In order to create effective mobile and tablet sales tools, you need to understand what your customers want and develop a strategy to give it to them on the device of their preference.
Mobile Is On the Rise
You may have heard before that mobile internet usage is expected to surpass desktop internet usage by 2015. Mobile doesn’t just mean smart phones though. Tablets like the iPad or Samsung Galaxy are included when calculating mobile usage trends.
Mobile Is Different
A mobile site should not be your full website on a smaller scale. With mobile and tablet devices, your real estate is decreased significantly.
People on mobile devices are in a different mind frame – whether they’re looking for an immediate purchase, perusing while waiting in line or using as a second screen while watching TV.
Another thing to note is typically mobile has a slower connection than a desktop computer.
What Your Customers Want:
78% of people want to find what they’re looking for in 1-2 clicks
61% of people want a click to call function/54% of people want to send an email
41% of people want to play a video clip
48% of people want easy access to a company’s social media accounts
74% of people want the design to be clean and efficient
74% of people want an option to go to the full site
Responsive web design is a great strategy for tablet usage, and can sometimes transfer over to mobile devices as long as the content on your site is not cumbersome. However, if you have a larger website with several photos, a dedicated mobile site and dedicated tablet site can create a more user-friendly experience, which leads to higher traffic, lower bounce rates, and higher lead conversion rates.
Mobile and tablet design should follow one principle rule: Keep. It. Simple.
Remember how people want to find information on your site in 1-2 clicks? Your navigation menu should be simple and large enough to read on a small screen. You should only include the more essential aspects of your full website, based on how your customers browse. If you see in your Google Analytics that your photos, contact and FAQ are the highest traffic pages of your site, those should be on your mobile site. Your phone number should have a click to call functionality. Adding embedded video will increase engagement.
Bottom line, your mobile and tablet sites should have a strategy behind them based on your customer behavior. Without a strategy, you are not taking user experience into consideration, and you are hurting your lead conversion rate.
Examples of Successful Mobile and Tablet Designs
Don’t just stop at a mobile website! If usage trends continue to rise, your marketing will have to adopt mobile marketing practices.
Mobile coupons and specials
Mobile-based loyalty program
Geo-Location Marketing Services
Custom point of sale kiosks
Appointment reminders!
Build your database. Reach your smart phone users on their platform of choice!
View our digital pool marketing brochures for builder, service and retail to see what we can do for you! To get started on your mobile and tablet sales tools, contact us today.
Tumblr was founded in February 2007 by David Karp. Tumblr is a micro-blogging service that allows you to effortlessly share anything from photos, quotes, links, music, videos and text all in a HTML format. Whether you want to post about your pool tips, pool designs, backyard tips and pool builder photos Tumblr is what you make it!
Personalization is key with having a Tumblr and it gives you the opportunity to share easily and elegantly. Share your Tumblr with friends and followers through email, social media and other networking sites. Today, this free micro-blogging service consists of over 79 million blogs and is available through mobile applications, web, desktop and widgets. Watch this video for more information and insight into the world of Tumblr.
Johnson Pools & Spas has been serving the Madison County community of Huntsville,Alabama for over 35 years and specializes in the design, build and installation of custom and budget friendly swimming pools. To fully and adequately display Johnson Pools & Spas’ builder, service and retail departments in an updated manner, we created a new website with branded social media accounts and a blog.
We created a web presence for Johnson Pools & Spas that embodies their pool building, pool service and pool and backyard living retail store all in one. The newly launched web presence includes an up-to-date website, branded social media and an integrated blog.
The New Website
Johnson Pools & Spas’ new website design includes easier navigation, up-to-date content and a sleek design that is engaging to customers. The strategic content was created on an analytic review of typical customer behavior, such as backyard and swimming pool design ideas, store hours and their current featured products.
A great new feature to the website is where customers can schedule a service appointment. This makes it quick and simple to set up an appointment with the professionally trained staff of Johnson Pools & Spas. The website is also fully integrated to feature their new branded social media and blog.
