Website Content Marketing Using Wix

Marketing your website is an essential part of your success as a business. For most, the basics of website marketing are an enigma that keeps

us up at night. So if you are just starting out on Wix.com with your first website and you are wondering how you're going to market your new website, check out this blog post below for some advice and tips.

In this article we'll cover:

• Domain name

• Business email

• Social media posts

• Blog posts

• Email Marketing

• Online shop

Domain

You have a voucher for a free domain. You can claim this domain voucher by navigating to your site dashboard, clicking "Connect Your Own Domain" and then choosing a domain that you like.

Finding the add your own domain button on the Wix dashboard

With the voucher, you can get the TLDR ".com", ".online" and more, in fact, most "internationally recognized" TLDRs are available through- which one you choose is a matter of personal preference.

Where your domain name can have an impact on your marketing is in the element of brand trust. For example, if I am looking to buy a pair of shoes online, I may feel more comfortable making the purchase on a South African website because I will automatically assume that this website ships within my country. So, I would be more likely (as a South African) to buy shoes from awesomeshoes.co.za than from a website called awesomeshoes.com.

Marshall Arts facilitates the purchasing and registering of domain names for a lot of our clients, in the last 3 years we have registered over 350 domains with all kinds of TLDRs. If you would like Marshall Arts to register a domain name for your business, please contact us and we'll walk you through the process of working with us. Importantly, you can register multiple domains for the same website - this is called Domain Brand Protection. You can also set up redirects so that a user will be directed to the local TLDR based on their location - this can be especially helpful if you are an established brand that wants to branch out into new territories.

Business email

Wix offers a Business Email solution that works through Google Workspace. It is then possible to connect your Google Workspace email to your Microsoft Outlook account or just simply use the Gmail browser app. This feature IS NOT included in the Business Unlimited Premium Plan. Wix Resells these plans by Google and they cost about $144 per year.

Finding the Business email setup on the Wix Dashboard

You can get a business email from Wix/ Google by navigating to your site dashboard, clicking on the "Get a business email" button, and following the steps.

Alternatively, if you purchase a domain from domains.co.za, you can then also register an email address with them and link that to your Microsoft Outlook (or apple mail) account.

If you would like Marshall Arts to set up an email address for you with domains.co.za we can do so and charge a fee of R1080.00 per year.

Social Media Posts (Images for Instagram and Facebook)

You can create social media posts with your logo using canva.com. They also have a great mobile app for your iPhone. You can also create posts using Wix. Navigate to the site dashboard, click on marketing and SEO, then click social marketing. This will allow you to create social media posts via templates that Wix provides. Canva also offers easy-to-use templates. Both are "free" with paid versions.

Finding the Social Marketing button on Wix

Marshall Arts offers social media packages for our clients with the below standard rates

• 1 post = R240

• 4 Posts = R700

• 8 Posts = R1250

• 12 Posts = R1800

If you take one of the options on a yearly basis and pay for the year upfront we offer a 10% discount. So for example, if you want 4 posts per month for 1 year the price would be 700 X 12 - 10% = R7560. This would be for a total of 48 social media posts (this works out to R15.75 per post).

One of the benefits of working with us is that we would work with you to ensure that your posts are professionally designed, and take into account major holidays and social media events.

Blog posts

You can write a blog post on Wix using the blog feature and this will automatically publish the posts to your site. You can also set posts to schedule throughout the year. It is wise to time your blog posts with your social media campaigns and email marketing campaigns. You can write posts by navigating to your site dashboard, clicking on Blog, and then Posts.

Creating a Blog post using Wix

Marshall Arts offers blog writing services just like the social media post services with the below pricing structures:

All blog posts will be approximately 2000 words (5 - 7 min read time) which is optimum for SEO.

• 1 Blog Post = R1250

• 2 Blog Posts = R2250

• 3 Blog Posts = R3000

• 4 Blog Posts = R3500

If you pay upfront for the blog writing service for 1 year then Marshall Arts applies a 10% discount. For example, if you opt for 4 blog posts per month for 1 year you will pay R3500 X 12 - 10% = R37 800.00 (R787.50 per blog post).

Marshall arts will then schedule your blog posts to post (4 posts per month) and will make sure that they are strategically positioned alongside major internet events, holidays, and your business's promotional schedule.

Email Marketing

Wix allows you to send three email marketing campaigns per month for free. These campaigns include Wix branding. To upgrade the email marketing service you need an Ascend Premium package. We recommend the Professional Ascend Premium package which allows for 50 000 emails per month to be sent over 20 campaigns. This package costs R12000 per year ($48 p/m incl. Vat).

Finding Email Marketing setup on Wix

You can send email campaigns from your Wix site by navigating to your site dashboard, clicking on Marketing and SEO, and Email Marketing.

Once again Marshall Arts offers email marketing services.

• 1 email campaign R550.00

• 2 email campaigns R1000.00

• 3 email campaigns R1450.00

• 4 email campaigns R1850.00

If you use our service on a yearly basis you get the standard 10% discount, so for example, if you need 4 email campaigns per month you would pay R1850.00 X 12 - 10% = R19 980.00 (R416.25 per email).

