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Captovate and The Array launch joint training space to strengthen Darwin’s tech ecosystem

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 02:42:10 GMT

Captovate has announced a new collaboration with The Array , launching a shared training space at Captovate’s Darwin location.

The partnership brings together Captovate’s commercial digital expertise with The Array’s established tech hub community and training capability — including access to a fully equipped computer lab — creating a vibrant, practical environment for learning, collaboration and innovation.

As part of the collaboration, future training programs delivered by The Array, alongside Captovate’s AI workshops, will now be hosted from the new training space at Captovate . The Array will continue to operate its collaborative tech hub and co-working space from its current location in the Darwin CBD, while delivering training through Captovate’s facilities.

Michael Hawkes, Managing Director of Captovate, said the partnership was a natural next step as demand for practical digital skills and AI capability continues to grow across the Territory.

“ We’ve seen a real shift over the past year — businesses don’t just want to hear about AI, they want to apply it in their day-to-day work,” Mr Hawkes said . “Bringing The Array’s training facilities into Captovate gives us a dedicated space to teach, test and build, while also strengthening pathways for local talent to connect with real-world opportunities. ”

The Array is known as a collaborative tech hub , bringing together gamers, developers, creatives and technology leads in a shared workspace that encourages experimentation, skills development and community connection.

Dylan Bennent, CEO of The Array, said the move creates more room to grow training and community programs while keeping the hub’s collaborative spirit at the centre.

“ The Array has always been about bringing people together — builders, makers, gamers, developers and creatives — and giving them a place to learn and collaborate,” Mr Bennett said . “Partnering with Captovate means we can scale training, while staying connected to the local tech community and the real commercial work happening here in Darwin .”

�� Learn more about The Array .

Responding to growing demand for AI and advanced digital skills

The collaboration follows increasing demand for AI workshops and services delivered by Captovate , including through its NT Government-funded AI training programs. As more Territory businesses explore AI adoption, demand has grown beyond introductory training into bespoke AI solutions , including custom agents, automation development and workflow design.

By joining forces, Captovate and The Array aim to create a stronger local pipeline — connecting emerging technical talent with real commercial opportunities , and giving organisations access to the best local minds alongside broader capability.

The partnership also supports a clearer pathway for up-and-coming generations : people who attend coding, gaming or technology classes through The Array can connect into mentoring, placements, project experience and commercial opportunities through Captovate’s client work.

�� Book an AI workshop.

Partnership launches with Global Game Jam this weekend

The partnership will kick off this weekend with Global Game Jam (GGJ) — the world’s largest game creation event — hosted in the new training space at Captovate.

Global Game Jam is a weekend-long event where participants gather to design and build a game from scratch based on a theme revealed at the start. The focus is on creativity, experimentation and collaboration rather than commercial polish — turning ideas into playable experiences in just days.

GGJ brings together a wide mix of disciplines — programmers, artists, writers, musicians, sound designers, performers and more — collaborating in ways that rarely happen elsewhere. The event is open to both experienced creators and first-timers, and is widely recognised as a powerful environment for learning, problem-solving and creative risk-taking.

After hosting last year’s jam as a standout community moment, The Array is excited to welcome participants back — this time within the new training space at Captovate.

Building a stronger creative technology community

Both organisations say the new training space will support a broader program of activity across 2026, including AI workshops, tailored business training, and sector- or community-specific sessions.

The new training space provides a platform to showcase local talent, build cross-disciplinary connections and celebrate bold, playful innovation — all within a space designed to support hands-on learning, experimentation and real-world outcomes.

AI is not going to replace you - But someone who knows how to use it might

justine@captovate.com.au (Justine David) — Fri, 16 May 2025 02:27:09 GMT

At Captovate, we’ve always embraced what’s next.

When social media first burst onto the scene, we were among the first in the Top End to help local businesses get in front of their audiences in brand-new ways. When websites moved from static pages to dynamic, mobile-first experiences, we were already building for the future. And now, as AI transforms how we approach content, design, SEO, and more, we’re not afraid. We’re curious.

Let’s be real: AI can feel overwhelming. It’s fast. It’s changing daily. It’s easy to assume it’s either a threat or a silver bullet, when in reality, it’s neither. But here’s the thing: AI won’t replace people. But people who know how to use AI? They’ll replace the ones who don’t.

AI + Humans = The Winning Combo

At its core, AI is a tool, a powerful one. It can write headlines, analyse user data, translate text, generate visuals, even mimic voices. But what it can’t do is think critically, understand context, or connect emotionally the way a human can.

Tools like ChatGPT can produce content fast, but they can’t tell your story with authenticity unless a person guides it. They can optimise SEO, but they can’t understand the nuance of your brand voice unless someone teaches it. They can translate text, but they don’t understand the cultural meaning behind the words.

That’s where we come in. And that’s where your edge lies as a business owner, marketer, or communicator.

The human touch in marketing: where it matters most

Web development and design

AI can now create functional website layouts, suggest user journeys, and even generate code snippets in seconds. It’s a brilliant starting point for ideation, it speeds up prototyping, helps generate design inspiration, and can even assist with accessibility checks.

But a website isn’t just a collection of components. It’s a reflection of your brand, your users, and your purpose. A human developer and designer brings strategy , empathy , and local insight to the process. They ask: How will this make users feel? What does a remote community need from this design? How can we represent Indigenous culture respectfully and meaningfully in a digital space?

When building websites, we think about the whole user experience, not just the wireframes.

Google Ads and social media advertising

AI tools like Google’s Performance Max and Meta’s Advantage+ can help automate bidding strategies, generate ad variations, and suggest target audiences. These platforms are getting smarter and they offer real efficiencies.

But even with all the automation, AI can’t grasp the cultural and emotional pulse of your audience. It doesn’t understand seasonal behaviours, or the difference between very different locations, reaching someone in Nightcliff, in the city of Darwin versus Nhulunbuy, a remote community.

Humans know when to override automation. We know when to test a quirky local message or when to rework a campaign to match community events. The best results come when AI handles the data, and we handle the meaning.

Copywriting and brand messaging

Generative AI can write grammatically sound, keyword-friendly content in moments. It’s a great starting point to brainstorm blog outlines, test tone variations, or generate meta descriptions. It can help speed up early drafts, but it can’t capture your voice.

Your audience wants to hear from you . They want your perspective, your personality, your purpose. That’s where human copywriters shine. We shape messages that connect emotionally. We know how to turn technical information into a story. We adapt to your tone, respond to feedback, and -most importantly-we listen .

We often use AI to accelerate early writing tasks, but the final polish, and the magic, always comes from our team.

Working with clients

AI can generate reports, summarise meetings, and even mimic conversation. It can help us stay on top of admin and automate repetitive tasks, which means more time to focus on you .

But it can’t build relationships. It doesn’t read the room. It can’t pick up on when a client needs extra support, when something isn’t working, or when an idea needs to be talked through over coffee, not email.

Working with a human team means collaboration, not just service. We brainstorm, adapt, and solve problems together. We bring experience, transparency, and flexibility. AI supports the process but humans make it personal.

Using AI in the Territory: real benefits, real potential

In a region as unique as the Northern Territory, the potential of AI isn’t just about speed — it’s about access and inclusion. Imagine:

Translating government or community service information into First Nations languages using AI-generated voice tools, opening communication channels like never before
Creating visual or spoken content in local dialects, supporting Indigenous organisations to reach their audiences in culturally respectful ways
Using AI-assisted analytics to identify how different groups interact with content, helping us design more intuitive, inclusive digital experiences

Used wisely, AI has the potential to make marketing more accessible, not less. But it must always be led by people with local knowledge and ethical awareness.

Captovate's take: Learn it, use it, lead with it

We’re not afraid of AI because we’ve done this before. With social media. With mobile. With SEO. The marketers and businesses who learned to adapt back then are still leading today. The same will be true in the AI era.

At Captovate, we’re already using AI but not to cut corners. We use it to go deeper, explore faster, and push ideas further. Whether that’s content generation, early design concepts, or smarter research, AI is another tool in our kit, not a replacement for human expertise.

And we’re helping our clients understand it, use it, and benefit from it while staying true to their values, culture, and goals.

Final word: stay human, stay ahead

You don’t need to become an AI expert overnight. But you do need to stay curious, stay adaptable, and stay human.

Because in the end, it’s not about whether AI will replace people. It’s about whether people, and businesses, are willing to evolve.

We are. And if you’re working with Captovate, so are you.

The importance of defining clear Marketing Goals for your business

justine@captovate.com.au (Justine David) — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 23:52:22 GMT

In the world of digital marketing, it's easy to get lost in the hustle of driving traffic to your website. After all, more visitors means more opportunities, right? Not necessarily. The reality is that without clear marketing goals, your efforts might not lead to the results you’re hoping for.

Many times, we met with clients who, like many businesses, have spent time and resources driving traffic to their website but struggled to turn visitors into leads or sales. The problem wasn’t with their traffic— it was with their approach . They hadn’t clearly defined what they wanted to achieve, and as a result, the visitors they attracted didn’t know what action to take when they landed on the site. The result? Potential customers were lost, and the marketing spend felt wasted.

This is a common challenge for businesses. They know they want more customers, but when it comes to defining the specifics, they often miss the mark. Without a clear set of goals, your digital marketing efforts are like a ship without a rudder… you might get somewhere, but it’s not where you intended to go.

Why setting clear goals is crucial ?

1. It guides your strategy

Without goals, your marketing strategy is based on assumptions. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Drive more sales? Collect customer data? Your goals help guide the decisions you make about where to focus your resources.

At Captovate, we work with clients to align their business objectives with their marketing efforts, so every action contributes to a bigger vision.

2. It helps define your audience

When you set clear goals, you gain better insight into who your audience is and what they care about. A marketing strategy built without understanding your target audience’s needs is just as misguided as driving traffic without a clear purpose. For example, some of our clients initially struggled with understanding their customer personas. But once we helped them define these personas—taking into account their ideal customer’s pain points and desires—their messaging became clearer, and their conversion rate skyrocketed.

3. It measures success

Goals provide a way to track progress and measure success. Without them, it’s impossible to know if your marketing efforts are working. For example, let’s say your goal is to increase online sales by 20% over the next six months. If you don’t hit that target, you know there’s something in your strategy that needs adjusting. Clear goals make it easier to measure success and make data-driven decisions.

4. It keeps you focused

When you have a goal in mind, you can focus your energy on the actions that will help you get there. This means less time chasing trends or trying to be everywhere and more time doubling down on what works.

Clarity leads to results

A real-life example

In the case of our work with Rodeo NT , the goal was clear and measurable: boosting ticket sales for their events. While this is a commercial goal that’s easy to visualise, it perfectly demonstrates the impact of having a well-defined objective. By working closely with the Rodeo NT team to understand their audience, we crafted targeted marketing strategies that effectively used their resources, such as paid ads and social media, to drive engagement and sales. Knowing exactly what we aimed to achieve allowed us to focus efforts in the right places, ensuring maximum return on investment. The result? A fully booked event and a more streamlined marketing strategy.

How AI can help you

Visualise and understand your audience

One powerful way businesses can leverage AI to achieve clear goals is by refining their audience personas . AI can analyse vast amounts of customer data, identifying patterns and behaviours that might otherwise go unnoticed. By uncovering insights such as purchasing habits, browsing history, and engagement trends, AI helps create highly accurate and detailed personas. This allows your business to target your marketing efforts with precision, ensuring every action aligns with your objectives, whether it’s increasing sales, boosting engagement, or improving brand awareness.

If you're looking for a simple way to implement AI in your marketing, here’s a quick guide to using AI for audience insights:

How to use AI for audience refinement

Collect your data – Use tools like Google Analytics, Meta Business Suite, or CRM software to gather customer data.
Use AI-powered tools – Platforms like ChatGPT (for audience insights) , Google’s Looker Studio , HubSpot , or Brandwatch can analyse your data and identify trends.
Segment your audience – AI can group customers based on common traits such as demographics, interests, and behaviours.
Optimise your messaging – Use AI to tailor content and ads based on each segment’s preferences, ensuring higher engagement.
Monitor and adjust – AI tools can provide ongoing insights, helping you refine your strategy in real-time.

With AI as a strategic tool, businesses can make smarter decisions, reduce wasted resources, and ultimately achieve a higher return on investment.

Conclusion

Whether you’re trying to drive sales, build brand awareness, or increase engagement, defining your marketing goals is essential for success. Without them, your digital marketing efforts might be all over the place, wasting time, money, and energy. At Captovate, we’re experts at helping businesses define their goals and create strategies that lead to tangible results, with the help of AI-driven insights.

Feeling stuck or unsure of where to start ?

The Rise of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): Are You Ready for AI Search?

emeline@captovate.com.au (Emeline Laurent) — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 01:25:44 GMT

You type a question into Google, but instead of the usual list of blue links, you get a fully formed, AI-generated answer. It’s precise, direct, and—most importantly—it doesn’t require you to click on a website at all. This is the new reality of search, and it’s changing the way businesses get found online.

For years, digital marketers have obsessed over Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), working tirelessly to rank their websites higher on Google’s results pages. But as AI-powered search engines like Google SGE, ChatGPT, and Perplexity take over, a new form of optimisation is emerging—Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO).

What’s Changing in Search?

The traditional SEO model was simple: Optimise content for keywords , get backlinks, and improve technical performance to rank higher. But AI search engines don’t just rank pages—they generate answers.

Instead of simply listing ten websites for users to explore, AI tools now scan vast amounts of data, synthesise insights, and present a summarised response. While this makes search more efficient for users, it raises a critical question for businesses:

How do you make sure AI-powered search engines recognise and reference your content?

This is where Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) comes in.

What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?

GEO is about ensuring your content is structured in a way that AI-powered search tools can understand, reference, and use when generating responses. If your content isn’t optimised for AI-driven search, it could be left out entirely, making it harder for potential customers to find your business.

The shift is happening fast:

By 2025, over 50% of online discovery is expected to be influenced by AI-generated search results.

How Does GEO Work?

Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on ranking high in Google’s search results, GEO is about making your content visible to AI-powered search engines. Here’s how:

1. AI-Optimised Content

AI models prioritise clear, structured, and fact-based content. Instead of keyword stuffing, content needs to be:

✔ Easy to summarise

✔ Well-structured (headings, bullet points, lists)

✔ Written in a conversational yet authoritative tone.

