Heroic Insights: the straight-talking digital marketing agency blog

What is pay-per-click and how does it work?

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:55:08 GMT

Is your business itching to be visible online? Pay-per-click advertising can help – and so can we.

There's a famous saying in advertising that goes something like this. We know half of our advertising works – we just don't know which half.

It's a sentiment that will resonate with many small businesses. Yes, you sigh, digital advertising is important. But how do you know it will give me a decent ROI? Is there not a very real danger of throwing bank notes into the air and hoping some of them will drive traffic to your site?

Pay-per-click advertising offers a way out of this conundrum. It allows you to target customers based on their demographic, search history and buying habits. And, crucially, it's measurable.

This means a pay-per-click campaign can be fine-tuned to deliver results. No more crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. This is data-driven advertising at its finest.

Not any old strategy will do, however. For the best results, you need to plan your advertising campaign with care. And if you're currently treading water in a sea of unfinished tasks, this can be hard.

It's one reason so many small businesses choose to work with a digital marketing agency. By handing over the reins to experienced professionals, you give yourself a much better chance of getting a return on your advertising.

So, how does it work exactly? Let's find out.

What is pay-per-click?

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a model of digital advertising where you pay each time someone clicks on your online ad. These days, it's extremely common on Google in the form of Google Ads and on many social media platforms.

The aim is clear. Done right, PPC can drive traffic to your website or landing page. By paying for targeted clicks, you nudge more people towards your services.

And unlike some forms of advertising, it's easy to see what's working and what's not working and to fine-tune accordingly.

How does pay-per-click work?

There are five main aspects to PPC: keyword targeting, ad placement, bidding, payment and performance tracking.

Keyword targeting involves choosing keywords and phrases that relate to your products or services. Put it this way: if you sell handmade jewellery in Berkshire, you want your site to come up when someone searches for handmade jewellery in Berkshire.

Keyword targeting is an art. You can't just pick any old keywords and hope for the best. Instead, you need to research keywords that have value before you mount your advertising campaign. This is one area where a digital marketing agency can make a positive difference.

Next, you place your ad. When someone searches for your products or services, your ad should appear on a search engine results page (SERP) or a social media platform, depending on what you choose.

Keywords need to be bid on. This involves telling the advertising platform (be it Google, Facebook, TikTok or something else) how much you're willing to pay for each click.

This, too, requires care. It's important to bid on the right keywords and to do so within your budget. The alternative is to indulge in wishful thinking and get a measly return on your spend.

Then your ad goes live. And when a user clicks on it, you pay the amount you agreed to the platform hosting the ad.

A key benefit of PPC advertising is that it's easy to track your ad's performance. This is part of what gives it an edge over traditional forms of advertising.

The platform you use to advertise your business will give you data on impressions, clicks and cost per click (CPC). This lets you adjust and optimise as you go.

What are the benefits?

In our view, PPC advertising has four main benefits: cost-effectiveness, measurability, targeting capabilities and agility.

If you're worried about your advertising budget, PPC can be a sound investment. This is because you only pay for results as represented by clicks. This is potentially far more cost-effective than printing posters or flyers, say, where you have to make an upfront payment for an uncertain return.

PPC advertising is measurable. You set yourself a target and are given data that shows whether you're on track. If you're not, you can make adjustments to optimise your ad's performance.

Crucially, PPC makes targeting easier than ever. By bidding on keywords and targeting selected demographics, your ad can reach your desired audience.

This means you have the ability to speak directly to people who are ready to buy your products and services. It eliminates guesswork and ups your chances of making a positive impression on customers.

And finally, PPC is as agile as a cheetah in trainers. With PPC's search counterpart, SEO, you need to work hard and play the waiting game to appear in search results. But with PPC, you can guarantee instant visibility – provided you can cough up the cash.

What to watch out for

When running a PPC campaign on Google, you should be mindful of the platform's AI system. This automates your ads and charges you accordingly.

In our opinion, this system isn't developed enough to be trusted with your hard-earned cash. If AI decides to spend a grand in a day, you have no right to reply. Far better to put your ads in the hands of digital marketing professionals who will make sure everything stays within budget.

Frequently asked questions

Need help getting to grips with the world of PPC ad management ? Our small, close-knit team of paid search wizards is here to save the day – and your budget. Get in touch today for a quick, competitive quote.

What is SEO website design? (How to build search-friendly sites)

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 21:07:08 GMT

Want to boost your business website's visibility in Google search results? Time to get to grips with the principles of SEO-friendly web design.

In 2025, small businesses face a challenge: how do you get your website seen in search engine results? It's no new challenge, of course. But in the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing, it can be hard to know where to start.

Part of the problem is that businesses have to please two nebulous entities simultaneously. On the one hand, the public searching for goods and services on smartphones, iPads and laptops. And on the other hand, Google, with its hard-to-read workings and constantly shifting user experience.

If this is something you're struggling with, help is at hand. Digital marketing agencies like ours have the skills, tools and resources to give your online visibility a leg-up and drive more traffic to your site.

But how's it done, exactly? Well, there's no silver bullet. A successful digital marketing strategy is a many-pronged affair. But one thing's for sure: no strategy worth its salt can afford to ignore search-friendly web design.

So, without further ado, here are some of the principles behind SEO-friendly web design. If you want to know more, get in touch ! We'd love to help you in your quest.

SEO website design principles

SEO-friendly content

You know your business has value. But the reality is that word of mouth will only get you so far. To see a real spike in engagement, you need a website that puts SEO-friendly content front and centre.

Keywords are key. If you sell surfboards in Sussex, you need your site to come up when people search for them. But like man and bread, a small business cannot live on keywords alone.

You also need to frequently update your website with content that speaks to your target audience. Our hypothetical surfboard company needs blogs about board care, surfing tips, local attractions and more. All these help your voice get heard above the online melee.

Site speed

Brick-and-mortar businesses have one thing working strongly in their favour. Once someone is through your door, you can hit them with everything you've got.

Websites don't work in the same way. Every site visitor is always just a click away from shopping elsewhere. This means you need to build a website that gives no one a reason to minimise the tab.

In this regard, site speed is of the essence. Sluggish loading times will only drive potential customers away. And, even worse, it may affect your Google rankings.

Make sure you work with an agency like ours that treats speed as a priority.

Well-structured site data

Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google. It helps website owners monitor, maintain and troubleshoot their site's visibility in Google search results.

This is a blessing for website owners. But not all digital marketing agencies make their websites easy to read by Google Search Console. (We do!)

Having well-structured site data on one central repository puts you in a better position to know why your website doesn't have prominence in Google search results. As such, it's key to building a search-friendly site.

LLM-friendly sitemaps

Large language models (LLMs) are on the rise, most notably ChatGPT. More and more people are turning to them over Google for answers – and there's no reason to think this will slow down anytime soon.

Small businesses can capitalise on this by creating a separate sitemap called /llms.txt. This is the next version of search, specifically built for LLMs.

This allows LLMs to learn the context of a website as well as its content. In essence, this makes your site more accessible to LLM users.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

We live in the age of the smartphone. No business owner can afford to have a website that's not optimised for smartphone use. As with site speed, it's critical to keeping people on your page and ready to buy.

AMP gets technical, fast. But its main aim is to make mobile sites load super-quickly.

Let's go back to our Sussex surfer. They type in "surfboards in sussex" and Google throws up a bunch of results.

If your website is made with and ranks with AMP, the page has been pre-loaded onto the user's phone even before they click on it.

This doesn't just make your site more user-friendly for potential buyers. It can also give your website a boot up the search rankings.

Internal links

Internal linking is another way to make your business Google-friendly. It involves linking from one part of your site to another.

Let's say you have a blog post about different types of surfboard wax. By linking to individual wax products on your website, you get instant link credit.

Google responds to this by seeing the product page as an important part of your website's hierarchy. Done right, this can do wonders for your online credibility and visibility.

It's also why some eCommerce sites have mega-menus stuffed with product categories. Each page has its own menu, meaning each category gets thousands of links.

Frequently asked question s

Looking for a digital superhero to give your online presence a boost? At My Digital Hero, we offer a tailored digital marketing package to put you in the fast lane. Learn more about our fully managed SEO service or get in touch today for a quick, competitive quote.

How to choose an SEO agency in Yorkshire

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 15:51:27 GMT

Based in Yorkshire and looking for an SEO agency to give your online presence a boost? Here are 5 questions to ask.

Every small business needs an SEO strategy. Without it, you're consigning your website to the back pages of Google search results.

Chances are, you deserve better. All that time and effort spent crystallising your brand, only to be met with a 100-decibel silence.

Of course, SEO isn't everything . Local businesses in Yorkshire and elsewhere can get custom through physical advertising and word of mouth. But to really level up as a business, you need your page to be optimised for search engines.

Here comes the problem. The world is full of SEO agencies – and they all promise results. So, how on Earth do you know which one to choose? How can you ensure your money is well-spent?

Like so much in life, it's all about doing your homework and asking the right questions. Here, then, are five questions to ask of a Yorkshire SEO agency before you sign on the dotted line.

Do they have the right skills and experience?

SEO strategies are like New Year's resolutions. They need to be realistic, concrete and manageable.

Every SEO agency will tell you they can help boost your online brand. But how will you know if they've succeeded? The answer is to articulate your goals and work with an agency with the skills and experience to meet them.

If your primary goal is to get more website hits, for instance, you'll need to work with a dab hand at pay-per-click advertising and on-page SEO . But if your priority is a spike in leads, you might need to incorporate email marketing and content marketing into your digital marketing strategy.

Wherever possible, SEO should follow the so-called "KISS" principle: keep it simple, stupid! But in the case of local SEO, that first S could also stand for "specific". Know your goals in detail, know your audience and know the competition before you pick an agency.

Are they affordable?

It's received wisdom that you've got to spend money to make money. But how much? The truth is that SEO agency fees can vary widely.

You know your budget. Finding an agency that can stay within its limits is a strong start. But you also need to be confident you're not getting ripped off.

There's no substitute for shopping around. You need to know the lay of the land before you make a decision. So, your best bet is to put aside an afternoon to suss out the agencies in your area and approach the ones who work within your budget.

Do they have time for you?

This is a big one. Large corporate agencies have their benefits. But as a rule of thumb, the bigger the agency, the less time they will have for you.

It may be that you want an SEO agency to accomplish one simple task and are happy to leave them to their own devices. However, most small businesses in search of a local SEO agency want more attention.

This is because SEO consists of lots of different things. It's no exaggeration to say you're putting your digital future in their hands. So, you need to be confident that they have the time to stay in a dialogue with you.

In the worst-case scenario, the alternative is a breakdown of trust and a lot of bad feelings. But even if things don't reach this point, you want an SEO agency that won't dodge your calls.

Do they have a strong local reputation?

If you're looking for an SEO agency in Yorkshire , it's probably because you want to draw on local expertise. You run a local business yourself. It makes sense that you'd want an SEO agency that knows the area and knows how to drive locals to your site.

So, how do you know if they're the right pick for you? One word for you: testimonials.

Take a look at their website. Have they worked with people in your area? What kinds of businesses? Have the business owners left positive testimonials? Can the agency point to concrete results, or are they falling back on vague promises of success?

These are all crucial questions. But you don't have to rely solely on the horse's mouth. You can also reach out to former clients and see what they say. If they were happy with the service they received, they'll probably want to tell you.

Do they know what success looks like?

SEO is like dieting. You need to know what success looks like. Otherwise, you could be heading for a breakdown of communication and trust with your SEO partner.

In practice, this means that an SEO agency needs to tell you what success will look like. Can they promise an increase in website hits? How many? By when? How about keyword rankings, backlinks or social media engagement?

All these things are measurable. If an SEO agency is unwilling to measure them, it probably doesn't know what it's doing – and your money is better spent elsewhere.

Your questions answered

Looking for a Yorkshire digital marketing firm to give your SEO strategy a glow-up? At My Digital Hero, we have the skills, expertise and experience to help. Get in touch today for a quick, competitive quote or explore our services online .

How to generate wedding leads online: a guide for industry pros

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 09:09:05 GMT

Is your wedding agency struggling to generate leads? Discover 5 digital marketing tools that can put you in the fast lane.

For every exciting day in the life of a wedding agency, there's bound to be one beset by challenges.

Perhaps you're struggling to manage client expectations. Perhaps the weather has thrown a spanner in the works. An unexpected issue at the venue. Burnout from balancing work life and home life.

Yes, life has a way of getting in the way of a client's perfect day. More often than not, you just have to ride the wave with professionalism, tact and enthusiasm.

But there's one challenge faced by many wedding agencies that can be tackled head-on. This is the eternal question of how to generate wedding leads online.

If you're a wedding agency in 2025, you don't need us to explain the importance of an online presence for your brand. Running a business without digital marketing is like a wedding without a cake.

It's not always easy, however, to figure out what needs to be done. This is partly because the digital marketing sphere is just as competitive as your own. The online marketplace is a bustling arena echoing with promises – and if you work with the wrong agency, those promises are unlikely to be kept.

At My Digital Hero, we've worked with small businesses in a range of sectors to give them a digital marketing glow-up. Here are five ways to generate leads online. The good news is that we can help you with them all.

Is your website up to scratch?

A good website does several things at once. To achieve them all, you need expertise and experience on your side.

First, it will put your brand personality front and centre, helping you make an impression in a crowded marketplace. This can be done by showcasing your events via photos, videos, testimonials and persuasive copy.

Secondly, it will make life easy for customers – extremely easy. In a world where your rivals are only a click away, you want to do everything you can to keep people on your page and ready to book.

And thirdly, it will feature blog content that speaks to your target audience. Regular content offering tips for couples, venue guides and other relevant topics will help cement your brand authority and nudge people towards the booking process.

Search engine visibility

It's all but impossible to generate leads without being visible in Google search results. So, if your website is floundering at the bottom of page six, it's no reflection on the quality of your work. It should, however, be a wake-up call.

The way to the top of the search results has many steps. Primarily, it involves targeted SEO – in other words, making your site attractive to search engines and to the humans who use them.

Targeted advertising. Relevant blogs ( written by humans, not AI! ) Inspiration boards on Instagram and Pinterest. Engaging with customers on Facebook and other platforms. No one of these things will rescue your business from the online invisibility blues – but taken together, they can make a big difference.

Video content

Entrusting a wedding agency with your big day is a big deal. At every step of the process, couples want to feel confident about your services. Without this, you're unlikely to generate the volume of leads you desire.

One way around this problem is to post engaging video content. After all, this is the Age of Video, with people watching more short-form videos than ever.

Videos are a great way to capture attention. You could post behind-the-scenes footage to communicate your brand identity. You could post to-camera interviews explaining your mission and what people can expect. You could even post an animation explaining the booking process.

By centring video in your digital marketing strategy, you can let people know what you offer in a matter of seconds. This inspires confidence and can generate more leads.

Email marketing

There's a persistent myth that email marketing achieves nothing – that an email sent to a potential customer is instantly deleted. The fact is, however, that this is only true of poor-quality emails.

Done well, email marketing is a great way to connect with leads and push people towards your services.

There are plenty of ways to do this. You could offer tips for weddings, special offers or examples of your work, be that a photography portfolio or a testimonial from a happy couple.

If it's clear, compelling and concise, these kinds of emails can do wonders for your lead generation strategy. You just need to make sure you have a gifted copywriter on board who knows how to speak to your audience.

Mobile-first marketing

These days, more people than ever look for goods and services on their phones. Yet many small businesses – wedding agencies included – create websites that load slowly and are hard to navigate on mobiles.

In our opinion, this is nothing less than an act of marketing self-sabotage. In the online bazaar, you don't stand a chance of cultivating a lead if they can't get the info they want on the move and on the device they want.

So, before you commit to a digital marketing agency, ask yourself if they're putting mobile compatibility first. If not, it's time to take your money elsewhere.

Frequently asked questions

Looking for a digital marketing agency to help you generate the leads you deserve? At My Digital Hero, we offer a tailored service that puts your brand identity first. Find out more about our wedding business marketing services today.

What is an explainer video?

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 07:23:31 GMT

What is an explainer video? Learn how these types of videos work and how they can help your brand grow.

In digital marketing, emphasis is often placed on getting attention. Get attention, the thinking goes, and people will flock to your site. All you need to do is stand out in that crowded field. Cue sound effects of coins chinking and cash registers opening.

The problem with this notion is that it misses out a key part of marketing: explanation.

You can make eye-catching content 'til the cows come home. But if people don't know what you're selling and why, you're unlikely to see the kind of growth you want.

There are many ways to explain your services. Email marketing, say, or podcast appearances. But for our money, one of the most efficient and versatile ways is through explainer videos.

Video has two main advantages. One, it's the medium of our age, with consumers around the world watching "an average of 19 hours of online video content per week in 2022". And secondly, it's a great way to get your message across fast .

Still not convinced? Read on to learn how explainer videos can build your brand online.

What is an explainer video?

An explainer video is a video that explains a product, service or business mission. It's usually short-form. Anything longer than, say, three minutes is veering into vlog or video essay territory.

Explainer videos can be embedded on landing pages, social media or in email marketing. They can be animated or live-action. And they can be used to explain a whole host of concepts.

Perhaps your business is delivering a solution underpinned by complex science. An explainer video can break down this concept or illustrate a process in seconds.

Perhaps you're doing a crowdfunder for your business. Speaking directly to camera helps you tell your story and grab people by the wallets.

Perhaps your business offers different package options. These can be made clear in an animation far more quickly than in text.

Perhaps you want to show your product in action. What better way than with moving images?

Finally, you might want to tell the world what the mission behind your business is. Do you want to revolutionise the world of hamster wheels? An explainer video will get the message across in seconds.

What makes a good explainer video?

Albert Einstein once said that if you can't explain something to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself. This applies to your brand just as much as it applies to the theory of relativity.

A good explainer video helps you clarify what you're selling and why. It cuts the chaff and gets to the heart of the matter.

Good explainer videos feature a strong call to action. People are more likely to get to the end of a short-form explainer video than to the end of a video essay. For this reason, you want to give them the option of navigating to your landing page at the end of your explainer vid.

Good explainer videos focus on problem-solving, whether that's a problem you're trying to solve or a difficulty customers have in understanding you. Like the best of the internet, it gives people the answers they're looking for (and gives you a sales opportunity).

Good explainer videos reflect your brand identity. Are you earnest or impish? Silly or sincere? With an explainer video, people will get the gist in no time at all.

Finally, a good explainer video is high-quality. Presentation is everything. Video, audio, text and branding all need to be on point. This is where a digital marketing agency can help you realise your explanatory vision.

6 reasons why you should use explainer videos

1. They cut the fat

Ever looked at your marketing copy and thought, "blah blah blah"? Explainer videos get around this problem by getting your point across succinctly.

2. They grab attention

It's the challenge all small businesses face. How do you make your presence felt in an overcrowded field? Explainer videos cut through the noise and get people engaged with your products or services.

Or rather, they do this if your videos are done well. Many small businesses lack the time, money and resources to produce high-quality explainer videos. If this sounds like you, we can help.

3. They make the complex simple

The writer Jonathan Swift used to read parts of his work to his intelligent but uneducated ostler (the man who handled his horses). Swift took his ostler's opinions seriously. In the same way, you should direct all your marketing to the intelligent but uneducated consumer.

That means breaking down complex concepts into their simple building blocks. Can you explain your business's mission or key processes in under three minutes? No? You've got a problem on your hands. Explainer videos help you simplify your messaging and speak to more potential customers.

4. They're versatile

In digital marketing, we talk about the importance of repurposing content. To take one example, you could repurpose a blog post as a podcast. Explainer videos can be repurposable in this way – but more importantly, they can be used on a wide range of platforms and websites.

Your explainer video can be on your landing page, your YouTube channel, your LinkedIn profile and more. In other words, it delivers good bang for your buck. And couldn't we all do with a bit of that?

5. They tell a story

People love stories. But all too often, brands sidestep stories in favour of sloganeering.

There's nothing wrong with slogans, of course. But they work best when complemented by compelling storytelling, be it the story of how your brand came to be or how it can help customers.

6. They build credibility

These days, customers are savvy. They need to be convinced that you're offering a transparent and valuable service. What's more, Google needs to know this, too.

So, if you want to build your authority in the eyes of search engines and consumers, explainer videos are the way to go. By spotlighting your expertise, you increase your chances of getting more clicks and traffic. So, what are you waiting for?

Looking for a digital marketing agency to help produce a high-quality animated promotional video ? Our digital heroes are at your service. Watch our video samples or get in touch today to book a free discovery call.

How to choose a website design company: 7 key considerations

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 12:56:40 GMT

Looking for a website design company to build your brand? Keep these 7 key considerations in mind.

The priorities of small businesses are changing all the time. With the unstoppable rise of eCommerce and digital marketing over the last two decades, good website design is no longer a luxury – it's an essential.

The problem is that the web design market is flooded with competition. Finding the right company for you can feel like looking for a needle in a hay barn – and just as bad for the blood pressure.

What's more, for every reputable agency are a dozen start-ups that promise the Earth and sell you a pup.

So, how can you be sure you're working with the right web design company? Here are seven questions to ask before committing to an agency.

1. Are they experienced?

Some things in life can be faked. Experience isn't one of them.

This is partly because the digital landscape is changing all the time. What worked in 2020 may not work today. To maximise your chances of success, you need to work with an agency that's been around the block and knows the lay of the land.

To take just one example, you need an agency that's mobile-first. These days, the vast majority of people look for goods and services on their phones. Having a website that's not optimised for smartphones is the 2025 equivalent of a blurry billboard ad.

So, before you go with a web design agency, ask yourself if they have the experience to help your online presence grow. If the answer is no, you should look elsewhere.

2. Do they have time for you?

Big companies have their advantages – in particular, resources and fast turnarounds. But the bigger the company, the less chance you have to develop a strong relationship.

