With all the hysteria surrounding Google+ at the moment, it’s easy to see why businesses and brands will be wanting to establish their territory as soon as possible (in fact Ford have already done just that.)

However, a blog post and video from Google today is asking brands to hold fire just now, as they have plans for businesses launching later this year.

I’m a little surprised that they didn’t launch the business facilities at the same time as the rest – surely they would have known that brands would want to establish their footprint as soon as possible, and especially smaller businesses?

As they say in the video, they’re going to be testing out business features with a small group of previewers – you can register within Google+ to become a tester, so if you’re in, it’s probably best to do that now.

Anyway, Google is asking you to give them a little time, and promise to launch business facilities ‘later this year’ – will you be waiting?

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Hi all, Nikki here, and I’m delighted to be able to announce that Claire and I will shortly be launching the 30 Day Adwords Challenge!

When I decided to produce a series of 30 Day Challenges, I knew that there were some I could write myself, but others would need expert help, and when it came to the Adwords one, Claire was the first name that sprang to mind.

Within minutes she’d said yes, and I’ve seen the draft outline of the course and have to tell you it’s going to be a corker!

You’re going to learn about:

• Keyword research
• Setting up ads
• Ad groups
• Campaigns
• Quality score
• Tracking
• Budgeting
• and more!

Even I’m excited about this one, and looking to learn from it!

If you want to be among the first to know when this challenge launches (and like other challenges, it will be free to a certain amount of places, with an ebook available too) then use the form below to register your interest!

 Subscribe to hear first!

Name:

Email:

We respect your email privacy

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Since October 2009, Google and twitter have had a contract which allows Google to use all of the available information and data acquired by twitter. All of this information was used for Google’s real-time search feature, which has now been disabled.

Google had this to say: “Since October of 2009, we have had an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results through a special feed, and that agreement expired on July 2.”

“While we will not have access to this special feed from Twitter, information on Twitter that’s publicly available to our crawlers will still be searchable and discoverable on Google.”

With the contract ended, it seems Google have no intention of renewing it in the near future- they are focusing more on Google +. Part of the reason for the creation of Google + was to build a home source of information about what people are interested on the web. This information was originally acquired through twitter.

With twitter’s data being used significantly less; it will have an effect on many businesses currently using twitter as part of their SEO. This may result in a drop in the number of users on twitter- as we see SEO’s and businesses alike focusing elsewhere to climb the Google rankings.

Twitter may see this as a positive result, with less SEO’s using twitter, the avalanche of useless tweets and links will drop significantly. However, whether or not any of this will become true is yet to be decided. We are still left in the dark about how much Google will be using Twitter as a ranking factor in the future.

It seems that Google intends on relaunching the real-time search; with information from Google + and other third party sources. Whether or not data will be used again from twitter is yet to be decided.

We have yet to see if Google is making the right move, real-time search was one of the main weapons Google had. If Google + is not as successful as they hoped, then the data acquired through the new real-time search may be less reliable than planned. This will result in Google’s search engine becoming less relevant.

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Lance.Nike?

If you’ve not heard the news, ICANN (who handle all of the top level domain suffixes such as .com, .net, .biz etc.) have made the decision to open up the suffixes to wider use.

So whereas before you would find that most domain suffixes were of the country variety, or suffixes such as .biz and .org, the theory is that now anything goes.

As I say, the THEORY is that:

• We could have marketing.claire or claire.marketing
• Pepsi could have pepsi.cola (although they might have to fight it out whit the cola of the Coca variety)
• Nike could have .nike
• Plumbers could have .plumber
• etc

Sounds great, doesn’t it? But before you go off to register that must have suffix before anyone else does, here are a few facts:

• There’s a $185k fee to pay up front
• You need to know how to run a TLD and manage it
• The documentation to gain one is apparently over 200 pages
• And you could be refused anyway

The internet is buzzing with the news, and while I can see it’s great for ICANN and good for those with huge amounts of money to put behind it, i’m not so sure it’s all that good for the rest of us.

• There’s sure to be confusion when searching for a domain – was it .com or .ikea?
• It realises potentially millions more domain names into the ether, which means more competition for smaller businesses
• We don’t even know how Google et al are going to deal with these domains yet, so whether a branded suffix will take precendece over a .com or .co.uk

In short, I think it’s a great gimmick, and one that is sure to make money for ICANN and give great publicity to those big companies that can afford to buy one, but the rest of us don’t need to worry about finding $185k down the back of the sofa just yet.

