Earlier this week, DMA Solutions (@TheCoreBlog) and Dan’l Mackey Almy (@WhyNotFresh) hosted the very first #CoreChat Twitter party – an open forum where members of the fresh produce industry came together to discuss their questions, needs, struggles, successes and experiences.
The topic? Websites. We felt this was the perfect topic for our inaugural #CoreChat, considering many fresh produce professionals feel websites are daunting, believing them to be too expensive or too complex to take on. The chat provided fresh produce marketers with an open forum to ask questions and share insights that we believe will spark progress and innovation in digital media for our industry. In case you missed the chat, here are a few of the big concerns and highlights from the fruitful discussion on Tuesday:
How do I cut through the noise to be found online?
Solutions presented:
- Use SEO best practices.
- Start a blog, and blog regularly.
- Update your website with relevant content regularly.
Should I have a custom-built site or a purchased template?
Solution: Find the right software that offers both solutions and determine which on will manage and meet your needs. We recommend Hubspot.
How do I know what kind of content to generate?
Solutions presented:
- Review your analytics to see what your visitors are clicking and downloading.
- Keep a record of FAQs so that you can see what topic areas people need information on.
- Develop buyer personas. Not all consumers or buyers are the same, so get to know each of their individual needs and then create content for THEM.
- “Listen” on social media to see what people are talking about relative to your products.
It seems like you need a lot of money and a lot of time to have a better website. What if I don’t have these?
Solutions presented:
- More money and time does not an effective website make. If you don’t have the budget to create a website from scratch, there are several options for you that won’t break the bank, pre-built templates, for example. These offer the coding/framework that will save you time and money on development hours.
- Utilize SEO best practices, which are critical to the success of any website – large or small. Here are a few ways you can get started right away.
Should my website focus on buyers or consumers?
Solution: For many growers, you will want to focus on both! Demand starts with the consumer, so educating and inspiring them to not only buy but crave your products is crucial. But we won’t discount the importance of appeasing your buyers, so make sure you’re providing separate information to cater the their needs, too.
Where do you go for website inspiration?
Solutions presented:
- We love KunoCreative.com – so helpful!
- AirBnb – the design and functionality is beautiful AND helpful!
- Copyblogger – great advice on content creation.
- Research/Google website trends for examples: responsive design, flat/minimalist design, etc.
And finally, here are some important stats shared during our chat to keep in mind:
- 70 new websites are created every minute. (@TheProduceMom).
- 40% of people will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. – Econsultancy (@AshleyJacksonPR).
- 38% of daily media interactions are on smartphones! Read more at ow.ly/Ljq9a (@meganzweig)
- The average #website conversion rate is only 2%. Learn more – thecore.dma-solutions.com/april-fools-th… (@TheCoreBlog)
We plan to host more #CoreChat parties in the future, each featuring a new topic to address your struggles and needs. Upcoming topics include social media challenges and blogging – keep an eye out and join us once we announce the next #CoreChat!
