In the age of website templates and DIY website builders, many businesses are questioning if custom web design is still worth it – but having a website that reflects your unique brand identity through seamless, bespoke design delivers a higher conversion rate than template-based websites. In this article, we’ll explain why.

What Is A Website Template?

A website template is a pre-designed and pre-coded framework for creating a website. All a user has to do to get a templated website launched and live is change the wording to suit their business, add some content, and they’re ready to go. Popular providers of templated websites are:

• WordPress.com
• Wix
• Webflow
• GoDaddy
• Squarespace

These pre-built websites require no technical skill for business owners to set up themselves, making them an attractive option for the less-tech-savvy business owners out there with a limited budget, as there’s no need to hire a professional web design team. All you need to do is find the one template you like for your site and begin promoting your products or services on it that same day. However, pre-built websites come with downsides – they often offer limited customisation options, features, and lower performance metrics than well-built custom websites. This hurts your business’s online presence in the long term.

Why Go With A Custom Designed Website?

Custom websites are designed and developed from scratch, either by a freelance web designer or a web development company who have control of everything from your website’s landing pages to the back-end interface. While using a template to create your website might have a quicker development time and a lower cost in the short term, the time and extra expense that come with custom website development often pay off significantly in the long term. Building your website from scratch using custom design means:

• The chance to create a more memorable first impression
• Design tailored to your branding
• Better user experience 
• Higher Search Engine Optimisation
• Better mobile responsiveness 
• More scalability as your business needs change 

Want A Professional Website? First Impressions Matter

Attention spans online are fleeting, so the importance of a positive first impression can’t be overstated – especially for small businesses where every chance counts. Websites often serve as the initial point of contact between a brand and its audience, and within seconds, users form judgments that can influence their entire perception of your business. A custom-designed website from a reputable development agency gives you a much higher chance of making that impression a positive one that sticks with users even after they click off your site.

Ensure Your Website Stands Out With Bespoke Website Design

Establishing clear branding is integral to the long-term success of your online marketing strategy. It helps differentiate you from your competitors and clearly convey your business’s unique value proposition to potential customers. This is especially important for new businesses that don’t already have a loyal customer base and online businesses that need to stand out as much as possible in the digital landscape. Branding includes things like your:

• Colours
• Logo 
• Fonts
• Style choices
• Messaging and language 
• Overall ‘vibe’

Choosing to go with a custom website design allows the web designers and web development team you choose to work with to tailor every single one of these elements to match your branding during the design stage. On the other hand, most templates and themes have been downloaded by other businesses hundreds or even thousands of times. Additionally, most ‘pre-made’ website designs significantly limit the ability of your design agency to customise and personalise your website during the design process. This means a website without distinct graphic designs, colour schemes and navigation menus. 

A Custom-Designed Website Means A Seamless User Experience

A successful website is about so much more than just visual appeal – it’s vital that a new website for your business effectively engages people through positive User Experience (UX) as well. UX is all about designing a website that caters to the needs of users, including ease of use, fast loading times and a clear navigation menu. The better user experience your website provides to users, the better ability it’ll have to convert them into customers. This is why it’s one of the key principles of good web design.

Professional custom web design and development always places UX at the forefront when creating a website by keeping in mind accessibility, functionality, and logical visual hierarchy. This attention to detail, combined with flexibility and custom designs, contributes to a better UX compared to template-built websites. 

Choosing to go the custom route for your web design project rather than using a pre-built template also means website designers can add personalised features to your site to suit your user’s needs, improving UX. Examples of this might be a store locator, seamless checkout processes, or tailored search functionality. 

Responsive Website Design Agency

Responsive web design means your website looks, loads and functions perfectly no matter what device your users are browsing on, be it on mobile, tablet or desktop. All these devices have drastically different screen sizes, meaning your website design needs to be able to adapt accordingly without losing any functionality to be considered responsive.

Optimising your website for mobile devices might be more important than you realise: According to DataReportal, over 55% of all website visitors are browsing on a mobile device as of November 2023, up from only 30% in 2015. Most template website options are much less responsive than what you’d expect from a high-quality web design. This means you risk alienating over half your website traffic with a buggy layout and slow loading times if you use an unresponsive template.

Experienced web designers, on the other hand, are able to make sure your website is optimised for all devices using fluid grids, breakpoints, and media queries. You can read our article defining responsive design and its importance if you want to know more.

Better Optimise Your Website For Search Engines

Search engine optimisation (SEO) means tailoring your website to Google’s 240+ search engine ranking programs, which affects how high your website ranks on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS). Most of these factors are to analyse the quality of the UX your website provides. The better UX your website provides, the higher it will rank on SERPs, driving significantly more organic traffic to your website without the need for paid ads. 

Your website’s design can affect SEO significantly, and the only way to ensure your website follows SEO best practices is by hiring a reputable web development agency to create a custom web design rather than creating a DIY website with a basic website builder. Here’s why:

• Clean code and better crawling: Many template websites are built using bloated and out-of-date code. This makes it harder for Google to understand your web pages and rank them accordingly. 
• Better website performance: Custom web design from an experienced web developer means you can guarantee your website is as fast as possible, providing a better UX.
• More responsive design: Mobile optimisation is one of Google’s key ranking factors, and custom web design ensures this. 
• Reduced bounce rate: Bounce rate is how many users only see the landing page of your website before clicking off. Websites with a better UX have a lower bounce rate, indicating to Google that your website provides value to users.
• SEO plugins: Custom websites built on Content management platforms like WordPress and Drupal allow you to access 1000s of free plugins to manage your website, many of which provide more SEO control to improve your online presence.

eCommerce Web Development 

If you’re hoping to use your website for eCommerce, a premade website running on Shopify with limited functionality and customisation options won’t cut it the majority of the time. Instead, consider going with a custom web development agency with eCommerce web design experience. This will allow you to customise a smooth checkout process for your online store, product sorting, and specific search parameters for your users. Running your custom-built website on WordPress.org also means you’ll be able to use the powerful WooCommerce plugin to upload, update and sell products with ease on your website.

Custom Web Design Services for Canberrans

Futuretheory is a full-service website design, development, and digital marketing agency. Although we’re Canberra-based, we offer some of the best custom web design Melbourne, Sydney, and Australia as a whole has to offer. The websites we build are always unique, fast, secure and beautifully designed. Our team of experienced web developers and web designers will work closely with you every step of the way to ensure that your website is tailored to the specific needs and branding of your business. 

We also offer web services, including website hosting, maintenance, and search engine marketing. Our marketing team, web designers and developers have all the expertise necessary to help you grow forward online. If we sound like the agency for you, get in touch today.

In this article, we’ll explore key areas where delegation can significantly benefit your business the most.

Accounting 

Carefully handling financial matters is essential for any business, but it doesn’t mean you have to be the one crunching the numbers. Delegating accounting tasks like bookkeeping or tax preparation to a professional not only ensures accuracy but also frees up your time to concentrate on your business. 

A professional account also saves you from having to bear the brunt of worrying about tax compliance yourself. Additionally, you won’t have to worry about integration and fees for accounting software like Xero or MYOB yourself.

Marketing

Effective marketing is important for any business, established or new to the market, to consistently generate new leads and build brand awareness. However, an effective marketing strategy takes time to plan and implement, as well as multifaceted experience in content creation, SEO, copywriting, and more.  If you’d like to learn more about the ins and outs of marketing strategies, we’ve got an insightful article on how to create your own marketing strategy.

Delegating these tasks to a digital marketing agency can help grow your online presence without you having to spend 100s of hours on it yourself. Professional marketing experts are also better equipped, both in terms of tools and expertise, to navigate the ever-changing algorithms on social media and search engines.

Web & Graphic Design

Your website and logo design are often among the first impressions potential customers get of your business. These first impressions are vital to create a positive brand image. 

While it can be tempting as a business owner to handle something so important yourself, web and graphic design are often a lot harder than they look to an untrained eye. Delegating your design work to someone with plenty of experience helps ensure you have a user-friendly website that matches your branding and a logo that stands out.

Website Maintenance 

A well-designed website is a powerful asset for your business, but its effectiveness relies on consistent maintenance. We recommend running maintenance on your website at least monthly to keep it fast, secure, and functioning as it should.

Website maintenance includes tasks like updating plugins, fixing bugs, and checking for broken links. Not running frequent maintenance can negatively affect your search engine ranking and even cause your website to go down.

These tasks, essential as they are, can be tedious. Website maintenance requires a high level of expertise and large amounts of your time, both things that are hard to come by as a business owner when you’ve got other aspects of your business to focus on.

You’re better off delegating web maintenance tasks to another member of your team or subscribing to a monthly website maintenance plan from a qualified web development team. This will save you time and keep your website running smoothly.

Data Entry & Filing 

Data entry includes tasks like updating customer information, logging sales, scanning documents, and a lot more. While these tasks are important and need attention to detail, they’re also incredibly time-consuming and repetitive.

Data entry doesn’t require a high level of skill – this means almost anyone in your office can do their share of data entry, and there’s no need for you to do so when you could instead be focusing on decision-making.

If you have a small team and no one else in your business has the time to do data entry, consider outsourcing it to a data-entry service that can take care of all the nitty-gritty details. 

Packing & Sending

If your business involves shipping products, the logistics of picking, packing, sending and rerouting orders can be overwhelming. Although making sure all your products are packed and sent with care is an important part of the sales and customer experience journey, it can very quickly take up a lot of your time.

