Heroic Insights: the straight-talking digital marketing agency blog

Why WordPress is bad for web design

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 17:26:13 GMT

Getting ready to build a website? Discover 5 reasons why, in our opinion, WordPress is a bad choice.

"If everybody's doing it, it must be good." This isn't something many people say out loud. But in the world of web design and digital marketing, it's an unspoken mantra that stunts growth for many brands.

Take the case of WordPress. This is a website builder that began life as a blogging tool. Advocates point to its open-source nature, its flexibility and its low costs. What they don't tell you is that it's slow, complicated, difficult to secure and restrictive in its design options.

Despite all this, it remains a popular option for businesses. So, what's going on? Why is our opinion so at odds with WordPress's reputation?

Well, there are two main reasons people use WordPress when they could choose a better option. The first is that it has a very low bar for entry. You don't need to be a tech whizz to build a serviceable web page with WordPress.

Secondly, many web agencies are unwilling to evolve. They tell you WordPress is the golden goose because it's the only goose they've got. The result is that many businesses end up lumbered with outdated, under-achieving websites.

It pains us to see this. It's like watching a promising young racing driver attempt the F1 in a road-worn Peugeot 106. The fact of the matter is that your business deserves better.

Here, then, are five reasons why you should give WordPress a wide berth – and why we think you'll like our alternative option.

1. It's built for blogging, not business

WordPress is good for blogs. It's not good for business. It's a classic example of a platform over-extending its usefulness.

Sure, you get a website at the end of it. But it's typically a website that performs poorly and loads slowly. And at a time when even casual customers have high expectations, this just won't cut it.

Fact number one: eCommerce has unlocked selling opportunities for myriad businesses. Great! Fact number two: eCommerce has saturated the market, meaning potential customers are just a click away from abandoning their carts and shopping elsewhere. Not so great!

This means you need to give people a reason to choose you . And if your website is slow and saggy, people are unlikely to give you the benefit of the doubt.

2. It's restrictive

WordPress is built around templates. Some of them are pretty cool. However, they often stop users from getting the design freedom they desire and deserve. The result? Homogenous websites that don't reflect your brand's personality.

This is one of the key advantages of working with a bespoke digital marketing agency . Because these agencies aren't tied to templates, they can build a website that's yours and yours alone. This gives you a greater chance of standing out in a crowded marketplace.

3. It's hard to secure

Critics of WordPress like to say that it's not a secure platform. This isn't strictly true. It's fairer to say that WordPress makes it hard for you to build a secure website.

Cybersecurity, after all, is an industry in itself. It's not easy to bake security into your website. If you don't have the knowledge, WordPress doesn't make it easy for you.

This is the reason for scare stories about WordPress's vulnerability to hackers and malware. Essentially, WordPress expects you to be a security expert as well as a website builder. For many businesses, this simply isn't practical.

4. It's slow

Once upon a time, we waited for pages to load. Oh, how we waited. Today, if a page doesn't load in a second or two, we're liable to click away.

There's no getting around the fact that WordPress websites are on the slow side. This is a problem for two reasons. First, it drives away users who are used to snappy loading speeds.

Secondly, it has a way of driving your website down the search engine rankings. Speed is good for SEO – so why hobble yourself with a subpar website?

These speed issues are largely due to WordPress's plugins. They jam the system with bloated code, ruining your site's loading speeds and driving customers away.

Want to publish a text-heavy blog? WordPress will do just fine. Want a responsive website that sells your services? It's time to look elsewhere.

5. It lacks dedicated customer support

WordPress offers customer support – allegedly. In reality, web designers the world over find it about as useful as an umbrella made of tissue paper.

On top of this, most WordPress websites are based on third-party themes. If you run into design or performance difficulties, you've only got the theme designer to turn to – and often, this isn't forthcoming.

Sure, you can ask questions on forums and search YouTube for answers. If you like a challenge, go ahead! But if you want an easy life, there are better alternatives to WordPress.

By contrast, a digital marketing agency like ours can give you plenty of attention and support as we realise your vision and translate it into compelling web content.

Why work with us?

What's a website for? It's not just a dumping ground for information. It's a place where your messaging and branding can shine, turning potential customers into loyal supporters.

Your website can only do this, however, if it's easy to manage at your end and easy to use on theirs. And in our opinion, WordPress simply doesn't cut the mustard.

Work with us at My Digital Hero, however, and you can expect a professional, flexible service which puts your branding first and delivers a high-performing, highly secure website.

And because we're a small, close-knit team, we're able to work closely with you. If you run into any problems, we're on it – no ifs, no buts and no disruptive delays.

So, if you want a website to help your business grow, get in touch with My Digital Hero today – or learn more about our web design and web development services.

What is drone videography and how can it boost your marketing?

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 11:51:38 GMT

Looking for innovative ways to engage potential customers? Find out how drone videography can help.

How times have changed. Once upon a time, if a filmmaker wanted aerial photography, they would have to hire a helicopter and a pilot. It was an expensive venture – but one which undeniably resulted in a lot of cool shots.

Today, filmmakers can get similar results with just a drone and a drone operative. Not only is it much, much cheaper, but it also provides filmmakers with footage in stunning high definition.

Marketing and filmmaking have always influenced each other. So, it's no surprise that marketing agencies are increasingly offering drone footage for businesses.

Drone videography can help businesses stand out in a crowded online field. The challenge is the same for everyone: how do you stop people scrolling long enough to see what you have to offer?

Drones can achieve this with jaw-dropping footage that helps you tell a story, build your brand and show off more of your products or services than any other medium.

So, if your engagement and click-throughs are low, why not consider drone videography? It could be just what you need to elevate ( sorry ) your business. Read on to find out how the sky's the limit ( double sorry ).

Six reasons why your business should use drone videography

1. It's eye-catching

There's no denying that aerial footage catches the eye. It shows us landscapes from a new perspective – one that's mostly out of reach. This can be an effective way to stop potential customers from scrolling right past you.

2. It gives the viewer more

If your business is centred on a specific location, drone footage can show off more of it than ever before. Drone footage is ideal for showcasing your facilities, offering viewers a greater sense of space, scale – and excitement.

This makes it a great choice for brand storytelling. If you manufacture a product, for instance, you can show the journey from raw materials to manufacturing to the end customer. This can help engage viewers.

3. It's quick

Gone are the days when aerial shots required cranes, helicopters and teams of operatives. Today, all you need is a licensed pilot and a suitable spot for lift-off.

It's not just that the filming itself can be done so quickly. It's also that the footage can be immediately uploaded and shared. This means businesses can drastically speed up the design cycle, shortening the gap between idea and execution.

4. It's cost-effective

One of the most remarkable trends in recent years has been the democratisation of high-tech equipment. In this respect, drone videography is fast becoming the equivalent of your smartphone's camera – a high-end piece of technology that's available for relatively little.

Every business is conscious of its marketing budget and looking to make its money go further. Drone videography is a great way to get memorable, impressive marketing materials without breaking the bank.

5. It's high-quality

Did you know that drones can capture full HD at 4K resolution? This means even small businesses can give their brand the Hollywood treatment.

And at a time when people need a reason to stop scrolling, this level of professionalism can make all the difference. Go give your brand a luxury makeover!

6. It keeps people on your website

If one of the biggest challenges faced by businesses today is the scroll economy, another is how to drive people to their websites – and how to keep them there.

Engaging content is a surefire way of increasing both website traffic and the amount of time people spend on your site. In turn, this can help improve your search engine rankings.

Drone videography: a case study

Here at MDH, we don't just drone on about drones. We also provide our clients with dramatic, compelling aerial footage to give their brands an airborne boost.

We've shot everything from hospitals and hotels to homes and heritage. And if you'll allow us to briefly blow our own trumpet, the results speak for themselves – check out this showreel if you don't believe us.

Who can use drone videography?

A key benefit of drone videography is its versatility. Whatever your business, you could stand to gain from exploring it as a marketing medium.

Property companies, construction and tourist destinations can all harness drone technology to showcase their sites in unparalleled – and unprecedentedly dramatic – detail.

Outdoor event companies can communicate the buzz they create with aerial crowd shots. Manufacturers can show how their products are made – and demonstrate how they work from a new angle.

Yes, drone videography is a versatile and rapidly evolving art form that can take your brand into the stratosphere. But before you put "drone shoot" in the diary, you need to familiarise yourself with the UK's regulations surrounding drone videography.

What are the regulations surrounding drone videography in the UK?

At the time of writing, drone videography in the UK is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

We don't have space to cover the regulations in detail. Many refer to physical constraints – how high the drone can be flown, how far from airports, how far from bystanders, and so on.

But the key consideration for businesses is that drones equipped with cameras must be operated by professionals. And by "professional", the CAA means someone with an operator ID.

If you're passionate about the possibilities of drone videography, there's no reason why you shouldn't train as a professional operator. But if you just want some quick, cost-effective marketing materials, it usually makes more sense to work with a professional.

Drones are a fantastic way to enhance your brand identity, stop potential customers from scrolling past you and tell a compelling story. We hope this article gives you a bit of inspiration.

Are you looking for high-quality video marketing materials? At My Digital Hero, we specialise in live-action video, animation for marketing and YouTube video production . And in case that wasn't enough, we're a dab hand at drone videography, too. Let's make your next project even better – start by booking a free discovery call online.

Lead generation: the fine line between outreach and nagging

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 11:16:49 GMT

Worried that your outbound emails are coming across as nags? Find out how to avoid this in our guide.

For any business to grow, leads have to be generated. And for any lead to be generated, potential customers have to be contacted.

It's an undeniably essential part of any business's growth plan. But all too often, businesses fall into the same old trap. They think they're reaching out. But the people they're reaching out to feel like they're being nagged.

And when you think about it, it makes total sense. Most of us spend our lives juggling the items on an ever-changing to-do list. Yes, we want to hear about goods and services that can benefit us. But do we want to be nagged? Um, no thanks!

The trouble is that the same methods used for successful outreach are those used by professional marketing nags. An automated email marketing strategy can generate leads or drive them away. It can drip-feed valuable content or send recipients reaching for the "unsubscribe" button.

