On an average day, you may spend time on Twitter, aggregated news sites, dedicated news sites (eg BBC, CNN, NHK), Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Digg, delicious etc.
What generally happens at the end of the day is you have anywhere up to 100 tabs open that you mean to come back to. But, tomorrow is another day. And the whole round starts again…..open a tab, read a little, click a link, watch a video, tweet, new tab, follow a link, new tab, download a white paper, new tab. ETC.
So, how do you stand out in this endless round of websites and social media impact?
Somewhere, in the recent 1,000 sites I have visited, (ie in the last 3-4 days) is a site that caught my eye. Sadly, because of the insufficiencies of the search engines to revisit the sites I have been to in the last day or two, I cannot lay my hands on it. But it stood out.
Which, you have to admit is rare for a website. Why did it stand out?
Because it behaved exactly the same as an app that I use on the phone – FourSquare. Little pop up saying I’d earned the New Visitor (or similar) badge as I entered and scrolled through the article I had found on one of the major news aggregation sites. It also linked me to others who had found that interesting. Some of whom I know and respect.
Enough to stay? Nope. But the article was good and had links to other related material. So, I clicked within the site links and started reading more. (Good sign – we like sticky sites that help you find other content of interest).
A couple of pages later, I got a new badge and was encouraged to register to the site to keep my badges. And return. By then, I was actually quite interested in the site and knew I would return. So, Sign up- easy, email plus first name.
I kept reading, bookmarked a few items as relevant for my research, and inevitably, eventually, moved on.
No-one from that website has been in touch. My life and requirements for writing have moved on so I haven’t searched for them. I can’t remember where that site is for the life of me. I could go through each day’s bookmarks but I simply don’t have time.
That website has a willing visitor, if I could only remember where it is. I don’t have time to look, but a single email reminder saying:
1 week ago, you looked at the following articles…….. Since then we have added all this related news….
and I’d be there in a flash.
If you create sticky content, add funky functionality, and set up CRM systems that allow you to keep in touch with those who fall over your website….please, please, please use them!!!
LinkedIn have decided to make the most of their 90+ million members and have created a LinkedIn News section which highlights the stories referenced by their members on the website.
These are split into categories such as Marketing & Advertising Industry, IT, Online Media, Telecommunications etc, allowing users to quickly find the top stories of the day being shared across the LinkedIn network.
This complements the Signal service which brings together all the news from those within your own network on LinkedIn, and both services offer a great opportunity for companies to disseminate news about their own businesses across a wide audience. Stories are picked up by the number of “Shares” and tweets so it is worth building your network of followers across both Twitter and LinkedIn to encourage promotion of your items.
Once again, this is a reminder that you need to be constantly creating content which can be shared amongst and beyond your followers.
The founders of Youtube, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, have acquired delicious.com from Yahoo!
All existing users are being asked to sign in to the service to give permission for bookmarks to be transferred to the new AVOS set-up.
Social bookmarking continues to be an important feature for many, and can also influence your rankings on the search engines. Recent additions to Delicous have included being able to tweet or email your bookmarks directly from the bookmarklet on your toolbar, as well as sending all URLs referenced on Twitter directly to Delicious through apps such as packrati.us.
Undoubtedly, the new owners will add yet more functionality to ensure that Delicious continues to play a role in both social media and social media marketing. However, the leaked Yahoo! announcement at the tail end of last year that the service was to enter a “sunset” phase saw many users jump ship to services such as SpringPad, YourVersion, historio.us, Pinboard.in and Zootool.
Delicious may need to work hard to attract users back by differentiating from the new social bookmarking and online notepad start-ups, which now offer a multitude of different solutions to the task of saving all your content into the cloud.
Which social bookmarking tool do you use, why, and will you be using the AVOS version of Delicious?
Investing in a successful PPC marketing (pay-per-click) will pay dividends according to the independent in Ireland and employing an agency to effectively construct your campaign could be the smartest move yet.
The way to do this in an effective manner is to target keywords specifically and write compelling ads that link directly to your company landing page, which in itself needs to be an effective pull for potential end users buying products or services.
An example of getting the landing page correct is this, if a consumer was out shopping for dresses and asked a cashier where to find them in the store, they would be fairly unhappy if they pointed them to other products rather than the dresses themselves. The same principle applies to landing pages. Consumers don’t want to be taken to an irrelevant page or just simply to a homepage, they want to be directed to the actual page where the product or service they require is on offer.
Remember to analyse statistics, if in doubt on how to do this, Google has a simple analytics package that can help you keep track of your PPC campaign. By analysing your statistics on a regular basis it will give you an insight to see if the keywords you are using are successful and appropriate for your online target campaigns.
Employing an agency to do this on your behalf could be the best move, they will professionally analyse your statistics and create campaigns that will directly benefit your business. The initial management costs may be expensive but the end return will far out way the initial costs.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Owen Wassell, Search Marketing Assistant at ClickThrough Marketing
In the latest in our series of team member profiles we met with Owen Wassell, Search Marketing Assistant, to get his take on social media, his new role at ClickThrough and which Alfred Hitchcock film is his number one.
Who are you? – Owen Wassell, Search Marketing Assistant here at ClickThrough.
When did you start at ClickThrough? – I joined ClickThrough in March 2011.
What will you be doing at ClickThrough? – I will be providing SEO support, making sure all of the SEO activities on my clients accounts are delivered on time.
What were you doing before you arrived at ClickThrough? Where did you work? – I was working for an events company based in Liverpool. My role was as a photographer and web designer. I would take photographs of various events including the Grand National race at Aintree and then upload the photographs onto a website I had designed. I would then employ some SEO techniques to get these pages ranking. I was also working as a freelance photographer, taking actor headshots and doing some work with modeling agencies and various Liverpool based magazines.
