WordPress 5.1: Who is Betty and What Does She Mean to Me?

WordPress usually releases a few major updates every year, and ‘Betty’, or WordPress 5.1, is the first major update of 2019. Named in honour of acclaimed jazz vocalist Betty Carter, the update adds a few new features to improve speed, performance and security.

WHAT’S NEW IN WORDPRESS 5.1?

The new version of WordPress is mostly back end improvements and focuses primarily on fine-tweaking some of the features of WordPress 5.0. It paves the way for a better, faster and more secure platform and consists of some essential tools for site administrators and developers:

SITE HEALTH FEATURES

With security and speed in mind, WordPress 5.1 introduces Site Health features. This means that WordPress will now start showing notices to administrators of sites that run outdated versions of PHP, which is the programming language that controls WordPress. With the latest PHP versions seriously boosting site performance, you will want the newest and best in order to make your site faster.

As well as this, when installing new plugins, the Site Health features will check whether a plugin requires a version of PHP that is incompatible with your site. If so, it will prevent you from installing that plugin. Increasing security, the Site Health features mean that your site will always be up to date, current and quick with optimum performance and reduced downtime.

EDITOR PERFOMANCE

As the latest update of WordPress focuses on pace, WordPress’s latest feature includes solid performance improvements within the editor. Now, the editor will start quicker, and typing will feel smoother. This means that WordPress will be quicker when making new content updates, further improving WordPress‘s speed and performance.

There are more features and improvements planned in upcoming WordPress releases and you can find out more about them in the WordPress plugin, Gutenberg.

WHAT DO THESE NEW FEATURES MEAN TO ME?

Here at EDGE Creative, we have specialised and knowledgeable web developers who are part of our expanding integrated marketing team in Birmingham. Michael Bragg, one of our web developers explains what the updates mean for our clients:

‘The recent server update to PHP 7.2 is a great help to clients who like to manage their own updates and plugins while the new editor means content updates are smoother. This further reduces barriers for clients when updating pages with fresh and relevant content. Overall, WordPress 5.1 makes our client’s sites more safe and secure, while also improving site speed and performance.’

EDGE CREATIVE

Although WordPress 5.1 hasn’t brought any hugely transformative updates, the new features refine and develop previous changes that WordPress 5.0 delivered, increasing security and pace. If you’re interested in updating to the latest version of WordPress, EDGE Creative can help.

Our Web Care Plans provide our clients with peace of mind that their website is always current, safe and secure. Without a Web Care Plan, your website may be currently running an old PHP version, which will have reached the end of its universal support life and so, security patches can no longer be provided. This means that your site may be vulnerable to malicious material. Our expert team of developers will upgrade your site to the latest WordPress and upgrade your bespoke plugins to be compatible with PHP 7.2 in order to ensure secuirty updates are supported continuosly.

As a digital agency, our web development department work with the rest of our creative team to create full, integrated marketing campaigns for our clients. We do this in order to offer a holistic approach to our services, which include branding, marketing strategy, data insights, web development, search engine optimisation, content creation and social. In order to find out more, call us on 0121 355 8092.

Increase Engagement on Your Website Through Animated Content

A great way to deliver a dynamic and impactful message on your website is to incorporate animated videos. Animated videos have the potential to work with you to create a visually appealing website that will engage with your audience on multiple devices. For example, we created an animated GIF for our client, Midlands LTA and their Spooktacular campaign. The GIF utilised motion and visual effects suited for the theme and target audience, and was posted across social media and helping our client reach users across desktop and mobile.

According to research conducted by Small Business Trends, companies using video enjoy 41% more web traffic from search than non-users. This, as well as an ever-increasing focus on video content within marketing in recent years, is why you should be paying attention to what animated videos can do for your business via digital channels. This focus on video and animation is important because you will be able to quickly grasp your audience’s attention and enable them to share your content across multiple devices and platforms.

WHERE DO I BEGIN?

You’ve received visitors to your website, but how do you keep them there? There is no question that movement attracts attention. So to take advantage of this, you can incorporate animation via videos, GIFs, and illustrations across your website to explain, inform and act as calls to action for your audience. You can also incorporate sound effects, music and voice-overs to add extra information and excitement.

