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Heading 1 The best way to drive traffic to your website for most businesses is through search engines, so it is essential to secure a prominent position on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP). The two ways to do this are through search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. The two options offer a different approach to generating leads and sales. Depending on what you are looking to achieve, either PPC or SEO might be better at reaching your business goals. With PPC, businesses bid on relevant keywords to appear as a sponsored link at the top of SERPs. When visitors search for those keywords, the ad will be displayed in the sponsored results section. A business only pays for the ad if the link is clicked. The most popular ads are Google Ads, but advertising on Facebook, LinkedIn (ADD LINK - Why you need LinkedIn paid ads for your business (cotswoldweb.co.uk)) (ADD LINK - Facebook Ads: Measure your conversions! (cotswoldweb.co.uk)) or other social media can be just as effective, depending on your own target audience. SEO is a long-term strategy to generate clicks without having to pay for them directly. It is about optimising your website content around relevant target keywords to convince a search engine that your business is a leading authority on a particular subject. Here we will discuss the pros and cons of each, and which delivers the better return on investment (ROI) for your marketing budget. One way to help you make a decision on which is the best option for your business is to check out the competition. They are targeting the same audience as you, so you can learn from their successes and their failures. If your competitors are investing heavily in PPC, it could indicate it would work well for your business too. And on the flipside, if they are ranking well in search results, investing in SEO could be the way forward. 

Heading 1 LinkedIn might not be the first platform you think about for advertising your business. But if you’re looking for business-to-business (B2B) sales, you shouldn’t ignore LinkedIn’s paid ads. Most online advertising is geared towards business-to-consumer (B2C) businesses. In B2C, you can rely on mass advertising and big audiences. But B2B is all about being more focused on finding the right people. LinkedIn has an audience of 850 million professionals. They are potential customers for your B2B business. (For comparison, there are just over 3 billion Facebook users, but the demographic of Facebook is much more mixed, and its advertising is far more relevant than to a B2C audience.) While your own (or your company’s) LinkedIn profile might be active, your posts will only reach your direct connections. If direct connections comment on or share your post, it might then reach second- or third-degree connections. But it’s not going to reach even a fraction of the audience you want to target. Using paid ads on LinkedIn will take your reach way beyond your organic following. B2B buying has a much longer lead time than B2C. According to LinkedIn, the average B2B sales cycle is six to nine months. Advertising in the B2B sector is about building long-term relationships. And LinkedIn helps you to do that. LinkedIn says it helps businesses to ‘Target the professionals you care about’ and ‘Reach a qualified audience with sophisticated B2B targeting’. According to its own data: 180 million senior-level influencers are on LinkedIn Four out of five LinkedIn members drive business decisions LinkedIn audiences are six times more likely to convert LinkedIn’s audience has double the buying power of the average web audience 40% of B2B marketers see LinkedIn as the most effective channel for driving high quality leads LinkedIn has a ready-made audience of professionals, a variety of ad types and the right data to help you target your advertising to reach the right audience. LinkedIn’s audience data is what it calls ‘deep zero-party data’. In other words, the data has been provided by LinkedIn members themselves – so it is trustworthy, accurate and frequently updated. This means your ads can be targeted at a very specific audience.

Heading 1 Facebook Ads are a very effective form of advertising for many businesses. But how effective? If you don’t measure your conversions, you really can’t be sure, as you will have no idea how good your return on investment (ROI) is. How to advertise on Facebook in 2021 (cotswoldweb.co.uk) By focusing on conversions, you can ensure you are reaching the right audience and measure your ROI to ensure you’re not paying more for a conversion than you should. First things first – what is a conversion? A conversion is when an ad achieves its purpose. It is an action or event which is part of a customer journey. Different businesses will have different actions which they class as conversions. The most obvious conversion is a sale, but it could also be booking a call, filling in an enquiry form or signing up for a subscription. You can track a huge number of metrics through Facebook Ads Manager (also known as Meta Ads Manager), so it is important to focus on the ones which are most relevant to your business and what you want to achieve. If the only conversion you are interested in is purchases, there is no point in tracking any other form of conversion.

