Are you curious about digital marketing strategies or

would you like to learn how you could generate more leads from your website?

I'm joined by Fabio Zammit.

Dammit, a seasoned software engineer and entrepreneur.

Who's here to share actionable website tips to help you do exactly

that in this episode of architecture business club, the weekly podcast

for solo and small firm architecture practice owners, just like you.

Who want to build a profitable future proof architecture business

that fits around their life.

I'm John Clayton, your host.

If you're a small practice leader or so practitioner in architecture.

Uh, struggling to find clarity or reach your goals.

Consider working with me.

I offer personalized one-to-one support for coaching consulting and mentoring.

This tailored approach helps you navigate your unique path to success,

whether it's growing your practice, working for your hours or building

your team, I've got you covered.

Just click the link in the show notes, to book a call with me to discuss your

options or email Jon that's J O N at.

Architecture business club.com for more information.

Now let's discuss how you can generate more leads from your website.

Fabio Zammit is a seasoned software engineer with over two decades of

experience, including stints at industry giants like HSBC and AOL in London.

His journey led him to establish Root Codex, an agency designed to fill the

gaps he identified in the tech industry.

Root Codec specializes in seamlessly integrating top tier software

engineers into your existing tech teams, eliminating the challenges

of freelance management and hiring.

This approach ensures that businesses can scale up their

tech capabilities effortlessly.

Fabio, welcome to Architecture Business Club.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for having me.

Oh, it's a pleasure to have you here.

Fabio.

Tell me about your house building project.

I know that you've, um, you've been building your, your own

home over the last few years.

Can you tell me about how it's been going so far and, and what stage you're at?

Sure.

I think it's a, it's an enlightening experience because it really gets to

appreciate your side of the fence.

Uh, and yes, it's been two years, so obviously trying to

get a whole planning permission.

Uh, and for someone myself that's, you know, it's a new experience

unlike yourselves where you have so much experience with.

Uh, building different dwellings, uh, it's, it's been, it's been interesting.

Obviously sometimes has ups and downs.

But it's so great to see the whole creation come, come to life.

Um, and you get to learn the different technicalities and where you might not

understand in certain things beforehand.

Now you get to learn a bit more about the ins and outs.

So super interesting.

And, uh, to be honest with you, it's been one of my life dreams,

uh, to build a house, especially now that I have a family.

So, uh, yeah, it's, uh, it's coming to shape.

Um, and.

Hopefully, uh, within the next few months, it will be complete.

So, yeah, looking forward to that.

Oh, how exciting.

Fabio, has there been any, has there been any particular challenges along

the way, or have there been any sort of particular surprises that

was unexpected about the project?

The process of building a house.

It's an old house and, and the ins and outs of that and how to, Uh,

handles the different aspects of the stone and here in Malta, where I'm based, um,

there's a lot of historic and certain aspects dates to around 50 to 100 years.

So, it's, uh, it's quite, uh, it's quite a challenge, uh, and you

obviously want to preserve the whole historic aspect, but at the same time,

obviously, you want to make it a home.

So, finding a balance, I think, is one of the most challenging, especially.

Where I am based is just one of those modern builds, which has been 10 years

max, so completely different scenario.

Yeah, certainly a challenge working with older buildings.

I've worked on a few over the years myself and I'm connected with a lot

of other people in architecture that specialise in heritage buildings

and listed buildings in the UK.

And, um, yeah, it certainly does throw up a few extra challenges.

But it would be worth it, I'm sure.

And I bet you can't wait to get in there.

Hope so.

I hope it's worth it.

yeah, yeah, absolutely.

I'm sure it will.

So Fabio, we're going to talk about digital marketing today

so that architects can, they can generate more leads from that online

presence, specifically their website.

So that's the main thing that we're going to be talking about today.

how important is the design and layout of an architecture practice's website?

okay.

What's interesting is that even though I come from the software world, as in

we share something in common, which ultimately we're delivering a service to

the end customer and believe it or not, even though Even if you have an office,

um, you're still operating the same way how any retail shop works where you have

a shop and there's also the presence.

So someone walks in and obviously gets glances at the different products.

It's the same thing for us, where someone visits your website and someone starts

to get an idea of yourself, what type of services you offer, the quality.

And they start, and you have literally around five seconds to

convince someone about your offering.

So to answer your question, the user friendliness is very, very key.

And it's not only for your customers, but it's also for yourself.

Because we'll be chatting further in a podcast about Google, how Google gives a

lot of prominence to user friendliness.

So it's a win win for everyone, and the more friendly the site is,

The more, obviously, you have, um, chances for a user to actually engage

and keep on read, keep on reading.