We created an animated GIF for The Holistic Boot Camp to raise brand awareness and showcase their forthcoming holistic retreat, revealing the beautiful beach location, fitness activities and beauty treatments. The GIF was posted across social media to help our client reach users across devices and encourage shares and engagement.

WHY SHOULD I USE ANIMATED CONTENT?

Animated content such as GIFs, vlogs and explainer videos is a great way to create an emotional connection with your visitors, explaining ideas and conveying messages easily and in a fun and friendly way. This is backed up by market research, for example, HubSpot, Video Brewery and Switch Video collected the 50 best explainer videos, and out of these, 86% were animated.

Animated content can help to give clarity to complex information, making it more comprehensible to those who may speak a different language, younger audiences or people who may be new to the topic at hand, for example. Another benefit of animated content is that it can help you convey information quickly, as you may only have a few seconds to grab your visitor’s attention. Therefore, they have mass appeal that can allow you to connect with audiences across the world and capture their attention from the first click. For example, Dropbox added an animated explainer video to their homepage and saw a massive 10 million new customers and a £35 million increase in revenue.

WHAT SHOULD I KEEP IN MIND?

As always, it’s important to begin with the core message you want to convey and the impression you’d like to leave on your audience, and then build your content from there.

It is important to understand that animated content must serve a purpose. It should firstly have a practical function for your target audience and secondly reflect the brand personality of your website, but remember, don’t overdo it – a website cluttered with animation that has no meaning may lose you visitors – it needs long-term relevancy!

HOW CAN EDGE HELP?

EDGE Creative have worked with several clients to produce high-quality and engaging animated content that incorporates movement, visual effects and brand identity to promote businesses and events in a variety of industries. We can produce animated GIFs, videos, vlogs, explainer videos and much more to explain, inform and promote across multiple devices and platforms.

Web animation is a design trend that EDGE Creative will be giving even more attention to this year. Our animation expert, John, has had a very busy 2018 so far, working on multiple animation projects as well as the redesign of our website, with an improved user journey and additional animated content!

Why not add an EDGE to your website? Call us on 0121 355 8092 or email us at info@edge-creative.com to talk about animated content and how it can work for your brand.

5 UK Essentials for a Search Engine Optimised Website

The term user experience (UX) is about ensuring users find value in what you are providing to them. Giving users a comprehensive and simple journey through your site, being able to navigate your website well without unnecessary steps to get to their end goal.

To put this into context, all users visiting a website are looking for information or a solution to a problem. They want to find the information or product quickly and simply; if this is not achieved, they will leave without converting.

Websites are the multifaceted shop window of your business. They serve to build lasting relationships and sell your products or services, but many miss the mark.

SEO works to draw prospective clients to your website via search engines as you climb the rankings. UX helps users to locate the information they need once on your website and is the catalyst for building and maintaining a relationship with prospective clients.

Both are often seen as separate ways to solve separate problems, but that is not the case. Without SEO, your UX is redundant and vice versa. Here are the 5 UX best practices for developing your SEO:

RESPONSIVE AND MOBILE-OPTIMISATION

In a world that is becoming increasingly mobile-centred, it’s more important than ever to ensure that your website functions as well on mobile devices as it does on desktops.  To put this into perspective, using the data from the Cisco Visual Networking Index, “global mobile devices and connections in 2016 grew to 8.0 billion, up from 7.6 billion in 2015.” With an increase in mobile traffic of 63% in 2016.

If your website doesn’t have mobile users in mind, they are likely to leave and return to their search query. If you’re not sure your website is optimised, you can test it at Nibbler or GTmetrix to give you a starting point.

IMPROVED WEBSITE PERFORMANCE

It’s no secret that Google considers page speed in the ranking of websites, as algorithms punish slow websites. Page speed is a key factor in all aspects of UX.

According to a report conducted by Google Tools:

“Mobile sites that load in five seconds earn up to two times more mobile ad revenue than sites that load in 19 seconds”

Improving your page speed yields dividends when it comes to user experience and search rankings. To access your web page speed, you can obtain data from Google Analytics within the Behaviour tab and using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.

