The demand for customer service via instant messenger has recently reached new heights; since the revelation that messaging apps are more popular than social networking sites, companies have been scrambling to find a way to use instant message to their marketing advantage.

The result? Businesses are investing in more forms of live chat – from those manned by humans, to 24/7 automated chatbots.

What are chatbots?  

Chatbots are a piece of automated computer software; they are programmed to mimic human conversation through a chat interface.

 As Artificial Intelligence (AI) develops, more advanced forms of chatbots are being released.  AI chatbots can utilise machine learning to convincingly replicate human conversation, and consequently improve the user experience.

For the most part, though, businesses are still using simpler chatbot software for customer service and marketing. In these instances, chatbots work on a rule-based system – they look out for trigger keywords and provide what is deemed to be the most relevant response. For example, if a user mentions a particular product and the word ‘stock’ the chatbot might reply with a stock update for the specified product.

Why the popularity?

In our world of convenience, user patience grows continually thin. We already know that mobile speed is an absolute must-have for successful websites and is even used as a ranking factor by Google.

Thus, it naturally follows that consumers don’t want to waste their time on hold when making a phone call or waiting for a response via email. Instant messaging provides a space where customers can submit a query and instantly receive a response. This service has business and marketing benefits too – quicker response time means the chance of your prospect going elsewhere before converting is greatly reduced.

The pros and cons: human live chat v chatbots

As with anything, there are pros and cons to both chatbots and live chat systems manned by human assistants. Here we weigh up the different considerations for both options:

24/7

 One of the most obvious benefits of chatbots is their availability. No matter what time of day or night, a chatbot can be active and open for queries – this is a pretty appealing prospect when the digital realm demands that information be readily available at all times.

Complications

Chatbots may be able to accept customer enquiries 24 hours a day, but one thing they can’t do is handle niche or difficult questions. The nature of a chatbots programming means that if a user asks a question which doesn’t correspond to a specific query or keyword, it won’t be able to help.

 A live chat assistant can be far more responsive to customer’s needs, meaning a more tailored customer service experience for the user.

The cost

Creating a chatbot is significantly cheaper than employing a team of live chat assistants. While having a single live chat operator may be effective for very small companies, in most instances one person isn’t capable of handling multiple enquiries at once – the upshot of this is delayed response time, which defeats the purpose of live chat in the first place.

 A chatbot can respond instantly to a large pool of enquiries at any given time, meaning no customer is left frustrated.

Human touch

Speaking of frustrations, chatbots aren’t without their own enraging issues. As touched upon before, chatbots can only respond to queries they’ve been specifically programmed to understand. They can even be tripped up by spelling errors and typos.

Comparatively, a human assistant would not struggle with a more complex query or typo. Having a real person responding over live chat means they can also provide the additional service of salesperson, adding to the marketing benefits of live chat.

A chatbot can –  in a limited function –  recommend products based on what they think a user is searching for, but it’ll never be as persuasive or convincing as a personal recommendation from an actual person.

To conclude…

When it really comes down to it, on a one-on-one basis a chatbot could never beat the customer service provided by an actual human being. However, on a larger scale, the waters become more muddied. What works best for your company will depend on your particular business and the size of your customer base.

 Many organisations take the middle ground, using chatbots in the first instance, with a small team of human chat assistants ready to take over when things get more complex.  

With the current speed of AI advancements, we’re certain that most of these chatbot flaws will soon be a thing of the past – but for now, best not to hand everything over to the bots just yet.

We’ve just developed a new website for a leading UK ultrasound business with a range of clinics in London, Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey and Kent. Ultrasound Plus provide professional scanning for a range of needs and clients, including:

• Baby Scans – 3D/4D, Early Pregnancy, Dating, Gender, Reassurance, Anomaly, Growth, and Presentation scans
• Gynaecology Scans
• General Scans – Upper Abdomen Ultrasound, Kidneys, Ureters and Bladder Scans and;
• Musculoskeletal Scans

Why did Ultrasound Plus come to us?

Ultrasound Plus came to us because they needed a new website with a significantly improved customer experience, and an optimised website to improve their online visibility.

We designed a brand-new website with a clear target of maximising customer engagement and improving rankings on the major search engines. Click here to view the new and improved website.