2. Entity-Based SEO

Search engines are shifting from keyword focus to entity recognition. Instead of just ranking based on specific words, AI-powered tools understand relationships between topics, brands, and concepts.

✔ Use structured data (schema markup) to help AI understand your content.

✔ Ensure your business is clearly identified as a subject-matter expert.

3. Conversational Search Optimisation

With the rise of AI chat tools like ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Perplexity , users are asking search engines more detailed, natural-language questions.

Pro tip:

Creating an FAQ-style content structure improves your chances of appearing in AI-generated responses.

4. AI-Specific Content Formats

AI-powered search engines favour certain content types:

FAQs and Q&A style content – AI tools love direct, answer-based content.
Structured knowledge hubs – AI models prioritise well-organised, topic-rich pages.
Data-driven content – AI prioritises sources that cite reputable studies and statistics.

Final Thoughts: The Future of AI-Driven Search

The shift toward AI-generated search results isn’t just a trend—it’s the future of how people find information. Businesses that adapt early will thrive, while those that rely solely on traditional SEO may struggle to stay visible.

If your business depends on Google rankings, digital marketing, or organic discovery , it’s time to take Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) seriously.

Ready to optimise for the future of search?

Contact Captovate today and let’s make your content AI-ready.

It's Time To Upgrade Your Drupal 7 Website

cloudapps@captovate.com.au (Michael Hawkes) — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 01:53:06 GMT

End-of-Life for Drupal 7

As technology evolves, it’s important to keep your website up-to-date and running smoothly. One of the best ways to do this is by upgrading to the latest version of your content management system (CMS).

Drupal 7 will reach its end of life on the 5th January 2025. This means if your website has been built in Drupal 7, your software will no longer be supported.

So what exactly does that mean? and what are the risks of staying with Drupal 7?

1. Support and Security Updates

One of the biggest risks of staying with Drupal 7 is that it reached end-of-life (EOL) on 5th January 2025. This means that it will no longer receive official support or security updates from the Drupal community. This leaves your website vulnerable to security threats and attacks, as new security vulnerabilities may be discovered that will not be addressed by Drupal.

Without regular security updates, your website may be at risk of being hacked or compromised. This can result in sensitive information being stolen, your website being defaced, or your website being used to spread malware. By upgrading, you can ensure that your website remains secure and protected against potential threats.

2. Lack of New Features and Functionality

Another risk of staying with Drupal 7 is that you will miss out on new features and functionality. Each new release of Drupal introduces a range of improvements and new features that can help you create a more engaging and effective website. By staying with Drupal 7, you'll be missing out on these new features and functionality, and your website may become outdated and less effective over time.

3. Performance Issues

Drupal 7 was released in 2011, and technology has come a long way since then. As a result, Drupal 7 may not perform as well as more recent versions or Drupal or another CMS. Slow load times and performance issues can lead to a poor user experience, decreased engagement, and lower conversions. Upgrading from Drupal 7 to a more up to date CMS can help improve the performance of your website and provide a better user experience for your visitors.

Long term planning

You might be asking, do I need to budget to rebuild our website every few years? In short, the answer is no. A lot has changed in technology since 2011 (when Drupal 7 was launched), particularly in the area of security. This has resulted in a massive change to the infrastructure used in Drupal 8 and beyond. This means future upgrades are a more simple process, and don't require a full rebuild like Drupal 7 sites.

In saying that, you should be budgeting for annual maintenance, and a full rebuild every 5 or so years. If you think about it, your organisation is likely to look different from 5 years ago - and your website is a window to your business.

Drupal 10 benefits

Here are some of our favourite features of Drupal 10:

1. Built-in layout tools

Support Drupal's goal of making the software more accessible, the new Layout Builder now empowers content editors to easily create and update pages using visual drag and drop elements. This gives editors greater control in editing pages themselves without relying heavily on developers.

2. Mobile responsiveness

Mobile responsiveness is vital for user experience and accessibility. Drupal's administrative interface has been fully optimised for responsiveness, delivering a smooth content management experience across all devices. This means that even if a content editor is away from their desk, they can still post important updates from their tablet or mobile phone with ease.

3. Built-in media library

Drupal has introduced a powerful Media Library - a sophisticated management tool that simplifies the process of uploading, searching and inserting various types of media. The library makes it effortless to locate existing media assets, particularly for websites with extensive content, saving valuable time and effort.

4. Improved user experienced

While the overall user experience of Drupal 9 and 10 has been drastically improved, there has also been a focus on the user experience of first-time Drupal users. The goal has been to make Drupal easier to understand and utilised by people with limited web editing experience. The Drupal admin theme standardises everything and makes content more accessible.

So what should you do next?

1. Get in touch with us to discuss your options for upgrading

The first thing to do is to contact us to discuss the upgrade. We'll organise a time to sit down with you to discuss your website in more depth.

Software

We'll take a look at your website together to determine the best solution for upgrading. We also have new options for organisations like yours - if your website doesn't have complex functionality features, we may look at moving your website out of Drupal and into our agency web builder - Ariba. This is a more cost effective solution, and the software is made for non technical editors, giving you more flexibility and freedom. Check out waterfront.nt.gov.au

Information architecture and content
Together we can review the information architecture of your site - this includes the pages and structure of information. Are there things that should be added, removed or reshuffled?

Design
This is also a good opportunity to consider the visual look and feel - is it time for a visual refresh of your site? This might include organising a photoshoot to get new imagery.

Audience
We can also reflect on why people come to your website. Do they want to make a purchase, perform an action, or simply browse content? By keeping your audience's intent in mind, you can tailor your website design to better meet their needs. Let's discuss your target audience's goals, and then we can assist with creating content that will engage them.

Do you qualify for a NTG Business Growth Grant

Government grants

You may also be eligible for an NT Government grant to upgrade your website. Captovate is an authosrised service provider for the NTG Business Growth Program .

Australian Government Drupal Services Panel

Captovate is on the list of approved suppliers for Australian Government , that has the necessary skills to work with Drupal and the GovCMS platform. Drupal is the preferred and approved Web Content Management System for the Australian Government.

5 Marketing and Content Strategies to Stay Ahead in 2025 (Hint: AI is Key!)

emeline@captovate.com.au (Emeline Laurent) — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 03:49:30 GMT

As the New Year begins, many business owners are still enjoying a well-deserved break. This period of reflection and planning is a perfect opportunity to lay the groundwork for a successful 2025. With digital marketing continuing to evolve rapidly, staying ahead of trends is crucial. Here are the top five things business owners can do right now to prepare their marketing and content strategy for the year ahead.

1. Rethink Your Social Media Strategy

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are shifting their algorithms, moving from friend-based to interest-based models. This means the size of your audience is less important than the relevance and quality of your content.

Key Stat:

Facebook has fundamentally shifted to an interest-based algorithm, similar to TikTok's model. Up to 50% of the content users now see in their feeds comes from "unconnected sources" —accounts they don't follow. This gives all creators, regardless of follower count, an equal opportunity for their content to go viral.

Here’s how you can adapt to this evolving landscape:

Focus on Short-Form Video: Platforms are prioritising short, engaging videos like Reels. Use the first three seconds to hook your audience with educational, inspiring, or entertaining content.
Diversify Post Formats: I nclude single images, colourful text posts, and stories in your strategy. Real images (rather than AI-generated visuals) stand out, and text-based posts with bright backgrounds can drive engagement.
Experiment with Live Video: Live streams are making a comeback for tutorials, Q&A sessions, and product demonstrations. Prepare for live shopping features, which are poised to grow in popularity.

Pro Tip:

Don’t delete underperforming posts. Facebook’s discovery engine can boost older content unexpectedly, extending its reach long after it's published.

2. Get Comfortable with AI Tools

AI is no longer a future concept—it’s here, and it’s transforming marketing. January is an ideal time to experiment with AI tools, which require a learning curve to use effectively.

Some practical applications include:

Content Creation : Tools like ChatGPT , Jasper AI , and Writesonic can help generate blog ideas, write social media captions, and draft email campaigns.
Ad Optimisation : Use platforms like Adzooma or Smartly.io to create and manage AI-powered ad campaigns with precision targeting.
Customer Engagement : Tools like Intercom or Drift can power AI chatbots to handle customer inquiries, deliver personalised responses, and provide 24/7 support.

Remember:

AI tools improve with time and usage. Start exploring them now so you're ready to integrate them into your workflows throughout the year.

3. Audit Your Analytics

Understanding how your marketing efforts are performing is critical for making data-driven decisions. Platforms like Facebook have introduced new metrics, such as "views," which provide insights into how content is consumed.

Here’s how to make the most of your analytics:

Look beyond vanity metrics like impressions and clicks. Dive into retention graphs and engagement metrics to understand what resonates.
Pay attention to private shares and direct messages—content shared this way often sees greater reach.
Review your audience demographics and behaviours to refine your targeting for 2025.

Top tools:

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for comprehensive website and traffic analysis.
Meta Business Suite for insights into Facebook and Instagram campaigns.
Hotjar for tracking user behaviour on your website to identify optimisation opportunities.

4. Refresh Your Content Calendar

The start of the year is perfect for brainstorming and planning your content strategy.

Here are some tips:

Plan Around Key Trends : Incorporate themes like sustainability, diversity, and AI into your content.
Leverage New Features : Social platforms regularly introduce new tools. For instance, Meta’s enhanced Reels features or live shopping tools might fit your strategy.
Balance Content Types : Mix promotional, educational, and human-interest stories to engage different audience segments.

Top tools:

Notion or Trello for collaborative content calendar planning.
Hootsuite or Buffer for scheduling and managing posts across platforms.
Canva for designing eye-catching graphics and templates.

5. Test and Optimise Across Platforms

Your audience likely spans multiple platforms, including LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok.

While Facebook may dominate your strategy, don’t neglect others:

LinkedIn: Build your thought leadership with articles, polls, and professional updates.
Instagram: Use Reels, carousel posts, and interactive stories to maintain visibility.
TikTok: Experiment with trends and short videos to tap into its discovery algorithm.

Top tools:

TikTok Ads Manager for running targeted campaigns.
Sprout Social for tracking social media performance across platforms.
Loomly for a unified approach to content scheduling, collaboration, and optimisation.

Final Thoughts

2025 brings new opportunities to grow your business and strengthen your marketing efforts. By embracing platform changes, exploring AI tools, and staying data-driven, you’ll set yourself up for success. This downtime is your chance to experiment, plan, and innovate before the year gets into full swing.

If you need help implementing these strategies, reach out—we’d love to help make 2025 your best year yet!

5 Things to Start Your Web Project Successfully

Sun, 29 Sep 2024 00:20:00 GMT

Starting a web project is an exciting endeavour, but it can also be overwhelming if you don't have a clear plan in place.
To ensure your web project gets off to a great start, there are five essential elements to set you on the path to success.

1. Logos

The Foundation of Your Brand

Your logo is a critical part of your brand identity, and it's essential to have it polished and in the right format. Sometimes, clients provide logos that are in need a professional touch up.

Take, for instance, the case of Civiltech . They initially provided a logo designed in Word, which lacked the finesse they desired. To rectify this, they entrusted the task of polishing and converting the logo into various formats to ensure flexibility during our design process. Your logo is often the first thing visitors see, so investing in its quality is a wise move.

Tip: it’s important to have your logo in various formats, for example stacked and vertical, as it gives the web designer more flexibility when designing your navigation banner.

Original

Polished version with various options.

2. Crafting Key Messages

Connecting with Your Audience

Your website's key messages are the gateway to engaging your audience effectively. When thinking about your key messages, consider your target audience and what problems your product or service can solve for them.

Let's look at MH Training as an example. Instead of simply stating that they offer training for Mental Health First Aid, we created an emotive hook: "We are encouraged to ask our colleagues and employees, 'Are you okay?' But what do you do next?" This resonates with users on a personal level, connecting with the problem they face and highlighting how MH Training can provide a solution through their workshops.

Tip: ask yourself, what problem does your audience have and how can we solve it. That’s your hook.

3. Quality Graphics and Images

Elevating Your Brand

Visual elements play a pivotal role in web design. The Policy Room 's website is a great example of using high-quality graphics and images effectively. Salli invested in a professional photoshoot creating a personalised and engaging experience for visitors.

She also had her graphic designer daughter develop custom graphics that we were able to incorporate as design elements, contributing to a cohesive brand identity. Consider these visuals as brand elements that help your website stand out and leave a lasting impression.

Tip: the graphics can then be converted into social templates

4. Content

The Heart of Your Website

Quality content is the foundation of your website's success. The question here is not about the detail of the content but about who will create it. If you're unsure about your writing abilities or lack the time, consider our copywriting services. Our professional writers (not AI generators) can craft content from scratch, refine your bullet points, or even transform voice recordings into engaging written material.

Consider the example of the Remote Pools Project , a philanthropic initiative with a distinctive approach to enticing individuals to join their cause by serving in remote communities. Crafting the perfect language was essential to effectively convey the opportunity and draw in suitable candidates.

Our content writer conducted interviews with the client and subsequently formulated the core messages and page content.

5. Call to Actions (CTA)

Guiding User Actions

Lastly, your website should guide users towards taking specific actions. Whether you offer products or services, it's essential to make it clear what visitors can do next. If you're a service-oriented business, like consulting, provide links for users to book a consultation.

A well-placed CTA can significantly increase user engagement and conversions.

Finding the right digital agency: Key considerations

cloudapps@captovate.com.au (Michael Hawkes) — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 13:48:04 GMT

Choosing the right digital agency is crucial to your business’s success. Here are key considerations to guide you, along with questions to ask during your first meeting to ensure the agency is the right fit:

Expertise and Experience:

Seek an agency with a proven track record and industry experience. Familiarity with your field’s challenges leads to more effective solutions.

Question to ask

“ Can you share examples of similar projects you’ve worked on in our industry? ”

Technological Fit

Ensure the agency uses cutting-edge technologies aligned with your business goals and has expertise in the specific AI technologies you need.

Question to ask

“ What technologies do you specialise in, and how do they align with our project needs?”