CONTENT IS KING

Whilst SEO boosts website visibility, the on-page content engages and informs the audience in a way that supports the user experience. Google’s Panda algorithm oversees punishing sites that do not add value to the user experience, specifically content-thin sites or sites with low-quality content. To ensure your content follows Panda’s algorithm, putting an information architecture in place is a good starting point. The information architecture is the science of organising and structuring the content of a website in a logical order, which is owned as a Symantec structure. The current trend is to centre design around the user.

If you’re not sure whether your website is hitting the mark, ask your customers or clients. For example, send them an email asking them how long it takes them to find a snippet of information or a specific product. See what the results are; it might surprise you.

USER-FRIENDLY NAVIGATION

Webmasters and businesses often overcomplicate the navigation of their website, which not only confuses those arriving at their website but also search engines as well.

Users can navigate through your website quickly and efficiently, which encourages conversions and supports the overall user experience. Test your website’s navigation by comparing it to the user-friendly best practices from Thought Co.

USE IMAGES TO SUPPORT CONTENT

Imagery and graphics are certainly important from an aesthetic and branding point of view, but they have functional properties in that they contribute to the UX and SEO as well.

Without imagery, content can lack engagement and necessary visuals to inform the user further. This is detrimental to the UX as well as SEO in that you can be found in search engines for your images if they are optimised for this with alt-text.

To test the readability of your site, you can use apps such as Readable and WebPageFX.

CONCLUSION

SEO leads to increased traffic to your site and helps it attain a higher position on SERPs; however, it’s UX that will determine whether the traffic can be sustained and converted into customers.

SEO and UX work together to direct qualified traffic to your website and convert it. Webmasters wanting to improve website performance in all aspects should focus on the two and adhere to the above best practices.

If you need help with your website or are looking for help to design and build your website, look no further than our development team. Give us a call on 0121 355 8092 or email us at info@edge-creative.com.

Don’t Leave Copywriting Behind!

You might have heard that in the online world of 2017, visual is everything! With 87% of online marketers using video-driven content, it is taking hold of social media and digital content more than ever. However, all this focus on imagery doesn’t mean the power of written content should just be pushed aside.

At EDGE Creative, we’re big on written content that draws the reader in and depicts your brand to audiences that matter to you. Excellently crafted and well-suited copywriting is required for a multitude of media messages such as emails, blogs, websites, sales tools, brochures, press releases, advertising campaigns and much, much more.

Here are some important guidelines we adhere to when communicating a written message for a company like yours.

START WITH A BANG!

Snappy headlines and impactful opening sentences are fundamental to hooking in your readers’ interest and encouraging them to read on to the end of the piece. The beginning is the most important part of any piece, especially if it’s for sales-driven content. Therefore, we give lots of time and attention to the written word.

We work our magic to start your storytelling in an inspiring way, whether it’s for online content such as a website or email marketing piece or an offline campaign such as a magazine advert, corporate brochure or an explosive sales-driven piece.

MAKE IT MEANINGFUL

When it comes to quality, there’s no use in filling up space with words. To get your message across with clarity, it must mean something! We focus on concise, structured content that is authentic, unique and packed with business potential in every sentence.

CHECK IT, CHECK IT, AND CHECK IT AGAIN

It pays to proofread work thoroughly to ensure sentences are strung correctly, words are spelt accurately and dreaded minor typos are nowhere to be seen.

Correct grammar will also help to maintain your business’s credibility and reputation as a professional and trustworthy organisation. We understand the importance of this, so we always make sure content is read by multiple members of the team to ensure spelling and grammar are in tip-top shape.

FIND YOUR STYLE AND VOICE

It’s best practice to create a distinctive tone of voice for your writing style. This is so you can accurately talk to your readers to convey your brand’s personality. The correct tone of voice will give a consistent “feel” and “voice” to the content across your marketing collateral.

You will need to incorporate this into your brand guidelines to communicate your message constantly throughout all your marketing.

Are you looking to write a blog, interview, Q&A, or a collection of stories? Do you want to develop your brand voice? Does your content need to be factual or opinion-based? These are all important questions that you will need to explore and answer to get started.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

When writing content to grab attention, traditional may not always be the best approach. Think about what’s different about your brand and ask why your potential clients should listen.