Your time is better spent on expanding your product line or improving customer service. Consider training or hiring a staff member to do it instead. Alternatively, you can outsource inventory management and order fulfilment to a reliable Third-Party Logistics (TPL) partner such as ShipBob, Shipmonk or even Amazon. 

By outsourcing this task, you can rest assured that your orders will be handled professionally, and it will also reduce the likelihood of shipping errors and delays if you’re already stretched too thin to focus entirely on packing and sending products yourself.

Cleaning

While cleaning seems like a task of lesser importance for your business when compared to other things like accounting, maintaining a clean and organised workspace is important so you and your team can maintain focus and stay productive. It’s also important to boost staff morale and leave a positive impression on any clients or customers that come to visit your office. 

However, if it isn’t delegated to anyone in particular, it can very quickly fall completely on your shoulders or not get done at all. As soon as you have an office space, you should consider hiring a regular cleaner to ensure your professional space is always presentable. 

For the smaller tasks like unpacking the dishwasher, wiping down eating spaces and keeping the office kitchen tidy, consider creating a chore chart for your team to make sure everyone carries the load, not just you. Chore charts are also a great team-building tool – they foster a sense of community and give your team more responsibility for the physical space they share with their colleagues.

Office Administration 

Office administration comprises a million different tasks that, although small, help to keep your office and business running efficiently and effectively without any hiccups. These tasks can include anything from ordering more printer paper and office supplies to troubleshooting broken equipment to liaising with your office’s landlord. 

If you have to focus on growing your business, increasing revenue, and project management, office administration tasks might quickly fall through the cracks if you try to do them yourself. Hiring an office assistant or manager can keep your office running smoothly and save you a lot of stress. 

Teamwork Divides The Task And Multiplies Success

It sounds like a cliche, but it couldn’t be more true when it comes to running a business. As a business owner, it can sometimes be hard to let go of the reins and trust that things will still go smoothly, but trying to do everything yourself is a surefire way to burn out and lose sight of the bigger picture you should be focusing on.

By outsourcing time-consuming and repetitive tasks, you can focus on what truly matters—innovating, strategising, and growing your business. Evaluate your business needs, identify tasks that can be delegated, and watch as your efficiency and productivity increases tenfold.

Web Design Canberra 

Our experienced team of web designers knows how to balance beauty and function perfectly. The key tenants of our website design process are:

• Fully responsive: A  responsive design is guaranteed when you work with us. All of the websites we deliver are fully functional on mobile devices, not just desktops.
• Completely custom websites: We design websites that reflect your brand, and we never use premade templates, so your website looks completely distinctive.
• Search engine optimisation friendly: Web design can affect your search ranking. That’s why we use the WordPress Content Management System (CMS), which allows us to ensure your website is search engine optimised every step of the design process.

The end result of following these principles are websites that are not only visually stunning but align with your branding and help your business drive forward its goals. It’s this dedication and professionalism that has earned us a reputation as one of the highest recommended companies offering website design Canberra has to offer.

WordPress Web Development Services

Since 2008, we’ve built WordPress websites for both large and small businesses across Australia. Thanks to this experience, we’ve been able to fine-tune our website development process down to an art along the way. We develop awesome websites that work beautifully across all devices with a user-friendly layout that loads quickly.

Crucially, our websites are also intuitive to use and easy to manage and edit. During website development, we make it a priority to build a user-friendly backend that makes it easier for our clients to regularly update and maintain their sites without hassle. 

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) That Offers A Competitive Advantage

Also called Search Engine Marketing, our SEO campaigns are designed to help your website appear higher on search engine result pages (SERPs) on Google so you can connect with more potential customers. Our team understands that an efficient, well-thought-out strategy does more than just include keywords in your content. Instead, our efforts look at your website holistically, from the structure of your site to the user experience and page speed. The end result of this technical and content-based approach is long-term, steady SEO success that boosts your website’s overall visibility.

Affordable WordPress Website Maintenance & Management

Our website maintenance services offer you peace of mind that your website is consistently secure, fast and up to date for a fair price. Our team gathers their WordPress expertise to ensure your website works as a 24/7 asset to promote your business and has a high level of security and all the latest updates. This means you can sit back and focus on the other aspects of your business, knowing your website is in good hands. 

Web Hosting Tailored To Our Canberra Clients

We offer highly reliable website hosting with a 99.9% uptime guarantee, unlimited bandwidth and free SSL certificates. Additionally, our web hosting servers are located in Canberra – this means faster loading times for your target audience and, ultimately, a better user experience and higher SERP ranking.

Looking For Reliable Canberra Website Services?

If you’re in the market for a Canberra agency that you can rely on to do a great job, no matter your requirements, send us an enquiry today for an obligation-free quote. We offer site hosting, maintenance, development and design services for small and established businesses, and we’re flexible working with a range of budgets. We also offer digital marketing services, including Google Ads, social media, and email marketing.

Step 1: Click the ‘Share’ button at the bottom of the video you would like to embed.
Step 2: Click ‘Embed’ in the pop up. This should be the first option.
Step 3: Click ‘Copy’ on the bottom right of the new pop up. The embed code will look something like below.
Step 4: Paste the code on the page that you want the video to appear.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/shDf7UaHNwE?si=mBHmlj8WzytkFKxk" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

MemNet Product Category Shortcode

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To show a specific category of product, you would simply refer to the category in the content after the = and before “. In the example above, you would replace Webinars with the category of product you have set on MemNet and would like to display.

AI, then, should be considered something additive to our jobs and something that can replace menial tasks or tasks that require the recall of large amounts of information. AI is also good at recognising patterns and detecting anomalies, but ultimately, AI is a tool we can use to augment our capability – not replace it. What if AI didn’t stand for Artificial Intelligence, but it stood for Augmented Intelligence – something that can add to human capability but is more akin to a tool in a toolbox rather than the only tool you will ever use or need?

AI is Generative, It Can’t Come Up With New Ideas

At the core of the AI debate lies a fundamental misconception. Rather than viewing AI as an autonomous, all-knowing entity, let’s see it as a tool. AI systems, such as language models (ChatGPT, for example), are trained on vast datasets containing existing human knowledge. They then recognise patterns and synthesise the information we feed them to generate text, make predictions, and assist in creative tasks. What gives a semblance of intelligence is simply a hugely complex series of logic loops looking for the answer it deems to be most correct based on the historically correct answer (thanks to the data they were trained on).

AI, as a result, doesn’t know what will become trendy in the future or what will become the next hit song. However, because humans are relatively predictable, AI can make a pretty good guess at what a song needs to do to become the next hit, but it doesn’t allow for the human anomalies we see all the time. These anomalies or shifts away from the norm are what it takes for a movie to stand out or a song to top the charts. If it were simply down to formulas, then we could all create a hit song.

Enhancing Human Capability

If we follow my thesis that AI is Augmented Intelligence, it doesn’t seek to replace human knowledge but to enhance it. Here are a few examples of how we use AI and how AI can augment the abilities in other professions:

• To apply the findings from extensive studies- we use an eye-tracking study from MIT to apply the results on designs to test for attention and clarity
• Monitoring active email or advertising campaigns to look for anomalies and alert us when this happens so that we can review it ourselves
• Lawyers can use AI to scan historical cases and condense this information to then apply to new cases
• Tesla uses AI in cameras to learn the world around it using cameras to get better at recognising objects and even predicting what cars around it are going to do

Marrying Creativity and Data

In our line of work at Futuretheory (and likely your line of work too, if you think about it), creativity is paramount. Augmented Intelligence allows marketers and designers to harness the power of data to inform and inspire creativity. For example, by analysing user behaviour and preferences, AI can indicate areas of a design that are too information-dense or instances where a layout draws attention to the wrong place.

Time is a precious resource, and one can use AI to automate routine tasks, such as data collection and analysis, freeing up more time for strategic thinking and innovation. This newfound efficiency can be a game-changer for startups and established businesses alike.

The Journey Ahead

As humans, we are responsible for ensuring that we use AI ethically and responsibly moving forward. Augmented Intelligence should be wielded as a force for good, enhancing our knowledge while adhering to ethical guidelines and respecting privacy. Like anything powerful, the wealth of data and information could easily be weaponised or used in nefarious ways.

The transition to integrating AI is not about fearing the rise of machines but embracing the possibilities of collaboration and increased efficiency. It’s about using AI as a powerful ally in our quest for knowledge, innovation, and success.

Embracing The Change

In conclusion, AI is like every other innovation that has come before it. The car replaced the horse, accounting software replaced spreadsheets, and email replaced letters. These aren’t bad things inherently, but the increase in efficiency left less work for humans, and these humans had to upskill or do a different job than before. Humans have always sought efficiency; that is what has allowed mankind to progress. If it weren’t for this innovation and ingenuity, we would all still be toiling away outside with rudimentary tools, and we wouldn’t have time to do things like putting the effort to get to the moon.

By looking at AI as a collaborator rather than something seeking to replace humans, we can harness its potential to enrich our expertise, drive innovation, and shape a brighter future. So, let’s embrace this journey and let AI augment our intelligence to do more, or do faster, leaving more time (hopefully) to spend with family, on hobbies or on your next business idea!

MemNet Events Shortcode

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To choose which event you would like to display, change the Event ID in the code above, replacing only the content after =. In the code above, you would replace E007 with the Event ID.