Ultimately, by just putting a bunch of text and, and random images, people are

just going to get bored and, and leave.

Um, and just to, just to iterate, it takes five seconds to convince

someone to keep on, to keep on reading.

Exactly.

we really don't have much time to grab people's attention

and to keep them on our site.

Yeah, so that, that first impression that we make is really important.

As always, yes.

And also, nowadays, as you know well enough, with the attention span

being so short with all the different social media platforms, even more

we need to be on top of our game.

And plus, the world has become very competitive on all fronts, in my opinion.

Yeah, I agree with that for sure.

One of the things that, um, a lot of architects like to do is

they like to showcase their work.

Yeah.

And they're very proud of the design work.

I was wondering if there's any best practices for showcasing

case studies on, on their website.

Yes.

So, the good thing is, I've worked with clients which are in your industry

back in the day, so I really get to understand what people are after.

Exactly.

And again, from a best practice perspective, it's all about visual.

That's in visual reader cells.

So if you have any, um, even videos of the different 3D, um, art.

So if it's, if it's an interior design showcasing the treaty model, um, or even

obviously be a nice images, I really highly suggest that you use sort of you

publish them or obviously it needs to be done in a very, uh, optimized fashion.

Otherwise I'd get slow, but that is for, for another question maybe.

Um, but ultimately what you really want to go after is

very short, quick, catchy text.

You don't want three long, too long format.

Obviously, you need to explain what the project is about, but imagery

and video is what's going to push and push most, um, because people like

some, something very short, you know, nowadays it's all about YouTube shorts.

So anything that is nice, short and concise and really attractive imagery.

Um, so something I recommend is hiring a photographer, maybe.

To, uh, to go take a few shots of a build, um, or whether it's the

interior, whether it's the exterior, all of these are super important.

And showcasing all of this information is very, uh, it's very key.

Obviously location, um, ultimately you want to make it even more

relevant to the user, so it's, there's a lot of psychology to it.

Um, people think that building websites is all about the technical side of things,

but there's a lot of the marketing side.

where you have to think about the psychology.

How does the end user, what is the end user looking for?

So the end user ultimately is looking for what is relevant to them.

So obviously variety helps with a variety of projects.

If you're starting out, obviously you put whatever you have, but obviously

if you're an established business, try to put as many case studies as you can.

And to summarize, focus on video imagery and really concise and compelling text.

Great.

Okay.

So, so we can use a mixture of video images and concise and clear

text to support that content.

The other thing I want to pick up on that you mentioned about the word of,

um, you mentioned about relevancy,

Yes.

Very true.

So, so if we're trying to attract a certain type of customer,

we want to make sure that those case studies are the ones that we're

showcasing are relevant for that.

I remember talking to um, uh, a few years ago, talking to my own web developer.

And one of the things that she talked about was, um, having the website

future focused so that it was kind of like we were trying to attract those

future clients that we were looking for.

So if it was like a certain niche or a certain type of customer, whether

it was, um, somebody doing, uh, A home renovation or a commercial client.

Like if we put on, if we're trying to attract, uh, somebody building a

new home and our case studies were like commercial projects, we're going

to be attracting the wrong clients.

So I think that's quite important to reiterate that the relevancy as well of

Spot on.

Spot on.

Um, especially if you're trying to attract, for example, investors

in the whole commercial space.

Um, yes, it's important relevance because, um, that is something we tend

to, I've seen a lot over the years where people just put content for the

sake of content, but who's your user?

Who are you trying to engage with?

Who are you trying to attract?

And putting the relevant case studies helps a lot.

So, yes, Spot on, that is a perfect example.

Yeah.

So, so you mentioned there about thinking about the user and

that is the thing, isn't it?

It's thinking about like this website isn't for our peers.

It should be for our customers or our prospective customers that we're trying

to attract and I think having that front of mind when you are thinking about the

design of your website and working with a developer, that is really important

to have your customers front of mind.

You've almost got to kind of put yourself in their shoes, haven't you?

Yes, very true.

In fact, the thing is, sometimes we get lost in all the bells

and whistles, you know?

Like, even a lot of developers tend to say, Look, there's this technology.

Stick to stick to the best things, which is the basics.

Basics are who is my customer, who he or she, or they, who do they want?

What do they want to see?

Um, and provide content that is relevant, um, to, to the, to the audience.

like a TV advert.

Um, again, I'm not a marketing expert, but ultimately it's where a website

functions in exactly in the same manner.

Who are we targeting in terms of the audience?

And then the technicalities are, are secondary.

Of course they're important, but.

relevance is, is key for sure.

Got it.

So one of the other things I believe is very important is social proof.

So things like testimonials.

So when it, when it comes to using testimonials and putting

them on our website, Is there any best practices around that?

