How Does SEO Help Businesses?

We’ve all heard how SEO can help businesses boost their online profiles by improving their search engine rankings. There’s no doubt it works, if done right, but there are many different strategies and technologies involved these days so getting it right as a novice can be complicated. Hiring a specialist SEO company to do the job for you can considerably increase your sales and your standing amongst clients or key stakeholders.

The first point to remember is that SEO does not work over-night, so persevere with it. Whether you are hiring an expert is this area or attempting to do it yourself, there are a lot of different facets involved. Firstly, keywords: Ideally, when somebody types your keywords into a search engine you want your website to appear on the first page of results. To do this, you have to carry out some keyword research. Identify your target audience and find out what kinds of terms they are most likely to use. It is easier to improve your search engine rankings with keywords if you work in a niche market where there is slightly less competition.

Once you’ve found your keywords, you need to get the density right. Keyword density is the percentage of times your keyword appears on the web page compared to the total number of words on the page. If you get this right you will achieve higher search engine positions, but if your density is too high you may be flagged for what is called ‘keyword spamming’.

Links are also used  as part of an SEO strategy. These can be internal links between pages of your own website to increase the visibility of important sections. Another method is to create reciprocal links with another website to ensure mutual traffic, but this is less widely used today. Website owners also often submit their sites to website directories which will then include a back-link. Basically, the more genuine back-links to your site, the better your rankings will be.

Social media links are gaining popularity as more and more businesses turn to sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to build business contacts and improve their visibility. Use Twitter as an example: of course you shouldn’t include a link to your website every time you tweet, but if you are posting a particularly useful bit of information or promoting an event, it is perfectly ok to give a link back to the info on your website.

Keywords and link building are just two examples of the wealth of SEO tactics at your disposal. Other areas, such as metadata, can be more complicated. We would recommend hiring an SEO Agency, at least initially, to help you understand how strategies can be successfully implemented. In time, if you are patient, you should begin to see the results as your search engine rankings climb and your website traffic increases.

Local Exhibitions Are Perfect For Remote Worker Networking

Finding a consistent stream of new clients can be a challenging prospect, particularly if you work from home. It’s all too easy to slip into your own daily routine and become overly-reliant on your website to pull in new leads, when what you should really be doing more of is getting out there and mingling with people who might need your services.

It’s no good waiting until your client list dries up completely before seeking out new prospects. It’s vital to build networking into your marketing armoury sooner rather than later.
Pop up display banners make great exhibition and networking tools as they are easy to transport and erect whenever you want to put your business on display. And when you think about it, exhibitions are all about creating awareness of your brand rather than hard selling.

The majority of conversions will be secured after the show anyway and successful business exhibitors report that it can take anything up to a year to turn those contacts into clients, dependant on what type of business you run and how far along the ‘buying cycle’ prospects are when you are introduced to them.

If you are an artist, inventor or entrepreneur who has discovered that the right kind of exhibition is not exactly on your doorstep, you could choose to set up your own one-day event at a local café, hotel or wine bar. The DIY option has the advantage that you will be able to custom design the event exactly to your liking – plus there will be no competition in your midst! The downside is that it can be difficult to attract the right kind of people to this type of event and that if you get it wrong there will be nowhere to hide.

Another option you have is to team up with several non-competing local businesses. If for example you run a copywriting business, you could choose to team up with a graphic designer, a web developer and a PR expert and hold a get together for local businesses who might need advertising and marketing services. This can be a very successful way of gaining new clients.

Neil and Laura Westwood, owners of the company Magic Whiteboard, who secured funding from Theo Paphitis and Deborah Meaden on BBC’s Dragons’ Den, view exhibitions as an essential part of their ongoing marketing strategy. The couple recognise the importance of being able to demonstrate their products’ ‘wow!’ factor in front of an audience as the secret to making more sales.

Pop up display banners make it easy to promote your business ‘on the go.’ And the really smart thing about taking your business to a trade show or exhibition is that it is something you can profit from for years to come.

Could Facebook’s ‘Business Boost’ Initiative Benefit Your Small Business?

How does £80 worth of FREE Facebook advertising sound to you?

In May 2012 Facebook launched ‘Business Boost’ with the aim of helping UK small businesses make the most of its advertising platform. In fact, the programme is being rolled out in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, beginning with the UK and will enable 50,000 small businesses (in total) to claim their free advertising kits.

The more cynical amongst us may be saying: ‘Ha! They just want to get more businesses using Facebook – they’re tempting us with a sweetener.’ And of course there may an element of truth in this. But for those business owners currently contemplating setting up a Facebook Page anyway, it’s a win-win situation – and after all, Facebook is a proven advertising medium for businesses of all sizes.
You’ll be able to use Facebook’s free advertising alongside your regular marketing activities such as e-commerce, social media, direct mail, PR, and banners.

So how can you claim your goodies?