It's a fine line – but it's one that businesses can walk if they put their minds to it. It's all about putting yourself in a potential customer's shoes and figuring out what they want to see.

What makes a good marketing email?

In the world of menswear, smart dressers like to talk about their "grails". These are items of clothing that are desirable but hard to find.

In the world of digital marketing, good marketing emails are a grail in themselves. It's amazing how many bad marketing emails we receive every day. And it's not for want of trying. Many businesses put plenty of effort into their emails. So, what's going wrong? Why do so many of them end up being marked as spam?

Here's why: those emails read like spam. They don't engage the reader. They don't give you a reason to care. They're not personalised. Often, they're not even pleasant to read on a mobile.

There's no 10-point checklist you can tick off to ensure a high-quality marketing email. Instead, it's a case of asking yourself questions as you compose your marketing emails – less of a checklist and more of a springboard.

Critical questions could include:

What is the email for? Does it build towards a clear call to action?
What value does the recipient gain from reading the email? Is it cultivating your relationship with the lead?
Would you want to receive this email?
Is the email easy to read? Is it mobile-friendly? Do the layout and format match your branding?
Does the copy reflect your brand's personality?

Going through this list, you may find you answer one question positively and another negatively. This should prompt you to rethink your lead generation strategy.

If, for instance, the email doesn't offer value or is something you yourself wouldn't want to receive, you've probably gone from outreach to nagging – and those leads are likely to disappear.

It's a lot to think about – especially if you're a young business with a to-do list the length of War and Peace .

This is one reason why many businesses outsource lead generation to a digital marketing firm like ours. It means they get to leverage external skills and expertise, avoid burnout and focus on, well, everything else that needs doing.

How quickly should you follow up?

Successful lead generation is partly a case of creating marketing emails that potential customers want to read. But it's also about the fine art of the follow-up. The basic question is simple: how soon is too soon and how late is too late?

The simple answer is: well, it depends. This might sound like a cop-out – but we assure you it isn't. For many businesses, the problem is precisely that they're inflexible about their follow-ups. They bind themselves to a strict schedule which assumes that all leads should be treated the same.

In fact, leads can be divided into segments. If someone has contacted you, for instance, they deserve a quick follow-up. But if they signed up for your newsletter, a speedy follow-up will probably come across as nagging, even if they like what they see.

Segmentation, then, is key. Your leads should be grouped according to the products or services they showed interest in, their demographics, how they found you and other key pieces of consumer data.

This segmented database can then be used to make your marketing emails more personalised, more specific and more relevant.

It's all about finding the sweet spot. This is a skill that comes with experience. Luckily, you don't need to acquire that experience yourself. Working with a digital marketing agency like ours means you get all the expertise you need on tap.

How we can help

At My Digital Hero, your ambition is our priority. We know how difficult it can be to generate leads when juggling a dozen other balls. Too often, you end up driving away potential customers with emails that come across as nags.

You can count on us to do things differently. Our marketing strategies are driven by segmented data sets and put relationship building front and centre.

Each of our emails is purpose-built to reflect your branding and lead recipients to click on that all-important call to action. They're beautiful, easy to read and always mobile-friendly.

And because we're a small, plucky team of digital superheroes, we give you the attention you deserve. You're not just a number to us – you're a valued partner. This means we work closely with you to achieve your business goals and we never hide behind a script.

Oh, and we never use AI for written content. Customers are smarter than many businesses think and can sniff an AI-generated email a mile off. We write unique copy to match your unique vision.

So, if you're holding out for a hero to turn those leads into loyal customers, get in touch with My Digital Hero today – or find out more about our growth-hacking lead generation service.

Your customers know you're using AI-generated content

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 15:50:00 GMT

Think you can get away with using AI-generated copy without anyone noticing? Here's why you're wrong.

Like any other technological advance, AI has brought with it numerous opportunities and numerous challenges.

In the education sector, for instance, teachers are torn between the validity of ChatGPT and other large language models as research tools and the difficulty of detecting AI-generated essays.

In digital marketing, many brands now see AI as a valuable tool in their armouries. And it is – for certain use cases. But as we've written elsewhere , we don't use it for marketing copy – and we never will.

There are plenty of reasons for this. In this article, we're going to focus on a key disincentive: the fact that many of your customers will spot it a mile off.

How can customers tell if content is AI-generated?

First up, we should clarify that not everyone can spot AI-generated content, as anyone reading the comments below an AI image on Facebook will know.

Research suggests that humans are inconsistent at identifying AI text. If you're an AI advocate, you could say this is a great reason to persevere. But from another perspective, the fact that plenty of people can spot it is a key reason to get a human to write your copy rather than a bot.

AI-generated copy serves a purpose. It gets content online quickly and effortlessly. But in doing so, it settles for content that's generic, repetitive and lifeless. It's like going to a fashion show and watching mannequins get pushed down the runway.

In other words, it's a short-term solution. But content creation, SEO and business growth strategies are long-term challenges that require long-term thinking.

Businesses defend their use of AI by saying it serves the customer. They insist it's not just about cutting their own costs – it's actually about giving them what they need.

Well, we're here to tell you that customers want, above all, to be treated like humans. And in some cases, AI knows how to do that. A chatbot, for example, can get you the answer or support you need without putting you on hold.

That's very different from AI-generated content such as web copy and marketing emails. People can tell if they're being taken for a ride – and they don't like it. They want to feel valued, not hoodwinked. In this key regard, humans have still got the upper hand over machines.

Why cutting corners is bad for business

If you rely on AI to generate your copy, you're telling the customer that you're happy to cut corners. Who cares if an article was written by a professional copywriter, ChatGPT or a stranger you met on the bus? It doesn't matter! The point is getting money off the customer. All the rest is a waste of money.

There are two problems with this attitude. First, it dramatically underestimates the intelligence of the customer. It assumes that people are there to be squeezed for their money rather than nurtured as could-be-loyal customers. It puts (to repurpose a political phrase) profit above people.

The second problem is it makes you wonder what other corners are being cut. Let's say you receive an email from a company that's clearly been written using AI. Perhaps the tone is off. Perhaps it's full of needless repetitions. Perhaps it's overflowing with emojis.

Either way, your first response is likely to be some variation on "Oh, come on ". But as you think about it further, you're likely to wonder what else this company doesn't care about.

Would they approach the complaints procedure with the same contempt they've shown in this email? How about refunds or shipping? How about their environmental commitments?

AI-generated copy tells the customer that nothing matters but profit. And that's a bad message to send to customers who, after all, can quickly switch to one of your competitors.

What are the telltale signs that content has been AI-generated?

If you read something and smell an AI-generated rat, chances are it's because there's something off about it. But where does that off-ness come from? In most cases, it's a combination of things that create that uncanny valley feeling.

There's a thread on Reddit that shares many of these telltale signs – from sentence structures to specific word choices.

For us, the most important is this: AI-generated copy is almost always neutral and "safe".

AI doesn't take risks. It doesn't crack jokes unless you ask it to (and they're usually not that funny). It doesn't have style . It's trained on a whole lot of bad copywriting – so, naturally, the results are bunk.

This is why your customers can easily tell you're using AI-generated content. They can see the gaping hole where a personality should be. In short, they can sense they're being fobbed off – a surefire way to send them shopping elsewhere.

What is AI good for?

The danger in rejecting AI is that you come across as a stick-in-the-mud Luddite. In fact, we think AI has plenty of value to offer – just not when it comes to written content.

Even within the world of digital marketing, we can see its value. Chatbots, for instance, directly benefit customers by offering instant support.

But perhaps the most exciting use of AI is in medicine. Did you know, for instance, that the COVID-19 vaccine was developed using AI? As the World Health Organization says:

"The value of AI was recently demonstrated in the COVID-19 pandemic, whereby AI-based approaches were used to accelerate mRNA vaccine antigen design and conduct clinical trials, helping developers to go from a viral sequence to approved product in less than one year."

Now that's a use of AI we can get behind – and chances are it's only going to get better. But when it comes to copywriting? Your best bet is to stick with the professionals.

Are you looking for heroic search-engine-optimised content written by humans for humans? Get in touch with My Digital Hero today and snatch some of our superpowers for yourself.

What is a sales funnel in digital marketing?

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 22:21:11 GMT

In digital marketing, how do you convert leads into sales? Find out how a sales funnel can grow your brand.

Every business needs to turn strangers into paying customers – loyal customers if possible. To do so, they need to get the potential customer's attention, nurture it and convert it into action.

This process sometimes gets referred to as a "sales funnel". It's a process of conversion – from someone thinking your product is cool, interesting or useful to a person willing to give you money for it. In the language of marketing, this is known as "converting a lead into a sale".

Traditionally, sales funnels were linear. Let's say you sold fancy dress costumes. You would send direct mail catalogues. You would put up signs in your shop window. Perhaps you'd pay for TV ads. These would contain all the information a person needed to know about what you offer.

Done well, this kind of marketing created a straight through-line from curiosity to cash. But today, the landscape is altogether different.

On average, a person may see 10,000 ads a day . These ads are no longer coming from a handful of sources – TV, mail catalogue, shop window. They're now also coming from social media, emails, website pop-ups… The linear through-line of old has become a crazy squiggle.

New ways of doing things call for new methods. But all too often, businesses find the digital side of things hard to grasp. They know the internet is a vital marketing tool. But they're never quite sure if they're doing it right.

In this article, we take a closer look at the sales funnel – and how we can help you maximise it.

What are the stages of a sales funnel?

At the top of the sales funnel is awareness. People need to be aware of your products or services. But more importantly, they need to be captured.

Capturing leads is all about gathering data. You've unleashed your beautiful, compelling marketing campaign – but how are you going to keep track of people who've opened the email, expressed an interest, signed up to the mailing list, and so on?

This is a crucial first step. Without knowing your leads, you can't nurture them – the next step on their journey from "interested" to "invested".

Nurturing leads is all about making your offer clearer and more attractive. Do you offer a discount on first sales, for instance? Are you highlighting products and services in emails? Are you using multiple channels to pitch your products?