This matters because a web design company should put your business goals first. If you're just a number on an infinite spreadsheet, you're unlikely to get the special treatment your brand deserves.

The smaller the agency, the more communicative they're likely to be. This can reap dividends down the line as you build a relationship of trust.

This is especially important when your business changes tack. Can your web design agency adjust your website to reflect your change of direction? A small team of talented web designers are far better placed to do this than a faceless corporation.

3. Do their websites deliver a strong user experience (UX)?

Getting visitors to your website is only half the battle. Once there, they're only a click away from a competitor.

This means that keeping people on your page is vital. And the best way to achieve this is through strong UX appeal.

What this means in practice is a website that's easy to use, easy to navigate – and, above all, easy to make a purchase through.

Misaligned text, out-of-date opening hours and confusing sitemaps are just some of the gremlins that can sabotage your online brand. You want to make sure a potential customer has no reason to close the tab and shop elsewhere.

4. Do they write content for humans and SEO?

Every small business owner knows that search engines don't always work in their favour. You know the value of your services – but all too often, they get lost in a sea of search results.

The answer is good SEO – and good SEO means content that speaks to your target audience.

You need high-quality, well-written blogs and other online content that people want to read. This will drive would-be customers to your site and motivate them to keep clicking.

And when we say "well-written", we mean "written by humans, not AI". AI may be good for some things – but it doesn't have the linguistic sparkle and command of tone a talented copywriter has.

5. Do they have your business goals in mind?

Every small business worth its salt has a detailed business plan. But to paraphrase Robert Burns, the best-laid plans of mice and men can be derailed by poor web design.

Perhaps you want to reach a new market. Perhaps you want to promote a certain product or service. Perhaps you want to make your mission statement more presentable online.

Your website should work for your goals. This won't be the case if you go for a faceless, one-size-fits-all company. Instead, you need a bespoke, responsive agency with the talent and dedication to pull it off.

6. Are they affordable?

Money too tight to mention? Trying to make your already stretched budget stretch? Then affordability is a key consideration when choosing a website design agency.

This is a major reason why shopping around and doing your homework is so important. If you go with the first agency you see, you may be paying through the nose for a substandard service.

Doing your homework involves communicating with the agency and asking the important questions. Are they transparent? Are their claims backed up by case studies and testimonials? Do they speak to you in sales jargon or like a fellow human being?

If it's tick, tick, tick, then you could be on to a winner. If not, you're wasting your time and money.

7. Do they work with a range of industries?

Some marketing agencies specialise in a single industry. If you work with an all-purpose web design agency, make sure they've worked with a range of industries.

Why? Because the business goals of a grain company, let's say, are wildly different from those of a luxury spa. The agency you work with should be able to understand your needs and reflect them back to you with tailored web design.

On a similar note, make sure they work with businesses your size. If you run a local fruit and veg delivery service, you don't want an agency that's only worked with big names like Ocado.

Are you looking for a web design agency in Yorkshire ? Or anywhere? Here at My Digital Hero, we provide affordable, mobile-first web design for businesses of all sizes and in all locations. Whether you're in Manchester or on Mars, don't hesitate to book a free discovery call .

Prospecting vs lead generation: the difference explained simply

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 11:26:07 GMT

Confused about the difference between leads and prospects? Don't worry. It's simpler than you might think…

There are many good things about digital marketing. Number one: more sales.

However, we doubt we'll ruffle many feathers if we say that a less-than-good thing about our sector is the sheer amount of jargon you encounter.

Is it all jargon, though? We think not. There's no denying that some digital marketers throw buzzwords around to try to prove their know-how. But sometimes, what sounds like jargon actually communicates an important distinction.

You can see this in the subject of today's article: the difference between prospecting and lead generation. In fact, we'd go so far as to say that people who don't find the distinction useful simply haven't understood it.

This is partly because some businesses use the two terms vaguely or even interchangeably. You might hear it said that lead generation is "passive" while prospecting is "active". This is an unhelpful distinction. It makes lead generation sound like sitting in a chair and hoping for the best.

To make matters more confusing, each firm seems to use slightly different definitions. At My Digital Hero, we see the difference like this. A lead is a row on a spreadsheet. It shows you a name and some kind of contact details.

It doesn't matter whether you got those details from a trade fair or a third-party list. A lead is a possibility. For a lead to turn into a prospect, you need evidence that they're interested in having a conversation with you about your brand.

It's a bit like social media. Let's say your small business has 1,000 likes. How many actively engage with your posts through likes, comments and shares? How many were briefly interested and then forgot all about you? How many are bots?

A spreadsheet full of leads is your like count. A spreadsheet full of prospects is your top followers – the ones who've shown they want to interact.

This isn't just semantics. Separating lead generation from prospecting can clarify your goals and make your schedule smarter. In turn, this can get you more customers. So, what do each of them involve?

Lead generation vs prospecting: two strategies for growth

There's no single way to get people to engage with your business online. One fundamental way is to get interested customers to opt in to communications from you.

Customer X is looking for sports clubs in Widnes. If your digital marketing is up to scratch, your brand will appear when they search on Google. You encourage them to sign up – essentially swapping a contact detail for sparkling copy in their inboxes.

That's one way to generate leads. You can also get referrals from colleagues and clients or get names and numbers from networking events.

Crucially, these people aren't necessarily ready to buy. Sure, they might be. But not all leads are prospects.

Getting leads, then, is still very much part of the planning stage. Prospecting, by contrast, is all about pushing leads towards a sale.

The difference is partly one of focus. Lead generation usually consists of a business reaching out to many people. You cast your net wide and see who's biting. Many will lose interest long before you get to speak to them.

Prospecting, however, is one-to-one. It's about cultivating a relationship to close a deal. It involves reaching out to promising leads – not just scrolling up and down the spreadsheet wondering when those names will dance off the screen making the "ker-ching" sound.

You could reach out to them via email or phone. You could ask to set up a meeting. Whatever the precise move you make, prospecting is about turning those leads into relationships and moving them closer to a sale.

Why does the difference matter?

"There's a difference, actually" is surely one of mankind's least attractive phrases. It suggests a person delighting in pedantry as they mansplain the difference between "compliment" and "complement" or "weather" and "climate".

The difference between lead generation and prospecting, however, can have real-world consequences. Why? Because if you treat them as the same thing, your scheduling will suffer.

Time, after all, is a scarce resource. When you're running a small business, you need to make sure you're using your time effectively. If Wednesday at three o'clock is time to generate leads and do some prospecting, you're likely to underachieve.

This is because the two activities require significantly different strategies. In the case of desk-based work, lead generation is about finding the address and prospecting is getting in the car and driving there.

Even if your lead generation involves getting to industry events and shaking hands, it's still a separate activity from prospecting. Lead generation is about telling people who you are and what you do. Prospecting is about asking them if they'd like to dance.

In other words, lead generation and prospecting serve different stages of the sales process. Treat them as one and the same and your sales will suffer. Separate them and enjoy a new level of focused activity and, above all, sales!

Where does prospecting fit into a digital marketing strategy?

Any digital marketing strategy worth its salt is a many-horned beast. It will involve both lead generation and prospecting through web-based and in-person methods. That, however, is just the tip of the digital iceberg.

An effective strategy will also involve SEO-friendly web design to drive traffic to your site. It will involve content marketing – videos and blogs made by humans that speak to your target audience. And it will involve strategically executed pay-per-click ads that put your services in front of more people.

None of these strategies are rocket science – but they all take time, effort and skill. That's why many businesses choose a digital marketing agency like ours to take the reins. By leveraging external expertise, you get to focus on what you do best while we take care of the rest.

So, if you're looking for affordable lead generation , prospecting or other digital marketing services , don't hesitate to get in touch with My Digital Hero . We'd love to help you out.

What is off-page search engine optimisation?

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 06:38:14 GMT

Want to get other people talking about your brand? Learn how off-page search engine optimisation can help.

In the marketing world, it's common to say you shouldn't be afraid of blowing your own trumpet – especially in the early days of your business.

With the rise of eCommerce, the market has never been more crowded. The online marketplace is like a rag market where every vendor is shouting for attention. But unlike a rag market, it stretches right across the world.

So yes, singing your own praises is essential if you want to be heard above the din. This is partly achieved through on-page SEO – a suite of tools and tactics that make your page more search-engine-friendly and give it a boot up the search rankings.

But every successful business is built on more than just self-reviews. And that something else is buzz .

You can toot your horn until your lips bleed. But if other people aren't beating the drum for you, you're unlikely to reach your full potential.

This is where off-page SEO comes in. It's a broad category of digital marketing strategies. But all of them have a common aim: to build buzz about you and drive more potential customers to your site.

"Ah yes", the tech-savvy among you nod. "Backlinks." Well, yes and no. Backlinks are a valuable part of an off-page SEO strategy. But if you just focus on links, you're missing out on something far more powerful: relationships.

Building relationships with influencers, customers, local press and more is worth a thousand links. It gets people talking about you and lets them improve your online reputation. This, in turn, buffs up your domain authority and search engine credibility.

It's another example of how a successful digital marketing strategy is always multifaceted – and why many young businesses choose to outsource it to a digital marketing agency.

What is the point of off-page SEO?

Off-page SEO is all about getting other people to talk about you. Done well, this can:

Improve your website's search engine rankings
Build your site's authority and reputation
Position you as a leader or expert in your field
Boost traffic and engagement

Sounds good, doesn't it? Yes – but like all aspects of digital marketing, it requires a sure hand and a gentle touch.

It's also important to stress that off-page SEO isn't just one thing. To do it well, you need to keep a lot of balls in the air – and you need to continuously monitor your progress and make fine adjustments.

So, what does off-page SEO involve? Here are just some examples of how you can get other people to bring traffic to your site.

Social media marketing

Ah, social media. For all its ills, its importance to small businesses is inarguable.

However, social media marketing is more than just having accounts on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. It's also about engaging with your audience, answering their questions and ensuring they feel valued. This ups your chances of getting positive reviews and word-of-mouth referrals.

Reaching out to influencers

Influencers are sometimes the butt of the joke. But there's no denying that in the Age of TikTok, they have the power to bring new customers to your site – the power, in short, to influence.

As with all marketing outreach, you need to do your research and find the right influencer. Not any old channel will do. You need to find someone reputable and relevant – not to mention someone with good reach.

Online public relations (PR)

It's a bitter pill that every fledgling business has to swallow: very few people will join your party without third-party endorsement.

Luckily, there are many ways to achieve this. You can reach out to websites in your field and offer to write a guest blog that links back to your site.

Perhaps even more powerfully, you can forge connections in the local or industry press. This means your next move is more likely to receive positive coverage and reach a whole new audience.

Online reputation management

"My patisserie provides the best croissants in town." Cool. Says who?

For anyone to take a punt on your pastries, you're going to need to offer proof. And while you can partly do that through clear information, menus and photos, you need other people to make the case for you.

That's why it's so important to build a positive online reputation through review management and social media engagement.

At the very least, you should claim your Google business profile and manage customer reviews. If you don't, your business profile is auto-generated and likely to be wrong. It's the online equivalent of letting AI generate your shopfront. Avoid!

Engaging with online communities

Online communities like Reddit and Quora offer a digital marketer's dream: self-segmented demographics looking for answers.

Done well, marketing in these kinds of online communities can fine-tune your targeting and engage more potential customers. But be warned: a full-frontal marketing attack will likely be met with scorn. In online communities, subtlety is all.

Repurposing content

Let's say your content focus is on accessible blog posts that speak to your target audience. The good news is that you can make that content stretch further by repurposing it.

You could turn that blog into an explainer video and post it on Instagram. You could turn it into bitesize points for TikTok. You could summarise its points into a useful infographic. You could even turn it into a podcast episode.

Once you're in the habit of repurposing content, you're sure to find it reaches more people – if, that is, it's content that people want to engage with. AI-generated blog posts aren't going to cut it .

So, there you have it – a beginner's guide to leveraging off-page SEO and helping your business grow. We hope it helps!

Looking for affordable search engine optimisation services ? We're a small team of digital do-gooders who know SEO like Batman knows his Batmobile. Get in touch with My Digital Hero today to book a free discovery call.

PPC marketing examples: what are the types of online advertising?

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 21:34:13 GMT

Confused about the different types of online advertising? Get to grips with the facts in our beginner's guide.

They say a business without advertising is like winking in the dark. Without it, you know what you're doing – but no one else does.

At a time when the digital marketplace is more crowded than ever, advertising has never been more important. To the untrained eye, however, it's also never been more cryptic.

It used to be the case that you could successfully advertise your business through paper and ink. Today, the internet itself is your billboard. How can you make sure you're using it to its full advantage?

Part of the issue is that for many businesses – especially those on the younger side – both time and money are in short supply. You know you need to budget for online advertising but lack the confidence to know you're doing it right.

This is one of many reasons why so many small-to-medium-sized businesses outsource their online advertising to a digital marketing agency like ours. By leveraging outside expertise, you maximise your chances of making a digital splash.

At My Digital Hero, we believe that a happy customer is an informed customer. We've no interest in hiding our skills behind a screen of marketing speak or talking up our strategies as though they're arcane mysteries written on ancient scrolls.

That's why we've put together this accessible guide to the most common types of online advertising, including PPC marketing. We hope it helps you figure out the best way to get your voice heard in the online hubbub.

1. Search engine advertising

Let's say your business specialises in diving equipment. You're based in Dorset. When someone searches for "diving equipment dorset", does your business come up? If not, it's time to invest in search engine advertising.

This involves bidding on keywords – those words and phrases that relate most closely to your business.

Search engine advertising works on a pay-per-click (PPC) model. This means that you only pay for the ad when someone clicks on it.

From one point of view, PPC advertising is straightforward. Simply assemble your keywords and feed them into Google. But in our experience, there's more to it than that. Much more.

To do it well, you need time, money, tools and experience. These are all things you can acquire on your own. But taking the slow lane can come at a price. For this reason, you may prefer to ask a digital marketing agency like ours to take care of the process.

2. Display advertising

Display advertising is the most traditional method of online advertising. It involves displaying ads on other people's websites.

Display ads come in different formats. These include banners, pop-ups, sidebars and video pre-roll ads.

Ad space can be bought from website owners. In this sense, it's no different from traditional hoardings, posters and flyers. The key difference is that online display ads can reach people in all parts of the world at any time of the day.

3. Social media

Whatever you think about social media, there's no denying that its platforms are visited by millions of people every day. This creates a huge opportunity for advertising.

Social media advertising can be organic, meaning you post advertising content on your social media channels. It can also be paid, pushing your ads into the feeds of people who meet selected demographics. It can include videos, photos and stories.

Then there are the opportunities opened up by collaborating with other accounts. You could partner with an influencer to plug your products or do crossover videos with a related brand.

Paid social media advertising is similar to PPC marketing. The difference is that you're typically charged by cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) rather than cost per click (CPC).

4. Retargeting ads

Last month, Delilah Fortescue from Bratton Fleming bought a pair of earrings from your online store. How can you encourage Delilah to buy from you again?

This is where retargeting – also known as "remarketing" – comes in. It involves serving ad content on other websites to people who have already interacted with your business. Like email marketing, it's a way of reminding people you exist and pushing them towards another purchase.

Some versions of retargeting focus on people who have engaged with your brand but haven't made a purchase. Others encourage repeat sales, upgrades or loyalty schemes.

5. Video advertising

From a business perspective, modern life could be characterised as one big Piccadilly Circus. Individuals scroll through video content on their phones as video ads are streamed from giant hoardings. Video advertising is everywhere . Are you getting involved?

It's a great way of capturing potential customers' attention, be it on social media or YouTube. It can be a video that presents a product or service or an ad that pops up at the beginning, middle or end of another video.

Videos can tell your brand's story and communicate its mission in seconds. They can also provide customers with a glimpse behind the scenes, bringing out the personalities of the brains behind the brand.

Video advertising can also be a valuable investment if your company services take some explaining. Infographics and animations can be used to break down complex service offerings and widen your reach.

Final thoughts

In 2025, no business can afford to do without online advertising in general and PPC marketing in particular. But it's not always immediately obvious how to go about it.

If you're looking for a digital hero to do the dirty work for you, get in touch with us today . We'd love to give your online presence an MOT and help optimise your performance.

The best hotel branding: 5 stunning examples (and why they work)

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 09:36:32 GMT

Want to know the secret sauce behind 5 hotel brands? Get the inside scoop from our branding experts.

For a hotel to succeed, you need to invest in lots of things. A by no means exhaustive list would include the building itself, your booking system, staff and marketing. But if you ask Steve Forbes (editor-in-chief of business magazine Forbes ), there's something more important than them all: your brand.

"Your brand", he says, "is the single most important investment you can make in your business." Whether or not you agree with the hyperbole (more important than the building , Steve?), there's no doubting the importance of your brand when marketing your hotel.

That's because your branding is all about capturing attention and managing expectations. An inner-city hotel that's small but perfectly formed will need a different brand from a sprawling country pile. Without brand differentiation, people have no reason to trust you – and if they've no reason to trust you, they've no reason to book.

But what is a brand, exactly? It's not a mission statement – although your mission statement can inform your brand. Nor is it the same as marketing – although your brand will undoubtedly influence your marketing.

Instead, a brand is a consistent look that communicates your USP. The consistency is key. A brochure isn't a brand – but a brochure that has the same vibe as your website, logo, staff uniforms and even pillowcases just might be.

Because a brand encompasses so much – and so many different activities – it can be hard to know where to start. But perhaps the best way to figure out your own brand is by looking at hotels that have cracked it.

Learning from the best ups your chances of standing out in a crowded marketplace and building trust among customers. It allows you to differentiate yourself, make your mark and turn one-time visitors into loyal fans.

So, without further ado, here are five hotels with brilliant branding.

1. The deluxe: St Ermin's Hotel, London

Look up St Ermin's Hotel online and the first thing you see is a tree-lined canopy flanked by heraldic statues. The glimpse of architecture within the canopy suggests history on a grand scale.

St Ermin's knows how to turn its exterior into a promise of what guests can expect within. Its website leads with a night-time shot of the exterior, now bathed in gold, suggesting opulence and warmth.

Meanwhile, the copy emphasises its historical ties and its present-day amenities – the kind of bridge between old and new to reassure guests looking for a spot of luxury. At the same time, the hotel's London-ness is brought front and centre.

One look at this hotel's branding and you're left in no doubt that this is a luxury hotel with history behind it. Bravo!

2. The revitalising: The Midland Hotel, Manchester

Some hotels promise more than a good night's sleep. They also offer a spa-like environment (or an honest-to-goodness spa) where you can unwind and recharge the batteries.

The Midland Hotel in Manchester is one such place. Like a cosy fantasy novel, it's at once homely and exotic – greeting the guest with "We're so pleased to see you" before inviting them to "escape the everyday".

Some wellness-centric hotels run the risk of looking like they're chasing a bandwagon. The Midland Hotel's branding cannily sidesteps this by highlighting its 120 years of history – and backing up its claims with carefully chosen testimonials.

3. The independent: The Sandy Duck, Falmouth

In the hotel world, "independent" means more than just "non-chain". It also suggests uniqueness, personality and even quirkiness. This needs to be reflected in the hotel's branding to differentiate it from its corporate competitors.

The Sandy Duck bed and breakfast in Falmouth achieves this feat through a minimalist design that has a quiet, understated confidence.

Open its website and you're greeted with an unhurried slideshow, a cool colour scheme and the hotel's name in a minimalist sans-serif typeface. No need for hyperbole. No rush. The branding exudes restraint.

The copy is minimal, too, shifting into a literary serif font. The Sandy Duck has no time for boasting. Instead, it quietly tells you what you can expect before moving on to testimonials. Sometimes, the brand tells us, less is more.

4. The rural: Chewton Glen, New Milton

If you run a hotel in the countryside, your location will form a key part of your brand. Typically, this will convey to your guests that your hotel is somewhere to relax in nature with physical activities and natural beauty close at hand.

Chewton Glen in New Milton takes a slightly different tack. Yes, the auto-play video on its website immediately brings to mind a rural expansiveness. But it also suggests a place to go and play, reflected in its self-description as a "playground".

And, of course, no rural hotel branding is complete without an emphasis on green and pleasant lands. Chewton Glen reflects this in the profusion of green on its website – as well as the tasteful sprig in its logo.

5. The "no-frills": The Resident, Liverpool

Want a reliable service, a good night's sleep and not much else? Then you're probably after a no-frills hotel.

The Resident in Liverpool is one such establishment. Its lack of pretension is reflected in its minimalist signage: just a dark brown sign with a large "R" hung from a large, elegant ex-warehouse.

The website, meanwhile, makes it all about Liverpool. The Resident, you get the feeling, is the perfect base to explore Liverpool's culture and nightlife.

This isn't a luxury hotel where you can sink into the cushions or a rural hotel where you can frolic like a lamb. Instead, it's the springboard for an adventure and a reliable place to lay your head at the end of the day – all reflected in its minimalist branding.

Are you a hotel manager? Do you want to boot your brand right into the 21st century? Here at My Digital Hero, we help hospitality businesses grab attention and sell their unique stories. Explore our hotel internet marketing services – or get started with a free discovery call .

Reddit digital marketing: only for the brave?

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:52:18 GMT

Can Reddit digital marketing boost your brand? Explore the pros and cons of this novel marketing strategy.

At the time of writing, Reddit has around 500 million accounts, 1.4 million monthly visits and 52 million daily active users. What's more, the number of active advertisers more than doubled in the first quarter of 2025.

Despite this, many digital marketers and small businesses leave Reddit out of their strategies. TikTok – undoubtedly. Instagram – sure. Facebook – why not?

But Reddit? Isn't it a bit, well, small?

Compared to TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, Reddit is a small platform. But it has one characteristic that its bigger sisters lack: it's highly – and we mean highly – targeted.