Although I’d still quite like .marketing

Related articles

• ICANN approves new top-level domains: Now .anything is possible (digitaltrends.com)
• ICANN approves expansion of top-level domains (news.cnet.com)
• Internet regulators vote to allow new domain suffixes (news.consumerreports.org)
• ICANN Decision Changes the Face of the Web (blippitt.com)

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Adwords is being used by many companies and individuals looking to boost sales and drive traffic to a website. These tips should help you start making money through Google adwords.

1.      Not Enough Ad Groups- Many inexperienced adwords managers make the mistake of not creating enough ad groups. Having many ad groups allows you to write ads more appropriate to every search term that people may search for. If you have only one ad group, with many keywords and one ad, you will have a very low click through rate.  This will result in a low quality score, meaning your ads will be more expensive to show.

2.      Use Negative Keywords- Negative keywords are extremely undervalued by the majority of newcomers to adwords. Having a big list of negative keywords- (phrases you don’t want your ads showing for) will cause your click through rate to rise. This will save you money and ensure you are advertising to targeted people- people more likely to convert.

3.      Make use of the search term report- Within adwords, open the relevant campaign and go to the keywords tab. Now click on “See search terms…” which should be directly under the keywords tab. Click on “all” and then “download” and finally “create”- make sure the format is excel. This will create an excel spreadsheet giving you detailed information about the keywords your ads have been matched against over a period of time. (You can change this period of time in the top right hand corner of the adwords keywords tab) You can use this information to create new ad groups and add new negative keywords.

4.      Use small numbers of keywords in each ad group- Some people make the mistake of cramming loads of keywords into an ad group. This will make your campaign unorganised, and cause you to have low click through rate. Ideally, you should have 3 keywords per ad group; in three forms. Best practice is to use modified broad, phrase and exact in each ad group.

5.      Update your adwords campaign on a regular basis- Ideally, you should be updating your adwords campaign at least once a week. This means looking at the search term report and applying all of the above tips to your campaign. Eventually you will build a campaign that has a high click through rate, and is constantly streaming potential customers to your website on a regular basis.

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There’s been a lot of talk recently about Google +1, the new ‘button’ from Google that allows people to ‘vote’ for your site and could affect your Google positions in some instances.

So, firstly:

What is Google +1?

Google tell us that:

Adding +1 buttons to your pages is a great way to help your ads stand out on Google. By giving your visitors more chances to +1 your pages, your search ads and organic results might appear with +1 annotations more often. This could lead to more–and better qualified–traffic to your site.

This has been a little confusing for some people so we’ll try and put it in plain English for you

Basically, if you have the Google +1 button on your website pages or blog posts, then people can click on it in the same way they would click a Facebook ‘Like’ button. When they click on it (and to do this they must have a Google account), Google registeres that they like your page or post. So far so good.

When another person searches on Google, and your page or post is shown in the results, it will show the number of  ‘+1s’ it has had from their friends or contacts. Google is working on the assumption that people will be influenced by the choices their friends and contacts have made.

How will it affect my Google positions? If people don’t +1 me, am I at a disadvantage?

In most cases, the answer to this is no. Google tells us that +1 won’t affect the usual SERPS (which is a relief as we’re sure it will soon become easy to game). However, if someone searches Google while they’re logged in to their Google account, the results that have more +1s from their friends and contacts will be highlighted.

Should I use the Google +1 button on my pages and posts?

We think so. Although it’s not making a huge impact right now, think back to how little impact Facebook Likes made at one point – now they’re an integral part of promoting any blog or website.

How do I install the Google +1 button on my site or blog?

If you have a WordPress blog or site, there’s a plugin for that http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-plus-one/

If you have a Blogger blog, you’ll need to install one of their addons – more about this here: http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/06/add-1-button-to-your-blog.html

If you want to install it to your site manually, it’s just a case of adding some code into the head of your code, and then some more code where you want the button to appear – more on this here: http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1/button/

As you can see at the bottom of this post, we’ve installed the Google +1 button – we’d love it if you could help us to test it, first by clicking on it, and secondly by installing it on your own site or blog and letting us know in the comments below!