I mean, should they, should we have like a testimonials page or should

they be scattered across the site?

What are your thoughts on how we use testimonials on our website?

Good question.

So ultimately any nowadays, look if, if you're catering for B2B, so business

to business or B2C, so business to customer, you always need testimonials.

Now, um, from business, business to customer, people tend to use

a lot of trust pilots and, um, depending, depending on the vertical.

However, if you're B2B or B2C, which is more of a service oriented in our case,

always have testimonials on the homepage.

I wouldn't have a dedicated page unless you have hundreds of testimonials.

But again, this is about less is more.

So select your 10 best testimonials.

And as someone is scrolling down, so imagine your homepage, you're

visualizing your amazing projects, and then a small section about the

business, about what you're offering.

And as you're kind of selling them, or selling is not the best word

maybe, as you're passing on the message about how great you are.

that isn't anywhere you want to have your social proof.

Um, so which is testimonies and saying, listen, Hey, uh, I've worked with John.

John is an amazing guy.

And he has delivered it.

And then it would be nice to have a name and also a title if it's free to be.

And the reason why having a name is because obviously it's, it creates

a certain level of trust that this is not just some random testimony.

Um, obviously it tries to steer away from using artificial intelligence

to create testimonials because.

Certain things get picked up.

So, um, and if possible, try to add a little photo if someone, if the

person actually gives you consent.

Um, because again, the more authentic things are, the more the user will pick

up on that and the more you create trust.

And the more they will, uh, obviously, uh, trust your

service and be keen to reach out.

So yes, um, and another thing I would add on with testimonials,

and this is mainly for B2B.

If you've worked with certain contractors or certain, um, even, it could be even

partners or certain companies or from a commercial perspective, which are renowned

within your industry, I suggest putting their different logos, because that

helps on, it helps benefits both brands.

And so if I put that I've worked with HTC, um, you know, it's probably a third brand.

Um, and obviously it gives me more credit because I've

worked with such a large brand.

Same thing with, um, same thing for yourself, but to, to go back to, to

your question, yes, testimonies are key.

Ultimately, um, I can say I have the most amazing services, but

social proof nowadays is super, super something that someone's

touch base on is Google My Business.

So Google My Business essentially is, if you have an office, it does not have, it

can be a one desk, it could be anything, you essentially go on Google Maps.

Um, and on Google Maps, you can add your business to the map itself.

Um, then there's a whole verification process.

So there's a small process which is not technical.

It's super straightforward.

And people, your clients, will have the option to add reviews on Google.

So first of all, you benefit that your business will start showing

up on the search results, and obviously not just your website.

You would have the name of your business.

You can add your contact details, whether you're open on certain

days, your opening hours.

So it kind of adds.

A certain element of a social proof.

Um, but also people can actually add reviews on Google Reviews.

Um, and that is, um, obviously it helps because people can upload images.

So even if you maybe don't want to have testimonials on your website

you can benefit by using Google My Business and it's completely free.

I'm a big fan of Google My Business.

I think The fact that it's for something that's free and it's baked

into Google, it's a Google product.

It's particularly good if you're a local service business.

It's particularly good for local search.

And if you're listening to this episode and you want to learn more about

Google, my business specifically, skip back and listen to the recent episode

that we've done with, uh, Melanie.

Boylan, which is all about Google, my business profiles.

Go and check that out.

Definitely worth a listen.

Okay.

So another thing Fabio wanted to talk about was search engine

optimization or otherwise known as SEO.

So people will have certainly heard that acronym before if they've ever

started, uh, if they've got a website or considering getting a new website, could

you just explain like what is SEO and.

What are the key things that we need to know about it?

Cool.

So search engine optimization is a whole world of its own where essentially you

are optimizing your website in order to show up when Google searches us.

And, of course, the more work and the more your site is optimized, um, and

I'll explain two key things shortly.

The higher you, you go up in the, in the rankings.

Now, just to be, just to be clear, uh, the rankings are based

on a particular search term.

So, I might search for, uh, interior designer London.

And when I type interior designer London, you will show up on a particular keyword.

Now, obviously it's a bit more complex, so you need to optimize

for different keywords and there's lots more to, to behind the signs.

However, the, the key things that I suggest anyone doing

are, are, are two things.

One is creating a journal or a blog on your website where you can

actually start creating content.

And this content is, for example, if you, if you get some form of award, if

you, if you create a new project, so, um, your case studies can be merged as

a journal and the more content you post.

Um, the more Google, obviously, will promote.

Again, I'm oversimplifying it, but it's just to explain the whole concept here.

Um, but the idea is that Google wants websites to be user friendly.

So, we'll go back to the initial question.