The new and improved website has:

• A bespoke and responsive design
• A blog where the company can share news and updates
• Improved Search Engine Optimisation

If you require a professional-looking website for your business, that is easy to navigate on any device, then get in touch with our team here at Designer Websites on 01446 339050 or request a free, no-obligation quote.

Sweets in the City is the company that's jointly owned by BBC Apprentice winner Sarah Lynn and her business partner Lord Sugar. If you watched the latest series of The Apprentice on BBC One, you should already be familiar with Sweets in the City and the beautifully-presented sweet gifts that they sell. These customisable products make perfect presents for birthdays, anniversaries, and all sorts of other special occasions.

As you may be aware, we at Designer Websites have worked with a number of Apprentice winners in the past, including Ricky Martin, Dr Leah Totton, Joseph Valente and Alana Spencer. After the 2017 final aired and Sarah was revealed as the joint winner (along with recruitment consultant James White), she approached us to ask if we would be willing to work our magic on the SitC website. Of course, we jumped at the opportunity!

The new Sweets in the City website

Work on the new and improved Sweets in the City website is now complete, and you can view it at www.sweetsinthecity.co.uk.

Here are some of the new features that we hope will make 2018 a sensationally sweet year for Sarah and her business:

• Brand new design - Our skilled designers gave the SitC website a completely new look. We think it perfectly encapsulates the company's high-end credentials (their products are sold in Harrods and Selfridges, after all) while still retaining a strong sense of sweetness and fun.
  
  
• Improved site navigation - We have made it easier to browse SitC's product range and find exactly the right gift for any given occasion. Website users can now search by price, recipient, occasion or theme.
  
  
• Letterbox treats - One of the big ideas that secured Sarah's Apprentice victory was the option for customers to send small, letterbox-friendly sweet gifts through the post. This idea has now been realised, and the new SitC website allows you to choose from 10 different box designs, add your own personalised text, and fill the box with whatever sweets you think the recipient might fancy.
  
  
• Option to buy in bulk - What if, instead of purchasing a lovingly hand-packaged assortment of your best friend's favourite sweets, you just want to order yourself three kilograms of cola bottles? Well, thanks to SitC's new 'bulk buy' page, now you can!
  
  
• Improved back-end functionality - In addition to the above, we gave the back end of the SitC website a complete overhaul, making it easy for the company to control the content of their web pages.

The new Sweets in the City website is a fantastic example of what the Designer Websites team can do. Our designers, developers and SEO experts are adept at creating sites that are carefully tailored to the client's requirements and target audience - if you need a new website for your business, please get in touch now to request a FREE quotation.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a pretty complex subject. Gone are the days when all you had to do was pick a keyword and stuff it into your page copy as many times as possible - if you want to conquer the Google results in 2018, there are all sorts of different factors you need to think about. And of course, since the algorithms are always changing, you'll need to keep your eyes open and stay abreast of all the latest updates if you don't want to be left behind.

Still, perhaps you're not looking to become an all-powerful SEO guru. Maybe you're just looking for a few quick tips that will help you boost your traffic without paying for ads. If that's the case, we hope that these 10 tips (brought to you by the Designer Websites SEO team) will serve you well:

1. Check your site's health on Google Search Console.

Google Search Console (google.com/webmasters/tools/home) is an indispensable tool that all website owners should use. Once you've added and verified your website, check out our beginner's guide to make sure you know what to look out for.

Oh, and while you're logged in...

2. Submit your sitemap to Google.

Go to the Crawl section in Google Search Console and select Sitemaps. This is where you can submit your website's XML sitemap file to Google - this makes it easier for the big G to index your content, and the Sitemaps tool will also inform you of any problems that are affecting pages you submit.

3. Take a good look at your title tags.

There are many different factors that decide whether a web page makes it into the top 10 Google results, but the page's title tag may be the most important of all. A page's title tag should ideally be no more than 60 characters in length, and it should be a clear, concise, and keyword-rich description of what that page is for.

Use Moz's title tag preview tool to see what your title tag will look like on Google (this is a good way to identify whether your title tag is too long).

4. Make sure your meta descriptions are snappy and engaging.

Unlike the title tag (see above), your page's meta description probably won't have a huge impact on rankings. However, it can make the difference between a Google user clicking on your result and scrolling straight past it.

You know the short paragraph of text that appears under most Google results? Very often, that blurb is pulled directly from the page's meta description.