Cultural Alignment

Find an agency that shares your business values and vision, fostering smoother communication and collaboration.

Question to ask

“ What is your approach to client collaboration and involvement during the project lifecycle”

Scalability and Support

Consider whether the agency can scale their solutions as your business grows, and if they offer ongoing support and training.

Question to ask

“ How do you handle scalability, and what ongoing support do you provide after project completion?”

Cost-Effectiveness

While budget is important, view this partnership as an investment. Ensure the agency’s services provide value and ROI.

Question to ask

“ How do you ensure that your solutions deliver value for the investment?”

Ensuring the Process Works for You

To ensure the partnership with your chosen digital agency is effective, consider the following steps:

Clarify Your Goals

Have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve. Consider your target market and services. It might seem simple, but many struggle to articulate this clearly. Don’t worry, the agency can help refine your ideas, but it’s good to think about these aspects before your first meeting.

Try this

Go to ChatGPT, and enter a short description of your business. Ask it to write 3 customer personas, and define your key services. Review what it returned.

If it differs from your actual audience and services ask yourself, am I aiming for the right market? Is how I see our business different to how others might see us. Do worry, bring these new insights to our first meeting and we can discuss further during your digital road mapping session.

Gather Key Assets

Bring together your existing assets, such as images, logo files, and any graphical elements or ideas you have. This will help the agency understand your brand and vision.

Need help with this ?

Some clients don't have high resolution copies of their logo, and haven’t thought about how to visually display their business. Don’t worry we can help?

Plan for Content Development:

Decide how you’ll approach content creation. If you enjoy writing, you might consider doing it yourself. However, ask yourself if your time might be better spent on revenue-generating activities. Remember, digital content writing is a skill that requires short, concise, and scannable content with clear calls to action.

Tip

Start buy writing down the 7 most important things you want to tell your customers about. Bring it to our discovery session. It helps to start the conversation about your information architecture.

Consider how customers buy from you

Think about how customers currently purchase your products or services.

Do you need

an eCommerce feature for online sales?
Should you include a web form or would a booking engine result in better business administration?

Evaluate Your Time Commitment

Be realistic about the time you can commit to the process over the 4-6 week journey. Communicating this upfront will help set expectations and ensure a smooth collaboration.

By preparing these elements ahead of time, you’ll be better equipped to work with your digital agency and create a strategy that truly supports your business goals.

How to Maximise Your Website Partnership

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 23:18:00 GMT

Are you new to a website management role?

Learn how we can kickstart a seamless and productive collaboration.

In the dynamic landscape of the Northern Territory's transient workforce, change is a part of the game. If you're taking on a new role that involves website management, we're keen to connect with you to help you understand how we can support you.

1. Get to know the history of your website

Understanding the history of your website is an important first step when it comes to website management. This will give you an insight into why we've done things in a certain way, and what strategies and approaches have been used. Understanding the story behind your website helps us to better align our support with your goals and expectations.

2. Understand how we can support you

We understand that everyone brings their own distinct set of skills and preferences to the table. Some people have extensive experience in website editing and are familiar with the content management system (CMS) their site is built in, while others rely more heavily on support from our team.

To facilitate a smooth transition, we provide comprehensive service level agreements (SLAs). When you start a role, talk to us about how we can make the SLA work for you. This helps us customise our support to suit your needs, and clarifies expectations from the get go.

3. Training opportunities for your team

Time to get familiar with the CMS your website is built in. We're always happy to run website training sessions for you and anyone in your team, empowering you with the skills and knowledge you need to edit your website. Here's a few things you can expect to learn in training:

How to edit text and images
How to create new pages and blog articles
How to create new sections, such as video, photo galleries and more
How to ensure your pages are mobile ready
How to publish your changes

4. Website health checks and beyond

Talk to us about doing a website health check. Our team will review your website and address any layout or structural issues. From here, we’ll organise a 30 minute consultation with you to discuss suggestions we have for your website, or areas that might need a little extra love.
We can also explore other avenues in the digital space, like digital marketing, SEO optimisation, traffic analytics reports, and user experience reviews to take your online strategy to the next level.

The power of imagery: Distinguish yourself from the crowd

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 23:58:00 GMT

In today's fast-paced digital landscape, the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” has never been more relevant. Imagery is crucial for shaping your brand, capturing attention, and driving engagement. Conversely, poor images—wrong angles, bad lighting, or irrelevant subjects—can quickly erode trust and interest.

Think about when you scrolled through marketplace listings to search for your perfect new camper trailer; ads with low-quality images and awkward angles were the ones you skipped without a second glance. The same risk applies to your website: without the right visuals, you might lose potential customers before they even get to know your brand.

While aesthetics can be subjective, quality imagery is universally valued. With a growing demand for strong visuals, it’s the perfect time to remind you how powerful images can be for any business… especially with some thoughtful planning.

Why imagery matters for your business

It’s worth reminding yourself why images are so crucial in highlighting your business. Often, images are the first thing your audience notices when they encounter your brand, whether on your website, social media, or marketing materials. The right visuals do more than just catch the eye; they tell a story, communicate your brand’s essence, and help you stand out in a market already saturated with information and attention-grabbing visuals.

When we talk about impactful imagery, we’re not just referring to aesthetics. It’s about aligning visuals with your brand’s goals to ensure they resonate with your target audience and inspire the actions you desire.

Capturing your unique vision

Every business has its own story to tell, and the visuals you choose should reflect that story. That’s why it’s crucial to take a tailored approach to imagery. By exploring what makes your brand unique, we can help craft visuals that not only look great but also speak to the heart of your business.

Custom photography, for example, offers an authentic way to showcase your brand’s personality and values. By focusing on what truly matters to your business, Captovate can help you create images that are not only beautiful but also meaningful, adding depth and context to your brand’s narrative.

Images from the photoshoot organised for Management NT , specialists in property investment services.

The rise of short video banners

In addition to traditional imagery, short video banners have become an increasingly popular and effective tool for businesses. These dynamic visuals combine the power of imagery with the engagement potential of video, creating an immersive experience that can captivate your audience within seconds.

Short video banners are particularly effective because they convey more information in less time. They can showcase your products in action, highlight key features, or set the tone for your brand’s personality. They bring a sense of reality and proximity to your audience, making your business feel more tangible. With the ability to loop seamlessly, these banners keep your website or social media pages lively and engaging, encouraging viewers to stay longer and explore more.

Video banner for Mad About Coffee showcasing the atmosphere of their retail shop and espresso bar.

Photography and video tailored to your needs

Stock photos and generic videos have their place, but nothing compares to the impact of custom visuals designed with your specific needs in mind. Through a collaborative process, Captovate can arrange photography sessions and video shoots that truly capture the essence of your business.

This process begins with understanding your vision: what you want to communicate and how you want to be perceived. By working together to answer key questions like "What do we want to achieve with these photos?" "Where will they be used?" "Who are we trying to reach?" and "How should the photos reflect our brand’s values and style?" We can make the most of your photoshoot, ensuring you end up with high-quality visuals that you can use across various platforms.

A collaborative journey

In the world of digital marketing, success often stems from collaboration. Working together allows us to create imagery and video content that not only represents your brand but also elevates it. With a shared understanding of your goals, we can craft a visual narrative that helps you stand out and connect with your audience on a deeper level. Imagery, whether in the form of photos or short video banners, has the power to transform how your brand is perceived in just a few seconds. When done right, it can be a key driver of business growth. So, if you’re looking to refresh your visuals, launch a new product, or rebrand entirely, we’re here to assist you through the process.

Digital Trends for 2024 - What Territory Businesses are looking for

Sun, 28 Jan 2024 06:07:00 GMT

With many of us thinking about what the year ahead might look like, it’s timely to look at the trends driving 2024.

1. Brand positioning

Create a plan

In 2024 we no longer need to explain the value of digital marketing. The driver now is brand positioning . Successful businesses understand the need to clearly identify the unique value that their brand offers, then develop a cohesive strategy of how to deliver that message across different platforms. The key question that businesses struggle with is:

- What challenges or problems do our customers typically face?

- How do our services/products alleviate the challenges or problems?

- What sets our services/products apart from our competitors?

Once you’ve figured that out, it’s essential to create a strategy to articulate the answers and give you direction into the future.

2. Data visualisation

Explain your message using visuals

You may have heard of user experience design (UX design) . T he shift for 2024 is data visualisation . UX design focuses on crafting seamless, enjoyable and intuitive user experiences (people often describe good UX design as a website that is ‘clean’). Data visualisation is a way you can achieve these goals. It's all about presenting information in a way that not only informs but engages users, fostering a deeper understanding of the intention and meaning of what they are seeing.

We have several projects on the go at the moment where clients bring diagrams, graphics, journeys or workflows in a print form and want to digitise it. Their goal is to make it clear, engaging and interactive - but they don’t know how. Sometimes that means reconsidering how to present the information on their website, but more and more commonly we need to find other avenues to deliver the visual experience.

3. Elearning

Online learning

2023 was the year for elearning . The hangover of COVID saw a surge in organisations looking for ways to upskill without needing to bring groups together in a face to face mode.

2024 sees a strong focus on elearning for inductions. Code of Conduct, Work Health and Safety, Governance – these are all complex subjects that demand effective communication to make sure learners understand the content. Elearning offers cost effective, consistent delivery of messaging in an engaging way.

Visit our elearning website for more information about what we offer and to see examples of our recent work. There is also a good blog article on what you need to know when costing elearn developments.

4. Content

The Heart of Your Website

The other big player for 2024 is Intranets . To deliver core organisational communication, or to house your data visualisations, news, events, forms and policies. Organisations of all sizes are desperate for an easy to use system. Many organisations find products like SharePoint great for creating and sharing documents but cumbersome as a communications portal. Captovate offers a sought-after Intranet solution that might be a great fit.

Find out more about our Intranet product.

5. Artificial Intellience

It's all the buzz.

While exploring the current digital landscape, it's impossible to overlook the significant impact of artificial intelligence (AI) . Organisations are grappling with the associated risks and pitfalls. Our Director, Michael Hawkes, has been invited to share insights with various company directors, discussing the benefits and challenges of AI for businesses.

Amidst the rising demand for advice on leveraging AI to streamline business operations, our focus at Captovate for 2024 is geared towards improving information accessibility through AI.

We're actively exploring practical ways to integrate AI within the growth areas outlined above. Here are a few examples:

Crafting alternative brand positioning statements for split testing within our digital marketing content, tracking conversion rates to optimise strategies.
Transforming diagrams into voice formats, allowing for explanations using straightforward language.
Generating real-life scenarios to support the explanation of complex concepts within our elearning content
Uploading policy and process documents onto intranets and utilising AI to generate responses to employee queries

Above all, 2024 for Captovate is centred around fostering meaningful conversations for our clients. In today's complex digital world, many organisations grapple with conceptualising effective ways to deliver their needs. Reach out to us, and together we can turn your visions into actionable plans.

Understanding Website Hosting, Domain Registration, and Support

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 07:02:00 GMT

Empowering your online presence

In today's digital age, establishing a strong online presence is crucial for businesses and individuals alike. However, managing a website involves several essential aspects, and it can be confusing to understa n d the difference.
In this blog post, we will delve into the differences between:

Website hosting
Domain registration
Ongoing support

Your virtual home

Imagine your website as a virtual house that needs a place to live, an address for people to find it, and regular cleaning and maintenance to keep it in good shape. Let's break down this analogy to understand the concepts of website hosting, domain registration, and support:

Website Hosting: Just like a house needs physical space, your website requires virtual space to exist on the internet. Website hosting is the service that provides this space by storing your website's files and data on a server. It's like renting a plot of land to build your house. The hosting provider takes care of the technical aspects, ensuring your website is accessible to visitors around the clock.

Domain Registration: Every website needs a unique address for people to find it on the internet. This address is known as a domain name, like www.yourwebsite.com. Registering a domain is like renting a specific address for your house. You pay a fee to secure the rights to that address, allowing visitors to reach your website by typing in the domain name. Domain registration requires periodic renewal to maintain ownership of the address.

Website Support: Just like a house needs regular cleaning and maintenance, your website requires ongoing support to ensure it remains functional, secure, and up-to-date. Website support covers a range of services, including bug fixes, security updates, content updates, and general maintenance tasks. It's like hiring a professional cleaner and handyman to take care of your house. The support team helps keep your website running smoothly, fixing issues that may arise and providing assistance when needed.

Let's get into the detail:

Hosting Costs: Just as you pay for the physical space your house occupies, website hosting involves costs incurred for the services that house your website. The hosting fees cover the resources, server maintenance, bandwidth, security updates and technical support. Captovate charges a monthly hosting fee.
Domain Registration: Similar to paying rent for your house's address, domain registration involves paying for the right to use a specific domain name. The fees ensure that your website has a unique online address that visitors can use to access it. Usually domains are registered for two years. Some of our clients already have domains with other providers, and we can just point that domain to our host. Other clients have had us register it for them, we have it set to automatically renew, and we will bill you when this occurs.

IMPORTANT NOTE : scammers love using domain and hosting renewals to scam dollars from people. Do not pay invoices for renewals unless they come from us or you are certain you have registered your domain with a specific company. You are welcome to call us anytime to check.
Support and Maintenance Costs: Like the expenses associated with cleaning and maintaining your house, website support covers the costs of keeping your website in good shape. See below for what might be covered in a support pack.

Captovate provides our clients with annual support packs which covers the cost of our friendly team being available within business hours via phone or our support@captovate.com.au email address.

Our support packs include

General Updates: Our team can support you in making edits and updates to ensure you keep your website up-to-date with the latest information, such as new products, services, or company announcements. Regular updates ensure that visitors find fresh and relevant content whenever they visit your site.
Graphic Design Changes: Enhance the visual appeal and branding of your website through graphic design updates. From tweaking colour schemes to creating eye-catching banners, the support team can assist in maintaining a cohesive and engaging design.
Content Management: Need help adding, editing, or formatting textual and multimedia content on your website? The support team can guide you through the process, ensuring your content is presented professionally and optimised for readability.
Improving Effectiveness: Leverage the support team's expertise to enhance your website's effectiveness. They can provide insights and recommendations on user experience, navigation, and conversion optimisation, helping you achieve your online goals.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Enhancing your website's visibility in search engine results is crucial for attracting organic traffic. The support team can assist in implementing SEO strategies, optimising meta tags, improving page load speed, and ensuring proper indexing by search engines.
Website Content Strategy: Crafting an effective content strategy is vital for engaging your audience and driving conversions. The support team can help you refine your content strategy, ensuring it aligns with your brand's messaging and resonates with your target audience.
Adding New Features and Functionality: As your business evolves, you may need to integrate new features or functionality into your website. The support team can assist in identifying suitable solutions, such as e-commerce platforms, booking systems, or social media integrations, expanding your website's capabilities.