Because, ultimately, Google is rendering a service to the end user.

So, let's think about myself, where I'm searching for Interior

Designer London, or Architects in London, or Architects in London.

In, uh, in Newcastle so that we don't offend anyone from the north.

Um, uh, so yeah, so basically what I'm saying is that, um, it's Google is,

is Google has my, my best interest.

So, uh, they want that websites which I get to view are, are as user friendly

as possible and load very fast.

So, um, because the more, um, Google serves those type of results, the more

Google is as in doing a great service for myself where I want to find something

and I get to find one the most relevant and two sites which are appealing and

ultimately answer the questions that I'm looking for, for a service, for a product.

So, again, so user friendliness and speed are two key things.

Um, there are also metrics out there to test your site

speed using PageSpeed Insights.

It's a free tool, you can go ahead, put it in your domain there

and it checks the speed for you.

Um, and you can discuss that with your developer.

Um, so those are two key things.

And then, um, the other aspect is content.

So the content is Google always wants to see fresh content and the more fresh

content you have, the more it promotes.

Um, again, I highly discourage you using these generators.

So try to use content, which is obviously a genuine content and

not just some random content.

And obviously creating content around the keywords you want

to target is super important.

So if you want to target, um, again, interior designer in Newcastle,

um, or architects in Newcastle, um, Again, those are type of, uh,

those are the type of keywords you need to include in your content.

Overdoing it in terms of repeating your, your keyword is not suggested.

Again, I'm obviously summarizing things, um, but those are, those are,

those are the first things that you would do, what you call, on the site.

The last thing that is super important is, is, um, are

articles on third party websites.

So what I mean is this, that, um, ultimately the way Google operates is that

the more they find the link to my website on different, um, authority websites.

So by authority I mean, um, so websites like, um, the Times or any high

authority websites you could think of, um, like for example, the Guardian.

If you had to have your link or a PR article on one of

these different websites.

These different websites, the higher Google will, will push your website.

Ultimately, links are seen as referrals.

So if I have a link on John's website, John is referring me,

um, in, in some shape or form.

So, and so the more you get these links from these different,

um, media houses, the better.

So the way I would approach it is, um, is to do a PR exercise.

And basically you might have, have an award or you might have really be.

Um, happy about a particular project, go all out on it and obviously make

sure they link to your website.

So yes, of course, it's, it's, uh, there's a much more to it, but

those are the very, very basics about search engine optimization.

So, yeah,

I love that.

So you've mentioned there's a few things that are on site SEO, and then you've

also mentioned about the idea of writing content or be it a press release that

gets published on someone else's website.

If you're lucky enough to get some PR in something like the Guardian or the

Times or the BBC, if those are what are deemed as, um, websites that have

a high authority so that they are good quality sites, they're reputable, um,

That that is, if we get a link from those sites back to our site, that is going

to help us to get our own websites more visible in search engines like Google.

And that's something that people call that, um, link building.

If anybody ever, um, uses that terminology around link building, that's this exercise

of going out and, um, creating content or contributing content to, um, add links

from other websites back to your own website to help build up its, its SEO

authority.

I'll just add a very quick disclaimer.

Just be, be aware of these people that send, sell these

quick link building things.

SEO is, is, uh, is, uh, it's, it's a marathon, so it's not sort of a race.

So, uh, my suggestion SEO is, is a long term thing and ultimately, um,

it's, you need patience and you need to invest in it over the longterm.

So, uh, it's easy to, to say, listen, something might take three to six months

to see certain, um, certain efforts.

But try to steer away from those people that say, yeah, we can't

sell you these links because you'll be doing yourself a disservice.

So be careful.

Yeah, I totally agree.

There's no quick wins with any of this.

If, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Yeah, if you get one of those like spammy messages on Instagram saying that they're

going to, um, give you a thousand new links to your website and overnight, then,

um, yes, proceed with extreme caution.

Exactly.

Cool.

There was a couple of other things I wanted to just touch upon.

So, just on the SEO if we are targeting a particular keyword, um, how, how,

Specific or generic, should we be?

So for instance, you could say, well, I'm an architect and I'm in London.

So the keyword is going to be architect London, or you could go very granular

and it could be, well, actually I am an architect in London, but I, I, I want

to target ideally, uh, a particular area of London, but I don't know,

Islington, and I want to target people that are doing a loft conversions.

So.

Are there any pros and cons to how, how wide or how niche we go with our keywords?

So I'm thinking that if we were, for example, like writing a blog article for

our website, is it wise to go wide or should we be thinking about going much

niche, more niche with a longer keyword?

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Now, back to the show.

So we call those long tail keywords.

So long tail keywords is loft conversions in this LinkedIn.