Branded Social Media & Blog
There has been a recent push in the pool industry to integrate social media accounts and blogs to the website. We specialize in making social media accounts and blogs that enable social sharing and search engine optimization value. For Johnson Pools & Spas, the new content marketing opportunities allow for fresh customer engagement opportunities. It will also support brand awareness and increase lead generation by introducing topics that are relevant to customers such as swimming pool design ideas, backyard living ideas, swimming pool accessories and service.
To learn more about how you can establish a fantastic web presence, like Johnson Pools & Spas’ and our other great clients, contact us today!
APSP PARTNERS WITH SMALL SCREEN PRODUCER TO ENHANCE MEMBERS’ ONLINE MARKETING CAPABILITY
(ALEXANDRIA, VA) – The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP)announces a new business services partnership with Small Screen Producer, a Houston-based company specializing in interactive web based media solutions, to provide APSP members with preferred pricing on traditional and web based marketing services. Through www.poolmarketingsite, APSP members will have access to affordable services to effectively enhance their web presence, provide lead generation, brand promotion, content marketing and digital engagement strategies.
“Because APSP is dedicated to the growth and development of its members’ businesses, we recognize the need to offer our members an easy way to market to the new mobile-enabled, socially connected, tech savvy consumer,” said APSP President and CEO Bill Weber.
APSP sponsored consumer research shows that today’s pool and hot tub prospects begin their shopping with an online search to help determine which dealers to visit. If a web presence is not up to par, consumers may never take the next step into a showroom. “A strong, professional web presence will help our members reflect success to today’s customer,” added Weber.
The Pool Marketing site is a division of Small Screen Producer, and has provided full service strategic marketing solutions to help the pool, spa and hot tub industry sell the backyard living experience to consumers. Their professional web presence design teams can establish a complete online infrastructure to springboard internet marketing campaigns through the use of interactive, socially shareable websites, mobile websites, iPad friendly sales presentations, print design, exhibit design, social media marketing, video production, and search engine optimization services.
“We are honored APSP has chosen us to provide online and traditional marketing solutions to its members,” said Pam Vinje, President and CEO of Small Screen Producer. “Our commitment to the membership is that we will seek to stay ahead of the technology curve through our ongoing commitment to researching the latest search engine, website design, social media, and mobile technology innovations and integrations. Our partnership with APSP will grant many more manufacturers and small businesses the opportunity to develop a much needed total web presence strategy,” says Vinje.
The Pool Marketing Site has provided digital media marketing services to APSP International Awards of Excellence recipients, Pool and Spa News Top 50 builders, along with many service professionals, retailers, and pool and spa industry manufacturers and agents.
In addition to marketing services to showcase members’ products and services, APSP members will also have access to monthly marketing webinars, hosted by Small Screen Producer and sponsored by APSP. Members can also get started with a free custom local SEO report card and a free online web presence marketing assessment.
APSP members interested in taking advantage of this members-only discount program can visit www.poolmarketingsite or call 281-569-4370.
With the addition of the Small Screen Producer’s Pool Marketing Site, APSP introduces another business services provider to its Member Discount Program. APSP reaches hundreds of companies serving the pool, spa and hot tub industry and selects only those who provide the highest value and quality products, sales, and service to participate in the Member Discounts Program as an Affinity Partner.
About APSP
The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP) is the world’s oldest and largest association representing swimming pool, hot tub, and spa manufacturers, distributors, manufacturers’ agents, designers, builders, installers, suppliers, retailers, and service professionals. Dedicated to the growth and development of its members’ businesses and to promoting the enjoyment and safety of pools and spas, APSP offers a range of services, from professional development to advancing key legislation and regulation at the federal and local levels, to consumer outreach and public safety. APSP is the only industry organization recognized by the American National Standards Institute to develop and promote national standards for pools, hot tubs, and spas. For more information, visit APSP.org.