The support team ensures that your website remains functional, secure, and visually appealing, but we are also there for you if you have little oops moments, and break something. Please don’t be shy in telling us what you did, it’s not a problem, but better that we know then us trying to find needles in haystacks.

Our support packs typically expire after 12 months, encouraging clients to actively update and maintain their websites. Regular updates ensure that your website remains dynamic and relevant, providing visitors with fresh content and an enhanced user experience. Additionally, search engines favour frequently updated websites, reindexing their pages to reflect any changes and potentially improving their visibility in search results.

We hope this helps to understand that your website hosting provides the space for your website to exist, domain registration gives you a unique online address, and ongoing support ensures your website is well-maintained and up-to-date.

Just as you invest in your physical house or work space to keep it presentable and functional, investing in website support helps you provide a positive user experience and keeps your online presence thriving.

How to Upgrade to GA4: Step by Step Guide

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 23:07:00 GMT

From July 1, Universal Analytics will stop processing. This means you will need to upgrade to GA4 to keep all of your data.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the newest version of Google's analytics platform, designed to provide deeper insights and enhance tracking capabilities. In this blog post, we'll walk you through how to upgrade to GA4, and also how to keep your historical analytics data.

How to upgrade to GA4

Login to Google Analytics
Go to GA4 Setup Assistant
Click Open connected property
Click Go to your GA property
Select Data Streams on the left hand panel
Select your stream
Select View tag instructions and follow the steps to install the tag manually
Now go back to Setup Assistant and complete the checklist to finalise your upgrade to GA4

How to save your historical data

You will also need to make sure you download any historical data you want to keep.

Go to your Universal Analytics
Select the report you want to download. Note that you will need to download these individually, so under Audience you would need to download Overview, Active Users, Audiences etc separately.
Set your date range
Click Export and select your preferred file type

Top 5 Social Media Mistakes

Fri, 02 Jun 2023 03:48:00 GMT

Social media is a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their audience, increase brand awareness, and drive traffic to their website. But in order to see success, it's important to avoid common mistakes that can hurt your organic reach and engagement. Here are the top 5 organic social media mistakes to avoid:

1. Not having a clear social media strategy

Posting without a strategy is like driving without a destination. You might reach somewhere, but it's unlikely to be where you want to be. A social media strategy should start with defining your goals. What do you want to achieve with your social media? Do you want to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, generate leads, or boost sales? Once you've identified your goals, you can then determine who your target audience is and what type of content will resonate with them. Always remember it's important to have a mix of content, so you don't oversaturate your audience with the same type of posts.

2. Focusing on quantity over quality

Posting frequently is important, but not at the cost of quality. Posting low-quality content can lead to your audience disengaging if they feel like you are bombarding them with content they aren't interested in. Instead, focus on creating high-quality content that provides value to your audience.

3. Ignoring engagement and feedback

Social media is all about engagement, so it's important to listen and respond to your audience. Ignoring comments or feedback can result in a loss of trust and decreased engagement.

4. Posting at the wrong time

Posting at the wrong time can result in your content being missed by your target audience. Make sure to research the best times to post on each social media platform to maximise your reach and engagement. We also recommend taking a look at your stats to see if there are particular days or times of the day that your audience engages with you.

5. Not analysing your data

Analysing your social media metrics is essential to understanding what's working and what's not. Without this data, you won't be able to adjust your strategy and improve your social media performance. Use analytics to identify your best-performing content, optimal posting times, and audience demographics. For example, perhaps you always thought that your core audience is women ages 25-35, but your stats show that 35-45 year olds are actually more engaged. This means you can adapt your content strategy to better serve that audience demographic.

6. Not adapting to algorithm changes

Social media algorithms are constantly changing, and these changes can have a significant impact on how content is distributed and seen by audiences. Not adapting to this can have a detrimental impact on your social media efforts, so stay up to date and adapt your strategy as needed. For example, the algorithm currently favours reels and video content over static content, so try and incorporate these where possible.

How to find good stock images

Fri, 24 Feb 2023 01:00:00 GMT

Stock imagery tips and tricks

Sourcing great stock imagery for your blog, website, or marketing materials can be a challenging task. If you get it right, stock imagery can save you money and time, and help you make a great impression on your audience.

Here are some tips to help you ace the stock image search:
1. Determine what you need
Before you start searching for stock images, it's important to know what you're looking for. Make a list of the type of images you need, including the size, colour scheme, and style. This will help you focus your search and avoid getting overwhelmed by the vast number of options available.
2. Use reputable stock image websites There are a huge number of stock image websites out there, but not all of them are created equal. To ensure that you're getting high-quality images and access to large image libraries, stick with reputable sites. These are some of our favourite free stock image libraries:

3. Keep with your brands visual style
It's always important to keep your brand in mind when sourcing stock imagery. Consider your brand colour palette, logo and overall aesthetic to ensure the images you choose complement, not detract from, your brand. This will help you to create a strong brand identity.

4. Consider the context and who your audience is

Think about who your audience is - if you're targeting people that live in Darwin, you'll want to avoid stock images that look too much like interstate locations (brick houses, big city skylines). You'll also want to steer clear of people in jackets, jumpers and other cold weather attire.

5. Avoid unauthentic images Photos that have been overly retouched or include people with artificial expressions tend to look like 'typical stock photos'. Your audience will connect with imagery that feels authentic, to focus on finding more natural looking imagery

6. Test different keywords
When searching for stock images, use a mix of keywords to help find the image you're looking for including broad keywords and also specific keywords. This will help you narrow down your search results and find the images that best fit your needs. We also recommend using the advanced search functions where possible.

7. Think outside the box
Don't be afraid to think outside the box when searching for stock images. Try searching for images that are unique and not often seen in traditional stock image libraries. This can help you stand out from the competition and create a memorable visual experience for your audience.

Upgrading Your Drupal 7 Website: The Process

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 02:28:00 GMT

Drupal 7 is now approaching its end of life, set for November 2023. This means if your website has been built in Drupal 7, your software will no longer be supported.

So what should you do next?

Technology is always evolving and changing, but the core goals of your website remain the same. Your website should:

Be easy for you to update
Secure
Tell your organisation's story
Be found on Google

1. Get in touch with us to d iscuss your options for upgrading

The first thing to do is to contact us to discuss the upgrade. We'll organise a time to sit down with you to discuss your website in more depth.

Software
We'll take a look at your website together to determine the best solution for upgrading. We also have new options for organisations like yours - if your website doesn't have complex functionality features, we may look at moving your website out of Drupal and into our agency web builder. This is a more cost effective solution, and the software is made for non technical editors, giving you more flexibility and freedom.

Information architecture and content Together we can review the information architecture of your site - this includes the pages and structure of information. Are there things that should be added, removed or reshuffled?

This is also a good opportunity to consider the visual look and feel - is it time for a visual refresh of your site? This might include organising a photoshoot to get new imagery.

We can also reflect on why people come to your website. Do they want to make a purchase, perform an action, or simply browse content? By keeping your audience's intent in mind, you can tailor your website design to better meet their needs. Let's discuss your target audience's goals, and then we can assist with creating content that will engage them.

Your ideas for your website

If you have future plans for your new website, we can help you workshop them to determine the best process for implementation.

2. Government grants

You may also be eligible for an NT Government grant to upgrade your website. We'll tell you about your options and the process of making an application.

3. We'll design and build your new website

Once we settle on a solution for upgrading, we'll start designing and building your new website. There will be opportunities for feedback along the way, and before we go live we'll also train you up on how to edit the website - but don't worry, our team will always be here to give you extra support on website editing when you need it.

Why It's Time To Upgrade Your Drupal 7 Website

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 01:19:00 GMT

End-of-Life for Drupal 7

As technology evolves, it’s important to keep your website up-to-date and running smoothly. One of the best ways to do this is by upgrading to the latest version of your content management system (CMS).
Drupal 7 is now approaching its end of life, set for November 2023. This means if your website has been built in Drupal 7, your software will no longer be supported.

So what exactly does that mean? and what are the risks of staying with Drupal 7?

1. Support and Security Updates

One of the biggest risks of staying with Drupal 7 is that it reached end-of-life (EOL) on November 28, 2021. This means that it will no longer receive official support or security updates from the Drupal community. This leaves your website vulnerable to security threats and attacks, as new security vulnerabilities may be discovered that will not be addressed by Drupal.
Without regular security updates, your website may be at risk of being hacked or compromised. This can result in sensitive information being stolen, your website being defaced, or your website being used to spread malware. By upgrading from Drupal 7, you can ensure that your website remains secure and protected against potential threats.

2. Lack of New Features and Functionality

3. Performance Issues

Long term planning

You might be asking, do I need to budget to rebuild our website every few years? In short the answer is no. A lot has changed in technology since 2011 (when Drupal 7 was launched), particularly in the area of security. This has resulted in a massive change to the infrastructure used in Drupal 8 and beyond. This means future upgrades are a more simple process, and doesn't require a full rebuild like Drupal 7 does.
In saying that you should be budgeting for annual maintenance, and a full rebuild every 5 or so years. If you think about it your organisation is likely to look different from 5 years ago - and your website is a window to your business.

Drupal 9 and 10 benefits

Here are some of our favourite features of Drupal 9 and 10:

1. Built-in layout tools

2. Mobile responsiveness

3. Built-in media library

4. Improved user experienced

How to clean up your digital life in the new year

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 05:14:00 GMT

Cleaning up your digital life is just as important as cleaning up your non-digital life. It's the photos that you took but never backed up, the apps you downloaded and never used, the daily emails you get that you're not interested in.

Start off the new year right but using this guide to de-clutter and organise your digital.

1. Clean up your email inbox and unsubscribe for from lists

Does your email inbox look a little something like this?

If you answered yes, then it's time to get your inbox a bit of attention. Even if you aren't in the thousands of unread emails, take this chance to get on top of your inbox before it gets out of control.

Delete any old emails you don't need, and unsubscribe from mailing lists you're no longer interested in. Doing this regularly helps to avoid the issue of your inbox reaching its storage capacity. You can also create folders to help you organise your emails, with titles such as banking, holidays, house, etc.

2. Give your browser a fresh start

Just like when you’re cleaning out your closet, it's important to clear out the old, outdated stuff that's taking up space in your browser. Your browser stores all kinds of random data that can slow down your browsing experience, so clearing the cache will help speed things up.
Note that clearing your cache will automatically log you out of any accounts.

3. Clean any dirt from your devices

Dust, dirt, oil, and all kinds of germs can accumulate on your devices. And it's not just the device, it's also the ports, which can damage functionality of your tech. Research the best way to clean your device and get to it, keeping in mind that you don't want residue left from things like cotton swaps or snapped toothpicks. Instead, opt for plastic cleaners (ie dental floss or foam), and also invest in some electronic wipes for your screens.

4. Back up data and photos

Don't lose all of the holiday photos you've just taken on your recent trip. Make sure your photos and data are all backed up. We always recommend using a Cloud storage system for this, but even so, backups don't always happen automatically so you should double check your backups regularly.

5. Check your cyber security

It's more important than ever to be on top of your cyber security. Here are our top tips to protect your data:

Set up a password vault - Gone are the days of keeping your passwords in the Notes app in your phone, or in the back of an old notebook. Password Vaults like OnePass and LastPass gives you a safe, secure and centralised place to store all of your passwords.
Use unique passwords - Using unique passwords decreases your risk of having multiple accounts hacked at once. Use password generator tools to help you with this.
Set up 2 factor authentication where possible - Also known as two step verification, this means that there is an extra layer of security used when accessing your account to mitigate the risk of hacks. Make a list of important accounts such as your email, health insurance and banking, and work through the list to set up two factor.

6. Uninstall unused apps

Delete all of those unnecessary, forgotten and unused apps and games you have on your phone. This gives you more storage space for things you really need, and also extends the life of your devices. Remember - you can always re-download an app in the future if you discover you need them again.

7. Refine your social media

Sick of seeing posts on your socials that you're not interested in? Now's the time to unfollow accounts and pages that you don't want to hear from anymore. This includes reviewing your Facebook friends, and unfriending that person you met once in high school 25 years ago and haven't spoken to since. A great tip going through your Facebook friends is to choose a new letter of the alphabet to go through every day.

Promoting Territory Tourism Businesses

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 04:05:00 GMT

Are you a Territory Tour ism Business looking to improve your exposure online. H ow do you stand out and make sure your products are seen by the right people?

Google Search Ads

Google Search ads are one of the most cost-effective ways to drive people to your website. Search ads allow you to get in front of people when they’re looking for something your business offers. For example, if you’re a cruise company, you want to make sure your business appears high on the search results list when someone searches for ‘boat tours Darwin’.

For us, Google Search Ads aren’t a matter of set and forget – we optimise ads each month and make adjustments as we need to, ensuring you get the best results possible.

One of the greatest things about Google Ads is that you don’t pay unless people actually click on your ad. This pay-per-click (PPC) method is the best way to ensure you’re spending your money in the right places.

Here’s an example of what a Google Search ad looks like:

The results – Can you guess when we started Google Search Ads for this client?

When we launched Google Ads in August, website views skyrocketed.

Google Search Ads

Are you currently paying to have your business advertised on an Online Travel Agency (OTA) like TripAdvisor or Booking.com?

Rather than paying a high commission to these agencies, Google Display Ads allow you to advertise on those sites and drive traffic directly to your own website, without having any agreement with the OTA.

Here’s what a Google Display Ad looks like:

Social Media Ads

If you don’t have a website, social media is a great way to get your offering out there to the right people. All you need to do is have a Facebook page for your business!

