How to impress the different search engines
There are many tactics used to drive a website up in the search rankings and they all have benefits with the various search engines.
But each of these engines uses a different algorithm to determine which pages should rank highly, so how can you impress each of them?
Should I buy PPC ads if I rank organically?
Picture this, you've optimised your website and now rank in the top ten for all your major keywords, and first for several. Organic search engine optimisation (SEO) has really paid off.
So what now? Should you pack in the pay-per-click (PPC) adverts? After all, you probably only got them to increase visibility while you boosted the site's natural optimisation, didn’t you?
No-cost marketing for hobbyist sites
Online marketing may be low-cost but it often isn't no-cost, and for a number of charity and hobbyist websites this is a problem.
The advice provided through sources like Econsultancy, or my own SEOptimise blog, offers help in maximising budgets and doing more for less. But what about organisations that don't have any budget to start with, what can they do?
Making the most of mobile advertising
More than half of respondents to a recent survey said they find mobile an easy-to-use platform with which to communicate with their favourite brands, and agreed that they would be willing to pass on offers to their family and friends.
The research, endorsed by the Internet Advertising Bureau and the Mobile Marketing Association, shows 54% of the people questioned would be willing to use mobile to interact with "brands of their preference".
Creating the complete SEO experience
You may have noticed that no one buys mere goods or services these days, they buy the experience.
When I attend my gym, the company isn't just worried about providing me with decent equipment and classes; it wants to ensure my experience is as good as it could be.
Changing consumers, challenging times
As consumers, we are all extraordinarily powerful these days. The wonderful web offers us the chance to hunt out the very best bargains, to research our purchases thoroughly and to read up on what other consumers have to say about products.
It's an excellent time to be a shopper and service user, but for retailers and service providers this presents many new challenges. Some businesses have embraced the way the web has transformed their customer base but others have been slow in catching up.
Five of my favourite Twitter fails
I love Twitter; I love the way it allows news, opinions and political unrest to zip around the world in a matter of minutes.
When that aeroplane successfully landed in the Hudson, the very first mention of it online came not through a major news provider but through Janis Krums twittering. He said: "There's a plane in the Hudson. I'm on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy."
Crazy indeed. However, whatever Twitter's potential for spreading news and views fast, it is undeniably equally good at spreading bitching, scandal and rumour.
Why not selling online can damage your brand
Despite the considerable economic doom and gloom, the online marketing industry still has va va voom, as a new forecast from Verdict Research illustrates.
The company admits that pesky recession is finally starting to hurt web retailers and growth in online spending has slowed, but it predicts that by 2013, online sales in the UK will reach £31.2bn, forecasting spending of £20.9bn this year alone.
Pitching products through the podcast platform
Hello Econsulters. This week I want to explore an online marketing tactic that does not necessarily work for everyone but which can be highly successful: podcasting.
Now, believe me when I say that this is not for every company. Not all
industries lend themselves to podcasting, some are simply not
interesting enough for people to go to the effort of downloading and
listening to sector-specific audio.
However, some creative
thinking can allow a higher number of firms than you may think to
engage with their site visitors in this innovative way.
Marketing: when the government gets it oh-so wrong
Last week I explored the ways in which the government succeeds at its online marketing, but even then I had to admit that these bursts of brilliance are few and far between.
Unfortunately, sometimes our leaders and public servants just get the whole thing so very wrong. Here are a few of their worst offences but please feel free to add your own. It is like bad call centre experiences, everyone has a story!
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
