County Council

Kildare County Council

Louth County Council

Click here to search for your local LEO

 

If you would like some more info on this scheme, please see the Local Enterprise Office website here.

Call or email us today for your free consultation and find out how you can use this voucher to boost your online presence and sales.

What Is The Digital Mentor Programme?

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webresults digital mentor programme

Over the last 15+ years, we have designed and redesigned our Digital Mentor Programme to meet the ever-changing needs of businesses. 

The Digital Mentor Programme is plan of action that consists of four pillars:

  • Support
  • Structure
  • Accountability
  • Results 

WebResults works with your business to devise a relevant digital marketing strategy based on your business objectives and market. We then identify KPIs that are aligned with the results you want to see from your business’ marketing activities. We work with staff within your business to execute the digital marketing tasks, with agreed timelines and build the roadmap to achieve success.

webresults online coaching

 

How long does the Digital Mentor Programme last?

The Digital Mentor Programme runs for a minimum of 6 months, though many of our clients are still with us after several years. You stay as long as you are getting results and learning.  It involves setting out clear daily/weekly tasks and having phone or email support as you work through these tasks. We then schedule regular calls to track progress, monitor performance, set out tasks and next steps ensuring progression for the individual and growth for the organisation.

How does it work?

The programme commences with a fact-finding session over the phone where we set out to understand your business objectives and your team’s goals. We look at your existing profile on the web, establish what needs to be done in order to achieve your objectives and set out an action plan and roadmap to ensure we see success within the given time frame. We then go through this with you in detail and agree realistic timelines with you.

 

Our programme management system ensures you have full visibility on all tasks and time spent by both us at WebResults and your team, and it is always clear what tasks remain outstanding and what is completed, including the time each task took. It ensures that the time is being best spent on where you can get the best results. The latest versions of all shared files and information are also stored in this same system, providing easy access to all materials all the time.  

What areas will I focus on?

The programme focuses mainly on SEO, social media marketing and analytics, but is adapted to use the activities that are most relevant and important to achieve your digital marketing business objectives and your market. Google Ads is not included as part of the programme, ask us about our Google Ads Management services if you would like more info.

Digital Mentor Programme

This structured, measurable and transparent programme brings the digital marketing skills and expertise your business needs, in-house, to deliver ROI and the best results in your marketplace.

 

The Covid-19 pandemic presents huge challenges for many businesses, not just to drive revenue but also to manage teams remotely. The digital mentor programme is adapted to enable your business to build your profile, drive new leads or sales where your best revenue potential exists, using a proven structure. We have over 20 years business experience and digital marketing experience and will help you rethink your digital marketing strategy and put the most effective measures in place for your business to survive and thrive. Talk to us today and give your business a kick start through our Digital Mentor Programme.

Google Distributes Google Ads Credits During COVID-19 Crisis

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Google Ad Extensions

Google has pledged to support its SME advertising community worldwide by distributing $340m of Google Ads credits in the coming weeks.

The credits will be given to those who set up their Google Ads account on or before the 1st of January 2019. The search giant said:

“Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of our communities. They represent about 90 percent of all businesses and more than half of employment worldwide, according to the World Bank. COVID-19 has posed a particular challenge to these businesses, who may be facing closures and declining revenue even as they find ways to support and protect their employees. Through ad credits, we hope to alleviate some of the cost to stay in touch with their customers.”  Read more here.

Ad accounts who are eligible for Google Ads credits will receive a notification within their dashboard, and the credits will remain valid for the rest of 2020.

If you have an Google Ad account that has been sitting there gathering dust, or you feel you could be getting more out of your current ads, or you want to maximise your free Google Ads credits, contact WebResults today. A no-obligation chat with us costs nothing, and we will review your existing account for free too.

Simply call us or contact us via our contact form and we will be happy to help.

Host A Successful Online Event

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host an online event

In the current COVID-19 economic climate, one industry being hit the hardest is the events industry. Large gatherings are cancelled and the timeline for these bans is unknown, which makes this even more frustrating.

Thanks to technology, there are now multiple ways you can connect with your audience and ultimately, monetise your event. Here are some of our top tips to running online events like a pro.