This is a site, after all, built around subreddits – discussion channels on pretty much every topic under the sun. In other words, if you want to reach chess players in Cheddar Gorge, Reddit is the place to be.

The problem is that subreddits are organic communities. Rocking up with obvious marketing spiel is going to get you downvoted or even banned. To make the most of digital marketing on Reddit, you have to play the long game.

It's not for everyone. But done well, it can bring new leads to your business. Let's find out more about how it's done.

What is Reddit?

Reddit used to call itself "the front page of the internet" – a central hub where you can dive into any community or topic discussion, no matter how niche.

It's built around communities called "subreddits". These are channels about particular topics. Users (or "Redditors") subscribe to subreddits and engage in conversations about their favourite topics.

And these topics include, well, everything. All of human life is here – from the respectable to the bizarre, the broad to the niche. So, unless your business is truly niche, you're likely to find potential customers there.

Therein lies the rub. These forums are organic. They're built for discussion, engagement and community vibes. If you turn up with a marketing bag of tricks, you're going to get a frosty – or fiery – reception.

If you make no attempt to conceal your marketing agenda, you could get banned straight away. More likely, however, is that any spam-like posts will be downvoted and reach fewer Redditors.

Upvotes and downvotes are part of Reddit's karma system. If people upvote your posts, they could be pushed to more users. It's another indication of how Reddit prioritises posts that users perceive to be valuable. If you're a marketer, your posts need to fit into this way of doing things.

How does Reddit digital marketing work?

Reddit is different from other social networks. You can't just create a business account and start posting about your brand. Instead, you find relevant subreddits and share useful, engaging content.
Sounds sneaky? It is. Reddit digital marketing is all about the long game. Crucially, you want to make your presence felt as a valued user – not as a brand.

How, you might ask, does this ever lead to conversions? Isn't it the online equivalent of a gardening company standing in the street with a sign that says "I love gardening"?

This is where your account comes in. You need to create an account that links people to your services. If you make valued posts, people will click through to your profile. There, they can learn more about your brand or send you a private message.

You can also host an AMA (ask me anything). You might say, "I'm a gardener with 10 years of experience in stately homes. AMA." This is a way of highlighting your expertise and prompting conversations without going straight in with a sales pitch.

Another possibility is to create a subreddit for your brand. Like a Discord channel or Facebook fan page, this enables your users to essentially do the marketing for you. You can then use this subreddit to carry out market research, find beta testers and offer support.

Finally, there's straight-ahead advertising. Reddit lets you do takeover ads and promoted posts. These allow you to market your services on Reddit without ruffling feathers in your subreddit of choice.

A takeover ad will give you a promoted post, a spot in Reddit's "trending" category and a banner ad. A promoted post, by contrast, is much like a Google Ad. It shows up next to non-advertising posts but is marked as a promoted post.

When you plan a Reddit ad, you're asked to choose an objective. This could be app installs, brand awareness, conversions, traffic or video views. Each type of ad has a different payment and bidding structure.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Reddit digital marketing?

The key advantage of Reddit is that it opens up new possibilities for targeted advertising. Subreddits brim with engaged, community-focused users who are up for a discussion. They want answers to specific problems. If you can provide enough welcome info, you may then be able to position your brand as a solution.

Perhaps the key disadvantage is that Reddit is smaller than TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. But if there's one thing we've learned in our years of digital marketing, it's that big doesn't always equal beautiful. That applies whether you're targeting customers or choosing keywords . Precision is more important than proportions.

Another disadvantage is that using Reddit ads – as opposed to participating in subreddits – offers fewer customisation options than other platforms. While you can target your ads based on location, gender, interests, device and time of day, you can't target based on income or connections.

Whether these advantages and disadvantages matter to you all depends on your brand. Moreover, it depends on how you feel about playing a long game.

At the end of the day, you get out of Reddit digital marketing what you put in. You need to hang out in subreddits and become a valued member of the community before you start posting or targeting ads. Otherwise, you're likely to be downvoted, lambasted or banned altogether. Are you willing to put the hours in?

Looking for affordable internet marketing solutions to help your brand grow? You need a digital hero. Get in touch with My Digital Hero today to book a free discovery call.

Digital marketing: how does it work?

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 17:31:28 GMT

What is digital marketing and how does it work? Get to grips with the basics in our simple beginner's guide.

Were you around in 1994? If so, you may remember a small but significant moment in the history of marketing.

That year, American telecoms company AT&T launched the first-ever clickable banner ad. Within four months , "44% of all people who saw it clicked on the ad".

Today, clickable banner ads are ten-a-penny. But this moment in marketing history marked a shift from offline channels like print, TV and radio to the digital marketing landscape we know today.

If you run a small business, chances are you've heard about digital marketing. You may have a nagging sense that it's something you should be doing.

At My Digital Hero, digital marketing is our bread and butter. But we know there are still many small firms that are reluctant to get involved. They would rather rely on word of mouth and traditional offline methods to promote their business.

And you know what? Some of them may be right. But nine times out of 10, digital marketing is the way to go. Here's why.

Why is digital marketing better than traditional marketing?

Traditional marketing casts a wide net. You put a poster in a bus stop or flyers in a cafe and thousands of people see them each day. But are all those people interested in your services? It seems unlikely.

Digital marketing enables you to be more precise in your marketing. You can target advertising at people based on their interests, demographics and buying history. You're potentially reaching fewer people – but those people are more likely to buy your products or services.

It's not unlike the famous story about the first-ever gig by art-rock legends The Velvet Underground. Only five people were there, they say, but every one of them formed a band.

Now we're not saying that digital marketing will only get you five customers. If we were, you'd be right to walk away. However, we are saying that digital marketing reaches the right people – not just any Tom, Dick or Sally.

Another advantage is that social media and email marketing let you interact with customers more readily than traditional marketing methods. You can be a friendly, helpful online presence – a surefire way to get people to share your business online or talk about you offline.

That's the sell. Digital marketing increases engagement, drives conversions and reaches more of the right customers. But what does it consist of?

A brief introduction to the digital marketing toolkit

Just like traditional marketing, digital marketing covers a number of different activities and strategies. Taken individually, they're unlikely to transform your business. Taken together, they can increase site traffic and drive sales.

In this guide, we'll cover eight of the main digital marketing activities:

Search engine optimisation (SEO)
Content marketing
Social media marketing
Email marketing
Lead generation
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
Affiliate marketing
Mobile marketing

First, there's search engine optimisation (SEO) . The fact is that Google needs some gentle persuasion. If someone searches for fishnets in the Faroe Islands, Google won't necessarily serve up your fishnet factory in the Faroes. It will only do this if your website is optimised.

Among other things, this involves skilfully embedding relevant keywords – words and phrases that relate to your company – into your content. It also involves producing relevant, readable content that speaks to your audience and lets Google know you're a reputable outfit.

This second aspect is known as "content marketing" . It's often a combination of relevant blog posts and video content. But one thing's for sure: it needs to be good quality to make a difference.

Poorly written or AI-written blog posts aren't going to keep people on your site or encourage them to click through to your landing page. The same goes for slapdash video content. Quality is essential to improve your reputation in the eyes of both potential customers and search engines.

Alongside content marketing and SEO, digital marketing includes social media marketing . This is all about using your Facebook, Instagram or TikTok account to build brand awareness, engage with customers and drive traffic to your site .

Then there's email marketing . This involves nurturing relationships with existing customers through targeted email campaigns. These could offer behind-the-scenes info, loyalty schemes and more.

Another form of email marketing involves lead generation – approaching potential customers and telling them what you're made of. Like content marketing, email marketing needs to be done by talented professionals if you want it to make a positive difference.

Next up is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising . This involves paying an advertising platform – often Google Ads – to display ads to potential customers. You get charged (pay) every time someone clicks on the ad (per click).

Then there's affiliate marketing . This involves partnering with other businesses or individuals to promote your products or services.

Finally, there's mobile marketing . It's no secret that people are on their phones a lot these days. Yet many local firms fail to make their websites readable on mobile. Making web content "mobile-first" is an essential part of digital marketing.

Sounds like a lot, right? Yet it's only as a package that these methods help businesses grow. This is a key reason why many small businesses outsource digital marketing to an agency like ours.

Why work with a digital marketing agency?

In our view, there are two main reasons why you should work with a digital marketing agency like ours. One: it will save you time and money. Two: a digital marketing agency has the experience and expertise to stay on top of a changing marketing landscape.

If you're a small business, chances are you're not exactly brimming with free time. In fact, you're probably wrestling with a Lovecraftian to-do list that grows, shape-shifts and sprouts new tentacles daily. A digital marketing agency can take the reins and let you focus on your core competencies.

Secondly, digital marketing agencies live, breathe and sleep digital marketing. This expertise is crucial at a time when the landscape of digital marketing is continuously evolving.

So, if you want to cut some slack and leverage expertise, get in touch with My Digital Hero today. We'd love to help you take your business's online presence to the next level.

A small business owner's guide to cost-effective SEO

Mon, 26 May 2025 18:51:45 GMT

Looking for the secrets to cost-effective SEO? Get expert tips and learn how the right agency can help.

For as long as goods and services have been bought and sold, people have been looking for ways to spread the word.

Today, however, marketing and brand differentiation are more important than ever. Why? Because the sheer range of consumer choices on offer is bigger than ever.

It's a hard pill that every small business has to swallow sooner or later. It doesn't matter how good your goods or services are. If people don't know about them, word of mouth and local reputation can only go so far.

This is where search engine optimisation (SEO) comes in. It refers to strategies used by businesses of all sizes to make sure their website is search-engine-friendly.

There's a lot to SEO, but the bottom line is this. If you sell toad in the hole in Stow-on-the-Wold, you want your product to come up in search results when someone searches for it.

This isn't as straightforward as it might sound. Ensuring a site is Google-friendly requires SEO artistry, including careful placement of keywords and phrases on your site.

These words and phrases are used as naturally as possible across your website – in headings, for example, but also in regular blog content.

The point is visibility. So, what do you need to achieve it? Like so many things, you can do it yourself but may come to the conclusion that working with a third-party marketing agency (hello!) is a better use of your time and money.

But don't just take our word for it. Let's explore your options so you can make an informed choice.

What makes good SEO for small businesses?

Good SEO is driven by data and carried out with care. Both parts of the equation require expertise.

First, there's the question of data. Unfortunately, it's not immediately obvious which keywords to use and which topics to cover. Each keyword is a small but important decision – and it's one you can't make without SEO tools.

This brings us to the first obstacle many small businesses face. SEO tools are expensive. They just are. Because of this, many small businesses end up cutting corners.

This isn't necessarily a disastrous move. You can get serviceable SEO from cheap and cheerful tools. But if you really want to boost your online visibility, you can't skimp on the tools you use.

As well as data-driven keyword choices, you need to have accessible, engaging content that drives traffic to your site. This, too, is no easy task. To satisfy both humans and search engines requires talent – the kind of talent that neither unskilled writers nor ChatGTP can provide.

The biggest barrier to an effective SEO plan for most small businesses is money. They know and probably more or less agree with the above. But instead of working with a third-party consultant, they do one or both of two things: copy the competition or guess from search results.

Copying the competition is fine, so far as it goes. But the lack of detail this approach entails will likely mean that you're getting generic traffic – not customers who are ready to buy.

And as for guessing from search results – well, let's just say it's a scattershot way of working. SEO tools tell you more than just the search terms themselves. They also tell you crucial information like search volume. You can't guess these from typing a few search terms into Google and hoping for the best.

It should be apparent by now that shortcuts, though possible, are rarely advisable. Nine times out of 10, it makes more sense to work with a third-party digital marketing agency that has the time, resources and expertise to help boost your website traffic.

Why work with My Digital Hero?

My Digital Hero is a small, close-knit team of marketing experts. Our superpowers include SEO and content writing .

Small and close-knit – sure. Small and feeble? Heck no. We have the tools you need to significantly increase clicks and clients – and we offer them all at affordable prices.

And because we're close-knit, we can give you the time and attention you deserve. Not for us marketing-by-script, marketing-by-email or one-Zoom-call-then-you're-on-your-own. We work closely with our clients to make sure the campaign is on point and everyone is happy.

We thoroughly research relevant keywords and phrases using advanced SEO tools. We then weave these into your website – and we pride ourselves on doing it so you can't see the stitching. Our web copy flows and informs. It never shoves clumsy keywords down the reader's throat.

We also create monthly packages of blogs. These are on topics relevant to the client's line of work – crucially, topics that people are scouring Google for answers about.

And though it pains us to have to say it: no, we don't use AI for copywriting . We believe that writing by humans, for humans, is much better for readers and for search engines.

Essentially, we offer cost-effective SEO that's fine-tuned to meet your business's needs. Want to see it in action? Let's take a look at the case of Ascend Cloud Solutions.

Case study: Ascend Cloud Solutions

Ascend Cloud Solutions helps clients in different sectors migrate to the cloud. But before working with us, they were struggling to generate leads.

We could see straight away where the problem lay. Their website lacked effective SEO. In a crowded field, this meant that their service offerings were drifting out of view, down into the lower reaches of Google's search results.

Ascend offered highly specific services. We made sure its SEO was putting them in front of the right people – both in terms of web copy describing their services and in regular thought leadership blogs.

With these measures in place, the sales leads started rolling in – some 500 in under 18 months .

So, if you're looking for affordable SEO for small businesses, get in touch with My Digital Hero today. We'd love to help you in your digital marketing journey.

How to dominate the Harrogate market with digital marketing

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Mon, 19 May 2025 22:53:25 GMT

Are you a Harrogate business looking to grow? Discover how good digital marketing services can help.

Harrogate is one of the UK's happiest places to live . With its beautiful surroundings, plentiful places to shop and high quality of life, it's no wonder it's become a hub for innovative small businesses.

It's not all beer, skittles and floral displays, however. Despite its idyllic reputation, Harrogate is feeling the economic pinch, too, with The Harrogate Adviser warning that "small businesses and independent traders will continue to face financial pressures" in 2025.

If you're a small business in Harrogate, we hope this doesn't apply to you. But as a local digital marketing agency, we know all too well the challenges our townspeople face.

Perhaps your bottom line is impacted by the cost of living. Perhaps you're a brick-and-mortar business concerned about the Getaway scheme. Perhaps you're facing competition from similar businesses in Leeds, Huddersfield or Sheffield. Perhaps you're struggling with recruitment .

Whatever problems you face, the key question remains the same: how can I ensure my business stands out in a crowded landscape?

Well, there's no one way to do it. But one thing's for sure: if you're going to dominate the Harrogate market, you can't do it without digital marketing.

Why do you need digital marketing in Harrogate?

In recent decades, the business world has changed dramatically – and no story of that change is complete without mention of the internet.

The scale of change is astonishing. Today, eCommerce accounts for some 30% of the UK's economy.

And that's just the sales. Even people coming into your brick-and-mortar store could have checked you out online.

In practical terms, this means you can't afford to neglect your online presence. If you do, you're wilfully reducing the number of people who buy your goods or services.

"Sure", you might say. "That's why we've got a website." But in today's digital economy, a website isn't enough.

Why? Let's say you run a dog grooming business in Harrogate. If you type "dog groomer harrogate" into Google, you can't count on Google returning your business as a search result.

To be seen, you need a website that's built for local SEO. It's a complicated and many-faceted field. However, one key consideration is on-page SEO – using words and phrases on your website that are relevant to your business. The kinds of words and phrases that someone looking for dog grooming services in Harrogate, say, would use when searching online.

Regular content updates help, too. The best way to achieve this is to post fresh weekly blogs on topics related to your business. When someone is searching for dog grooming tips or information about pet care, your site shows up.

Combined with paid ads, good local SEO can give your online visibility a huge lift. But when people land on your site, you need to make a good impression straight away.

The importance of good web design

Two scenarios. One: it's a sunny afternoon. You decide to pop into town to buy some nail varnish. You go into two or three salons and eventually settle on the brand and colour you want. Time for a coffee.

Scenario two: you're searching online for nail varnish. You're confronted with dozens of options. You see a bottle you like the look of. You head to the website and it's unclear how much the postage is. What's more, the website is hard to navigate.

Nine times out of 10, you're going to close the tab. After all, you can probably find the product elsewhere – hopefully on a site that gives you the information you need and makes it easy for you to make a purchase.

This is the reality of internet shopping. When the market is so crowded, you need to make things as easy as possible for customers. Otherwise, they'll abandon their carts and look elsewhere.

How we can help

Here at My Digital Hero, we offer a range of digital marketing services for businesses in Harrogate and elsewhere. As well as offering fully managed SEO , Google Ads and web design, we generate leads through email marketing, reach new clients through PR and social media and showcase your services with video and animation.

So, what makes us different? Well, first of all, we're a small but talented team. That means we offer a responsive service – no sales patter, no script and no one-size-fits-all approach. We work closely with our clients to ensure the digital marketing we provide reflects their brand identity.

And secondly, our copywriters are, um, copywriters – not AI. That means you get email marketing, blog content and web copy that's written by humans, for humans – the kind of copy that engages readers and helps make a mark on Google.

And thirdly, we're no spring chickens. We've already helped many brands in a range of sectors increase their online visibility and get more clicks. Take the case of Stump Cross Caverns.

Case study: Stump Cross Caverns

Stump Cross Caverns has a lot to shout about. It's an ancient network of caves and passageways under the Yorkshire Dales. As well as letting people explore, Stump Cross has a full calendar of events and experiences for people of all ages.

But when they came to us, their website simply wasn't cutting through. This meant they were missing out on all those parents, schools and cave lovers looking for something to do in their area.

We could see why straight away. The website wasn't built for SEO. Its content was fine but not great . And it was failing to capitalise on school trips as a source of revenue.

We revamped the website, provided Stump Cross with regular cave-based content and overhauled their Google Ads account.

Since then, visitor numbers have gone up by eight percent, school trip revenue is up by 57% and Stump Cross is ranking for more than 1,390 keywords.

Stump Cross owner Oliver Bowerman said: "The website you created for Stump Cross Caverns has completely transformed the way we do business. We've seen an incredible boost in our SEO rankings thanks to the thoughtful, human-written content and the sleek, user-friendly design."

And that's just one example of what we do. If you're looking for a cost-effective digital marketing agency in Harrogate, get in touch today. We'd love to help you make a splash online and reach new customers.

Working with a Harrogate marketing agency: what to expect

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Tue, 13 May 2025 18:39:59 GMT

Looking for a Harrogate marketing agency to boost your online presence? Find out what to expect working with us.

Are you a local business in Harrogate looking to boost your online presence? Want more site visitors, more sales and more repeat customers? Digital marketing could be the answer.

For many, however, digital marketing is a bit like healthy eating, life insurance or stocks and shares. Sure, you can see there are benefits. But where do you start – and who do you work with?

The problem is compounded by the fact that the digital marketing sector can seem full of big promises and small results. It's no wonder many people persist with DIY digital marketing simply because they're worried about getting sold a pup.

At My Digital Hero, we understand these concerns. Over the years, we've worked with many businesses, and we know the importance of two things: realistic promises and concrete results.

So, what can you expect when you work with us? The short answer is affordable, effective digital marketing that puts your Harrogate business on the map. The long answer: well, it all begins with our communication style.

An agile and responsive service

My Digital Hero is small but mighty. This means we work closely with our clients, understanding their goals, challenges and target audience. We provide local digital marketing services for Harrogate and elsewhere – not generic services for whoever pays our bills.

Look at it this way. Your business is unique – so why should your digital marketing not reflect that? Far too many digital marketing firms take a one-size-fits-all approach. At My Digital Hero, we put your brand identity front and centre.

The first thing we do is give your online presence an MOT. Is your website easy to find? Is it easy to use? Are you maximising SEO, PPC and web content to drive traffic to your site? Do your website and social media channels reflect your identity and expertise?

With these questions in mind, we put together a plan of action. This will vary depending on your business's specific needs and goals.

Next, we get to work implementing this plan. You can expect regular check-ins so you can see the progress we're making. And because we're small and agile, we can make tweaks and fine-tunings along the way.

So, what are these services, and how can they help boost your online visibility? We offer five main services: SEO, web design, video content, email marketing and Google Ads.

Modern web design and SEO

Who is a website for? It's not a trick question. These days, websites have to serve a dual function. They need to be engaging, accessible and useful for customers. They also need to be recognised as good quality by Google in order to rank successfully.

At My Digital Hero, we have the skills and expertise to make your website serve both functions. Whatever the nature of your business, we'll make an easy-to-navigate website that reflects your brand personality.

We'll also furnish it with regular blog posts on topics relevant to your business. This will help Google identify it as a reputable site. Combined with local SEO, the result is simple: a site that gets seen by the people looking for a business like yours.

Vibrant video

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Does that make a video worth a thousand pictures? One thing's for sure: when you're trying to sell your business online, video can be a great way to maximise engagement.

Marketing videos help in two key ways. First, they quickly communicate your brand identity, whether through behind-the-scenes footage, talking to the camera or showcasing your product or service.

Secondly, they can help simplify complex ideas. Perhaps your product range involves fine distinctions that aren't easy to get across. Perhaps there are multiple stages to the customer journey that need to be broken down. We can solve these problems with professional-quality video content.

Strategic email marketing

Whatever industry you're in, chances are you're wrestling with the age-old question: how do you turn one-time buyers into loyal customers?

One way is through strategic email marketing – the kind of email marketing that engages, informs and entertains. The kind of email marketing, to put it bluntly, that doesn't end up in the junk folder.

Like all our copy, our email campaigns are written by our team of talented wordsmiths, never AI. And like all our services, they're tailored to your business's branding, personality and goals.

Google Ads

Done well, Google Ads is a cost-effective way to reach new customers, drive sales and boost your visibility.