A little about you

• Enjoy researching and conveying your findings
• Great with people
• Care about the work you do and the outcomes you deliver
• Strong grammatical and copywriting skills

Your responsibilities

• Write content for clients and for internal projects.
• Edit content written by other team members.
• Optimise content for SEO (prior experience in SEO-driven content is nice to have, but training will be provided as well).
• Publish content on Content Management Systems (primarily WordPress).
• Suggest content ideas and provide feedback on the content calendar.
• Collaborate with designers, developers, copywriters, managers and clients
• Work closely with the Director and other team members – the ability to give and take constructive feedback is important.
• Take responsibility and drive projects forward
• Collaborate and communicate with the team – taking opportunities to contribute to the development of others and getting a taste for the other areas of what we do.

Requirements

• A portfolio of work demonstrating your copywriting
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)
• Ability to collaborate and work well within a team

What to expect at Futuretheory

• A small, friendly team who love what they do
• Comfortable modern office in Beard (5 minutes from Fyshwick) – away from all the hustle and bustle
• Parking close by (and it’s free)
• Access to modern software, tools and equipment

You must be legally eligible to work in Australia and speak and write fluent English.

Please note: this is not a remote role. This is an in-house position; you will be working at our office in Canberra.

Applications close at 10am on 7 June 2023. We will be reviewing and interviewing applicants prior to this, so we encourage you to apply at your earliest convenience.

Questions? Email hello@futuretheory.co

How to apply

Please apply through https://jobs.cvviz.com/ft/job_59803_Marketing_Assistant_(Content_&_Digital)

No two days will be the same, and you’ll get to work on projects of all sizes – from small one-person businesses all the way to large corporations. So if you like variety, and enjoy diversity in the type of work you do – this is a great opportunity for you!

A little about you

• Great with people.
• Have a keen eye for design and a portfolio to back it up (we aren’t worried about years of experience – we’re more interested in your eye for good design).
• A creative thinker who strives for innovation.
• Care about the work you do and the outcomes you deliver.

Your responsibilities

• Design practical, user-centred websites using modern design principles.
• Collaborate with designers, developers, copywriters, managers and clients.
• Work closely with the Director and other team members on design – the ability to give and take constructive feedback is important.
• Develop brand guidelines and implement them.
• Take responsibility and drive projects forward.
• Collaborate and communicate with the team – taking opportunities to contribute to the development of others and get a taste for the other areas of what we do.
• It’d be great if you have an interest or experience in other forms of media (videography, photography, animation, etc)

Requirements

• A portfolio of work demonstrating a keen eye for detail and a high level of understanding of design and UX fundamentals (please include a link or a document with your application)
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)
• Ability to collaborate and work well within a team
• Experience with modern design tools & techniques (Adobe Creative Cloud etc)

What to expect at Futuretheory

• A small, friendly team who love what they do
• Comfortable modern office in Beard (5 minutes from Fyshwick) – away from all the hustle and bustle
• Parking close by (and it’s free)
• Access to modern software, tools and equipment

You must be legally eligible to work in Australia and speak fluent English.

Please note: this is not a remote role. This is an in-house position; you will be working at our office in Canberra.

Applications close at 10am on 5 June 2023. We will be reviewing and interviewing applicants prior to this, so we encourage you to apply at your earliest convenience.

Questions? Email hello@futuretheory.co

How to apply

Please apply through https://jobs.cvviz.com/ft/job_59798_Web_&_Graphic_Designer

How Does SEO Work?

There are a few factors that come into play to get good SEO. This comes down to keyword research, optimising webpage content and earning inbound links to increase authority and ranking on your preferred search engine. SEO is a forever changing beast that needs constant attention as the rankings are likely to change regularly depending on the age, competition and/or algorithm of the search engine itself. The goal of SEO is to drive traffic to your website and then create domain authority with Google or your chosen search engine. When you have domain authority, you have visibility. This occurs when your site is showing higher on search engine result pages (SERP). 

How do I get my page ranked on Google?

Search engines work by using bots that essentially read through (‘crawl’) web pages to collect information about those pages and index them appropriately to be found by search engines under the right queries based on relevancy and authority. This index is what is used by a search engine when you look for particular terms in your web search, similar to a librarian who is able to look up the required information using an index. With Google being the dominant search engine available, most people optimise their webpages for Google’s search engine based on the sheer search volume it attracts on subjects.

Google has algorithms for SEO that are changing all the time. It works on analysing pages in the index and use ranking factors to determine the order pages should appear in search results. The idea is that the better optimised your website is for particular keyword terms and content, the higher up it will show in search results. However, this is heavily dependent on how much competition you have and might be more difficult to achieve if you have international and/or highly regarded competition. To identify and deliver the correct information to users, Google will ‘crawl’ each webpage to determine the search queries and identify the appropriate relevancy and authority of a page compared to the identified competition. You can obtain relevancy through hitting keywords on topics as well as other factors included in on-page SEO. Authority is measured by the popularity of a website on the internet which can be obtained by traffic to the website. This tells Google that this is valuable content for readers and it will increase your visibility when people search for you.

SEO vs Paid Search Advertising

The main difference between SEO and paid search advertising (such as Google ads) is that SEO relies on organic search rankings, which means you can’t pay to be in that space, you have to earn it. SEO factors in your content and website and using the search engine’s algorithm, it matches search intent of users to the content most relevant based on the given search keywords. To understand the difference between SEO and paid search advertising, you can see the advertisements at the top of most search results pages. These webpage links look the same as the other below though they do have the word ‘sponsored’ or ‘AD’ written above it, this is not SEO, this is an example of paid advertising. Search results that don’t have the words ‘sponsored’ or ‘AD’ are a direct result of SEO and are providing the most organic search results that are in line with the query posed to Google. These results are a direct reflection on how powerful search engine optimisation can be.

Utilising paid search advertising can help with the initial stages of SEO by helping provide potential clicks to your site to help booster your SEO rankings. Both options should be considered as strategies to increase your SEO. While the concept of SEO may seem easy to grasp, Google SEO has algorithms that are changing all the time. No one can predict when Google will change the algorithm, what will change and which pages will be punished for it. 

On-Page and Off-Page SEO

There are two important sides to SEO that need to be considered: on-page SEO and off-page SEO. In short, on page SEO refers to the areas of your website you can control including content and keyword usage. Whilst off page SEO happens outside of your website and relies on mentions and backlinks. We’ve explored the differences in on and off page SEO further below. 

On-Page Optimisation

On-page SEO refers to building content that will improve your ranking. This includes using the correct keywords, writing high-quality content frequently, making sure your metatags and titles are keyword-rich, it is well-written, and much more. Metatags are known as invisible tags that provide data to search engines and users about the content on your page. These tags don’t have a direct impact on search rankings but can increase click-through rate from the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). You can optimise these to highlight the most important pieces of your content to make your website stand out amongst the others in search results. These metatags are known to satisfy a person’s query but also intrigue them just enough to click on your site. These kind of tags come in many different forms including alt-text for images, headings, meta descriptions and many more.

Off-Page Optimisation

Off page SEO is optimisation that occurs off your website and onto either another site or platform. This can be in the form of backlinks, content marketing, social media and reviews. Backlinking involves building relationships and creating content that people will want to share. This then can link back or drive traffic to your website. Building backlinks can be a lot of work, though and is not as simple as on-page SEO. Off-page SEO is just as important in building your site’s domain authority against the other websites of your competitors. This type of SEO creates a higher authority with search engines and considers them more relevant, credible and trustworthy. Without it, your site may struggle to rank higher than your competitors that have a higher authority with a search engine.

Black Hat vs White Hat Strategies

No, we’re not talking about actual hats you wear on your head. These are both optimisation techniques you can try to reach your SEO goals. Though results will vary based on how you do it and which technique you choose to give a go. 

Black hat SEO strategy is when you go for quick gains but it does not bode well for long term SEO prospects. Many people used to use this type of tactic to rank sites, however times have changed. Black hat SEO uses sneaky tactics such as keyword stuffing and link scraping in order to rank higher, quickly. This can work for the short-term and will bring traffic to your site, but after a while, search engines like Google will penalise (or even blacklist) your site so you’ll never rank. These kind of tactics violate search engine guidelines in an attempt to manipulate search engine algorithms. This is not the way to go if you want your SEO efforts to count long term and turn into favourable search engine rankings. Not to mention many within the SEO industry believe this tactic to be unethical to get higher in the search results.

White hat SEO strategy is the SEO best practices to build a sustainable online business. White hat SEO is the safest of the optimisation techniques and works within the rules and expectations of users an search engines. It is best done by creating high quality content that is factually correct, user friendly and understanding the optimal keywords that users are searching for (without using too many keywords in one go as this can quickly become keyword stuffing which is a black hat strategy!). There are no tricks or quick fixes with white hat SEO that undermine an algorithm of a search engine. Doing SEO this way focuses on your human audience, using the appropriate search intent for SEO success. White hat SEO is not a quick fix to get obtain a search engine’s organic reach. It takes time, patience and can be a waiting game over a certain period of time but you will see your web pages rank higher on Google and other search engines if applied correctly.

