One thing that has always puzzled me is the way people employ wedding photographers. The set up is that you arrange for them to be there for your special day and pay them to take the photos, the deal normally being that you get so many prints for your money. If you want any more then you have to put your hand back into your pocket. Now if they just charged the cost of the print with just a small mark up I' d not be raising the issue, but they don't, instead they add on a fair wack extra as you are paying ('again' in my mind) for their time. In effect they 'keep' your negatives and make you pay for using them.
They Keep Your Negatives
Now I know why they do what they do, but it still seems strange to me.
But What About Adwords Campaigns
I have been running Pay Per Click campaigns for a decade now and in that entire time I have never built a campaign for a customer and then said it was mine and that they could not take it with them, whether they were taking the running 'in house' or (heaven forbid) taking it to another supplier (well you can't please all the people all time).
My view is that how it should be done, the customer pays for the campaign to be built and so it is theirs, it is as simple as that in my view.
As with the wedding photographer's I understand why they [the other online marketing companies] do this (to keep the customer) but I do not agree with the practise and we at Serendipity will never go down that route, even if it means we loose the odd customer every now and then.
At Serendipity We Hand The Negatives Back
So if you are ever interested in having a PPC campaign built and want to keep the build as your own, then contact Serendipity (or another online marketing company) that hands your negatives back, after all you will have paid for them.....
Search This Blog
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Facebook & Twitter - Essential for All Businesses?
It's true that there is going to be a big change in Online Marketing in 2011. For a start, both Google and Bing have come clean and told all that they will be taking Tweets and Posts/Likes into account when deciding what site to rank first in the SERPs. Then there is the case the power of the blog is set to increase, especially if you can harness this to get more links to a site.
However, some of the things I have been reading are saying things that I have difficulty in agreeing with. The basis of these comments are that ALL businesses MUST have a Facebook and Twitter account. Now while I can agree that having a Twitter account for all is a good idea, Twitter being very easy to use. It also does not take huge amounts of time to use and there is a lot of software out there to help. Twitter also is easily spidered (and is by Google all the time).
So Twitter is a good thing to have in my view, the amount of effort being well worth the effort.
Facebook is however a different kettle of fish in my view. Yes I'm sure it can be useful and could bring in traffic, however, for the small to medium size business will it bring in the level of traffic and SERP's bonus points necessary to balance the amount of effort?
In my view, whereas for the BIG businesses, Facebook is a MUST, for the smaller one, the only reason that I would recommend investing the time / money is in support of a Signal Creation programme, this being associated with a Blog on the customers site. We believe in this so much that we are launching a brand new product in Feb 2011, but more on that later.
To get back to the point, I do think that Facebook has a role for Big business, as for them it is essential to track their brand reputation and see what people are saying about them, moving to defuse any negative comments before they gain to much momentum and following (Twitter should be used this way too by the way).
So, yes for Big business, Facebook is a must, but for the smaller ones, without a big brand to protect, is Facebook necessary?
My view (and one that may well cause some comment) is that for the SME, that Facebook is not really worth investing the time and money that it would take to make it count. Sure, if they are going to be using a blog to push their site, then Facebook is a key part of the Signal creation process, but other than that, I'd keep away from Facebook (unless you are interested in it and would like to invest your spare time as it can't do any harm).
More on Social Media and Signal in the next few days
However, some of the things I have been reading are saying things that I have difficulty in agreeing with. The basis of these comments are that ALL businesses MUST have a Facebook and Twitter account. Now while I can agree that having a Twitter account for all is a good idea, Twitter being very easy to use. It also does not take huge amounts of time to use and there is a lot of software out there to help. Twitter also is easily spidered (and is by Google all the time).
So Twitter is a good thing to have in my view, the amount of effort being well worth the effort.
Facebook is however a different kettle of fish in my view. Yes I'm sure it can be useful and could bring in traffic, however, for the small to medium size business will it bring in the level of traffic and SERP's bonus points necessary to balance the amount of effort?
In my view, whereas for the BIG businesses, Facebook is a MUST, for the smaller one, the only reason that I would recommend investing the time / money is in support of a Signal Creation programme, this being associated with a Blog on the customers site. We believe in this so much that we are launching a brand new product in Feb 2011, but more on that later.