Above all, is your content minty-fresh or a little faded at the edges? How's the website looking? Are you harnessing SEO to drive traffic to your site with blogs and other copywriting that's good for humans as well as search engines ?

We get it – it's a lot. But it's only by keeping all these plates in the air that you can be confident people will stick around for more.

It's important to remember that everyone is busy. You could say that modern life is one long abandoned cart as we flick from tab to tab. It's a harsh reality but not one that should defeat you. The answer is to nurture leads creatively and in a way that feels persuasive but not pushy.

The other important thing to bear in mind is that the sales funnel is a process of refinement. At the top of the funnel is a mass of interested people. At the bottom are those few who put their money where their mouth is.

Some businesses find this thinning-out dispiriting. But by funnelling and focusing on the dedicated few, you're more likely to get loyal customers.

In a way, this is the ultimate conversion: from one-time customer to old faithful. To achieve this, the sales funnel can't end with a sale. It's an ongoing process of communication.

Why is a sales funnel useful?

In the world of business, it's often useful to visualise processes. Gantt charts, pie charts and other visualisations are popular for one simple reason: they're worth a thousand words.

A sales funnel doesn't have the blinding clarity of a well-made pie chart. But it does take an abstract journey and turn it into a visual process that can be tracked and managed more easily.

Once you can see the process clearly, you're in a better position to bring your sales and marketing into focus. You can see what's working and where there's room for improvement. You can see which leads are falling away and which are sticking around for more.

This brings you closer to the holy grail of digital marketing: data-driven decision-making. No more shots in the dark. No more "Well, let's see how it goes". Just thoughtful, thorough, manageable marketing that captures, nurtures and converts those precious leads.

That's the what and the why of sales funnels. But how about the how? That's where we come in.

How we can help

If you've set up a business, you're probably a smart cookie. Chances are you're juggling multiple tasks, so why not add a sales funnel to your agenda?

There are two ways of looking at this. One is that you're already a multi-tasking business beast. You've got the brains and the willpower to capture, nurture and convert leads. Why bring in outside help?

The other way of looking at it is that sales funnels are time-consuming. They involve managing multiple channels and a truckload of data. In a sales funnel, details count for a lot. If you're already tied up with product development and branding, say, you might find digital marketing the straw that breaks the camel's back.

If this sounds like you, we can help. At My Digital Hero, we offer bespoke digital marketing packages for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Our services include beautiful, intuitive website design , lead generation , Google Ads , SEO and high-quality video marketing .

So, if you're looking for help with people-focused digital marketing, get in touch . We'd love to help you turn those leads into sales.

Do people really click on Google Ads?

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 00:37:21 GMT

How many people click on Google Ads each day? And how many of those clicks convert? Let's calculate…

Do people really click on Google Ads?

Yes. They do.

Google (or, rather, Alphabet – its parent company) is one of the world's biggest tech brands. The Fortune Global 500 for 2023 put it in third place, with an eye-watering revenue of $283 billion.

And most of that money comes from advertising . Those clicks add up, whether they're from Google Search ads, YouTube Ads or the Google Display Network.

For netizens of a certain disposition, that may sound hard to believe. Search ads, you might think, are there to be ignored. They scroll by like trees on a train journey – a momentary distraction on the way to Organic Search Central.

But you're not like most people. Most people click on Google Ads – and we're here to prove it.

How many people click on Google Ads?

In 2023, Google made nearly $238 billion from advertising – an astonishing 84% of its total revenue for that year.

And according to a 2022 survey , 98% of businesses and agencies that advertise online use Google's advertising services. As a point of comparison, a relatively paltry 60% use Microsoft Ads.

What do these statistics tell us? They tell us that Google is an advertising titan – and an effective one at that.

Google makes lots of money from advertising. Ergo, lots of people click Google Ads.

Lots of businesses use Google Ads. Ergo, they work.

But as for exactly how many people click Google Ads… well, that's kinda tricky.

By one estimate, nearly two-thirds of users don't know the difference between Google's organic and paid search results. From that, it's easy to surmise that ads get clicks on the basis that those confused users must be clicking something .

And according to a now-deleted HubSpot report, 63% of people say they've clicked on a Google ad at some point . But that doesn't tell us how often they click on ads or how often they use Google. Some of those people may have clicked an ad once in their lives. They might even be a member of that exclusive club: the die-hard Bing user.

No. We want a nice, whole number. And to figure that out, we'd have to do some quick and dirty calculations.

Luckily for you, we've got a pen and a napkin, and we're not afraid to use them.

We know the average click-through rate (CTR) for search ads is 1.9%. This metric varies a fair bit from sector to sector – but let's stick with it for now.

And let's say the average number of ads per page of Google is three. Again, this is variable – but we're working with napkin-level maths here.

Three ads per page, each with a CTR of 1.9% – that means a 5.7% chance that any ad will be clicked on the first page of Google.

We know that Google handles about 8.5 billion searches daily. If 5.7% of users are clicking on Search ads, that means about 485 million ad clicks. Every. Single. Day.

To put that into an even more confusingly vast perspective, that adds up to around 177 billion clicks each year.

Or how about this? Let's imagine a click-powered space shuttle. Each click gives us enough energy to move one centimetre. If we powered our shuttle using Google's yearly ad clicks, we could make it to the moon and back twice.

Did we mention that lots of people click on Google Ads?

How many of those clicks convert?

We know the average conversion rate for Google Search ads. It's 4.4 %.

If we use our back-of-a-napkin calculations, that works out to around 21 million conversions every day.

But if you weren't already taking our maths with a pinch of salt, you should probably reach it for now. See, that 4.4% figure is the overall average – but when you zoom in on the data, you'll see that conversion rates vary widely between industries.

For instance, the vehicle industry enjoys a whopping 7.98% average conversion rate. But fashion retailers have to put up with a relatively paltry 2.77%. Most other industries fall somewhere between three percent and five percent.

Are all Google Ads meant to be clicked?

So far, we've assumed that businesses want people to click on their Google Ads. That's what they're paying Google for, after all.

However, this isn't always the case. Some ads just aren't meant to be clicked.

The obvious example is Google Display Ads – those image-rich advertising banners you see on sites around the web. Though they can be used to drive clicks, it's not their biggest strength.

Instead, most advertisers use them to boost brand awareness and remind customers that they exist. This is especially effective if those customers have shopped for their products or services in the past.

So far, so common knowledge. However, you might be surprised to learn that the same logic can apply to Google Search ads.

Let's consider a few examples.

1. Getting in there early with brand awareness

Picture this. You run a business with a niche product offering – smart chicken coops, say.

Most of your potential customers don't know how smart chicken coops work. In fact, they don't know the first thing about rearing chickens.

So, they search for phrases like "How to look after chickens" and "Best chicken breeds for beginners".

At this stage, it's unlikely they'll be interested in your high-tech coops. They're still figuring out how this whole chicken thing works.

However, by bidding on keywords related to these research-focused queries, you can plant the seed of brand awareness. You don't necessarily want users to click on your ads at this stage. But with a little luck, your brand will be front of mind when they're eventually ready to buy a smart coop.

2. Bidding on competitor brand names

Things aren't all rosy at DigiCoop. Despite your best efforts, you just can't compete with industry giants like iHutch.

An idea strikes. Why not bid on the iHutch brand name? That way, you'll appear when users search for "iHutch" on Google.

Those users are looking for iHutch, not DigiCoop, so they probably won't click on your ad. If they do, you'll probably pay through the nose for the privilege.

But it might still be worth it. You've snagged a bit of iHutch's search real estate and put your disruptive young brand in front of its much larger audience.

3. Bidding on your own brand name

That's more like it. iHutch customers are flocking to your coops – and so are the chickens.

But there's a problem. iHutch has taken a leaf from your book and started bidding on your brand name. Now its website appears at the top of Google when customers search for DigiCoop.

There's only one thing for it – you'll have to bid on your brand name too. It's the only way to snatch that valuable search real estate back from the sneaky folk at iHutch.

Ideally, customers wouldn't click on your ad. Every click costs money, after all. But you've entered into this bidding war with iHutch, and you have to see it through.

Final thoughts

As we've seen, plenty of people click on Google Ads. Millions daily, in fact.

Moreover, there are certain circumstances where you might not want people to click on your ad.

What have we learnt? Google Ads are effective – and Google Ads are complex. The formula isn't quite as simple as "ads + clicks = profit".

And we haven't even delved into the complexities of pay-per-click optimisation . The keyword research. The A/B testing. The constant tweaking of spend, strategy and ad creative. It takes time, patience and expertise to get it right.

You might have patience and expertise in spades. But if you lack the time, you won't get the results you want.

That's where we can help. We're a small but plucky paid search company with a unique and proactive approach to Google Ads management. Thanks to our expertise, My Digital Hero clients pay 28% less per click than the UK average.* Impressive, right?

It's because we put in the time to make sure everything is as optimised as it can be. Want a slice of that time for yourself? Get in touch with our friendly experts to book a free discovery call.

How to generate leads for your local business

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 21:51:55 GMT

Looking for creative ways to turn locals into leads? Discover 10 of the best ideas in our expert guide.

Most businesses start with a product or service. It's this initial brainwave that puts the wheels in motion. But those wheels won't turn without a host of other processes in place.

It's one of the things that can discourage businesses in their early days. That initial excitement quickly gets lost in a sea of admin.

That admin, of course, is essential. Take lead generation. You could have the best idea in the world, but no one will care if you don't catch their interest.

Companies with national or international reach typically have large marketing departments with correspondingly large budgets. But if you're a local business trying to generate leads, how do you go about it?

Well, it's not easy. Agencies like us exist to do the donkey work so you don't have to. But it's not confidential information. We've no interest in hiding our methods beneath reams of sales jargon.

That's why we've put together this guide to generating leads for your local business. We hope it helps your brand to grow.

1. Local SEO

You sell shoes in Cwmbran. If you type "cwmbran shoes", does your website come up? No? Then you need to up your local SEO game.

There's more to it than that, of course. But the general point is that you need to rise to the top of the search results if you want those valuable clicks.

