Coaching For Success
Two Kinds Of Internet User
Sep 1st
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Two Kind Of Internet Users
There are 2 general types of internet users: those looking for information and those looking to buy. We all wear both of those hats at different times and sometimes something is so compelling we put our buying hat on when we thought we only wanted to wear our research hat. For purposes of most effective optimization you want to make sure you are targeting both groups of people.
You want researchers because catching them early in the process exposes them to your expertise and creates you as a possible future solution for them. You also want buyers because that’s your bread and butter.
Which group you attract is determined by your keywords. You want keywords that call out to researchers and you want keywords that reach out and grab the buyers.
It’s important to consider commercial intent when selecting our keywords. A great tool that can be effective for this is http://adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/
The Best Way To Use Facebook For Ecommerce
May 4th
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Get £50 off a website 10 point MOT. Use the Contact Us form on the top of this page for more details
******************************************************************************************************************1. Budweiser
If your internet business is of the e-commerce variety, you may have been bombarded with reports about how amazingly well Facebook storefronts are faring these days.
Facebook Good For Social Sales
But, the truth of the matter is that, despite the fact that Booz & Company, a consulting company, predicts a 600 percent, or $30 billion, increase in product sales on Facebook by 2015, Facebook is not a medium for the majority of online retailers. This increase represents a mere 4 percent of the projected total of all sales online.
Facebook is more suited to the sale of socially relevant categories such as games, entertainment, travel and music, for which various applications and platforms already exist to make that possible.
Effective Use Of The Facebook Platform
Attempting to use Facebook directly for ecommerce is simply not feasible for most non-social product categories, since, according to the same report from Booz & Company, most Facebook users (73 percent of the 600 million users) are reluctant to shop on the platform due to privacy and security concerns.
So, if you’re not involved in selling any of the aforementioned product categories online, what’s the best way to take advantage of the massive potential customer base Facebook represents? Let’s look at some examples of how companies trading in non-social product categories make the most of their presence on Facebook.
1. Budweiser
This company’s Facebook page is all about audience participation. Go to their page and you’ll find yet another smart way in which the brand is put front and centre in the audience’s mind without any attempt or need to sell. You’ll see the extra-large logos and the chilled beer bottles, and next thing you know you’ll be adding a six-pack of Bud to your shopping list.
2. REI
Pay a visit to REI’s Facebook page and you won’t see any way to buy any of the company’s products. Instead, you’ll find all the information you can use to decide whether or not to make a purchase, along with videos, reviews, expert advice, company blog, etc., all connecting to the REI home page, from which you can make purchases to your heart’s content.
3. Newegg
Chances are you’ll arrive at Newegg’s Facebook page to find a sweepstakes of some kind, giving away such things as a complete home entertainment centre. In fact, join any of Newegg’s half million fans at any time and you’ll find many deals, promos, etc., waiting for you, but nothing to buy; take advantage of the offers on the page and you’ll be taken to the company home page to buy any of Newegg’s products.
4. Skittles
One look at the rainbow logo on the Skittles Facebook page may have you running to your nearest corner shop to grab a few bags of the tasty treats. And chances are you wouldn’t be alone – with 15 million users liking the page and enjoying its dozens of videos, over 1,000 photos, etc., making it clear Skittles know how to both entertain and engage users.
Obviously, if you can make your internet business‘s Facebook page as entertaining and interactive as possible, appealing to the social aspect that is Facebook, you can succeed in using Facebook as a launchpad for your ecommerce ambitions.
Utilise the Facebook expertise of a UK internet marketing consultant to set your page up for ecommerce success.
The Leading Trends In Search Marketing For 2011
May 2nd
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******************************************************************************************************************Local And Other Search Trends
The subject of search is of vital importance to internet business owners, so the results of a recent survey by SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) should be of great interest to anyone trying to achieve success online.
Social And Mobile More Important Than Ever
If part of your marketing strategy includes social and mobile marketing, the findings of the survey should be a real eye-opener for you; if they’re not part of your strategy, you’ll want to pay close attention to what you’re about to read.
Some 900 companies participated in the survey, which estimates that there will be an increase of 16% in search in 2011 over 2010.
Facebook is growing in popularity among pay-per-click (PPC) advertisers, with almost half of survey respondents claiming to use Facebook for PPC (47 percent based in North America and 45 percent elsewhere). Advertising agencies show even higher use of Facebook among their clients, with 74 percent of North American based clients and 69 percent of clients outside North America placing PPC ads on Facebook.
Mobile Is Changing The Game
But, at the end of the day, the mobile internet is what’s really changing the game where search marketing trends are concerned. About 40 percent of companies involved in the survey stated that the growth in mobile internet was seen as “highly significant” to their businesses, an increase of 26 percent over the preceding year. Another 39 percent claimed that mobile internet was “significant” where their businesses were concerned.
The numbers are even more impressive where agencies are concerned, with 47 percent declaring mobile internet’s impact highly significant.
Local And Other Search Trends
Hot on the heels of mobile in the internet search marketing trends arena comes local search, rated as a highly significant trend by some 43 percent of respondents, with 41 percent rating it as significant.
Ad agencies claim that their clients spend 34 percent of their search budgets on local PPC advertising, which consists of advertising at regional, city or sub-market (markets within a company’s principal marketing focus, also referred to as “hidden” markets) levels.
Local search has not had such a significant effect on client-side advertisers, with only 26 percent stating that its effect was highly significant and budgets being correspondingly smaller than the clients of agencies at around 23 percent compared to 34 percent.
