Simon Hawtin

Hi, I'm Simon Hawtin, a digital marketing executive currently working in London. I blog about SEO, content marketing, social media, online PR, website design, and many other tech/marketing related issues.

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Multi-screening trends in the UK

A recent study by Fast Web Media has yielded some interesting insights into multi-screening trends in the UK.

The report looks at 50 different UK brands and analyses their most recent 2013 TV adverts to see who is encouraging multi-screening. One ad per brand was watched and inclusions of URLs and/or any reference to social networks was recorded.

What is multi-screening? You can be said to be multi-screening when you are using more than one device (screen) at the same time.

For example, if you're watching a live sports event on TV and you're checking Twitter at the same time (like I was last weekend) then you are multi-screening.

by Simon Hawtin 17 April 2013 09:06am 1 comment

29 useful Twitter tips for beginners

I blogged a while back offering five simple suggestions to optimise Tweets. As it went down well I thought it worthwhile expanding on this and giving my insight on growing a follower base and increasing engagement.

Twitter is a fantastic platform that allows you to interact with like-minded people. I've learnt a lot from fellow digital marketers on Twitter by joining conversations and reading their content.

Along the way I've picked up a fairly substantial set of tips, tricks and hints on how to make the most of Twitter and build your presence there.

Anyway, enough waffle, you came here wanting tips so let's get to it.

by Simon Hawtin 04 April 2013 15:16pm 5 comments

How to get a professional logo for £3.46

Fiverr.com is a US website that allows sellers to post services they offer for a fixed price of $5. Sellers post "gigs" on Fiverr that visitors can search for, order, and pay for using PayPal.

There's a wide variety of "gigs" on Fiverr including sellers offering illustrations, flyers, Facebook pages, optimised landing pages, comedy voicemails and even financial consulting.

Sellers have ratings and reviews to help you understand the quality of the work offered, you can also browse previous examples of work for further reassurance.

Surely though the motto "you get what you pay for" comes to mind and this is exactly what I thought. If you're going to pay $5 (£3.46 at today's exchange rate) you're not exactly going to get a seller who is overly enthusiastic to design you a fantastic logo. Or are you?

by Simon Hawtin 15 March 2013 09:04am 38 comments

How to let the weather control your AdWords campaign

Google AdWords managers can now make use of a unique platform that will control when your adverts are displayed depending on the weather.

WeatherFIT is a cloud-based piece of software that delivers AdWords adverts based on real-time localised climatic conditions.

The PPC tool retrofits to existing AdWords accounts and uses real-time data from the Met Office to control which adverts are shown based on the weather.

Adverts will only show if they meet the weather criteria you set.

by Simon Hawtin 04 March 2013 10:41am 4 comments

Optimise your tweets with these five simple suggestions

To maximise a tweet's effectiveness you need to use the 140 characters in the most efficient manner possible. This post offers five simple suggestions to optimise tweets for engagement and ultimately CTR.

The number one rule before applying these quick fixes is ensuring your tweet content is relevant to your audience. Although these are generic tips applicable to any industry your tweets must communicate the value of your product/service to your customers.

Start by putting the customer first and construct your tweets around them paying particular attention to language, writing style, and the call-to-action your customers will most likely respond to.

by Simon Hawtin 18 February 2013 10:34am 14 comments

The importance of search optimised PR

Why don’t all PR firms offer SEO services? The obvious answer a PR firm will give is “because we’re a PR firm” but seriously, do PR people understand how much impact their hard work has on their client’s search rankings?

Do they realise SEO is a £500m market in the UK?

This article aims to flesh out the opportunity for PR firms willing to innovate and offer a service that mixes the expertise of SEO and PR; for my sins, I refer to this service as search optimised PR (SOPR).

by Simon Hawtin 14 February 2013 11:16am 11 comments