2. Email marketing

When people criticise email marketing, they're actually criticising bad email marketing. Done well, it can be a concise, creative way of selling your products or services.

Consistency is key. Consumers are like teenagers – you need to tell them something more than once for it to sink in. Emails let you hammer home your branding with a hammer wrapped in velvet.

Of course, to reach those local customers you need to know who they are. This means gathering their data – with their permission, of course.

One way is to ask at the point of sale. If you run a local shop, for instance, you could ask customers for their email addresses in exchange for a one-time offer.

3. Referral marketing

In the early days, it's often the case that leads don't ripple outwards. In other words, you may pin down a customer, and they may even mention you to a friend. But it can often feel like you're proceeding one customer at a time.

This is where referrals can reap dividends. It's where you encourage customers to recommend your business to their friends and family in exchange for a discount, BOGOF or other perk.

4. Social media

Ah, social media: the friend and foe of every local business (and not just local businesses!)

Social media is indispensable, but it often feels like the goalposts are constantly shifting. Keeping across it all takes time and energy.

The big picture, however, is largely constant. You can post content that situates you in the local area. You can interact with customers, whether they're giving you good or bad feedback. And you can strategically target ads to give your brand more reach.

5. Blogging

Many small businesses post regular blog posts on their website. This is a way of driving traffic to the site.

A whisky distillery in Cumbria might post articles about the whisky-making process, taste notes, pairings and so on. But they could also post articles about local walks, local attractions, local food and drink – the list goes on.

The same goes for content like games, quizzes and guides. All can be a way of getting locals onto your site.

6. Video marketing

Video content helps familiarise people with your brand, whether it's footage of your products, behind-the-scenes interviews or location shots.

It's never been easier to create cheap and cheerful videos on your smartphone. But if you want to take it up a notch, you may want to work with a video production and animation company that can deliver the professional touch. This can help you stand out on platforms that are saturated with video content.

7. Landing pages

Landing pages are standalone web pages that encourage visitors to take a specific action. This is a key way to generate leads and begin to convert those leads into customers.

Your landing page could be there to sell a particular product, link to a newsletter or download a document. It could be linked from a marketing email, an online ad, or, indeed, anywhere else online.

8. Pay-per-click advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a model of online advertising. Your ad appears on search engines, social media or websites. In exchange, you pay a fee for each click on your link.

PPC alone probably won't give you the leads you want – but as part of a package of local digital marketing strategies, it will certainly help.

9. Working with influencers

At the time of writing, YouTube has more than 2.5 billion monthly users. TikTok's usership is in the billions, too. These platforms are full of influencers using their personal brands to shift other people's products.

If you run an attraction, you could give influencers free entry in exchange for coverage. If you have a product range, you could give them samples to review.

This can be a great way to boost your signal in a crowded market. However, you need to be confident that the benefits run both ways. The alternative is to give away freebies and make little or nothing back.

10. Work with a digital marketing agency

Digital marketing is like renovating your house. Chances are you have the intelligence to master all the skills required to do it yourself. But do you have the time?

If you're finding that your lead generation is losing steam under the weight of other tasks, why not work with My Digital Hero? We help a wide range of local businesses widen their client base and boost their revenue.

So, if you're thinking about outsourcing lead generation , don't hesitate to contact us and learn more about our flexible, competitively priced services.

Using Bluesky for marketing: is it worth it?

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 20:09:38 GMT

Bluesky is big news – but is this fresh-faced social media platform worth your marketing efforts? Let's find out.

If you've got a nervous system and an email address, you've probably heard of Bluesky by now.

If not, hi! How are things back in 2023?

We jest. However, you can't deny that Bluesky's rise to fame has been difficult to miss. It's the hippest platform since Ziggy Stardust's left shoe – and it's gained users so rapidly you'd swear it was handing out dreams and Mars Bars.

You know what this means. Where users flock, digital marketers like us follow. But is this bright new audience ready to get on board with your product? Or is the platform too new to bear fruit?

Let's investigate.

What is Bluesky and why should I care?

Bluesky is not new. The social media platform has existed – at least as an idea – since 2019.

But it may as well be new, as far as most of us are concerned. For various reasons, Bluesky has seen its user base surge in recent weeks.

Between September 2024 and January 2025, the platform grew from six million users to more than 27.5 million.

Many of these new adopters are so-called "Twitter quitters" – frustrated ex-users of Elon Musk's X app. The good news for them is that Bluesky feels very much like X (formerly Twitter). Long-time tweeters can hit the ground running on Bluesky.

But as we'll see, it's not without its differences. Chief among them is that Bluesky is decentralised. In other words, no one person or company controls Bluesky. Users are free to host their own servers and have more control over the content they see and interact with. They can also create their own apps that interact with Bluesky.

The ramifications for you are twofold. Bluesky represents a fresh and growing user base to which you can direct your marketing efforts. However, its decentralised and (for the time being) ad-free nature means new approaches are needed.

Are there opportunities for marketing on Bluesky?

Currently, Bluesky doesn't have a paid advertising function. There are rumours that the platform will open up to advertisers sometime in 2025, but right now they're just that – rumours.

Our advice? Don't wait around to find out.

Sure, paid advertising may have overtaken organic posts as the predominant marketing method on most social media platforms. But Bluesky isn't most social media platforms.

A big part of Bluesky's appeal is its decentralised, user-first approach. For adopters, the platform offers a chance to curate their own communities and enjoy more control over the content they see. And– let's face it – it offers an escape from the barrage of advertising they face on X, Facebook and Instagram.

This means forgetting your usual box of tricks. On Bluesky, you can't just whip up a snappy ad, throw some dollars at it and wait for the clicks to tumble in. You have to take a quieter, more considered and more user-centric approach.

It's not easy. Heck, Bluesky is a bit of a Wild West right now. But if you bide your time waiting for Bluesky to become X – ads and all – then you're likely to be disappointed. At best, you'll be waiting for a very long time. At worst, your competitors will have run six laps while you're still tying your shoelaces.

The good news is that your competitors don't know what they're doing right now. Nobody does. Brands are writing the rulebook for Bluesky digital marketing as they go along. That's what's so fun about it.

Building a Bluesky marketing strategy

OK. So, there are no rules for marketing on Bluesky. To build an effective marketing strategy, you'll need to test, measure results and spend some time figuring out what works for your brand.

We can't tell you exactly what to do. However, we've got a good idea of what not to do.

Keep these three big DON'TS in mind and you'll get off to a flying start.

1. DON'T think like an advertiser

This might seem counterintuitive. You set up that Bluesky account because you want to advertise your services, right?

Sure. But this isn't your typical social media platform. The users are in charge here – and they can smell marketing lingo from a mile off.

You need to offer value to an ad-savvy user base. If you post something like, "Check out our new product. It's great!", you'll be thrown to the wolves before you hit the enter key.

This means authentic content is the order of the day. Blatantly self-promotional posts will get you nowhere. Instead, focus on asking questions, engaging with other users' posts and fostering a unique, entertaining brand identity.

Marketers of a certain vintage may have the upper hand here. If you're thinking, "This sounds like the early days of Twitter", you're not wrong.

2. DON'T assume it's X mark 2

Bluesky has many similarities with X – but it's not a carbon copy. Decentralisation aside, it lacks certain features that X users have enjoyed for years.

For instance, you can't post image carousels. You can add up to four images with each post, but users can't swipe between these images like they can on X or Instagram.

Bluesky also lacks polls and stories. So, if you rely on these types of posts to power your social media marketing efforts, you'll need to take a different tack with Bluesky.

Content moderation works differently on Bluesky, too. As a decentralised platform, it relies heavily on community moderation rather than paid moderators and robots. While this means your reach won't suffer at the hands of an algorithm, it does mean that a more nuanced approach to brand safety is required.

3. DON'T sleep on new features

Bluesky is already distinguishing itself from X by launching several unique features.

One such feature is custom domains. This is Bluesky's version of Twitter's blue ticks (before they became available to all as a paid feature). They exist to establish legitimacy and protect your brand name – and are arguably more robust than the blue ticks of old.

To create a custom domain, you must link your Bluesky account to your website's domain name. It involves a few extra steps but is well worth doing – and doing early.

Another Bluesky-only feature is the custom feed. You can think of this as a build-your-own algorithm generator.

See, Bluesky is different from X and other platforms in that it doesn't rely on an algorithm. There's no mysterious supercomputer deciding what you see and when. Instead, users see posts from people they follow in their timeline – and these posts appear in chronological order.

But with custom feeds, users (and brands) can craft curated algorithmic timelines. And, even better, other users can follow these feeds.

This is a great way to establish your brand as a trusted curator and expert voice. You could, for instance, create a custom feed that's tailored to local customers. Or a feed that brings together the smartest minds in a niche industry sector.

So, is marketing on Bluesky worth it?

Yes, absolutely.

Marketing on Bluesky means forgetting old habits and forging new ones. But on the upside, this is a fresh user base with a glass-half-full philosophy. They're sick of constant ads, sure – but they're ready and willing to engage with brands that speak to them on their own terms.

And we can help you do the talking. As a small but plucky social media management firm , we can provide the attentive and inventive approach you need to thrive on a new platform like Bluesky.

Ready to break new ground? Get in touch with My Digital Hero today for a free consultation.

Why we don't (and won't) use AI for copywriting

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:29:17 GMT

Some marketing agencies will use AI for copywriting – but not My Digital Hero. Find out why in our article.

AI! AI! AI! It's the acronym on everyone's lips. With ChatGPT able to turn out reams of human-sounding content with minimal prompting, why wouldn't you use it for your marketing?

Well, here at My Digital Hero, we take a different approach. We believe that AI is good for some things – but copy isn't one of them.

For our money, the things you want your copy to do for you are far better achieved by skilled copywriters than by a machine, no matter how superficially dazzling it is.

In this article, we give four good reasons why we don't use AI for copywriting – and what we can do that ChatGPT can't.

But, look. We know that people wouldn't be considering AI for copywriting at all if they weren't strapped for time. So if you want the two-sentence summary, here it is:

AI isn't a silver bullet. It's too much effort for too much risk.

