9 Web Typography Best Practices That Can Help Streamline Your Website

When was the last time you thought about typography? Perhaps it’s been a long time, unless you’re a designer or the kind of person who notices when fonts clash like a bad fashion choice. But the way words look on your website should certainly concern you, especially if the website is integral to your business operations. More than just making words look pretty, typography is about making your website readable, engaging, and easy to navigate. After all, no one sticks around on a site that makes their eyes hurt.

Clearly, you want visitors to actually read what you have to say and not just bounce the moment they land on your page. To that end, here are some web typography best practices that a professional web development services provider will implement to make your site look polished and professional —without putting anyone to sleep.

Pick Fonts That Are Actually Readable

Sure, that fancy script font looks stunning, but if people have to squint to read your content, you’ve already lost them. Because of that, it’s a good idea to steer clear of serif fonts. Why? The golden rule in typography: stick to clean, legible fonts that don’t require a magnifying glass to be legible.

Sans-serif fonts like Arial, Helvetica, and Roboto are great choices because they’re crisp, modern, and easy on the eyes. These qualities make them a breeze to read, allowing users to quickly understand your message. That said, don’t be afraid to explore other fonts that match your brand’s personality—just make sure they’re clear enough that your readers don’t feel like they’re deciphering ancient scrolls.

Don't Go Overboard with Fonts

Using a different font for every heading, subheading, and paragraph might seem like a fun way to spice things up. In reality, however, it just makes your site look chaotic.

The best practice is to stick to two, maybe three complementary fonts—one for headings, one for body text, and an optional accent font if you must. Seriously, less is more when it comes to the variety of fonts used on your website. Also, keep font weights consistent to maintain a sleek and professional look.

Guide the Reader's Eyes by Creating a Clear Hierarchy

Keep in mind that your visitors don’t want to work hard to figure out where to look first. They want the process of exploring your website to be as intuitive as possible. Help them out by using a clear typographic hierarchy. That means:

Headings should be bold and bigger so they stand out.
Subheadings should be slightly smaller but still noticeable to guide readers through sections.
Body text should be clear and easy to follow because this is where the real value is.

When done right, hierarchy helps people scan your content quickly and find what they need without feeling even a tinge of confusion or frustration.

Give Your Text Some Breathing Room

Ever tried reading a website where the lines of text are crammed together like sardines? It’s exhausting. Proper line spacing or leading makes your text more digestible and stops readers from abandoning ship. Ideally, set your line height to 1.4 to 1.6 times the font size. This keeps things easy on the eyes and encourages people to actually keep reading.

Letter Spacing Matters More Than You Think

If your letters are too close together, your text starts looking like one giant, unreadable blob. Too far apart, and it starts feeling disjointed. When you’re deciding the details of your body text, make sure to keep letter spacing or tracking balanced. For headings, a slight tweak in spacing can make them pop just enough to grab attention.

No One Likes a Mess, so Be Sure to Align Your Text Properly

Left, centre, or right? Here’s the deal:

Left-aligned text is the best choice for readability because it follows natural reading patterns.
Centred text works for headlines, short phrases, or quotes. However, using this alignment too much can make text hard to read.
Right-aligned text is tricky. It’s best to use it only for design accents, never for long-form content.

Consistency is key to get it right, so set standards for yourself when deciding on text alignment. Don’t randomly switch alignments, as doing so will only confuse your readers and make your site feel disorganised.

Make Sure There's Enough Contrast Between Text and Background

You want your website to be easily accessible to all types of customers and clients. Poor contrast can keep you from achieving this goal. If visitors have to strain their eyes to read white text on a light grey background (or neon yellow on electric blue—please don’t), they’ll give up quickly.

Stick to high-contrast colour combos like dark text on a light background or vice versa. If you want to use subtle or creative colours, make sure they’re still readable—otherwise, all that effort in crafting great content will go to waste.

Ensure Your Typography Works on All Devices

People are browsing your site from all sorts of screens, like desktops, tablets, and smartphones. If your text is too tiny or doesn’t adjust properly, users will get frustrated fast and look for alternatives that are easier to look at. Instead of using fixed pixel sizes, opt for relative units like em or rem so the text scales appropriately across devices. This way, no matter what screen someone’s using, your content remains clear and accessible.

Use ALL CAPS Sparingly (Unless You Want to Yell at Your Readers)

All-caps text can be useful, and it’s great for short headings, call-to-action buttons, or branding elements. But for body text? Not so much. Reading long sentences in all caps feels like someone is shouting at you the entire time. So, keep it for emphasis only and stick to sentence case or title case for the rest.

Wrapping It Up

Good typography isn’t just about making your website look nice—it’s about making sure people can actually read and enjoy your content. A clean, well-structured font choice and layout can make all the difference in keeping visitors engaged and coming back for more.

So, take a step back and look at your website’s typography. Is it easy to read? Does it feel inviting? If not, now’s the time to make some adjustments. And if you need help fine-tuning things, a professional web designer like Author Digital can always help you strike the perfect balance between style and readability. Get in touch with our team so we can offer you bespoke options.

A note

Henry Blackwell

Henry Blackwell is a marketing professional. He has spent the last 10 years working in-house and within agencies, growing profitable businesses through brand and customer-centric digital marketing in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe.

“My approach to marketing is a combination of heart and head. My heart brings an empathetic and intuitive approach to deeply understanding the qualitative requirements of marketing that many simply do not care to do. My head brings an analytical mindset that leverages data-driven insights to deliver profitable performance for the businesses I work with.

This skill set allows me to deliver systematic customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.”