Heading 1 You can invest as much time and money as you like into Google Ads. But if you don’t measure conversions, you will have no idea how effective they are for your business and how good your return on investment (ROI) is. A conversion happens every time your ad achieves its purpose. This isn’t just a sale. In fact, for many business to business (B2B) companies, booking a call or a prospective customer filling in an enquiry form is an important conversion. As a business, you decide on what counts as a conversion depending on your own business goals. Each business will have its own higher value conversions, which won’t be the same as those of other businesses. It is essential to always measure these conversions. It is the one definitive way of checking whether your ads are leading to those meaningful actions you want potential customers to take.

Heading 1 Using your website to promote your professional services business and sell to other businesses (business to business or B2B) is different from selling services direct to consumers (B2C). The cost involved for your customers is usually a lot higher than for consumer goods and services. Buying from another business is generally a big decision made over a longer period of time and often by a number of people. To compete in a competitive B2B marketplace, you need a clear and concise, fully responsive website, which can really showcase what you have to offer. Cotswold Web has worked on the website design of a variety of B2B professional services businesses from accountants to copywriting and IT services. Web design for B2B businesses is surprisingly cost effective and can make a real difference to your bottom line. Here are some of the fully responsive professional services business websites Cotswold Web has worked on…

Cotswold Web has worked on the website design of a variety of B2B businesses from wholesalers to contract electricians and even interior design for restaurants.

Booking Software Many countryside businesses are having to diversify these days. It’s not enough just to farm the land. You need a visitor attraction or a farm shop on site to keep the cash flowing. But how do you go about promoting your countryside business to let potential visitors know what you have to offer? Cotswold Web has worked on the website design of a variety of countryside businesses from large country estates to family farming businesses and orchards. Having your own website will showcase everything you have to offer far better than a site like TripAdvisor can. Your website will work alongside TripAdvisor – so if potential visitors search for your business (or stumble across it!) on the review site, they can go to your own site to find out more information. We can also include booking software for visitors to book day visits, accompanied by the best possible photography and copy, to give potential visitors all the information they need to choose your countryside business over your competition. Cotswold Web has worked on the web design of several countryside businesses. These professionally designed websites complement sites like TripAdvisor, so potential customers can move seamlessly from one to the other. Web design for countryside businesses like farms, country estates and farm shops is surprisingly cost effective and can make a real difference to your bottom line.

Booking Software If you run a small holiday business, whether a single room on Airbnb or a camping or glamping site, and you don’t have your own website, you are missing a trick. Sites like Airbnb, Booking.com and Tripadvisor are all useful ways to advertise your business and allow customers to book a stay with you. But there is nothing quite like your own website, complete with booking software, for people to book direct. Having your own website doesn’t stop travellers from booking through Airbnb, Booking.com or Tripadvisor, but it is another way of boosting your business. People will probably search for campsites, apartments and glamping on these sites, but if they can also find a stunning holiday accommodation website, that is a real game changer. There isn’t always quite enough space to give all the relevant information you want to share on sites like Airbnb. But web design for holiday accommodation will show your business exactly as you want your customers to see it – with the best possible photography and copy – giving them confidence to make a booking. Cotswold Web has worked on the website design of a number of holiday accommodation businesses, including glamping and apartments. These professionally designed sites work alongside Airbnb and the other channels, so that prospective customers can move seamlessly from one to the other. Web design for holiday apartments, campsites and glamping sites is surprisingly cost effective and can make a real difference to your bottom line. Whether bookings are made through your website or through one of the other sites, like Booking.com, availability is updated instantly, so there are never any concerns about double booking. Not sure if your own accommodation website is right for your business? Here’s some of the holiday websites we have worked on at Cotswold Web, all of which include booking software so customers can book directly… Neptune Apartments https://www.neptuneapartments.co.uk Neptune Apartments is a stunning collection of 12 individually designed apartments for business or leisure in the heart of Cheltenham. The website really paints a picture of the accommodation through stunning photography – although many of the reviews on the website say it is even better in real life! Neptune Apartments’ website gives all the essential information visitors could need about both the accommodation and the town.