Does the government get online marketing?
The government is not having the best of weeks, what with all the Hobnobs, moats and dog food controversy, so I decided to give our not-so-esteemed leaders a break and concentrate on what they can sometimes get just right: using the web to communicate with citizens.
Ten terrible terms used in online marketing
The best and worst thing about being present at the dawn of the internet is watching the new language that has been developed to cope with it.
With the news that 'noob' may be about to make it into the dictionary, I gave some thought to the language we online marketers are responsible for and, I have to admit, we have created our fair share of terrible terminology. We also routinely use some horrible generic marketing terms.
Creating competent paid search copy
I was discussing the contents of a client's paid search adverts recently and discovered to my amazement that my customer did not consider the ad text to be particularly important.
She asserted the adverts were simply functional and that there was such little space to play with anyway that it did not really matter what the content was, people would click on it or they would not.
How to be good in the world of SEO
The Internet Advertising Bureau UK recently developed a set of good practice principles for online promotions, to ensure companies that collect and use data for behavioural advertising do so ethically.
Working words: How to write for SEO
I often fill these pages with rants about what not to do when writing copy for search engine optimisation (SEO) and for a web audience.
However, it struck me recently that I have not spent much time exploring best practice in SEO copywriting and how to ensure your content is as fit for purpose as possible.
I am going to remedy that today. Please comment if you have any questions or additions.
Simple SEO strategies for soaring up the SERPs
As a search engine optimisation (SEO) professional, I naturally believe the best way to secure good placement in the search engine results pages (SERPs) is to invest in the services of a good SEO agency. However, that does not mean there are not a number of steps a company can take on its own.
What can a company do by itself to help it rise in the results? Here are some simple SEO strategies you may wish to employ as a starting point for your site...
Seriously stupid socialising: how to ruin writing
Engaging with potential customers through social media is one of the key tactics I urge clients to undertake. Blogging, getting involved in forums, creating social spaces and visiting consumers in their own webspace, social media effort enjoys a great deal of success.
Of course, by virtue of being online, the majority of such engagement is made through written copy, with a small amount taking place through online video. While the potential for such marketing is huge, it is frighteningly easy to get wrong, risking reputation and consumer wrath.
Here are my main concerns when it comes to online copy – as always, leave a comment if you think I've missed any.
Recessionary reasons for really ramping up online marketing
Isn't it a shame when you can't finish a headline alliteratively? Anyway, despite the odd politician claiming they can already see the green shoots of recovery, the economic downturn continues to kick the nation's finances squarely in the groin.
Fortunately for my industry, there are many financial savvy reasons for continuing to spend money on search engine optimisation (SEO) and other online marketing strategies. I have listed the ones I consider most pertinent below but please feel free to add more.
A treatise on the ethics of search engine optimisation
Search engine optimisation (SEO) and the online marketing sector as a whole may not present the most ethically challenging jobs in the world but it does offer a few moral predicaments.
We may not need to wrestle with thorny moral debates on the nature of
personhood or seek to justify wars, but we are still challenged
regularly by everyday small moral queries, which I suppose is true of
any role.
Here are a few of the routine debates an SEO
executive may encounter. Let me know if you think I have missed any and
we can furrow our respective brows and thrash it out in the comments
page.
The lesser-blogged benefits of building brand loyalty
While I often argue that social media marketing is an excellent way to build brand loyalty, it occurred to me recently that the benefits of such consumer commitment may not be immediately obvious to all marketers.
Clearly, customers who are engaged with a brand are less likely to leave for a competitor. That is the main perk of consumer loyalty but some marketers may question whether that is enough to justify the effort (and therefore budget) needed to build those relationships. After all, that cash could have been spent on developing a new customer base.
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