According to the survey, behavioral targeting is also seen as taking on increasing importance, with the percentage considering it significant or highly significant rising from last year’s 68 to 2011′s 78 percent.
The use of social media in general for advertising purposes is on the rise, with 84 percent of companies surveyed using Facebook, compared to last year’s 73 percent. Twitter is used by 75 percent to promote their brands or companies, and 52 percent use Linkedin’s platform.
It should be obvious from the above that you should be positioning your internet business to take advantage of these search marketing trends, if you haven’t already.
A UK internet business consultant can provide all the assistance you need to help your company reap the benefits of these exciting new trends, so don’t delay – contact them today!
The Basic Principles Of Web Site Design
Apr 27th
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Get £50 off a website 10 point MOT. Use the Contact Us form on the top of this page for more details
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As far as internet businesses are concerned, one of the most important aspects of that type of business is the web site. In fact, having a web site is more or less essential for any company these days, so any discussion of web site design is relevant to practically any business.
Regardless of changes in technology, media, methodology, etc., the basic tenets that relate to web site design never change. And the principles that make for great web site design never change either, and, despite the fact that some companies may use the finest software available, their web sites still don’t look particularly professional, mainly because they just don’t look good.
Making Your Web Site Look Good
There have been many articles, even books, written detailing exactly what needs to be done to design a first-rate web site, but here we’ll look at the basic building blocks needed to create the foundation for a first-class web site.
Choosing The Right Colours
Colour is a very important facet of web site design and sets the tone upon which the rest of the design is based by creating unity, providing emphasis and creating interest.
But problems can also occur through such things as using too many colours, so it’s important to strike a balance. Start with your company logo and choose a colour that relates to the logo, and, simultaneously, your company brand.
Setting Text Font And Appearance
The appearance of the text on a site says a lot about how professional or not a site looks. Using too many fonts for emphasis can result in the opposite effect, leaving a site looking a mess with everything emphasised, meaning nothing is emphasised.
Also important are such things as paragraph width and length – too wide and readers may lose track of where they are; too long and readers may just skip it.
Grid Format
When it comes to design, working in threes seems to appeal to the brain, so creating a grid of three sections for a site is optimal. This way, all the elements on a page can be aligned to create an overall sense of unity.
Creating Relationships With Photos
The photos on a site need to relate to elements in the design to make them stand out. If you can do this in a unique way, it can really make your web site stand out. There are many ways of doing this, such as the use of tools such as PhotoShop.
Convey Brand Through Logo Elements
A company’s logo is not its brand, but it is used to visually convey the brand. Elements of the logo should be incorporated in the web site design to help bring attention to the company brand. This can be done through the use of logo elements such as shape, colour, text, etc.
Use Of Hierarchy
When a visitor arrives on your web site, you don’t want to leave to chance how they interact with the page on which they land. Creating a hierarchy on a web page allows you to lead a visitor through the various elements on a page in the order that provides maximum benefit for both the visitor and your business.
These are the basic concepts of web site design, which, when applied, will help establish your web site and your internet business as a creative, professional entity.
A UK internet business coach can bring web site design expertise to bear on your web site, whether it be initial design or re-design of an existing site.
Use An E-mail Service Provider To Push Your Campaigns Into Overdrive
Apr 25th
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Get £50 off a website 10 point MOT. Use the Contact Us form on the top of this page for more details
******************************************************************************************************************3. Constant Contact
E-mail marketing is still not only a relevant option for internet business owners, but it’s actually thriving, with e-mail newsletters still a very effective marketing tool.
In fact, a Pew research recently found that some 56 percent of internet users subscribe to e-mail newsletters of one kind or another, while online business owners are utilising this platform increasingly to transmit their messages.
Content Counts When All Said And Done
The trick is to provide subscribers with content that keeps them interested and wanting more, as well as increasing the number of subscribers, thereby expanding your business and its revenue.
Here’s a list of several e-mail service providers that can give your business the boost it needs:
1. Posterous
More a microblogging site than an e-mail provider, Posterous recently added a feature that allows bloggers to convert their content into e-mail newsletters. They’ve also stated their intention to enhance their e-mail services in future, so this is well worth looking at.
2. MailChimp
One of the most popular e-mail services, MailChimp provides tools that are easy to implement and use, including features for mobile and social marketing. A free trial is available, while packages are available costing up to $240 per month for up to 50,000 subscribers.
3. Constant Contact
Simple editing tools, mobile and social functionalities, as well as almost 500 templates for newsletters to which companies can add their own logos and colours are just some of the features that make this service such a standout. It’s priced from $15 a month (500 subscribers) to $150-plus a month (25,000-plus subscribers).
4. Campaigner
For a startup this is an excellent service that provides many features that allow users to create, send and keep track of their e-mail newsletters, as well as providing the ability to edit images without the need for additional software. The cost is $10 a month (includes 30 day free trial), rising to $55 a month for as many as 10,000 subscribers.
5. Campaign Monitor
An Aussie (Australian) company that’s mainly focused on design but is a full-service e-mail marketing provider. The service has a complete set of features to facilitate a company’s e-mail marketing campaigns, and its offerings are priced from $15 for 500 subscribers to $500 for as many as 50,000 subscribers.
Give your internet business and your e-mail marketing campaign a shot in the arm with any one of these fine services.
Check with a UK internet marketing consultant who can assist you with all aspects of your company’s e-mail marketing strategy and work with you to increase your subscriber base substantially.