Online Shop

You can add an online store to your website by going into the website editor, clicking the plus sign, clicking on Online Store, and clicking add app. This will add the shop pages to your website. Once the shop pages have been added to your website you can add new products by navigating to the site dashboard and clicking on Online Store, Products, and Add New Product.

Marshall Arts can set up an online store for you with the below pricing structure:

Online store setup: R1750.00

Product uploads: R50 per product

Contact us for a discounted rate should your store have more than 100 products.

If you have any questions regarding any of the above why not let us know in the comments section, alternatively you could reach out to us to book a call with one of our sales consultants who would be happy to answer all of your questions (with no obligation to use our services).

Marshall Arts Creative Media House Pty Ltd is a Wix Top Partner and we have built over 200 Wix websites for clients all around the world. We not only build websites and create the content that goes on them but we consult for our clients across a wide range of digital solutions. If you have a business that needs to solve a problem online, Marshall Arts has your back. We know the internet and we love solving problems creatively.

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Digital Marketing Jargon Explained

If you are just starting out with digital marketing or are thinking about it as a career, you may be getting overwhelmed by the amount of Jargon this industry uses. Jargon is a fancy word for fancy words that specific industries use to describe a something that is relevant or specific to their industry. In simple terms, jargon are words that only appear in the context of a the relevant industry.

Here are some examples of digital marketing Jargon:

App - a program that runs on a smartphone

Avatar - an image or NFT that represents a person on the internet

Blog - an article written by an internet user, usually in a conversational/ informal tone

Chatbot - a computer program that simulates conversation with a real person on a website

CTR (click through rate) - the number of times an item is clicked on

Conversion rate - A measure of performance for a digital campaign

Vlog - a video version of a blog

So what do you need to know in order to get your digital marketing journey underway? Well the answer really depends on what you are trying to achieve. For example, if you have a website and you are considering increasing the traffic (number of people visiting the site) through Google Advertising then you will definitely want to have a grasp of the terms (jargon) that Google uses. Google advertising hinges performance using words like: Campaign (a specific advert), CTR (Click through Rate - the number of clicks on your ad), Conversion Rate (the ratio of goals achieved versus clicks that resulted in nothing). Most digital marketing, whether it is SEM (search engine marketing) or SMM (social media marketing) will use these terms. Of course there are also Jargon in both that are relevant to marketing in general like: Demographic (the type of people; age, gender, race, geographic areas etc), Target Audience (the intended group of people/ demographic you wish to reach with your campaign), Remarketing (sending specific new campaigns to people who have seen your brand or ads elsewhere) etc.

There is a lot of information out there and knowing where to begin can be daunting, that is why digital agencies like Marshall Arts exist. We eat, sleep and breathe digital concepts and help our clients achieve their online goals, so they can focus on doing what they do best - running their business!

If you would like to get in touch with Marshall Arts to discuss your next online campaign, or your next idea for an online business then click here to book a call with one of our consultants.

If you would like to further increase your knowledge of Digital Marketing we strongly recommend this incredible (and free) course by Google which delves into all of the major concepts of digital marketing in a friendly and easy to understand way.

Click here to access Google Digital Garage - Digital Marketing Introduction Course

If you would like a Digital Jargon Cheat Sheet so you can just brush up on terms or use it a reference while planning your next campaign, click here to access to download the Google Jargon Busting PDF - it's free, with no obligations.

At Marshall Arts we aim to provide businesses and business owners with access to high quality, low cost digital solutions and information that achieves goals and shows results. If you enjoyed this short blog post, consider subscribing to our newsletter so that you get updated when we share new insights or digital strategy content. You can subscribe to our newsletter in the footer (the section at the bottom of every website).

Virtual Events in 2022 - How the future of online eventing will look

Virtual events have changed the business model and the experience of events around the world. 2022 will certainly see the continuation of online experiences, while the physical events start. to happen again alongside them.

Mother and daughter attend online pre-school. Everyday is a virtual event for these children of the new world.

By now most of you have attended at least one online gathering or virtual event. Whether it was a webinar, livestream event, Instagram live, facebook, YouTube or even attended a meta-verse meeting, we have all experienced virtual eventing on one or another platform by now.

I don't even want to talk about Zoom, Teams or Google Meets... We all know those and most of us use those platforms like FaceTime or just fancy telephone.

I am talking about fully-online experiences that are curated for a specific event - like a birthday party, wedding or a product launch.

The days of "all-hands meetings" taking place in person every week are basically over. Company Town halls are going to move forward online for most businesses. In fact for most businesses, the online meeting model is working out pretty well. They are able to get a message out to thousands of employees across multiple regions and the cost/ time implication of the virtual event is negligible compared to the live model. Virtual events are still pretty awful for things like live music concerts, but they are actually pretty great for things like theatre, movie premiers and music video launches.