Black Hat SEO Techniques

• Duplicate content: trying to rank for a certain keyword may cause you to create duplicate content so you can get the keyword/s in multiple times. Google may penalise this tactic.
• Invisible text and keyword stuffing: This is an older tactic where you include lots of keywords at the end of your article in the same colour as the background. This tactic will get you blacklisted very quickly and kept out of search algorithms and results.
• Cloaking and redirecting: Cloaking is a misleading tactic in the SEO world. It’s when you mislead bots into thinking there is relevant content on your page relating to a certain subject and then it’s not there. There are good and bad ways to redirect. The wrong way is to buy lots of keyword rich domains and redirect all the traffic to a single site.
• Poor linking practices: There are variety of ways to get links but some of them are black hat techniques. These include using link farms and purchasing links. Link farms are when a selection of websites all link to each other regardless of relevancy. Purchasing links is risky considering you don’t know what kind of links you will actually receive and how effective they will be. Do not purchase a package that promises 5,000 links in 24 hours – this is the wrong way to build links. You need to get links from relevant content and sites in your niche that have their own traffic.

White Hat SEO Techniques

• Understanding and implementing keyword research: back in the day, keywords just meant one word terms. Now they have become a string of terms. These terms can be longer phrases in a particular niche that draws in the intent and context of the page content.
• Creating quality, relevant content: the Google search engine has a variety of tools that it uses to evaluate site content. These things include the length of your content, topic and relevancy, distribution of keywords, age of article and internal and external links included. 
• Making your site responsive and mobile friendly: with more and more people using their mobiles to browse the web, it’s important to make sure your content translates well to mobile. This also includes user experience (UX) design which entails how a user experiences your website and the accessibility standards around it.
• Claim your local business listing (GMB): when it comes to local SERPs, having a local business listing can rank you higher than others on the map based on location. Research shows that more than 80% of smartphone shoppers conduct searches ending in “near me” to get the most relevant and geographically close option. 
• Utilising content marketing opportunities: creating content on your site is useless without traffic. To make sure your content is put in front of others, you can share links to your site or page via social media, through email marketing, and/or have it published on websites that have a higher ranking.
• Using schema markup: this is known as the language of search engines. It is used to read and understand your content pages. You can utilise schema markup by creating meta tags, title tags and many more for your pages. Using schema markup is important to Google as it can use this information to create snippets and fill out the “people also ask” section on the search results page. 

SEO Techniques for Success

SEO requires a lot of time, patience and action. It is not something you can expect to see results from in a day, overnight or even within a week. Depending on the site and it’s authority, it can take up to a few months for any changes to be seen and may only be a small change in the beginning. SEO relies on daily actions with a long-term goal. Here are a few techniques that can build up your website for good SEO:

Choosing a Simple, Memorable Domain Name

Your domain name matters more than you would think. If you already have a domain name, it’s not a massive deal for SEO but it can be the difference between users finding your website on the first go rather than scrolling through search results on their preferred search engine. Try choosing a domain name that does not include hyphens or generic names like bestbeautysalon.com. You want users to have a memorable experience on your site and that goes for the naming conventions as well.

Well Thought Out and Executed Content

There is a well-known saying “content is king”, coined by Bill Gates back in 1996. Research shows that a Google user is happy when they find the result that answers their query in the best way. Search engines like Google looks at ways to always try to provide the best experience possible by sending you to the content that is the most relevant and has the best user metrics. You should be making sure your content is answering questions correctly and the best way possible.

Creating good content however requires a few elements to be included:

• Quality: the competition in content can be fierce. Therefore, your content needs to provide high quality value. This involves adding more value than your competitors by making it more in-depth or more insightful to ensure your site ranks higher in the search. It also is helpful to create longer content – this tends to rank better as users peruse your site longer, which Google loves.
• Intent: Search engines such as Google will put lots of emphasis on the search queries intent. It wants to understand what the user is looking for when they search something. When creating your content, it is important to understand this as well. This will help you create the best content for your audience and the search engine algorithms.
• Freshness: Posting frequently helps your Google rankings. However, posting frequent content is just one way to keep your website fresh – you can also update old content with new or updated information to stay relevant and up to date. Updating your content can also help you stay at a certain level in rankings or even propel you higher than before. Updated information is always well regarded when it comes to SERPs.

How to write great content

1. Understand user intent: Before putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard!) you need to know what your reader will want to accomplish when they land on your page.
2. Know who your audience is: It is important to understand who your reader is – what they like, what they dislike, why they’re there, etc.
3. Break it up: People have increasingly short attention spans, so writing big chunks of text can be painful for the reader. Break it up with headings and images to help digest the information and keep your readers interested in your content.
4. Make it actionable: Every part of your website should have a clear call to action, including your content. It should be clear to the reader what their next steps are.

Conducting Keyword Research

SEO is all about targeting the right visitors to your site. You need to attract your target market, not just anyone on the internet. Attracting to your target market can lead to either selling your products or services to someone who is in the market for what you’re selling. This is where keyword research comes into it. Keywords are the phrases that users type into search engines to generate results. The key to keyword research is discovering and identifying terms and topics relevant to your business to match the user’s search intent. Google understands this technique and rewards a site by bumping a sites visibility up the search result list the more it gets found and clicked into. 

Utilising On-Page and Off-Page Optimisation

Improving the actual structure of each page can have big benefits for SEO. Common on-page optimisation strategies include optimising the URL to incorporate keywords, updating the title tag of the page to use relevant search terms, and using the alternative text (alt text) to describe images. Updating a page’s meta tags (such as the meta description) can also be beneficial. Google also uses on-page SEO to understand a users experience and intent for landing on a page which then helps organise and rank your page. Off-page optimisation can be utilised by having other sites link to your page. This works best when the content is relevant on both sites.

Introducing Images and Videos

Adding in images and/or videos is not a requirement for SEO though it does help show a search engine the quality of the site. It also helps to keep users engaged on your page longer the same way using longer content does. 

Creating Easy to Digest Website Architecture

While external links are helpful for SEO, so are internal links. You can improve your website’s SEO by making sure key pages are being linked to and that relevant anchor text is being used in those links to improve a page’s relevance for specific terms. An XML sitemap can be a good way for larger pages to help search engines discover and crawl all of the site’s pages. An XML sitemap is a file of all your websites essential pages so that search engines can crawl these pages to understand the website structure. It’s important to have Google crawl your website pages entirely to have an impact. This can be done through a tool called Google Search Console.

Using Semantic Mark Up

Another SEO strategy is optimising your websites semantic mark up. A semantic mark-up (such as Schema.org) is used to describe the meaning behind the content on a page. This can include helping to identify who the author of an article is or the topic and type of content on a page. Semantic mark up can help Google generate rich snippets to be displayed in the search results page as the main answer to a question – this can be in the form of extra text, review stars or sometimes even images. A great use of semantic mark up is by using heading tags within your content writing instead of manually changing the font size every time you need a subheading.

Focusing on Local SEO

Local search engine optimisation is best used for local businesses. You can use this by including a specific location into your keywords in content to ensure you come up for search results based on location only. This type of SEO is targeted for smartphone users mainly as searches locally generally occur on a smart device. While locality is imperative to local SEO, you must also include items such as the company’s name, address and phone number. These other items help the search engine determine your location even further. To rank higher with local SEO, reviews from users can help highlight the businesses authority in the online space.

Tracking Results on Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a Google tool where you can optimise the visibility of your website, check on indexing and crawled pages as well as search queries and errors. This tool will also tell you if you have anything important missing from your HTML and you can optimise for that. Google Search Console can be used to monitor the amount of traffic coming to your website, the amount of impressions you receive from search results, the click through rate and the average position your site is ranking on Google. A great feature of Google Search Console is their top queries feature which tells you exactly what areas your web pages are showing up in search results for users. You can also track how many clicks you get from certain terms which can help you understand how to optimise your content better for more search results.

Tracking Results on Google Analytics

Google has another product to assist with SEO called Google Analytics. Using Google Analytics, you can track your websites performance, understand visitors demographic and behaviour when interacting with the site, measure the return of investment (ROI) of marketing campaigns and improve your bounce rate of users. A bounce rate relates to the amount of time a user spends on a particular web page. By analysing your users bounce rate, you can determine how best to create enhancements to create the search experience longer and fulfilled.

Summing Up Search Engine Optimisation 

SEO is not a one size fits all approach to understanding how people search for products or services or how to rank best on the major search engines. There is no secret recipe unfortunately as there are many ways of tackling search engine marketing and optimisation. SEO can be a tough beast to tackle if you’re new to learning SEO. You can research and do a DIY job of managing the SEO for your webpages alone or you could engage with a SEO expert to learn, understand and see the benefits of utilising search engine optimisation for your businesses online presence. It’s best to try as many tactics as possible (without using black hat SEO techniques) to achieve the best result. You can’t put all your eggs into one basket with SEO, it works based on a variety of different components of your online presence. SEO takes time, effort and a lot of patience to hopefully achieve higher rankings on search engines though it is definitely worth the extra leg work needed to make it happen.

The role is part-time, 20 hours per week, with the potential to extend to full-time in the future. Remuneration to be negotiated based on experience, but please use the full time salary as a guide. The remuneration on the advertisement is the full time range, your salary will be a pro rata amount based on this full time equivalent range.

The ideal candidate will have 2+ years of relevant experience with demonstrable results, strong communication skills, a keen eye for detail and a passion for helping Futuretheory and our clients grow.

