Whether using Google, Yahoo, MSN or Bing web users just love to search and find information. They may be searching to find a new job, a new car or even trying to find their ultimate soulmate. Whether we like it or not the number of searches by web users trying to find information is growing at dramatic rates and billions of searches are made each day by avid users seeking to fulfil their information requirements. The use of keywords or keyphrases (combining several keywords i.e. “search engine optimisation Manchester” or “seo company Manchester”) within your website certainly helps the search engines and web users find exactly what they want.

So when choosing your most suitable keyphrases (anything from 5 up to 14) that you will utilise for your website you should bear in mind the adage “less is more”. On the other hand it is also not good practice to optimise your website with just one popular keyphrase as you could be reducing your search engine results, or worse if you are a new site restricting your websites visibility in Google search results. It is always best to have some traffic to your website as opposed to having none. Remember search engines don’t like to see people manipulating the content of their websites in order to rank higher they like to see natural organic growth and lots of keyphrase patterns.

One of the keys to successful search engine optimisation is to optimise each of your website pages for a relevant keyphrase pattern. For instance if I wanted to rank highly for “seo” or “search engine optimisation” both of which are highly competitive keyphrases and generate a serious amount of website traffic then I might combine these two phrases into “seo agency Manchester”. I could also utilise other keyphrases such as “google search engine optimisation” & or “seo services manchester” and so on. Each of these phrases will bring unique and different visitors to my website and eliminate any possibilities of being penalised for “spamming” by the search engines. When considering your keyword / phrases it will also be useful for you to consider what you think your “ideal customer” would be searching for when looking to purchase your product/services. Also using Google Analytics and Webmaster tools will certainly help you when deciding on which keyphrases to put within your website. Google Webmaster tools will provide insight into the numbers of competitors and monthly searches conducted for your chosen keyphrase so you can be assured of making the right decision.

It is also important to utilise a combination of your chosen keywords in some form within the description & title/meta tags to give more prominence to your website. Together with utilising a pattern of these keywords within the body text of the website page, any anchor text and internal linking structures. Each page of your website should be well written with plenty of useful information to read regarding the subject in question. In many instances this will ensure that you get a good ranking for some of the keywords you choose and that this ranking will bring numerous visitors to your website.

Keyphrase patterning should not only take place on-page (on your website) but off-page too. Primarily you should ensure that within the anchor text of any backlinks that point to your website that they contain a random mix of your chosen keyphrases i.e. “digital seo agency”, “seo services manchester” etc. This will further ensure to the search engines that a natural and organic approach has been taken towards your websites search engine optimisation.

Love it or loath it, social media networking and advertising is having an increasing large impact on both our personal lives and business life. Deloitte has predicted that in 2011 social networks are likely to go way beyond one billion unique members, which may deliver over 2 trillion advertisements. The big question therefore is how do we best use the opportunities presented to us by considering the vast number of networking platforms out there? Well lets take a peak at some of the biggest:-

Facebook
The key is to utilize those platforms, which you believe your target audience (customers) will use. For instance here are some basic *stats for Facebook:-

• Facebook is currently the world’s larges social network with over 500 million active users.
• This literally means that this correlates to 1 out of every 13 people on the earth use this platform.
• 48% of 18-34 years olds immediately check facebook as soon as they wake up.
• 206.2 million Internet users are in the USA.
• 51% of people now talk more online than they do in real life.
• 48% of young Americans said they find out about News and what’s going on in the world through Facebook.

So if your business sells beauty products to 18-34 year olds then Facebook would certainly be a good networking platform to utilize. You can also specifically target any advertisements you do to meet certain demographic and geographic market segments.

Facebook allows users to communicate directly, share information and engage in a host of other interactive applications. But users of the platform need to link up first and become “friends” in order to share experiences.

There are two ways in which you can set up an account with Facebook that is either a personal or business account. So what is the difference between a business account and a personal account?

**Business accounts are designed for individuals who only want to use the site to administer Pages and their ad campaigns. For this reason, business accounts do not have the same functionality as personal accounts. Business accounts have limited access to information on the site. An individual with a business account can view all the Pages and Social Ads that they have created, however they will not be able to view the profiles of users on the site or other content on the site that does not live on the Pages they administer. In addition, business accounts cannot be found in search and cannot send or receive friend requests.