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Image via Wikipedia

“Getting targeted visitors is difficult”

“I don’t have time to increase traffic to my website”

“No-one is interested in my site – what can I do?”

Just 3 of the comments we’ve heard from potential clients recently, and of course we were quick to contradict the first 2 and answer the third – so here are our top seven ways you can increase traffic to your site TODAY:

1. Write a blog post

   Far too much time is spent worrying about what to write, and not enough time writing! A blog post should take no more than ten minutes of your time once you’ve thought of a subject. Don’t know what to write about? Think about the last 3 things clients or potential clients asked, and write a blog post that answers those questions. That’s what we’ve done here!

2. Post on your Facebook wall

   Whether it’s on your personal profile or your Business page, post a link to your site. In the comment below the link, make it clear what your site offers, and invite your fans / likers / contacts to pass the link on to anyone they think may be interested.

3. Send  a link out to Twitter

   As long as you’re sharing other information and having conversations, your Twitter followers won’t mind the odd link to your site. Make sure your Tweet has your main keyphrases in it so that it comes up in the search facility too! (And, if you feel comfortable, ask people to retweet your link).

4. Comment on someone else’s blog post (maybe even this one?)

   Find blogs in your industry or niche, and make a point of commenting on them – every comment gives you the opportunity to link to your own website or blog. Make sure your comments add to the discussion though, don’t just post “Great post!” or “I agree!”

5. Set up a Google Adwords campaign
   
   Simple to set up, and your ads could be live within minutes. Setting up a test campaign in Google allows you to try out keyphrases to see if they work, which you can then transfer into your SEO campaign. Keep an eye on your budget and tweak accordingly!
6. Buy some Facebook ads

   Again, up and running in minutes, and you can target to the demographic of your choice. You can control your budget and choose whether to promote your website or your Facebook page – in our opinion it’s worth testing a mixture of the two to see which provides the best results.

7. Post in a business forum

   People ask all sorts of questions on business forums, and the chance is that you can answer some of them! Help others out, post your own questions, join in the discussion – every post usually contains your link in the signature, and is a great way to get traffic to your site. Don’t abuse it though, by linking excessively – the signature link should be enough.

There are many other ways to generate targeted traffic to your website – but these 7 should give you a head start. How many will you do today?

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Image by aussiegall via Flickr

Does your site measure up?

It’s unfortunate that sometimes we have to turn away SEO clients simply because their websites aren’t up to scratch. It’s hard to tell a client with money in his hand that the website he has paid out good money for just can’t be optimised.

There are many reasons a website isn’t suitable – here are just a few:

IT’S ON A FREEBIE DOMAIN

Whether it’s a free wordpress blog or a free domain on your hosting company’s space, it’s really not worth optimising on a freebie domain. With domain names costing very little these days, take the time to buy either a .com or a .co.uk that suits your company – it’s worth it in the long run.

IT’S AN ALL FLASH SITE

Although there are ways around it, Google still doesn’t like all Flash sites, and we really advise against getting them designed. With web design standards so high now it’s possible to achieve a great looking site without having to hide everything in a Flash movie.

TITLE TAGS CAN’T BE CHANGED ON EACH PAGE

It’s a fact that you can’t optimise one page of a site for every phrase – in fact we recommend a handful of phrases per page. This means that if you want to optimise for 10 phrases, you’re going to need at least 5 pages that can have the title and META tags changed. Many CMSs don’t offer this option, and sadly we have to turn away these clients.

THE SITE IS DESIGNED ALL IN GRAPHICS

Yes, even in 2011 we still see sites designed in Microsoft Pulisher or other programs that render the site all in graphics. Google can’t read them, we can’t help you – sorry!

YOU’RE NOT WILLING TO CHANGE YOUR COPY

In some cases your copy will be fine, but in others we’ll ask you to change some of it, make it more keyword rich, add H1 tags etc – if you won’t or can’t do this then we can’t do our job properly and have to say no.

YOU WANT INSTANT RESULTS ON ULTRA COMPETITIVE KEYPHRASES

Although we have achieved great listings in good timeframes for our clients, we can’t guarantee that you’ll be at #1 in Google for the keyphrases of your choice within a week – no-one can. In fact Google themselves even say not to employ SEO consultants who say they can. We’re ethical and moral and won’t promise something we can’t achieve, so we’d have to turn down the job.