Hand us the reins and we'll plan and implement a Google Ads campaign that communicates your USP and reaches potential customers. We'll also pay close attention to campaign results, fine-tuning as we go.

Taken together, these services can help you make a splash online. Don't believe us? It's worked for many businesses – take the case of Calder Windows...

Case study: Calder Windows

Calder Windows has been selling and installing windows and doors in Yorkshire for decades. Despite this, they were struggling to make an impact online.

When they came to us, it wasn't hard to see what the problem was. Their website had all the right information – but the presentation meant it wasn't SEO-friendly. And these days, SEO needs to be an essential part of any small business's marketing strategy.

We gave Calder Windows a marketing makeover, building them a new website, launching a Google Ads campaign and providing them with regular blog posts on all things doors and windows. And because we're one of the most cost-effective digital marketing agencies in Harrogate, it didn't cost them the Earth.

Our package of digital marketing services helped Calder Windows gain nearly 700 MQLs in under a year. Pretty heroic, wouldn't you say?

Looking for an affordable team of digital marketing specialists in Harrogate? Look no further. Get in touch with My Digital Hero today to book a free website audit and discovery call.

Why backlinks are important for SEO (or ARE they?)

Mon, 05 May 2025 06:34:16 GMT

Are backlinks really that important for improving your business's online visibility in 2025? Let's investigate.

Gather around, young and old, and let us tell you a story – a story set in the early days of digital marketing and SEO.

Back then, the internet was full of short-form content stuffed with keywords like a Christmas pudding stuffed with raisins. You could wash them down with a cup of tea, but, let's face it, they were a little stodgy.

Back then, backlinks ruled the roost. It was considered essential for your business to get links from other websites. What's more, these websites had to be authoritative. A backlink from The Washington Post , let's say, was a much better backlink than one from your cousin Lesley's Tumblr.

And it makes sense, right? Backlinks showed that people were directing their readers to your site. This would signal to Google and other search engines that your content was credible. This, in turn, would bump your website up the rankings, meaning more clicks and more sales.

Fast forward to today, and it's unclear just how much this theory of backlinks holds up. Yes, a backlink can demonstrate credibility. But is it really more important than writing high-quality content for your target audience? Is it really more important than a website that makes it easy to learn about your services, easy to contact you and easy to buy?

Let's find out.

What backlinks can and can't do for you

Done right, backlinks can tell Google and Bing that your website is a reliable source of information. In effect, they give your website a stamp of approval – like an industry accreditation or a source at the bottom of a news article.

And, um, that's kind of it. Yes, they can give your search rankings a nudge. But in our opinion, they can't give it the kick up the rankings your brand deserves. This is for three main reasons.

First, there's the tricky question of what "authoritative" actually means – and who decides. Certainly, Google isn't clear about what it considers to be authoritative. Because of this, backlinks are always, to some extent, a stab in the dark.

Secondly, there's the fact that so many SEO agencies push backlinks as a silver bullet. In our opinion, they're over-egging the pudding and then throwing the pudding down a manhole. Sure, backlinks can help – but only as part of a broader, more detailed strategy.

Thirdly – and perhaps most importantly – there's the fact that backlinks are extremely time-consuming. To get good backlinks, you often have to reach out to endless sites asking for favours.

Got plenty of time on your hands? It's time to go backlink-hunting. But if you're trying to get the best bang for your buck, backlinks are a cash sink. This applies whether you're doing your own digital marketing or paying a third-party company like us.

No, in our opinion, content is king. If you produce well-written, AI-free content that speaks to your target audience, people will come to your site – and crucially, they'll stick around.

And no, in our opinion, a high-performing website is better than any backlink. Don't stuff your website with keywords like it's 2004. Use them sparingly in your headers and focus on building a website that's a pleasure to use.

Because in today's attention economy, your would-be client is only ever a click away from a competitor. You need to make it as easy as possible for them to get in touch and book or make a purchase.

It's this that shows Google you're a credible source of information. It's this that increases your visibility and gets you more clicks and more clients. It's this, in short, that makes digital marketing worth your time and money.

And, more to the point, high-quality content begets backlinks. If you create something link-worthy, those backlinks will come.

How we can help

At My Digital Hero, we put the human experience first. We build websites that are a pleasure to use and clearly provide all the information a customer needs to make contact, a purchase or a booking. And we provide regular content marketing to drive traffic to your site and keep it there.

And unlike some SEO agencies (naming no names), we don't use AI for copywriting . It's not that all AI copywriting is bad . It's just that it lacks that certain sparkle. It labours the point. It fumbles the ball. It often alienates customers, and it doesn't do your brand authority any favours on Google.

No, at My Digital Hero, we rely on a small but mighty team of copywriters, SEO experts, web designers and videographers to make a difference to your brand.

Don't believe us? Just ask Calder Windows.

Case study: Calder Windows

Calder Windows had a problem. In Normanton and the surrounding areas, they were a trusted presence. But online, they were barely making a dent.

We saw what the problem was right away. Their website wasn't built for SEO. This meant that despite their best efforts, Calder Windows had a bad case of the online visibility blues.

Our team of digital marketing specialists set to work, providing them with a new website, a Google Ads campaign and a package of eight blogs a month. The results speak for themselves: within 10 months, Calder had generated nearly 700 marketing-qualified leads (MQLs).

Needless to say, the folks at Calder Windows were happy: "Simon has done so much to help my business. His wealth of knowledge and experience is absolutely mind-blowing. I can't thank him enough, and I look forward to working with him again in the future. Thanks from all the team at Calder Windows."

Does your brand need this kind of bespoke digital marketing makeover? Get in touch with My Digital Hero today. We'd love to hear from you.

It's 2025 and you shouldn't be worrying about search volume

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 15:02:51 GMT

High-volume keywords don't necessarily help increase your online visibility. Find out why in our guide.

It's 2025. Every small business knows the importance of a strong digital presence. A smaller number know that SEO is essential to achieve this. And an even smaller number know how to do it well.

The basic concept of on-site SEO is simple to understand. You want your website to be scattered with relevant keywords. These are words or phrases that people search for online. When someone searches for "flowers in manchester", your flower shop in Manchester turns up near the top of the search result.

But does it? The thing is that there's a popular misconception going around – one that could make your keyword strategy more shot in the dark than shot in the arm. It's the belief that your key aim with keywords is to use words and phrases with a high search volume.

Well, we're here to tell you that, in the words of the song, it ain't necessarily so. Sometimes, opting for high-volume keywords means you're in direct competition with big players. This dramatically weakens the positive effect they can have on your site traffic.

So, how do you do it? At My Digital Hero, we provide fine-tuned keyword research and SEO for a wide range of small businesses. But we're not interested in keeping our secrets to ourselves.

Sure, we believe we can do a better job than most. But we'd rather you understand the issues at hand and make up your own minds. That way, you're not handing the reins over blindly. Instead, you're coming to us with concrete goals and expectations.

In this article, we break down six ways to ensure your keywords are working for you – six ways that don't see search volume as the be-all and end-all. We hope it helps you build your brand.

1. Achievability

The fundamental difficulty faced by small businesses online is that they're in direct competition with the big hitters. You haven't set your stall up in a local market. Instead, you've set up your premises next door to every household name in the book.

This means high-ranking keywords are in high demand. If you're selling bikes in Burnley and go for a high-ranking keyword, you're going toe to toe with Amazon, eBay and other eCommerce giants.

Much better, we think, to go for a low-volume keyword with achievability on its side. Go for an 8,000-volume keyword and you'll probably find yourself in the back pages of Google's search results. But choose a 150-volume keyword with care and you stand a chance of standing out.

Those choice low-volume keywords aren't always easy to find, however. SEO tools can help. But nine times out of 10, a digital marketing agency can help you find them in half the time – and when time is money, that means half the price.

2. Relevance

High-volume keywords aren't just in high demand. They're also low on specifics.

Search for "hot chocolate" and you could be searching for a product, a picture or a 1970s soul band. Search for "organic hot chocolate recipe", however, and you're narrowing down the search results.

Going for narrower parameters may seem like self-sabotage. But done well, it can bring in traffic that's relevant – and in the context of eCommerce, relevance means you're giving people what they want.

3. Search intent

People use search engines for many things. They turn to Google for pictures, recipes and guides, information, even emotional advice. You need to keep this in mind when choosing your keywords.

Google serves up sites according to search intent. If you search for "where to buy hot chocolate", you'll be given a list of stores. But search for "how to make hot chocolate" and it's recipe city.

In other words, you should always tailor your keywords to the specific service you're providing – not just the top-line keywords that pit you against the world's biggest chocolatiers and online retailers.

4. Traffic quality

"How to make hot chocolate" is a high-volume keyword phrase. But you're a grocery store – not a recipe blog. Targeting this keyword means that even if it does drive traffic to your site, it's likely to be from people who are looking for something else.

Everyone has had the experience of struggling to find what they're looking for on Google and ending up on an irrelevant site. This is because people use broad-brush keywords for the single purpose of increasing web traffic.

There's no point in doing that unless it leads to conversions. And the best way to do that is to choose relevant low-volume keywords that put you in touch with potential customers.

Otherwise, you're promising a good or service that you can't provide – and it's highly unlikely the search engine user is going to stick around to check out what you do provide.

It all relates to what's known in the world of eCommerce as a "buyer journey". These journeys, like all good journeys, have a beginning, middle and end. If you search for "trainers", you probably don't know what kind of trainers you want to buy. But if you search for "air zoom albis 16 bamboo", you're probably ready to buy.

Choosing "trainers" as a keyword could – if you get lucky – increase your traffic. But it's likely to bring in people at the beginning of their buyer journey. Going for the more niche option means you can give people what they're looking for straight away.

5. Contextual SEO

By this point, you might wonder if we're rejecting the idea of high-volume keywords altogether. The answer is a resounding no.

High-volume keywords can help give your visibility a boost – but only if they're mixed in with synonyms and what are known as "long-tail keywords". These are longer, more specific keywords used by people who are ready to buy.

At the end of the day, you want Google to understand your page and show it to the right people. By far the best way to do this is through the use of judicious low-volume keywords mixed in with the more generic.

Looking for bespoke, affordable search engine optimisation services ? Let our heroes swoop in and save the day. Get in touch with My Digital Hero to book a free SEO health audit.

User First: 7 Website Usability Best Practices to Increase Engagement

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 07:42:06 GMT

Discover 7 website usability best practices, quick wins and testing tips to increase engagement, dwell time and conversions.

Putting people before pixels

You can pour thousands into Google Ads, stuff your pages with the choicest keywords and fire newsletters at inboxes like confetti at a June wedding – but if visitors land on a clunky site, they’ll bounce faster than you can say “404”.

That’s why website usability best practices belong at the very top of your digital to‑do list. Nail them and you’ll enjoy longer sessions, lower bounce rates and a steady flow of enquiries. Ignore them and, well, even Batman will struggle to save your conversion stats.

Below are seven field‑tested tactics – a mixture of website usability quick wins and longer‑term strategies – to turn casual clickers into engaged superfans.

1. Speed is your super‑power

Why it matters

Every additional second of load time can slash conversions by up to 20 %. People expect pages to appear quicker than a cuppa in a builder’s mug; keep them waiting and they’ll hoof it back to Google.

Quick wins

Compress images – modern formats (WebP/AVIF) can halve file size without the potato‑quality fuzz.
Cache like you mean it – server‑side caching and a sensible CDN mean repeated visits feel instant.
Trim the bloat – axe unused plug‑ins, minify CSS/JS, and politely show the exit to that 7‑MB hero video autoplaying above the fold.

Hero tip: Our Website Audit tool benchmarks load speed in seconds, not minutes. It’s free – and marginally less painful than yet another page‑speed lecture from the dev team.

2. Mobile‑first, not mobile‑last

Google’s been indexing mobile versions first since 2019. Yet we still see gorgeous desktop layouts that transform into finger‑pinch nightmares on phones.

Stick to a single‑column layout under 768 px.
Use at least 16 px body text, 44 px tappable targets.
Stop hiding vital content behind tiny hamburger menus – nobody likes a treasure hunt.

These tweaks aren’t glam, but they’re usability best practices for higher dwell time on the small screen, where over 60 % of browsing now happens.

3. Navigation: show, don’t maze

Ever wandered into an Ikea, lost your bearings and wondered if you’ll see daylight again? That’s how users feel inside labyrinthine menus.

Keep primary nav to 5–7 items ; anything more, pop into a “More” dropdown or the footer.
Breadcrumbs help visitors backtrack without the browser’s back button.
Label things plainly: “Pricing” trumps “Money Matters”. Wit is welcome, but clarity pays the bills.

4. Above‑the‑fold clarity

First impressions form in 50 milliseconds – roughly the time it takes to register that the hero image is, in fact, a stock photo of two professionals laughing at salad.

Above the fold, answer three questions:

What is this? – your H1.
Why should I care? – a sharp, benefit‑led sub‑heading.
What now? – a single, contrasting call‑to‑action button.

Users decide whether to scroll based on this snippet alone. Get it right and watch engagement soar.

5. Accessibility: heroics for every visitor

Fourteen per cent of UK adults live with some form of disability. Accessibility isn’t a favour – it’s the law (WCAG 2.2, anyone?) and fantastic for SEO.

Maintain a 4.5:1 colour contrast ratio for text.
Use clear focus indicators so keyboard users can see where they are.
Alt‑text isn’t just for Google Images; it’s for those using screen‑readers, too.

Accessible design doesn’t dilute creativity; it sharpens it. Inclusive sites keep visitors around longer – another tick in the “higher dwell time” column. Have a play with UserWay, our method for keeping all our client websites compliant and easy to navigate for those with a disability. Just click the icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.

6. Microcopy that guides (and sells)

Those little snippets of text – button labels, form hints, error messages – do heavy lifting for usability. They reassure, clarify and nudge.

Swap “Submit” for “Get my free quote”, “Sign up” for “Start my 14‑day trial”.
Turn error messages into helpful detours: “Password too short – use 8+ characters and a heroic symbol ⚡.”
In forms, explain why you need info (“We’ll only use your number to confirm your booking – scouts’ honour”).

Small words; mighty impact on conversions.

7. Test, measure, refine

Even the Hulk wouldn’t rely on hunches alone. That’s why usability testing for higher conversions is our final (and most important) practice.

Guerilla usability tests

Grab five real users – a mate, your mum, Barry from Accounts – and watch them complete key tasks. You’ll spot sticking points within minutes.

Analytics deep dive

Heat‑maps and session replays reveal rage clicks and dead ends. If users bounce on step two of your checkout, you know where to wield the UX chainsaw.

A/B experiments

Change one element at a time: heading, hero image, CTA colour. Measure. Keep the winner. Repeat.

Continuous testing transforms website usability quick wins into sustained revenue growth – and it’s the only way to prove those tweaks equal pounds, not just prettier wireframes.

Bringing it all together

Great usability is invisible: pages load before you blink, buttons sit exactly where you expect, and the journey from homepage to “Thanks for your order” feels friction‑free. Get these seven practices right and you’ll enjoy:

Longer sessions and higher dwell time
More conversions at a lower cost per acquisition
Happier humans who’ll recommend you faster than you can say “nice UX”

Need a hand turning theory into tangible results? Our Website Design service bakes every best practice into sites that look sharp and sell harder. Or run your current site through our free audit for a personalised punch‑list of improvements.

Ready to level‑up your website?

Book a discovery call and our heroes will map out your next quick win – cape, caffeine and conversion rates at the ready.

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Do Google Ads work for small businesses?

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 08:00:04 GMT

Well-executed Google Ad PPC campaigns can help small businesses grow. But how? Let's find out.

A business is only as good as its customers.

Sure, there are many sides to the success of any business, big or small. You need the right personnel. You need top-quality branding. You need goods or services that people want (even if they don't know it yet…)

But without customers, you might as well be shouting "Anyone?" into an Alpine ravine at midnight.

Among other things, this means you need to embrace online advertising. The internet and its five billion users provide huge opportunities and equally huge challenges. At some point in its development, every small business has the same question: what is good online advertising, and how do we get some?

But too often, this question gets pushed down the Big List of Things to Do. You know the one – that list as long as The Godfather trilogy glaring at you from a sticky note.

Well, we're here to tell you that Google Ads can form a key spoke of your digital advertising strategy. If done right, a Google Ads campaign can be a flexible, efficient and cost-effective way to gain new customers. And who would say no to that?

The key phrase, however, is "done right". And if you're wrestling with a million and one tasks already, you might not know where to start.

At My Digital Hero, digital marketing is our bread and butter – and Google pay-per-click advertising is one of our tastiest pickles. Strap in for some top tips on how to make a Google Ad campaign work for you – and how we can help you make it go that bit further.

How do Google Ads work?

Google Ads is Google's advertising platform. It lets you choose from a variety of objectives, campaign types, targeting options and ad formats.

It works like an auction. Businesses bid on keywords to get their ads shown. The more keywords you rank for, the more visitors your website can receive.

There's more to it than that. But Google Ads is primarily a way of harnessing business-specific keywords to drive traffic to your site.

It's a simple platform – but one that only gives out what you put in. How can you make the most of a Google Ads campaign and ensure your budget is used effectively?

How to make the most of Google Ads

Like so many things in life, a successful Google Ads campaign requires careful planning and execution. It requires a surgical scalpel, not a butcher's cleaver. It is, you could say, all about definition: defining your goals, defining your budget and defining your measure of success.

1. Define your goals

A Google Ads campaign is like a New Year's Resolution – the more specific, the better. If you say, "I want my business to grow, and Google Ads will help me get there", you're heading for disappointment.

If, on the other hand, you decide clearly what you want from your customers, you boost your chances of success.

Want your customers to call you? Visit your premises? Head to the website? Download a newsletter? Whatever it is, you need to tailor your campaign accordingly.

2. Define your budget

Small businesses talk a lot about budgets – but they don't always have a clear idea of what they are .

We're not judging. Life is hard enough without segmenting, colour-coding and fine-tuning your budget when you could be frolicking in a meadow instead.

Nevertheless, no Google Ads campaign is complete without a clearly defined budget. This allows you to allocate money effectively. And once you've defined how you measure success, it also helps you decide when to stop spending.

3. Define success

You know your goals. You know your budget. When do you know if your campaign has succeeded?

We're not going to beat around the bush: it's tricky. Who was it who said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted – the trouble is I don't know which half"? Well, they hit the nail on the head for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

The good news is that Google provides free-to-use conversion tracking. This lets you see what a customer does after interacting with your ads.

Do they follow the call to action? Do they do something related to your business that isn't in the call to action? Or do they click away and make a sandwich?

Used well, this data is gold . It enables you to assess, reassess and fine-tune your campaigns until they're putting your small business in front of thousands, if not millions, of potential customers.

So, what's the catch? Well, it takes time. It takes patience. It takes skill. If you've set up a business, you probably possess all those attributes. But you may find that you can't apply them to all areas of your business equally.

That's where a digital marketing consultant like My Digital Hero can swoop in and make all the difference. We provide precision-targeted Google Ad campaigns so you don't have to.

Don't believe us? Here are two examples of where we made a big difference.

Case studies

At My Digital Hero, we work with any business that needs an online visibility boost. This certainly applied to Calder Windows – a company with a strong local reputation that wasn't matched online.

We provided them with a new website, a calendar of SEO content and, crucially, a Google Ads campaign. The result? In under a year, Calder Windows had generated nearly 700 marketing-qualified leads .

Another business in a similar situation was Northumbria Cars. Footfall in the showroom was good – but their website wasn't receiving the traffic it deserved.

Our marketing makeover helped create a 25% increase in sales . In the process, Northumbria Cars saw its average cost-per-click plummet from £7.50 to just 13p.

This could be you. With a dedicated package of digital marketing services, including Google Ads, you could increase traffic to your website and boost your sales.

Ready to start making the most of Google Ads? Get in touch with the My Digital Hero team today to book a free fact-finding call.

When bad graphic design makes good

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 17:11:21 GMT

Sometimes, apparently bad graphic design can work in a brand's favour. Explore 6 of the oddest examples.

In the movie world, there's a class of films known as "so bad it's good" movies. These are movies that died a death financially and critically yet found a cult audience over the years.

In graphic design, there's a related but separate phenomenon. This is when bad design leads to good results, either straight away or over time.

Sometimes, a conventionally bad design will stand out from a thousand and one generic competitors. It's a risky strategy that can easily backfire. But when the bad design reflects the individuality of the brand, it can reap dividends.

Here at My Digital Hero, we only make good graphic design (though we say so ourselves!) But what we have in common with the following six examples of bad design is that our work always reflects your brand identity.

So, without further ado, here are six times bad graphic design made a splash.

1. LINGsCARS

Ling's Cars – stylised as LINGsCARS – is a car dealership based in Newcastle, England. It was founded by Chinese businesswoman Ling Valentine and her husband Jon in 2000.

Within six years, the couple had gone from leasing cars from their living room to making a million a month in sales. Their secret? It wasn't just the service itself – it was the wacky website they used to promote it.

The original site, now scrubbed from the web, has been called "the weirdest website on the internet". Not content with images of cars and text about the company's services, LINGsCARS treated visitors to a firework display of karaoke, online games and extravagant fonts.

It was a canny move that fulfilled Ling's desire, expressed in a 2014 interview, to "stand out in a sea of 'same again' car leasing websites". The results speak for themselves.

2. Taco Bell's 2016 logo redesign

American fast-food restaurant Taco Bell has had many logos since it was founded in 1962. And since 1984, they've all featured its iconic bell.

In 2016, however, Taco Bell decided to launch a revamped version at the same time as its flagship Las Vegas restaurant.

In many people's eyes, the new design was offensively bland. The bold, vibrant colours of previous iterations had been replaced by a single colour and the font made blocky and generic. Sure, it had its supporters – but overall, it went down like a bad burrito.

