There is little doubt that the age of social media is well and truly upon us. You will be hard-pressed to visit a website today without spotting a Twitter feed or Facebook page link. It’s hardly surprising then that some of the internet’s key players are trying to get in on the act. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Google’ Category
Google Runs Commercial During the Superbowl
Posted February 8th, 2010 by Stephen Harvey-Franklin in Advertising, Google
Google ran its first ever advertisement during the Superbowl advertising. The 1 minute 52 second advert entitled “Parisian Love” is one of their “Search Stories” series of adverts and tells the story through search:
WSI Yorkshire Visits Google
Posted July 3rd, 2009 by Chris Mann in Google, WSI Company News
As part of the developing relationship between WSI and the Search Engine giant Google, a unique collaborative event was organised last week. The event hosted at Google’s central London office allowed representatives from both organisations to come together under one roof.
The agenda focussed around the challenges and opportunities presented by the global economic slowdown. The worst for a generation and the first of the new digital age. During these challenging economic times consumers are becoming more and more price conscious. Over 80% of Internet users now compare prices and options prior to making an online purchase. With Internet usage figures increasing to over 41 million individuals online this year this represents key opportunities for WSI’s clients.
At the event Google presented the very latest research findings into visitor behaviour and the impact the economic slowdown is having on all key online sectors. This advice extended to Pay Per Click advertising, Social Media Optimisation and key technical aspects of Search Engine Optimisation including Landing Page Optimisation and the future of Link Building Activity.
In addition Google provided demonstrations of their very latest Search Optimisation tools and a rare insight into their future endeavours within the Search and Internet Marketing Arena.
We will be sharing all of these insights with our clients over the coming weeks and months to help gain the greatest potential from their online marketing campaigns.
New Google Search Update
Posted November 9th, 2008 by WSI Yorkshire in Google, Online Marketing
In their pursuit to maintain their position as the most popular search engine, the innovators at Google have added new search tools to improve functionality. Although it is understandable for them to continually improve the user experience, such changes do have ramifications for websites that rank well in organic search results.
Google’s most recent round of updates provides some additional tools for refining your search, providing useful benefits for the user – which is, after all, Google’s number one concern. But what difference does it make to the way you market your website?<!–more–>
Adapting to Google’s New Update
Google announced the launch of the latest new search features in May, calling them Search Options. These changes provide significant new functionality to the way users can refine their search. Hardcore search users will undoubtedly welcome such new features.
The New Features
The new features can be accessed once you have conducted a search. Once your search results are returned, you will see a ‘Show options…’ link situated to the left of the blue bar above the first website listed. Click on this link and a new left column will reveal a number of options for sorting the returned search results, such as:
Sort by content: The first option allows you to sort the suggested search results by content types, letting you view the results from videos, forums, and reviews.
Sort by time: View the suggested search results according to when they were created – most recent, last 24 hours, past week, and past year.
Change the view: This option allows you see more text and images from the suggested search result pages.
Additional tools enable users to see related searches and some suggested search options as well as a timeline view function.
You can also combine the sort options to see, for example, ‘videos relating to your search term posted last week’. Used in such a way, these advanced search functions will significantly improve the way searches are conducted.
What do the changes mean to you?
With additional search-refining tools sure to follow, it’s important to make sure your search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts can adapt to reflect how your website can be found. Here are some ideas:
- Publish your content in different formats and across various platforms. This will let you take advantage of the ’sort by content’ feature, potentially improving your ranking position once the searcher refines the content (by videos, for example).
- Keep your website (or business blog) updated and the ’sort by time’ search option could potentially catapult your newly posted content above your strongest competitor, allowing you to win new traffic that might otherwise not come your way.
- Focus on the quality of your content. The ‘change view’ option will immediately allow the searcher to see more of the content on your page before clicking through; using images where appropriate will immediately convey your strongest message right from within Google’s search results.
In some ways, Google’s new search tools completely levels the playing field, enabling quality content providers to gain some advantage over competitors with huge SEO budgets. If you would like help with improving your SEO efforts, call us on 01484 690430.
Taking PPC Marketing to a Higher Level
Posted October 29th, 2008 by WSI Yorkshire in Advertising, Analytics, Bing, Google, Google Adwords, Online Marketing, Yahoo
Managed correctly, Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns are an extremely effective way for small businesses to market their business online. PPC advertising is an attractive marketing medium, as a charge is only applied when your ad is clicked on and visitors are directed to your website.
Unlike most standard forms of advertising, PPC search-engine marketing enables you to target potential customers who are looking specifically for your service. If done right, a PPC campaign can pay for itself many times over.<!–more–>
Sharpening the PPC Saw
Pay Per Click is now a fundamental part of the online marketing mix of many SMEs. This doesn’t mean the paid search arena is saturated, or that many of these companies achieve a maximum return on their investment.
The PPC market place is huge, and provides ample opportunity for advertisers of all sizes; and just because your top key terms are beyond your budget doesn’t mean you cannot have a successful, cost- effective PPC campaign. Here are four tips for taking your paid search marketing activities to the next level.
1. Plan Your Campaign
The straightforward tools for setting up a paid search advertising campaign make it easy to get started. But taking your time with a more planned approach will allow you to apply tools that will optimise the effectiveness of your campaigns.
A well-prepared campaign will include the following elements:
- Keyword research
- Organising the selected keywords into ad groups
- Preparing creative, targeted ad copy
- Tailored landing pages that relate to your ads
- Tracking
- Analysis
While you can be up and running with your ad campaign in minutes, you will achieve the best return on your investment by working through these important managed steps.
2. Pre-qualify Your Visitors
One of PPC marketing’s strengths is the ability to pre-qualify those who click on your ads: Craft a well-worded ad to include your keywords and some details about your product. Done well, this will deter the ‘tyre kickers’ and encourage those who are ready to buy.
You may also consider offering a free download, White Paper, email course or webinar as an incentive for clicking on your ad. This will capture contact data from a high percentage of those clicking on your ads.
3. Boosting Your Budget
Bidding to have your ad positioned at the top of the search results is not always the best strategy. More traffic often comes from the second, third or even fourth position, which will save you a significant amount of money.
You can also make your budget go a little further by setting up conversion tracking. This not only allows you to identify what keywords are working best for you, but also demonstrates to the search engine that your content is relevant. This can result in your ads benefiting from better positioning without increasing your bid amount.
4. Don’t Suffer from Analysis Paralysis
Web advertising provides excellent visitor activity tracking, allowing you to achieve a greater return on your PPC advertising investment by identifying what is working and what needs tweaking.
Be careful, though, the wealth of website data can be overwhelming, especially if you are not well versed in the technology, tools and terminology of PPC marketing. The key is being able to hone in on the important stats, and then understand how to interpret them.
If you would like more help implementing successful PPC marketing campaigns, please call us on 01484 690430.