That all sounds a little negative doesn’t it? But rest assured that the majority of people who come to us are taken on board with a big smile – once we’ve checked the above points and made sure we can do the best job for them.

Not sure if your site meets our criteria? Drop us a line and ask

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Image by thms.nl via Flickr

Here at Marketing By Web we’re often asked: “Which is better? SEO or Google Adwords?” and the truthful answer is that it depends on your website.
But that’s a whole other blog post

For the majority of websites, SEO and Adwords working in tandem is a great strategy.

Why?

Well, let’s look at the pros and cons of SEO and Adwords separately first.

SEO (search engine optimisation)

Pros:

• can be low cost, whether you DIY or employ an SEO consultant
• some people use organic listings more than they click on Adwords
• most sites can be optimised with a little work
• once listings are achieved, a little work every month can keep those listings

Cons:

• it takes time to see your listings rise, especially if you’re in a competitive industry
• short tail keyphrases are usually very competitive
• there’s no real way to know if you’ve chosen the correct keyphrases until you get the listings you want

Adwords

Pros:

• listings are alive almost immediately
• you can use Adwords to test the efficacy of keywords before embarking on SEO
• you can control your budget
• Google will give you advice on landing pages
• you only pay for each visitor you get

Cons:

• for very competitive keyphrases it can be expensive
• if your ads aren’t written properly then your ‘quality’ score could be low
• if your site isn’t well designed, your ads may not show often

So, by combining SEO and Adwords, you can get the pros of each (quick listings, testing, organic listings, good results), and use each of them to negate the pros. Let’s see some examples:

• SEO takes time, but Adwords are almost instant – so you can use Adwords to get quick wins, and use SEO for the longer term
• With SEO you may not know if you’re choosing the correct phrases – Adwords helps you to refine this
• If you have a low quality score in Adwords, and you ads don’t show oftem the work you do on your site will benefit your SEO

We understand that in some cases it’s an either/or situation, but in our opinion, SEO and Adwords work hand in hand to provide all round search engine promotion for your site.

Are you using both SEO AND Adwords to promote your website?

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The first thing people do when they realise that their Google positions have dropped, is panic. Checking frantically and only seeing themselves on the 3rd page or lower while their competitors are living it up on the front page, the horror sets in and with it a kind of mist descends.

“What did I do wrong? Let me change this, and this, and this, ooh I must need more links, and I’d better write some articles.” It’s easy to start running round like a headless chicken and doing everything to fix the problem.

STOP!

Firstly, stop panicking. The drop may not be permanent, and there will be a way to fix it in most cases.

So, where should we start?

1) Have you changed anything recently? Updated the site, changed any title or meta tags, added extra content, deleted pages, moved things around? This is one of the reasons that we recommend only changing one thing at a time on a site an then waiting to see what results it has.

2) Have you done anything wrong? Bought dodgy linking packages, spammed on forums, overstuffed your keyphrases? There are often things that may seem like a good idea at the time, but turn out to be bad for your site. Buying 10,000 links for $50 may seem like a shortcut to great Google listings, but it isn’t and can get you penalised.

3) Is it a newish domain? Often a few months after a site launches it gets put into what is known as the Google ‘sandbox’ where it drops considerably for a while before hopefully climbing its way back up the rankings. The only thing you can do here is wait it out, and carry on building great content.

4) Have you changed the way the pages are laid out? Sometimes the phrase ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is the right one – completely changing the layout of your site can have a negative effect and can see you lose positions for a while. We’re not saying your site has to stay the same forever, but it does help if the navigation and page names stay in the right place.

The most important thing is to remember that as long as what you’ve done is in the realms of white hat optimisation, and you’ve not enlisted and black hat spammy techniques, the chances are that your Google positions are salveageable.

Just don’t panic, think through what’s changed recently and act accordingly, undoing the changes if necessary. Above all, don’t have a knee jerk reaction – think it through logically and work through step by step to fix what you can.

If your Google positions have dropped and you really don’t know why, drop us a line to claire@marketingbyweb.co.uk and we’ll do our best to help.

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