Why? To answer that you need to think long and hard about what you and the customer want from copy.

1. You need a poet, not a mimic

AI's ability to sound like a human is impressive, if not a little eerie. But is "sounding like a human" enough? You might as well get a parrot to take your calls.

Good copy isn't just informative and it doesn't just sound like a human. It's witty, sparkling and engaging. Its purpose, after all, is to keep visitors on your site or reading your marketing email. If the content is mechanical, people will switch off.

The bottom line is that there's no substitute for human ingenuity. AI is incredible at some things and less good at others. Want to be thrashed at chess? AI's the answer. Want copy that will keep customers on-side? You need a human with imagination and technical skill.

2. You need precision, not plausibility

This second point is related to the first. AI is trained to sound plausible – that's not the same thing as being correct. In fact, there's a word for what AI does: sophistry.

Sophistry is the use of clever but false arguments to win people over. AI can talk the talk, but when you scratch the surface, you find that it's riddled with errors.

Some companies don't care enough to check – but we do. If we got AI to write our copy, we'd be all over it with a fine-tooth comb. By the time we'd made sure everything was above board, we may as well have written it ourselves.

Your company needs copy that's informative as well as entertaining. That means being sure that it's precise, not plausible – and for that, no text generator can replace a skilled copywriter.

3. You need good SEO, not bad

Let's be real: AI is bad for SEO.

That's because Google favours quality when choosing what to push up or down its search rankings. If you turn on your AI machine and get it to churn out an article, it's going to be relegated to the back bench.

We could, of course, use AI to generate text and then turn it into sparkling prose. But it's not a good use of our time – and our time is your money. It's better simply to put a skilful writer in charge of the task. That way, you get content that's good for humans and good for Google.

You also get better SEO all around. AI just isn't that good at it. You're usually left with copy that needs to be retrofitted with keywords – and when you do that, the reader can hear the creaks.

Compare that to a trained SEO copywriter's ability to weave in keywords smoothly and naturally. It's easy to see which is better for you and your website.

4. You need your customers to trust you

Using AI for copy is a way of fooling the reader. But people are getting wise to it and more and more customers can smell it a mile off. Soon, that mile will be an inch or two.

What AI copy says to the customer is that you don't care. It says that you'll cut corners to look and sound like the real thing – but ultimately, you're just trying to get in their wallets.

This is a bad look and it doesn't bode well for the customer. Whether consciously or subconsciously, they're likely to be wondering: what other corners is this company cutting? Can I trust it to deliver on its promises?

Working with us, you get creative, sparkling copy that shows the customer you care. Don't think you can fool them – people will spot your AI-generated copy and click away.

That's why we don't use AI now – but why won't we in the future?

Look, we don't know exactly how AI is going to develop. Perhaps one day it will reach such heights that it will be able to do all of the above. But until it does, we won't touch it with a bargepole.

You wouldn't get a robot receptionist that sounded almost human but lacked a nuanced understanding of human interaction. So why would you go for the copywriting equivalent?

TL;DR

Good copy serves multiple functions. It informs. It entertains. It optimises your search engine rankings. At the time of writing, none of these things can be done reliably well by AI.

Where copy is concerned, you need skilled writers with a turn of phrase that the customer will love. You need content that's accurate – not just accurate-sounding-but-vague-on-the-details. You need SEO with a human touch that will boost your brand visibility.

And guess what – we can give you all those things. Work with us and you'll see why good old-fashioned copywriting still has the edge over its text-generated competitors.

At My Digital Hero, website content writing for SEO is one of our superpowers. Get in touch today to find out more.

AI lead generation can rescue your sales pipeline and social life

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:24:19 GMT

What's the point of AI lead generation? What does it do and how does it work? Learn the ropes in our guide.

You can't walk more than five feet these days without stubbing your toe on some form of artificial intelligence (AI).

There's AI copywriting. AI image generation. AIs that can write songs and AIs that can sing them to you. There are AIs for learning, mindfulness and friendship. Before long, there'll be an AI for everything.

But we're standing at the threshold of a technological revolution – and, as such, results can be spotty.

AI-generated copy tends to be flat, perfunctory and riddled with errors. AI-generated images can be decent if you know what you're doing – but if you don't, you can expect hands to grow new digits and faces to take on a Teflon sheen. And those friendbots? They're beset by bad PR, thanks in no small part to their dodgy responses and questionable privacy policies .

At the end of the day, AIs are computers – and computers are still best at what computers do best. This means automation: completing mundane or complex tasks at hyper-human speed.

But this isn't like the old days when writing a program to calculate your taxes meant getting very correct taxes and nothing else. AI is a secret ingredient in the automation stew – it allows the computer's brain to veer, ever so slightly, from its coded course and start making good decisions on its own.

And so the stew turns into a five-star bouillabaisse. It's still fast and it's still precise – but now it's intelligent enough to adjust its approach when circumstances demand it.

It's not so good for taxes. But for tasks like lead generation, which demand hours of time before you see even a glimmer of reward, it's like hot bouillabaisse on a cold day.

What's the point of AI lead generation?

If you're part of a sales team, you'll know the score.

Lead generation is a slow and painful task. It involves sending hundreds of emails or making dozens of cold calls and praying that one or two of your targets bite. Most of the time, you'll be shrugged off or ignored.

And that's just step one . Now you've got a lead on the hook – but reeling them in is harder than snaring a great white shark.

You've got to take things slowly. This means steady, gentle persuasion. Hit them over the head with a hard sell and they're likely to swim over to the closest competitor.

This latter phase – the reeling and nurturing – is where great salespeople can shine. It takes charm, creativity and good listening skills to turn a warm lead into a hot sale – and when it works, it feels like Christmas wrapped in 20 birthdays. All your hard work has paid off.

The first phase – the emails and cold phone calls – is decidedly less rewarding. After your 25th email of the day, you feel like you're trying to churn butter out of pond water. It's endless. It's thankless. And when you pop to the pub after work, you realise it's turned you into a terrible bore.

Ideally, you could just make up random email addresses, stick them in a mailing list and hit "send". But you know this would do more harm than good. A lead-generation campaign without targeting is like a bow without arrows. Sure, you'll hear the twang – but good luck hitting anything.

Enter AI lead generation. It's a powerful new kind of marketing tool that's clever enough to handle phase one for you. Like any good computer, it can do things fast – but it can also target the kinds of consumers who are most likely to be interested in your product or service.

The benefits of this can't be overstated. AI lead generation effectively lets you skip to the good part – where your sales skills matter and your time is best spent. It means less churn, more high-quality leads and a happier social life. Bottoms up!

How does it work?

We can't speak for every AI lead-generation tool under the Sun. But ours is powered by a potent mix of AI smarts, human ingenuity and automation.

Each shines at a different step in the process. Let's take a look at these in detail.

Step one: AI-powered targeting

Choosing the right targets is essential in any lead-generation campaign. But how do you separate the nurturable wheat from the disinterested chaff?

Our solution uses two magic tricks to get the job done.

The first is AI mailing list generation. You tell the tool what to look for – a job title, industry or level of seniority, perhaps – and it goes trawling the web to find people who match this criteria. And that's it. Your prospecting is done. Go and make yourself a cup of tea.

The second is website visitor targeting. Our tool can tell when a person visits your site, and – thanks to some smart data crunching – it can match them to a name, job title and email address. Bingo – instant marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) for your sales funnel.

Step two: automated emails

Now you've got your list of prospects, you need to start warming them up.

This is where human ingenuity comes in. Our team of experienced copywriters cook up attention-grabbing, conversion-primed emails that speak directly to the audience you identified in step one.

But you hardly have to lift a finger. Like 90% of the process, the emails are automated according to rules that you (or we) define.

A website visitor campaign, for instance, could start with a quick email thanking the person for visiting your website and asking if they need any extra support.

If they reply, bingo – you've got a hot lead. If not, the system sends them another gentle email a week or so later. And a week after that. And so on.

But direct replies are only part of the picture. Behind the scenes, your recipient's actions are being tracked and a lead score is being applied.

Lead scoring is a powerful way to identify warm MQLs and save time for your sales team. If a prospect takes a positive action – such as opening an email or clicking a link – their lead score increases. High-scoring prospects stand out as being prime sales opportunities.

This means you're not just twiddling your thumbs and waiting for prospects to reply. Lead scoring is like a crystal ball that lets you read minds and sniff out leads who would otherwise be lost to time.

Spotted a prospect with a high lead score? Go on – swoop in and make the first move.

Step three: good old-fashioned charm

Taken together, the tactics we've described can generate up to 1,000 MQLs. Every. Single. Month.

That's a lot of leads to schmooze. But bear in mind that these are real MQLS: people who have clearly demonstrated that they're interested in your offering. Our tool has done the hard work for you – and now you're left with happy fish in a sales-friendly barrel.

All that's left for you to do is drop them an email or pick up the phone. With a little old-fashioned charm, they'll be knocking at your digital door in no time.

The bottom line

Lead generation can feel like turning up late to the Gold Rush. It requires long hours of hard graft – and there's no guarantee you'll dig up anything worth keeping.

But AI lead generation turns this sorry situation on its head. It uses smart targeting and automation to speed through the prospecting phase and turn up high-quality leads who have shown real interest.

For managers, this means getting the most out of your team's talents. They can spend their days doing what they're good at – selling – and leave the mundane, time-hungry tasks to a very clever little robot.

Beep. Boop. Success.

Want to pump up your pipeline and improve the quality of your leads? My Digital Hero's lead-generation AI promises up to 1,000 MQLs every month. Get in touch with our marketing superheroes and start planning for a brighter, more profitable future.

Google does Google Ads wrong

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:20:57 GMT

Google is quick to offer PPC account optimisation advice – but is it worth following? Guess what we think…

Don't get us wrong. We love Google.

Google makes the world go round. It shows us how to get from A to B, sniffs out great shopping opportunities and teaches us how to make potato pave at three o'clock on a Wednesday morning.