Twitter
***On March 21st 2006 Jack Dorsey sent the first tweet and this is what we see today:-

• 177 million. Tweets sent on March 11, 2011.
• 456. Tweets per second (TPS) when Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 (a record at that time).
• 6,939. Current TPS record, set 4 seconds after midnight in Japan on New Year’s Day.

Accounts
• 572,000. Number of new accounts created on March 12, 2011.
• 460,000. Average number of new accounts per day over the last month.
• 182%. Increase in number of mobile users over the past year.

One of the main differences between Twitter & Facebook is that Twitter users don’t have to be friends in order to view each others posts. Also the amount of information users can share on Twitter is limited to 140 characters per message – hence where the word tweet” came from.

Twitter is therefore a micro-blogging platform that is designed for people to post quick updates. When you sign up for a Twitter account you won’t see any tweets until you “follow” those who you are interested in. You can also “unfollow” certain users by clicking on the “unfollow” link next to their username. Below every tweet there are three options

“Favorites” – this will add that tweet to our favorites list;
“Retweet” – this is for when you really like a tweet and want to share it with everyone.
“Reply” – used if you want to send a direct reply to the person who sent the tweet which don’t forget will be seen by anyone following.

Linkedin

****Linked was started in May 2003 and now has over 101 million worldwide members with 6 million coming from the UK. The demographics are as follows:-

41.1% Female
58.9% Male

18-24 years = 20.9%
25-34 years = 35.8%
35-54 years = 36.3%
+ 54 years = 6.9%

Linkedin is an established professional networking site, which aims to connect users with people they trust or have worked with in the past. It also aims to provide further opportunities for individuals to share information, collaborate, find potential clients and explore new business and job opportunities. Each member basically creates their online profile listing their career achievements and current position. Its then up to the user to connect with people they trust, have worked with or want to extend their network with utilizing other’s trusted contacts. This platform is a powerful tool for those wishing to expand their business opportunities or release their career potential.

So if you want to get your brand or name out there then social media platforms are just the place to shout about it. Remember you can also use these platforms to check out what your competitors are doing, find new suppliers or business partners or even recruit new talent. So start tweeting now!

* Statistics taken from linklingmedia.net
**facebook.com/
*** blog.twitter.com/
**** slideshare.net/

We all take in huge amounts of information every day. Before we leave home, we may talk with our families, receive mail, read a newspaper, watch television or listen to the radio. Advertising is just one element of this mass of information, so it has to work very hard to compete for our attention.
It is easy to overestimate the power of your advertisement and expect too much. Whilst there is no doubt that good and appropriate advertising does work, there are numerous factors to consider when investing in advertising:

• Advertising is persuasive not coercive: it cannot make people do what they do not want to do.
• Advertising has to be seen by its intended audience: so using the appropriate medium is essential.
• The audience has to be receptive: they must have an interest in your message.
• The message has to be driven home: a single advertisement may be missed or forgotten.
• Competitors advertise too: your offer must be better or different, otherwise why choose you?

The hardest fact to accept is that most people ignore most advertising. The key is to ensure that they take notice of yours. There are a number of reasons why people find certain advertising memorable, for example:

• They recognise your brand, company or its products/services: People like what they know. Regular advertising builds awareness.
• They have company, brand or product loyalty: Existing customers have a relationship and take notice of what you do.
• They are actively seeking to purchase: Your product or service is something they have already decided they need.
• They are “in the market”: Your product or service is something they are considering purchasing.
• The “offer” is attractive: Your advertising contains a positive incentive to purchase (e.g. a free gift with the purchase or a price reduction).

Good advertising works because it puts the company, its products and its messages at the forefront of people’s minds. It either stimulates an early purchase, or helps to ensure that people know where to go when they do decide to purchase.

The final point to consider is tell people what to do next. Nobody will buy from you unless they know how to, so always include contact information, e.g. CALL FREE ON 080012345.

Where to advertise
Once you have identified your target audiences, you need to communicate with them either directly (verbally or in writing) or indirectly through an advertising medium.
When choosing where to advertise, you must identify those publications, broadcast media or other methods that offer the best ‘fit’ with your target audiences. It may be appropriate to use different media and different messages. However, before you decide, you must understand what is available.
Direct marketing is one of the most accountable forms of advertising media, since both costs and results can be measured precisely. It also assists with customer relations by building a two-way dialogue, thereby helping you to understand customer needs and expectations. It includes such disciplines as direct mail, mail order, direct response advertising i.e. television, radio and press advertising which invites an immediate telephone or written response and telemarketing, where existing or potential customers are contacted by telephone. The industry average response rate is around 2.6%. Keep in mind though that is just an average.

