Hookedon Smart Marketing – Tips for the Year Ahead

As you may have already heard, HookedOnMedia has dedicated the year 2024 to skill-sharing. After an incredible 11 years of helping clients reach new heights online, we believe it’s time to reflect on everything we’ve learned and experienced to help even more businesses and entrepreneurs, by divulging our smart marketing tips with you all. There are valuable insights here for all businesses, regardless of your stage of growth. Whether you have been running your own website and social media for a while or are just starting out and are eager to learn, we’re here to share our knowledge and help you succeed. 

 

Understanding the world of online marketing can be a real challenge due to its vast and rapidly evolving nature where everything is subject to change. This blog aims to be your ultimate guide for 2024, covering the very latest insights across multiple specialisms—SEO, PPC, Socials, Content Creation, Finance, and Business Development. Bookmark this page, save your favourite tips and return whenever needed to implement the most effective practices in your marketing efforts.

 

Our goal is to equip you with all the knowledge and tools to strengthen your understanding of online marketing and improve your business strategy. Don’t forget to check out our blog for even more insights. We update this section monthly, so there’s always something new to discover! Enjoy!

 

Search Engine Optimisation Tips From Andrew:

 

• Optimise your Title Tags as a priority. The <title> tag is still the most important tag in terms of ranking success, and it is still often overlooked. Your primary keyword should be at the start of the <title> tag, and keep the title between 50 – 60 characters. Every page should have a unique <title> tag.

 

• Create regular blog posts. Blog posts send a signal to Google that your site is active. Google loves content; it’s what their search index is based on. So, feeding Google with your content is going to encourage them to return and reward you in terms of higher rankings. Blogs are also an easy way to gain traffic from less competitive search phrases. You can use AI for ideas but then introduce your own writing skills & knowledge into the posts so that you could end up with 20% AI content and 80% of your original content within one post. Try to create unique, quality posts that are 1000+ words.

 

• Use a good CMS or bespoke website. We recommend using a CMS such as WordPress and avoid building sites using Wix or Godaddy, as these sites are very limited.

 

• Hosting Research. Select a reliable host that offers great support and good reviews. Each host will offer different features; for example, if your website is built in WordPress, then you want to select a host that is set up for WordPress.

 

• Build an internal link structure so more links internally point to the pages you wish to rank the most. So, if you write a blog post, this should hold an internal link to your product or service page that the blog is about. External links to your site are even more important, but these must look natural, come from relevant sites, and have good traffic to them, along with good link metric scores.

 

Local SEO Tips From Xavia:

 

• Consistent NAPs. You must ensure that your company name, address and contact details are 100% the same across all online directories and websites. For ranking well on maps, Google crawls references to your business, matching your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) to everywhere it’s listed. Any discrepancies (of as little as a few characters) will dilute your map accountability.

 

• Stay Updated. Keep your photos, branding, and company updates current on your Google My Business Profile. It’s surprising the amount of traffic that doesn’t reach your website because your audience has found and stayed on your GMB Profile. Use every tool available on this platform to replicate your website’s information as best as you can.

 

• Build Up Your Reviews. Use the “get more reviews” section on Google Business Profile to easily copy an active link to send to your customers for instant reviews. In our busy world, you want to make it as easy as just one click for your customer to access your Google review section. Don’t ask them to find your business listing and add the review – give them the direct link in the email.

 

• Content is King. Just like your website, add regular content to your GMB listing. Click “Add an update”, where you can paste the first two paragraphs of a blog and then add the URL to the corresponding blog for “learn more”.

 

Social Media Tips From Shaun:

 

• Stay On Budget. Campaign Budget Optimisation (CBO) can be a highly effective tool for managing your Facebook ad campaigns and keeping your budgets under control. With CBO, you can manually allocate your budget across different ad sets, giving you greater flexibility and control over your spending. It can also simplify campaign set-up to help you achieve maximum results at the lowest cost. 

 

• Refresh Your Content. It’s vital to keep your creative content fresh and non-repetitive. On Meta, you have access to a variety of advertisement placements, each of which can be customised. This means that you can display a unique creative based on the platform on which each user views your ad.

 

One of our best starting/performing campaigns so far in 2024 is for a client in the ‘Health & Wellness’ industry. In the first week of running, we have already achieved 11 leads with a CPA of just £9.50!

 

Excel and Accounts Tips From Carmen:

 

• Remember to make the most of the tools available to you. The best tools in Excel I find are flash fill, filters, pivots and charts to create dashboards. Conditional Formatting, isolating and highlighting data, and sum and count text options assist in detailed reports. These are just some of the tools I most frequently use to reflect true analysis and organisation of data.

 

• Using Accounting Packages to export into Excel format is an additional analysing tool to confirm package transactions and to present in a dashboard for reporting purposes.

 

• Excel summary reports from tables and pivots consolidate large quantities of data for quick and easy referencing in a condensed dashboard.

 

• Using search lookups and Formulations provides additional benefits when completing or viewing reports.