Rather than is linked in, uh, loft, uh, renovation, for example.

Uh, so a long tail, what it means is literally the longer the phrase

that person is searching, uh, it's considered as long tail.

So in this particular case, I would, to answer your question, I would go for a

long tail because if, unless your site is really, uh, big and you've been doing

a lot of SEO efforts, I would stay away from the short, from the shorter phrases.

Uh, like, for example, Architecture London or Architect London, because

that is, um, uh, that's quite difficult.

Ultimately, as in, if you have to hire someone who does SEO, they

will guide you and will tell you also how many, um, searches there

are for a particular keyword.

So, it's important that you don't just randomly target a keyword.

It's important to have this research.

Um, but to answer your question, especially for someone that wants to do

local SEO, where local SEO is, let's say you're based in London and you want to

target Islington, target Reading, you want to target Wimbledon, uh, in that

case, yes, it's very important to use, um, these long tail, um, but again, it's,

it's like, it's like anything else, don't make changes without having the data.

So there are tools out there, like, again, they're slightly on the

expensive side, which like SEMrush.

Or Ahrefs, but again, these tools will tell you, listen, how many, uh, how much,

how much volume does each keyword have?

So volume is another word for how many searches does a keyword get?

And then you, you act based on the data rather than how the wind is blowing today.

Got it.

Just wanted to ask a quick follow up question, Fabio.

There's a couple of times that you've mentioned about

how important site speed is.

Are there any best practices around that to ensure that we

do have a fast loading website?

Are there any sort of quick tips you could give us on that?

of course.

So again, uh, one is images need to be as small as possible.

So there are tools out there.

You can just put Google search there where you can upload an

image and it's three sizes.

If you're using WordPress, um, there are so many plugins out there.

Um, two, I recommend, and we have no partnership or affiliation.

Just FYI is one is imageify and WP rocket.

Um, there are two plugins, which, which are great.

Um, again, they don't really cost much and They were really heavy with site speed.

But, again, these are just kind of, it's like you have a hole in the ceiling and

you're patching it with, um, with tape.

So, um, there are tools which should be added on a good foundation.

So it's always good that the developer, your web developer does a good job

with a website in terms of the build, in terms of, um, all certain things.

Um, so the build is super important.

But then secondly, from a content perspective, I would use a plugin

like image I, if it's WordPress, of course, which compresses

any image that you upload.

So super key.

Um, and for example, videos, I would try use YouTube where you can

upload, uh, a video and then you embed the video on your website.

These little tricks help a lot.

That's brilliant.

Thank you for sharing those.

So Fabio, if we want to move people along from just scrolling on our website, so

we've, we've captured their attention that they're scrolling on the website.

How do we get them to then take the next step with us to

move beyond just scrolling?

Cool.

So the, the key thing that I, I've seen as an overtime is people

have a really great website.

But then it's very hard for the user to find how to contact

the person or the company.

So, one thing I highly recommend is to add what we call CTA.

So, CTA is just a fancy word for a call to action.

So, essentially it's a button, which you click on the button

and an action is carried out.

So, I would have, as in, if you look, if you think about your website, where

on top you have your, your great logo, you have the menu one in the middle.

Again, the positions may vary, but on the top right, And that is psychologically

one of the areas where people tend to look at is you have a contact button.

And when you click on that button, it will take you either to a contact

form or it might take you to, um, to an email, ideally a contact form.

As in, because again, so a form is where someone can actually enter their

details and they can get back to you.

Keep the form as concise as possible.

The less fields, the better.

Um, ultimately here, it's about capturing the lead.

Um, another thing I would, I would add is that when someone is scrolling,

you want to add call to actions on their every bit of content.

So that's, so you're reminding the user, hey, if this is something

that you like, get in touch, you know, we're happy to help you out.

And obviously by that, you're encouraging the user to show, listen, we want to hand

hold you and sort of want to help you out.

I mean, so, um, again, so that's constant reminder of how to contact.

Um, the company, the business, the individual, it's, it's super important.

And contact details in the footer.

Um, that is something which I think is, is super, is key.

Obviously, if, if you have a company where you, you might have people that walk in.

Um, it's important to maybe have a Google Maps, um, show the exact

location and people can actually open the link when they're on their phone.

So another key thing about all what we've discussed is think

about mobile, mobile first.

So Google prioritizes mobile.

mobile.

So whenever you're making these changes, please, please,

please always check your phone.

So what I mean is open the website on your phone, go through it on your phone.

If it looks good on your phone, that's a great start.

Of course, it needs to look good even on.

On a desktop machine, but your phone is super key.

Google thinks about mobile.

Also think about where the world is heading.