At EDGE Creative, this has been our forte for some time now. Our experienced team build imaginative, innovative and thought-provoking brand stories to make an impact on content that sets itself apart from the rest.

COMBINE STRATEGY WITH CREATIVITY

Fantastic ideas are just one piece of the puzzle. To create engaging content that helps the right people notice your brand, we ensure our blogs, email marketing, website, and printed material follow a set structure that’s bespoke to the brand values it communicates and considers the use of calls to action if required.

A good strategy involves envisioning the objectives and the purpose of the content you wish to create from the get-go.

WHAT NEXT?

We’re an integrated creative agency that produces and creates everything in-house, from design to web. If you’d like to get in touch to find out more about how we can help with content writing, call us on 0121 355 8092, or drop us a line at: info@edge-creative.com.

What Are the Future Digital Trends?

First in the line-up is Chloe, our Digital Account Executive. Giving you a full round-up of digital trends and what’s on the horizon for the next 6 months, here are her thoughts on what could be coming up.

The digital landscape has changed dramatically over the past 6 months, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon. The digital revolution is well underway, as consumers’ daily lives now centre around all things digital more than ever before.

1. VOICE SEARCH

Digital assistants are becoming more integrated into our lives with the help of Apple’s Siri, Google Personal Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana. The integration has gone further into our homes, with the introduction of products like Google Home and Amazon Echo.

It might not seem like this would have a massive impact on digital marketing. However, there has been a change to the way we search for things. For example, if you were searching via text for the CEO of Microsoft, you’d probably search “Microsoft CEO” using a short phrase to find your answer. When you use voice search,h you’re more likely to search “who is the CEO of Microsoft?” There is a subtle change in the use of language here.  Of course, we have an impact on the keywords we use as Digital Marketers, and considerations we will consider when planning a campaign. There is potential for this to have a big impact on the way consumers find information and the type of marketing we use to reach them.

2. AUGMENTED REALITY & VIRTUAL REALITY

With the launch of the iPhone X, there is a push on augmented reality, fusing the physical and digital world. Within the coming month, social media channels will potentially incorporate it into their offerings. Looking at an example, the Pokémon Go phenomenon, the popularity of this was initially nostalgia-driven. It also grew in popularity due to the newness of the technology and widespread availability globally. The total immersion of the game and interactivity among users were one of key benefits of the game. More apps, social media and games will centre around augmented reality.

The same for virtual reality, this is becoming more accessible and affordable. There is plenty of scope for how VR can be incorporated into a marketing strategy. For example, it could be used for a Hotel to promote their venue for weddings, by showcasing actual weddings at the venue, rather than a tour of the space. Immersing potential clients in the experience of the venue.

3. INSTANT EVERYTHING

When consumers grow up surrounded by social media and technology, the expectations of instant communication and entertainment become inevitable. Generation Z consumers gravitate to instantaneous social channels such as Snapchat, Facebook Live, and Musical.ly. The obvious downside to this is that there is an expectation for instant responses and activity. This expectation is set to increase, with marketers having to be very adaptable to change content within a few moments.  Also, innovation will need to happen rapidly and to a high standard.

From a business perspective, there are some exciting opportunities ahead, with some of these emerging technologies. In terms of using voice search, digital marketing professionals can adapt their keyword strategies to expand the reach of campaigns. With augmented reality and virtual reality, there is scope for brands to be able to immerse their customers to fully experience their offering. Instantly, everything will quicken the pace of how strategies are implemented and brands’ adaptability to digital changes.

These are the key trends that I think are set to make the biggest impact on digital marketing within the next year. Let us know if you agree or share your views with us on Twitter: @EDGE_Creative.

EDGE’s Steps to Web

At EDGE, we take pride in carefully planning each step when creating websites to ensure the best user journey to improve conversion. It’s this attention to detail from the very beginning that means we create not only cutting-edge and visually appealing websites, but ones that also win awards.

According to web credibility research from Stanford, it has been reported that 75% of users admit to making judgements about a company’s credibility based on their website design. Therefore, a website is the window to your business and the first point most people will come into contact with you. It’s for this reason that we work with businesses to help them find their edge to stand out above the competition.

We always devise a clear plan for designing and building your website, ensuring your website does what it’s meant to, so it lives up to the user’s expectations across all devices.

