2019 in review - For Webby
As we are approaching the end of another decade, I have put together some key trends I saw in 2019 – this is specifically for Webby’s projects but reflect overall trends in my community in Melbourne Australia.
Lots of Personal Brand websites
This was really the year of the personal brand – more and more customers ether moved their structure to a personal branding site or added one in addition to main site. Moreover, businesses with a business name still showcase the owner front and centre and promoted them as the brand.
Look at https://www.well-suited.com.au/ for example - a business name a personal brand type banner and approach to the website.
The move away from stock images
This is especially for main imagery. most sites this year had invested in professional photos of themselves or products and showcase on home page. Stock photos are still used but not on home page which is more branded and customised. Even firms that traditionally use stock images showed the move away from using stock imagery and showing the team – this is in line with the trend of making websites more personal as visitors want to see the team behind.
Stock images are still big in blogging and there is more selection available.
A few examples: an accounting practice: https://www.charlwoods.com.au/ showing the directors on the home page and a law firm showing the entire staff: https://cefamilylaw.com.au/.
Lots of video content
More websites included video as part of content in 2019 – setting up a Vlog in addition to Blog or sung a customised video for banner.
Vlog examples: https://www.craigstephens.com.au/video-library
Video banner (taken by a drone!) https://www.baysidecollaborative.com.au/
Less free stuff for list building
2019 saw more engagement – focus was on getting visitors engaged by adding good blog or vlog content and less offering freebies to add visitors to a list.
The focus on good content and making visitors connect on social media or sign up for the blog due to content.
More targeted SEO
This year more businesses realised that SEO is driven from well written relevant content. More and more of my clients engage a copywriter and invest in web copy, keyword research and setting up the meta tags correctly.
Also I see more commitment in blogging – realising that a targeted blog can help drive traffic makes business owners in vest in a blog.