Key responsibilities/skills

• Paid advertising management (Google Ads, Facebook Ads)
• Coordinate content marketing
• Liaising with external suppliers and clients
• Copy editing, writing, content upload and content management for websites, email newsletters and social media
• Social media management (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest)
• Marketing analysis and strategy
• EDM Marketing

Nice to have

• An understanding of Search Engine Optimisation
• Conceptualisation and implementation of PR strategies
• Ability to make simple edits to video
• Experience using Adobe Creative Cloud programs

How to apply

Please apply via our Indeed advertisement – https://au.indeed.com/job/marketing-coordinator-330c0e367693f977

Before we share some of our achievements this year, we’d like to wish you for the holiday period ahead. We hope that you have a safe and relaxing break and wish you all the best for 2023!

Our Work In 2022

We delivered some great projects this year, across website design and development, branding and design, and marketing. The projects ranged from member organisations, to small businesses and start ups, to established businesses, across industries including haircare, education, construction, retail, eCommerce, charity and non profit.

Some Results

We delivered some results across Marketing and SEO that even surprised us – including tripling one website’s reach to over 600,000 impressions per month. Another project that stood out was a brand new website that launched in May – we took this site from 0 to almost 1,400 impressions a day and don’t see the growth slowing down.

In the new year, we will tally up the year’s data to get final numbers that we will analyse and use to better understand trends, strategies and how to deliver even better outcomes to our clients in 2023.

The ideal candidate will have at least 2 years of relevant experience with demonstrable results, a keen eye for detail and a passion for helping Futuretheory and our clients grow.

Key responsibilities/skills

• Develop WordPress child themes based on supplied website design
• Write efficient, clean, low maintenance PHP code and functions
• Utilise WordPress functions, hooks and filters to achieve desired layout/functionality
• Develop Gutenberg Blocks with Advanced Custom Fields using HTML, CSS, PHP and JavaScript, or React (no page builders ie. WPBakery Page Builder, Divi, Elementor, Visual Composer etc.)
• Setup/manage WordPress sites on cPanel hosting
• Configure user friendly WordPress backend
• Add functionality to existing WordPress sites
• Troubleshoot website issues
• Experience with Adobe Creative Cloud applications to export assets for website development
• Communicate with non-technical designers, team members, clients and other stakeholders

Nice to have

• Interact/integrate with APIs to develop custom solutions with WordPress
• Experience configuring and managing DNS
• Experience with UI/UX and website design

How to apply

Please apply with a cover letter and CV by emailing Germaine Muller at germaine@futuretheory.com.au

We expect to close applications by 23 October 2022, however, we encourage all applicants to apply as soon as possible as we may organise interviews with applicants prior to the deadline.

Note: successful candidates will be asked to participate in a short coding test.

You can read more about the priority allocation process on the .auDA website: https://www.auda.org.au/au-domain-names/au-direct/priority-allocation-process

There is no difference between the new .au domain name and existing domain names .au names from any perspective apart from the .au direct domain names being shorter thanks to the lack of the extra full stop and character (as is the case with .com.au or .org.au for example).

Should I purchase a .au direct domain name?

If cost is not a concern, then yes, we strongly recommend that you register .au direct versions of all your domains. This minimal cost ensures that you are protecting your domain name and all associated entities such as websites and email addresses. There is also the security that this provides in ensuring that malicious parties won’t be able to get a domain name similar to yours and confuse or trick your clients into parting with their money thinking that they are paying you.

The catch is that you are essentially doubling your annual domain costs, but if you have a brand that is worth protecting, then the expense is worth it and quite minimal.

Who can register .au direct domain names?

Eventually, everyone will be able to register a .au direct domain name. However, there is a priority allocation process in place for those with other .au domain names registered.

Where can I register a .au domain name?

There are numerous organisations that can register a .au direct domain name for you, including us. Please get in touch if you would like us to assist in managing your domain name(s).

Why move to .co?

We have a global audience. Our website has been visited by people from 75% of the countries of the world. While we are limited by being an English-only website, we cover topics with global relevance and application, and we wanted to extend this relevance to the domain name.

The website also reaches peaks of 400 visitors and 2,000 page views per day, organically, without any advertising. By having a domain extension that is global, we can create content that serves more people.

.co is shorter than .com

There isn’t a better way to put it. We wanted a domain name that was as short as possible while having the company name in its entirety, and .co was the only way to accomplish this.

.co is becoming more common

.co is a domain extension that is used by numerous companies today, including those like zip.co and thankyou.co who are well known consumer products. This increase in the public’s awareness of the .co domain extension, and studies that indicate that it is nearly as good as a .com from a recall and trust perspective, gave us the confidence that almost everyone would recognise futuretheory.co as a legitimate domain name and not an error/omission.

Why not .com?

The .com version of the URL has been registered since 2001, and when we first registered the futuretheory.com.au domain in August, 2016, we were 15 years too late! We may acquire the .com domain in the future if it comes up for sale again.

The new location is 15 minutes from the city, 10 minutes from the airport, and 20-30 minutes from most parts of Canberra. Best of all, parking is free!

We look forward to meeting with and welcoming more clients at our new office as we return to a more normal life.

Take a glimpse at our new office:

You’ll be greeted by our Monstera as soon as you enter our office.

The meeting room is also designed to be used for previewing video projects thanks to a 75-inch screen and studio monitor speakers. It has also been configured to be used as an audio recording space.

The office is predominantly lit by natural light, with light bouncing off the various concrete surfaces and an exposed ceiling.

The open-plan office space is an intentional decision to encourage communication within the team and to add to the spacious feel.

When it’s time for a break, the dining table and couch are comfortable places to have a bite or read a magazine.

The biggest addition is our in-house 125 sqm studio, which is used for photography and videography by the Futuretheory team but is also open to the public through FT Studio.

The social media world can be a volatile one – with platforms introducing new features all the time in an effort to remain relevant and profitable. Instagram introduced shoppable posts in 2018, allowing businesses to tag products in their posts, making it easier for customers to discover and buy. This was a game changer with some businesses reporting over a 1000% increase in profile traffic and some with a 20% increase in revenue.

The latest update from Instagram has taken this idea a step further. An Instagram Shop allows a business to display their products in a more comprehensive way than product tags allowed. It brings each product into one location on the business profile, making it easier for customers to browse and purchase. 

According to a recent press release from Facebook, the shift to focus more on ecommerce is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the struggles it caused for many businesses:

“Right now many small businesses are struggling, and with stores closing, more are looking to bring their business online. That’s why we’re launching Facebook Shops and investing in features across our apps that inspire people to shop and make buying and selling online easier.”

Why should you set up an Instagram Shop?

1. You’ll reduce barriers and make shopping easier for customers

It can be an uphill battle getting customers to your store, so take your store to them! It’s simpler for customers to browse your products in-ap. If they like something, they’ll be more inclined to visit your website to purchase.

Shoppers can choose sizes, colours and designs directly from Instagram. They can then click the button linking them to your website and their preferences will be carried across. While this means less time on the website, conversions and sales will increase. 

2. The dreaded single bio link is solved! (Sort of) 

One issue many businesses come across is the limited single bio link. Any post mentioning a specific product needs to direct the user to the profile, to click on the link and then navigate further beyond that. This is a lot to ask of someone you’re also trying to sell to! The Instagram Shop has targeted links on each product, making CTAs more relevant and conversions a bit easier. 

3. Peer pressure and social proof

This introduction adds a new dimension for social media marketers and businesses who use strategies like social proof, trends and influence from peers to make sales. The Instagram Shop creates a more direct connection between a product and its popularity, based on the account, its number of followers and their level of engagement. Don’t take that to mean it will be harmful for smaller accounts though. This is an opportunity to lean on being ‘local’, ‘Australian’ or ‘exclusive’ if you have a smaller following. Focus your efforts more on connecting with individual customers looking for a more personalised experience.

4. Engaged and more targeted users

Instagram has a sophisticated (and constantly changing) algorithm. Fortunately, this algorithm makes it easier for you to find your best audience. A strong hashtag strategy and appropriate usage will make it easier for your target market to find your products. Instagram has great insight into what interests and preferences its users have. Thanks to the algorithm, your products will be shown to audiences who have shown interest in similar products to yours. 

Not only will you be finding more targeted audiences, you’ll be finding audience who are more likely to buy. If they’re browsing the Shop tab, they’re already intending to find something to purchase.

The Instagram Shop is going to be a great tool for small (and large) businesses. With reduced barriers, ease of browsing and more targeted customers, Instagram and it’s Shop feature should become a staple part of your social media strategy. Check it out and let us know what you think below. 

This all comes at the same time as the change of our business structure and a new addition to our team. So, why have we made these changes?

Going back to the start

We worked with our first client in 2008 on a video editing project. Since then, we have been involved in everything from web development, to photography, to marketing and design. On this journey we’ve had a name change and a number of logo changes but our goal has always been to represent who we are and what we do.

Why now?

Until now, our focus has been solely on our professional services (websites, marketing and design). Our vision is to build a more rounded business that is more accessible to more people, by sharing knowledge, tools and providing a creators space, all of which align better with our mission:

We make your goals come true.

The new logo

When we began exploring a new logo we had a number of requirements. It had to be:

• Modern but timeless
• Flexible in its application
• Distinct from others in the market
• Representative of the people behind the business

We went through over 250 sketches, countless iterations and extensive conversations before we refined our vision to what you see today. We arrived at a very minimal shape, complemented by crisp text that can be used at small sizes without losing legibility. It is flexible and lends itself to a design language that you will see used in our marketing and collateral moving forward. Our new logo is modern but doesn’t rely on any trends, so we can keep this identity for the foreseeable future. We believe the casual, quirky and bold icon represents us and the way we like to do business – welcoming, informal, and confident.

