Olive business
Lauren@digitalnarrative.com.au www.digitalnarrative.com.au
Digital marketing: big opportunities for small business Lauren Hamilton, Digital Narrative
Key focus areas for digital marketing in 2022 Agricultural business owners are more comfortable with the digital world than ever before, but it can be hard to know where to apply your available time (very little) and budget to meet your business goals. The pandemic accelerated a global shift from offline, in-person shopping to what is now an entrenched preference for shopping online via e-commerce channels. This is both good AND bad news for farmers and food producers. It allows businesses to connect with consumers and meet their needs from any location (no matter how geographically isolated!) but it also puts more pressure on business owners to stay on top of digital marketing, which can be pretty stressful. So what are some handy tools that can make your life easier when it comes to marketing online? Where should you be putting your effort in, to get the most reward? Whether you’re an old hand or new, there’s always something to learn in the ever-changing digital world. Here are the three areas you should be focusing on this year to ensure you’re keeping pace with the digital world …
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
SEO is one of those scary terms that many people know about but few attempt to understand because it’s often relegated to the “too hard” basket. This simply isn’t true. While it can get complicated, at its heart SEO is actually quite simple. The short of it is that most web traffic will come through Google, which accounts for web searches amounting to 3.5 billion1 queries per day. For potential customers to find you online, it’s imperative that your website ranks high enough to be found on page one of search results for whatever you sell. The good news is that an understanding of some basic SEO principles will go a long way towards climbing that list.
The basics
To begin, make sure you have a good URL (basically your specific web address), a security certificate (SSL), decent web hosting and a logical web layout. You can further help Google rank your site by making it mobile friendly and user friendly -
think fast loading times, readable fonts and no intrusive pop ups or ads. Add in sufficient well-written text (300 words per page is the aim) and quality photos which have been resized to the correct dimensions, and you’ve covered your basics nicely.
More advanced
The more advanced stuff like keyword research, link building, on-page SEO and technical SEO are areas to work towards, and may require professional services. It can be tempting to look to offshore SEO ‘experts’ who cold-contact you with cheap offers and crazy promises, but working with a local digital marketer to tackle these more technical strategies is always recommended for authenticity and safety.
Website audit
If you’ve got a website up and running, it’s important to do routine maintenance every so often to keep it running smoothly, ideally before any problems start to appear.
Issue 124 • June 2022 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 43
