How to control SEO spending post-recession

Remember back when the credit crunch was new? Every other blog post, including a fair few of mine, urged firms not to lose faith in online marketing, not to hack at their search engine marketing (SEM) budgets or lay off members of their online PR team.

I still think it’s important to hold marketing nerve. If you are to grow your business then a successful marketing strategy is essential and budget cuts are not going to help.

However, as the country shudders its way out of a historic recession, achieving an estimated 0.1% of growth in the last three months of 2009, it’s time to face facts. Your money need to work harder.

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Posted 09 February 2010 11:45am by Kevin Gibbons with 0 comments

SEO lessons from World War Two

Search engine optimisation (SEO) has only existed for a few short years, but that doesn’t mean we cannot learn lessons from the past.

I’ve always admired the spirit of Britain during World War Two, even if most of my knowledge has been gleaned from TV-sitcoms. As a marketer, I’m particularly interested in the propaganda of the time.

Are any of the WW2 messages relevant today? I thought I’d take a look at the slogans of WW2 and see if they hold any wisdom for the modern online marketer...

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Posted 02 February 2010 11:06am by Kevin Gibbons with 7 comments

So you want to work in SEO?

It’s been an interesting few weeks here at SEOptimise towers, as we’ve been recruiting  search engine optimisation (SEO) executives to come and join our team.

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Posted 26 January 2010 10:35am by Kevin Gibbons with 15 comments

Things to consider when marketing to kids online

There’s been a great debate recently about what codes of conduct should be in place in terms of marketing at children via the internet.

If your customer base is children, what rules should you bear in mind to keep your marketing legal and moral? Is it just common sense or is there more to it?

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Posted 18 January 2010 10:32am by Kevin Gibbons with 5 comments

Where and when to reply online

The internet is filled with opinions and marketing. Well, opinions, marketing and porn, if you want to be exact, but those three cover pretty much everything!

Many companies would much rather prospective clients read their marketing and avoid any opinions about their products or services. After all, although some of that feedback may be good, it’s beyond corporate control. For any business that isn’t used to the online environment, that’s a scary thing.

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Posted 14 January 2010 10:49am by Kevin Gibbons with 1 comment

Five things you need to do online in 2010

If sorting out the corporate website is your ambition for 2010, it can be pretty difficult to know where to start and what to prioritise. After all, you’re bound to have a budget to stick to. So where should you start?

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Posted 04 January 2010 12:42pm by Kevin Gibbons with 14 comments

What would a Tory government mean for SEO?

Although it’s by no means a sealed deal, it’s very possible that in the 2010 election, the government will change and the Conservatives will lead the country. What might that mean for our industry?

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Posted 14 December 2009 10:30am by Kevin Gibbons with 7 comments

How to build relationships with blogs

Whatever your industry, there’s bound to be a blog out there that specialises in it, and these can be incredibly valuable sources of inbound links to your site.

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Posted 07 December 2009 14:46pm by Kevin Gibbons with 7 comments

A journalist’s guide to SEO

Last week the BBC announced it was to start optimising its headlines in an attempt to gain greater visibility in the search engine results pages, so I thought I’d take a look at journalism and the web.

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Posted 30 November 2009 11:10am by Kevin Gibbons with 32 comments

How often should you review your SEO strategy?

It doesn’t matter how well your search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy is working for you, it’s always worth taking the time to revaluate and see if it could be doing better. Your returns might be impressive, your strategy masterful, but in these times of tightened budgets, you need to be confident that every penny you spend is worth it.

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Posted 24 November 2009 09:57am by Kevin Gibbons with 11 comments