Google is priceless. But it's not perfect – especially when it comes to its own pay-per-click (PPC) management tools.

That's right. Google is bad at Google Ads.

We don't mean the suite itself is buggy or bad or hard to use. It is – sometimes. But that's a story for another day.

No. We mean Google gives bad advice to its PPC customers.

At best, this advice can lead to poor performance. At worst, it can cause serious budgetary headaches for the businesses that follow it.

Here's why.

1. Google recommends broad match keywords

When you set up a Google Ads campaign, you can select from a wide range of keyword-matching options.

These affect when your ads appear for customer searches. Effectively, Google asks, "How strict should I be when serving ads for this keyword?" In response, you can answer, "broad match", "phrase match" or "exact match".

Without getting into the nitty gritty, exact match is the most restrictive and broad match is, well, the broadest.

Say you sell sausages. You've got your eye on the keyword "free range sausages" – but which matching option should you choose?

If you choose exact match, your ad will only appear when a customer searches for "free range sausages" or very closely related terms like "free range sausage" and "sausages free range".

Broad match, on the other hand, is a free-for-all. Your ad could appear for searches like "meat free sausages", "sausage dogs" and "how do I remove a sausage from my ear".

Google is quick to recommend broad match because, in its own words , it "helps you reach a wider audience without requiring you to build an extensive keyword list".

But from your point of view, broad match could mean casting a wide net and catching nothing but flotsam. After all, there's not much use in trying to sell pork sausages to vegetarians.

To make matters worse, you're paying through the nose for the privilege. Broad match means your ad gets served more often. This means more clicks to pay for – and less targeted (and thus less valuable) clicks at that.

So, Google recommends the option that helps Google get paid. Coincidence? Hmm…

2. Google's automation is awful

Google really, really wants you to use its automation tools.

On paper, it's hard to fault the company for it. Automation means saving time and unlocking efficiencies. Isn't that a good thing for users?

Sure. But you shouldn't trust a bot that makes bad decisions.

Some of Google's automation tools can be quite dangerous if you give them free rein over your account. Automatic keyword generation, for instance, can have similar effects to broad match if left unchecked.

(And somewhere in California, Google's wallet just got fatter.)

Of course, this can all be avoided if you manually sign off everything the robots try to do. But doesn't that kind of defeat the point of automation?

3. Google's optimisation score is about as useful as an igloo in Istanbul

Your optimisation score is not to be confused with your Quality Score.

For one, Quality Score is useful. It tells you how your ads compare to other advertisers and gives you actionable feedback to help you save cash and win clicks.

Optimisation score, meanwhile, is meant to act as a holistic overview of your account's expected performance. Your account is assigned a percentage, with 100% meaning "You're doing great – no complaints".

Google provides recommendations to help you improve your optimisation score. Some of these, like adding relevant keywords, constitute sound advice.

But most of the time, your optimisation score only goes up when you do things Google wants you to do. Things like adding more budget. Things that, frankly, make Google more money.

With optimisation score, Google has effectively gamified Google Ads. You see a number. You want to do things to make that number go up. It's human nature.

Unfortunately, it's also bad for your bank balance.

Why does Google give bad advice?

Let us stress, again, that we don't have a problem with Google. Google is great. We love Google. Wrap us up in Google and post us to Google in a big envelope marked "Google". Please.

But faced with the evidence, we can draw only one conclusion: Google gives bad Google Ads advice because it wants you to part with your hard-earned cash.

Google wants you to add more budget and broaden your reach. It wants you to accept its automations and target as many keywords as there are definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Google wants you to take its advice in good faith. But, frankly, it's not offering this advice in good faith. It wants your money – pure and simple.

You can see this in the way Google appoints ad managers to help with your account.

It seems like a nice gesture. An expert from Google reaches out and promises to help you optimise your account and drive ROI. How thoughtful.

The problem is that these experts offer the same bad advice that Google peddles online. Increase your ad budget. Choose broad-match keywords. Switch on every automation option, cover your ears and go "La, la, la, la, la".

To make matters worse, these experts aren't even Google employees. They're employed by third parties and they get paid on commission. If they can convince you to increase ad spend, they get a bonus. Simple.

If you ever needed evidence as to where Google's priorities lie, this is it.

How should you manage Google Ads?

Google's recommendations focus on breadth of reach and scale of spend. It's big on promises and short on details.

Here at My Digital Hero, we take the opposite approach. We are extremely detail-focused because we believe this is the best way to get the biggest bang for every buck.

This means ditching broad match, for a start. We want complete control over every keyword and every penny spent. Automations are all about relinquishing control, so they can get stuffed too.

In fact, our approach is so detail-orientated that some might consider it a little old-fashioned.

We use a management method called SKAG, which stands for "single keyword ad groups".

Long story short, this method gives us granular control over every aspect of the account and allows us to achieve a great Quality Score for each ad. By keeping everything on a short leash, we can stay on top of budgets and easily control overspending.

You can't say the same for Google's approach, where a rogue broad match keyword can quickly drain ad budget and leave you swimming up Search Creek without a paddle.

Is it old-fashioned? Maybe. But our clients have entrusted us with their budgets – and this isn't a responsibility we take lightly.

So, while our approach demands a little extra time and effort, it's worth it. It consistently delivers impressive results and means we can sleep soundly at night knowing we've done the best possible job for our clients.

Do you need an expert eye to help you get more from your Google Ads budget? Our paid search optimisation specialists are ready to swoop in and help. Get in touch to get the ball rolling.

MQLs vs SQLs: know your leads

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:13:49 GMT

MQLs and SQLs: what's the difference? Learn all about this important aspect of sales and marketing.

If you're new to marketing, there are probably times when you feel like you're drowning in acronym soup. KPIs, SEO, PPC, MQLs… Can't we all just talk in plain English?

Well, sometimes jargon is unhelpful or plain exclusionary – a way of signalling to others that you work in a specialised field. But at other times, jargon is there to encode important differences of meaning.

MQLs and SQLs are examples of the latter. These two terms help to distinguish two types of sales leads. By making that distinction, you're in a better position to optimise your marketing and sales.

Leads are there for a reason. They can help you turn curious browsers into loyal, engaged customers. But you can't do that effectively if you lump all of them into one big mental bucket marked "sales".

In this article, we take a look at the difference between MQLS and SQLs. We also consider where each type of lead fits into the sales funnel and how you can turn an MQL into an SQL.

What's the difference?

MQL stands for "marketing-qualified lead". It refers to a person who's interested in your products or services. An SQL, by contrast, is a sales-qualified lead. This person is interested and intends to buy.

To close a sale, you need those MQLs to turn into SQLs. But it's not always easy. If someone clicks on your Google ad or opens one of your emails, are they going to buy?

The answer is that you just don't know. Can you look at someone in the veg aisle at the supermarket and decide at a glance whether they're going to buy that radish or put it back on the shelf? No – and the same applies to leads in the digital space.

In practice, this means you need to communicate with MQLs and SQLs in different ways, with tailored outreach, ads and brand messaging.

What's an MQL?

An MQL is an individual or company that has engaged with your marketing. They've not yet put anything in their cart but they've interacted in some way.

Perhaps they've visited your website, downloaded a PDF or clicked on an ad. None of this signals purchasing intent but it does show interest – interest that, with the right amount of persuasion, can turn into a sale.

What's an SQL?

An SQL has been back for a second, third or fourth look. Perhaps they've downloaded case studies or pricing charts. It's clear that they're in the market for your service or product.

It's important to note that an SQL is still a lead, not a customer. They might never buy your product or service but instead move on to a competitor. This is why you need to target them effectively to maximise your chances of getting their custom.

Why is the difference important?

Let's take a real-world, offline example. Let's say you're in a coffee shop and a flyer catches your eye. Picking up and pocketing that flyer means you're interested but not committed. Scanning the QR code on the flyer or signing up to the mailing list suggests that you're committed (or just very, very bored).

The distinction is important because those two types of behaviour need to be nurtured in different ways. The casual flyer-pocketer needs to be convinced by the flyer to scan the QR code. The person who scans the QR code needs to be convinced to buy the product.

The same applies to marketing. Your MQL who clicks on your ad or visits your website needs to be coaxed, impressed and persuaded – but they don't need to be bombarded with the small print.

But your SQL who has engaged multiple times and shown purchasing intent needs that detail. Without it, they could throw their hands up and click away from your site.

Losing a customer isn't the end of the world. It's the nature of the online marketplace. Still, you should be doing everything you can to turn MQLs into SQLs and SQLs into sales. You can only do this with marketing that's tailored to each stage of the customer journey.

What is lead behaviour?

Lead behaviour covers all the ways a prospective customer engages with your brand.

A marketing agency will pull out behaviour analytics for you: things like the pages the lead has visited, the amount of time they've spent there and the forms they've filled out. You can then use this information to decide whether this MQL can be turned into an SQL.

What is lead scoring?

If you have just a handful of leads, it's possible to nurture each one individually. But if you have a lot to sift through, you can use something called "lead scoring" to rank them by their readiness to buy.

Typically, lead scoring will combine demographic and company information with email and social engagement levels. Once your lead hits a certain number of points, they're ready to get the hard sell.

Software exists to automate lead scoring. If it's something you're not sure about, it can be wise to outsource it to a marketing agency that knows its stuff.

How do you turn an MQL into an SQL?

Turning an MQL into an SQL is a fine art with one key ingredient: timing.

Try to sell too soon and you might put off a casual browser. But leave it too late and you lose a customer.

It isn't rocket science – but it does require a level of expertise that not every start-up or small business has. This is a key reason why it can be advisable to get a third-party marketing agency onboard to turn window shoppers into buyers.

Final thoughts

Knowing the difference between MQLs and SQLs is an important step in learning how to boost your sales. But turning the one into the other requires patience and skill.

While you can get results with DIY sales, many small businesses find that outsourcing it to the experts is best. It means you can maximise your chances of success while focusing on the things that only you can do.

Is your sales pipeline dryer than the Serengeti? My Digital Hero's AI lead generation engine uses cutting-edge automation to generate up to 1,000 MQLs per month. Book a free, no-obligation meeting and get that pipeline pumping again.