– Director

The Business Impact of SEO: How Small Investments Can Lead to Big Returns

These days, digital marketing conversations are buzzing with talk of social media and paid ads. But there’s one underrated powerhouse strategy that often gets overlooked—SEO. Some businesses see it as an extra cost, something only the big players can afford. But here’s the truth: even small investments in SEO can pay off massively over time.

Unlike paid ads, SEO doesn’t need constant spending to keep delivering results. It also builds long-term digital equity, giving your brand visibility that lasts long after you’ve stopped spending . The better SEO services in New Zealand know how to seamlessly weave optimisations into your overall marketing strategy, making sure every pound you spend works harder for you.

Yet, for a multitude of reasons, businesses hesitate. “Is SEO really worth it?” “Doesn’t it take ages to see results?” While SEO does require patience, the long-term gains make it well worth the effort. Even small, consistent tweaks—like refining your website’s structure, publishing high-quality content, and optimising keywords—can significantly improve visibility and conversions.

Let’s dive into how even modest SEO investments can completely transform your business.

1. SEO Gives You Lasting Visibility and Credibility

The simple truth of it all is that social media posts come and go, while paid ads disappear the moment you stop spending. When you think about it in this light, SEO is an investment that keeps on giving.

When you optimise your site, you’re doing way more than just sliding in a couple of keywords. You’re crafting an experience that’s valuable to visitors. Search engines take notice when users engage with your content and when reputable sites link back to you. That’s how you climb the search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract organic traffic without spending a fortune on ads.

And here’s the best part. Overall, users trust organic search results more than paid ones. If your site ranks highly, you’re automatically seen as more credible. Over time, this trust leads to more clicks, higher conversions, and long-term customer loyalty.

2. SEO is a Cost-Effective Way to Attract Leads

A well-optimised website pulls in organic traffic without the need for constant ad spend. Once your site is fine-tuned, you’ll see a steady rise in visitors without paying for every single click.

Unlike pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns that stop working the moment you pull the plug, SEO-driven traffic sticks around. Even better, SEO helps you connect with high-intent users—people actively searching for what you offer. These leads are far more likely to convert compared to those coming from outbound tactics like cold calls or display ads.

And that’s just the start. If you invest in areas like link building and content marketing, your lead generation potential becomes virtually limitless.

3. A Well-Optimised Site Creates a Better User Experience

Think SEO is just about climbing the SERP rankings? Think again! Investing in SEO also improves your website’s user experience.

Search engines are products, which means they must offer a good experience to retain users. To secure their user bases, market leaders like Google and Bing must prioritise fast-loading, mobile-friendly, well-structured sites. When you optimise your website, you’re not just helping search engines, you’re also making your site more enjoyable for real people to use.

A smoother experience means lower bounce rates, better engagement, and happier visitors. And when people love being on your site, they’re more likely to stick around, buy from you, and recommend you to others.

4. SEO Supercharges Your Other Marketing Efforts

No other digital marketing approach complements other marketing efforts quite like SEO. Your social media campaigns, email marketing, and paid ads can all benefit from a strong SEO foundation.

For example, well-optimised blog content can be repurposed for newsletters, social media posts, and e-books. SEO insights can fine-tune your PPC campaigns, helping you target the right keywords and lower your ad costs. And a well-structured, user-friendly website that ranks on Google also supports better conversion rates across all marketing channels. In short, SEO makes every marketing dollar go further.

5. Even Small SEO Efforts Give You a Competitive Edge

Many businesses either don’t fully understand SEO or see it as too much effort. This gives you a golden opportunity to get ahead.

SEO isn’t a passing trend, as some people may assume. As long as people use search engines to find things they’re looking for, the underlying principles of SEO will remain essential. Even social media algorithms use search behaviour to tailor content to users. Investing in SEO ensures your business stays visible, no matter how digital trends evolve.

And the best part? SEO benefits compound over time. The more quality backlinks you earn, the more authority you build. The more useful content you create, the more people (and search engines) trust you. And unlike paid ads, the more effort you put in, the harder it is for competitors to catch up.

Build Authority, Visibility, and Trust for the Long Haul

The best thing about SEO is that you don’t need a massive budget to see good results. With small, consistent investments, you can grow your brand’s authority, improve conversions, and secure a lasting online presence.

We specialise in strategic SEO solutions tailored to your business goals. Our team is ready to draw from their diverse digital marketing experience and deep technical know-how to optimise your online assets in ways that directly meet your goals. Get in touch to learn how we can secure your brand’s lasting online presence.

A note

Henry Blackwell

This skill set allows me to deliver systematic customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.”

– Director

Understanding the Importance of Consistent Branding in Web Design

Do you ever feel like it’s getting harder and harder to do business these days? Modern markets are more competitive and crowded than they’ve ever been, and it feels like a miracle when a business manages to do more than just stay afloat.

If you’ve ever wondered how successful companies do it, most will say branding is one of the strongest tools in their arsenal. A consistent brand image does a lot to help customers remember you and encourage them to check out what you’ve got on offer. You build this image by bringing together all sorts of different elements—from your brand’s logos and colour schemes to the tone of its written content, just to name a few.

No matter what sort of business you run, you’ll find your website is going to be one of the most important spaces for maintaining consistent branding. It’s usually the first place where potential customers encounter your business, after all. And this means that every aspect of it needs to show your customers what makes you special. You want a site that your users love to visit and spend time on–one that they’ll recommend enthusiastically to people they know.

Whether you’re building your website in-house or have enlisted professional web design services in New Zealand to help you, you have everything to gain from learning more about why consistent branding matters so much in web design. Here’s what it can do for your website:

Build Brand Recognition

People will have an easier time recognising and remembering your brand if they always see it presented in the same way. Now, this doesn’t mean constantly beating them over the head with the same content and messages. It’s more about exposing them repeatedly to memorable design elements that they can associate with you—like specific colour schemes, logos, and typography. If these aspects are uniform across all your website’s pages, you’ll stand out from the crowd in an instant. One study by Forbes even says that using consistent branding elements can boost brand recognition for companies by as much as 80%!