What accounts/clients have you worked on before? – I have worked for Aintree Racecourse, Haydock Racecourse, Matalan and had photographs published in the Liverpool Echo, Liverpool Life, Object of Dreams and other Liverpool based publications.
What are you most proud of in your career to date? – I was very proud the first time I saw one of my photographs published. Also doing a job that I really enjoy.
What do you love about your job? – I love the wide range of clients I work with and working in a fast paced industry that is constantly evolving. No two days are the same and you are constantly kept on your toes with updates to search engine algorithms. It’s great to work with people who know so much about online marketing and are always more than happy to share their knowledge and experience.
What do you think is the number one thing for online marketers to watch out for in the next year? – I think Social media is probably the number one thing to watch. Facebook and Twitter are already having massive impacts on how online marketers work especially in the SEO world. Also search engine algorithm updates are always keeping us on our toes.
Who do you most admire and why? – One of the people that I most admire is Robert King. He is a brilliant photojournalist and despite having little experience had the bravery to get on a plane and fly to Bosnia to report on the conflict there. His photographs were better than many of the professionals, proving you don’t need fancy equipment to take great photographs.
What is your favourite book? – I am a big fan of Phillip K Dick, Franz Kafka, JD Salinger and Dostoevsky. I would say ‘Crime and Punishment’ is my favourite book.
What is your favourite film? – I really like Alfred Hitchcock films and old film noir. I would probably say ‘Vertigo’ is a big favourite.
Name your top three songs? – 1. ‘Psycho Killer’ by Talking Heads. 2. Anything by The Specials. 3. Something by Bob Dylan but it’s too difficult to pick one.
What do you like doing in your spare time? – I enjoy photography and music. I play guitar, drums and piano. I spend a lot of time restoring old pianos too. I also like spending time with friends.
The Search Alliance between Yahoo! and Bing is failing to attract much attention among European internet marketing services providers, who would rather create campaigns for Facebook or LinkedIn.
According to Duncan Parry, writing for Search Engine Watch, Microsoft and Yahoo! services "are simply off the consideration list" for many companies who would rather exploit opportunities available on social media sites.
This is because, while the two sites have a combined market share of around 30 per cent in the US, in the UK the dominance of Google leaves them with less than ten per cent of searches.
"Campaigns on Yahoo! and Bing offer lower volumes, often uncompetitive ROI (Return on Investment) and are on two platforms that simply don't come close to AdWords in terms of ease of use or sophistication of features," he noted.
Recently, results from Yahoo! that showed a 19 per cent fall in its revenues for paid search were described as a "disaster" by Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – specialists in Search Engine Optimisation and Internet Marketing.
Statistics released by Google have revealed that many people who use the internet on their smartphones are engaging with online marketing services delivered through the platform.
According to the company's survey, 82 per cent of mobile phone users noticed the ads they were served with, while half of users took some form of action, Search Engine Land reports.
The firm claimed that 42 per cent click on the ad, while 27 per cent contacted the business and 49 per cent end up making a purchase at some point.
It also found that 79 per cent of people are using their smartphones to help them when shopping, with almost three quarters of these making a purchase either online or in a store.
The results may also highlight the importance of developing a good search engine optimisation strategy for mobile sites, as seven per cent of respondents said that they used a search engine on their phone.
Earlier this month, an article on Econsultancy stated that UK firms must improve the usability of their mobile sites, as many users have experienced errors when visiting a company on their smartphone.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.
Following the recent testing Google have officially now launched the ad previews on all search ads making it easier for both consumers and businesses to search for what they want according to a leading search marketing agency.
How it works is when users hover the mouse over the ad, it will give a unique preview of the item for sale or the service on offer
This will help to qualify customers before clicking giving more realistic conversation rates for PPC marketing campaigns.
The system has been testing for the past week and has now gone live on the .com with it being described as a ‘win-win’ situation for both parties; better insight for the consumer and ensuring the company doesn’t have to pay for the ad until the users actually click-through.
There should be a greater chance of converting the click-throughs as the consumer has had an initial interest in the product or service before actually clicking.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Retailers looking to improve their internet marketing services may like to consider the possibilities afforded by mobile platforms, as new figures have shown this area is experiencing large growth.
According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), queries from such devices accounted for 11 per cent of all retail searches in the first quarter of 2011, with the total number growing by 29 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Multi-channel retailers saw the biggest increase, up 42 per cent year-on-year, as opposed to a rise of 19 per cent for stores that are online only.
Director-general of the BRC Stephen Robertson said that online retailing is now the fastest growing sector and mobile is "the star performer" within this market.
"Customers are taking to smartphone and tablet shopping very rapidly," he added. "The rise of mobile use to one in ten searches sends a valuable message to any forward-thinking retailer that doesn't yet have an m-commerce platform."
Recent, Matt Lawson said in a piece for Search Engine Land that marketers must separate their desktop and mobile campaigns in order to get the best results, as ads will perform very differently on the devices.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
Advertisers that use Google's AdWord's search engine marketing services may be interested to hear that the company has introduced its Instant Previews feature to paid results.
This will allow users the ability to preview an ad's landing page before clicking, which may benefit online marketing service providers as they will not be charged for a person using a preview.
Inside AdWord's team member Dan Friedman stated: "By allowing potential customers to preview your site before they arrive, Instant Previews helps you get even more highly qualified traffic to your site".
The service was introduced to organic search results last November and the extension to pay per click ads will be rolled out across Google's national sites over the next few weeks, beginning with the US from this week.
Recently, it was stated by the Internet Advertising Bureau that 2010 was a record year for spending on internet marketing services, with paid search the main source of revenue.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