Did it matter? Heck no. As of 2023, Taco Bell serves more than 2 billion customers a year – more than the population of India. Sometimes, it seems, no-frills design can work wonders for a brand.

3. MailChimp

In the digital marketing world, it's widely accepted that businesses should think hard about their graphic design. At My Digital Hero, it's one of our top priorities. But in the case of MailChimp, a tossed-off design helped push the company into the big leagues.

Despite having a background in design, MailChimp's CEO Ben Chestnut spent next to no time on the website's first iteration in 2001.

"Most of everything you see in this version of the website," he said, "was spare parts from previous web design projects. One of the failed side projects we worked on was an e-greeting site, and one of the most popular greetings was a monkey. So, when we needed a logo for MailChimp, I just pulled the monkey out of the parts bin from that project and put a hat on him."

Most companies would have tried to persuade Chestnut to have another go. But he stuck with it, and the basic yet quirky design helped MailChimp carve out a distinctive brand identity.

4. Dollar Shave Club

Most brands strive to be perceived as a safe pair of hands. Sure, your rocking chair factory isn't rocking the world – but if you want a well-made rocking chair with a fast turnaround, it's just the thing.

Some brands, however, are disruptive. Take Dollar Shave Club, the subscription service that delivers cheap razors to men and women across the world.

It all began when founders Mark Levine and Michael Dubin met at a party and bonded over their hatred of razor blade prices.

The company's desire to disrupt the razor market was reflected in its 2012 viral ad. Its low-budget visuals, rough editing and almost punk-like aesthetic perfectly communicated the company's desire to be different.

Since then, the company has rebranded, becoming an altogether slicker – some would say blander – affair. But its initial success is undeniably down to those early rough-and-ready ads.

5. I Love New York

Since 1977, the "I Love New York" logo has been used to promote tourism in the state of New York.

You've probably seen it: "I" and "NY" in a typewriter-style font with a red heart in the middle. Yet despite its ubiquity, the logo had humble origins.

Graphic designer Milton Glaser made the design in 1976 in the back of a taxi. His materials? A red crayon and a piece of scrap paper. He didn't think the campaign would last and provided his services pro bono .

Fifty years later and this logo is as American as baseball and apple pie. Sometimes, it seems, simplicity is best.

6. Steely Dan's The Royal Scam album cover

In 1976, yacht-rock legends Steely Dan released their fifth studio album, the spikily titled The Royal Scam.

It came with an album cover that its own creators called "the most hideous album cover of the 70s, bar none".

Your tastes may vary, but many people would agree. Its depiction of a businessman lying on a bench surrounded by grotesque, animal-headed skyscrapers is, shall we say, an acquired taste.

Despite its notoriously bad cover, The Royal Scam is a firm fan favourite and was voted number 868 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.

Looking for graphic design services that reflect your business's unique personality? Get in touch with My Digital Hero to discuss how we can make good on your brand promises – no bad design stunts necessary.

Graphic design: 6 fonts that aren't as cool as you think

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 10:03:06 GMT

The right font can do wonders for your brand identity. Discover 6 overused typefaces you might want to avoid.

In 2012, scientists at CERN in Geneva had a discovery to share – a discovery that would reshape our understanding of particle physics. A discovery that could – and would – shake the world.

The world, however, shook its massive head when it saw the font CERN had chosen to present its findings. This monumental moment was presented in none other than Comic Sans .

Here at My Digital Hero, we specialise in helping brands increase their online visibility. So, why are we going on about a peculiar moment in particle physics?

The answer is that this story captures something about fonts and how to use them – something that every small business would do well to think about.

You see, Comic Sans divides opinion. Some people think it's childish, cartoonish and garish. It's the font they love to hate. Others, however, think it's fun, legible and exuberant. Still others use it to improve internet accessibility for people with dyslexia .

In other words, it's all about context. CERN may not be the place for Comic Sans. But a small business selling toys could probably get away with it.

So, while we believe there are no good or bad fonts, we do believe there are good and bad uses of them. And all too often, we see small businesses choose fonts that poorly communicate their brand.

Sometimes, it's a case of using a font that everybody uses. Other times, it's using one that clashes with your messaging. Sometimes, it's just picking the first one on the drop-down menu.

To this, we say: "Fie!" and "No more!" Pretty much every business in the big leagues has a signature font – why don't you?

To get you started, here are six fonts that we think are a bit less cool than their reputations suggest…

1. Times New Roman

In our opinion, Times New Roman is a classic case of overuse. And with good reason: this elegant typeface is easy to scale and easy on the eye.

But! There are days in the digital marketing world when it feels like you can't move without hitting a wall of Times New Roman. These days, it doesn't look effortlessly stylish. It looks low-effortfully fine . Is that really the message you want to send to potential customers?

2. Courier

Courier has a reputation for legibility thanks to its extensive use in computer programming and film scripts. But to us, there's a reason why the US State Department switched its house font from Courier to Times New Roman on grounds of legibility.

In our opinion, Courier puts style above function. Restaurants and taprooms use it for a touch of retro typewritten flair. Surely this eatery is haunted by the shades of poets and philosophers past? Or is it just a stylistic cliche?

The thing is that Courier isn't as easy to read as people seem to think. And when you're trying to get your brand identity across, legibility is non-negotiable.

3. Helvetica

Helvetica is nothing if not versatile. Opening a small modern art gallery? Helvetica will give it a whiff of the continent. Need a simple yet effective font for a government department? Helvetica has just the right combination of elegance and blandness to make it work.

But this versatility is Helvetica's downfall. Nine times out of 10, it's a poor choice for digital marketing because it lacks a strong identity – and if you're anything like our clients, that's not something we'd say about you.

4. Trajan

Even if you don't know this font by name, you'll have seen it on film posters. This all-caps font, based on the typeface at the base of Trajan's Column in Rome, has an undeniable air of pomp and ceremony.

But like the other fonts on our list, it's a definite victim of overuse. If you want to inject a bit of Roman grandeur into your brand, there are at least MMXXXXIII alternatives to consider. Don't be like Spartacus – stand out from the crowd!

5. Copperplate Gothic

If you've ever searched online for a local law firm or accountancy agency, you've probably seen Copperplate Gothic in the wild. And if you've ever paid them a visit, you've probably seen this familiar font acid-etched onto the door.

Copperplate Gothic says "professionalism". It says "business cards". In the wrong hands, it says, um, "lack of fresh ideas".

Again, you want to stand out in a crowded field. Copperplate Gothic is a go-to that often goes nowhere. In our opinion, it's best avoided.

6. Impact

"Hmmm," say small businesses up and down the land. "How can we make sure our logo makes an impact ?" Answer: "Maybe Impact?"

Don't get us wrong: it's a good font – bold, legible and even striking. But how can you make an impact when you're using the same font as your competitors?

How to find the right font

By now, you might be wondering whether we've got anything nice to say or are happy to sit on the sidelines trashing typographical turkeys.

In fact, we want more than anything to see brands realise their potential. That's why we choose fonts for our own clients with care. Graphic design is too important to be taken lightly!

So, if you're after some original fonts, there are a number of routes you can take. You can follow Instagram and Pinterest accounts for inspiration. You can use Adobe's "Find fonts from images" tool.

You can take a screenshot of a font you think is cool and drop it into WhatTheFont Font Finder. You can watch YouTube videos, read Reddit threads. You could even take out some library books!

You could also consider working with a digital marketing agency like ours. We work closely with our clients to create a brand identity that plays to their strengths. Fonts are just one part of this – but an undeniably important one.

You want a website that tells your story – not everyone else's. Work with My Digital Hero and we'll help you forge a brand identity that's impossible to ignore. We look forward to talking you through your options.

Why WordPress is bad for web design

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 17:26:13 GMT

Getting ready to build a website? Discover 5 reasons why, in our opinion, WordPress is a bad choice.

"If everybody's doing it, it must be good." This isn't something many people say out loud. But in the world of web design and digital marketing, it's an unspoken mantra that stunts growth for many brands.

Take the case of WordPress. This is a website builder that began life as a blogging tool. Advocates point to its open-source nature, its flexibility and its low costs. What they don't tell you is that it's slow, complicated, difficult to secure and restrictive in its design options.

Despite all this, it remains a popular option for businesses. So, what's going on? Why is our opinion so at odds with WordPress's reputation?

Well, there are two main reasons people use WordPress when they could choose a better option. The first is that it has a very low bar for entry. You don't need to be a tech whizz to build a serviceable web page with WordPress.

Secondly, many web agencies are unwilling to evolve. They tell you WordPress is the golden goose because it's the only goose they've got. The result is that many businesses end up lumbered with outdated, under-achieving websites.

It pains us to see this. It's like watching a promising young racing driver attempt the F1 in a road-worn Peugeot 106. The fact of the matter is that your business deserves better.

Here, then, are five reasons why you should give WordPress a wide berth – and why we think you'll like our alternative option.

1. It's built for blogging, not business

WordPress is good for blogs. It's not good for business. It's a classic example of a platform over-extending its usefulness.

Sure, you get a website at the end of it. But it's typically a website that performs poorly and loads slowly. And at a time when even casual customers have high expectations, this just won't cut it.

Fact number one: eCommerce has unlocked selling opportunities for myriad businesses. Great! Fact number two: eCommerce has saturated the market, meaning potential customers are just a click away from abandoning their carts and shopping elsewhere. Not so great!

This means you need to give people a reason to choose you . And if your website is slow and saggy, people are unlikely to give you the benefit of the doubt.

2. It's restrictive

WordPress is built around templates. Some of them are pretty cool. However, they often stop users from getting the design freedom they desire and deserve. The result? Homogenous websites that don't reflect your brand's personality.

This is one of the key advantages of working with a bespoke digital marketing agency . Because these agencies aren't tied to templates, they can build a website that's yours and yours alone. This gives you a greater chance of standing out in a crowded marketplace.

3. It's hard to secure

Critics of WordPress like to say that it's not a secure platform. This isn't strictly true. It's fairer to say that WordPress makes it hard for you to build a secure website.

Cybersecurity, after all, is an industry in itself. It's not easy to bake security into your website. If you don't have the knowledge, WordPress doesn't make it easy for you.

This is the reason for scare stories about WordPress's vulnerability to hackers and malware. Essentially, WordPress expects you to be a security expert as well as a website builder. For many businesses, this simply isn't practical.

4. It's slow

Once upon a time, we waited for pages to load. Oh, how we waited. Today, if a page doesn't load in a second or two, we're liable to click away.

There's no getting around the fact that WordPress websites are on the slow side. This is a problem for two reasons. First, it drives away users who are used to snappy loading speeds.

Secondly, it has a way of driving your website down the search engine rankings. Speed is good for SEO – so why hobble yourself with a subpar website?

These speed issues are largely due to WordPress's plugins. They jam the system with bloated code, ruining your site's loading speeds and driving customers away.

Want to publish a text-heavy blog? WordPress will do just fine. Want a responsive website that sells your services? It's time to look elsewhere.

5. It lacks dedicated customer support

WordPress offers customer support – allegedly. In reality, web designers the world over find it about as useful as an umbrella made of tissue paper.

On top of this, most WordPress websites are based on third-party themes. If you run into design or performance difficulties, you've only got the theme designer to turn to – and often, this isn't forthcoming.

Sure, you can ask questions on forums and search YouTube for answers. If you like a challenge, go ahead! But if you want an easy life, there are better alternatives to WordPress.

By contrast, a digital marketing agency like ours can give you plenty of attention and support as we realise your vision and translate it into compelling web content.

Why work with us?

What's a website for? It's not just a dumping ground for information. It's a place where your messaging and branding can shine, turning potential customers into loyal supporters.

Your website can only do this, however, if it's easy to manage at your end and easy to use on theirs. And in our opinion, WordPress simply doesn't cut the mustard.

Work with us at My Digital Hero, however, and you can expect a professional, flexible service which puts your branding first and delivers a high-performing, highly secure website.

And because we're a small, close-knit team, we're able to work closely with you. If you run into any problems, we're on it – no ifs, no buts and no disruptive delays.

So, if you want a website to help your business grow, get in touch with My Digital Hero today – or learn more about our web design and web development services.

What is drone videography and how can it boost your marketing?

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 11:51:38 GMT

Looking for innovative ways to engage potential customers? Find out how drone videography can help.

How times have changed. Once upon a time, if a filmmaker wanted aerial photography, they would have to hire a helicopter and a pilot. It was an expensive venture – but one which undeniably resulted in a lot of cool shots.

Today, filmmakers can get similar results with just a drone and a drone operative. Not only is it much, much cheaper, but it also provides filmmakers with footage in stunning high definition.

Marketing and filmmaking have always influenced each other. So, it's no surprise that marketing agencies are increasingly offering drone footage for businesses.

Drone videography can help businesses stand out in a crowded online field. The challenge is the same for everyone: how do you stop people scrolling long enough to see what you have to offer?

Drones can achieve this with jaw-dropping footage that helps you tell a story, build your brand and show off more of your products or services than any other medium.

So, if your engagement and click-throughs are low, why not consider drone videography? It could be just what you need to elevate ( sorry ) your business. Read on to find out how the sky's the limit ( double sorry ).

Six reasons why your business should use drone videography

1. It's eye-catching

There's no denying that aerial footage catches the eye. It shows us landscapes from a new perspective – one that's mostly out of reach. This can be an effective way to stop potential customers from scrolling right past you.

2. It gives the viewer more

If your business is centred on a specific location, drone footage can show off more of it than ever before. Drone footage is ideal for showcasing your facilities, offering viewers a greater sense of space, scale – and excitement.

This makes it a great choice for brand storytelling. If you manufacture a product, for instance, you can show the journey from raw materials to manufacturing to the end customer. This can help engage viewers.

3. It's quick

Gone are the days when aerial shots required cranes, helicopters and teams of operatives. Today, all you need is a licensed pilot and a suitable spot for lift-off.

It's not just that the filming itself can be done so quickly. It's also that the footage can be immediately uploaded and shared. This means businesses can drastically speed up the design cycle, shortening the gap between idea and execution.

4. It's cost-effective

One of the most remarkable trends in recent years has been the democratisation of high-tech equipment. In this respect, drone videography is fast becoming the equivalent of your smartphone's camera – a high-end piece of technology that's available for relatively little.

Every business is conscious of its marketing budget and looking to make its money go further. Drone videography is a great way to get memorable, impressive marketing materials without breaking the bank.

5. It's high-quality

Did you know that drones can capture full HD at 4K resolution? This means even small businesses can give their brand the Hollywood treatment.

And at a time when people need a reason to stop scrolling, this level of professionalism can make all the difference. Go give your brand a luxury makeover!

6. It keeps people on your website

If one of the biggest challenges faced by businesses today is the scroll economy, another is how to drive people to their websites – and how to keep them there.

Engaging content is a surefire way of increasing both website traffic and the amount of time people spend on your site. In turn, this can help improve your search engine rankings.

Drone videography: a case study

Here at MDH, we don't just drone on about drones. We also provide our clients with dramatic, compelling aerial footage to give their brands an airborne boost.

We've shot everything from hospitals and hotels to homes and heritage. And if you'll allow us to briefly blow our own trumpet, the results speak for themselves – check out this showreel if you don't believe us.

Who can use drone videography?

A key benefit of drone videography is its versatility. Whatever your business, you could stand to gain from exploring it as a marketing medium.

Property companies, construction and tourist destinations can all harness drone technology to showcase their sites in unparalleled – and unprecedentedly dramatic – detail.

Outdoor event companies can communicate the buzz they create with aerial crowd shots. Manufacturers can show how their products are made – and demonstrate how they work from a new angle.

Yes, drone videography is a versatile and rapidly evolving art form that can take your brand into the stratosphere. But before you put "drone shoot" in the diary, you need to familiarise yourself with the UK's regulations surrounding drone videography.

What are the regulations surrounding drone videography in the UK?

At the time of writing, drone videography in the UK is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

We don't have space to cover the regulations in detail. Many refer to physical constraints – how high the drone can be flown, how far from airports, how far from bystanders, and so on.

But the key consideration for businesses is that drones equipped with cameras must be operated by professionals. And by "professional", the CAA means someone with an operator ID.

If you're passionate about the possibilities of drone videography, there's no reason why you shouldn't train as a professional operator. But if you just want some quick, cost-effective marketing materials, it usually makes more sense to work with a professional.

Drones are a fantastic way to enhance your brand identity, stop potential customers from scrolling past you and tell a compelling story. We hope this article gives you a bit of inspiration.

Are you looking for high-quality video marketing materials? At My Digital Hero, we specialise in live-action video, animation for marketing and YouTube video production . And in case that wasn't enough, we're a dab hand at drone videography, too. Let's make your next project even better – start by booking a free discovery call online.

Lead generation: the fine line between outreach and nagging

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 11:16:49 GMT

Worried that your outbound emails are coming across as nags? Find out how to avoid this in our guide.

For any business to grow, leads have to be generated. And for any lead to be generated, potential customers have to be contacted.

It's an undeniably essential part of any business's growth plan. But all too often, businesses fall into the same old trap. They think they're reaching out. But the people they're reaching out to feel like they're being nagged.

And when you think about it, it makes total sense. Most of us spend our lives juggling the items on an ever-changing to-do list. Yes, we want to hear about goods and services that can benefit us. But do we want to be nagged? Um, no thanks!

The trouble is that the same methods used for successful outreach are those used by professional marketing nags. An automated email marketing strategy can generate leads or drive them away. It can drip-feed valuable content or send recipients reaching for the "unsubscribe" button.

It's a fine line – but it's one that businesses can walk if they put their minds to it. It's all about putting yourself in a potential customer's shoes and figuring out what they want to see.

What makes a good marketing email?

In the world of menswear, smart dressers like to talk about their "grails". These are items of clothing that are desirable but hard to find.

In the world of digital marketing, good marketing emails are a grail in themselves. It's amazing how many bad marketing emails we receive every day. And it's not for want of trying. Many businesses put plenty of effort into their emails. So, what's going wrong? Why do so many of them end up being marked as spam?

Here's why: those emails read like spam. They don't engage the reader. They don't give you a reason to care. They're not personalised. Often, they're not even pleasant to read on a mobile.

There's no 10-point checklist you can tick off to ensure a high-quality marketing email. Instead, it's a case of asking yourself questions as you compose your marketing emails – less of a checklist and more of a springboard.

Critical questions could include:

What is the email for? Does it build towards a clear call to action?
What value does the recipient gain from reading the email? Is it cultivating your relationship with the lead?
Would you want to receive this email?
Is the email easy to read? Is it mobile-friendly? Do the layout and format match your branding?
Does the copy reflect your brand's personality?

Going through this list, you may find you answer one question positively and another negatively. This should prompt you to rethink your lead generation strategy.

If, for instance, the email doesn't offer value or is something you yourself wouldn't want to receive, you've probably gone from outreach to nagging – and those leads are likely to disappear.

It's a lot to think about – especially if you're a young business with a to-do list the length of War and Peace .

This is one reason why many businesses outsource lead generation to a digital marketing firm like ours. It means they get to leverage external skills and expertise, avoid burnout and focus on, well, everything else that needs doing.

How quickly should you follow up?

Successful lead generation is partly a case of creating marketing emails that potential customers want to read. But it's also about the fine art of the follow-up. The basic question is simple: how soon is too soon and how late is too late?

The simple answer is: well, it depends. This might sound like a cop-out – but we assure you it isn't. For many businesses, the problem is precisely that they're inflexible about their follow-ups. They bind themselves to a strict schedule which assumes that all leads should be treated the same.

In fact, leads can be divided into segments. If someone has contacted you, for instance, they deserve a quick follow-up. But if they signed up for your newsletter, a speedy follow-up will probably come across as nagging, even if they like what they see.

Segmentation, then, is key. Your leads should be grouped according to the products or services they showed interest in, their demographics, how they found you and other key pieces of consumer data.

This segmented database can then be used to make your marketing emails more personalised, more specific and more relevant.

It's all about finding the sweet spot. This is a skill that comes with experience. Luckily, you don't need to acquire that experience yourself. Working with a digital marketing agency like ours means you get all the expertise you need on tap.

How we can help

At My Digital Hero, your ambition is our priority. We know how difficult it can be to generate leads when juggling a dozen other balls. Too often, you end up driving away potential customers with emails that come across as nags.

You can count on us to do things differently. Our marketing strategies are driven by segmented data sets and put relationship building front and centre.

Each of our emails is purpose-built to reflect your branding and lead recipients to click on that all-important call to action. They're beautiful, easy to read and always mobile-friendly.

And because we're a small, plucky team of digital superheroes, we give you the attention you deserve. You're not just a number to us – you're a valued partner. This means we work closely with you to achieve your business goals and we never hide behind a script.

Oh, and we never use AI for written content. Customers are smarter than many businesses think and can sniff an AI-generated email a mile off. We write unique copy to match your unique vision.

So, if you're holding out for a hero to turn those leads into loyal customers, get in touch with My Digital Hero today – or find out more about our growth-hacking lead generation service.

Your customers know you're using AI-generated content

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 15:50:00 GMT

Think you can get away with using AI-generated copy without anyone noticing? Here's why you're wrong.

Like any other technological advance, AI has brought with it numerous opportunities and numerous challenges.

In the education sector, for instance, teachers are torn between the validity of ChatGPT and other large language models as research tools and the difficulty of detecting AI-generated essays.

In digital marketing, many brands now see AI as a valuable tool in their armouries. And it is – for certain use cases. But as we've written elsewhere , we don't use it for marketing copy – and we never will.

There are plenty of reasons for this. In this article, we're going to focus on a key disincentive: the fact that many of your customers will spot it a mile off.

How can customers tell if content is AI-generated?

First up, we should clarify that not everyone can spot AI-generated content, as anyone reading the comments below an AI image on Facebook will know.

