Kevin Gibbons

Using infographics for social media and SEO

Remember when school teachers used to tell you that a picture tells a thousand words? Well now social media is telling us too...

by Kevin Gibbons 24 March 2010 11:02am 9 comments

How not to use Twitter, by Rentokil

Social media marketing isn’t always easy to get right, especially when it comes to rapidly developing and changing platforms such as Twitter. However, it is very easy to get wrong, as UK pest control giant Rentokil found out this month.

by Kevin Gibbons 16 March 2010 11:29am 35 comments

The business benefits of building accessible websites

There’s a good business case for making your website more accessible to the UK’s disabled community.

If your website is at the design stage then ask your designer what they’re doing to ensure that people with sight difficulties and cognitive impairments can still use your pages. It’s undeniably easier to build accessibility in from the start.

Don’t despair if your website is already up and running, though, you can still retrofit.

by Kevin Gibbons 09 March 2010 10:35am 6 comments

Ten golden rules for building social networks & forums

For some companies, marketing through social networks isn’t enough, they want to create their own social spaces to attract visitors.

Here are ten tips for building social networks and forums...

by Kevin Gibbons 24 February 2010 11:06am 6 comments

Character building? Ryanair, easyJet and chariots of fire

‘Building character’ always sounds painful, doesn’t it? It tends to mean wet camping trips or going on a French exchange at school.

In the world of online marketing, building character can be equally painful, but the benefits are far more tangible.

by Kevin Gibbons 16 February 2010 11:34am 7 comments

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.

by Kevin Gibbons 09 February 2010 11:45am 10 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...

by Kevin Gibbons 02 February 2010 11:06am 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.

by Kevin Gibbons 26 January 2010 10:35am 25 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?

by Kevin Gibbons 18 January 2010 10:32am 14 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.

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