About Small Screen Producer
Small Screen Producer, headquartered in Houston, TX is a full service interactive digital media agency developing targeted, branded, content marketing strategies. We specialize in creating interactive web based media solutions that are not only searchable and socially shareable but virally engaging. Small Screen Producer is recently honored as a Houston Business Journal “Fast Tech 50” firm, a Hubspot Gold Certified Honors of Distinction firm and Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Small Businesses award recipient. For more information visit www.smallscreenproducer.com
Chris Ferriss, owner of Splash Pool Services, was looking for a new way to reach out to customers who need pool maintenance, pool service, pool renovation or fiberglass repair in the Michigan area. Splash Pool Services needed to go beyond traditional and find a creative way to showcase their talents. That’s where Pool Marketing Site stepped in! We develop targeted, branded, content marketing strategies that can keep any business connected to the customer in a searchable, socially shareable and engaging way.
The Solution
For Splash Pool Services we first created a new website that is search engine optimized and has a completely new, digitally engaging web design. The website is integrated with all new social media channels which build brand presence and lead generation. A cool new feature we created for the site is the option for customers to schedule an appointment with Splash Pool Services right on the website! This makes it simple and functional for both Ferriss and customers. Along with the website and social media channels, we produced a series of videos that position him as an expert in the industry and in his local community. Each video created for Splash Pool Services was search engine optimized, visually appealing and informative.
The Results
The fiberglass repair page of the website features information on Splash Pool Serviceshistory and great reputation on fiberglass repair, along with a video. The video we produced for Splash Pool Services was informative, clear and creatively put together. The video includes an interview with Ferriss as he describes the Splash Pool Services process of fixing cracks in fiberglass pools that happen often with the changing weather in Michigan.
In the interview with Ferriss, he describes the abundance of services they provide at Splash Pool Services and how they specialize in fiberglass pool repairs. The video features an on-site fiberglass repair to fully showcase their in-depth and complete fiberglass repair process to customers. Because of this well-thought, visually appealing and search engine optimized fiberglass repair service video we created for Splash Pool Services,within three weeks of uploading the video to YouTube his team sold a fiberglass repair.
Select Pool Services is a North Dallas pool company that specializes in pool remodeling, custom swimming pool construction and pool repair. We created a completely new web presence for their online marketing strategy to showcase the outstanding, professional pool services they offer. The web presence displays the premium craftsmanship and quality customer service that Select Pool Services provides for each customer.
Our approach was to give Select Pool Services a web presence strategy that includes engaging website design that will attract and educate customers. The web presence is search engine optimized with keywords that are specific and unique to help customers find Select Pool Services.
We designed the website so customers can view interactive photo galleries, read testimonials, learn about all the unique services provided at Select Pool Services and even a blog. A blog is a great lead generation tool to educate potential and current pool owners with company updates and industry news.
We love the new feature to Select Pool Services’ web presence – the addition of video production and social media channels. Here is the video we produced and featured on the homepage:
The new video will attract customers and educate viewers on the services they have been providing the North Dallas area for over 35 years. The same idea goes for the social media channels that we added to Select Pool Services’ web presence package. Social media will allow for constant connection to customers.
Interested in beginning your journey into a new web presence to attract potential and new swimming pool customers? Let’s get started!
Pacific Pools and Patios is a full service backyard swimming pool builder located in Riverside, California. They create beautiful outdoor spaces that family and friends can enjoy for fun and relaxation in the Riverside County and surrounding areas. In order to display their great work and customer services skills they came to us to create a new web presence that is complete with innovative design, socially shareable elements and other great web optimization features.
Here is the “About Us” video we produced for Pacific Pools and Patios:
We built their web presence to include inbound marketing tactics which allows the customers to learn all about what Pacific Pools and Patios can offer to them. For instance, we featured the Free Report that gives customers all the details and information they need to know before they buy a pool. What a great tool!
The website also features a blog and photo galleries that allow the customer to engage and supports brand promotion. Overall, the Pacific Pools and Patios website was designed to feature specific keywords and eye-catching graphics that will attract customers and potential pool owners.