Establishes Credibility and Trustworthiness

Think about it: would you want to interact at all with a website that had clashing colours, an unstructured layout, or multiple different logos? Seems fishy, doesn’t it? At best, it suggests inexperience; at worst, it signals trustworthiness.

In contrast, a polished, professional-looking website with strong branding is a major green flag for most internet users. It sends the message that they’re dealing with a legitimate business—one that pays close attention to details and cares about quality.

Enhances User Experience

Consistent branding in web design goes beyond visual elements and also includes aspects that affect user experience (UX), like your website’s layout and navigation systems. Users love it when elements like menus and buttons look and function consistently across different pages. They also like seeing content formatted in the same way across pages, too, as it makes for a fully seamless experience. When you apply these principles to your site design, you make it a breeze for your visitors to find whatever information they’re searching for. Don’t be surprised if many end up staying longer when they discover what a pleasure your site is to use.

Improves SEO and Digital Presence

The consistency of your branding also helps determine how well your site performs on search engine optimisation (SEO) rankings. Search engines are programmed to bump up websites that give users a positive experience, and they do this mainly by monitoring user behaviour. If a site’s users are exploring lots of different pages, interacting with their content a lot, and just generally spending a lot of time there, it’ll probably nab a spot high up in the search rankings. That makes an even stronger case for a visually coherent, user-friendly website, don’t you think?

Simplifies Future Design and Expansion

Your business will evolve over time—and your website should too. Occasionally, you’ll need to update or expand it. You might have to add some new product pages, say, or start a blog. The better-defined your brand identity is, the easier it will be for you to get these things done without disrupting the site’s overall look and feel. On top of that, you’ll sidestep the risk of introducing any clashing elements and implement needed changes smoothly, even as your business evolves.

Make Digital Marketing Easier and More Cost-Effective

It’s possible for your digital marketing efforts to extend beyond your website and include email marketing, online advertisements, and social media campaigns—just to name a few. These efforts need to align well with your website’s branding, however, if you want them to really soar. You don’t want your audience second-guessing your credibility because your social media pages or ads look so drastically different from your main site.

There’s plenty of practical value to be had as well from aligning your branding across all your digital marketing channels. Want to keep your branding consistent? Then you’ll probably end up having to make guidelines, templates, and even reusable assets that your team can adapt easily for different platforms. You won’t need to waste precious time and money on creating new materials from scratch every time you launch a new campaign.

It might seem like a lot of work to put together a cohesive, well-branded website, but we promise that any effort you put in now will pay off in spades in the long run. There’s also no need to do it all on your own, as Author Digital is right here to take care of the nuts and bolts of web design for you. We’d love to have a chat about how to make your website the perfect online face for your brand, so don’t hesitate to contact us.

A note

Henry Blackwell

This skill set allows me to deliver systematic customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.”

– Director

Why Every Business Needs a Multi-Channel Digital Marketing Strategy

Remember when advertising depended on traditional media like print ads and radio or TV commercials? Well, those days are long gone. Customers today interact with brands on more platforms than ever–and it’s up to businesses everywhere to meet these people where they are. Confine your brand to just one or two marketing avenues, and you’ll inevitably miss out on the golden opportunities waiting for you out there.

The solution? Multi-channel marketing.

As its name suggests, multi-channel marketing is a contemporary approach to marketing that involves promoting your brand on lots of different platforms. Ideally, you want to build your marketing strategy around a healthy mix of both online and offline channels—think social media, emails, events, and good old physical storefronts. This way, your brand is always on customers’ minds, wherever they go and whatever they do.

Still unsure why you should adopt a multi-channel digital marketing strategy? Let’s take a deeper dive into the many benefits this innovative approach can bring to just about any business.

You'll Reach More Customers

A few years back, it might have been enough for customers to just check out a few sources for information on a product, but that approach won’t fly with today’s consumers. In fact, many will now hop between different devices and platforms to learn more about your brand before they buy anything. Some will also like certain platforms and communication methods better than others. This means that the more channels you’re on, the more opportunities you have to connect with different audience segments.

Why does multi-channel work so well for broadening your business’s reach? It sets you up in places where your customers are already active and comfortable. They’ll get to encounter your brand organically, without making extra effort to search for it. Sure, not every customer will choose to buy something from you at the first point of contact—say, a Facebook or YouTube ad. But you can be confident that your chances of converting them will only improve as they see more of you elsewhere.

You'll Build Brand Loyalty

It’s rare for a customer to choose a random brand they heard of once in the wild over one that they’re familiar with. Engaging your customers consistently across multiple channels is a surefire way to earn their trust and secure their business. If they like you, chances are they’ll keep coming back and even recommend you to others in their network.

Keep in mind that multi-channel marketing isn’t just a great way for building a rapport with new customers—it’s ideal for retaining your existing customers as well. This is a group of people that actively wants opportunities to communicate and interact with you. Make it easy for them to do so, and you’ll be opening doors to long-term, fruitful customer relationships.

Your Business Will Be More Adaptive

The world of digital marketing keeps businesses constantly on their toes by design. Every day, you’ll see algorithms and consumer behaviours changing. Social media platforms that everyone used to love can decline without warning and new ones can spring up pretty much overnight to take their place. If your business fails to adapt to these changes, you’ll find yourself losing your competitive edge faster than you can blink.

Luckily for you, multi-channel marketing is super-adaptable, especially if you choose to work with an expert partner. Digital marketing agencies are forever studying industry trends and excel at pivoting agilely whenever the need arises. Whenever they spot a new opportunity you can take advantage of or a challenge you have to sidestep, they’ll have the know-how needed to work a change of strategy into your larger marketing plan.