To get back to the point, I do think that Facebook has a role for Big business, as for them it is essential to track their brand reputation and see what people are saying about them, moving to defuse any negative comments before they gain to much momentum and following (Twitter should be used this way too by the way).
So, yes for Big business, Facebook is a must, but for the smaller ones, without a big brand to protect, is Facebook necessary?
My view (and one that may well cause some comment) is that for the SME, that Facebook is not really worth investing the time and money that it would take to make it count. Sure, if they are going to be using a blog to push their site, then Facebook is a key part of the Signal creation process, but other than that, I'd keep away from Facebook (unless you are interested in it and would like to invest your spare time as it can't do any harm).
More on Social Media and Signal in the next few days
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Are you in the right race with your website?
It is said that the Internet offers a level playing field, one where anyone can have a presence, a presence that gives them access to huge potential market. The trouble is that this level playing field is a myth, yes anyone can have a site, but getting traffic to it is a very different matter.
Getting traffic means marketing, whether this is by getting rankings for the right keywords on Google, or by building up a huge following on Twitter or Facebook. The simple truth is that doing any of the former is just not easy and each route will take a lot of time and or money.
The best advice I can give to anyone thinking of starting this journey is to choose the right race to join. After all, if you were into car racing you would think twice before entering F1 when you only had enough money to buy a Ford Fiesta. The same thing applies to Internet Marketing, in the end it will be the availability of time / money that will define what market place you are really able to join.
So, talk to your SEO / SEM / SMO adviser and get them to show you the level of competition in your market place and more importantly what are the niches you could attack.
That way you won't be trying to win a race that you can't possibly succeed in.
Best of luck choosing your race!
Getting traffic means marketing, whether this is by getting rankings for the right keywords on Google, or by building up a huge following on Twitter or Facebook. The simple truth is that doing any of the former is just not easy and each route will take a lot of time and or money.
The best advice I can give to anyone thinking of starting this journey is to choose the right race to join. After all, if you were into car racing you would think twice before entering F1 when you only had enough money to buy a Ford Fiesta. The same thing applies to Internet Marketing, in the end it will be the availability of time / money that will define what market place you are really able to join.
So, talk to your SEO / SEM / SMO adviser and get them to show you the level of competition in your market place and more importantly what are the niches you could attack.
That way you won't be trying to win a race that you can't possibly succeed in.
Best of luck choosing your race!
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Is 2011 The Year of the Blog?
In the distant past (in Web Terms that means just a few years) it was Google Page Rank that ruled the roost. It was that algorithm that controlled which page was ranked first for any key phrase. But nothing is constant but change, and it was not long before things like the Meta Keywords tag were in turn handled the chalice of power.
Later still it was the words on the page that had the main effect on SERP's rankings. Each of these changes were tracked by the Search Engine Optimisation experts of the day, who in turn then made changes to the pages they controlled to get the best results.
On the other side of this 'battle' were the Search Engines who were busily changing the 'rules' so that it was they and not others who would 'decide' what pages would get what rankings. It was thus the change in the rules that concentrated the 'power' in the number of links came about.
Sure getting rankings is more than just about links, but in 2010 at least, they represented the most powerful part of the ranking equation.
However as I mentioned above, 2011 is going to see yet another change and this one it seems is going to centre on Blogs, the links to these Blogs and the interaction with the Social Media networks. These links, the Blogs and the Social Media posts that point to them are often called 'Signal' and getting rankings is going it seems to be all about that this year.
So for 2011, you will need two things:-
1) A Blog (hosted in a folder on your site, or in a sub domain).
2) Some Social Media presence in the form of a Twitter account and perhaps a Facebook page.
3) The time to write the blogs and then alert the Engines to the changes on the Blog using Tweets and Social Media posts.
More on these changes (as they become clearer) over the next months
Later still it was the words on the page that had the main effect on SERP's rankings. Each of these changes were tracked by the Search Engine Optimisation experts of the day, who in turn then made changes to the pages they controlled to get the best results.
On the other side of this 'battle' were the Search Engines who were busily changing the 'rules' so that it was they and not others who would 'decide' what pages would get what rankings. It was thus the change in the rules that concentrated the 'power' in the number of links came about.
Sure getting rankings is more than just about links, but in 2010 at least, they represented the most powerful part of the ranking equation.