So be sure to make all of your meta descriptions concise, engaging and punchy. Sell your product/service and explain why people should choose you over your competitors...but try to do it in as few words as possible! (Google recently extended the maximum length for meta descriptions, but we still recommend keeping them short and snappy where possible.)

5. Check for keyword cannibalisation.

Keyword cannibalisation occurs when a website has two (or more) pages competing against each other for a specific keyphrase. It should be avoided, since Google may not be able to discern which page you actually want to rank for the keyphrase in question.

For more information on keyword cannibalisation and how it can scupper your SEO efforts, read our blog on the subject here.

6. Claim your Google My Business listing.

Google My Business listings are crucial for local businesses with bricks-and-mortar locations that are open to the public, but even if your business is online-only, you should still think about claiming your listing. Go to google.co.uk/business and enter your company details so that Google can show more information about your business - don't worry, you can keep your address hidden if you don't want people turning up on your doorstep.

7. Link to high-authority websites.

Some people will tell you that you should never link out to other websites, but the evidence seems to suggest that outgoing links can have a positive effect on your rankings when done carefully. Just make sure that you're linking to authoritative sites that are relevant to the topic you're focusing on.

8. Share your knowledge in blog posts.

If your company's website doesn't have a blog, you're missing out on a huge opportunity to share your expertise and get your brand seen by a wider audience. Google loves in-depth, well-written articles from people who know what they're talking about, and nobody knows your business better than you do, so what are you waiting for? Get writing!

To make sure you're writing blog posts that will actually drive traffic to your website, we recommend using tools like Google Keyword Planner and AnswerThePublic.com to find out what people search for when they're looking for information on your specialist subject.

9. Add alt tags to your images.

Google's bots are very clever when it comes to understanding and indexing text-based content, but they're not so good with images. In order to help them index your images properly (and potentially show them as results on Google Images), you should make sure that every image on your website has an alt tag that gives an accurate description of what the image depicts.

Not only will this help you to capture traffic from image searches, it may also boost the perceived relevance of your pages if the alt tag is relevant to the keywords you're targeting. For example, if you're trying to rank for the term 'how to fix a dripping tap', your page may rank better if it features some pictures of taps, pipes, plumbers, and other related things/concepts.

10. Above all, focus on search intent and user experience.

Search engine optimisation shouldn't be an attempt to game the system or 'trick' Google into ranking your website. Ultimately, your goal should be the same as Google's goal: to give each user the best possible answer to their query.

So, when targeting a specific search term, make sure your page meets the needs expressed by that term and gives people the perfect online experience. This can mean any number of different things, such as:

• Making key information stand out more
• Improving your website design
• Reducing your prices
• Giving more details about your products
• Being more transparent about who you are and what you do with the information you collect from users

These are just a few examples. Put yourself in the shoes of an average website user and go through your website from their point of view - is there anything that could be improved, or any parts of the buying journey that are needlessly complicated or fiddly?

For more help with this, read our blog about search intent.

Do you need someone to take a proper look at your website's SEO? Get in touch with the Designer Websites team today - we're great at boosting organic traffic and creating smooth user journeys!

• Further reading: Why Won't My Website Show Up on Google?

From Doctorcall to Dr Leah, we at Designer Websites have a proud history of producing high-quality business websites for clinics and healthcare providers. Today, we're able to add another name to that list: Dr Kelly & Associates, a private clinic in the City of London.

Dr Kelly & Associates have been providing independent healthcare since 1989, and they offer a diverse range of services for individuals and organisations:

• Private GP appointments
• Home visits
• Travel vaccinations and visa medical examinations
• Employee health screenings
• Walk-in STI clinic
• Flu vaccinations

Why did Dr Kelly & Associates come to us?

The Dr Kelly team contacted Designer Websites because they needed a functional, professional-looking website that would allow them to showcase their wide range of services to corporate clients and potential patients. They also wanted to make it easier for users to:

• Book clinic appointments online
• Request doctor's visits online

We're pleased to announce that the new Dr Kelly website is now live - visit www.drkellys.co.uk to see our latest work. Not only does the website look great, we believe that the online booking system makes it super-simple to select the type of appointment you need, choose your preferred date, and pay for your appointment online.

Do you need a new website for your business? Contact Designer Websites now to request a free quotation!