 

Pick A Reliable e-Ticketing Platform

It is imperative that you pick a platform to allow people to buy a ticket or register for your event. It is absolutely pointless in applying a “hit and hope” methodology to your event, which is advertising it and hoping people will turn up. It is a much better idea to have a call to action that you can advertise (in this case, a link to your ticket page).

eventbrite online events

In our opinion, the best event platform to use is Eventbrite. It is very easy to manage from an organiser point of view. It is also very powerful and integrates seamlessly with Facebook and Instagram, meaning the user does not need to leave their app to buy a ticket (thus reducing the amount of clicks it takes to convert the visitor, which is a good thing). It makes it very easy to install a tracking pixel so you can count how many conversions are coming from that channel. It also carries huge weight in SEO terms, meaning that your event page will be more likely to rank at or near the top of search results. It provides in-depth reporting and insights. It allows free ticketing options, and also requires no initial outlay of money or a subscription from you. It simply takes its cut from your gross ticket revenue (and VAT if you are VAT registered) before depositing the amount in your account or PayPal. Though their fees are a bit higher than competitors, we think it’s worth it given the level of service provided.

Other cool event platforms we’ve used include Tito and Ticketsource. Remember, it is important to thoroughly research whichever platform you are considering using to ensure it meets your needs.

Be Social

 

social media online events

It might seem obvious, but put the work in when it comes to social media. This means a few things:

a) Get a hashtag going and stick to it
b) Use at least 6-10 hashtags on your Instagram posts
c) Tag people properly in your posts. There is nothing worse than a post with a list of speakers/performers etc., and not one tag, or worse, the wrong one. It helps your reach and familiarity amongst the people connected with your performers too.
d) Reply to each and every comment. I mean every comment, even the negative ones. Be sensible in your responses too. Use them as an opportunity to demonstrate that you are willing to go above and beyond for your attendees.

Essentially, you want your event to be advertised to as many people as possible, and in the modern era, that means social media. You will not only need time and dedication to capitalise on your social media audience, you will need a budget too. Put aside some of your budget for social media advertising, including boosting content that you share on your timeline. Know who you want to attend your event and target those people. Your event pages and social presence should instill confidence in your prospective attendees, so make sure it is treated with as much care and attention as you would give your website.

Be Visual

Online events, particularly webinars, can take some time to get used to. That’s why it is important to be visual as well as getting your spoken content perfect too. We find a presentation and/or video clips are very helpful in keeping the audience engaged. If you do decide to opt for a presentation, keep the following tips in mind:

a) Don’t have too much text on slides. Infographics or images work far better.
b) Tell me as well as show me. The slides should only contain the headline points, and you should be able to elaborate on these in detail.
c) Stick to your time limit. Don’t let this turn into a wedding speech that drags on for ages.

If you have performers in your event, make sure they are easy to see with little or no distracting objects in the background.

Have A Script Ready

Of course you want to be as natural as possible when you speak to your audience, but having a script, structure or running order is imperative to ensuring the event is a success. It will help you ensure you cover all the points you want to talk about, and also will help you stick to your time limit. Remember, everyone’s attention span has a limit, and it is important to ensure your event doesn’t drag on needlessly. It is also helpful to have a script in case something unexpected does arise, as it allows you to get back on track seamlessly.

Ensure You Have Good Wi-Fi

It might seem like an obvious point, but it is crucial. Make sure you have a strong wi-fi connection on a stable network. It might be an idea to make sure other unnecessary devices, such as phones and TVs that are not in use for the event, are not connected to the network at the same time you are hosting your event. Bad connections mean the visal feed or sound can drop out, and that is not the experience you want to deliver to your attendees.

Online events can be hugely successful, particularly in the Coronavirus climate, so make sure you market them to their full potential. There are endless opportunities to create some engaging and memorable events. Get creative and use your expertise to decide what you want to deliver, how you want to deliver it and then fill those (virtual) seats. There has truly never been a better time.

To find out more about how to maximise your event, call us or fill out our short contact form for a free, no-obligation discussion. 

Drive Your Online Business Sales Revenue Remotely

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Working From Home Drive Sales

Working remotely as a result of Covid-19? Use focused digital marketing activities to drive sales and combat slumping revenue.

You may find yourself working remotely and feel restricted in terms of how to combat slumping revenue and sales and whether your job or livelihood will remain intact. 

One huge positive is the fact we are living in a world where we can work, communicate and sell online.

Consider the following ways to boost your businesses profile, sales and conversions (such as contact form completions, brochure requests, call back requests) through digital activities.

Working From Home Drive Sales

Build Your Brand Awareness

Before focusing on driving your sales, establish your business as a trusted seller/service provider in its space.