You Can Customise Your Messaging

A good multi-channel marketing strategy will always do more than just bombard your audience with the same ads everywhere they look. Different platforms play host to different types of content, and the users themselves will also be looking for something unique from each one.

The best way to make these differences work to your advantage? Tailor your marketing materials according to what the platform does best. Your brand’s Instagram page is the best place for stunning product photos, for instance, but YouTube is probably a better home for in-depth video content like tutorials and demonstrations.

You'll Gain Valuable Customer Insights

The last thing you want to do is to approach marketing like you’re playing a guessing game. Multi-channel marketing gives you access to a treasure trove of data from every touchpoint, which you can then use to determine how well your campaigns are doing and what you need to improve upon. Think beyond basic indicators like website traffic and sales figures. Metrics like website traffic, social media interactions, email open rates, and event attendance all have something important to say about how your audience engages with your brand.

Wondering how to unlock the full power of multi-channel marketing? Author Digital is here to make sure your business doesn’t have to go it alone. We’re experienced at designing bespoke digital marketing strategies for businesses of any size, and we’ll gladly help your venture take the digital world by storm. Get in touch with us for a consultation today!

A note

Henry Blackwell

This skill set allows me to deliver systematic customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.”

– Director

Understanding Customer Behaviour Through Marketing Data Analytics

What does it really mean to know your customers? If your business is the only game in town, intuition might be enough. You see your customers every day, chat with them, and understand what they need. They might have complaints or misgivings, but they may not be able to leave you.

But in today’s choice-filled consumer markets, businesses don’t have that luxury, especially if they have their hands full managing their own growth. So how do you keep pace with your customers as your business grows? The answer may lie in marketing data analytics.
Importantly, data analytics doesn’t just tell you what’s happening right now. It also helps you predict what your customers will want next. That’s why major corporations rely on it to make billion-dollar decisions.

But here’s the great news: you don’t need a massive budget to make marketing data work for you. With the right approach, businesses of all sizes can use analytics to create seamless, personalised experiences that keep customers coming back.

The Challenges of Understanding Customer Behaviour Through Data

Most business owners know data analytics is valuable, but getting started can feel overwhelming. Where do you collect data? How do you organise it? What do you even do with all that information?

First, you need to gather data from multiple sources. This can include your website, social media, email campaigns, and direct customer interactions. But the tricky part is that it all has to be accurate, useful, and collected in line with data privacy laws.

The next challenge is making sense of it all. Sorting through mountains of data, filtering out irrelevant information, and figuring out what actually matters can be a time-consuming nightmare.

This is where digital marketing services NZ businesses trust make a difference. The best agencies don’t just throw buzzwords and automation tools at your problem. They will sit down with you to figure out how best to transition your business into today’s data-driven paradigm. They’ll help you sift through data noise to extract meaningful insights and craft information-driven campaigns. In other words, they can help you skip the frustrating trial-and-error phase and fast-track your way to better results.

Key Metrics to Analyse Customer Behaviour

Once you’ve got your analytics set up, it’s time to track the numbers that matter. Not all data is equally useful, so focusing on the right metrics will give you a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not.

1. Conversion Rate

Your conversion rate tells you how many people visiting a given webpage take an action that moves them down the sales funnel. Conversions can mean purchases, but they can also be sign-ups for a newsletter, filled-out contact forms. Tracking this across different channels helps you see which marketing efforts are bringing in real results and which ones are a drain on your resources.

2. Engagement Metrics

Sales are the ultimate goal, but engagement can be just as crucial. Engaged customers are more likely to remember your brand and come back later to be converted. Pay attention to click-through rates, time spent on your site or in your physical store, and social media interactions to gauge how well your content is resonating with your audience.

3. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

This reveals how much you are spending to get a new customer. A high CAC might mean your marketing isn’t as efficient as it could be. Lower CACs are generally better since they imply you’re bringing in customers without spending a fortune.

4. Churn Rate

Getting customers is one thing but keeping them is another. If people are buying once and never returning, your churn rate will be high, pointing toward a potential problem. A high churn rate could mean there’s something about your product, service, or experience that needs improvement. Low churn and continued engagement, on the other hand, means happy customers who are likely to stick around for the long haul.

5. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) & Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Numbers are great, but sometimes you need to hear from customers directly. CSAT and NPS surveys let you measure how happy people are with your business and how likely they are to recommend you to others. Good scores in these surveys mean you’re probably on the right track.

Drive Your Business Forward With Better Marketing Data Analytics

Intuition alone isn’t enough anymore. It’s subjective, prone to bias, and virtually impossible to scale in today’s limitless markets. At the same time, data analytics won’t replace intuition entirely—after all, markets are deeply human systems driven by emotions as much as they are by logic. For all the technology used to streamline marketing, human insight still remains invaluable.

In today’s market environments, combining intuition, data-driven insights, and real-world experience is the key to staying ahead. That’s where we come in.

Our team of strategists, analysts, and marketers offers years of collective digital marketing experience, formidable technical expertise, as well as a nuanced understanding of NZ’s diverse markets—just what you need to turn data into measurable growth. Get in touch to discuss your business’s information-driven future.

A note

Henry Blackwell

This skill set allows me to deliver systematic customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.”

– Director

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Developing a Digital Marketing Strategy

The internet is now the place to be when it comes to contemporary marketing. Most of today’s consumers will be shopping and interacting with brands online before they ever set foot in a physical store. This means businesses have everything to gain from meeting and interacting with their audience in digital spaces, no matter how big their brand is or what they might be selling.