We have 8 clear steps to creating a website, mapping out the process from start to finish.

  • Fact Finding Mission – First of all, we discuss exactly what the vision is for the business in terms of look, feel, and purpose.
  • Scope, Function, Plan – We will then create the best formula to bring the website to life. This can entail user experience, functionality, and the number of pages. We understand that 94% of a user’s first impression of a website is design-related. However, we also know that when a website looks great but doesn’t function, it can also be detrimental.
  • Concept, Prototype, Wireframe – We will then design a prototype of each page, known as a wireframe. This visually illustrates where all the information will be displayed. It’s at this stage that amendments to the layout can be made if needed.
  • Applying Creative Design – The magic begins! This is when our designers will take the structure of the website and add artwork to it.
  • Initiate Website Development – This is when the actual website build begins, meaning that functionality is added to the designs, transforming it into a fully functioning website.
  • Preview, Test, Modify – Here, the website is previewed and tested, showing exactly how the website looks and functions.
  • Full Website Launch – Go live! Once the testing is done to make sure that everything is perfect, the website will be ready for the whole world to see.
  • Post Launch Review – We provide a full report on how the website is being used, giving a clear picture of how it is doing. At this point, we implement an action plan to help improve usability and conversion rates.

If you’re thinking of undertaking a new website, then get in touch!

Why is WordPress a Wise Choice for Websites?

FULL CONTROL

WordPress offers businesses full control of their website by making customisation easy and accessible, as adding new services, products, or even a team member is quick and simple.

Upon completion of your website and before going live, EDGE can provide you and your staff with in-depth training, helping to give you the confidence to manage your site daily.

ACCESSIBILITY & SEO

With WordPress, you can build mobile-responsive websites that are designed to reach your target market on the go. This will create a streamlined, memorable user experience.

WordPress provides businesses with the opportunity to manage their on-page SEO and increase their visibility in major search engines. This will help to increase site visits and open the door for qualified leads.

COMPATIBILITY

Leading businesses recognise the influence of WordPress as it is compatible with thousands of well-known and popular Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms such as WooCommerce, MailChimp and HubSpot. This allows you to seamlessly integrate and manage your business’s online presence and digital marketing activity.

FLEXIBILITY

A major benefit of using WordPress is its versatility, as it gives you full freedom and flexibility to create almost any type of website, such as e-commerce websites, blogs and much more.

HOW DO EDGE USE WORDPRESS?

We take the time to understand your requirements through a detailed wire-framing process, working to effectively communicate your business’s services through a bespoke website build that is optimised for conversions.

EDGE have designed and developed many successful websites using WordPress as a base across a broad range of industries, including financial, automotive, travel, retail and more.

EDGE believe in website security, which is why we offer ongoing monthly maintenance packages to ensure your site’s security is fully up to date and the risk of hacks and other dangers is dramatically reduced.

A recent client saw a 100% increase in online lead generation compared to their old website, and another received an award for Best Website by a Small Agency in 2016.

WHAT’S NEXT?

We believe in providing clients of any size and any industry with a website that is accessible and accurately reflects their brand ethos. We understand the need for control and work to provide this via a CMS that is both user-friendly and compatible with your business needs.

Talk to us about your next project – we love a challenge!

We Create Award Winning Websites

THE TASK

Earlier this year, we designed and built a website for Honeymoon Dreams. Honeymoon Dreams is a travel company that creates tailor-made holidays, specialising in extraordinary, multi-destination honeymoons.

HMD Blog Image

From the initial brief, we were tasked with creating a website that not only looked great but performed well, taking into account complex user journeys and multiple destinations and resorts. We were also asked to add a wish list and VIP area to enhance its exclusive feel.

THE PROCESS

The website was designed so that it allows users to choose where to go, how many nights to stay and is programmed so that on multi-destination holidays, only destinations that make logical sense are suggested to ensure that a customer is not flying 14 hours from one part of their holiday to the next.

EDGE Blog 2

THE RESULTS

After its launch, the website also debuted on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway as a prize. This appearance had a 500% increase in traffic to the website, with around 80% of this traffic being new users, showing strong brand awareness.