Organic posting allows you to talk to the people who are following your page, but paid campaigns give you the opportunity to get in front of people far beyond that.

If you make a post about your tourism voucher package, we can create that as a campaign and create detailed target audiences.

We have the ability to target genders, age groups, geographical locations and even interests. For example, we can target people who are interested in boat tours, fishing and bird watching.

Content

One of the most crucial aspects promoting your package is communicating your offer effectively to customers. If you’re creating a Facebook post about your package, make it easy for them to understand what you’re offering and why it’s of value.

Here’s what you need to make clear:

First things first – tell people they can use their Territory Tourism Voucher to book with you.
Explain what your customers will get – if you’ve got multiple packages, name each of them and detail what’s included.
When does the customer need to book by and what dates are available for the bookings (set date or date range)?
How they can get it – explain the process of using your Tourism Voucher as this can be confusing for some people.

What next?

If you’re keen to get started on marketing your packages, get in touch with us and we can help you figure out which avenues are best suited to you.

The Digital Evolution of Humpty Doo Barramundi

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 02:32:00 GMT

Businesses are always changing and steering in different directions. As a business owner, how do you keep up with that in the digital world?

And not only keep up, but take a hold of digital and thrive. The story of Humpty Doo Barra is one of adapting to digital change and business growth.

Established in 1993, Humpty Doo Barramundi are a family-owned and operated aquaculture business in the NT. They produce premium (we can vouch for this, it’s delicious) saltwater Barra and supply it to a bunch of Territory restaurants as well as venues all around Australia.

We’re long term friends...

We’ve been lucky enough to have had Humpty Doo Barra as a long-term client of Captovate, and watching their business grow has been an exciting process.

We built their first website over 7 years ago, and for its time it was a great success. But this year we were keen to work with the team at Humpty Doo Barra to redevelop the site and bring it into 2020.

They also used the NT Government’s Digital Solutions Grant, a part of the Business Growth Program that aims to help small businesses in the NT.

“Our initial website was used as a repository of information to create awareness of the brand and introduce people to the story of the farm ” says Tarun, co-owner and brand manager of Humpty Doo Barra.

“Our brand profile has grown over the years, and while we will always need to introduce ourselves to new audiences, we have a better idea of the information people are looking for about us,”.

Since COVID, Humpty Doo Barra have also noticed a huge consumer swing towards Australian farmed products, so it was time to make the most of that.

What we did

With Tarun’s help, we identified Humpty Doo Barra’s main audiences and used that as the foundation for building an engaging and ultimately successful new website. This meant good organisation of the information people are looking for.

Tarun also recognised that a lot of this audience are attracted to the outdoor lifestyle that comes with Barra farming and the seafood industry, so we emulated that with a strong focus on visual assets across all pages.

One of the most exciting additions to the website is a feature with mouth-watering Barra recipes and tips how to best cook fish.

The result

Humpty Doo Barra have had a great response to the new website. We also trained Tarun up on using the back end of the site to make changes, giving her more freedom with the direction of the website.

“I love the freedom I have with structuring the pages. It’s so easy to set up pages specifically for mobile if I want to retain a layout that suits a desktop page that doesn’t display well in mobile view – it allows for more room for creativity”.

“We have big plans for reaching out to our customers in new ways through our website which wasn’t possible with the old site”.

If you’d like to know how our team at Captovate can help your business grow its digital presence, or how you can make the most out of the NT Government grants , give us a call on (08) 8941 6888.

Why You Should Make Google Analytics Your Best Friend in Business

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 02:26:00 GMT

Google Analytics (GA) is a powerful tool that you can use to track, monitor and ultimately improve your business.

Imagine you’ve just launched a website for your business. It looks great and you’re happy with the final design of the site and the content throughout.

But suddenly it’s 12 weeks in and you don’t seem to be getting any of the results you had hoped for. What now?

That’s where Google Analytics comes in. GA is a service provided by Google which is built with user behaviour tracking in mind. It aims to help you steer your business in the right direction online.

Dimensions & Metrics

The first thing you’ll need to understand about GA is metrics and dimensions, which is what every analytics report is made up of.

Metrics are any kind of quantitative data, i.e. the amount of time spent on a page or percentage of unique visitors.

Dimensions are qualitative data and are used to describe something you’re tracking with words, i.e. a user’s location or the browser they’re using.

The idea is that you can analyse metrics with dimensions to get detailed info about your business. For example, you could compare the average amount of time spent on your site between mobile and desktop users.

Here are the sections in GA that matter most to businesses, and just some of the data you can access…

Audience

Acquisition

Behaviour

Traffic – how many users have been on your site
Bounce rate – % of users who enter the site and then leave without visiting other pages
Average time spent on pages
Unique page views – how many times individuals users have viewed a page on your site
Behaviour flow – the path users take when entering your site

What % of visitors complete an action or goal on your site (This can be signing up to an email newsletter, buying a product or simply downloading a video. You get to choose what counts as a conversion!)

Conversions

What % of visitors complete an action or goal on your site (This can be signing up to an email newsletter, buying a product or simply downloading a video. You get to choose what counts as a conversion!)

So, what now?

There’s a lot you can do with the data from Google Analytics. Here are some examples of how you could turn that data into actions…

If you can see that most of your visitors are coming to your website from Facebook, you could target your advertising efforts towards that platform because you know it’s effective.

If your conversion rate is low but site traffic is high, you could rethink your call-to-action (CTA) buttons and where they are placed on your website. Or perhaps you could review the content on your site.

In terms of device type, if analytics tells you that 80% of your visitors are accessing your site from mobile devices, you can make sure that your website is mobile responsive.

GA can be used as the foundation for achieving your business goals by turning your insights from analytics into actions.

But, it’s important to remember to keeping checking in with analytics see how those changes are impacting your site. You might not get it right the first time, but the joy of GA is being able to monitor your progress to keep improving.

How to get noticed with search ads

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 02:08:00 GMT

What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

SEM is a simple and effective way to transform your business – if done right. Basically, you have the chance of getting your ad in the prime spot at the top of the page for highly relevant audiences to see.

Sounds good, right? SEM allows you to but bids on keywords that people might type into a search engine.

This is a more targeted way of advertising because your ad will only be shown to people who have already expressed interest in the type of product or service you’re offering. In other words, you won’t be showing your ad about plumbing to people who are searching the web for baby accessories.

SEM is also known as pay-per-click advertising because advertisers will only pay when a user clicks on their ad. So no clicks = no cost. You’re probably starting to see why SEM can good for your business.

The SEM Auction Explained

The SEM auction determines whether or not your ad will show up in search, and if it does, what position it will be on the page.

Two factors determine how you will go in an SEM auction; bid and relevance.

Your bid is measured in terms of your max CPC (cost-per-click), which is the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for a click on your ad.

Relevance is rated from 1-10, and this is what search engines call your quality score. So, you might have a higher bid on a keyword than a competitor, but if their ad has a higher quality score, they could still win. This is a good incentive to try and make your ads and website content as relevant as possible.

How to make a good keyword

The first thing to remember is that a keyword doesn’t have to be a single word, it can be a phrase, too.

Here are 3 things to keep in mind when choosing keywords…

Relevance – Your keywords need to be relevant to what you’re offering. If you have a Darwin catering company that only does catering for weddings, “Darwin wedding catering” will be far more relevant than just “Darwin catering”.

Traffic – Make sure people are actually likely to search for your keywords. Don’t make them too wordy or obscure. Remember, it’s real people you’re targeting here.

Competitors – Unfortunately, if a keyword is highly relevant and has strong traffic, it’s likely that your competitors will be using it too. It’s good to consider this when choosing keywords. The ultimate recipe for a good keyword is one that has high relevance and traffic, but low competition.

We know this can be easier said than done, but you can always monitor how your keywords are going and make changes as you need to.

If you’d like to know more about how Captovate can help you with digital marketing or getting the most out of google ads, call us on (08) 8941 6888.

Affordable Plumbing and the Digital Solutions Grant

Tue, 01 Sep 2020 02:03:00 GMT

What was the goal?

Affordable Plumbing approached us to design them a website that showcased what they do in a modern and easy to navigate way. They had the help of the NT Government’s digital solutions grant to do this.

The digital solutions grant is a part of the Business Growth Program and gives assistance to small businesses for website redesign, digital marketing and social media plans, digital coaching and upskilling.

Michelle from Affordable Plumbing said creating a new website was crucial if they wanted to thrive as a business.

“We wanted to increase traffic to our website and attract new customers”

“To do this, we needed our website to look more professional”.

How we designed the website

We built 3 landing pages; Home, Services and Contact Us. The goal was to keep the site simple and clearly define the services on offer.

Including customer testimonials on the homepage helps to build trust and give a business credibility, so that’s what we did with Affordable. We also used the ethos of ‘Local, Value and Quality’ to communicate what Affordable Plumbing is all about.

Strategic calls-to-action (CTAs) are an important part of any website. CTAs guide the user towards what to do next and play a big part in conversion. So, we embedded a quote form, a ‘Request a Service’ button and ‘Call Now’ button as CTAs for Affordable Plumbing. Without these, users struggle to know what step to take next.

One of the main draw points of this project for Michelle was getting a local business like Captovate involved. This meant ease of communication and the assurance that we understand the Territory landscape and needs.

“The final website is eye-catching and to the point. It’s exactly what we envisioned at the outset”.

If you’d like to know how we can help your business grow its digital presence or how you can make the most of the Business Growth Program , call us on (08) 8941 6888.

Two Birds, One Captovate Shaped Stone

Fri, 21 Aug 2020 02:01:00 GMT

No matter the question, improving your digital presence on a single platform is never the answer.

Saffrron have made some big changes with us over the last few months. They’ve jumped on board with Deliverish , our local online ordering platform, and we’ve also built them a brand new website. These are two moves that will result in good business outcomes.

Saffrron’s owner and head chef, Sel, said these changes have been pivotal in helping put his business in the healthiest position yet.

The website

Sel used the NTG Digital Solutions Grant for the website redesign. The small business growth program offers financial assistance for business owners wanting to grow their digital presence, improve functionality and manage digital media content.

Sel worked alongside Captovate to guide the new website. Engaging our clients in the design and content process of what we do is crucial to make sure we’re delivering the right story in the right way.

As a small business, Saffrron’s ethos is about community, sustainability and staying local. This was the brand story we wanted to communicate with the new website.

“Our sustainability philosophy is pretty simple really – be true to who we are, do the best we can to create a positive impact for our community, and leave things in the best possible shape for the generations to come. Without our community and without our natural environment, there is no ‘us’ in the equation at all”.

Online ordering with Deliverish

Online ordering is indispensable for modern restaurants and Deliverish was the obvious solution for Sel. Deliverish streamlines Saffrron’s online ordering for $150 per month and 30c per order, giving Sel and his team more time to focus on the important stuff – making Darwin mouth-watering Indian food!

“When the COVID restrictions started, we needed online ordering if we were going to survive,” says Sel.

“As a small business owner, it felt unfair that in a time of hardship UberEats could be taking up to 30% commission from us”.

Helping small business owners like Sel adapt and grow is what makes our job so rewarding. If you’d like to know more about how we can help your business, call us on (08) 8941 6888.

Giving Rise PC a New Digital Perspective

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 00:55:00 GMT

The Story of Rise PC

Steve and Anna have lived in Darwin for over 12 years. Like many, they came up here for 3 months, fell in love with our renowned tropical lifestyle and never left.

Thinking outside the box is a pivotal part of being innovative in business. It was Steve’s 10 years of experience working on remote construction projects in Northern Australia that inspired him to look for new technologies that could make construction projects safer, more efficient and cost-effective. A few years ago, Steve bought a drone and Rise PC was born.

“We’ve evolved from a business that did drone roof inspection to a construction consultancy that provides multiple technologies (drone, 3D scanning, remote camera monitoring and underwater ROVs) to an extensive range of clients”.

The challenges they’ve faced

Creating brand awareness is a crucial step to achieving marketing goals. By making people more aware of your brand, you can drive relevant audiences to recognise and recall your business. As Rise have shown us, the brand story of a business naturally evolves over time so keeping up with that is important.

“One of our biggest challenges has been a lack of awareness about the innovative technologies we use and how we apply them to construction projects. We only had basic marketing collateral and knew that we needed to develop and increase our digital presence with a dynamic, professional website that reflected our innovative services”.

What Captovate have done

Steve and Anna used the NT Government’s Digital Solutions Grant to build the new website. This is a part of the NTG’s small business program.

Captovate built a website that reflects the unique scope of what Rise do. Despite the technical complexity of being a project consultancy company, keeping the website simple with just 4 landing pages (Home, About Us, Our Services and Our Process) made sure that the information is clear and user-friendly.

One of our key goals was to make clear links between the technologies Rise use and how they’re applied to construction projects. We integrated Youtube videos into the homepage to give potential clients evidence of what Rise do, avoiding blocks of boring and unnecessary text that are guaranteed to lose the audience’s attention in about 0.5 seconds.

“Working closely with Karen was an incredibly rewarding experience as it drove us to develop new content, to redefine our services and to refine our case studies. It was an opportunity for us to develop our valuable video content which is a key way in which we engage and educate about how our technology can benefit construction projects”.

“The final website is more than we could have wished for and truly represents our business”.

If you’d like to know how we can help your business grow its digital presence or how you can make the most of the NTG’s Business Growth Program , call us on (08) 8941 6888.

How NT Government Grants have helped The Rugby Shop

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 00:47:00 GMT

At Captovate, we know that adapting to the changing economic environment is hugely important. And getting your business online is one of the best ways to do that.

We’ve helped The Rugby Shop adapt to the digital world with the launch of a revitalised website.

Owners Bruce and Margaret have used both the IT Solutions Grant and Digital Solutions Grant to help with the

process. Shopify was the e-commerce platform we used to get The Rugby Shop online. We’ve also up-skilled their staff in using the new Vend POS system, making sure everyone is familiar with the new way of doing sales.

