10 ways to be a great SEO
Despite the fact that SEO can make or break a business online, SEO still conjures up a lot of negativity.
Some of the negativity is fair. While there are plenty of legitimate SEOs, the market still has its fair share of snake oil salesman going from client to client in a hit-and-run fashion promising the world but delivering none of it.
SME’s increasingly using Twitter to communicate
Econsultancy has recently been highlighting the many uses of Twitter, which is a customer service solution, a marketing platform, and a brand monitoring tool.
Now, new research from O2 has found that smaller businesses are quickly adopting this online medium.
10 differences between UK and US affiliate marketing
A month after our UK affiliate census went live, we’ve just published our first US Affiliate Census, produced in association with MediaTrust. I thought it was worth outlining some of the key differences - and also the similarities - between affiliate marketing on either side of the Atlantic.
Both the US report and the UK Affiliate Census (produced in association with Affiliate Window), were based on surveys of affiliates carried out in January.
UK public sector websites have room for improvement
Paying council tax can hardly ever be a pleasant experience. Are UK council websites doing their part to make this process as smooth as possible?
In order to find out, Realeyes ran a test with 54 tax-payers, asking them to pay their council tax online on 6 different council sites. All participants were eye-tracked to gain objective measures about the user experience during the tax payment process. The study identified both good and poor design elements, wide ranging performance differences between councils and 'banner blindness' on some navigational items.
Visa teams with Flickr for global community
It's shaping up to be a big week for social media. Now Visa is making some social media news, this time on a more conventional platform than other recent entries, like Skittles. The credit card is launching its first global advertising campaign, complete with a microsite, rich media banner ads with live video feeds from international locations, and a multicultural twist on Flickr.
The "More People Go With Visa" campaign's microsite will feature a
"Gosaic," which is Visa-speak for a collection of images submitted by
people through Flickr along with recommendations from them about
experiences that can be enabled through a Visa card. The "Gosaic" will
feature more than 200 merchant offers delivered to users depending on
their interests, location, and time of day. The whole thing launches
with ads on Fox's "American Idol" tomorrow night, March 4.
Don't be the client from hell
While many, if not most, of the readers of this blog are providing services to others, even service providers tend to find themselves in the client role on occasion.
I recently provided some tips for avoiding deadbeat clients and I thought it would be appropriate to look at another problem: the client from hell. And how not to become one.
Sears launches ServiceLive, eBay for home improvement
Usually, it's the contractors who bid on home improvement and remodelling jobs. Retail giant Sears wants to turn that process upside-down with ServiceLive.com, which just launched in beta.
The model is actually more LendingTree.com than eBay. Homeowners in need of improvements can look over a list of approved contractors. They select apprpriate candidates, then post a description of the job they want done and what they're willing to pay for it. The first contractor to accept the deal gets the gig.
How to avoid deadbeat clients
I responded to a post on the Econsultancy forums the other day which dealt with an issue most of us have had the misfortune of dealing with at some time or another: deadbeat clients who haven't paid their bills.
In tough economic times, businesses and contractors providing services to others need to be extra vigilant about deadbeat clients because there are simply more of them out there.
LinkedIn's traffic grows rapidly but is its value dropping?
With the global economy still in a tailspin and waves of layoffs still hitting major industries, it's no surprise that websites catering to professionals and job-seekers are increasingly popular.
After all, business and jobs become far more important when business is harder to build and jobs are harder to come by.
CyberSource: online fraud burdening UK merchants
According to CyberSource Ltd., the UK subsidiary of electronic payment provider CyberSource Corporation, online fraud is a growing challenge for online businesses in the UK.
Although the total rate of fraud increased by 'only' 2.6%, one in 8 online merchants in the UK are now losing 5% or more of their online revenue to fraud and 37% lose at least 1%. All told, more than 40% of the merchants surveyed as part of CyberSource's 5th Annual Fraud Report saw fraud levels increase online last year.
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