 

Graphic Design Tips From Minnie:

 

• Negative space is super helpful to make a design pop. Too much on a design can be hard on the eyes at times, becoming overwhelming for the viewer. Remember to focus on what you need on your graphic and let the negative space speak volumes where it can make what’s needed pop.

 

• It is important to ensure the designs for your carousel adverts all translate together. Consider how the design will look together, how easy it will be to read together and the sequence of your images.

 

• The key to a good design for landing pages is to ensure your design makes your copy shine. Focus on making sure your titles and headlines are eye-catching, your call to action is clear and distinct, and keep your target audience/their needs in mind. Keep your page to the point, on brand, and easy to navigate for anyone who’s viewing your page.

 

Paid Advertising Tips From Dan:

 

• Make Data-Driven Decisions. Using conversion, keyword, ad or campaign data to inform strategies will allow you to refine budgets and maximise performance.

 

• Who Are Your Audience? Creating the right audience/targeting is pivotal for generating brand awareness from your display campaigns.

 

• Segmenting products into ROAS targets or product categories allows for a much clearer Google shopping strategy.

 

• Tailor Your Copy. Refining ad copy down to a much deeper relevancy can improve both your average cost-per-click and expected click-through rate.

 

• Carefully Consider Your Needs. Bing has a much older average user base and is a fraction of the search volume, so it may not be right for all businesses and can lead to wasted spend if not.

 

Analytics and Conversion Analysis Tips From Stewart:

 

• Set up goals and conversions. Make sure you define clear goals, such as filling out a contact form, completing a purchase or downloading a PDF, for example. Use Google Analytics to set up conversion tracking to monitor these key performance metrics to identify the source of the conversions.

 

• Segment audiences in analytics, for example, by geography & devices used. This allows you to analyse how each audience interacts with your site; tailored SEO or PPC campaigns can then be created to resonate with each segmented group.

 

• Schedule regular email delivery of an analytics report. Google Analytics allows you to create custom reports and then schedule a regular email containing that report. Stay updated without having to create a new report each time.

 

• Consider using session recording and heatmaps. Session recording allows you to watch real user journeys on your website and see how users are interacting. For instance, people may click on-site elements you haven’t expected, and it gives you the ability to remove barriers affecting conversion.

 

Content Creation Tips From Tia:

 

• Avoid flooding your content with keywords just for SEO results. Instead, make sure the keywords you include sound natural and that you are creating content that is useful to your readers.

 

• AI-powered tools like ChatGPT can greatly assist in generating ideas for blog content and planning its structure. However, even with AI assistance, it’s important to review and edit the content to ensure that it’s the best it can be before publishing. This practice helps you maintain a consistent brand voice across all of your channels, which in turn, builds brand recognition and establishes trust. 

 

• If you’re short on time or don’t know how to begin writing a long blog post, consider creating a listicle-style post. These articles use a numbered list format with explanations underneath, such as “5 reasons why…”. Listicles are not only quick to create, but many audiences also prefer them because they are concise and make it easy for them to find the information they need. They are also simple to update if you’re writing about trending topics that may change over time.

 

• Don’t only think about the words you write but also their layout. For instance, consider using different header styles to break up large blocks of text and improve readability. Moreover, including relevant photos on your pages can also enhance the overall quality and appeal of your content.

 

Winning Big with Smart Marketing Tips From Lee:

 

• Interesting Insights: Regarding different platforms, approximately 5 billion people are using social media platforms, with an average of 2 hours and 25 minutes spent daily on various social networks. In terms of search engines, Google accounts for over 70% of the global desktop search engine market share, underlining the importance of getting things right in the eyes of Google! 

 

• Understand your target audience’s needs and preferences to tailor your marketing efforts and budget effectively. Work on building genuine relationships with your audience by engaging with them, responding to queries, and providing excellent customer service.

 

• Know where to find your target audience. Choosing the right platform for your online marketing efforts depends on your target audience, type of content, and marketing goals. One top tip is to thoroughly research and understand where your audience spends most of their time online. This insight will guide you in deciding a budget for each platform, whether it’s social media, search engines, online forums or specific websites. 

 

• Rome wasn’t built in a day. Allow at least three months for your new campaign to run. Sometimes, your best results are just around the corner. Even if a couple of months have started off gently, there’s much going on in the background.

 

• Digital marketing doesn’t happen overnight; it takes time. Take your time in getting it right, and you’ll reap the rewards.

 

Final Word:

 

We hope that this blog post on smart marketing will serve as a valuable resource in supporting you on your online marketing journey, whether that’s starting from scratch or seeking new ideas to trial in an upcoming campaign. If there’s anything that we haven’t addressed or if you simply don’t have the time to work on online marketing alongside your business, why not contact our team today? 

 

No matter if your needs lie in SEO or content creation, our digital marketing agency can raise your online visibility while you concentrate on managing your business. Feel free to contact us today for a chat about how our digital marketing strategies can help you reach more people online.