So think about your user, which is mobile.

I love that.

So just to reiterate the calls to action, we need some very clear

calls to action across our site.

You've recommended that we have something in the top right of our

navigation bar on the, that we get on the website across the site.

This just makes it really easy.

So that if people are reading, if they're scrolling at any point, they can very

quickly and easily hit that button and they can get to a contact form.

And if we make the contact form fairly simple without too many fields, then

we're going to presume we're making it easier so that we're going to

capture more people with that form.

And If you have a longer form with a lot more questions, it's

going to filter more people out.

So depending on, depending on how many people you're looking to capture to

get in touch and how much you want to filter that, you can either have

a very short form to get more volume.

Or if you are being quite particular, if you're fortunate enough to be

very busy already and you're looking to filter things out, there is

the option of expanding it and, and having a longer form on that.

So I would just three things that I suggest is the call to

action always have the color which contrasts very well with the background.

So if you have a white background and your brand colors are on the

green, have it a nice dark green.

Um, so the contrast is super important and the text within the

call to action needs to be short.

Um, having something with get in touch with Fabio because Again, keep it short.

Get in touch.

And using words like get or something like a verb which shows an action helps.

And the last thing I wanted to add is whenever you receive a statistic I saw

recently The quicker you answer a lead that you get from your website, the higher

chance you get for closing that lead.

Um, it's, yeah, there was a statistic, which was quite phenomenal that if

you leave the lead for more than 24 hours, uh, practically your chances

are slimmer in closing that deal.

So there's a small business step, which yeah, I said,

Those are really helpful.

Um, oh, just, just to recap again on the course to action, you also

mentioned about making sure we include contact information in the footer.

Um, so, reiterate that, that we include that information in there, whatever

the preferred contact method is, email, phone number, address, whatever.

Make sure that's in the footer.

So Fabio, one of the things you mentioned there is about

but a mobile first approach.

I'm aware of having been involved in, in.

Several websites that I've, um, had of my own over the years and working

with a developer was about creating a responsive website so that it displayed

well and looks good on any device.

So whether it was an iPad, a mobile phone, a laptop and.

There's quite an art to that can be quite a challenge because sometimes

you think, Oh, well, this looks great.

This image, this banner looks fantastic on the laptop.

And then you go on the mobile view and it'd be like.

Right.

Okay.

That doesn't quite work.

So there could be a bit of experimentation.

So I think that for any listeners that are looking at creating a website or

working with a developer, it is something to be mindful that it is very important

that there is a mobile first approach that, uh, it looks good on mobile.

And ideally, it'll look good on every type of device, and that might mean

that you need to have some flexibility in your choices of images and your

positioning of text, um, because what looks good on one screen doesn't

necessarily look right on the other.

When you look at it on a smaller size screen.

Yes.

And ultimately is the job of the UX designer and the developer to help

you, uh, with these different things.

So, cause it's quite, it's quite technical.

So yeah,

Very important.

How can we enhance our credibility online?

Do you have any recommendations around that?

sure.

So, um, again, from a credibility perspective, it's, it's, Key to actually,

obviously we mentioned testimonials.

That is the first thing.

Um, however, um, it's, and you can also go to go the next step.

So again, you had your previous guests that mentioned Google, my

business, and, uh, I want to kind of give other tips apart from that.

So Google, my businesses is, I would suggest that and the key

difference between that versus testimonials on your website.

is that no one can come up to you and say, listen, Hey, these are testimonials

that someone just wrote themselves.

So, um, okay.

There's always, there's always a way around everything, but so, but GMB, so

Google My Business is highly recommended.

Now, the next step I would say, I would, um, take is if you look around your

industry and you know of certain different bodies, you know, which are quite

organizations, which are maybe nonprofit, which are quite important, you know, Um,

and maybe they partner up with different companies and they might want to list you.

That is something, you know, that's, um, we have done in the past.

So we've, um, we've looked at different suppliers or other companies we partner

up with, um, or other websites, which, which are really sort of, uh, have a

really high authority within our industry.

And we'll go up to them and they might have a section where they

recommend different, different companies or businesses.

I suggest you get yourself listed.

Um, even if it costs something small, um, again, it's worth it because

ultimately even your name will, whenever someone types your name in, in Google,

it's the, the, the, the, the, the over the parent body will show the show.

So it's like, for example, the BBC is recommending Fabio, you know, to, um, to

work with them again, maybe it's not the best example, but, um, I'm sure that's,

that sort of gives, gives you an idea.

So.

Um, yeah, so that is something that I recommend because generally it's free.

Um, and can be very, very effective.

And also, it also gives you the option of having your link on a third party

website, which as we recommended before in SEO terms, so it's key.