Tom Pestridge, Honeymoon Dreams Marketing Manager, said, “We have worked with EDGE Creative for a number of our web projects over the past few years and having used several other design agencies, we have always found them to be the most helpful and easy to work with. We had so many ideas for our website redesign, and EDGE were able to help us devise a clear plan for the site.”

“With us being a particularly demanding client, throughout the build, EDGE were always very friendly and eager to help come up with innovative solutions for some of our more complicated requirements. We are extremely happy with the way our site has turned out. With a lot of hard work, it is now something we are proud of. It has already been nominated for some industry awards and has proved great ROI for us.”

We are incredibly proud of our work for this client. This project touched many areas of EDGE Creative, involving lots of team members who worked very hard to achieve a fantastic website.

To have the website and then win an award shows how dedicated we are to our work and proves our industry expertise. Congratulations to everyone who worked on the project from both EDGE and Honeymoon Dreams.

If you would like to discuss your new website, just get in touch! We love a challenge!

Zone Contractors

A COMPLETE BRAND & DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The brand refresh and digital strategy have given Zone Contractors a professional, scalable online presence that enhances credibility with the civil engineering and construction sectors.

Team Members Involved on this Project

Karen Karen
Sean Sean
Ryan Ryan
Jon Jon

OVERVIEW

Based in Birmingham, Zone Contractors provide civil engineering labour and plant services to major construction projects across the UK, including the high-profile HS2 development. With extensive experience spanning highways, rail, and aviation sectors, they are trusted partners on complex infrastructure schemes.

As the business continues to grow, they are focused on strengthening their market position and increasing visibility within the civil engineering and infrastructure sectors.

THE OBJECTIVES

  • Expand digital presence to more accurately reflect
the scale, capability and professionalism of the business.
  • Position the brand more competitively within the civil engineering and infrastructure sector through improved credibility, consistency, and industry alignment.
  • Drive higher engagement from both potential clients
and job applicants by enhancing the online
recruitment journey.
  • Gain deeper insight into digital performance through improved analytics and tracking capabilities.

DELIVERED THROUGH…

STRATEGIC BRAND REFRESH

A contemporary brand refresh was delivered, designed to position Zone Contractors more competitively within the civil engineering and construction sectors.

This work formed part of a wider digital marketing for construction strategy, ensuring consistent, professional brand presentation across all platforms and touchpoints.

HIGH-IMPACT WEBSITE
DEVELOPMENT

A modern, content-rich website was developed as a central part
of the strategy, aligned with best practice in marketing for civil engineering firms. The new site:

  • Reflects the scale and capability of the business through an
image-led design using real project imagery, enhancing authenticity, credibility, and visual impact.
  • Clearly communicates the company’s roles, projects,
and supported sectors.
  • Accommodates a high volume of live job vacancies and is fully integrated with Indeed, streamlining recruitment and improving candidate engagement. This is key to effective digital marketing for construction businesses competing for talent.
  • Has enhanced analytics embedded via GA4 with tailored goal tracking
to monitor traffic sources, user behaviour, and recruitment conversions, enabling informed, data-driven decision-making.
SEE THE WEBSITE LIVE

VISUAL PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO

On-site photography and videography sessions were conducted across multiple HS2 locations to capture authentic, high-quality visuals.  This library of content was leveraged across the new website, social media assets, email headers, and stationery. The result was a consistent, visually impactful presence across all marketing channels.

THE RESULT

The brand refresh and digital strategy have given Zone Contractors a professional, scalable online presence that enhances credibility within the civil engineering and construction sectors. This has supported business development by clearly showcasing expertise and project capability, streamlines recruitment through integrated job listings and improved user experience, and provides measurable insights through advanced analytics for ongoing optimisation.

Zone engaged EDGE Creative based on a recommendation from our trusted IT provider. With their expertise, we transformed our outdated website, giving it a modern look whilst refining the organisation’s branding. We provided EDGE with a clear brief of our expectations, and they successfully brought our vision to life. We thoroughly enjoyed the content filming experience with EDGE and their team, and greatly appreciated their professionalism. We were delighted with the results.

Aiden Munnelly | Operations Manager

Zone Contractors

Mock-up image of presentation slides.
Brochure facing outwards.
Mock-up image of presentation slides.

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