Author Archive
Customer Service 2.0
There are close to a billion, (that’s billion, with a B) Facebook users to date, and more and more people are signing up for an account every day.
Twitter is being used by even traditional media companies to deliver the freshest, most recent news updates in 140 characters or less.
YouTube videos are getting views by the millions, and more content is being uploaded by the minute than can be watched in 48 hours.
LinkedIn is growing to become a leading network of professionals and entrepreneurs who wish to get their names out in the market.
So What?
With the proliferation and pervasiveness of various handheld devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, people are no longer ‘going online’ they are always online! Connected 24/7 to the Internet. As a result, the Internet is where most people go to research businesses, to ask questions, to praise or to complain.
Continue reading “First Class Customer Service with Social Networking” »
Boost your Business through Video Marketing
Thinking of using YouTube or a similar video platform to give your up-and-coming business that much-needed pizzazz? You’re on the right track.
No matter the size of your company, it’s always important to engage in an innovative and effective marketing strategy. The big players have bottomless coffers from which to draw money for advertising, PR campaigns, social media marketing, and other strategies. But even if you’re only just starting to build a name for your brand, you can still make use of less cash-intensive tactics to market yourself.
Video services like YouTube are a popular and affordable means of reaching out to your target customers and an opportunity to build trust in your services and products. You can be a hard-seller and go all out in pushing your wares, or you can be a little more subtle in building your credibility and your brand.
Continue reading “15 Ways to Boost your Business through Video Marketing” »
Are you Missing Out on the Benefits of
Local Search?
A Guide to Google Places
Local Search has been incorporated into the results of Google and Bing for some time now as a method of segmenting search results for users looking for a business based on its location.
The aim of local search is to provide a search user with a selection of businesses near-by without the need to visit many different websites to find the locations or get contact information.
I still find that some business owners have not claimed their listing, and some that have at least put their business on the map have not filled out their profile or business details enough to have a chance against their competitors.
Continue reading “Local Search – A Guide to Google Places” »
Digital Marketing Vs Yellow Pages Advertising
Where’s Your Yellow Pages?
True Story – A few days ago I was visiting a local cleaning company to advise them on some search engine optimization for their website.
As I discussed some tips with them I was talking about the use of online directories for SEO and owning a brand search*, when they mentioned that they were currently paying £25 per month (£300 per year) for a tiny Yellow Pages advert about a 1/4 of the size of a business card and we’re only getting a call or two per year… Not from the physical yellow pages book, instead those calls were generated from the online side of the yell directory (which is free to list a basic profile).
So a free inclusion into the online directory would bring the in the same number of leads but save them the £300 per year for the physical directory advert.
I thought it would be interesting to show them what else they could get for their money if they ditched the yellow pages book listing and spent that money (and a little time) on some digital marketing for their business instead.
Continue reading “Digital Marketing Vs Yellow Pages Advertising” »
Pinterest For Business
What is Pinterest?
Social Media Alert! – There’s a new kid on the block – Pinterest is here and gaining followers fast. It may surprise you to know that at the time of writing, Pinterest is the 3rd largest social network in the world with Facebook and Twitter being 1st and 2nd respectively.
To say that Pinterest has snuck in under the radar of most people is an understatement, Google+ developers must be crying into their beer right now as the newest newcomer to the scene leap frogs them to a place on the podium. It looks like Pinterest is going to be the biggest thing in social media since… Well, the last big thing.
So what is Pinterest and is it worth our digital marketing time to get involved in yet another social media land grab?
Continue reading “Pinterest For Business – What Is Pinterest?” »
The Best Marketing Podcasts for Small Business Owners
Just a quick scan through the iTunes store reveals literally hundreds of business/marketing podcasts available to download, for free, straight to your iPod or Mp3 player. There truly is a fountain of marketing knowledge out there for the listening, but with so much choice and so little time how do you know which ones will really be useful for you and your small business and which are just constant pitch fests for the hosts course or membership program?
Continue reading “The Best Marketing Podcasts For Small Business Owners” »
Over Optimized / Un-Natural Links.
Google Is On To You!
There is a storm coming.
Many of the forums I am active on have seen a huge increase in posts from members regarding the dreaded ‘un-natural links’ email from google.
Website owners have been receiving a message from Google in Webmaster tools or by email stating that they have discovered un-natural links pointing to your website, and that the site has either been de-indexed or penalised until you have ‘cleaned’ up the mess you made of the internet. (Remove the un-natural links).
As you can imagine this can be devastating for a small business website that gets a large share of its traffic from Google, not to mention the valuable time wasted trying to find these links and attempting to get webmasters to remove them.
If you are successful in sorting out that mess you need to follow it up with an apologetic email to google with proof that you have tried to clean up the mess before they will re-index your site. Continue reading “Over Optimized, Un-Natural Links. Google Is On To You!” »
The Basics of SEO – Lesson 1
What’s The Difference Between On Page SEO and Off Page SEO?
What Is SEO?
OK, lets get the definition out of the way first (as we are covering the basics today) SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, it is the practise of optimizing your website in various ways to get a higher placement in search results for terms related to the topic of your site.
For example: Your site may be at number 15 in Google for the keyword (or key-phrase) “French Polisher in Kingston”, you would ‘do’ some SEO in order to move it up to a better place (the ultimate target being position 1) in Google for the same phrase.
Search engines use what is known as an algorithm to compare every site on the Internet. A software program known as a spider, crawler, bot or google bot visits each website to assess the content on the pages. It uses this information along with other factors to compare and rank similar sites so that the search engine can provide the most relevant results for a user for any given search term.
There are two main elements to SEO, On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO...
Continue reading “Beginners Guide to SEO | The Basics of Search Engine Optimization” »
Woodland Motor Company, Car Sales in Sawbridgeworth View Site
Blogging For Business
12 Ideas To Help You Consistently Create Content
You’ve Got A Blog!
Now what do you write about?
After setting up a blog for your business you may now be faced with a new challenge, the initial burst of creativity and spontaneous article writing dies down and you begin to struggle for new ideas for good content.
A dead blog is no good to anyone, consistently creating great content for your website improves your search rankings and also encourages your visitors to return to your site on a regular basis. Without fresh content both of those advantages for your business are lost.
If you are finding it hard to produce new posts for the blog section of your business website never fear! Because here I’ve created a little cheat sheet of content ideas so you will never be stuck for blog posts again.
Continue reading “Blogging for Business – 12 Ideas To Help You Consistently Create Content” »