“It’s this passion for custom backyard swimming pools and our commitment to the families we serve that inspires us to offer the highest level of quality, craftsmanship and customer satisfaction.” – Pacific Pools and Patios
Isn’t it time to get your web presence search engine optimized, digitally engaging and brand appealing like Pacific Pools and Patios? We’d love to help!
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the technique of helping your website rank higher in the organic search results. If you paid for an ad, that’s called Pay Per Click, which we referred to in our last blog post. Any search result that isn’t a paid ad is an organic search result. Considering 88% of people don’t click on paid ads, a long-term, local SEO strategy and plan is the way to go.
How Search Engines Work
Search engines are major profit centers. If they don’t perform, they lose money. Their objective is to bring a consumer relevant and helpful websites that match their search query, or the consumer will find a different search engine that does. If there are no consumers searching, they lose ad revenue. The way they find those relevant and helpful websites is by crawling websites and reading their keywords, tags, meta description and so on, and then indexing your website pages for later reference.
In a nutshell, the search engines consider two main areas to determine rank: the content of your website andwho’s linking to you. Within each of these buckets, there are complicated, proprietary algorithms for each search engine. Some factors that affect a consumer’s search results are:
The geographic location of the consumer
Personal search history of the consumer
A consumer’s personal network’s social media history (Google +1, Facebook “likes” of friends)
Historical performance of a listing (click through rate, bounces, etc)
Link quality (reciprocal vs. one-way)
Webpage content (keywords, tags, pictures)
Back end code of a website
Link type (social media sharing, link from a media outlet or blog, etc)
Check out this video from Matt Cutts, Google’s Head of Web Spam, as he gives a bird’s eye glimpse into how Google determines ranking.
Why Local Matters
Local SEO factors in the “where” component of a search. Consumers are searching on smart phones and tablets for immediate purchases, so search engines have shifted their focus to local. Consumers have always needed local products and services. What’s changed is how they find them. Search engines have become the new Yellow Pages. What levels the playing field for local businesses is their local address.
Local SEO is a budget-friendly way to gain exposure. Consumers are searching for you already, so the conversion rate and ROI is traditionally much higher than interruption marketing, such as billboards or commercials. It’s also much more targeted, so you’re spending your money on a smart, strategic plan rather than hoping people see your ad and call you.
When optimizing for local SEO strategy, you need to plan for onsite optimization and offsite optimization. Your onsite optimization should include the areas you serve in your title tags, photo tags, etc. Your content needs to be relevant and authoritative (no keyword stuffing!) and helpful for the end user. Remember, search engines want to get it right, or they lose money. Trying to trick them is not a good idea.
Offsite, you can build a campaign around directory listings, video SEO, photo SEO, etc. Whatever plan you decide must be consistent across all onsite and offsite channels in order to be effective. We believe in a total web presence, and a local SEO strategy is a big component to that presence. All of the factors that search engines consider is how we build our sites and our SEO strategies.
An older adult couple was in the market to purchase a pool. They were doing their due diligence and researching pool companies in the Houston area. Their young adult son took to YouTube to perform his own internet search. The first video that appeared in his search was Elite Pools and Spas’ Business Profile Video.
Notice the 508 views from uploading 1 video!
The entire family was so impressed with the video and Elite Pools and Spas’ portfolio that they picked up the phone that day.
It should come as no surprise these days that their son searched on YouTube, rather than the traditional search engines, especially in such a visual field. YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine with over 450 million users.
An online video is some of the best search engine optimization juice around. You can keyword-tag videos, and they’re easily shareable. Imagine how many people that couple shared that video with to help explain the next chapter of their lives. Elite Pools and Spas didn’t have to do anything extra. The word spread all on its own. Our business profile videos start at $350. How much a week are you spending at PPC ads?Are you getting over 500 qualified impressions like Elite did on their one video? It doesn’t hurt Elite Pools and Spas one bit if their competition clicks on their video. In fact, it helps them!
We've shown this graphic from HubSpot before, but organic search is the way to go!