Here’s 3 reasons why e-commerce is good for your business…

It’s more convenient

COVID-19 has proven to us that the face-to-face shopping experience is changing now more than ever. E-Commerce lets customers shop anywhere at any time while giving business owners the assurance of knowing that their products can still be seen and bought, even without a physical shop…

Increase your reach

Easy access is important to everyone these days. People want to be able to browse and buy with next to no effort, but still have an abundance of products available to them. E-Commerce gives businesses a chance to reach bigger audiences and make their brand visible to people all over the world. E-Commerce has no borders!

It’s cheap

The benefits of an e-commerce platform like Shopify far outweigh any costs – but even then, it’s an extremely affordable way to get your business online.

If you want to know more about how you can adapt like The Rugby Shop, call us on 08 8941 6888.

Deliverish: Helping the Darwin Hospitality Community

Thu, 30 Jul 2020 00:44:00 GMT

What’s the problem?

Restaurants everywhere are fighting to stay afloat. Big corporations like UberEats are charging up to 35% commission when in the middle of a global pandemic, restaurants are already struggling. This is the reality for many Darwin business owners.

What we’ve done to help

Captovate listened to the voices of these business owners and spearheaded the creation of Deliverish: an online ordering platform with the ethos of helping the Darwin hospitality community. We wanted to be innovative in our approach to staying local, and this is how we would do it.

What’s so good about it?

Deliverish offers delivery, pick-up and also has a feature that allows you to book a table if you want to eat in at a restaurant.

The platform streamlines online ordering in a way that’s affordable for businesses, charging $150 a month and 30c per order with none of those notorious hidden fees. The 30c goes towards marketing to create local awareness of Deliverish, which we know is pretty important. At Captovate we don’t believe in lock-in contracts, so you can cancel your account at any time.

Not only is Deliverish a viable alternative to your mainstream ordering platforms, but we’ve designed it with the goal of being user friendly. As a restaurant owner, you can easily manage settings, menus, orders and reservations on your own, but we also offer first-class customer support if needed. You can also explore all your data, from orders and bookings to customer emails. This can help you to improve your restaurant, because as we know, data is wealth!

Get in contact with us if you’d like to know more about Deliverish or get your business involved, and help us keep money in the pockets of Territorians.

Why Google My Business Should be Important to You

Wed, 29 Jul 2020 00:41:00 GMT

Did you know that businesses that show up on Google’s local 3-pack listing receive a 700% boost in clicks over businesses that don’t?

One way to dramatically increase your chances of being a part of that exclusive 3-pack is to have an optimised Google My Business (GMB) listing.

The benefits of GMB are endless. GMB is crucial for local SEO, making it hugely important for you to boost your business’ local presence online and help you stay relevant. Google has reported that 46% of all searches have local intent, proving the need to take advantage of this free-to-use platform.

Increase your online visitors

The most obvious benefit of a GMB listing is more views and more visitors, leading to more sales. You’ll appear higher in search results and also show up in Google Maps searches, giving people the ability to see your businesses’ proximity to their location to encourage them to pay you a visit.

Getting online reviews

Consumers are heavily influenced by online reviews when searching for a local business. Naturally, positive reviews will result in more attraction to your business and will help create a sense of trust in your brand. With GMB, customers can leave honest feedback about your business for future customers to see.

This also acts as a forum for you as a business owner to think about what you’re doing right and what you could be doing better; constant improvement is everything! Reviews will help to generate a star rating next to your business on Google, allowing users to quickly assess what they’re looking for.

How hard is your GMB working for you?

When thinking about improvement, one of the best ways to do this is to know more about your customers. GMB includes an ‘Insights’ section which gives you access to a bunch of valuable information that will help you learn more about your customer’s behaviour. You’ll be able to see how many views your listing has had, how and where people find your listing, how they respond once they’ve found it and any other interactions they have.

How we can help

To keep your business relevant in the age of SEO, having a GMB listing is a must. The platform is designed to be easy to use, giving users the freedom to make changes to their business info as they need. At Captovate, we also offer a package to help you optimise your listing so that your business comes up not only for your business name but also in time for more generic searches.

The price of the package is $300 inc. GST. The optimisation includes optimised photos, descriptions, a services catalog and a Q & A section. There are several other things that we do to make it all work but we’d call that our secret recipe.

If you have any questions or just want to talk about how this will help your business, you can call us on 08 89416888 and we’ll be happy to answer any questions about our GMB optimisation product.

We look forward to helping your business thrive online.

Is your website visitation down this month?

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 00:36:00 GMT

Google Algorithm updates might be the answer

In November, Google had several updates to its search algorithms which might have affected the ranking of your website.

What are algorithms and how do they affect search results?

According to statista.com , there are 1.72 billion websites in the world wide web (As of October 2019), yes that’s right, billions with a B!

In order to filter through and provide users with websites that are relevant to their search, search engines use mathematical instructions that help computers process this information and provide the user with the right results.

Algorithms use things such as keywords as well as other factors like the quality of the content and the speed of the site. Google collects all these results and ranks them to display them on Google’s search engine results page (SERP).

This year, Google modified the algorithms every month and many web owners are finding it challenging to keep up to date with SEO best practices.

The importance of SEO

Implementing Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) good practice like adding keywords to titles or using subheadings, is very important to ensure a good ranking on the search results page.

Why does Google update the algorithms?

Google regularly makes changes and updates the algorithms to improve the accuracy of the search results. The changes made this month are intended to make search results more useful for users and remove sites that use manipulative tactics to boost their search results.

Another addition this year was the rollout of a new system called Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT).

Introducing BERT

Some websites have suffered a 40% loss in traffic as a result of the changes implemented. Google’s Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst, John Muller, assure website owners that BERT is unlikely the cause of the decline on Traffic.

“Maybe first of all, this would not be from BERT. The BERT changes are particularly about understanding user queries better and around being able to understand text better in general.

So it’s not that we would say that suddenly your page is less relevant. But rather with BERT we would try to understand does this question that someone is asking us, does it match this website best. And usually that’s for more complicated questions.

The thing to keep in mind is that we make changes all the time. We’ve made several core algorithm changes as well over the… last month or so, which kind of overlap with the rollout of BERT as well. “

Muller believes that the decline in traffic is more likely due to other core changes that were made at the same time that BERT was being rolled out.

What can I do to improve my Google Search Rankings again?

Muller recommended that web owners should focus their attention on overall SEO good practice and high-quality content rather than purely technical aspects of SEO. He also recommended reading Google’s guidance on core algorithm updates.

If your website has experienced a decline in traffic recently and can’t figure out why; we got you covered.

Our team of highly skilled SEO experts can help you audit your website and offer you some advice on improving your overall user experience to help you improve your search rankings.

Should you Pay for LinkedIn?

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 00:28:00 GMT

What are the Benefits of Paid Accounts?

Here is our summary of the different pricing models for LinkedIn, to help you make your decision on whether it is worth paying for. This information is true and correct s per the LinkedIn website in October 2019

Premium Career: $39.99* / month when billed annually
Premium Business: $54.99* / month when billed annually
Sales Navigator Professional: $74.99* / month when billed annually
Recruiter Lite: $129.99* / month when billed annually

*Includes GST – price is in AUD

Free version

Build your professional identity on the web
Build and maintain a large trusted professional network
Find and reconnect with colleagues and classmates
Request and provide recommendations
Search for and view profiles of other LinkedIn members
Receive unlimited InMail messages
Save up to three searches and get weekly alerts on those searches

Premium Career – For an individual looking for jobs

3 InMail messages per month to recruiters (which can be sent to any LinkedIn user, regardless of whether you’re connected)
See who’s viewed your profile in the last 90 days (not just the last 5)
Display at the top of recruiters’ applicant lists, so you stand out to recruiters
See how you compare to other candidates
Get access to LinkedIn’s online video courses
Get the most in-demand business, tech and creative skills taught by industry experts with LinkedIn Learning

Premium Business – For professional networking

15 InMail messages per month (which can be sent to any LinkedIn user, regardless of whether you’re connected)
See who’s viewed your profile in the last 90 days and how they found you
View any profile (up to 3rd degree connections)
Business Insights – Get exclusive insights into public and private companies on LinkedIn. Make informed business decisions by keeping tabs on competitors, market leaders, and up-and-comers. You can also break down growth and hiring trends by function to determine where companies are investing resources
Get access to LinkedIn’s online video courses from industry experts

Sales Navigator Professional – For business development

All the benefits of Premium Career plus
20 InMail messages per month (which can be sent to any LinkedIn user, regardless of whether you’re connected)
See what prospects have been interested in you over the last 90 days
Access LinkedIn’s Sales Insights – Get insights on your accounts and leads, like job changes, company growth, and more
Leads, accounts, and key contacts – Save people and accounts who are important to you to see their updates, mentions, and more on your Sales Navigator homepage
Lead recommendations and saved leads, quickly discover the right people and save them to stay up to date
Advanced Search with Lead Builder – Narrow your list of prospects with an extensive list of search criteria
Extended network access – View profiles and activity for 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree connections

Recruiter Lite – For large scale recruiters and HR departments

All the benefits of Premium Career plus
30 InMail messages per month including templates (which can be sent to any LinkedIn user, regardless of whether you’re connected)
See who’s viewed your profile in the last 90 days (not just the last 5)
Advanced search – unlimited visibility of your extended network
Smart suggestions allows you to zero in on ideal candidates using dynamic suggestions
View unlimited profiles in your extended network (up to 3rd-degree connections)
Automatic candidate tracking – organise your talent pool by placing candidates into Projects, setting reminders to follow up, and having a dedicated holding space for profiles that interest you
Integrated hiring
Recruiting-specific design enhanced for recruiting

Visually influence your customers with the power of Pinterest

Sun, 06 Oct 2019 00:21:00 GMT

When you think social media marketing, you usually assume it is in reference to Facebook and LinkedIn. However, there are other platforms that serve as effective platforms for digital advertising. Pinterest is one we have been getting some great results from lately. Did you know every month there are more than 7 million unique visitors in Australia actively using Pinterest to get creative inspiration?

People come to Pinterest to plan. From bigger life moments such as planning a dream holiday or a special celebration to smaller, everyday moments such as a new recipe to cook for dinner, or deciding on the right outfit for the races or graduation.

Get noticed through imagery

Pinterest is a great way for your business to get noticed as it’s a simple tool that engages customers effectively. Its success is due to its highly visual functionality. If you have a business that’s really visual then Pinterest is a fantastic way of driving traffic to your website.

Pinterest is an ideal place for the tourism industry to advertise because they can reach their audience early in their path to travel planning. This year we have been working with Tourism NT to create a visual dialogue in Pinterest around weddings in the Northern Territory. We have had huge success from this campaign. Tourism content is great to work with as it’s highly visual with stunning images of wedding ceremonies in unique Territory locations including the bush, dessert, national parks and romantic beach settings.

Couples planning their wedding want to be able to find things they are interested in from flowers, to hair styles, to wedding dresses and locations. Pinterest allows users to Pin an image to their Board which means they can keep the image and can always come back to it. We have had brides tell us that using Pinterest gave them a huge amount of inspiration, and allowed them to create real insight into the type of styling and imagery they wanted to achieve on their special day.

Increase traffic to your website

As a business you can leverage off this. Your business can use sponsored and organic Pins to increase traffic to your website as users click through from the image to your site.

The Pins can have text (unlike sponsored Facebook posts). This means there are no rules around it, so you can have as much or as little text as you like. Below we have provided examples of what we think is an ideal amount of text.

To advertise You do need to have a business account for paid advertising, which you will need to verify against your website, but it’s a very simple process.

Our key take-home messages when using Pinterest are:

Vertical Pins look the best
Use great quality images that are eye catching
Add text to your image – this will make it stand out more
Provide a strong call to action – this should match what’s on your webpage
Use paid and organic content – a combination of both is best.

Digital marketing into the Shenzhen and the Greater Bay Area

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 23:52:00 GMT

Shenzhen and the Greater Bay Area opportunities, challenges and next steps.

There is no secret that China is Australia’s most important trading partner. The Northern Territory is in a prime position to reap the benefits of this dynamic trading partnership due to our close geographical proximity.

In addition, direct flights to Shenzhen should help accelerate trading between the Territory and China’s economic engine known as the Greater Bay Area.

The Greater Bay Area (GBA) is part of a very ambitious Chinese initiative to reshape the historical Pearl River Delta which includes Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen and other cities in Guangdong province into China’s Silicon Valley.

For Northern Territory businesses it will represent the ability to trade with a market of more than 68 million people with a GDP output of US$1.4 trillion (Austrade, 2018).

As with any ambitious plan, GBA has a number of challenges to overcome. Perhaps the biggest challenge will be integrating the two autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau which have different political, tax and legal systems which could complicate its potential growth.

Despite some of its logistical and political challenges what makes GBA so unique is that unlike the U.S. Silicon Valley which bases most of its growth from digital technologies, GBA has a very diversified economy. Twenty of the world’s top 500 companies are based there and include different industries like auto-manufacturing, electronics, real estate, and finance as well as digital technologies.

Some of the most important technology companies like Tencent, ZTE and Huawei are headquartered in Shenzhen. Hong Kong is one of the most important financial centres in the Eastern hemisphere and, Macau generates three times the gambling revenue when compared to Las Vegas making it the most important gambling centre in the world.

This diversity has helped companies in the region to develop new technologies and products that are shaping the future such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of things.

This allows them to compete in a global market in other sectors and makes it a very attractive place to do business and trade.

Who can benefit?

Businesses in all sectors of the Northern Territory’s economy can benefit from trading with the Greater Bay Area. The mining sector can benefit by exporting minerals to cities like Shenzhen, Zhuhai or Foshan for manufacturing, retailers can benefit from emerging e-commerce platforms, and the interest in China for Australian goods will continue to grow as people’s purchasing power increases.

Another area that could benefit is tourism, as direct flights will bring people looking to do business in the Territory but also explore all that the Territory has to offer.

International Education could benefit as the demand for talented and skilled workers with cross-cultural experience grows in the GBA. Exchange of people and ideas could also benefit the Territory in the form of technology startups and new services aimed at facilitating two-way trading between both regions.

Social media for business in China

One way for businesses to develop a presence in the region is by using social media. This is another area in which the one country two systems administrative regime creates some interesting challenges.

Firstly, most western social media channels such as Facebook are blocked in China. However, they are available in Hong Kong, in fact, 70% of internet users in Hong Kong are on Facebook, WhatsApp is also quite popular with 74% uptake.