The refined blue

From our first brand colours of yellow and purple to our most recent vibrant blue – we’ve made some daring choices. We’re sticking with blue but we’ve reigned it back, allowing our bold icon to speak for itself. This refined blue is more palatable and can be used in more applications. It is a minor change but it feels like a more mature representation of who we are now.

The new website

Our new website replaces one that has served us well, but left us wanting. This new design fills a few gaps from our previous version and increases our capability as a business. An exciting addition (that we’ll be exploring more in a later post, along with other features) is our latest section – a central platform for resources, knowledge, our Future Tribe podcast and so much more.

What’s next?

With a new logo and website that better represents who we are and where we’re going, we’ll continue on our mission of making goals come true. We are looking forward to this next phase of Futuretheory and we are excited to start sharing more through our online home. Keep an eye out for our next announcement in the coming weeks!

These similarities exist because web designers are increasingly understanding the way users interact with websites. WordPress is one of the most popular website design platforms due to its ease of use and template availability. This also means there are many websites who begin their design process with the same template, so the similarities between websites are hard to miss.

Despite these similarities, when we take a closer look under the ‘hood’ of a website, it becomes clear that every website is different. These differences include unique calls-to-action, a visitor’s journey on the website, use of images, addition or removal of different pages, the formal or informal use of language and overall business goals of a website.

There are surface-level similarities between websites and there are unique elements deeper down. So, back to the question – are all websites the same? To which the simple answer is no.

When working on a website you will come across some small and big decisions that will frame your website’s layout and functionality. These decisions are what make your website unique while still following some basic principles.

Websites are a reflection of your brand

Your brand has a unique story, so the elements of your website and how a use interacts with them will be inherently different from your competitors. In other words, no two websites can be the same because they are unique to your brand.

To design a website that stands out, it is important to understand your business and its brand elements. Communicating compelling stories of your brand helps customers align with your offerings. Why does your business exist and what is your backstory?

Websites are designed to meet your business objectives

Every website serves a different purpose to different businesses – where one website is a fully-fledged e-commerce platform, another is used to share free knowledge and information.

A website layout is designed with core objectives in mind, such as increasing sales, improving website traffic or generating more enquiries. The layout and content structure is strategically adapted to bring your brand closer to meeting the objective.

Websites are as much about your customers as your business

In most cases, a business’ website is the first point of contact for customers and every business has a unique customer profile. So, it is important to think of websites from the perspective of your audience. Customers are looking for answers – how can this brand solve my problem easily?

Your target audience is looking for specific information and they want this information with less effort. Your website layout should be designed to provide all your brand information in a way that is best understood by customers, compared to your competitors. Web developers and designers study a customer’s interaction with your website to best design the information hierarchy.

Websites are an ongoing process

To keep your website interesting, modern and unique, it requires regular updating. Tracking visitors’ interaction with your website and gathering analytics on your website’s performance helps keep your website relevant to the changing demands in the market.

A high-performing websites is continually optimised. They track a visitor’s interaction on the internet and deliver personalised experiences that better suit the specific user’s needs, reducing bounce rates and encouraging customers to come back for more. So, websites become unique and offer meaningful differentiation to the user.

No two websites are exactly the same. A website reflects your brand, your personal story, your unique target customers and an ever-changing business landscape. It’s these variations that interact with purpose to produce a unique website.

Do you agree? Let’s talk about it – comment below! 

Does anyone read emails anymore?

How many emails do you get every day? I’m not here to say that emails are dead, in fact, that is my main means of communication. I’m also one of those people who subscribe to a lot of newsletters and read almost all of them. But it is something to consider. There was a time when people rarely sent or received an email, and in those times, your emails were much more likely to be read as well. However, today, email sending is cheap, so everyone is inundated by emails. I’m not saying that emails are of no use, but look at your email analytics and make sure that your customers are opening your emails – MailChimp has this fantastic resource that you can use to compare yourself with others, just remember that better numbers when you are small doesn’t mean that you can scale to a larger list and maintain the same open rates.

SMS is more likely to be opened but seems more invasive

There a movement towards SMS as a means of communication. It is already being used as a means of being updated on things like the status of your order, or where your shipment is, but there is also something to be said for the use of SMS for other types of communication. A hard thing to get around, however, is the fact that SMS seems quite personal and clients may feel like their personal space is being invaded if you were to text them too much.

Privacy concerns around Messenger

Facebook Messenger and other instant messaging platforms are extremely popular nowadays, but just as their popularity is rising, so is the concern around privacy. I know a number of businesses who rely on Facebook Messenger to do business, but not everyone is on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or any other number of instant messaging platforms. I would go as far as to say that both emails and SMS are more popular means of communication when measured by the number of individuals signed up. They may not be the most popular when looking at the sheer volume of communication, but the more important factor for most businesses should be having means of communication that more people can sign up to.

We should make it easier for customers

There are two ways to look at this – that’s why you see a completely opposite heading below. Let’s put it this way – customers don’t have to sign up to listen to you or hear from you, so you need to take away any level of difficulty in the signup process. It should be seamless, and ideally instant. By making it easier for customers to sign up, you’re adding more people who can hear about your latest news or promotions, a good thing for most businesses.

We should make it harder for customers

Just as much as making it easier for customers to sign up is in your interest, depending on the stage of your business, you may also find that the complete opposite is true. You may find that you have too many people signing up and this increases things like your email provider’s bill at the end of the month or your phone service provider’s bill at the end of the month. Some businesses may actually benefit by making it harder for customers to sign up as they could get a higher quality of customer if they have to jump through a few hoops to get to the end, and will happily go through the process.

Location and type of business matters

Location and type of business are very important considerations when talking about communication. Communication is a very personal thing that changes drastically from country to country, or even city to city, let along across different industries. As a Canberra web design and marketing consultancy, for example, our clients may be more business-minded and prefer to receive email newsletters, where the clients of a bespoke, Canberra based jeweller might prefer to get an SMS update. Saying this, however, giving the customer the option to select how they want to listen to what you have to say should always be an option.

Capabilities are getting there

Ideally, marketing and communications will move to a space where a business can send a single message out and the clients can choose how they would like to receive it and interact with it. Imagine a world where you can send out your monthly newsletter, and it goes out as a Facebook message, an email, and an SMS with little to no interaction on your part. Given the fact that even email segmentation is only just catching on, I imagine we are a little way away from this scenario that I described, but you should think about a little more – how can you talk to your customers in a way that they want to listen?

Why the name?

The first question that comes to mind is, why Future Tribe? It’s fairly simple. We wanted to give a name to the community of listeners and readers who access our content, and a tribe has a sense of sticking together and helping each other. The name still relates back to Futuretheory but it also has the freedom to exist independent of the work we do with our clients.

Making things a little easier for us

We love creating content. It is a core part of why Futuretheory exists and why the Future Tribe is now taking the reigns. However, the creation of content is resource-heavy and adds a lot of admin overhead. So by bringing the podcast and the newsletter under one name, we only have to manage one list for updates, announcements and news. This allows us to minimise some overhead while still serving our customers and creating content.

More content coming soon

Another reason for this reshuffle is that as the back catalogue of both written articles and podcasts continue to increase, we needed a banner under which we could separate our content and the future content we have in the pipeline. Our new website will be designed with a better home for ‘Future Tribe’ and a better focus on our content separated with the services that we offer our clients.

We’re excited to grow the ‘tribe’ and we look forward to the new types of content we’re currently working on.

For the keen-eyed who noticed, the time according to the dashcam is incorrect. It was actually 10pm not 9pm – I’ve been too lazy to correct the time on there.

As the Mt Stromlo Observatory reports, “It was a nice and bright but relatively small meteor. This would have been on the order of 20 – 50cm when it came into the Earth’s atmosphere. The blue-green color is iron melting in the atmosphere!”

We’ve just opened up our studio for hire in Canberra and of course, moved Futuretheory into the office as well. So seeing a meteor is supposed to represent good luck (at least in some culture according to this site: http://www.meteoritemarket.com/legend.htm), I’m going to take it as a positive sign!

In this blog post, I want to cover a few of my thoughts and experiences. Living in Canberra I’ve been fortunate to shoot all around the capital, do a lot of photography while travelling, and will soon be opening my own photography studio in Canberra!

What gear to start with

The sooner you can start shooting with a camera that can give you manual controls the better – yes, even using your smartphone with manual controls is a great start. Otherwise, heading to Gumtree (this search) and buying a Canon or Nikon DSLR is good too, just make sure to check that it has the features you are after.

Personally, I’m a Canon fan, their colour science is amazing and I’ve trusted their cameras ever since I started shooting. This post here covers my personal picks if you’re shooting video and my photography pick doesn’t really change but heading to Amazon and checking out the cheapest Canon DSLR for sale is excellent as well.

How do I learn to use the camera

If you ask me, the best way to learn how to use the camera is to go out there and shoot. Watch YouTube tutorials as well, but put them to practice. Learn the limits of your camera, what it can do and what it can’t do, how high you can turn the ISO up to etc. You’re always welcome to reach out if you would like a one-on-one lesson as well!

What do all these terms mean

This section is an extension on the point above. The camera world is full of terminology – the deeper you go the more terminology you hear about. There are a few terms and phrases that I think would be extremely helpful even before you go out and buy a camera.