A professionally done video is the first step. The second is housing it online in a branded, share-friendly environment. We recommend YouTube since it allows for customization (see our design gallery), and you can easily embed the videos on your website and social media networks.
If we’ve convinced enough of how important video and a branded network is, check out our video and social media design services. We’re here to help you be better. Let us partner with you, so you too can find success like Elite Pools and Spas! Maybe we’ll be blogging about your success someday!
We at the Pool Marketing Site are big proponents of social media for the pool industry. Let’s take a look at each social network and really break down why you should participate in some or all. The choice is yours, and we’d love to help you get started.
Facebook got its start in 2004 as a way for college students to connect online and share in each other’s school experience. After unprecedented success and crazy rapid growth, kids, grannies and everyone in between are now using Facebook™ to connect with family, friends and colleagues around the world. Facebook™ has over 800 million active users that visit the site regularly. 50 percent of those users visit every day, and 21 percent are located within the United States. The average user has 130 friends. It doesn’t take much calculation to see how quickly your business could gain serious exposure with a little Facebook™ marketing.
With more than 3 billion videos viewed each day, YouTube is the leading video sharing site. 17 million users have connected their YouTube account to at least one other social service, and more than 12 million have connected and are auto sharing to at least one other network. This presents potential for extremely rapid movement of your video testimonials, tutorials, and video commercials across the web- in short, instant exposure for your pool and spa business.
The YouTube community is widely interactive. You can even run special contests to help promote all of your social networking sites like this example from Carecraft:
There are many ways to market your business online these days. So why use a pool marketing blog you ask? Here are our top reasons:
Establish Yourself as an Expert in Your Market
Your blog posts should be well structured and offer valuable information to your readers. Through engaging content, catchy titles, and relevant topics, you can effectively position yourself as a credible specialist in your area. Whether sharing the latest eco-friendly water treatment products, or explaining how to winterize a pool, strong and informative blog posts will solidify your reputation as a trusted pool expert in your area.
Build Relationships
Blogs are an excellent opportunity to show a more personal side to your business. People like doing business with people, and a pool marketing blog is an excellent way to personalize your brand. By inviting your readers to join a discussion through comments and in turn responding promptly to comments left, you have the opportunity to interact with old, new and potential customers on a personal level.
Create a Buzz
Blogs, like other social media platforms, are effective ways to create a buzz around your business. An active blog with regular back and forth give potential clients a positive impression of your business, reaffirming that you are a true professional, available and dependable. On the other hand, a blog that’s most recent post is twelve months old gives the opposite impression. But don’t fret. When you’re short on time, our social media team can help you keep things fresh. Just ask us about our blog posting services!
Boost SEO
Google loves websites that are updated regularly with relevant and keyword rich content. By posting to your blog consistently and keeping your content on point with valuable information, you will drive traffic to your website and give a boost to your rankings. You can gain even more traction with search engines by encouraging readers to share favourite articles through their preferred social network, and inviting other bloggers to link back to your posts.
Twitter boasts over 100 million active users worldwide, 50 percent of whom log on daily. Twitter users post more frequently, often communicating in short bursts throughout each day. While your business approach to Twitter will differ from personal users, it still must maintain the personal and natural element that Twitter users treasure. Our social media team know how to strike just the right balance with your brief and personalized business profile and pool specific topics. By helping you present promotional content in a natural and friendly voice, we’ll ensure your Twitter marketing efforts strike a chord within this more discriminating social community.
Social Media Posting Service
Purchase our monthly social media posting service ad you'll receive 20 consumer friendly blog entries, newsletter articles, Facebook and Twitter posts to share on your sites every month. Also
included are...
Social Media Branding & Design Package
Enter the World of Social Media with our Custom Social Media Branding & Design Package to include three custom designs for your Facebook Business Fan Page, YouTube Channel, and
Twitter.
Search Engine Optimization Packages
Maintain and improve your rankings in the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, and Bing) with our monthly search engine optimization packages.
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