So, um, that is, that is my recommendation.

Brilliant.

I love those.

Can you share a few strategies to drive traffic to our website?

So, with regards to that, I would really look

into, um, what we call PPC.

So PPC is, stands for, um, page per click campaigns.

Um, essentially, again, now, this is the part where you need to see what

type of customer you're targeting.

Again, always think about the user and your audience.

So, essentially, all it is, is, you know, whenever you go on, on Facebook, you go

on LinkedIn and those ads pop up and, um, and they say promoted, uh, or sponsored.

Those are, that is what PPC is, uh, essentially you, you pay per, per click.

So you put your ad, you put, you put your copy, you put your text.

Each time someone clicks, uh, you get to see, um, they get to get to

link to wherever you want to go.

In this case, I suggest your website.

Um, so PPC campaigns is, is a quicker way.

It's, um, in, in order to attract leads because SEO is a long term journey where

PPC, if you had to get, uh, an expert, um, you could say within uh, a few weeks,

you could get something up and running.

Um, again, and it is very highly targeted.

Um, something I always recommend is always choose the platform, which

is, which makes more sense to you.

So if you're appealing to B B2C, um, so business to consumer, I suggest maybe more

the Facebook, uh, or the Instagram world.

If you're going down the, the b B2B, then maybe more LinkedIn.

LinkedIn tends to be a bit more expensive.

Uh, of course there's Google, how could I forget about Google?

Um, and there are of course other platforms, um, which are outside

the, the social media platforms.

Um, again, something which if you get in touch with, uh, with a paid media

experts, they can obviously help you out.

Um, that is one of the ways.

Another thing I highly recommend is obviously podcasts.

Um, again, a great job that you've done, John.

So this could be, obviously it's, it's a lot of work.

And, um, like I said, John, as I've mentioned earlier, you've,

you've put in a lot of effort.

So this is again, a long term gain, but can really pay dividends.

Um, again, doing YouTube videos is also an interesting thing, but

again, it's, it's a long term game.

So if you want the short term gains, I would, again, short term

gains is still a lot of work, but I would go down the paid media.

If you want the long term, I would say SEO, um, videos on different platforms.

Um, and if you're saying, Hey, what videos can I put?

It's ultimately people want to get into, into, I wouldn't say into

personal lives, but it's more you post about things which relate and really

resonate with, with someone's content.

Um, the more sort of people who actually subscribe as an, I had subscribed to an

interior designer, which was fantastic.

It was doing an amazing job.

And I'm a tech person.

And so.

Um, so I might not be the relevant customer, but at the same time, it

goes to show that this stuff works.

Uh, so yeah, um, but sometimes think it takes effort, but they pay off in the end.

So, uh, and another thing, how could I forget is LinkedIn.

Um, so if you're targeting a lot of B2B space, um, I would suggest LinkedIn.

Uh, so posting on LinkedIn, um, about your content.

Again, John.

We know this very well, so, um, so, but again, and LinkedIn does not have to

be just business to business in your case, because if you're attracting the

C level or management who, for example, like myself, who are building a new

house, or maybe someone is investing in commercial real estate, you know,

it's, it could be a great opportunity.

So again, but the most important is choose the right channel.

So by channel, what I mean is LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, et cetera.

Based on your target audience

I love that.

So choose the platform, choose the right platform for the right audience, depending

on who you're targeting, and also choose the right, I suppose the right, um,

the right tactic, I suppose, the right tactic, to for your marketing efforts,

depending on your timeline as well, because you mentioned there that some of

those tactics are long term strategies and others are things that can give

you a faster return on your investment.

So something like pay per click, you mentioned if theory, if you get that set

up right and you get some help with that.

You could see a return on that investment quicker than some of the

other methods that we've talked about, some of those other tactics, which

might be more of a long term strategy.

Is

exactly.

Yeah.

100%.

And also choosing the right platform is ultimately, you don't want to be misled

by, again, unfortunately, there are some people who just know some agencies that

sell you any random sort of strategy.

And again, it's not one size fits all.

So ultimately every single individual or business owner, our company needs to, um,

understand their audience and get proper guidance and target, because ultimately.

Obviously page per click, you need to put in, put forward some, uh, some

budgets in order for, for ad spend.

So, um, and you don't want to obviously burn your money away.

That makes sense.

So

Yeah, it's a fine balance because I think you can, you get it.

If you get it wrong, you can burn through a lot of money very quickly.

But then.

With pay per click, you almost need kind of like a test budget.

You have to have a, you've got to give it a certain period of time to

test it, to see how it's working and to adjust and optimize the campaigns.

So there is that kind of testing period, but ultimately, like with any

of these tactics, I mean, they are all.