You can’t just pull an effective campaign out of a hat, however. You’ll need a sound digital marketing strategy to ensure that your marketing initiatives reach the right audience—and, moreover, that they spark enough interest in your offerings to actually generate sales. The trick to achieving this? Figuring out just what works (and what doesn’t!) for companies today.

We’re all about helping all kinds of businesses reach, and even exceed, their digital marketing goals. Read on for a rundown of some common digital marketing mistakes and how to avoid them like an expert.

Not Putting Enough Effort into Website Design

Imagine what it might be like to run a physical store. No matter what you might be selling, you’ll always draw in more customers with a fresh, eye-catching display rather than a drab and dull one. By the same token, you want your website to capture and hold the attention of those who visit it. Users who don’t enjoy the experience they have when they get there will generally not hesitate to leave in favour of a competing brand.

A well-designed website needs to be as functional and user-friendly as it is appealing to look at. Plan out a simple, logical navigational structure with clear call-to-action buttons and well-organised menus. Take steps to boost your loading speed, such as compressing large elements like images and videos. Lastly, make sure that the elements on your page are scalable to a variety of different screen sizes, so your site performs just as well on a mobile device as it does on a desktop computer.

Skipping Out on SEO Optimisation

According to Search Engine Journal, 93% of online experiences originate on search engines. They’re the go-to tool for pretty much everyone when it comes to finding any kind of information, so you definitely want your content to rank highly on people’s search results. The more visible you are on search engines, the more organic traffic you can draw toward your brand online.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) needs to play a major role in your digital marketing strategy if it doesn’t already. The first thing you need to do is get savvy with keyword research. Investigate what queries your audience is sending to search engines about your brand, your industry, and your competitors. Then integrate these keywords into your website and social media so that your brand appears more prominently in searches for those terms.

It’s worth noting that SEO is a rapidly evolving and frequently unpredictable field. Keeping abreast of research and updates from SEO authorities can ensure that you’re always implementing current best practices. Alternatively, we are more than happy to take the SEO reins for you.

Overlooking Content Marketing

Many businesses overlook blogging because it doesn’t show immediate results—but trust us, they’re worth the wait. The truth is that blogging is a long game with plenty of benefits for businesses that choose to be patient with it. It’s not just a way to drive traffic; blogging builds your brand’s personality and helps you become the go-to expert in your field. It also gives you more chances to interact with your audience and cultivate more personal relationships with them.

Consistency and a commitment to quality content are your keys to blogging effectively. Keep your blog updated regularly so your audience has more chances to find you. But on the flipside, don’t rush to throw up updates just for the sake of posting something. Take time to create quality content that your audience will both enjoy and be able to use. How-to guides, product recommendations, or thinkpieces on topics relevant to your industry could all work for these purposes.

Failing to Maintain a Strong Social Media

Most people today spend a lot of time on social media, but it would surprise you to find out how many practically live there. A recent study by WebFX, in fact, reports that the average internet user is on their chosen social network for as much as 28% of their total online time. This means that establishing a prominent presence on your audience’s favourite platforms can only work to your business’s advantage. Fail to do so and you’ll lose out on major opportunities to connect with your current customers and potentially reach out to new ones.

Before all else, you’ll need to find out which social media sites your customers favour and set up a page for your business there. Once your profile’s up, get posting! Share content regularly to keep people coming back for more. You may also want to invest in social media advertising if you want to level up your strategy even more. Social media advertising lets you appear prominently on users’ newsfeeds if you have specific content or offerings that fit their interests.

Investing Too Much in Paid Ads

Paid advertising is a popular digital marketing tactic for the quick traffic it generates. Be aware, though, that spending too much on it without a well-defined strategy can lead to diminishing returns and wasted resources. You need to take time to regularly optimise your campaigns, or else your business may keep spending on underperforming ads that use ineffective messaging or target the wrong audience. You also run the risk of tiring out your audience if you bombard them relentlessly with the same ads.

The key to using paid ads effectively? Balance them with organic tactics like social media engagement, content marketing, and SEO. Focusing on customer retention strategies and diversified advertising channels are also good ways to achieve a balanced marketing mix and pave the way for sustainable growth.

Digital marketing can feel like a minefield, but get clued up and you’ll avoid most of the big mistakes. Want to take your marketing efforts to the next level and shine your brightest online? Let’s work together to make sure you get the results you deserve. Contact us today and we’ll provide you with personalised advice on how to make the most of your every campaign.

A note

Henry Blackwell

This skill set allows me to deliver systematic customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.”

– Director

5 Tips for Getting Quality Backlinks to Your Website for Better SEO Performance

Backlinks are like votes of confidence for your website. The more you’ve got from trusted sites, the higher your SEO ranking will climb. These links, which serve as a cornerstone of search engine optimisation (SEO) campaigns, figure heavily in driving targeted traffic to a website and determining its domain authority and rank.

The act of backlinking refers to the process of placing hyperlinks on other websites with the goal of directing users to your website. These inbound links tell Google that your content is worth linking to. In addition, getting an established website’s endorsement can help your brand gain credibility and consumer trust. This, in turn, can keep your website the top-of-mind option for organisations and individuals that require your products, services, or niche knowledge.

How is Backlinking Done?

A trusted SEO services provider can lean on several strategies to offer businesses like yours high-quality backlinks. As part of our bespoke SEO campaign for your New Zealand- or Australia-based business, for example, we can employ the following techniques to acquire backlinks and ensure that these efforts translate to tangible benefits for your organisation.

Focus on Creating Quality Content That Other Websites Will Want to Link To

Create content that people actually want to link to. Not just any content, but stuff that answers burning questions or solves a problem that your readers have. That’s how you’ll earn those valuable backlinks.