However as I mentioned above, 2011 is going to see yet another change and this one it seems is going to centre on Blogs, the links to these Blogs and the interaction with the Social Media networks. These links, the Blogs and the Social Media posts that point to them are often called 'Signal' and getting rankings is going it seems to be all about that this year.
So for 2011, you will need two things:-
1) A Blog (hosted in a folder on your site, or in a sub domain).
2) Some Social Media presence in the form of a Twitter account and perhaps a Facebook page.
3) The time to write the blogs and then alert the Engines to the changes on the Blog using Tweets and Social Media posts.
More on these changes (as they become clearer) over the next months
Thursday, 23 December 2010
You Can’t Teach an Old Blog New Tricks – Or Can You?
Sorry for the terrible pun (and I do hope our canine friends will forgive me), but I just could not resist the idea. I expect it has been used before (although it was not coming up in Google) but whatever, I thought it was worth another airing.
But Can You Teach A Blog New Tricks?
I don’t know how many blogs you have looked at, but I’m afraid to say that the death rate is quite high, many blogs simply not being updated. The main reason for this I’m sure is lack of time, but I also imagine that a fair number are not kept up to date as people think that they are not being looked at.
Of course the problem may be that the content is poor, but it could also be the fact that not enough people are aware of the blog in the first place. Here the issue will be lack of marketing, some blog owners not even ensuring that their blog ‘pings’ the networks to tell of a new post. Also, not all make use of Twitter or Facebook to spread the word about new content.
So, if an ‘old blog’ is not using either pings or Social Media, then you can certainly teach it a new trick or two.
But there is MORE, much MORE that can be done…
Watch this space for more tips and tricks and make 2011 the Year of Your Blog!
But Can You Teach A Blog New Tricks?
I don’t know how many blogs you have looked at, but I’m afraid to say that the death rate is quite high, many blogs simply not being updated. The main reason for this I’m sure is lack of time, but I also imagine that a fair number are not kept up to date as people think that they are not being looked at.
Of course the problem may be that the content is poor, but it could also be the fact that not enough people are aware of the blog in the first place. Here the issue will be lack of marketing, some blog owners not even ensuring that their blog ‘pings’ the networks to tell of a new post. Also, not all make use of Twitter or Facebook to spread the word about new content.
So, if an ‘old blog’ is not using either pings or Social Media, then you can certainly teach it a new trick or two.
But there is MORE, much MORE that can be done…
Watch this space for more tips and tricks and make 2011 the Year of Your Blog!
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
The Link Between SEO and Signal Gets Stronger
There has been much chatter about what the link is between SERP's and Social Media 'Signal' but the rumours seem to be turning into concrete fact.
See Matt Cutts talking about Google Rankings and Twitter & Facebook Signal and you'll see what I mean.
More later
See Matt Cutts talking about Google Rankings and Twitter & Facebook Signal and you'll see what I mean.
More later
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Case Study for Shire and Co - Powerful SEO in Practise
As any Blogger will tell you, one of the ways that you can use a blog effectively is to tell your readers that you know what you are talking about, that you know your onions and that therefore you should be listened too.
One of the best ways to show your expertise in any subject area (mine being Search Engine Marketing / and Social Media Optimisation) is a case study, showing how you were presented with a 'problem' what you did to fix it and what the results were.
In this case, Serendipity Online Marketing was contacted by Shire and Co after a referral by a current client. We went along and laid down what we could do for them, saying that it we would expect to be able to get them onto page one of Google for a number of top phrases in about 3 months, this being an especially difficult task as the site was very new.
We laid out a plan, our tried and tested plan, first doing the keyword research, then altering the site to include these words, then constructing a solid set of links to the site.
We were thus faced with the fact that we had a very new site, that was not built that well (the use of Joomla being a bit odd in places), that wanted rankings in a fairly competitive area. To cap it all, they wanted results fast!
When we started the site had no rankings for anything much (other than its own name) few links, and was totally unoptimised. It did not even cover all the areas that the customer wanted and which had been picked from the keyword research. Whilst it is not unusual to find that all the keyword phrases were not covered, it was unusual to find that some areas were not covered. But this was not a problem for Serendipity.
What we did.
As we knew what keywords were wanted, we started optimising the site, adding pages to cover the areas required and changing all the others so that they had the best chance of getting those all important rankings. We also added the iJoomla SEO extension to the site to make the process more efficient.