It's an investment in that you should be getting a return, a measurable return

on the investment, whichever of these tactics you decide to go ahead with, and

we know whether that's pay per click or some of the other things we've mentioned.

But, and if you can't measure that, like you either stop doing it or

you change, like you wouldn't keep throwing money at pay per click if it

wasn't working for you as a business.

But if you get it right and it's like, well, actually, you know what?

We spent, you know, so many hundred pounds and, or thousands of pounds, and, but it

generated this bigger amount of business.

Then like, why wouldn't you do it?

It's like, you give me, give a hundred pounds and get a thousand pounds back.

I mean, who wouldn't want to do that?

Of course.

Exactly.

And ultimately it's also about brand awareness.

So even, even if it's not, even if it's not lead generation, even if

you have an amazing, Uh, project, which you're really proud of.

Run a piece of campaign, you know, put a hundred quid behind it, you

know, and see, and see how it goes.

Obviously targeting is super key rather than shooting wide.

Um, but uh, yeah.

brilliant.

Uh, it feels like a good place to start to wrap things up, I think, Fabio.

So, so what would be the main thing that you'd like everyone to

take away from the conversation?

Okay.

Um, so I'm perfectionist myself and, uh, the one thing I really want to,

as we've spoken about a lot of things, um, the one suggest suggestion I have

are, or I have two suggestions really.

Is focusing on the details is important.

Ultimately, this is your brand, your online presence, and you really want

to obviously to have a good image, but quicker iterations are always

better than a huge sort of build and then sort of, so basically fail fast.

And that is what I'm trying to say.

So try different things, obviously.

Um, and focus, because if you try SEO, try PPC, they're a bit of different beasts and

they will, they require they're different.

Um, there are different sort of, uh, tactics and also, um, different aspects.

So, again, so more iterations.

So what I'm trying to say is, if you're going to build a case studies

page, build something simple for now.

As in, don't think too, too big.

You know, let's do videos.

Keep it simple.

Even if it's just a nice image, a nice line, two, three lines about the text.

And a nice contact button in order to get in touch to know

more or something of the sort.

Um, so, so keep it simple is, is I think one of, one of my key things.

The other aspect is data, so track as much as you can.

So when, if you have an existing website or you're planning on

developing, Um, track the data and always eventually, once you have a

few months of data, make changes based on the data and other projects, um,

which, which is free use hot jar.

So hot jar dot com show is, is a tool which you can add to your

website and essentially it shows you how users are using your website.

Use that data eventually in a few months time and iterate as, as, um, as needed,

because the only person that can actually tell you what's the needs on your

website is your user and no one else.

It's just, sometimes it's a hard pill to swallow, you know, we always

think that we know what the business needs, what's the reality, uh, it's

the customer, the user, et cetera.

Yeah, that feedback is really important, but yeah, keeping it simple.

I think that's such a great approach.

I recall the first website that I had.

I, it was so overblown and complicated.

I tried to do so much with it and add in so much content.

When it launched and it was a bit of a beast and it, it really didn't need to be.

It would have been better to have had something that was simpler to build

upon over time, I think would have been, would have been the better approach.

Absolutely.

Fabio, there's a, there is another question I want to ask and it's

nothing to do with our topic.

I love to travel and to discover new places.

I know you do too.

And I was just wondering if you could tell me about one of your favorite

places and what you love about it.

Cool.

So, uh, it's a hard choice, uh, but I would go with Tuscany.

Uh, ultimately again, part of my roots are also Italian.

But I love Tuscany, obviously the architecture, which I'm

something, something, which I'm sure you guys appreciate a lot.

And it just has a blend of so many different things.

Again, I love the wine, I love the food, but also the sense of

serenity the location brings.

So it's, it's a place which gives you, which at least

gives me a lot of inspiration.

I love to return as a tourist.

as often as possible.

Oh, fantastic.

You know what?

I've got to say, I think Italy is one of the favorite destinations

amongst the podcast guests.

It's, it's definitely come up as a favorite destination with

a lot of the guests on the show.

So there's, um, there's definitely some synergy there.

Fabio, this has been fantastic.

So thank you so much for coming along and sharing your

expertise with everybody today.

Really appreciate it.

Where's the best place for people to connect with you online?

Sure.

So again, I'm all over LinkedIn.

So anytime anyone wants to reach out, anyone has needs any advice about

what to speak, spoke about, feel free to get in touch on LinkedIn.

Um, and again, our website foodcodex.

com.

So, um, we're very happy to help out if you have any questions.

So

Awesome.

Thanks again, Fabio.

my pleasure.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next time I'll be chatting about the chartered

Institute of architectural technologies, annual 80 awards event.

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