Articles, ebooks, infographics, or videos that answer common questions or offer expert insights can serve as reliable sources that readers and other content creators will want to link back to. Adding a hyperlink from their website to yours lets these users show where they got their information. It also serves as a recommendation on where to get similar content. This gives your organisation the added benefit of building a reputation as a leader in your field.

More than easy access to insider knowledge, you need to understand what your readers need to provide them with engaging and useful content. Identify the content format that is best suited for delivering the information you want to impart. If website visitors want to understand how a certain product is processed before it’s ready for the market, for example, you can post a guide that tackles every step. In case they want to use the said guide as a reference for their own articles, these readers can post a hyperlink on their websites that leads to yours.

Write Articles for Reputable Websites with Deep Connections in Your Industry

Getting your content featured on a respected site in your field? That’s gold for SEO. It’s a win-win for everyone, too, as your article helps the said website’s audience, and you get a valuable backlink in return. Using this strategy means posting an article, one with an inbound link to your website, on another person or organisation’s website. The benefit goes both ways since you can get a link from a trusted website, while the website can post a high-quality article that offers in-depth knowledge to its respective audience.

Identify Broken Links on Other Websites and Fix Them

It’s possible that a portion of the existing backlinks to your website no longer work as intended. This can happen when a linked page on your website has been deleted or its URL structure has changed without proper redirection. Users who click on these links are directed to an error page instead of finding your website, which can subsequently dampen their experience.

The good news is that it’s possible to fix these broken links and make them work again. First, you need to identify them by using a tool like Ahrefs that can scan your website for such irregularities. Then, you can reach out to the owners of the websites where these broken links are posted and work together to fix the issue. This partnership allows webmasters to improve user experience on their website, while your website can regain endorsements from authoritative sources.

Offer to Write Testimonials and Reviews for Products and Services Your Business Uses

Not all backlinking techniques need to be resource-intensive. Don’t underestimate the power of a well-written review. Share your thoughts on products you use and post these reviews online. This is an easy win for backlinks, plus it’s a great way to build relationships with other businesses.

Many business websites feature testimonials from their current and former clients. Take this chance to build better relationships with other businesses and get backlinks from reputable websites. Post an honest review, and make sure to focus the write-up on the products or services that your business uses. You can add the link to your website in your by-line or include it in the body of the review.

Participate in Collaborative Projects That Can Be Linked Back to Your Website

Being an active participant in industry events such as case studies, webinars, or even charity activities can make it easier for your businesses to find opportunities for backlinking. Collaborating with companies that complement what your brand offers allows you to reach a shared audience. At the same time, you’ll have the opportunity to include backlinks to your website on the promotional materials for the event.

Partner with Author Digital and Maximise the Benefits of Quality Backlinks

We know that getting the right backlinks is more important than getting loads of them. Our bespoke digital marketing agency in New Zealand makes it a point to obtain backlinks from industry-specific websites or those that are closely related to your company’s niche. This signals to search engines that your content is highly relevant and valuable to that particular field, thus improving your chances of appearing in related searches and reaching an audience that is specifically interested in what your business has to offer.

Let’s work together to widen your brand’s reach. Get in touch with us today by leaving a message on our contact page.

A note

Henry Blackwell

This skill set allows me to deliver systematic customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.”

– Director

5 UX Elements That Can Significantly Improve Your Website’s User Experience

User experience (UX) is a term that describes how the end user of a product or service interacts with and perceives it. Most assume that UX mostly has to do with user-friendliness, but it actually extends beyond that. At its core, UX doesn’t just shape how users interact with your site but also how they feel about your brand overall.

Almost all customers today will seek out a business’s website first if they’d like to learn more about it or browse its offerings. These individuals will, without a doubt, be expecting a superior user experience. Good UX in the context of websites typically has to do with how easy it is for users to navigate through the site, find information, and complete any other tasks they seek to accomplish during their visit. Online environments that feel memorable, legitimate, and secure to users also indicate effective UX. This is especially true if the website contains an online store or otherwise requires visitors to share sensitive personal information with the company.

One of the best ways to optimise UX design for your business’s website is to invest in professional web design services from a reputable third-party organisation like us. Our team is not only highly skilled and attentive to the unique needs of every client we work with, but we also pride ourselves on our familiarity with current industry best practices. In this feature, we’ll walk you through some key elements that can enhance user experience on your website:

Optimised Loading Speed

Customers in the digital age have better things to do than wait around for a page to fully load. People expect instant access and will bounce without a second thought if your site takes too long. Lots of research backs this up—just a five-second delay can send your bounce rate skyrocketing by over 20%, according to Section.io.

Fortunately, there are many relatively simple ways to boost your page speed, such as using caching techniques and minimising the code and markup on your web pages—a process known as “minification.” Large images are one of the biggest culprits when it comes to a slow-loading web page, so make sure to compress all the images you intend to use on your site before loading them on.

Intuitive Navigation

Your website’s navigation system is one of the pillars of its overall user experience, so it needs to be easy to figure out. As a rule of thumb, you want to help users accomplish anything they set out to do on your website in as few clicks as possible. That might be looking up specific information, making a purchase, getting in touch with your support team, or anything else.

Put yourself in your visitors’ shoes and ask yourself what they’re here for. Once you know that, you can make it easy for them to get stuff done. Make sure that the vocabulary you use in your labels and headings especially is both appropriately descriptive and familiar to the user, so they don’t have a hard time understanding which options to choose to get where they need to go. Don’t hesitate to spend time trying out different navigation options and testing these with real users before committing to one particular scheme.

Appropriate White Space

Packing your pages with too much content is like shouting at your visitors. Give them some breathing room. It’s better to incorporate enough white space around your text and titles, as this actually makes it easier for users to focus. You’ll end up with fresh, modern-looking pages that your visitors will surely enjoy browsing.