In the early days of the pandemic, I developed a virtual event platform which has now hosted well over 200 online events for all kinds of things; from African Fashion Week to the memorials of CEOs and loved people around the world. I have done virtual events for businesses, bands, corporate socials, fashion shows, team-building games and more.

Contact us about virtual events

Boardroom meetings online mean that execs travel a lot less which saves companies money in travel expenses and time.

How hybrid events will become the norm

Now that we are moving onto the post-pandemic world, most things are getting back to a resemblance of the normal we once knew, but the world has been trained in an online way of engagement and we are going to bringing many of these newly learned skills with us into the coming years.

In 2022 we will start seeing the rise of truly hybrid events - experiences that happen online and in the real world. Participants of the event will have the option to stay home and attend or they could attend in person. The entire conference will be available both virtually and in real life (IRL).

At Marshall Arts we have developed an app solution that allows people at the conference venue to chat with each other as well as the participants from around the world who are attending from home. The event app and accompanying website are completely white-labeled and create a fully branded immersive experience for the event.

Using 360 video, we are able to give the at-home-attendees an immersive glimpse into the conference and allow them to actually experience the physical space (virtually), while taking part in discussion, polls, surveys, demonstrations, presentation and more.

Live streaming and VR meeting rooms offer enough an experience that people are able to collaborate, network and make new connections with vendors, participants and organisers from around the world.

"We know the model will remain because hybrid events are allowing international attendance at virtually no cost"

The world has never before been able to offer international guests at events a quick and easy way to attend a conference. Now colleagues from other countries don't have to travel to attend annual company meet-ups. Parent's don't have to get baby sitters to make an evening gala or awards ceremony.

These are pretty substantial benefits of the hybrid model. By giving the attendees the choice between the virtual or physical events, we can increase attendance and international networking opportunities.

The other beautiful part about it is having a centralised point of communication for all attendees during and post the event. If there are agendas, resources like training guides, programmes, goods for sale or any type of digital product - the online portal for the event can house it all. From the ticket sales, RSVP lists, attendance registers, LMS systems - you name it - the virtual aspect of the event provides a centralised system to house, manage and distribute all of these things that we once done manually or via multiple different third part softwares.

How much does a virtual event cost?

Virtual events (with Marshall Arts) start at around R85 000 for the full package. A virtual event platform starts at around R20 000. To throw an event like a fashion show, the full virtual package will cost around R200 000 ($12 000). This would include a virtual app, the video production of the broadcast as well as the broad cast and the management of the virtual aspects of the event.

What are other virtual event platforms?

https://www.vfairs.com/

https://hubilo.com/

https://eventee.co/

https://livestorm.co/

https://zoom.us/

https://www.cvent.com/

Why choose Marshall Arts to build your virtual event platform?

A lot of clients tried the above solutions before arriving at our door and then staying to do many events. The reason is simple. We white-label your event solution, give you a direct contact within your platform's backend, provide the most efficient and speedy support and we are actually more competitively priced.

Our other claim to fame is the quality of our stream and our ability to "re-stream" your event to up to 15 other platforms, so your event can be broadcast every possible audience.

We are experts in digital media and media distribution over the internet. Our solutions are easy to understand and easy to use. We pride ourselves in being able to represent brands with precise execution of their brand DNA.

What is the next step in Virtual events?

Virtual event apps.

360 video and autonomous 360 vision

Virtual Reality events

Augmented reality experiences at physical events

Do people enjoy virtual events?

Right now there is very hard spit. Some people love the way that virtual has made it so easy to attend an event. Other people hate the way that virtual has made them miss out human engagements with their colleagues.

Virtual event platform creators are working hard to solve the problems of the engagement limitations of virtual. As humans, we will always value the face to face interactions that give us a sense of community and trust and bonds.

That said, once we look at the hybrid model, it becomes clear that there is a way to have the best of both worlds and that is where the future will lie.

An in-person event will always be the more desirable option if it is possible, but the virtual experience means flexibility for when we cant be in the same room.

The technology of VR and AR bring value to experiences at the event venue and for the attendees at home.

As companies like Facebook and Microsoft put more and more energy into concepts and experiments like the metaverse, the world will slowly adopt these technologies and become used to using them.

Already the children of today are very used to the concept of a VR headset. Anyone who owns a VR headset on the PS5, knows that the tech is amazing, but still far from perfect - yet that doesn't stop millions of people from wanting to play with these toys every day.

We are not far from seeing the Oculus Rift transcend from the status of toy to everyday accessory - or at least a piece of kit provided at every event venue.

Most people reading this will either believe online events are awful and VR will end real human connections or they will believe that this is the future of humanity and this exciting tech will one day make incredible things possible for people around the world.

The thing I always try to remember is, the virtual events world is not everybody's cup of tea, but it is an important tool for the future of humanity. The technologies we are developing now will help earthlings of the future have Christmas with their relatives on Mars and ensure that work places never get disrupted by a lockdown ever again.

Want to tell us how you feel? Let us know in the comments, we love to chat.