To cover the all important area of Social Media and Signal, we started a Twitter account and built the number of followers up to just under 400 in just a few weeks. Besides Tweeting from this account, we also Tweeted from our own accounts (which have nearly 8,000 followers in all) about Shire.
We also started the linking programme. As the graph below shows there were very few links to start with:-
The number of links took off under our influence leaping up to nearly 800 in just 2 months (with a lot more in process at the time of writing).
To show that this is not a one off, we also did some some work for a sister company of Shire and Co, Shire Leasing. As the graph below shows, when Serendipity started creating links in August, the numbers just took off...
But back to Shire and Co. So what was the result of our labours, what was acheived?
The Results
Being an SEO company, we were going to be judged on the number of rankings we gained for coverted words like 'Business Lawyers', 'Company Lawyers' and 'Employment Lawyers'.
As already stated, the rankings on Google for these words was a big fat ZERO before we started, the site had NO rankings at all. But after just two months, the rankings had started to appear and after three we had acheived:-
Of course it was early days, there being a lot more work to do for the site to get it even better rankings, traffic and enquiries. However, that was not to be, an internal re-organisation of the Shire Group causing them to take all SEO works back in house. Whilst this was a shame, at least we at Serendipity had given them a sound base to work from.
So there you have it, faced with the problem of a site with no links, rankings and little traffic, we did the research, made the on page changes and created the links, in the end producing some very good rankings for some top keywords.
More on SEO next week
One of the best ways to show your expertise in any subject area (mine being Search Engine Marketing / and Social Media Optimisation) is a case study, showing how you were presented with a 'problem' what you did to fix it and what the results were.
In this case, Serendipity Online Marketing was contacted by Shire and Co after a referral by a current client. We went along and laid down what we could do for them, saying that it we would expect to be able to get them onto page one of Google for a number of top phrases in about 3 months, this being an especially difficult task as the site was very new.
We laid out a plan, our tried and tested plan, first doing the keyword research, then altering the site to include these words, then constructing a solid set of links to the site.
We were thus faced with the fact that we had a very new site, that was not built that well (the use of Joomla being a bit odd in places), that wanted rankings in a fairly competitive area. To cap it all, they wanted results fast!
When we started the site had no rankings for anything much (other than its own name) few links, and was totally unoptimised. It did not even cover all the areas that the customer wanted and which had been picked from the keyword research. Whilst it is not unusual to find that all the keyword phrases were not covered, it was unusual to find that some areas were not covered. But this was not a problem for Serendipity.
What we did.
As we knew what keywords were wanted, we started optimising the site, adding pages to cover the areas required and changing all the others so that they had the best chance of getting those all important rankings. We also added the iJoomla SEO extension to the site to make the process more efficient.
To cover the all important area of Social Media and Signal, we started a Twitter account and built the number of followers up to just under 400 in just a few weeks. Besides Tweeting from this account, we also Tweeted from our own accounts (which have nearly 8,000 followers in all) about Shire.
We also started the linking programme. As the graph below shows there were very few links to start with:-
The number of links took off under our influence leaping up to nearly 800 in just 2 months (with a lot more in process at the time of writing).
To show that this is not a one off, we also did some some work for a sister company of Shire and Co, Shire Leasing. As the graph below shows, when Serendipity started creating links in August, the numbers just took off...
But back to Shire and Co. So what was the result of our labours, what was acheived?
The Results
Being an SEO company, we were going to be judged on the number of rankings we gained for coverted words like 'Business Lawyers', 'Company Lawyers' and 'Employment Lawyers'.
As already stated, the rankings on Google for these words was a big fat ZERO before we started, the site had NO rankings at all. But after just two months, the rankings had started to appear and after three we had acheived:-
- Business Lawyers - Position 3 out of over 6 Million pages
- Company Lawyers - Position 1 out of over 36 Million pages
- Employment Lawyers - Position 10 out of 1.5 Million pages
Of course it was early days, there being a lot more work to do for the site to get it even better rankings, traffic and enquiries. However, that was not to be, an internal re-organisation of the Shire Group causing them to take all SEO works back in house. Whilst this was a shame, at least we at Serendipity had given them a sound base to work from.
So there you have it, faced with the problem of a site with no links, rankings and little traffic, we did the research, made the on page changes and created the links, in the end producing some very good rankings for some top keywords.
More on SEO next week
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