This does not just mean investing in paid ads on Google and social media. It requires you to ensure that your website is adhering to SEO best practices. It means you need to create relevant compelling content and distribute it frequently, whether that’s videos, blog posts, images, podcasts or whatever formats your customers like to consume media. It means spending time daily “social listening” to understand your potential customers’ issues, motivations & behaviours and jumping in on that conversation in an authentic way.

Having the best website in the world with the best UX is rendered null and void if nobody knows who you are. There are a range of digital tools & activities to help build brand awareness online. Invest the time and you will reap the rewards.

Email Marketing

Email has consistently proven itself to be the highest returning channel of digital marketing. A 2019 study by the DMA found that for every $1 spent on email marketing (eg. lead generation, email automation platform subscription etc.), there was an average return of $42.

On top of the massive potential for return, email marketing allows you to exert the most control. You are responsible for generating the high quality leads (in a GDPR-compliant way). This means you can build relationships with those leads. You communicate directly with your customers and can inform them of sales, discounts or some behind-the-scenes stories. You are not at the mercy of algorithms and you will always own that email list.

If you connect your email marketing automation platform (eg. Mailchimp) with your CRM and/or eCommerce platform, this means you can segment your list and send customers highly relevant content/discounts based on their purchase behaviour. This is vital to keeping your email list engaged and will lead to a lower Cost Per Acquisition too.

Email Marketing Drive Sales

Search Ads

Search ads capture your customers at a different stage in the buying process. The first of which is the “awareness” stage, the importance of which we have already discussed.

Next up is the “consideration” stage, and this is where search ads really shine. If a customer has taken to Google to search for a specific product or service, this means they have moved on to the consideration stage. Search ads will allow you to firstly appear at or near the top of the search results page. Secondly, search ads allow you to drive highly relevant traffic to highly relevant landing pages. Finally, if your website is fast, your landing pages relevant and your UX in good order, this will dramatically increase your chances of a website visitor converting there and then.

As search ads are usually charged on a Cost Per Click model, with clear adcopy, you will only pay for traffic that is interested in your product or service.

Google Shopping

If your business sells physical products online, Google Shopping will drive intent based shoppers.

Google Shopping ads now drive 76.4% of retail search ad spend, generating 85.3% of all clicks on Adwords or Google Shopping campaign ads. Long story short, you need Google Shopping if you’re an eCommerce business.

The integration of Google Shopping and your website/eComm platform is often what puts businesses off venturing into this territory, but many of these platforms provide out-of-the-box integrations. You can also hire an agency or developer to take care of this for you and to ensure that your data feed is optimised. However you decide to approach it, Google Shopping is well worth implementing.

Try a range of channels

When it comes to online shopping, it typically takes 3-5 “touchpoints” for a visitor to convert. Therefore, it is important to identify who your customers are, where they spend their time online and direct your time, money and efforts there.

Analytics and insights are crucial to be able to gauge where you are getting the most return, so you should be digging into these at least twice a week. Look at what pages have the lowest bounce rate/highest time on page, and where your traffic is coming from. Check the demographic info and also the interest category and in-market reports, all of which are available on Google Analytics and most analytics packages. Knowledge is your competitive advantage, so gather as much of it as you can and use it to build a profile of your customers.

Remember, technology can and will help you prevail in this time of uncertainty, particularly when it comes to marketing and sales. Capitalise on the resources available, and you will continue to prosper. 

If you need a helping hand along the way, contact Webresults and let us help you bring your business to the next level. Call us or fill in our contact form today.

Web Analytics Explained

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Web Analytics can be defined as the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimising Web usage. In essence, it is all the information gathered from your website, to be used as a basis for future optimisation. 

Web analytics tracks so many different types of website data and analysing these will help you to make informed decisions on website design and optimization, and ultimately maximises your return on investment (ROI). 

Some of these are:

Page Views: Called ‘hits’ or impressions a lot of the time. This metric will show you the amount of times your site has been viewed within a certain timeframe.

Entry and Exit Page: This will show you what page a visitor landed on and what page they left your site from. It is a good metric to look at as it may help you understand why people are leaving your site.

Bounce Rates: This is the percentage of ‘single-page’ sessions, which refers to the amount of people that visited your site but left without interacting with it.

Locations: This shows where the users are viewing your site from. It can be very useful for marketing and strategic purposes.

Device usage: This shows whether a user is viewing your site on a desktop or mobile device. Again, this can be very useful for marketing purposes, and can also indicate whether your site is mobile friendly, which is critical to modern-day internet businesses and websites.