Of course, it’s also possible to have too much of a good thing. Aim for a balanced approach where all the most important information your viewers need to know is above the fold—that is, in the upper part of the page that they can immediately see without scrolling. You can then surround that information with white space to highlight the text and any supplementary images.

Mobile-Responsive Design

Everyone’s glued to their phones these days, so your site needs to look and perform like a dream on every kind of screen–not just desktops. In fact, it’s safe to assume that a large chunk of the traffic your website gets will be coming from mobile users! Responsive layouts, big, easily clickable buttons, and text that users can easily read without zooming in are all must-have elements for a mobile-friendly site.

Properly Differentiated Hyperlinks

Besides your main menus and section headings, users will probably be finding their way around your website through hyperlinks—clickable links embedded within the written content on your webpages. Make sure to use visual cues that make these links easy to identify, such as underlined text or differently colored text. Most content management platforms, for instance, will readily default to the blue underlined text as a clickable link, so it may benefit you to stick to this convention. Just make sure not to cluster too many links together, as this makes it harder to click them, particularly for users on mobile.

Now that you know a little more about what goes into effective UX design for websites, it’s time to work on getting your own up to snuff. We help businesses of all sizes craft websites people actually enjoy using. Let’s chat about how we can do the same for you.

A note

Henry Blackwell

This skill set allows me to deliver systematic customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.”

– Director

10 Important Reasons Why Website Maintenance Is Crucial for Your Business

There’s no getting around it. Website maintenance can be incredibly tedious. For many businesses, this is reason enough for site maintenance to take a backseat to other activities. Given their labour limitations, this is often the case with microbusinesses and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). However, it’s also surprisingly pervasive among larger businesses.

No matter the size of the business, it’s not uncommon for decision-makers to see site updates as overwhelming or irrelevant, especially if they have non-technical backgrounds. Even when a business does have an IT team, chances are that they are already too stretched thin, with few resources to space for a proper update.

To be clear, a lack of site updates won’t necessarily make an immediate impact on your business. Rather, what happens is a slow and steady degradation of your business’s online visibility, reputation, and visitor experience. Eventually, you will just find that your business is no longer easily searchable on major search engines, which can significantly hamper your online sales.

In this day and age, the value of a good website isn’t even debatable. Ensuring regular upkeep should no longer be regarded as a technical obligation but, instead, an essential investment in your brand’s success. Below, we’ve prepared several reasons why your site maintenance should never be overlooked. If you’re interested in keeping your site up-to-date, contact us to learn about web development services tailored for New Zealand businesses.

1. Keeps Your Site and Users Safer Against Emerging Cyber Threats

Hackers love outdated websites. Old plugins, expired security certificates, and neglected updates are basically an open invitation. Thanks to the emergence of next-generation generative AI tools, hackers have been able to dramatically step up the volume and sophistication of their attacks, increasing the risk for all businesses. At the bare minimum, you should be regularly installing security updates and performing backups to ensure your website’s data and sensitive customer information remain secure.

2. Enables a More Engaging Visitor Experience

Without periodic maintenance, even the best-built websites will eventually slow down. What’s more, they may also develop broken links and feature outdated content that can further frustrate visitors, especially if you’ve been making undocumented changes to the website, potentially driving them to your competitors. Routine check-ups keep your site running smoothly — so visitors stay, enjoy, and actually want to come back.

3. Helps Your Business Dominate Search Engine Rankings

Human visitors are not the only ones who care about your site’s user experience. Search engines like Google and Bing also send out virtual visitors or ‘bots’ to explore websites so that they can be assessed for relevance and usability. Regular optimisation of your site’s navigation, experience, and content signals to search engines that your site is active and is, therefore, trying to engage with visitors, which can boost your rankings. Without periodic updates, search engines may assume that you’re not particularly interested in organic traffic, which can cause a drop in your search rankings.

4. Enables You to Reach Users Across All Devices

If you still imagine desktops when you think of the internet, it’s time to rethink your assumptions. Not only are the majority of global internet users browsing on mobile devices these days, but there are tens of thousands of different device types with various configurations being used at any given time. Regular maintenance ensures that your site remains accessible across all devices, boosting your brand’s visibility to a wider range of internet users.

5. Avoids Expensive Outages

Old content can be funny…or just plain embarrassing. Keep things fresh so your site always reflects your best. Though daily updates aren’t always necessary, adding a few updates every now and then ensures your website reflects your current offerings and customer needs. Many search engines see regular updates as a good indicator of a healthy website that’s worth updating on their respective search results, so it’s important to keep your content fresh and constantly updated.

7. Increases Conversion Rates

For many businesses, this is what it really comes down to. If your website also functions as an e-commerce channel, consistent maintenance is a must to guarantee the site performance and overall experience needed to turn visitors into paying customers. As mentioned earlier, site performance tends to degrade with time, so you will need frequent maintenance to keep your site converting as designed.

8. Helps Your Site Grown With Your Brand

Whether by design or due to external forces, your business must continuously evolve. As this happens, your website should evolve with it. Regular maintenance sessions provide opportunities to add integrations, design enhancements, and updated branding to reflect your growth. With consistent updates, your site can become a truer representation of your brand, inspiring more confidence in its current and future customers.

9. Avoids Serious Legal Challenges

If you haven’t updated your site in a few years, you might already be violating some laws. Across the world, privacy laws such as NZ’s Privacy Act 2020 are constantly being rolled out, often at short notice and with little fanfare. Regular updates and audits help ensure your site meets the regulatory requirements of all the countries and territories it operates in, safeguarding your business from expensive regulatory fines.