There are three main aspects to a direct mail campaign that will affect its success:-
1. The mailing list
The best mailing list is the one that contains the most potential purchasers and is very accurate and up-to-date. This would normally include existing or previous customers. The difficult part is including potential new customers.
List Brokers specialise in sourcing the most appropriate lists for businesses. Rental charges are typically between £80 and £150 per thousand names for one use only. If you know what you want, you can also choose to go to a list owner or have your own unique list compiled by a list builder.
2. The proposition
The proposition is the offer that you can make that will encourage recipients to respond. It must answer the question ‘what’s in it for me?’
Accuracy of your information will influence how people react. Make sure all names and facts are correct. Information about your company, its products and its reputation will build confidence. Simplify the response mechanism, ideally by enclosing a post-paid, self-addressed envelope. Make them an offer, it is important you make clear the real reason why you are writing.
3. Creativity of the mailing
Creativity in direct mail is a means to an end. The use of stylish graphics, professional copywriting or photography should be used to achieve that pre-determined objective. Just as job candidates are expected to be well presented, so a “well-dressed” mailing is more likely to be read and appreciated than one that looks ‘cobbled together’.
Stylish, relevant design grabs and holds the attention. Literate, well-structured copy increases readership and response. Lastly, ensure that your direct mail complies with the Data Protection Act.

A little less than two years ago, I left a secure job to pursue my dream of opening a small software design company dedicated to providing small businesses with CRM solutions. A business associate asked if I had selected a marketing company. At the time, I laughed him off. After twenty years as a respected professional in my industry, I knew my customers and I knew my product. I was confident my skill set would bring me more sales than any Manchester design agency.

I worked for a year testing and perfecting my software package. I leased and furnished a small office. I even hired a university student as a part time assistant. The only thing left was to throw together a web page and a brochure. How difficult could that be?

Two weeks of negotiating with printers, dealing with web design software that was decidedly not intuitive, and taxing my tiny right brain with decisions about colours and logos, I had my answer. I might know software, but I certainly don’t know marketing. I needed expert help.

When it comes to money, I’m more than a little tight fisted. When I do spend money, I expect the best. So, I went searching for the best Manchester design agency I could find. As it turns out, there is no shortage of Manchester design agencies. It was a lot to slog through. One company that ended up on my “top three” list and that eventually won my business was Lethal Marketing. I was impressed with them beginning with their timely response to my initial inquiry up to the present, as they continually help me build my customer base.

After a few conversations about my goals for my company, the professionals at Lethal Marketing and I both agreed that the first step would be designing a website. With my previous failed attempt on my mind, I was nervous about the process to say the least. Turns out, it was wasted emotion. The design process went smoothly. The creative staff balanced capable professionalism with an ability to “mine” my expertise. The result is a web site that is both elegant and functional.

Elegance and functionality aside, Lethal Marketing understands more than other Manchester design agencies that a web site alone will not build a brand or a business. I needed to aggressively announce my presence. The CRM software industry doesn’t lend itself to passing out leaflets on street corners, nor does it lend itself to traditional print media advertising. It was decided that the best way to make my debut was via a direct mailing campaign.

The mailer created by Lethal Marketing succinctly communicated the service my business provides and was also a perfect complement to my website. Of course the proof is in the results, and I can say without hesitation that I am completely satisfied. The business contacts I made within the first month of the mailing and the resulting contracts resulted in revenue that far exceeded the estimates I’d laid out in my business plan. I can think of no better endorsement than that.

Start the bargaining process off right!
Firstly, most sales people in a negotiation of any type generally start with a clear idea of what they want and of course have answers in advance to the main issues involved. Yet for many, that is where the preparation starts… and unfortunately ends. The result is that, with no “Plan B”, the only strategy is to use what they may feel is a logical argument to persuade the other party to come round to their point of view – unfortunately logic isn’t always that persuasive!

Skilled sales people, by contrast, not only determine their objectives and the main issues involved in advance, but they crucially plan how they will persuade the other party to agree to their terms of sale, more especially if they anticipate that some negative objections will be raised. The key to this is to identify the possible bargaining points and any sales objections in advance. For instance, In seeking a salary increase you may be prepared to accept higher targets or broad work responsibility.