Video marketing: 5 vital statistics to show your boss

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:09:18 GMT

Need some stats to convince your boss that video marketing will benefit your brand? Load up on these.

Video marketing can take different forms. It could be animated, CGI, live-action or a blend of all three. It could be a straight-ahead advert or an explainer video that breaks down a key concept.

Whatever form they take, videos can be a powerful tool in your marketing armoury. Why? There are two main reasons.

The first is that we're indisputably living in the Age of Video. With smartphone, laptop and tablet usage at an all-time high, people are watching more video content than ever before.

Second, marketing is all about telling stories – and video is the perfect medium for spinning an engaging yarn. This is true whether you're using live-action, animation or CGI.

Take a live-action advert. It's not just in social life that people like putting a face to a name. Getting you and your teams' faces out there can personalise your brand in a way that cold hard text can't.

Or think about animations. Marketing is all about offering solutions. One of the best ways to market a solution is to break down a difficult concept and explain how your product or service can help. And it's no exaggeration to say that video is far, far better than text or pictures when it comes to explaining tricky concepts.

Nevertheless, not everyone wants to embrace video marketing. Some think that the production costs are too high – that there won't be enough of an ROI to make it worthwhile.

To this, we say "Balderdash!" and "No sirree!" At My Digital Hero, we offer engaging, beautiful videos that don't cost the earth.

But if your boss still needs convincing of the power of video marketing, here are some vital statistics to support your case.

1. More than three billion people watch videos on the internet

"A lot of people watch videos online" is ready to join statements like "water is wet" in the Guinness Book of the Bleeding Obvious. Still, think about it: more than three billion people consume video content. That's almost half the population of the Earth.

This statistic speaks for itself. Video marketing isn't some kind of nerdy niche. It's one of the quickest, easiest and most effective ways to share your brand story with as many people as possible.

2. 88% of business owners say that video marketing offers a positive ROI

( Source )

In business, lots of good ideas are buried in a grave marked "Where's the ROI?" And with good reason – if you're going to spend money, you need to know it will turn a profit.

Well, you'll be pleased to know that 88% of business owners have reported that video marketing offers a positive ROI. And while we can't be sure, we strongly suspect that the 22% who answered differently had bad video marketing to blame.

So if your pitch for a video marketing campaign gets batted away on the grounds of ROI, this is a powerful statistic to share.

3. 95% of people have watched an explainer video for a product or service

( Source )

Sometimes, you need to explain a product, service or concept before you can sell it. Animated explainer videos are one of the best ways to do it.

At My Digital Hero, we're passionate about words – but we know that when it comes to complicated concepts, video is king.

This is because it can get the point across so succinctly and memorably. And with so many people online absorbing so much video content, it's a way of getting your brand identity under the noses of potential customers.

4. 93% of brands get new customers through video marketing on social media

( Source )

This one speaks for itself. Video marketing on social media gets customers through the door – whether that's the door to your premises or your web store.

With this in mind, you'd have thought every boss would be gagging for some snappy, engaging social media videos. But there's one obstacle in the way.

From one point of view, social media is easy. Simply log on, post and comment. From another, it's an absolute nightmare .

An effective social media strategy involves multiple channels, each with its own way of working. If you're already pushed for time, learning the differences between, say, the right aspect ratios for TikTok, Facebook and the rest can be far from welcome.

That's where we come in. As well as helping you produce video content for social media, we can manage posting too. With a well-planned content calendar and engagement analytics taken care of, you'll be watching your customer base grow in no time.

5. 70% of people bought a brand after seeing it advertised on YouTube

( Source )

Along with doubts about ROI, doubts about conversion rates are a major obstacle to video marketing. "Yes," your boss might say, "this is all very well and good – but will it get bums on seats, products in carts, or people through the door?"

The answer is a resounding "yes". According to Google, nearly three-quarters of people have bought a brand after seeing it advertised on YouTube.

YouTube is a great place to advertise because it targets users based on their search histories and interests. That means you're not trying to give a vegetarian a flyer for rump steak (metaphorically speaking). Instead, you can get your advert to the people who are most likely to engage.

So what are you waiting for? Give your brand a leg-up by advertising on YouTube.

Final thoughts

Video marketing can help you reach new customers, flesh out your brand identity and tell the story you want to tell. This is true whether you're doing a traditional live-action ad, an animated explainer video or an elaborate CGI production.

At My Digital Hero, we believe in the power of video – and our services reflect this belief. So, if you're looking for engaging, beautiful video production and animation , don't hesitate to get in touch with My Digital Hero. We'd love to help turn your vision into a reality.

What does "good SEO" look like in 2025?

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:02:38 GMT

Forget the boring essays and fun-sponge webinars. Here's a simple test you can use to tell whether your SEO is "good SEO". Thank us later.

The short answer: good SEO is people-focused SEO.

It's that simple. Good SEO benefits your customers, who are humans. Bad SEO only tries to please algorithms, which aren't human – despite what some ex-Google employees might think .

Why, then, does the debate rage on? Why are there so many people arguing about what makes SEO good ?

These arguments, we should add, are often contradictory – and are debated with the passion of a thousand fiery software engineers.

And this is despite the fact that Google has outright told us what good SEO looks like.

Back in August 2022, Google announced its Helpful Content Update. This follows on from similar spam-fighting updates like Panda and Penguin .

The Helpful Content Update tweaked Google's search algorithm to – and we quote – "better reward content where visitors feel they've had a satisfying experience. […] Content that doesn't meet a visitor's expectations won't perform as well."

Google wants eyeballs on the good stuff. The content that does its research, checks its facts and tells a good story. Google has a name for it, too: "people-first content".

So why the debate? The reason, we think, is that Google's words are open to interpretation.

On one side, you have the wait-and-see brigade. They stick to old techniques because they've worked in the past and – to some extent – still do.

These old hands interpret Google's words to mean, "as long as it's not harming anyone, it's OK". Sure, they might have crowbarred that keyword into their copy a few too many times, but it's hardly going to ruin anyone's day, is it?

On the other side? The bridge burners. They see Google's statement as the death knell for SEO. "Don't even think about SEO," they wail, clanging a funereal gong, "just create stuff ".

As you might have guessed, our interpretation sits somewhere in the middle. We don't think SEO is dead – after all, Google has talked openly about its own SEO strategy . But, at the same time, we're totally on board with the people-first approach.

The two concepts are not mutually exclusive. Good SEO puts people first but is still SEO . It takes people out for a romantic, candlelight dinner, yet takes the time to step outside and give Google a quick phone call. You know, just to check in.

"But," you might be thinking, "I remember what you said 400-ish words ago. You said that good SEO sets out to please humans, not algorithms. How can you please humans while still tipping your hat to Google? Isn't that contradictory?"

No. And it all comes down to a simple question.

How to tell if SEO is good SEO

Say you're doing some SEO . Maybe you're working on some copy or tweaking the internal link structure of your website.

It's fine to do this with Google's almighty algorithm in mind. But you should always ask yourself, "is this also going to improve things for my website visitors?"

That's the test. Good SEO makes people and Google happy. Bad SEO tries to score goals in the Google game by rough-tackling its own user base.

This question – "does it benefit both? – is at the heart of our SEO philosophy. We ask ourselves the question, consciously or not, dozens of times every day.

And it works. Our clients see impressive search gains and their users enjoy swift, easy-to-use websites packed with well-researched content. (Yes, we're tooting our own horn. Sorry-not-sorry.)

Now you know the magic question, let's put it to the test with some common SEO scenarios.

Scenario one: creating thin location pages

You sell humane spider traps. (OK, you probably don't. Just play along.)

You sell humane spider traps and you have a burgeoning empire of humane-spider-trap shops in various locations across the UK.

Your keyword research tells you there's local interest in your products. You've seen healthy search volume for queries like "humane spider traps leeds" and "buy humane spider trap glasgow".

Naturally, you want these potential customers to know you exist. So you start creating content that targets these geographic queries. Soon, Glasgow's spiders will be hailing you as their personal saviour.

But is this good SEO? Does it benefit users and search engines?

The answer is probably "no". You've created these pages with Google in mind. They won't provide much value for users in Leeds or Glasgow or anywhere else.

And, inevitably, you'll have to mine the same quarry of information to create content for each location. This means the content will be thin, repetitive and only tangentially related to the location it targets.

The verdict? Bad SEO.

Scenario two: switching to a faster website host

Users have complained that Spider-B-Free.com is too slow. You decide to switch to a different hosting provider to help grease the wheels.

Does this benefit users and search engines? No brainer – yes it does.

Users love snappy websites – or, rather, they hate slow websites. Research has shown that 57% of mobile website visits are abandoned if the site takes longer than three seconds to load.

And Google adores fast websites too. It's well known that site speed is a ranking factor – in other words, faster sites tend to perform better in Google search results.

The verdict: good SEO.

Scenario three: writing blogs based on "FAQ keywords"

Things are looking up. You've ditched the spammy location pages, supercharged your site and are about to launch a brand-new blog. Exciting!

But what should you write about? Again, you turn to keyword research for the answer.

You notice people are asking questions related to your products. They're searching for things like "how do humane spider traps work?" and "what's the best humane trap for false widow spiders?"

These seem like good places to start. But you're hesitant. If you target these keywords, aren't you putting Google before your customers?

That depends.

If you wrote some thin, keyword-stuffed blog posts that used lots of words to say very little, then… yes. That would be putting Google first. It wouldn't add much value for users of your website.

But you don't do that. You're the UK's preeminent spider-catching expert. You know your stuff, so you write engaging articles that are full of unique insights and time-honoured tips. Customers love them – and Google takes note of their quality too.

The verdict: good SEO – if you write targeted content that adds value for users.

Now you know our secret, let's put it into action. At My Digital Hero, we've helped businesses of all stripes get great results with people-focused SEO. Learn more about our heroic white-hat SEO services or get in touch and we'll swoop in to help.

The secret to good web design

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 14:59:44 GMT

What's the secret to good web design? Learn our secret formula – a dab of design wizardry, a sprinkle of research and plenty of user-focused content.