Research suggests that humans are inconsistent at identifying AI text. If you're an AI advocate, you could say this is a great reason to persevere. But from another perspective, the fact that plenty of people can spot it is a key reason to get a human to write your copy rather than a bot.

AI-generated copy serves a purpose. It gets content online quickly and effortlessly. But in doing so, it settles for content that's generic, repetitive and lifeless. It's like going to a fashion show and watching mannequins get pushed down the runway.

In other words, it's a short-term solution. But content creation, SEO and business growth strategies are long-term challenges that require long-term thinking.

Businesses defend their use of AI by saying it serves the customer. They insist it's not just about cutting their own costs – it's actually about giving them what they need.

Well, we're here to tell you that customers want, above all, to be treated like humans. And in some cases, AI knows how to do that. A chatbot, for example, can get you the answer or support you need without putting you on hold.

That's very different from AI-generated content such as web copy and marketing emails. People can tell if they're being taken for a ride – and they don't like it. They want to feel valued, not hoodwinked. In this key regard, humans have still got the upper hand over machines.

Why cutting corners is bad for business

If you rely on AI to generate your copy, you're telling the customer that you're happy to cut corners. Who cares if an article was written by a professional copywriter, ChatGPT or a stranger you met on the bus? It doesn't matter! The point is getting money off the customer. All the rest is a waste of money.

There are two problems with this attitude. First, it dramatically underestimates the intelligence of the customer. It assumes that people are there to be squeezed for their money rather than nurtured as could-be-loyal customers. It puts (to repurpose a political phrase) profit above people.

The second problem is it makes you wonder what other corners are being cut. Let's say you receive an email from a company that's clearly been written using AI. Perhaps the tone is off. Perhaps it's full of needless repetitions. Perhaps it's overflowing with emojis.

Either way, your first response is likely to be some variation on "Oh, come on ". But as you think about it further, you're likely to wonder what else this company doesn't care about.

Would they approach the complaints procedure with the same contempt they've shown in this email? How about refunds or shipping? How about their environmental commitments?

AI-generated copy tells the customer that nothing matters but profit. And that's a bad message to send to customers who, after all, can quickly switch to one of your competitors.

What are the telltale signs that content has been AI-generated?

If you read something and smell an AI-generated rat, chances are it's because there's something off about it. But where does that off-ness come from? In most cases, it's a combination of things that create that uncanny valley feeling.

There's a thread on Reddit that shares many of these telltale signs – from sentence structures to specific word choices.

For us, the most important is this: AI-generated copy is almost always neutral and "safe".

AI doesn't take risks. It doesn't crack jokes unless you ask it to (and they're usually not that funny). It doesn't have style . It's trained on a whole lot of bad copywriting – so, naturally, the results are bunk.

This is why your customers can easily tell you're using AI-generated content. They can see the gaping hole where a personality should be. In short, they can sense they're being fobbed off – a surefire way to send them shopping elsewhere.

What is AI good for?

The danger in rejecting AI is that you come across as a stick-in-the-mud Luddite. In fact, we think AI has plenty of value to offer – just not when it comes to written content.

Even within the world of digital marketing, we can see its value. Chatbots, for instance, directly benefit customers by offering instant support.

But perhaps the most exciting use of AI is in medicine. Did you know, for instance, that the COVID-19 vaccine was developed using AI? As the World Health Organization says:

"The value of AI was recently demonstrated in the COVID-19 pandemic, whereby AI-based approaches were used to accelerate mRNA vaccine antigen design and conduct clinical trials, helping developers to go from a viral sequence to approved product in less than one year."

Now that's a use of AI we can get behind – and chances are it's only going to get better. But when it comes to copywriting? Your best bet is to stick with the professionals.

Are you looking for heroic search-engine-optimised content written by humans for humans? Get in touch with My Digital Hero today and snatch some of our superpowers for yourself.

What is a sales funnel in digital marketing?

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 22:21:11 GMT

In digital marketing, how do you convert leads into sales? Find out how a sales funnel can grow your brand.

Every business needs to turn strangers into paying customers – loyal customers if possible. To do so, they need to get the potential customer's attention, nurture it and convert it into action.

This process sometimes gets referred to as a "sales funnel". It's a process of conversion – from someone thinking your product is cool, interesting or useful to a person willing to give you money for it. In the language of marketing, this is known as "converting a lead into a sale".

Traditionally, sales funnels were linear. Let's say you sold fancy dress costumes. You would send direct mail catalogues. You would put up signs in your shop window. Perhaps you'd pay for TV ads. These would contain all the information a person needed to know about what you offer.

Done well, this kind of marketing created a straight through-line from curiosity to cash. But today, the landscape is altogether different.

On average, a person may see 10,000 ads a day . These ads are no longer coming from a handful of sources – TV, mail catalogue, shop window. They're now also coming from social media, emails, website pop-ups… The linear through-line of old has become a crazy squiggle.

New ways of doing things call for new methods. But all too often, businesses find the digital side of things hard to grasp. They know the internet is a vital marketing tool. But they're never quite sure if they're doing it right.

In this article, we take a closer look at the sales funnel – and how we can help you maximise it.

What are the stages of a sales funnel?

At the top of the sales funnel is awareness. People need to be aware of your products or services. But more importantly, they need to be captured.

Capturing leads is all about gathering data. You've unleashed your beautiful, compelling marketing campaign – but how are you going to keep track of people who've opened the email, expressed an interest, signed up to the mailing list, and so on?

This is a crucial first step. Without knowing your leads, you can't nurture them – the next step on their journey from "interested" to "invested".

Nurturing leads is all about making your offer clearer and more attractive. Do you offer a discount on first sales, for instance? Are you highlighting products and services in emails? Are you using multiple channels to pitch your products?

Above all, is your content minty-fresh or a little faded at the edges? How's the website looking? Are you harnessing SEO to drive traffic to your site with blogs and other copywriting that's good for humans as well as search engines ?

We get it – it's a lot. But it's only by keeping all these plates in the air that you can be confident people will stick around for more.

It's important to remember that everyone is busy. You could say that modern life is one long abandoned cart as we flick from tab to tab. It's a harsh reality but not one that should defeat you. The answer is to nurture leads creatively and in a way that feels persuasive but not pushy.

The other important thing to bear in mind is that the sales funnel is a process of refinement. At the top of the funnel is a mass of interested people. At the bottom are those few who put their money where their mouth is.

Some businesses find this thinning-out dispiriting. But by funnelling and focusing on the dedicated few, you're more likely to get loyal customers.

In a way, this is the ultimate conversion: from one-time customer to old faithful. To achieve this, the sales funnel can't end with a sale. It's an ongoing process of communication.

Why is a sales funnel useful?

In the world of business, it's often useful to visualise processes. Gantt charts, pie charts and other visualisations are popular for one simple reason: they're worth a thousand words.

A sales funnel doesn't have the blinding clarity of a well-made pie chart. But it does take an abstract journey and turn it into a visual process that can be tracked and managed more easily.

Once you can see the process clearly, you're in a better position to bring your sales and marketing into focus. You can see what's working and where there's room for improvement. You can see which leads are falling away and which are sticking around for more.

This brings you closer to the holy grail of digital marketing: data-driven decision-making. No more shots in the dark. No more "Well, let's see how it goes". Just thoughtful, thorough, manageable marketing that captures, nurtures and converts those precious leads.

That's the what and the why of sales funnels. But how about the how? That's where we come in.

How we can help

If you've set up a business, you're probably a smart cookie. Chances are you're juggling multiple tasks, so why not add a sales funnel to your agenda?

There are two ways of looking at this. One is that you're already a multi-tasking business beast. You've got the brains and the willpower to capture, nurture and convert leads. Why bring in outside help?

The other way of looking at it is that sales funnels are time-consuming. They involve managing multiple channels and a truckload of data. In a sales funnel, details count for a lot. If you're already tied up with product development and branding, say, you might find digital marketing the straw that breaks the camel's back.

If this sounds like you, we can help. At My Digital Hero, we offer bespoke digital marketing packages for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Our services include beautiful, intuitive website design , lead generation , Google Ads , SEO and high-quality video marketing .

So, if you're looking for help with people-focused digital marketing, get in touch . We'd love to help you turn those leads into sales.

Do people really click on Google Ads?

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 00:37:21 GMT

How many people click on Google Ads each day? And how many of those clicks convert? Let's calculate…

Do people really click on Google Ads?

Yes. They do.

Google (or, rather, Alphabet – its parent company) is one of the world's biggest tech brands. The Fortune Global 500 for 2023 put it in third place, with an eye-watering revenue of $283 billion.

And most of that money comes from advertising . Those clicks add up, whether they're from Google Search ads, YouTube Ads or the Google Display Network.

For netizens of a certain disposition, that may sound hard to believe. Search ads, you might think, are there to be ignored. They scroll by like trees on a train journey – a momentary distraction on the way to Organic Search Central.

But you're not like most people. Most people click on Google Ads – and we're here to prove it.

How many people click on Google Ads?

In 2023, Google made nearly $238 billion from advertising – an astonishing 84% of its total revenue for that year.

And according to a 2022 survey , 98% of businesses and agencies that advertise online use Google's advertising services. As a point of comparison, a relatively paltry 60% use Microsoft Ads.

What do these statistics tell us? They tell us that Google is an advertising titan – and an effective one at that.

Google makes lots of money from advertising. Ergo, lots of people click Google Ads.

Lots of businesses use Google Ads. Ergo, they work.

But as for exactly how many people click Google Ads… well, that's kinda tricky.

By one estimate, nearly two-thirds of users don't know the difference between Google's organic and paid search results. From that, it's easy to surmise that ads get clicks on the basis that those confused users must be clicking something .

And according to a now-deleted HubSpot report, 63% of people say they've clicked on a Google ad at some point . But that doesn't tell us how often they click on ads or how often they use Google. Some of those people may have clicked an ad once in their lives. They might even be a member of that exclusive club: the die-hard Bing user.

No. We want a nice, whole number. And to figure that out, we'd have to do some quick and dirty calculations.

Luckily for you, we've got a pen and a napkin, and we're not afraid to use them.

We know the average click-through rate (CTR) for search ads is 1.9%. This metric varies a fair bit from sector to sector – but let's stick with it for now.

And let's say the average number of ads per page of Google is three. Again, this is variable – but we're working with napkin-level maths here.

Three ads per page, each with a CTR of 1.9% – that means a 5.7% chance that any ad will be clicked on the first page of Google.

We know that Google handles about 8.5 billion searches daily. If 5.7% of users are clicking on Search ads, that means about 485 million ad clicks. Every. Single. Day.

To put that into an even more confusingly vast perspective, that adds up to around 177 billion clicks each year.

Or how about this? Let's imagine a click-powered space shuttle. Each click gives us enough energy to move one centimetre. If we powered our shuttle using Google's yearly ad clicks, we could make it to the moon and back twice.

Did we mention that lots of people click on Google Ads?

How many of those clicks convert?

We know the average conversion rate for Google Search ads. It's 4.4 %.

If we use our back-of-a-napkin calculations, that works out to around 21 million conversions every day.

But if you weren't already taking our maths with a pinch of salt, you should probably reach it for now. See, that 4.4% figure is the overall average – but when you zoom in on the data, you'll see that conversion rates vary widely between industries.

For instance, the vehicle industry enjoys a whopping 7.98% average conversion rate. But fashion retailers have to put up with a relatively paltry 2.77%. Most other industries fall somewhere between three percent and five percent.

Are all Google Ads meant to be clicked?

So far, we've assumed that businesses want people to click on their Google Ads. That's what they're paying Google for, after all.

However, this isn't always the case. Some ads just aren't meant to be clicked.

The obvious example is Google Display Ads – those image-rich advertising banners you see on sites around the web. Though they can be used to drive clicks, it's not their biggest strength.

Instead, most advertisers use them to boost brand awareness and remind customers that they exist. This is especially effective if those customers have shopped for their products or services in the past.

So far, so common knowledge. However, you might be surprised to learn that the same logic can apply to Google Search ads.

Let's consider a few examples.

1. Getting in there early with brand awareness

Picture this. You run a business with a niche product offering – smart chicken coops, say.

Most of your potential customers don't know how smart chicken coops work. In fact, they don't know the first thing about rearing chickens.

So, they search for phrases like "How to look after chickens" and "Best chicken breeds for beginners".

At this stage, it's unlikely they'll be interested in your high-tech coops. They're still figuring out how this whole chicken thing works.

However, by bidding on keywords related to these research-focused queries, you can plant the seed of brand awareness. You don't necessarily want users to click on your ads at this stage. But with a little luck, your brand will be front of mind when they're eventually ready to buy a smart coop.

2. Bidding on competitor brand names

Things aren't all rosy at DigiCoop. Despite your best efforts, you just can't compete with industry giants like iHutch.

An idea strikes. Why not bid on the iHutch brand name? That way, you'll appear when users search for "iHutch" on Google.

Those users are looking for iHutch, not DigiCoop, so they probably won't click on your ad. If they do, you'll probably pay through the nose for the privilege.

But it might still be worth it. You've snagged a bit of iHutch's search real estate and put your disruptive young brand in front of its much larger audience.

3. Bidding on your own brand name

That's more like it. iHutch customers are flocking to your coops – and so are the chickens.

But there's a problem. iHutch has taken a leaf from your book and started bidding on your brand name. Now its website appears at the top of Google when customers search for DigiCoop.

There's only one thing for it – you'll have to bid on your brand name too. It's the only way to snatch that valuable search real estate back from the sneaky folk at iHutch.

Ideally, customers wouldn't click on your ad. Every click costs money, after all. But you've entered into this bidding war with iHutch, and you have to see it through.

Final thoughts

As we've seen, plenty of people click on Google Ads. Millions daily, in fact.

Moreover, there are certain circumstances where you might not want people to click on your ad.

What have we learnt? Google Ads are effective – and Google Ads are complex. The formula isn't quite as simple as "ads + clicks = profit".

And we haven't even delved into the complexities of pay-per-click optimisation . The keyword research. The A/B testing. The constant tweaking of spend, strategy and ad creative. It takes time, patience and expertise to get it right.

You might have patience and expertise in spades. But if you lack the time, you won't get the results you want.

That's where we can help. We're a small but plucky paid search company with a unique and proactive approach to Google Ads management. Thanks to our expertise, My Digital Hero clients pay 28% less per click than the UK average.* Impressive, right?

It's because we put in the time to make sure everything is as optimised as it can be. Want a slice of that time for yourself? Get in touch with our friendly experts to book a free discovery call.

How to generate leads for your local business

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 21:51:55 GMT

Looking for creative ways to turn locals into leads? Discover 10 of the best ideas in our expert guide.

Most businesses start with a product or service. It's this initial brainwave that puts the wheels in motion. But those wheels won't turn without a host of other processes in place.

It's one of the things that can discourage businesses in their early days. That initial excitement quickly gets lost in a sea of admin.

That admin, of course, is essential. Take lead generation. You could have the best idea in the world, but no one will care if you don't catch their interest.

Companies with national or international reach typically have large marketing departments with correspondingly large budgets. But if you're a local business trying to generate leads, how do you go about it?

Well, it's not easy. Agencies like us exist to do the donkey work so you don't have to. But it's not confidential information. We've no interest in hiding our methods beneath reams of sales jargon.

That's why we've put together this guide to generating leads for your local business. We hope it helps your brand to grow.

1. Local SEO

You sell shoes in Cwmbran. If you type "cwmbran shoes", does your website come up? No? Then you need to up your local SEO game.

There's more to it than that, of course. But the general point is that you need to rise to the top of the search results if you want those valuable clicks.

2. Email marketing

When people criticise email marketing, they're actually criticising bad email marketing. Done well, it can be a concise, creative way of selling your products or services.

Consistency is key. Consumers are like teenagers – you need to tell them something more than once for it to sink in. Emails let you hammer home your branding with a hammer wrapped in velvet.

Of course, to reach those local customers you need to know who they are. This means gathering their data – with their permission, of course.

One way is to ask at the point of sale. If you run a local shop, for instance, you could ask customers for their email addresses in exchange for a one-time offer.

3. Referral marketing

In the early days, it's often the case that leads don't ripple outwards. In other words, you may pin down a customer, and they may even mention you to a friend. But it can often feel like you're proceeding one customer at a time.

This is where referrals can reap dividends. It's where you encourage customers to recommend your business to their friends and family in exchange for a discount, BOGOF or other perk.

4. Social media

Ah, social media: the friend and foe of every local business (and not just local businesses!)

Social media is indispensable, but it often feels like the goalposts are constantly shifting. Keeping across it all takes time and energy.

The big picture, however, is largely constant. You can post content that situates you in the local area. You can interact with customers, whether they're giving you good or bad feedback. And you can strategically target ads to give your brand more reach.

5. Blogging

Many small businesses post regular blog posts on their website. This is a way of driving traffic to the site.

A whisky distillery in Cumbria might post articles about the whisky-making process, taste notes, pairings and so on. But they could also post articles about local walks, local attractions, local food and drink – the list goes on.

The same goes for content like games, quizzes and guides. All can be a way of getting locals onto your site.

6. Video marketing

Video content helps familiarise people with your brand, whether it's footage of your products, behind-the-scenes interviews or location shots.

It's never been easier to create cheap and cheerful videos on your smartphone. But if you want to take it up a notch, you may want to work with a video production and animation company that can deliver the professional touch. This can help you stand out on platforms that are saturated with video content.

7. Landing pages

Landing pages are standalone web pages that encourage visitors to take a specific action. This is a key way to generate leads and begin to convert those leads into customers.

Your landing page could be there to sell a particular product, link to a newsletter or download a document. It could be linked from a marketing email, an online ad, or, indeed, anywhere else online.

8. Pay-per-click advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a model of online advertising. Your ad appears on search engines, social media or websites. In exchange, you pay a fee for each click on your link.

PPC alone probably won't give you the leads you want – but as part of a package of local digital marketing strategies, it will certainly help.

9. Working with influencers

At the time of writing, YouTube has more than 2.5 billion monthly users. TikTok's usership is in the billions, too. These platforms are full of influencers using their personal brands to shift other people's products.

If you run an attraction, you could give influencers free entry in exchange for coverage. If you have a product range, you could give them samples to review.

This can be a great way to boost your signal in a crowded market. However, you need to be confident that the benefits run both ways. The alternative is to give away freebies and make little or nothing back.

10. Work with a digital marketing agency

Digital marketing is like renovating your house. Chances are you have the intelligence to master all the skills required to do it yourself. But do you have the time?

If you're finding that your lead generation is losing steam under the weight of other tasks, why not work with My Digital Hero? We help a wide range of local businesses widen their client base and boost their revenue.

So, if you're thinking about outsourcing lead generation , don't hesitate to contact us and learn more about our flexible, competitively priced services.

Using Bluesky for marketing: is it worth it?

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 20:09:38 GMT

Bluesky is big news – but is this fresh-faced social media platform worth your marketing efforts? Let's find out.

If you've got a nervous system and an email address, you've probably heard of Bluesky by now.

If not, hi! How are things back in 2023?

We jest. However, you can't deny that Bluesky's rise to fame has been difficult to miss. It's the hippest platform since Ziggy Stardust's left shoe – and it's gained users so rapidly you'd swear it was handing out dreams and Mars Bars.

You know what this means. Where users flock, digital marketers like us follow. But is this bright new audience ready to get on board with your product? Or is the platform too new to bear fruit?

Let's investigate.

What is Bluesky and why should I care?

Bluesky is not new. The social media platform has existed – at least as an idea – since 2019.

But it may as well be new, as far as most of us are concerned. For various reasons, Bluesky has seen its user base surge in recent weeks.

Between September 2024 and January 2025, the platform grew from six million users to more than 27.5 million.

Many of these new adopters are so-called "Twitter quitters" – frustrated ex-users of Elon Musk's X app. The good news for them is that Bluesky feels very much like X (formerly Twitter). Long-time tweeters can hit the ground running on Bluesky.

But as we'll see, it's not without its differences. Chief among them is that Bluesky is decentralised. In other words, no one person or company controls Bluesky. Users are free to host their own servers and have more control over the content they see and interact with. They can also create their own apps that interact with Bluesky.

The ramifications for you are twofold. Bluesky represents a fresh and growing user base to which you can direct your marketing efforts. However, its decentralised and (for the time being) ad-free nature means new approaches are needed.

Are there opportunities for marketing on Bluesky?

Currently, Bluesky doesn't have a paid advertising function. There are rumours that the platform will open up to advertisers sometime in 2025, but right now they're just that – rumours.

Our advice? Don't wait around to find out.

Sure, paid advertising may have overtaken organic posts as the predominant marketing method on most social media platforms. But Bluesky isn't most social media platforms.

A big part of Bluesky's appeal is its decentralised, user-first approach. For adopters, the platform offers a chance to curate their own communities and enjoy more control over the content they see. And– let's face it – it offers an escape from the barrage of advertising they face on X, Facebook and Instagram.

This means forgetting your usual box of tricks. On Bluesky, you can't just whip up a snappy ad, throw some dollars at it and wait for the clicks to tumble in. You have to take a quieter, more considered and more user-centric approach.

It's not easy. Heck, Bluesky is a bit of a Wild West right now. But if you bide your time waiting for Bluesky to become X – ads and all – then you're likely to be disappointed. At best, you'll be waiting for a very long time. At worst, your competitors will have run six laps while you're still tying your shoelaces.

The good news is that your competitors don't know what they're doing right now. Nobody does. Brands are writing the rulebook for Bluesky digital marketing as they go along. That's what's so fun about it.

Building a Bluesky marketing strategy

OK. So, there are no rules for marketing on Bluesky. To build an effective marketing strategy, you'll need to test, measure results and spend some time figuring out what works for your brand.

We can't tell you exactly what to do. However, we've got a good idea of what not to do.

