Enhancing Digital Performance with Roger Jones - Webinar Express Round-Up
When approaching a project, I always begin with a STAR document: Situation, Task, Actions, and Results. Sitting down with the client, I delve deeply into their business needs. During these conversations, I work to understand the situation fully. For example, a client might initially say, "Our website isn't working. We're not generating enough leads or online visibility." However, after probing further, I discovered that the founder wanted to retire and needed to automate or semi-automate the business to transition it to family members.
Understanding the true situation often requires asking "Why?" three times to uncover the actual need. Typically, the task is aligned with increasing revenue, reducing costs, mitigating risk, ensuring digital due diligence, or disrupting competitors in the marketplace.
Actions and Framework
I break actions into clear areas such as branding, website performance, search optimisation, social media, content strategy, and data reporting. It’s essential to be methodical. I also emphasise using tools, and there are usually two options: free tools (which take longer to yield results) or professional tools (which are quicker but costlier). I use pro tools for efficiency, but I also provide clients with recommendations for both free and paid tools.
The results typically focus on ensuring the business meets digital due diligence standards, increasing online visibility, and driving more leads or e-commerce sales. One significant example I’d like to share is an extensive project conducted for the wine app Vivino. Although this is a multinational company based in the USA, the same process applies regardless of whether the business is a small enterprise in the UK or an international corporation.
For Vivino, we audited their digital presence across multiple countries and languages, analysing their website, accessibility, visibility, social media mentions, and engagement metrics. We used tools like Sitemap generators, SEMRush, and Brandwatch to understand their online footprint. The audit spreadsheet grew to thousands of data points, covering observations and suggested actions. Importantly, each action was assigned a weighted score based on:
- Ease and speed of implementation (quick wins).
- The potential for business transformation.
- The likelihood of high revenue generation.
This approach ensured that recommendations were tailored for different stakeholders—CEOs focused on business shifts, CMOs on revenue opportunities, and operational teams on quick wins. Weighted actions and progress reporting enabled concise and focused updates for the board, presented via a business canvas and subsequent project initiation documents.
Platforms and Tools Audit
The starting point for many projects involves mapping out the platforms and tools a business uses. On a virtual whiteboard (e.g., Miro), we document each platform, its purpose, data flow, and setup:
- What is the function or purpose of the platform or tool?
- Is it set up correctly, and is it integrated with other systems?
- What data does it hold, and how is it shared with others?
Often, we identify redundancies (e.g., multiple subscriptions for tools performing the same function). Streamlining these platforms not only saves costs but also improves efficiency. For instance, we’ve highlighted missing elements such as advertising automation, blogging for intellectual property, and KPI dashboards that consolidate data from various systems.
Digital Customer Journeys
By understanding customer journeys—awareness, consideration, purchase, and loyalty—we align digital touchpoints with personas and their needs. Mapping the business’s digital infrastructure visually reveals gaps. For example, we’ve used colour-coded quadrants:
- Green: Functioning and integrated correctly.
- Amber: Needs adjustments.
- Red: Not functioning or set up correctly.
This allows us to prioritise fixes and future developments.
Structured Data and Speed Tools
Structured data (schema.org) is now critical for visibility in AI-driven search engines. I use tools like Schema.org Validator to optimise backend metadata for search engines and tools like Screaming Frog to audit SEO and metadata. Speed is also vital—using PageSpeed Insights, I target loading times of 1 to 1.2 seconds. These technical tweaks improve user experience and search engine ranking.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Defining KPIs is crucial. For example, one client prioritised product page views as a key metric because it directly correlated with conversions. KPIs should be trackable and presented clearly to stakeholders, whether through sophisticated dashboards or simpler tools like Google Sheets integrated with Supermetrics.
Competitive Benchmarking
Auditing competitors involves evaluating:
- Website functionality.
- Online visibility (search rankings, AI integration).
- Social media engagement.
- KPIs that drive competitive advantage.
Tools like SEMRush, GA4, Quintly, and others enable detailed analyses, while weighted recommendations help prioritise impactful actions.
In summary, I provide clients with a clear, data-driven roadmap to improve their digital presence, backed by tools, dashboards, and actionable insights tailored for various stakeholders.
Now, I’d be happy to address any questions or discuss how you can apply this approach to your business!
To find more about or connect with Roger, you can visit his LinkedIn or check out his website, Actionable Insight.