Thinking with yourself in mind, not your customers?

A logo chosen for personal reasons, a marketing strategy based on family members’ opinions, website content written for the author's ego and not the audience. This has a detrimental effect on marketing efforts, it’s impossible to connect with an audience when not trying to appeal to them.

When focussing too much on our own preferences we lose sight of who will actually buy our products.

It’s important to not get bogged down with our own preferences and lose sight of the bigger picture which is ultimately exceeding potential customers’ expectations. Without understanding your audience it’s impossible to accomplish this.

Google didn’t get to be the world’s number one search engine by chance, it did so by being useful.

It focussed on the users' needs, aiming to be as helpful as possible. Tirelessly checking to see that the websites suggested to its users are the most valuable available.

That’s why they’re so good at it. They continually make adjustments to their algorithms, ensuring they stay way ahead of the game. With a staggering multi-billion turnover, it’s a lucrative business.

We’re often asked the question – ‘So how do you feature higher in search results?’ the answer is simple; you provide the most value. The best in-depth content, the most intuitive and responsive website experience. Anything you can do to improve your visitors’ journey, makes Google view you more favourably. They want the best, so you have to create quality in everything you do. 

Journalists and content marketers share a common purpose, they write to be read.

By adopting a simplistic approach to their writing and having the reader at the core of everything they do, journalists are particularly successful at having their content enjoyed and shared.

The Inbound marketplace is overflowing with writers all wanting to be heard, these ten simple tips will help your content stand out.

One of the first things that I learned way back in what now feels was the midst's of time, during my first wed design module at university was – usability. We were introduced to Jakob Nielsen a web usability expert, I did not know it then but it was to have a profound effect on me.

Until discovering Jakob Nielsen I had always thought it was a web designers job to make website look good – nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, it is a web designers job to make website look good, but that is secondary to creating websites that work. Without an understanding of the purpose of the website and who its users are a designer can create nothing more than a pretty online pictures.

The Wombat blog has been like a deserted wasteland over the last few years, and I suppose the blame lies squarely with me. Somewhere along the road I seam to have lost my mojo – Wombat got busy, time became short and I kept prioritising client work and told myself there were more important tasks.

On Thursday I had the the pleasure of attending the Full Stack inbound marketing conference at the Turing Festival in Edinburgh. It had an impressive speaker line up of experts from some of the industry's leading brands – such as Moz, Distilled, Wistia and Unbounce.