Keep these three big DON'TS in mind and you'll get off to a flying start.

1. DON'T think like an advertiser

This might seem counterintuitive. You set up that Bluesky account because you want to advertise your services, right?

Sure. But this isn't your typical social media platform. The users are in charge here – and they can smell marketing lingo from a mile off.

You need to offer value to an ad-savvy user base. If you post something like, "Check out our new product. It's great!", you'll be thrown to the wolves before you hit the enter key.

This means authentic content is the order of the day. Blatantly self-promotional posts will get you nowhere. Instead, focus on asking questions, engaging with other users' posts and fostering a unique, entertaining brand identity.

Marketers of a certain vintage may have the upper hand here. If you're thinking, "This sounds like the early days of Twitter", you're not wrong.

2. DON'T assume it's X mark 2

Bluesky has many similarities with X – but it's not a carbon copy. Decentralisation aside, it lacks certain features that X users have enjoyed for years.

For instance, you can't post image carousels. You can add up to four images with each post, but users can't swipe between these images like they can on X or Instagram.

Bluesky also lacks polls and stories. So, if you rely on these types of posts to power your social media marketing efforts, you'll need to take a different tack with Bluesky.

Content moderation works differently on Bluesky, too. As a decentralised platform, it relies heavily on community moderation rather than paid moderators and robots. While this means your reach won't suffer at the hands of an algorithm, it does mean that a more nuanced approach to brand safety is required.

3. DON'T sleep on new features

Bluesky is already distinguishing itself from X by launching several unique features.

One such feature is custom domains. This is Bluesky's version of Twitter's blue ticks (before they became available to all as a paid feature). They exist to establish legitimacy and protect your brand name – and are arguably more robust than the blue ticks of old.

To create a custom domain, you must link your Bluesky account to your website's domain name. It involves a few extra steps but is well worth doing – and doing early.

Another Bluesky-only feature is the custom feed. You can think of this as a build-your-own algorithm generator.

See, Bluesky is different from X and other platforms in that it doesn't rely on an algorithm. There's no mysterious supercomputer deciding what you see and when. Instead, users see posts from people they follow in their timeline – and these posts appear in chronological order.

But with custom feeds, users (and brands) can craft curated algorithmic timelines. And, even better, other users can follow these feeds.

This is a great way to establish your brand as a trusted curator and expert voice. You could, for instance, create a custom feed that's tailored to local customers. Or a feed that brings together the smartest minds in a niche industry sector.

So, is marketing on Bluesky worth it?

Yes, absolutely.

Marketing on Bluesky means forgetting old habits and forging new ones. But on the upside, this is a fresh user base with a glass-half-full philosophy. They're sick of constant ads, sure – but they're ready and willing to engage with brands that speak to them on their own terms.

And we can help you do the talking. As a small but plucky social media management firm , we can provide the attentive and inventive approach you need to thrive on a new platform like Bluesky.

Ready to break new ground? Get in touch with My Digital Hero today for a free consultation.

Why we don't (and won't) use AI for copywriting

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:29:17 GMT

Some marketing agencies will use AI for copywriting – but not My Digital Hero. Find out why in our article.

AI! AI! AI! It's the acronym on everyone's lips. With ChatGPT able to turn out reams of human-sounding content with minimal prompting, why wouldn't you use it for your marketing?

Well, here at My Digital Hero, we take a different approach. We believe that AI is good for some things – but copy isn't one of them.

For our money, the things you want your copy to do for you are far better achieved by skilled copywriters than by a machine, no matter how superficially dazzling it is.

In this article, we give four good reasons why we don't use AI for copywriting – and what we can do that ChatGPT can't.

But, look. We know that people wouldn't be considering AI for copywriting at all if they weren't strapped for time. So if you want the two-sentence summary, here it is:

AI isn't a silver bullet. It's too much effort for too much risk.

Why? To answer that you need to think long and hard about what you and the customer want from copy.

1. You need a poet, not a mimic

AI's ability to sound like a human is impressive, if not a little eerie. But is "sounding like a human" enough? You might as well get a parrot to take your calls.

Good copy isn't just informative and it doesn't just sound like a human. It's witty, sparkling and engaging. Its purpose, after all, is to keep visitors on your site or reading your marketing email. If the content is mechanical, people will switch off.

The bottom line is that there's no substitute for human ingenuity. AI is incredible at some things and less good at others. Want to be thrashed at chess? AI's the answer. Want copy that will keep customers on-side? You need a human with imagination and technical skill.

2. You need precision, not plausibility

This second point is related to the first. AI is trained to sound plausible – that's not the same thing as being correct. In fact, there's a word for what AI does: sophistry.

Sophistry is the use of clever but false arguments to win people over. AI can talk the talk, but when you scratch the surface, you find that it's riddled with errors.

Some companies don't care enough to check – but we do. If we got AI to write our copy, we'd be all over it with a fine-tooth comb. By the time we'd made sure everything was above board, we may as well have written it ourselves.

Your company needs copy that's informative as well as entertaining. That means being sure that it's precise, not plausible – and for that, no text generator can replace a skilled copywriter.

3. You need good SEO, not bad

Let's be real: AI is bad for SEO.

That's because Google favours quality when choosing what to push up or down its search rankings. If you turn on your AI machine and get it to churn out an article, it's going to be relegated to the back bench.

We could, of course, use AI to generate text and then turn it into sparkling prose. But it's not a good use of our time – and our time is your money. It's better simply to put a skilful writer in charge of the task. That way, you get content that's good for humans and good for Google.

You also get better SEO all around. AI just isn't that good at it. You're usually left with copy that needs to be retrofitted with keywords – and when you do that, the reader can hear the creaks.

Compare that to a trained SEO copywriter's ability to weave in keywords smoothly and naturally. It's easy to see which is better for you and your website.

4. You need your customers to trust you

Using AI for copy is a way of fooling the reader. But people are getting wise to it and more and more customers can smell it a mile off. Soon, that mile will be an inch or two.

What AI copy says to the customer is that you don't care. It says that you'll cut corners to look and sound like the real thing – but ultimately, you're just trying to get in their wallets.

This is a bad look and it doesn't bode well for the customer. Whether consciously or subconsciously, they're likely to be wondering: what other corners is this company cutting? Can I trust it to deliver on its promises?

Working with us, you get creative, sparkling copy that shows the customer you care. Don't think you can fool them – people will spot your AI-generated copy and click away.

That's why we don't use AI now – but why won't we in the future?

Look, we don't know exactly how AI is going to develop. Perhaps one day it will reach such heights that it will be able to do all of the above. But until it does, we won't touch it with a bargepole.

You wouldn't get a robot receptionist that sounded almost human but lacked a nuanced understanding of human interaction. So why would you go for the copywriting equivalent?

TL;DR

Good copy serves multiple functions. It informs. It entertains. It optimises your search engine rankings. At the time of writing, none of these things can be done reliably well by AI.

Where copy is concerned, you need skilled writers with a turn of phrase that the customer will love. You need content that's accurate – not just accurate-sounding-but-vague-on-the-details. You need SEO with a human touch that will boost your brand visibility.

And guess what – we can give you all those things. Work with us and you'll see why good old-fashioned copywriting still has the edge over its text-generated competitors.

At My Digital Hero, website content writing for SEO is one of our superpowers. Get in touch today to find out more.

AI lead generation can rescue your sales pipeline and social life

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:24:19 GMT

What's the point of AI lead generation? What does it do and how does it work? Learn the ropes in our guide.

You can't walk more than five feet these days without stubbing your toe on some form of artificial intelligence (AI).

There's AI copywriting. AI image generation. AIs that can write songs and AIs that can sing them to you. There are AIs for learning, mindfulness and friendship. Before long, there'll be an AI for everything.

But we're standing at the threshold of a technological revolution – and, as such, results can be spotty.

AI-generated copy tends to be flat, perfunctory and riddled with errors. AI-generated images can be decent if you know what you're doing – but if you don't, you can expect hands to grow new digits and faces to take on a Teflon sheen. And those friendbots? They're beset by bad PR, thanks in no small part to their dodgy responses and questionable privacy policies .

At the end of the day, AIs are computers – and computers are still best at what computers do best. This means automation: completing mundane or complex tasks at hyper-human speed.

But this isn't like the old days when writing a program to calculate your taxes meant getting very correct taxes and nothing else. AI is a secret ingredient in the automation stew – it allows the computer's brain to veer, ever so slightly, from its coded course and start making good decisions on its own.

And so the stew turns into a five-star bouillabaisse. It's still fast and it's still precise – but now it's intelligent enough to adjust its approach when circumstances demand it.

It's not so good for taxes. But for tasks like lead generation, which demand hours of time before you see even a glimmer of reward, it's like hot bouillabaisse on a cold day.

What's the point of AI lead generation?

If you're part of a sales team, you'll know the score.

Lead generation is a slow and painful task. It involves sending hundreds of emails or making dozens of cold calls and praying that one or two of your targets bite. Most of the time, you'll be shrugged off or ignored.

And that's just step one . Now you've got a lead on the hook – but reeling them in is harder than snaring a great white shark.

You've got to take things slowly. This means steady, gentle persuasion. Hit them over the head with a hard sell and they're likely to swim over to the closest competitor.

This latter phase – the reeling and nurturing – is where great salespeople can shine. It takes charm, creativity and good listening skills to turn a warm lead into a hot sale – and when it works, it feels like Christmas wrapped in 20 birthdays. All your hard work has paid off.

The first phase – the emails and cold phone calls – is decidedly less rewarding. After your 25th email of the day, you feel like you're trying to churn butter out of pond water. It's endless. It's thankless. And when you pop to the pub after work, you realise it's turned you into a terrible bore.

Ideally, you could just make up random email addresses, stick them in a mailing list and hit "send". But you know this would do more harm than good. A lead-generation campaign without targeting is like a bow without arrows. Sure, you'll hear the twang – but good luck hitting anything.

Enter AI lead generation. It's a powerful new kind of marketing tool that's clever enough to handle phase one for you. Like any good computer, it can do things fast – but it can also target the kinds of consumers who are most likely to be interested in your product or service.

The benefits of this can't be overstated. AI lead generation effectively lets you skip to the good part – where your sales skills matter and your time is best spent. It means less churn, more high-quality leads and a happier social life. Bottoms up!

How does it work?

We can't speak for every AI lead-generation tool under the Sun. But ours is powered by a potent mix of AI smarts, human ingenuity and automation.

Each shines at a different step in the process. Let's take a look at these in detail.

Step one: AI-powered targeting

Choosing the right targets is essential in any lead-generation campaign. But how do you separate the nurturable wheat from the disinterested chaff?

Our solution uses two magic tricks to get the job done.

The first is AI mailing list generation. You tell the tool what to look for – a job title, industry or level of seniority, perhaps – and it goes trawling the web to find people who match this criteria. And that's it. Your prospecting is done. Go and make yourself a cup of tea.

The second is website visitor targeting. Our tool can tell when a person visits your site, and – thanks to some smart data crunching – it can match them to a name, job title and email address. Bingo – instant marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) for your sales funnel.

Step two: automated emails

Now you've got your list of prospects, you need to start warming them up.

This is where human ingenuity comes in. Our team of experienced copywriters cook up attention-grabbing, conversion-primed emails that speak directly to the audience you identified in step one.

But you hardly have to lift a finger. Like 90% of the process, the emails are automated according to rules that you (or we) define.

A website visitor campaign, for instance, could start with a quick email thanking the person for visiting your website and asking if they need any extra support.

If they reply, bingo – you've got a hot lead. If not, the system sends them another gentle email a week or so later. And a week after that. And so on.

But direct replies are only part of the picture. Behind the scenes, your recipient's actions are being tracked and a lead score is being applied.

Lead scoring is a powerful way to identify warm MQLs and save time for your sales team. If a prospect takes a positive action – such as opening an email or clicking a link – their lead score increases. High-scoring prospects stand out as being prime sales opportunities.

This means you're not just twiddling your thumbs and waiting for prospects to reply. Lead scoring is like a crystal ball that lets you read minds and sniff out leads who would otherwise be lost to time.

Spotted a prospect with a high lead score? Go on – swoop in and make the first move.

Step three: good old-fashioned charm

Taken together, the tactics we've described can generate up to 1,000 MQLs. Every. Single. Month.

That's a lot of leads to schmooze. But bear in mind that these are real MQLS: people who have clearly demonstrated that they're interested in your offering. Our tool has done the hard work for you – and now you're left with happy fish in a sales-friendly barrel.

All that's left for you to do is drop them an email or pick up the phone. With a little old-fashioned charm, they'll be knocking at your digital door in no time.

The bottom line

Lead generation can feel like turning up late to the Gold Rush. It requires long hours of hard graft – and there's no guarantee you'll dig up anything worth keeping.

But AI lead generation turns this sorry situation on its head. It uses smart targeting and automation to speed through the prospecting phase and turn up high-quality leads who have shown real interest.

For managers, this means getting the most out of your team's talents. They can spend their days doing what they're good at – selling – and leave the mundane, time-hungry tasks to a very clever little robot.

Beep. Boop. Success.

Want to pump up your pipeline and improve the quality of your leads? My Digital Hero's lead-generation AI promises up to 1,000 MQLs every month. Get in touch with our marketing superheroes and start planning for a brighter, more profitable future.

Google does Google Ads wrong

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:20:57 GMT

Google is quick to offer PPC account optimisation advice – but is it worth following? Guess what we think…

Don't get us wrong. We love Google.

Google makes the world go round. It shows us how to get from A to B, sniffs out great shopping opportunities and teaches us how to make potato pave at three o'clock on a Wednesday morning.

Google is priceless. But it's not perfect – especially when it comes to its own pay-per-click (PPC) management tools.

That's right. Google is bad at Google Ads.

We don't mean the suite itself is buggy or bad or hard to use. It is – sometimes. But that's a story for another day.

No. We mean Google gives bad advice to its PPC customers.

At best, this advice can lead to poor performance. At worst, it can cause serious budgetary headaches for the businesses that follow it.

Here's why.

1. Google recommends broad match keywords

When you set up a Google Ads campaign, you can select from a wide range of keyword-matching options.

These affect when your ads appear for customer searches. Effectively, Google asks, "How strict should I be when serving ads for this keyword?" In response, you can answer, "broad match", "phrase match" or "exact match".

Without getting into the nitty gritty, exact match is the most restrictive and broad match is, well, the broadest.

Say you sell sausages. You've got your eye on the keyword "free range sausages" – but which matching option should you choose?

If you choose exact match, your ad will only appear when a customer searches for "free range sausages" or very closely related terms like "free range sausage" and "sausages free range".

Broad match, on the other hand, is a free-for-all. Your ad could appear for searches like "meat free sausages", "sausage dogs" and "how do I remove a sausage from my ear".

Google is quick to recommend broad match because, in its own words , it "helps you reach a wider audience without requiring you to build an extensive keyword list".

But from your point of view, broad match could mean casting a wide net and catching nothing but flotsam. After all, there's not much use in trying to sell pork sausages to vegetarians.

To make matters worse, you're paying through the nose for the privilege. Broad match means your ad gets served more often. This means more clicks to pay for – and less targeted (and thus less valuable) clicks at that.

So, Google recommends the option that helps Google get paid. Coincidence? Hmm…

2. Google's automation is awful

Google really, really wants you to use its automation tools.

On paper, it's hard to fault the company for it. Automation means saving time and unlocking efficiencies. Isn't that a good thing for users?

Sure. But you shouldn't trust a bot that makes bad decisions.

Some of Google's automation tools can be quite dangerous if you give them free rein over your account. Automatic keyword generation, for instance, can have similar effects to broad match if left unchecked.

(And somewhere in California, Google's wallet just got fatter.)

Of course, this can all be avoided if you manually sign off everything the robots try to do. But doesn't that kind of defeat the point of automation?

3. Google's optimisation score is about as useful as an igloo in Istanbul

Your optimisation score is not to be confused with your Quality Score.

For one, Quality Score is useful. It tells you how your ads compare to other advertisers and gives you actionable feedback to help you save cash and win clicks.

Optimisation score, meanwhile, is meant to act as a holistic overview of your account's expected performance. Your account is assigned a percentage, with 100% meaning "You're doing great – no complaints".

Google provides recommendations to help you improve your optimisation score. Some of these, like adding relevant keywords, constitute sound advice.

But most of the time, your optimisation score only goes up when you do things Google wants you to do. Things like adding more budget. Things that, frankly, make Google more money.

With optimisation score, Google has effectively gamified Google Ads. You see a number. You want to do things to make that number go up. It's human nature.

Unfortunately, it's also bad for your bank balance.

Why does Google give bad advice?

Let us stress, again, that we don't have a problem with Google. Google is great. We love Google. Wrap us up in Google and post us to Google in a big envelope marked "Google". Please.

But faced with the evidence, we can draw only one conclusion: Google gives bad Google Ads advice because it wants you to part with your hard-earned cash.

Google wants you to add more budget and broaden your reach. It wants you to accept its automations and target as many keywords as there are definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Google wants you to take its advice in good faith. But, frankly, it's not offering this advice in good faith. It wants your money – pure and simple.

You can see this in the way Google appoints ad managers to help with your account.

It seems like a nice gesture. An expert from Google reaches out and promises to help you optimise your account and drive ROI. How thoughtful.

The problem is that these experts offer the same bad advice that Google peddles online. Increase your ad budget. Choose broad-match keywords. Switch on every automation option, cover your ears and go "La, la, la, la, la".

To make matters worse, these experts aren't even Google employees. They're employed by third parties and they get paid on commission. If they can convince you to increase ad spend, they get a bonus. Simple.

If you ever needed evidence as to where Google's priorities lie, this is it.

How should you manage Google Ads?

Google's recommendations focus on breadth of reach and scale of spend. It's big on promises and short on details.

Here at My Digital Hero, we take the opposite approach. We are extremely detail-focused because we believe this is the best way to get the biggest bang for every buck.

This means ditching broad match, for a start. We want complete control over every keyword and every penny spent. Automations are all about relinquishing control, so they can get stuffed too.

In fact, our approach is so detail-orientated that some might consider it a little old-fashioned.

We use a management method called SKAG, which stands for "single keyword ad groups".

Long story short, this method gives us granular control over every aspect of the account and allows us to achieve a great Quality Score for each ad. By keeping everything on a short leash, we can stay on top of budgets and easily control overspending.

You can't say the same for Google's approach, where a rogue broad match keyword can quickly drain ad budget and leave you swimming up Search Creek without a paddle.

Is it old-fashioned? Maybe. But our clients have entrusted us with their budgets – and this isn't a responsibility we take lightly.

So, while our approach demands a little extra time and effort, it's worth it. It consistently delivers impressive results and means we can sleep soundly at night knowing we've done the best possible job for our clients.

Do you need an expert eye to help you get more from your Google Ads budget? Our paid search optimisation specialists are ready to swoop in and help. Get in touch to get the ball rolling.

MQLs vs SQLs: know your leads

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:13:49 GMT

MQLs and SQLs: what's the difference? Learn all about this important aspect of sales and marketing.

If you're new to marketing, there are probably times when you feel like you're drowning in acronym soup. KPIs, SEO, PPC, MQLs… Can't we all just talk in plain English?

Well, sometimes jargon is unhelpful or plain exclusionary – a way of signalling to others that you work in a specialised field. But at other times, jargon is there to encode important differences of meaning.

MQLs and SQLs are examples of the latter. These two terms help to distinguish two types of sales leads. By making that distinction, you're in a better position to optimise your marketing and sales.

Leads are there for a reason. They can help you turn curious browsers into loyal, engaged customers. But you can't do that effectively if you lump all of them into one big mental bucket marked "sales".

In this article, we take a look at the difference between MQLS and SQLs. We also consider where each type of lead fits into the sales funnel and how you can turn an MQL into an SQL.

What's the difference?

MQL stands for "marketing-qualified lead". It refers to a person who's interested in your products or services. An SQL, by contrast, is a sales-qualified lead. This person is interested and intends to buy.

To close a sale, you need those MQLs to turn into SQLs. But it's not always easy. If someone clicks on your Google ad or opens one of your emails, are they going to buy?

The answer is that you just don't know. Can you look at someone in the veg aisle at the supermarket and decide at a glance whether they're going to buy that radish or put it back on the shelf? No – and the same applies to leads in the digital space.

In practice, this means you need to communicate with MQLs and SQLs in different ways, with tailored outreach, ads and brand messaging.

What's an MQL?

An MQL is an individual or company that has engaged with your marketing. They've not yet put anything in their cart but they've interacted in some way.

Perhaps they've visited your website, downloaded a PDF or clicked on an ad. None of this signals purchasing intent but it does show interest – interest that, with the right amount of persuasion, can turn into a sale.

What's an SQL?

An SQL has been back for a second, third or fourth look. Perhaps they've downloaded case studies or pricing charts. It's clear that they're in the market for your service or product.

It's important to note that an SQL is still a lead, not a customer. They might never buy your product or service but instead move on to a competitor. This is why you need to target them effectively to maximise your chances of getting their custom.

Why is the difference important?

Let's take a real-world, offline example. Let's say you're in a coffee shop and a flyer catches your eye. Picking up and pocketing that flyer means you're interested but not committed. Scanning the QR code on the flyer or signing up to the mailing list suggests that you're committed (or just very, very bored).

The distinction is important because those two types of behaviour need to be nurtured in different ways. The casual flyer-pocketer needs to be convinced by the flyer to scan the QR code. The person who scans the QR code needs to be convinced to buy the product.

The same applies to marketing. Your MQL who clicks on your ad or visits your website needs to be coaxed, impressed and persuaded – but they don't need to be bombarded with the small print.

But your SQL who has engaged multiple times and shown purchasing intent needs that detail. Without it, they could throw their hands up and click away from your site.