Well for starters you will need to have attracted a minimum of 50 fans to your FB Page to get £20 of free advertising credits. In addition, Facebook is offering an extra £60 worth of free ad credits to companies and businesses which add a further 100 fans to their Page over the course of the scheme. Kindly note, your business must be UK-based to qualify.

The Facebook Business Boost programme has attracted the support of the British Chambers of Commerce, who are running business breakfasts in six major UK cities this summer: Birmingham, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Sheffield and Sunderland, to offer free practical advice to business owners face-to-face.

A word of caution though: When you set up your Facebook Page it must be done through the ‘Local Business or Place’ channel. Use any of the other five possible categories to set up your Page and you will not qualify for this promotion. Unfortunately, if your FB Page is already established under one of the other categories you will not be able to change it. This presumably is a reasonable precaution to stop businesses changing their status simply to get their hands on the freebies!

Successful entrepreneurs these days are recognising the need to use a combination of online and offline media such as blogging, banners, PPC, social media and PR in order to drive their businesses forward, rather than remain reliant on one or two marketing activities.

If you want to participate in the Facebook Business Boost promotion you can sign up over at the Facebook Marketing Page. Facebook is also offering a range of live webinars to help you develop your marketing skills and maximise your business or brand’s potential.

Why Is Branding So Important?

Branding is the process of differentiating your company so it can be identified as distinct from your competitors on the market. Sadly, in today’s highly competitive marketplace it is no longer enough just to develop and produce outstanding products. It’s a fact that even more inferior goods can sell well if they are launched together with a slick branding campaign.

For many companies, creating a strong brand is so important that they will hire in a marketing company especially for that purpose. So what is it that makes branding so crucial? One of the main functions of strong branding is to build a trusting relationship with your client base. For example, think about Coca Cola, one of the world’s biggest known brands: Its logo is instantly recognisable so wherever consumers are in the world they will feel this is a product they can rely on. This is a huge power to have, and Coca Cola have achieved it through a careful branding strategy.

Secondly, of course, branding is intended to increase sales. Whilst strong products are important, it is not quite true that ‘a good product sells itself’. What sells a product is a good perception of it. Consumers tend to buy with their eyes, and it’s well known that they will make the majority of their purchasing decisions within around 10 seconds. If you are successful in creating a strong image for your product or service that appeals precisely to the needs of your target customers, good sales results are far more attainable.

So how do you begin to go about creating a strong brand? Firstly, you need to identify what is important to your customer base and what will appeal to them. Your branding message should be based around this. Also, isolate what is unique about your brand and think about how you can communicate this. What are your brand values? A memorable tag line can work wonders and the simpler it is, the better. Something like Gilette’s ‘The Best A Man Can Get’ has worked very well for the brand.
It’s a good idea to hire in some marketing expertise to help you in these initial stages.

Next, come up with a design theme and logo which can tie all products under the brand umbrella together. Not only will this make your brand stronger as a whole, it will also make new product launches easier as they will already be identified with an established name. After this, you should get your brand out there by any means you can – whether it’s television advertising, online, in printed media, attending trade fairs or one-off promotional events. Everything helps.

Finally, don’t just assume your work is done when the brand is launched. It’s essential to get regular feedback from your target market and be prepared to make adjustments if necessary. If your brand doesn’t seem to be building consumer confidence you have to look at where you’re going wrong.

Exposing Your Content Online

Possibly the most difficult part of any content marketing campaign actually comes after the creation of valuable, interesting content. Promoting content and getting it seen, heard and read by potential clients and customers is at least as challenging as creating it in the first place!
Unfortunately, it is a vital part of content marketing as, without it, a company’s blogs, podcasts, white papers and whatever else has been created are effectively useless. Here we take a look at a few ways of exposing content online.

1. Create quality content

If your content is dull, out of date or incorrect people aren’t going to respond well to it, let alone share it with their peers. Creating interesting, useful and up to date content is absolutely paramount in any content marketing campaign.

2. Develop relationships with other companies and bloggers

By finding prolific bloggers, businesses and internet marketing companies out to spread their own message, you can seek to establish relationships that benefit both parties.

 Start the ball rolling by sharing their content and linking to their site from your own blogs. Once they notice your presence, they’ll begin to appreciate your efforts and may even start sharing links to your content. If this occurs, get in touch with the company or blogger and come to an informal arrangement whereby you each promote one another’s blog/brand/product/service.

3. Join Online Forum Communities

By creating a company profile on several relevant forum sites, you could soon be providing expert, industry specific advice to thousands of users.

Instead of always plugging your own company, add a simple tag line to your posts which includes a brief description of what the company does and a link to your homepage. Every time you post useful answers or piece of advice you not only impress anyone who comes across it, you also gently guide them towards your homepage.