Hong Kong as a financial hub tends to be more open to outside influences, Hong Kongers tend to be more cosmopolitan, English literacy is higher and their culture has been westernised through their colonial past.

However, this also means that competition for market share is higher and targeting through Facebook or Google advertising will require significant investment.

As mainland China plans to integrate Hong Kong further into the Chinese economy, the traffic of people from the mainland and the cultural influences have also helped usher the popularity of Chinese social media platforms.

Therefore, social media platforms such as WeChat (Chinese: 微信; pinyin: Wēixìn; literally: ‘micro-message’) are part of the daily life of people on both sides of the Pearl River Delta.

WeChat: China’s biggest Social Media Network

WeChat can be described as WhatsApp plus Facebook on steroids. In China, the platform is used for more than connecting with friends and family.

WeChat can be used for purchasing goods and services through WeChat Pay, this payment method can be found everywhere in China, even some small remote street stalls can offer this type of payment method.

A business can also set up an official page on WeChat which functions similarly to a Facebook page. However, to set up an official page you will need to set up a legal company in China.

If you wish to interact with existing customers on WeChat you can open a personal account, and you can use the name of your business but the drawback is that WeChat accounts are attached to the person that created it and are not transferable.

Another interesting dynamic in China is that QR codes are widely used. If you have a WeChat account, you can add your page or profile QR code to your website or collateral materials like your business card or banner to engage with your customers.

TikTok: China’s first global social media network

Another growing Chinese social media platform that is taking hold in the west is TikTok (Douyin in Chinese: 抖音). This social media app is similar to what Vine used to be, people create short videos with music and a lot of filters and speeds to match the video to the music.

In February 2019 TikTok exceeded one billion installs from the App store and Google Play.

Experts regard TikTok as the social media for Gen Z or “the Instagram for the mobile video age” .

Tik Tok is still a relatively new platform that is still growing worldwide and fairly untouched by advertisers in the west which makes it a very attractive option for brands looking to target to younger audiences.

Also, it is important to know that the western version of the app and the one used in China are different. However, TikTok is growing globally and businesses such as education providers can leverage its popularity with young people to promote their services among potential customers that are already in Australia or other parts of the world.

Search engine advertising in China

Google is also blocked in Mainland China. However, Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising is available through China’s largest search engine, Bai du (Chinese: 百度; pinyin: Bǎidù). Potential advertisers need to be aware that the process to open an ad account in Bai du is a lot more complicated than a Google ad account.

There are only two ways to set it up, through one of Bai du’s offices in Beijing or Shanghai which is time-consuming and complicated or through a Bai du partner agency.

Things to consider before advertising in China

It is also important to consider that tariffs and regulations might be different between the autonomous regions of China and the mainland, therefore it is paramount to research your target market to make sure that your product is adequate and to choose the right social media channel and message.

To learn more about how to benefit from selling your goods or services online stay connected to our OBM page and Captovate’s Facebook page

Selling Online Overseas – Austrade insights

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 23:45:00 GMT

“most of the fundamental elements of traditional export models are still relevant in the online space.”

Although businesses without an online exporting strategy can benefit from online sales, if they wish to continue to grow in the online space, they ought to invest in planning an online strategy.

It is important to note that most of the fundamental elements of traditional export models are still relevant in the online space. Understanding customers, researching partners and suppliers, managing risks and having reliable freight all remain crucial to the success of an online exporting business.

In order to engage in exporting online , businesses will need a clear brand and sales message that appeals to the target market(s) that is engaging and differentiates the business from the competition.

e- Commerce advantages

1. Selling online provides great opportunities for businesses both big and small to expand beyond their physical location and engage with a much larger audience.

2. Online shopping is quickly becoming an everyday activity for people of all ages as technologies and logistics improve to make it more convenient and affordable for customers.

3. Opportunities for small businesses to compete in more niche markets and grow their business.

4. In 2016, global online sales were worth US$1.9 trillion or 8.7 per cent of total global retail sales. By 2020, global online sales are projected to reach US$4.1 trillion or 14.6 per cent of total global retail sales (Austrade).

5. The requirements and infrastructure to set up an online business can be less cumbersome than more traditional export channels.

6. It presents good opportunities for the smallest of producers to get in front of potential customers directly without the need of third parties which means better returns.

Online export models

In traditional export models, producers engage other businesses (B2B) such as distributors, wholesalers or retail stores. This is the point in which the seller loses control over how their product is marketed, where it’s sold and how it’s priced.

Online exporting allow businesses more control over their product or service. Businesses can continue to market their product through a B2B model using distributors. For example, engaging a platform like Amazon or Ali Baba or Ebay in which the business sells its products through their platform and the distributor receives the order and takes a commission from the transaction.

Selling directly to consumers

Businesses also have the option of selling directly to the consumer through their own distribution channels. An example of this is a cosmetic store that exports products through their online store on their website. This has a higher level of involvement, knowledge and infrastructure.

Businesses wishing to export products through their own channels will need to have a website, sales representatives with expertise on regulations on how to transport the product, and understand the taxes and regulations.

Positioning your website for an international audience

Having a website that is easy to navigate, appeals to customers and is easy to understand for overseas audiences will help you attract potential customers.

Make sure that your products are shown in the best light by using high quality engaging images and provide clear product descriptions with as much detail as possible.

You need to understand your audience and the potential audiences you wish to target and provide a seamless online shopping experience tailored to your audience. For example, many Chinese customers can make purchases using payment gateways such as WeChat Pay or Alipay, having these options available on your website will go a long way to make the shopping experience more familiar for your customers.

Using online channels to promote your Business overseas

Lastly, you need to continue to research and observe trends in your target market(s) to maintain a competitive edge.

For example, most western social media platforms are banned in China and they have developed unique platforms that catered for the Chinese market like Wechat or Weibo.

They also have their on search engines like Bai du and their own e-commerce platforms like Ali Baba.

Here are the top ten digital marketing keywords you need to know.

Sun, 29 Sep 2019 23:41:00 GMT

01 Organic reach

the number of people who have seen your post through unpaid distribution. The benefit of organic reach is that you can publish posts for free.

02 Engagement rates

is a metric that measures the level of engagement that a piece of created content is receiving from an audience. It shows how much people interact with the content. Factors that influence engagement include users’ comments, shares, likes, clicks, views and when your audience clicks ‘read more’.

03 Boost vs Ads

while they both mean paid advertising on Facebook, you can do more in Ads than you can when Boosting.

You boost via the blue boost button on your page’s post and you can define:

Who you want to reach
Your maximum budget
How long you want to run your ad

With Ads , you go via the Ads Manager function and you can:

Choose where your ads are going to display – i.e Instagram, or mobile versus desktop
Use specific ad objectives
Have creative control, which means you are not restricted by what you post on the feed
Use advance targeting capabilities.

04 Retargeting

sending digital ads to people who have already engaged with your digital content. This could be that they visited your website and didn’t buy, or only watched half of your social video. Based on a particular behaviour we retarget them with specific paid content.

05 CTR

stands for click-through rate : a metric that measures the number of clicks advertisers receive on their ads per number of impressions.

06 CTA

stands for call-to-action which is an image, button or line of text that directs your visitors, leads, and customers to take action

07 Social Pixel

is code that you place on your website. It collects data that helps you track conversions on your website from your digital ads. It helps to build targeted audiences for future ads, and remarket to people who have already taken some kind of action on your website.

08 PPC

stands for pay-per-click , a model of digital marketing where advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. It’s a way of buying visits to your site, rather than attempting to “earn” those visits organically. Search engine advertising is one of the most popular forms of PPC.

09 EDM

stands for Electronic Direct Mail and these are generally used by businesses to build brand loyalty or drive sales. An EDM campaign in its simplest form is focused on email send-outs or ‘blasts’ via electronic newsletter software. (Note: not using EDM software can make you in breach of spam laws, as you are required to allow someone to opt out/unsubscribe).

10 SEO

stands for Search Engine Optimisation which is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic by increasing the visibility of a website or a web page. It is influenced by: being mobile responsive, website speed, content, and your domain references.

Trigger Marketing – Automating actions based on your customers interaction.

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 06:24:00 GMT

“Digital marketing is so time consuming” is a complaint we hear often, and it’s true.

However one of the easiest ways to ensure you are getting the best returns for your digital marketing is setting up automations based on triggers. It takes the time out of having to recreate the wheel each time.

Customers come into your business via various doors. It might be the front door, or via your website or social media. More often than not the action you want them to take is the same one. By thinking through the various touch points within your business you can map out the process you want them to go through, and then have it run in the background.

There are various Trigger paths you might establish

The Always On

These are those triggers that are instigated by your audience actions.

As an example:

You go to a website and see a lovely pair of red shoes. You realise you need to wait a couple of days for your pay to come in, so don’t buy.

Two days later those same pair of red shoes show up in your social feed. Feeling it is karma and you are just meant to have those shoes, so you purchase them. (shh.. We know when you purchase a product based on the check-out page you are sent to after you have brought).

But hey, the buying circle isn’t complete. You need a new bag to go with those shoes. So the next evening, your social feed just happens to feature a red bag.. The perfect match for those shoes. The cycle can be endless.

These are all triggers that can happen everytime someone new looks at those red shoes.

Location based

Another type of trigger can be based on when your customer physically comes into a space. It could be your own shop as an example. We can set a trigger for a social post to be pushed after the GPS identifies that they have been in your vicinity.

Another option though could be when they are passing through. A simple example here is using the social media option to send a sponsored post to someone who is ‘travelling through’ a location. This is great for tourism as it separates those social media users who live in the location, verse travellers.

Campaign

Then there is always those special campaigns. Christmas, new products or services, offers etc. The best method here is to use your mailing list, as they are qualified leads, which means they already have a relationship with you.

The triggers associated here can be actions that occur based on your audience engagement with an email newsletter. Some examples can be, if they click a link, send them a post on Facebook. If they don’t click, send them a different version of the newsletter a week later, with a different headline and call to action.

OFFER

Lining up your digital ducks

Do you want to set up your own marketing triggers?

We have created our own “digital duck diagnostic”, which helps us to work through what triggers best suit your audience.

We ask a series of questions, and then identify what content is required.

We have a special offer. Meet with our team and we will provide you a roadmap for your trigger advertising.

$220 includes

1 hour consultation

Your personalised “digital duck diagnostic”

A digital review of your current profiles and website.

*doesn’t include creating social content or ad spend.

The Rule of 7

Tue, 24 Sep 2019 23:33:00 GMT

There is a rule in marketing that a person needs to be exposed to your business at least 7 times before they buy.

The mistake people make in digital marketing is they make a Facebook post and wait.. What! Where are the customers??

Just like face to face, customers need to build a relationship with a business before they buy.

That doesn’t mean they need to see the same post 7 times…. now that is just spam.

Use different platforms, create different types of content, and give a different value offer.

Platforms

Connect with your custom via different platforms.

Social platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin – but don’t use the same content for all of them, all at once.

– Facebook posts should contain links to your website where possible. The content can be longer and contain more information. Use a video when you can on Facebook.

– Instagram is about an awesome imagery. If you don’t have a good image, then look to use Stories, where the visuals can be more raw.

– With LinkedIn you need to be personally connected to the audience for them to see the content. LinkedIn posts should contain professional value for your audience.

Newsletters – these actually convert higher than social media, because for someone to be on your mailing list they have already engaged with you. They have either signed up via your website, given you their email address personally or brought into a previous campaign.

Different types of content

Did you know different types of social content get you better engagement.

Instant Experiences gain 40% more engagement than a standard post

Carousels posts gain 30% more engagement than a standard post

Videos gain 50% more engagement than an image post.

Different value offer

You can say the same thing, but in different ways to capture people’s attention.

Consider the below – they all say ‘we sell coconut milk” but in different ways. They also provide value, rather than billboarding they have provided information that is of use to someone. This would encourage the user to save your content, share or tag it, plus it is more memorable.

Moving your council website from Unity to Squiz Matrix

Thu, 22 Aug 2019 05:53:00 GMT

Sure, launching a new website mightn’t be as thrilling as boarding a plane to a new home in a foreign land. But just as migrating country requires careful planning – so too does migrating your website.

If you are planning a website migration, a well thought out plan and structure will lessen the pain with your residents and ratepayers, staff and of course impact on rankings.

Captovate has been working with South Australian Councils in their shift from Unity to the Squiz Matrix content management system.

1. Scope and Planning

You need to be crystal clear about the objectives right from the beginning because these will help to set and manage expectations. Are you doing a straight migration from Unity to Matrix or are you doing a site overhaul? Or something in between?
A site migration is a great opportunity to address legacy issues and set new objectives. Including as many of these as possible in the project scope should be very cost-effective because addressing these issues post-launch will require significantly more resources.
Including as many stakeholders as possible at this early stage will help you acquire a deeper understanding of the biggest challenges and opportunities across divisions. Ensure you have done some benchmarking with other council sites to help stakeholders understand what you are trying to achieve.
A well documented project plan will keep all your stakeholders on the same page. Letting people know when events are happening and what involvement is required.

2. Pre-launch

Completing a wireframe for the home page and key landing pages before development commences is a high priority. Having stakeholders work with you and agree to the Information Architecture and how you have categorised the pages will make the rest of the project run much smoother.
Moving onto the new UX Design of the council site based upon the Wireframe and IA is the next stage. This is normally best left to a highly experienced UX Web Designer. Understanding the nuances of human behaviour online is critical, a good UX Web Designer has the experience and knowledge to both work with your brand and create a usable, accessible and engaging website design.
Content is often forgotten about or not resourced appropriately. All too often an internal marketing person or web manager is asked to do their existing job as well as manage the migration of content which includes ensuring all content is up to date, appropriate, engaging and optimised for search engines. This is normally a point of high risk and failure. The coordination with the subject matter experts internally is very time consuming. Having an extra resource for this phase either internally or externally will ensure a successful project. Look at using solutions like GatherContent as well. Passing Word documents around via email is a recipe for frustration and failure.
Having a person skilled in SEO will help you pages rank better for keywords in Google and Bing. Understanding page titles and page headers and using Google’s Webmaster tools will greatly benefit your site. Always ensure you have implemented 301 redirects if you are changing the page URLs for content. Otherwise this will frustrate your existing users and also hurt your page ranking.