Megapixels

This term related to the number of pixels on the sensor. Higher is better, but past around 12 megapixels, the difference isn’t noticeable. What you are better off focusing on is the sensor itself.

Sensor

Generally speaking the term sensor is talking about the most important part of the camera – the part that captures the image. Every camera, even the one in your phone, has a sensor. While the megapixels of the sensor matter, ultimately, the overall performance of the sensor is even more important. Things like how it performs in low light settings, and its dynamic range.

There are different sensors sizes, but the most common are Four Thirds, APS-C (common is cheaper DSLRs) and Full Frame. You can read more about the sensor sizes here:

Dynamic Range

Dynamic range refers to the difference between the darkest point and the brightest point within a single image. A higher dynamic range is desirable as this means that in a sunset photo for example, the foreground doesn’t end up as a silhouette. A high dynamic range means that you can capture the foreground and the detail in the foreground, as well as capturing the sunset and the colours in the sky. If dynamic range was low you might capture the foreground but the sky might be completely bright and overexposed.

In the image above, while the sun itself is very bright, you can see the camera has captured some detail in the sky. At the same time, the model and the foreground are still well-lit.

Aperture (F-Stop)

Aperture refers to how wide open the camera gets and ultimately refers to how much light is let to the sensor. Aperture is controlled and limited by the lens and has little to do with the sensor.

ISO

The ISO setting determines how dark or bright a scene is. Better sensors can go to higher ISOs and the higher the ISO the more light the lens can collect even in a dark scene. Be mindful, however, as the higher the ISO the more ‘grain’ or ‘noise’ that can be introduced to the image!

There are of course, many more terms, feel free to reach out if I can clarify anything for you. I will continue to add to this list as well.

Canberra is too boring

I had to include this! I hear it so much, especially when it comes to photography – Canberra is so boring and there is nowhere to shoot. The logic follows that since Canberra is so boring, there is less opportunity to learn. But, I’m here to tell you that you are wrong! Get out and shoot, put yourself in interesting environments and you’ll find out new and exciting things about your camera and your capabilities!

An extra skill to have

Photography is a great skill to have (one that will never be replaced by robots, either!). In this post we covered what gear to start with (hint, Canon’s cheapest DSLR), how to learn photography and a few terms that you should know when getting into photography.

Reach out to me once you’ve put your skills into practice and show me what you’ve been able to capture!

Using video as part of your content marketing strategy, or even to just capture high-quality testimonials for social media or your website is a great approach and one that we would certainly recommend.

Camera

I started with a Canon 600D, it takes amazing photos for the price and didn’t have autofocus for video but the 750D below does. To be honest, the cheapest Canon DSLR with autofocus for video is enough for photos and content marketing. Canon cameras tend to have really good colours and produce pleasing results right out of the camera, so you won’t have to edit the videos or photos if you don’t want to.

Buy the Canon 750D

Camera Lens

Also known as the nifty fifty, this lens lets in an amazing amount of light which results in a smooth bokeh effect in the background. Since you’re using it with a cropped sensor also known as APS-C, the 50mm will result in more of an 80mm image in practice but you can compensate for that by moving further away from the camera.

Buy the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8

Tripod

This is identical to the tripod I purchased, it lasted a decent amount of time for the price. The plastic did eventually break but unless you’re looking for panning or fancy features from your tripod, you just need something that will hold the camera stable and in one spot. If you’re based in Australia you might be tempted to buy a simple JB HiFi camera tripod, but be aware that you can get a lot more value from our recommendation.

Buy the Weifeng 160cm Dual Bubble Level Camera Tripod

Microphone

Most places would recommend you go with one of Rode’s products, but for half the price you can get really good sound and you won’t even notice a difference in quality.

Buy the TAKSTAR SGC-598 from https://amzn.to/2U8wRYp

Bonus: Lighting

If you can stretch your budget, getting an additional lighting source like the LED lights below would serve you extremely well. The kit below includes the battery as well which can cost $30 when purchased separately.

Buy the Neewer T120

1. Turn off technology 60-90 minutes before your bedtime
   Read a book or write before bed instead of staying on your phone or computer. You might be getting some work done, or feel like you’re being productive in other ways but the blue light emitted from the phone is keeping you awake, so is all the distractions on the screen that keep your mind ticking. Don’t be fooled by night modes and other filters either, they reduce the amount of blue light but don’t get rid of it completely. If you don’t want to read a book, do what I do and download podcasts. Castbox is the app I use, and it lets me set a sleep timer that stops the podcast automatically at the end of the episode instead of playing the next one. If you’re looking for a podcast to listen to, I recommend Impact Theory by Tom Bilyeu which should be applicable to almost anyone.
2. Set your light at night to a dimmer, red hue
   This surprised me a lot but it is so effective. About 6 months ago I added a smart light to by room. Not only does this light have the ability to change to different colours, you can also dim the amount of light being released. After doing some research I found out that red light, counterintuitively, has a calming effect on your body. To my surprise this works, and works quite well. I use a pinkish dim hue all night unless I’m doing colour critical work. Personally, I’d suggest getting a LIFX since their products work by themselves and don’t need a hub, just a WiFi network.
3. Exercise for at least 5 minutes in the morning
   Research has shown that exercising in the morning is the most effective. Not only does it get your metabolism going early on in the day, if you get to exercise outside, the light from the sun wakes you up and energises your body. 5 minutes of high intensity exercise would be the best and helps with losing weight as well as helping you get into a more positive mood. My go to activity is to run after my dog in the backyard and finish off with 30 seconds of running up and down the stairs. As a bonus, my dog gets to burn off some of her energy as well.
4. Don’t get sick by trying to be healthy
   It’s easy to go cold turkey, give up all the ‘bad things’ and start ‘eating healthy’. But be mindful that your body uses things like sugar as an energy source. Switching cold turkey can cause issues in finding alternate energy sources for your brain and your body. Instead, slowly transition off the ‘bad food’. Things like intermittent fasting are also good, but listen to your body and don’t make drastic changes too fast – you can suffer not just physically but mentally as well. I’ve found that measuring a starting point and slowly cutting back helps not just quantify progress but also ‘see’ the progress you are making.
5. Make lists and cross things off these lists
   There are a number of benefits to making lists. Not only does a list help you plan what you would like to do, it helps you stay on track, plan your day better, and rewards you when you get to cross an item off the list. It doesn’t have to be a piece of paper that you can lose easily either, you can using an app on your phone – my personal favourite is Google Keep which syncs on all my devices.
6. Set time limits on activities
   Not everything you do is fun, or has to be fun. Whether its checking your emails at work or cleaning the house, setting time limits help motivate you. There is something in humans that makes us prolong an activity when there is no time limit set so set a time limit and make sure you keep to it. You could also try something like the Pomodoro Technique to see if that works for you. I find that setting about a 20 minutes time limit with 5 minute ‘breaks’ helps me be more productive – just make sure you don’t let coworkers or emails distract you.
7. Find your purpose and focus on it
   Belonging and a feeling that you are working towards something is not just fulfilling but also motivating. This doesn’t mean that you have to quit your job to live out your purpose of becoming a world renowned painter, instead, look within yourself to understand why you do what you do and what you are working towards. I find that this point works in with a lot of the others because I can see the larger goal in even the smallest tasks, I can see what I am working towards and I what I want to achieve rather than noting the boring, small task that I am completing at that given moment.
8. Surround yourself with people who represent the person you want to be
   Not only is connection good for you, humans are also very social people. So this tip is not just good for you emotionally and mentally, but also in every other part of your life. Don’t surround yourself with people who don’t want to rock the boat, surround yourself with people who want to keep challenging you and aren’t going to say ‘yes’ to every idea or thought you might have. This doesn’t mean you should wake up one morning and dump all your friends and cut ties with your family – these people are very important so hold them close, they might not motivate you in the ways you need. Instead look at networking groups or social groups you can join. With technology so prevalent, I love to get involved in Facebook Groups as well as listen to podcasts – this might seem like a weird way to make this point a reality but if the person you want to be is somewhat niche, or hard to find in person, online can be a great place to look, meet and share.
9. Care less and do more
   Stop caring about what others think and do as much. Of course, they might have a point when they are critical of your decisions, but they also might be passing off that Lamborghini as their own even though its a rental. Don’t let others limit your potential, take what they have to say and analyse it but also trust yourself. When it comes to the do more part, it’s simple – you’re held back by the feeling that you are not good enough or that there are others who are better than you, but don’t let that stop you. You might want to be a photographer, and chances are that there are better photographers than you – at least at the begging. But if you let that feeling of inadequacy stop you, you won’t be able to practice, you won’t be able to make mistakes and you won’t be able to learn. This list is my way of living out this point. I am a perfectionist, and I care about what others think – what my family thinks, what my coworkers thinks etc. but I told myself that I have to do this and here we are.
10. Aim to learn at least one new thing every day
    The world is a massive place. You’ve met such a small number of people who are walking the planet right now, and you’ve probably absorbed an even smaller amount of the knowledge of the people walking this planet right now. The sooner you start, the better, so set yourself a target to learn at least one thing every day. It could be something small like how to change a lightbulb, or something large like how do internal combustion engines work, but aim to learn something new every day. Podcasts, websites, books and people are all great ways to learn something new. I personally listen to a number of podcasts almost every day, including Tom and Lisa Bilyeu, John Lee Dumas, Brandon Gaille, Preston Pysh and Stig Brodersen and Tim Ferriss. Between them I not only learn a lot, but I also get a number of different points of view and the ability to then come to my own conclusions and beliefs rather than getting brainwashed by just one source of thinking.