4. Persuade People To Share Your Content

This doesn’t have to be as cringe as emailing various website owners to beg for their help in promoting your brand. By persuading users to ‘Like’ your videos, re-tweet your messages or subscribe to your mailing lists you can quickly increase the amount exposure your content receives.

A simple example would be ‘A chance to win £20 of iTunes vouchers by liking this status’, although the more inventive and creative the better. As clichéd as it sounds, being unique and thinking outside the box is what will separate your company from the rest.

Otherwise, enlisting the services of an internet marketing company may also be a viable option. These companies have the resources to share content with large, often specifically targeted networks.

5. Promote Across Multiple Channels

Finally, and possible most importantly, you should always promote your content across as many channels as possible. Simply relying on Facebook or Twitter is only going to limit your exposure, so utilise as many social networking sites, email subscription lists and blog posting sites as possible.

Your imagination is really the only limiting factor in this case and the more ways you can think of sharing your content with the world, the better.

Content Marketing For Small Businesses

The benefit of content marketing for any business is well documented. Customers receive useful and valuable content absolutely free and in return, become loyal champions of the company, returning with their business time and time again.
For large companies this is straightforward; entire sections of a marketing team can be dedicated towards providing useful content on a day by day basis. For smaller companies this can be much more difficult, especially with constraints on man power, resources and time.
This article, however, takes a look at some techniques and methods small companies can use to kick off their own content marketing campaigns.

Blogging
Blogging is one of the most popular and effective methods of content marketing. Through the use of social media and blogging sites, a small business can release short blogs daily and quickly build up an online community of readers.
A blog should share things like success stories, industry breakthroughs and interesting news developments in the company’s industry. It should not contain direct attempts to sell products or services, however, as these will quickly drive away readers.
Podcasts
Podcasts are essentially mini-radio shows that typically last between 10 and 30 minutes. They should be useful, informative and interesting so, like a blog, should not attempt to sell products or services.
Instead a podcast should be used to keep customers and clients up to date with industry happenings, breakthroughs in science and suchlike. The more creative podcasts will quickly build up an online following.
White Papers
An old school form of content marketing, a white paper is a document put to together to detail a company’s research or scientific breakthroughs. Typically between 5 and 10 pages long, a white paper can promote a company’s brand and reputation within an industry; particularly to other businesses.
A white paper could analyse a recent industry trend or event, predict areas for future growth in a specific industry or comment on new, industry relevant legislation. Usually, smaller companies should focus on a specific industry niche rather then head for groundbreaking, industry wide research.
Outsourcing
A viable option for many small companies is for outsourced marketing to marketing companies. By entering into a contract with such a company, a small business can access all the benefits of content marketing without having to take on more staff.
In addition, internet marketing companies employ consultants with marketing knowledge and expertise beyond that of most staff at a small business. They also keep up to date with the very latest techniques and methods.
At the end of the day, there are certainly several content marketing techniques that a small business can employ to boost their online reputation. By enlisting the help of an internet marketing company, this reputation could be dramatically increased, without the need to expand or take on more staff.

How Quickly Can You Get My Website Onto Page One Of Google?

It’s possibly the most frequently asked question of every internet marketing company.
Hardly surprising really when you consider how valuable a spot on Google Page One can be for the vast majority of businesses.

For those who achieve success in reaching this seeming illusive territory the rewards can be enormous.

It’s important to realise that optimising your website for the search engines is not a quick fix, but rather a medium to long-term objective. That said, dependent on the competitiveness of the keywords and phrases you want to rank highly for, you could begin to see notable results as early as 6-8 weeks’ time.

Do not be tempted by any internet marketing company which promises you overnight success or instant results. Unless these people possess some kind of magic powers the rest of us mortals don’t have, then their processes will be at best dubious and like many before you, you will almost certainly find your website plummets in the rankings suddenly, or even disappears altogether, along with the so-called internet marketing company hopefully!

Another trick of the unscrupulous agencies is that they will promise you will achieve Google Page One status for a keyword or key phrase, which turns out to be irrelevant. Let’s say your widget manufacturing company is called ABC Widgets London.

Now do you think you’d be impressed by an agency that claimed they could get “ABC Widgets London” onto that exclusive first page?

Well I sincerely hope not:

1. Because there is no competition for that particular phrase
                and
2. 99% of people searching for your type of business won’t be aware you exist, that’s why they are searching, so the likelihood of someone actually typing your company name into the search box is pretty slim.

What you need is to rank highly for those terms your customers will actually use to find you. In the case of our example you would be aiming to attract rankings for search terms like: “widget manufacturing”, “widget manufacturers”, “widget production”, and the like.

This is where the knowledge and skills of your internet marketing advisor will come to the fore. The aim of every competent internet marketing company will be to get its clients’ websites to the top of the rankings . . . and to keep them firmly fixed there.

Clearly, in the world of internet marketing, you cannot do much better than to rank top of the pile every time someone searches for what your business offers.