3. Launch Day Checklist

As soon as the new site has gone live, take a quick look at:

The robots.txt file to make sure search engines are not blocked from crawling
Top pages redirects (e.g. do requests for the old site’s top pages redirect correctly?)
Top pages canonical tags
Top pages server response times
Noindex/nofollow directives, in case they are unintentional
Provide your team with scenarios to test the site functionality

4. Post Launch Review

Complete a more structured review of page functionality throughout the site ensuring there are no bugs and all buttons and forms etc are working. Double check the mobile friendliness of high traffic pages and at the same time page speed . Ensure you have your Google Analytics code and Facebook Pixel code implemented. Submit you .xml sitemap in your Google Search Console.

5. Review

Has the site migration been successful? This is the million-dollar question everyone involved would like to know the answer to, as soon as the new site goes live. In reality, the longer you wait the clearer the answer becomes. You’ll be getting a range of feedback both from members of the public, but also your internal staff. Most people don’t like change, so you will need to filter out negativity for the sake of it. People will get used to the new look and feel and acclimatise themselves with the new taxonomy, user journeys, etc. Such changes initially have a significant negative impact on the site’s conversion rate, which should improve after a few weeks as returning visitors are getting more and more used to the new site.

Keep an eye on your Analytics though, performance measurement is important. Some areas to pay attention to are:

Desktop & mobile visibility
Desktop and mobile rankings
User engagement (bounce rate, average time on page)
Sessions per page type (i.e. are the category pages driving as many sessions as before?)
Number of indexed pages (Search Console)
Submitted vs indexed pages in XML sitemaps (Search Console)
Pages receiving at least one visit (analytics)
Site speed

Good luck and if you need any consultation or assistance with your site migration, please get in touch !

SA councils commence website migration to Squiz Matrix

Wed, 21 Aug 2019 02:36:00 GMT

The Local Government Association of South Australia (LGA) has selected Australian software company Squiz as the preferred supplier for a new local government content management system (CMS). Squiz Matrix CMS is replacing the existing Unity CMS implementation.

Squiz Matrix was selected, among other reasons, for its ability to deliver personalised content using residents’ location, interaction history, search activity and other criteria. The platform also offers the ability to either manage multiple connected websites, share content between them or keep the sites completely separate.

It includes in-built translation workflow tools for delivering multilingual content and automation tools to enable system integration into council ERP systems, as well as with existing content systems such as Sharepoint and Content Manager.

A number of South Australian councils have commenced the transition to the Squiz Matrix CMS and have utilised the opportunity to refresh the look of their website and revisit the quality and structure of their content.

Captovate is proud to assist South Australian councils in this transition to Squiz Matrix. Our scope of services include discovery workshops, information architecture, user experience design, Matrix development services, content migration and ongoing web support. If your council is interested in the migration to Squiz Matrix, contact Captovate today to discuss the best process for commencing the project.

Not having a privacy policy can affect your google ranking

Tue, 23 Oct 2018 02:34:00 GMT

Introducing Google TrustRank, in 2018 your website is no longer ranked based solely on keywords but rather on the relevance of your website to the user. Google uses different components of your website in their algorithm and generates a ranking accordingly.

Part of the mix is your trust score, Google uses different markers to decide whether your website is secure or not, which include:

Google also takes into account if you provide contact information like address, email or phone number and if you have a contact form for users to get in touch with you.

How to resize the image on your linked post

Thu, 18 Oct 2018 02:30:00 GMT

How to resize the image on your linked social media post?

There is nothing more frustrating than creating a post and trying to link it to a website, only to find that the image it dynamically pulls across isn’t optimised for social sharing. Here is an example below.

What is Sharekit?

Sharekit is a tool that let’s you easily customise how your link will appear when sharing it on social media. All you do is copy the link, then you can add your own image and text.

Sharelink then gives you a link to add to your social post. Boom! That’s better. It still links to the original site, but now shows your image and text, rather than what is dynamically generated.

Clearing your cache

Tue, 09 Oct 2018 01:47:00 GMT

The importance of clearing your cookies – saving money!

I recently saved $130 on an airline ticket, just by clearing the cache. What’s a cache?…I hear you ask. It’s not a funky new type of suitcase or travel bag. It’s all to do with what’s stored in your internet web browser. Airlines can see when you are searching flights online, and consumer behaviour shows that most of us visit numerous airline websites to do a price comparison. Each time you go back to a website the airline knows you are interested in making a purchase and may increase the price each subsequent visit. Are you wondering how they know that you have already visited their website? It is because of the cookies stored in your cache. By going to your web browser settings and clearing the cache you will appear as a first-time visitor to a website. We know the technology is there, but we don’t want to think it’s true. So we tested this recently on a flight that was $320 at the start of the search, a return search saw it go up to $450. After clearing the cache and searching again it went back to $320…so our tip is, clear your cache every time you search and save a lot of money.

How to clear cookies from your cache

Every browser cache manages cookies slightly differently. The cookies are very clever and they retain information about your website visits and then send information from your web browser to websites. Sometimes this works to your advantage so you don’t have to enter all your information such as your username and password every time you login to a website. Clearing your cache will get rid of the cookies (and your information). Adjusting your settings can vary slightly depending on what web browser you use. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, for example, will require you to go to your ‘settings’ → you might have to look for an ‘advanced’ settings option → then select ‘clear browsing data’. There is a way to stop new cookies from being installed. The exact procedure depends on which browser you are using, so Google it for directions. Mobile Apps can cache your browsing data too. However, clearing the cache on your smart device can be a little bit more tricky and you would need to clear the cache for each application. There may be other reasons that airlines increase prices such as rising fuel prices, but it’s worth completing this simple action to avoid even the smallest price increase due to your browsing behaviour.

How to use jokes and memes effectively on social media

Mon, 08 Oct 2018 01:03:00 GMT

First things first, what is retargeting marketing?

We’re likely all to have seen it, we just might not know it by name. Retargeting is the process of tagging people who visit your website by placing a special code, or cookie, on their browser to follow them around the internet and remind them of a page they’ve previously viewed. When it first came out, some people found retargeting a little creepy (isn’t being followed by the internet a bit ‘big brother’?) but nowadays it’s better understood, more sophisticated and it’s paying dividends to the brands that use it.

Why does it work so well?

According to Forrester research, 96% of web visitors don’t convert to a lead or sale. That’s not to say they aren’t interested in your product, it just means they’re not ready to buy. Retargeting offers a great opportunity to encourage repeat visits (idea: you can entice people with a discount code), heighten brand recall and steer potential warm leads to content of interest.

So how do you set it up?

You’ll need an eye catching banner ad, a piece of code to make it work and the digital savvy to link the two together. We can help you with this. Get in touch to talk through some options.

Why is retargeting marketing important?

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 00:24:00 GMT

First things first, what is retargeting marketing?

Why does it work so well?

So how do you set it up?

You’ll need an eye catching banner ad, a piece of code to make it work and the digital savvy to link the two together. We can help you with this. Get in touch to talk through some options.

Email marketing

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 00:06:00 GMT

Why is email marketing important?

You’ve launched a brand new website with all the bells and whistles, you’ve got your blogs off to a flying start, and you’ve interviewed your customers for some A grade case studies. Job done, right? Unfortunately, not quite. Email marketing sometimes gets a bad rep, especially since we’re all drowning in emails (now where have we heard that before?).
Sadly all the impersonal and excessive email marketing campaigns we’ve been subjected to over the years has made us tune out to most of what’s in our inbox, which is a shame since it’s actually still a really important marketing channel. After all, how are your customers or prospects going to know what you’ve been working on unless you tell them? It’s leaving a lot to chance to expect them to find you. But this doesn’t mean email marketing is dead in the water. It just means we have to work harder to spark interest. Getting your email marketing campaigns off the ground takes a planned approach, a sophisticated content management system which allows you to segment your data and analyse your audience (don’t overlook this one – it’s imperative!), and excellent copy.
Simplicity is key when it comes to messaging. Don’t be tempted to go overboard with the images or add absolutely everything you want to say in the body of your email (the aim is to get them to click through). Keep your message succinct, authentic and enticing. There are heaps of content management systems to choose from out there, so knowing which one to choose for your organisation can be confusing. It’s worth asking an expert for advice here; it’ll save a lot of headaches down the line. Email marketing is more effective than ever Just when you thought email marketing was dead, it has made come back with avengeance.
This is because of the wealth of information associated the old humble email address, from social media profiles to website subscriptions and web browsing data. With this insight into customer profiles and behaviour, it means that you can target your email campaigns to customer segments, ensuring they only receive content they are interested in. This helps increase engagement levels and ultimately increases conversions. What’s more exciting is that you can also automate email campaigns based on certain pages people have visited, their stage of buying or even depending on how they engaged with a previous email. Email marketing continues to be one of the most effective forms of marketing, but it’s important to build a strategy that maximises engagement and drives more conversions.
At Captovate, we specialise in a number of customer relationship management (CRM) systems and email marketing softwares, so get in touch with us today and we’ll chat about how we can turn you into an email marketing machine!

Content marketing

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 00:03:00 GMT

Why is content marketing important?

In our complex, digital and data driven world, what skills do you think are most valuable in the workplace? Maths, science, technology and engineering are definitely all up there. But what about the art of storytelling? Humans are emotional beings. Your company may have its technicalities down-to-a-t but if you don’t know how to present your value offering well, better than your competitors, your business is going to suffer. Mediocre content doesn’t cut it. To stand out from the crowd, your prose needs to be intelligent, witty and motivating. Let’s get into specifics. Content marketing influences every facet of marketing. It goes beyond witty advertorial phrases (arguably the hardest of all content tasks), to determining where you rank in Google, to building your social following, and so the list goes on. We would go so far as saying content makes or breaks your brand. So publish information that’s of genuine interest to your audience, build a community of loyal customers and watch those leads move down the marketing funnel. Unsure whether your content ticks these boxes? We can help provide strategic and tactic advice, plus writing and editing services, to give you confidence that you’re getting it right.

Content marketing starts the conversation

Not all decisions are made on impulse like a Creme Egg at the supermarket. For higher involvement decisions, prospects often need a little love and attention before they convert into customers. This is where a great content marketing strategy can attract more attention to your business and convert more leads. Content marketing is so powerful because of it’s ability to capture an audience, educate them and build the most important thing in a relationship; trust. This can be implemented in a number of different ways, from a blog that provides insights on industry trends, to a step by step guide on how to get the most from your product. Either way, the end goal is the same. With content marketing, you’re looking to start a conversation, build up interest, and nurture the lead until they’re ready to convert. The other benefit of a well considered content strategy is it’s ability to find you new customers through Google keyword searches. With some keyword research, you can create blog articles that correlate with particular keyword searches relating to your product. The power of this strategy is that you’re actively targeting people looking for your business, so when they find you, they’re going to be easier to convert into a customer.

Up and away at Darwin Airport

Mon, 18 Dec 2017 05:36:00 GMT

Darwin International Airport is one of the most visited sites in the Northern Territory

We’re delighted that Darwin International Airport’s new website is now live. Captovate and Darwin International Airport (DIA) have worked together for a number of years now, but in recent months we’ve collaborated to produce a stunning website that really places DIA in a new league from a digital standpoint.

So how did we get there?

Digital strategy – research, user testing and competitive intelligence

Before delving into design and development, we conducted a thorough research and benchmarking exercise. Where did we start? Well first we evaluated a number of domestic and international airports from all over the world. We looked for common best practices shared by the market leaders and took note of emerging trends and opportunities which we could use for DIA’s site. We reviewed 20 airport websites, against 56 heuristics, across five key category areas on competing websites. These category areas included:

Content and information architecture
Functions and features
Web design trends
Marketing and promotions
Mobile experiences

What do we mean by heuristics? We mean measuring something subjectively when it can’t be readily quantified. For example, in a 100m swimming race the winner is easily identified by the fastest swimmer (there’s hard data to support that). In synchronised swimming it’s more difficult; the winner is determined by a set of technical and artistic abilities. The latter applies here. In this instance, we looked at heuristics such as design, layout, functionality and usability. Measuring those against the 5 categories above. Using this analysis, we were able to conduct a very clear strategy for both the information architecture (arrangement of content pages and categories) and user experience design.

Design and development – a mobile first approach for 80% of visitors

Analysis of the existing website told us that 80% of people visit the DIA website on their mobile, 10% are on tablet and only 10% are on desktop. With figures like that, we knew we needed to build for mobile first. Many companies talk about being ‘mobile ready’ or ‘mobile friendly’ with their websites but not nearly as many actually design and build around mobile and make it work for desktop. And it’s really important. Think about when you’re on your mobile, looking at a website’s burger menu and the navigation items don’t make much sense or work as fluently as they should. Or when you’re scrolling through a text heavy website and can’t find what you’re looking for easily. Or when there’s so many pages on a website you don’t know where to start. Clear navigation for all devices really was top of mind for us during this project. In terms of design, we aimed for three main things. First, add more imagery and make images bigger. Second, add more people in images. Third, use icons to help navigate each section of the site. In terms of development, one particular feature that we’re immensely proud of is DIA’s flight feed. The feed fetches live data (if we’re going into specifics, the software pulls in new data every 2 and a half minutes) and the search functionality is truly user friendly; you can search by airline, by flight number, by origin or destination, by flight time and by flight status. Our development team worked closely with DIA’s IT personnel and third party software supplier Intersystems to make this work.

Content – strategy, audit, copywriting and editing

We worked closely (and by worked closely I mean worked onsite for 4 months part-time) at DIA to support their content strategy. By being onsite with DIA’s media and communications team, we could optimise the content layout (scrollable sections, more headings, using drop downs to make content neater etc), we could improve content from an SEO perspective and organise content approvals from various departments and make requested amendments. One of the main things we wanted to achieve with content was to reduce the number of pages on the site. Of course this makes navigation easier for everyone, but mobile users in particular will want to see fewer pages and will use anchors to scroll through the site. We hope you like the look of the site as much as we’ve enjoyed making it. If you’re after a powerful website just like this one, get in touch.