10. Maximises Your Site's Return on Investment

Your website isn’t just a digital placeholder—it’s one of your biggest business assets. Treat it that way. When well-maintained, it can be foundational to your brand’s credibility. Even if visitors don’t convert on your site, its performance can still have an impact on their trust by potentially securing their conversion through other digital and offline channels. Keeping your site tidy and optimised is necessary for protecting its value and ensuring it continues to deliver traffic, leads, and sales.

Author Digital Offers Web Maintenance Services That Moves Your Business Forward

Website maintenance is more than just keeping the lights on—it’s about showing you care about your business and your customers. It shows that your business cares about its impact and, by extension, its customers. Investing in site maintenance is just as much an investment in your credibility as keeping your physical stores and offices clean.

The real challenge, though, is ensuring that your maintenance activities consistently support your business goals. We specialise in helping businesses like yours surmount their digital marketing challenges, not just through big actions like site redesigns and rebranding but also through critical but overlooked activities like consistent and comprehensive web maintenance. Whether you just need someone to implement security updates or need thoughtfully crafted content to push your business in a new direction, we’re ready for the task.

Get in touch with us and explore our extensive client portfolio. Let’s talk about how we can support your website maintenance needs. We can handle the technical details and anything else you need so you can focus on shaping your business’s narrative and its long-term growth.

A note

Henry Blackwell

This skill set allows me to deliver systematic customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.”

– Director

SEO and Paid Advertising: The Winning Combination for Digital Marketing Success

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is all about getting your content to rank higher in search results—think Google, Bing, or even internal searches on Amazon and Facebook. Nail your SEO, and you’ll boost your brand’s visibility, attract better leads, and reduce your reliance on paid ads. Not bad, right? Tailoring your content to appeal to search engines can increase your brand’s baseline web visibility, which minimises the need for paid ads while also attracting more qualified leads.

SEO works, but here’s the catch—it takes time. Especially for things like link building, which can feel like digital networking on hard mode. Results are also dependent on how search engine owners choose to develop their products. This could mean that it takes several months of consistent work before your campaigns produce any fruit. What’s more, there may be short-term dips and spikes in traffic as the search engine makes algorithmic changes in the background.

Why Pair SEO With Paid Ads?

In contrast to SEO, paid ads are far simpler. All it boils down to is to pay the search engine their asking rate for a keyword, and they will put your content on top of the search results. This simplicity is probably why so many businesses gravitate towards paid ads rather than SEO.

The catch? Paid ads only work as long as your budget does. If your content isn’t pulling its weight, those gains vanish the moment you stop paying. If your content isn’t optimised for its audience, most of your advertising gains will disappear as soon as you stop paying. And with the value of global digital marketing activities likely to hit USD 1 trillion by the 2030s, you can be sure that the cost to be seen is only going to keep increasing over time.

Fortunately, you can make a paid ad campaign sustainable with relatively modest investments in SEO. Properly executed SEO bolsters paid advertising by improving quality scores, enhancing your business’s credibility across a wider audience, and reducing costs for PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns. Better still, it may enable you to preserve some of your gains from paid ads.

Simply put, SEO and paid advertisements amplify each other to maximise your brand exposure. Let’s explore key ways this winning combination works for digital marketing efforts.

1. Better Contextualised Keyword Strategies

Think of paid ads as your SEO testing ground. The data they generate tells you which keywords work best—so you can fine-tune your SEO strategy and get better results long-term. PPC campaigns can help you rapidly identify which keywords drive the most conversions for your business, allowing you to integrate these findings into your SEO strategy without delay. This way, as your content draws in more organic traffic, you can start reducing your reliance on paid ads over time.

2. Heightened Brand Visibility and Authority

These days, many users understand that businesses can simply pay to be on the top paid search results. While paid ads might still help boost your business’s credibility, there is a limit to just how much they can do. On the other hand, if you earn your visibility through SEO, users will think that your site is more relevant than its competitors since search engines often prioritise positive user experiences.

Combining organic and paid visibility helps take customer trust to a different level, putting your brand in front of more potential customers regardless of the specific keywords they use. This is highly desirable, as research ties consistent, multichannel messaging with authority and conversions. SEO + PPC is a dream team for product launches, seasonal campaigns, and any time you need to grab attention—fast.

3. Better Customer Retention and Retargeting

SEO helps attract first-time visitors to your website through high-value content. However, not all first-time visitors who have good conversion potential will necessarily understand your value proposition the first time around. This is where paid ads can help.

You can leverage paid ads to quickly retarget leads who have already visited your website. These ads can be tailored to match the behaviour of these customers, keeping your business on top of their mind and increasing the odds of a later conversion. This kind of integration ensures no potential customer is left behind.

4. Improved Quality Scores for Ads

Even if you’re paying, Google still judges your ads. A high-quality score means lower costs and better ad placements—so good SEO actually makes your paid ads cheaper.

As you might have guessed, proper SEO implementation plays an important role in improving ad quality scores. When your website’s content and keywords are well-optimised, it tells search engines that your landing page provides a valuable user experience, resulting in better scores, lower CPCs, and a much more sustainable paid ad campaign. In this way, investing in SEO can also be seen as a way to reduce the often steep cost of paid online advertising.

Transform Your Online Presence With Smarter Digital Marketing

As digital marketing becomes more complex, it’s easy to lose sight of how different strategies work together. SEO and paid ads aren’t competing strategies—they’re two sides of the same marketing coin. Combining the two can help your business achieve greater visibility and authority without the need to seriously ramp up your marketing budget.

Getting the balance right takes skill. Whether you’re fine-tuning your SEO, launching killer ad campaigns, or doing both, having an expert team makes all the difference. Contact us today to start building your digital success story.

A note

Henry Blackwell

This skill set allows me to deliver systematic customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.”

– Director