Organic vs. Paid Sessions: This metric will show you how users got to your site, whether they clicked one of your ads or just simply found you through the Google search. This is important in terms of developing your channels and identifying where you are getting the most return.

Search Queries: This shows what people are words people are searching that bring them to your site, it is very useful when adding keywords or negative keywords. 

Users by gender or age: These metrics are both very useful for marketing as it will help you design your ads appropriately.

 

Web analytics takes out any guessing you may have done in the past and shows you exactly who is visiting your site, what they do when they are there and how they ultimately got there. Keeping track of your web analytic is so important to stay relevant and on top of your respected sector. 

What does a PPC agency do? – Here are 5 things a PPC agency should do for your business.

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A PPC agency is there to take all the weight of Pay Per Click ads off your shoulders, and this is not just exclusively setting up a Google Ads campaign for you. It should include all of the ad strategies, design, SEO and the constant analysis of how your ads are performing.  Agencies will do this by taking care of the following tasks on your behalf:

 

  • Keyword Research

Understanding how people are searching for products or services is essential when it comes to PPC. An agency will keep up to date on these ever-changing trends to make sure potential customers will see your ads when they search for a product or service you provide. 

 

 

 

  • Landing Page Design 

 

A landing page is the first page a potential customer sees when they click an ad. These pages are the most important part of a website as they are the deciding factor on whether the consumer stays (and potentially converts) or leaves the site as quickly as they’ve arrived. Designing these pages is an art which PPC agencies should have mastered. A strong landing page will increase your sales and therefore your ROI.

 

  • Targeting Channels

 

Deciding where you want to advertise can be extremely important depending on your product or service, whether this is Google Ads, Display Ads or Social Media. A PPC agency will be able to decide what channel is the best fit for you. 

 

  • Competition Analysis

A PPC agency should always be looking at what your competitors are doing, whether this is the type of ads they are running, the keywords that is giving them the best results or where they are advertising. Keeping on top of the competition is essential in discovering any potential gaps and how to optimise them to increase your ROI.

 

  • Campaign Optimisation

 

Constant monitoring of your campaign structure and optimising based in your top performing keywords is a must. Think of it this way, if 15% of your keywords are bringing in 90% of your business then you would want to focus most of your budget on them to maximise your ROi

 

The overall main goal of a PPC agency is to get your ads to where your customers will see them, which should then increase your sales and therefore overall profits. 

If you are interested in talking to WebResults about your Google Ads or Social Media Ads call or email us today for a free account review and find out what we can do for you.  

All getting a bit too much? Here are 3 reasons why you should consider outsourcing your Google Ads management.

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Managing your Google Ads takes time and dedication. As you grow, this workload is only going to get bigger and bigger. So, maybe it’s time to outsource it to a dedicated Google Ads company such as WebResults. Here are some things to keep an eye on if you want to maximise your ROI. 

 

  • Time

 

 

 

As I just said managing your Google Ads takes up a lot of time and effort. As your business grows you may be finding yourself dedicating too much time to your Google Ads management. Advertising online is essential but running a business involves so much more than just that. Outsourcing the maintenance and management of your PPC management could free up essential time you could be dedicating to getting new clients and therefore growing your business.

 

 

  • Cost

 

 

While you may think the resolution to your problem is just hiring a new in-house marketing manager, it might not be the right fit. Sit back and evaluate it. You hire one new marketing manager, pay them a salary, benefits etc. You may have to train them in on your systems and they may have to get up-to-date with Google Ads. If you outsource this to an agency, they will have multiple people working on your account, they already know their systems and they are already Google Ads experts. This is something you will have to take some time to calculate but more often than not it can work out costing the same amount and again it will free up your precious time.

 

 

  • Falling Behind

 

 

In reality most SMEs are outsourcing their digital marketing management. Keeping on top of all the constantly changing trends and strategies is what will keep you ahead of the competition. Specialised agencies will always be on top of these ever-changing trends and therefore should keep you competitive. At the end of the day, they are experts.

 

So, whether you’re finding yourself using up too much precious time, spending too much or falling behind your competitors, you really need to take a step back and think “should I just get an agency?”  If you choose the right one,we guarantee you will see an increase in productivity and ultimately an increase in ROI.

If you are interested in talking to us about your Google Ads account, call or email us today for a free account review and find out what we can do for you.