At My Digital Hero, we pride ourselves on knowing a thing or two about good web design . But we're not ones to hog our expertise – we'd rather share the secret with whoever is interested.

When we talk about "good website design", we mean any website for any kind of enterprise. The principles are the same, whether you're selling shoes or superyachts.

We want websites that are responsive, beautiful, organic, bespoke and easy to manage. But how do you turn these buzzwords into reality?

Well, there are three things that we think are simply indispensable.

1. Research

A good website is built on research. Research into what? Well, primarily into what you want to achieve.

Your website is your shop window, sure. But it's also a place where a curious browser can become a customer at the click of a button. It's a crucial arrow in your digital quiver.

That means your website needs to be responsive to what people are looking for. It needs to be findable. It needs to engage with your customers' needs, wants and pain points – and demonstrate that your brand will answer them all.

A vital way of achieving this is to research keywords that your customers are searching for. This isn't because keywords are some magical incantation that summons customers to your website – it's because keyword research and customer research are two sides of the same coin.

A website built on keyword research pleases Google – but it pleases customers too because it helps them to answer their questions about the service or product you're providing.

By researching and deploying those crucial keywords, you're responding to your customers' needs by explaining how your business can meet them.

So before you start building your website, you need to have a firm grasp on what your kind of customer is looking for. Once you're armed with this knowledge, you can pack your site to the gunwales with appealing, keyword-rich content.

2. Content

Scepticism about SEO content is entirely understandable. After all, it takes time, money and a way with words. You'd be forgiven for thinking it's so much fluff clogging up your online presence.

In fact, bespoke content rooted in research is a surefire way to get people to your site.

Some browsers who end up on your site will have done so as a result of your expert marketing – those Google Ads, marketing emails and social media posts that you've sweated over.

But if you have content related to your customers' needs, wants and pain points then you can let them in through the back door.

Cards on the table: you might be reading this blog post precisely because of this phenomenon. And we'd be lying if we said we didn't want you to take a look around when you've finished reading.

In the digital realm, keywords are king. By creating content that features keywords searched for by your customers, you can ensure a steady stream of visitors to your site.

But wait – isn't this just a deceptive way of increasing website traffic?

Well yes – if the content you're providing has no value. But if it genuinely responds to the needs of customers and answers their questions, you'd be missing out if you didn't take up the opportunity.

What's more, you can't fob off search engines with empty articles hamfistedly stuffed with keywords. First and foremost, good content is copy that people want to read.

It's also content that's rooted in keywords. Writing content before doing your keyword research is a case of putting the cart before the horse. If you can't answer the question "what do my customers want?" then they're unlikely to linger on your website. And answering that question is closely related to knowing which keywords they're searching for.

So when you come to create your website, you need content that's relevant to your customers' needs and delicately peppered with SEO-friendly keywords. Only that way will the new traffic to your site lead to those much-sought-after conversions.

Finally, you need copy that presents your brand in the best possible light – professional, knowledgeable, helpful and approachable. And it needs to be written in a tone that's right for you.

As with that all-important keyword research, content needs to please humans as well as search engines.

3. A build that's fit for humans!

If you spend a lot of your working day online, you'll doubtless have strong opinions on what makes a good website. And we guarantee that one word will be common to them all – user-friendliness.

Yes, it seems obvious, but we still see so many websites that aren't fit for human use. Slow, bloated, hard to navigate… sometimes websites can seem like an afterthought, when they're really an essential part of a brand's identity.

If a customer comes to your website looking for a specific product or piece of information, they want it fast. You're not only in competition with other businesses – you're in competition with their websites.

As well as user-friendliness, your website needs to be powered by content – and it's this research-driven content that in turn drives your website design. Build your website around content and your message will come across that bit clearer – improving not only search engine rankings but the whole customer journey.

So once you've equipped yourself with research-rich content, you need a website that looks great and is easy to use.

Not only that, you need a website that uses cutting-edge design and is regularly maintained.

So don't drive away users with a subpar website. Give them something up-to-date, beautiful to look at and easy to use. That way, you'll see those visitors turn into customers.

So there you have it. The secret is this – good website design pleases humans as much as it pleases Google. You can't have the one without the other – but if you have both, your conversion rate will increase and your business will thrive.

My Digital Hero is a small-but-plucky team of digital do-gooders. If you're looking for a website that's bespoke, beautiful and easy to manage, let's talk .

How to write heroic SEO copy [a beginner's guide]

simon@mydigitalhero.co.uk (Simon Edward) — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 14:54:52 GMT

This post was written by an old man who's probably been writing SEO copy for longer than you've been off baby formula. Take his advice.

How's this for a curveball?

We're going to start this copywriting guide by breaking one of copywriting's cardinal sins.

Bad grammar? Nah. Loquacious sentences? Nope. Using words like "loquacious"? Well, yes – but that's not the point.

The point is this: we're not going to deliver on the promise of our title.

Woah, Nelly. Don't click away just yet. We are going to share some quick tips that will improve your writing. That's a promise.

But to write truly heroic SEO copy? That takes graft. Practice. Thousands of hours spent sweating over the warm glow of a laptop screen.

This one's for the newbies. The copywriting beginners. The reluctant wordsmiths who've been tasked with writing a new website but have no idea where to start.

We can't turn you into a heroic writer overnight – but remember these tips and you'll have a huge head start on the competition. Fact.

1. Treat keyword research as customer research

Rose-tinted tangent time: we're old enough to remember the early days of SEO.

It was so easy back then. You found some juicy, high-volume keywords, peppered them liberally into your copy like an unruly chef, then waited for the rankings to roll in.

Not so nowadays. Stuffing your copy with exact-match keywords is a surefire way to let Google know you're trying to cheat its system. And Google hates a cheat.

So what does Google want? Google wants you to write for customers, not search engines. To wit:

"Google's automated ranking systems are designed to present helpful, reliable information that's primarily created to benefit people, not to gain search engine rankings, in the top Search results."

That's from Google's own SEO fundamentals guide . So… case closed, right?

Well, yes and no. Google definitely likes "people-first content" (its words), but some have taken this to mean "Google hates SEO".

Thus you'll see advice like, "just write copy – don't worry about keywords or rankings. I dunno. Pretend you're Truman Capote bobbing in a lido or something."

This advice is wrong and bad. Google doesn't hate SEO. In fact, Google writes blog posts talking about its own SEO strategy . If it hated SEO, that would be like a vegetarian restaurateur writing a book about sausages.

Our advice: write for humans and search engines. Or, to put it another way, "put people first, and the search engines will follow".

This means treating keyword research like customer research. Because, well… it is.

Keyword research tells you the kinds of products and services your customers want. It shows you the language they use. It lets you know what questions they're asking and which problems they face.

Your job, as a copywriter, is to deliver on this research. You're there to sell the products, address the problems, answer the questions and speak to your customers in their own language.

Write this way and you won't have to worry about catering to Google. Your keywords will work their way into the copy naturally. And, more importantly, they'll feel natural – not wodged in at the last minute by a spreadsheet-toting SEO executive.

Go on, try it.

2. Ditch the narrative

"Storytelling" is a bit of an industry buzzword. And, yes, used in the right places – blogs, case studies, cornerstone articles – it can be a powerful tool for selling stuff and building brands.

But when you're writing snappy, sales-y web copy? Honestly, the story can get stuffed.

Dumbing down, much? Yes, the great copywriters of yore are probably spinning in their graves right now. But it's a fact – the internet killed long-form sales copy.

And it comes down to psychology. For whatever reason, we don't read websites like newspapers or magazines. We skim around like bluebottles looking for the right piece of information to land on.

Hard truth: nobody is going to read your webpage from start to finish. So forget what you learned at school about beginnings, middles and ends. Your job is to present information clearly and make sure customers know where to look for it.

This means prioritising the stuff that's most important to your mission. It could be a key fact about a product. More likely it's an impressive benefit or a tagline that sells your brand's USP.

In any case, stick it at the top where most eyes will see it. As you continue with the copy, start covering some of the less-important stuff. Expand on points you've made previously. Repeat yourself if you have to – they might not have seen it the first time.

Once you've got the roadmap, it's time to erect the signposts. Headings and subheadings. These act like flashing neon banners that say, "stop scrolling – this is what you're looking for".

Clarity is king here. Got a sly pun planned for that subheading? If it clouds the meaning – at all – then lose it. It probably wasn't as funny as you thought anyway.

Sorry, that was harsh. But the point stands – smart copy is succinct, single-minded and clearly signposted. You won't score points with customers by showing off.

If you can think of a clever quip and communicate what the section is about… congratulations, you're a true copywriting hero.

3. Make every sentence count

We'll finish with a quick one.

You've probably heard 100 variations of this tip before. "Keep things short and snappy". "Don't waste words". That sort of thing.

Good advice. But we're not going to dig up the same old tropes. Instead, we'll share an exercise to test whether your copy delivers on this front.

It's dead simple. All you need is a few highlighter pens (or the highlighting tool in your word-processing app).

Come up with a colour scheme. It might look something like this:

Yellow: a sentence that tells readers to perform an action . "Sign up now and enjoy a 10% discount on sheep-shearing supplies".
Red: a sentence that addresses a pain point . "You don't have to be an expert to use our portable sheep-shearing machine – it does the hard work for you".
Blue: a sentence that sets out to convince . "We're the sheep-shearing experts, with more than 100 years of industry experience".
Green: a sentence that informs . "This model includes our patented Safe-T clippers".

Now start highlighting. Categorise each sentence – or parts of each sentence – based on your colour-coding plan.

By the end of the process, your page should look like a rainbow of words. If there are any gaps – any uncoloured sentences – then they're dead weight. You can safely lose them.

Need words, like… now? We've got a million more copywriting hacks like these – and we're ready to put them to work on your website. Check out our SEO copywriting services or get in touch for a free consultation.

Heroic Insights: the straight-talking digital marketing agency blog

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Why we don't (and won't) use AI for copywriting

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Some marketing agencies will use AI for copywriting – but not My Digital Hero. Find out why in our article.