I hope that was an interesting read. They’re just 10 of my own little tips that I try to adhere to as much as possible, I’d love to hear about any other tips that you might have and your thoughts on what’s above. As they are my opinion, none of it constitutes any form of professional advice, you should use them to help your judgment and thought processes.

A few standout projects during the year are:

• A new website and slight re-brand for our long time client CSYMI whose website is fast approaching 300 members
• A new website for Natural Eclipse whose expansive online store is home to nearly 200 Australian products
• A new website, branding and marketing support for DME3 whose mission is to build a online music streaming service

While these projects are a just three that stood out during the year, the true highlight has been getting to know the people and families behind these businesses. Working with them to grow their businesses and watching them as they continue to go from strength to strength is not just rewarding but also exciting as 2019 is sure to be another positive year.

Throughout 2018 we also continued to support a number of community organisations. The first that comes to mind is Integra Service Dogs Australia, who were there at the Invictus Games 2018 in Sydney. Their amazing work continues to make a true difference and we encourage you to support them however you can!

 

View this post on Instagram

 

HRH The Duke of Sussex has laid down the challenge for all Aussies to cheer on the 2018 Invictus Games competitors, share their stories and be inspired. Today he heard one of those many stories, meeting Integra’s super star Dido alongside veteran, competitor, and Aussie co-captain Matt Brumby @kensingtonroyal @smpmatty78 @invictusgames2018 #ig2018 #gameondownunder

A post shared by Integra Service Dogs Australia (@integraservicedogsaustralia) on Oct 21, 2018 at 12:40am PDT

We’re also continuously supporting Homes for the Poor Sri Lanka whose mission has now seen over 600 people receive a roof over their heads.

In 2018, we hopped on board to support our first Motorsport team Shinka Autosport. As car fanatics ourselves, its nice to be supporting a local racing team.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

HERE SHE IS! Shinka sporting the fresh war paint. Chrome red vinyl wrap with homage to the evo’s WRC roots. #wrc #wtac #rally #timeattack #evo #shinka #racecar #motorsport #wrap

A post shared by Shinka Autosport (@shinka_autosport) on Oct 10, 2018 at 12:10am PDT

Last but not least, we’ve also begun work on FUTURETRIBE which we hope will be a great resource as we add podcasts, blog posts, videos and more around topics of business, personal development, and growth. Keep an eye out for this and a number of new services announcements we will be making in the new year.

No matter how you celebrate, we hope that the holiday period is a safe and loving one. We hope that 2019 is a year full of success. We look forward to working with you – growing more businesses and helping more people achieve their future goals.

See you next year!

But what if that is the wrong way to think about it? What if it doesn’t matter so much the number of social media platforms you are on, but what matters instead is the kind of content you share. Don’t make the mistake that is made so often. Pick one or two social media platforms (ideally pick the ones that your target market loves) and create amazing content designed specifically for what works on that specific platform. Spend time looking at what others within your industry are doing, chat to people and respond to questions. Before you go too crazy creating new content to post, have a look at our post with 5 tips for posting on social media to get an idea of what to look out for.

If you’re still struggling to come up with content ideas or ways to market your business, why not have a look at our list of 42 marketing ideas for your business in 2018.

There is also another side to keeping the number of social media platforms down, and that is the fact that people don’t like options. Giving them 5 different platforms they can follow you on does not mean that they will follow you on every single one. They will pick one or two platforms and follow you on that (plus, let’s be honest, they will most likely follow you on Facebook or Instagram).

1. Analytics

Simply put, analytics is the process of measuring and analysing key statistics and data in relation to the growth of your business or website. Common factors that are analysed are impressions, conversions and sales. Looking at the change in these vital statistics allows you to monitor how well your business is finding new customers and retaining old clients. You can also use this information to make estimations about the scalability of your company. Analytics are the key to many marketing strategies, particularly Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

2. Impression

An impression is basically the measure of how many people have seen your ad. This can be through digital marketing such as social media, pay-per-click advertising or through sponsorships of smaller websites. Note that an impression is not the measure of how many people are clicking on or are interacting with your ad but simply the number of people who have seen your ad in some shape or form.

3. Conversion

The term conversion is sometimes mistakenly used just in correlation to sales, but this is not always the case. While a sale is one form of conversion that is tracked, there are a few other successful conversions that should be measured. A conversion is when your marketing technique leads to the consumer response you were aiming for. This can be contacting the store, signing up for emails or becoming a club member.

4. ROI

ROI stands for return on investment. It is the measure of how much money you have profited from your initial investment. ROIs are used to measure the success of a marketing strategy.

5. Brand Compliance

Brand compliance may sound like a complex legal term, but actually it is referring to brand consistency. By being brand compliant you are using one tone of voice, one colour scheme and one logo across all of your platforms.

6. Transparency

This is a simple but important buzzword. Transparency means being completely honest with clients. If a marketing technique isn’t performing as well as you expected, your client deserves to know. This ensures that your client remains satisfied with your working relationship and don’t have any unrealistic expectations of business growth.

7. Disruptive Innovation

This is quite a new buzzword but it’s one to keep an eye on in 2018. Disruptive innovation is often overused by marketers who don’t fully understand the concept. Simply put, disruptive innovation occurs when a company takes advantage of an overlooked niche demographic and provides a cheap reliable service. Once the service has been established, they encroach the services and demographics of well-established competitors in the industry until the niche service becomes the norm. Once the niche service becomes part of the parcel of the more popular service and becomes expected then disruptive innovation has occurred.

Now you know the most important buzzwords to use in 2018, make sure you build a marketing strategy that works for you!

Until now, we haven’t offered SEO services to our clients despite the clear need for it. Why? It’s simple. We haven’t been able to come up with an offering that we would use ourselves. That’s the test we put everything before we offer it to clients. If we use our own services and they stand up through all the punishment, then its good enough for our clients as well.

The results

We started SEO on our own site in September (two months ago). Since then we’ve been slowly watching our rankings rise for our targeted keywords and are proud to present the results below. Across the board, we have been able to achieve between 189% and 2,150% increase in rankings. This has taken our site from page 3-5 of search results to page 1 for most search terms.

Understanding the results

We haven’t disclosed what search terms we were going after, however, note that these search terms are searched thousands of times a month. If we can get even a fraction of this traffic, this builds our leads for new projects.

Our industry is a relatively competitive one as well. We have competitors from all over Australia and the world. This makes the results we have achieved even more impressive (since the competition is so high). We are confident that the best is yet to come as we keep chasing the #1 spot in search. For our clients interested in SEO for their own site, we’ve got packages available here. These packages are designed so that you only pay for results.

There are a few things to note about our results. These aren’t caveats but a few points to consider when thinking about SEO for your own website:

• The success of SEO work depends on the keywords you target
• Competitive industries are harder to rank for
• Results are usually expected within 6 months
• A majority of the work happens behind the scenes
• Simple SEO tasks can be done by beginners however true results are the territory of experts

SEO is a great way of marketing but you need to have a website designed to convert visitors into clients. Contact us for a complimentary website review. This complimentary review will give you insights on how to improve. Of course, we also design and develop websites, and offer packages for projects combining websites and SEO.

1. LinkedIn is a professional platform

The social media platform does not hide its intent and its focus. LinkedIn members span the spectrum of students, graduates, business people and even millionaires, but the main focus of all interactions is around business and networking. This means that as a member

2. Recruiters are constantly looking through LinkedIn (+ more than 10 million active job posts)

If you want to be found, there is no better place than LinkedIn. Not only are recruiters contacting LinkedIn users offering them jobs, they’re posting millions of available jobs on the site as well. You probably know at least one person who either got a job or got called for an interview thanks to LinkedIn – when was the last time that happened on Facebook? LinkedIn’s benefit is that all the information a recruiter would need to find out is right there in your profile. They don’t have to guess, or even verify any details because they can look at recommendations and endorsements from real people including your colleagues and managers.

3. LinkedIn is less crowded than Facebook (and other platforms)

It might not always be the case as LinkedIn is growing at a rapid rate, but at least for now, LinkedIn is less crowded than most social media platforms. In fact, globally it isn’t even in the top 10 social media platforms. This means that your content and your profile is competing less on LinkedIn than other sites. So what ever your efforts may be, try to channel a majority of your energy onto LinkedIn. From a professional stand point it could benefit you much more.

4. It doesn’t try to be everything to everyone

Further to Point 1, unlike Facebook and Google+, LinkedIn is not trying to be everything to everyone. This approach has led to social media platforms that are full of features, but are also packed to the brim with different businesses and people competing for different levels of attention – some on a personal level, some on a business level, and others on both.

By having a narrow focus, LinkedIn continues to innovate and add features that help build it out as a professional network. The other platforms are spreading themselves out across many facets of your life, and in the process becoming jacks of all trades and masters of none.

5. 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn

This point is especially useful for start ups and businesses out there. But it could be great for people looking for jobs as well. The fact that 80% of business to business leads come from LinkedIn has a trickle down effect on other facets including hiring. Again, focusing more energy on LinkedIn as a source of leads for your business would be a better move than investing energy on Facebook.