Losing a customer isn't the end of the world. It's the nature of the online marketplace. Still, you should be doing everything you can to turn MQLs into SQLs and SQLs into sales. You can only do this with marketing that's tailored to each stage of the customer journey.

What is lead behaviour?

Lead behaviour covers all the ways a prospective customer engages with your brand.

A marketing agency will pull out behaviour analytics for you: things like the pages the lead has visited, the amount of time they've spent there and the forms they've filled out. You can then use this information to decide whether this MQL can be turned into an SQL.

What is lead scoring?

If you have just a handful of leads, it's possible to nurture each one individually. But if you have a lot to sift through, you can use something called "lead scoring" to rank them by their readiness to buy.

Typically, lead scoring will combine demographic and company information with email and social engagement levels. Once your lead hits a certain number of points, they're ready to get the hard sell.

Software exists to automate lead scoring. If it's something you're not sure about, it can be wise to outsource it to a marketing agency that knows its stuff.

How do you turn an MQL into an SQL?

Turning an MQL into an SQL is a fine art with one key ingredient: timing.

Try to sell too soon and you might put off a casual browser. But leave it too late and you lose a customer.

It isn't rocket science – but it does require a level of expertise that not every start-up or small business has. This is a key reason why it can be advisable to get a third-party marketing agency onboard to turn window shoppers into buyers.

Final thoughts

Knowing the difference between MQLs and SQLs is an important step in learning how to boost your sales. But turning the one into the other requires patience and skill.

While you can get results with DIY sales, many small businesses find that outsourcing it to the experts is best. It means you can maximise your chances of success while focusing on the things that only you can do.

Is your sales pipeline dryer than the Serengeti? My Digital Hero's AI lead generation engine uses cutting-edge automation to generate up to 1,000 MQLs per month. Book a free, no-obligation meeting and get that pipeline pumping again.

Video marketing: 5 vital statistics to show your boss

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:09:18 GMT

Need some stats to convince your boss that video marketing will benefit your brand? Load up on these.

Video marketing can take different forms. It could be animated, CGI, live-action or a blend of all three. It could be a straight-ahead advert or an explainer video that breaks down a key concept.

Whatever form they take, videos can be a powerful tool in your marketing armoury. Why? There are two main reasons.

The first is that we're indisputably living in the Age of Video. With smartphone, laptop and tablet usage at an all-time high, people are watching more video content than ever before.

Second, marketing is all about telling stories – and video is the perfect medium for spinning an engaging yarn. This is true whether you're using live-action, animation or CGI.

Take a live-action advert. It's not just in social life that people like putting a face to a name. Getting you and your teams' faces out there can personalise your brand in a way that cold hard text can't.

Or think about animations. Marketing is all about offering solutions. One of the best ways to market a solution is to break down a difficult concept and explain how your product or service can help. And it's no exaggeration to say that video is far, far better than text or pictures when it comes to explaining tricky concepts.

Nevertheless, not everyone wants to embrace video marketing. Some think that the production costs are too high – that there won't be enough of an ROI to make it worthwhile.

To this, we say "Balderdash!" and "No sirree!" At My Digital Hero, we offer engaging, beautiful videos that don't cost the earth.

But if your boss still needs convincing of the power of video marketing, here are some vital statistics to support your case.

1. More than three billion people watch videos on the internet

"A lot of people watch videos online" is ready to join statements like "water is wet" in the Guinness Book of the Bleeding Obvious. Still, think about it: more than three billion people consume video content. That's almost half the population of the Earth.

This statistic speaks for itself. Video marketing isn't some kind of nerdy niche. It's one of the quickest, easiest and most effective ways to share your brand story with as many people as possible.

2. 88% of business owners say that video marketing offers a positive ROI

( Source )

In business, lots of good ideas are buried in a grave marked "Where's the ROI?" And with good reason – if you're going to spend money, you need to know it will turn a profit.

Well, you'll be pleased to know that 88% of business owners have reported that video marketing offers a positive ROI. And while we can't be sure, we strongly suspect that the 22% who answered differently had bad video marketing to blame.

So if your pitch for a video marketing campaign gets batted away on the grounds of ROI, this is a powerful statistic to share.

3. 95% of people have watched an explainer video for a product or service

( Source )

Sometimes, you need to explain a product, service or concept before you can sell it. Animated explainer videos are one of the best ways to do it.

At My Digital Hero, we're passionate about words – but we know that when it comes to complicated concepts, video is king.

This is because it can get the point across so succinctly and memorably. And with so many people online absorbing so much video content, it's a way of getting your brand identity under the noses of potential customers.

4. 93% of brands get new customers through video marketing on social media

( Source )

This one speaks for itself. Video marketing on social media gets customers through the door – whether that's the door to your premises or your web store.

With this in mind, you'd have thought every boss would be gagging for some snappy, engaging social media videos. But there's one obstacle in the way.

From one point of view, social media is easy. Simply log on, post and comment. From another, it's an absolute nightmare .

An effective social media strategy involves multiple channels, each with its own way of working. If you're already pushed for time, learning the differences between, say, the right aspect ratios for TikTok, Facebook and the rest can be far from welcome.

That's where we come in. As well as helping you produce video content for social media, we can manage posting too. With a well-planned content calendar and engagement analytics taken care of, you'll be watching your customer base grow in no time.

5. 70% of people bought a brand after seeing it advertised on YouTube

( Source )

Along with doubts about ROI, doubts about conversion rates are a major obstacle to video marketing. "Yes," your boss might say, "this is all very well and good – but will it get bums on seats, products in carts, or people through the door?"

The answer is a resounding "yes". According to Google, nearly three-quarters of people have bought a brand after seeing it advertised on YouTube.

YouTube is a great place to advertise because it targets users based on their search histories and interests. That means you're not trying to give a vegetarian a flyer for rump steak (metaphorically speaking). Instead, you can get your advert to the people who are most likely to engage.

So what are you waiting for? Give your brand a leg-up by advertising on YouTube.

Final thoughts

Video marketing can help you reach new customers, flesh out your brand identity and tell the story you want to tell. This is true whether you're doing a traditional live-action ad, an animated explainer video or an elaborate CGI production.

At My Digital Hero, we believe in the power of video – and our services reflect this belief. So, if you're looking for engaging, beautiful video production and animation , don't hesitate to get in touch with My Digital Hero. We'd love to help turn your vision into a reality.

What does "good SEO" look like in 2025?

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:02:38 GMT

Forget the boring essays and fun-sponge webinars. Here's a simple test you can use to tell whether your SEO is "good SEO". Thank us later.

The short answer: good SEO is people-focused SEO.

It's that simple. Good SEO benefits your customers, who are humans. Bad SEO only tries to please algorithms, which aren't human – despite what some ex-Google employees might think .

Why, then, does the debate rage on? Why are there so many people arguing about what makes SEO good ?

These arguments, we should add, are often contradictory – and are debated with the passion of a thousand fiery software engineers.

And this is despite the fact that Google has outright told us what good SEO looks like.

Back in August 2022, Google announced its Helpful Content Update. This follows on from similar spam-fighting updates like Panda and Penguin .

The Helpful Content Update tweaked Google's search algorithm to – and we quote – "better reward content where visitors feel they've had a satisfying experience. […] Content that doesn't meet a visitor's expectations won't perform as well."

Google wants eyeballs on the good stuff. The content that does its research, checks its facts and tells a good story. Google has a name for it, too: "people-first content".

So why the debate? The reason, we think, is that Google's words are open to interpretation.

On one side, you have the wait-and-see brigade. They stick to old techniques because they've worked in the past and – to some extent – still do.

These old hands interpret Google's words to mean, "as long as it's not harming anyone, it's OK". Sure, they might have crowbarred that keyword into their copy a few too many times, but it's hardly going to ruin anyone's day, is it?

On the other side? The bridge burners. They see Google's statement as the death knell for SEO. "Don't even think about SEO," they wail, clanging a funereal gong, "just create stuff ".

As you might have guessed, our interpretation sits somewhere in the middle. We don't think SEO is dead – after all, Google has talked openly about its own SEO strategy . But, at the same time, we're totally on board with the people-first approach.

The two concepts are not mutually exclusive. Good SEO puts people first but is still SEO . It takes people out for a romantic, candlelight dinner, yet takes the time to step outside and give Google a quick phone call. You know, just to check in.

"But," you might be thinking, "I remember what you said 400-ish words ago. You said that good SEO sets out to please humans, not algorithms. How can you please humans while still tipping your hat to Google? Isn't that contradictory?"

No. And it all comes down to a simple question.

How to tell if SEO is good SEO

Say you're doing some SEO . Maybe you're working on some copy or tweaking the internal link structure of your website.

It's fine to do this with Google's almighty algorithm in mind. But you should always ask yourself, "is this also going to improve things for my website visitors?"

That's the test. Good SEO makes people and Google happy. Bad SEO tries to score goals in the Google game by rough-tackling its own user base.

This question – "does it benefit both? – is at the heart of our SEO philosophy. We ask ourselves the question, consciously or not, dozens of times every day.

And it works. Our clients see impressive search gains and their users enjoy swift, easy-to-use websites packed with well-researched content. (Yes, we're tooting our own horn. Sorry-not-sorry.)

Now you know the magic question, let's put it to the test with some common SEO scenarios.

Scenario one: creating thin location pages

You sell humane spider traps. (OK, you probably don't. Just play along.)

You sell humane spider traps and you have a burgeoning empire of humane-spider-trap shops in various locations across the UK.

Your keyword research tells you there's local interest in your products. You've seen healthy search volume for queries like "humane spider traps leeds" and "buy humane spider trap glasgow".

Naturally, you want these potential customers to know you exist. So you start creating content that targets these geographic queries. Soon, Glasgow's spiders will be hailing you as their personal saviour.

But is this good SEO? Does it benefit users and search engines?

The answer is probably "no". You've created these pages with Google in mind. They won't provide much value for users in Leeds or Glasgow or anywhere else.

And, inevitably, you'll have to mine the same quarry of information to create content for each location. This means the content will be thin, repetitive and only tangentially related to the location it targets.

The verdict? Bad SEO.

Scenario two: switching to a faster website host

Users have complained that Spider-B-Free.com is too slow. You decide to switch to a different hosting provider to help grease the wheels.

Does this benefit users and search engines? No brainer – yes it does.

Users love snappy websites – or, rather, they hate slow websites. Research has shown that 57% of mobile website visits are abandoned if the site takes longer than three seconds to load.

And Google adores fast websites too. It's well known that site speed is a ranking factor – in other words, faster sites tend to perform better in Google search results.

The verdict: good SEO.

Scenario three: writing blogs based on "FAQ keywords"

Things are looking up. You've ditched the spammy location pages, supercharged your site and are about to launch a brand-new blog. Exciting!

But what should you write about? Again, you turn to keyword research for the answer.

You notice people are asking questions related to your products. They're searching for things like "how do humane spider traps work?" and "what's the best humane trap for false widow spiders?"

These seem like good places to start. But you're hesitant. If you target these keywords, aren't you putting Google before your customers?

That depends.

If you wrote some thin, keyword-stuffed blog posts that used lots of words to say very little, then… yes. That would be putting Google first. It wouldn't add much value for users of your website.

But you don't do that. You're the UK's preeminent spider-catching expert. You know your stuff, so you write engaging articles that are full of unique insights and time-honoured tips. Customers love them – and Google takes note of their quality too.

The verdict: good SEO – if you write targeted content that adds value for users.

Now you know our secret, let's put it into action. At My Digital Hero, we've helped businesses of all stripes get great results with people-focused SEO. Learn more about our heroic white-hat SEO services or get in touch and we'll swoop in to help.

The secret to good web design

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 14:59:44 GMT

What's the secret to good web design? Learn our secret formula – a dab of design wizardry, a sprinkle of research and plenty of user-focused content.

At My Digital Hero, we pride ourselves on knowing a thing or two about good web design . But we're not ones to hog our expertise – we'd rather share the secret with whoever is interested.

When we talk about "good website design", we mean any website for any kind of enterprise. The principles are the same, whether you're selling shoes or superyachts.

We want websites that are responsive, beautiful, organic, bespoke and easy to manage. But how do you turn these buzzwords into reality?

Well, there are three things that we think are simply indispensable.

1. Research

A good website is built on research. Research into what? Well, primarily into what you want to achieve.

Your website is your shop window, sure. But it's also a place where a curious browser can become a customer at the click of a button. It's a crucial arrow in your digital quiver.

That means your website needs to be responsive to what people are looking for. It needs to be findable. It needs to engage with your customers' needs, wants and pain points – and demonstrate that your brand will answer them all.

A vital way of achieving this is to research keywords that your customers are searching for. This isn't because keywords are some magical incantation that summons customers to your website – it's because keyword research and customer research are two sides of the same coin.

A website built on keyword research pleases Google – but it pleases customers too because it helps them to answer their questions about the service or product you're providing.

By researching and deploying those crucial keywords, you're responding to your customers' needs by explaining how your business can meet them.

So before you start building your website, you need to have a firm grasp on what your kind of customer is looking for. Once you're armed with this knowledge, you can pack your site to the gunwales with appealing, keyword-rich content.

2. Content

Scepticism about SEO content is entirely understandable. After all, it takes time, money and a way with words. You'd be forgiven for thinking it's so much fluff clogging up your online presence.

In fact, bespoke content rooted in research is a surefire way to get people to your site.

Some browsers who end up on your site will have done so as a result of your expert marketing – those Google Ads, marketing emails and social media posts that you've sweated over.

But if you have content related to your customers' needs, wants and pain points then you can let them in through the back door.

Cards on the table: you might be reading this blog post precisely because of this phenomenon. And we'd be lying if we said we didn't want you to take a look around when you've finished reading.

In the digital realm, keywords are king. By creating content that features keywords searched for by your customers, you can ensure a steady stream of visitors to your site.

But wait – isn't this just a deceptive way of increasing website traffic?

Well yes – if the content you're providing has no value. But if it genuinely responds to the needs of customers and answers their questions, you'd be missing out if you didn't take up the opportunity.

What's more, you can't fob off search engines with empty articles hamfistedly stuffed with keywords. First and foremost, good content is copy that people want to read.

It's also content that's rooted in keywords. Writing content before doing your keyword research is a case of putting the cart before the horse. If you can't answer the question "what do my customers want?" then they're unlikely to linger on your website. And answering that question is closely related to knowing which keywords they're searching for.

So when you come to create your website, you need content that's relevant to your customers' needs and delicately peppered with SEO-friendly keywords. Only that way will the new traffic to your site lead to those much-sought-after conversions.

Finally, you need copy that presents your brand in the best possible light – professional, knowledgeable, helpful and approachable. And it needs to be written in a tone that's right for you.

As with that all-important keyword research, content needs to please humans as well as search engines.

3. A build that's fit for humans!

If you spend a lot of your working day online, you'll doubtless have strong opinions on what makes a good website. And we guarantee that one word will be common to them all – user-friendliness.

Yes, it seems obvious, but we still see so many websites that aren't fit for human use. Slow, bloated, hard to navigate… sometimes websites can seem like an afterthought, when they're really an essential part of a brand's identity.

If a customer comes to your website looking for a specific product or piece of information, they want it fast. You're not only in competition with other businesses – you're in competition with their websites.

As well as user-friendliness, your website needs to be powered by content – and it's this research-driven content that in turn drives your website design. Build your website around content and your message will come across that bit clearer – improving not only search engine rankings but the whole customer journey.

So once you've equipped yourself with research-rich content, you need a website that looks great and is easy to use.

Not only that, you need a website that uses cutting-edge design and is regularly maintained.

So don't drive away users with a subpar website. Give them something up-to-date, beautiful to look at and easy to use. That way, you'll see those visitors turn into customers.

So there you have it. The secret is this – good website design pleases humans as much as it pleases Google. You can't have the one without the other – but if you have both, your conversion rate will increase and your business will thrive.

My Digital Hero is a small-but-plucky team of digital do-gooders. If you're looking for a website that's bespoke, beautiful and easy to manage, let's talk .

How to write heroic SEO copy [a beginner's guide]

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 14:54:52 GMT

This post was written by an old man who's probably been writing SEO copy for longer than you've been off baby formula. Take his advice.

How's this for a curveball?

We're going to start this copywriting guide by breaking one of copywriting's cardinal sins.

Bad grammar? Nah. Loquacious sentences? Nope. Using words like "loquacious"? Well, yes – but that's not the point.

The point is this: we're not going to deliver on the promise of our title.

Woah, Nelly. Don't click away just yet. We are going to share some quick tips that will improve your writing. That's a promise.

But to write truly heroic SEO copy? That takes graft. Practice. Thousands of hours spent sweating over the warm glow of a laptop screen.

This one's for the newbies. The copywriting beginners. The reluctant wordsmiths who've been tasked with writing a new website but have no idea where to start.

We can't turn you into a heroic writer overnight – but remember these tips and you'll have a huge head start on the competition. Fact.

1. Treat keyword research as customer research

Rose-tinted tangent time: we're old enough to remember the early days of SEO.

It was so easy back then. You found some juicy, high-volume keywords, peppered them liberally into your copy like an unruly chef, then waited for the rankings to roll in.

Not so nowadays. Stuffing your copy with exact-match keywords is a surefire way to let Google know you're trying to cheat its system. And Google hates a cheat.

So what does Google want? Google wants you to write for customers, not search engines. To wit:

"Google's automated ranking systems are designed to present helpful, reliable information that's primarily created to benefit people, not to gain search engine rankings, in the top Search results."

That's from Google's own SEO fundamentals guide . So… case closed, right?

Well, yes and no. Google definitely likes "people-first content" (its words), but some have taken this to mean "Google hates SEO".

Thus you'll see advice like, "just write copy – don't worry about keywords or rankings. I dunno. Pretend you're Truman Capote bobbing in a lido or something."

This advice is wrong and bad. Google doesn't hate SEO. In fact, Google writes blog posts talking about its own SEO strategy . If it hated SEO, that would be like a vegetarian restaurateur writing a book about sausages.

Our advice: write for humans and search engines. Or, to put it another way, "put people first, and the search engines will follow".

This means treating keyword research like customer research. Because, well… it is.

Keyword research tells you the kinds of products and services your customers want. It shows you the language they use. It lets you know what questions they're asking and which problems they face.

Your job, as a copywriter, is to deliver on this research. You're there to sell the products, address the problems, answer the questions and speak to your customers in their own language.

Write this way and you won't have to worry about catering to Google. Your keywords will work their way into the copy naturally. And, more importantly, they'll feel natural – not wodged in at the last minute by a spreadsheet-toting SEO executive.

Go on, try it.

2. Ditch the narrative

"Storytelling" is a bit of an industry buzzword. And, yes, used in the right places – blogs, case studies, cornerstone articles – it can be a powerful tool for selling stuff and building brands.

But when you're writing snappy, sales-y web copy? Honestly, the story can get stuffed.

Dumbing down, much? Yes, the great copywriters of yore are probably spinning in their graves right now. But it's a fact – the internet killed long-form sales copy.

And it comes down to psychology. For whatever reason, we don't read websites like newspapers or magazines. We skim around like bluebottles looking for the right piece of information to land on.

Hard truth: nobody is going to read your webpage from start to finish. So forget what you learned at school about beginnings, middles and ends. Your job is to present information clearly and make sure customers know where to look for it.

This means prioritising the stuff that's most important to your mission. It could be a key fact about a product. More likely it's an impressive benefit or a tagline that sells your brand's USP.

In any case, stick it at the top where most eyes will see it. As you continue with the copy, start covering some of the less-important stuff. Expand on points you've made previously. Repeat yourself if you have to – they might not have seen it the first time.

Once you've got the roadmap, it's time to erect the signposts. Headings and subheadings. These act like flashing neon banners that say, "stop scrolling – this is what you're looking for".

Clarity is king here. Got a sly pun planned for that subheading? If it clouds the meaning – at all – then lose it. It probably wasn't as funny as you thought anyway.

Sorry, that was harsh. But the point stands – smart copy is succinct, single-minded and clearly signposted. You won't score points with customers by showing off.

If you can think of a clever quip and communicate what the section is about… congratulations, you're a true copywriting hero.

3. Make every sentence count

We'll finish with a quick one.

You've probably heard 100 variations of this tip before. "Keep things short and snappy". "Don't waste words". That sort of thing.

Good advice. But we're not going to dig up the same old tropes. Instead, we'll share an exercise to test whether your copy delivers on this front.

It's dead simple. All you need is a few highlighter pens (or the highlighting tool in your word-processing app).

Come up with a colour scheme. It might look something like this:

Yellow: a sentence that tells readers to perform an action . "Sign up now and enjoy a 10% discount on sheep-shearing supplies".
Red: a sentence that addresses a pain point . "You don't have to be an expert to use our portable sheep-shearing machine – it does the hard work for you".
Blue: a sentence that sets out to convince . "We're the sheep-shearing experts, with more than 100 years of industry experience".
Green: a sentence that informs . "This model includes our patented Safe-T clippers".

Now start highlighting. Categorise each sentence – or parts of each sentence – based on your colour-coding plan.

By the end of the process, your page should look like a rainbow of words. If there are any gaps – any uncoloured sentences – then they're dead weight. You can safely lose them.

Need words, like… now? We've got a million more copywriting hacks like these – and we're ready to put them to work on your website. Check out our SEO copywriting services or get in touch for a free consultation.

Heroic Insights: the straight-talking digital marketing agency blog

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Do they know what success looks like?

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How to generate wedding leads online: a guide for industry pros

Is your wedding agency struggling to generate leads? Discover 5 digital marketing tools that can put you in the fast lane.

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What is an explainer video? Learn how these types of videos work and how they can help your brand grow.

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Looking for a website design company to build your brand? Keep these 7 key considerations in mind.

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1. Are they experienced?

2. Do they have time for you?

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5. Do they have your business goals in mind?

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