Change your behaviour, and see improved results!
Appropriate behaviour is at least as important as good planning and tactics. Research shows that over 15% of a sales persons communication centres on feelings, which is a pre-indicator of sharing information & trust which is aimed at encouraging and securing mutually satisfying sales agreements. Similarly, successful sales people ask more open-ended questions and constantly test their understanding of the sales agreement being reached. They also seek constant verification from their customers throughout the en Thus they entice more information and uncover potential weaknesses in the other’s bargaining position. In this way, “win-win” outcomes are not just a pious hope but an achievable and pragmatic goal.

Top 10 Negotiation Tips

1. Don’t just plan what you want to achieve. Rather, plan how you will persuade the other party to agree to it.
2. Conduct an analysis of yours (and the other party’s) strengths and weaknesses. Then plan how to use your strengths and manage your weaknesses.
3. Set both an upper limit and a bottom line for what you want to achieve on each issue. This will help ensure your don’t push the other party too far and don’t give away more than you can afford to lose.
4. Work out the full cost of any concession before you make it.
5. Set a wide range of options for each issue you have to negotiate in order to give yourself maximum flexibility.
6. Plan questions to explore the other party’s position in terms of what they want, why they want it, and to explore possible weaknesses in their position.
7. Test all agreements very carefully, then summarise them so there is no doubt about what has been agreed.
8. Don’t dilute your arguments by giving too many reasons to support your position. Find one rock solid reason and stick to it.
9. Expect low levels of reaction from the other party and regularly check how they feel about the negotiation.
10. Don’t make immediate counter-offers when they put something on the table, but explore each proposal with care before responding.

The Internet is a fantastic place which enables you to sell your services / products 24 hours a day to customers anywhere in the world and what is more appealing is that the sales process can be fully automated with just the click of a button. Shopping online is growing rapidly with more consumers turning to finding bargains on search engines as opposed to trawling round the shops for hours.  Web users are also using search engine platforms to gather information in relation to product reviews, service reviews, latest fashion trends and much more so that they can make an informed decision.

The Internet is a fantastic place which enables you to sell your services / products 24 hours a day to customers anywhere in the world and what is more appealing is that the sales process can be fully automated with just the click of a button. Shopping online is growing rapidly with more consumers turning to finding bargains on search engines as opposed to trawling round the shops for hours.  Web users are also using search engine platforms to gather information in relation to product reviews, service reviews, latest fashion trends and much more so that they can make an informed decision.

So if you want to sell online or carry out some email marketing then here are some quick tips:-

1)            If you’re selling via the Internet or by email then all sales are governed by the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) regulations and any data collected in this process is governed by the Data Protection Act.

2)            When taking online transactions / orders you must provide customers with written confirmation of their order, including your full contact details, a description of the goods or services sold and of course their rights to cancellation if they feel they need to do so.

3)            Any agreements created over the Internet or via email are just as binding as any other agreement you would ordinarily make.

4)            Always ensure that the customer fully understands at what point during the transaction process was the contract formed.

5)            During the transaction process ensure that customers have the chance to check an order and amend it if necessary, before they finally “click” to commit.

6)            Ensure that all your terms and conditions are clearly displayed and agreed to before you accept an order. Also during the transactional process always allow the customer to download a copy of your terms and conditions for further safekeeping.

7)            Within your Terms of business ensure that there are conditions which relate to how customers can return goods for a refund or exchange should the need arise.

8)            When email marketing be aware that you must not send emails without the recipient’s prior consent — unless their email address was gathered in the course of a previous transactional process.

9)            If an email is sent to an international recipient, then that country’s laws could well apply to its content.

10)            When conducting any direct marketing campaigns you must not use an individual’s details or pass these on to a third party.

Finally, periodically ask your customers how you are performing online and if they have any suggestions for improvement. As the saying goes “every bit helps.”

In general search ranking factors are tweaked continually but every now and again something more interesting happens like Google introducing “Panda”.  The implications of Panda being rolled out by Google has caused some web based technology sites to see their rankings drop.  Many people in the search engine market have voiced their thoughts that Google puts too much emphasis on backlinks to the cost of high quality content.  We believe that the new Panda update seems to be an attempt to redress this balance.  Indeed there are a vast majority of technical companies that rely on certain keywords within their website being on page 1 and ensuring that these keywords draw large volumes of Google traffic.  So to find out that Panda has demoted some sites for certain keywords to pages 3 and beyond has certainly has left some companies with a bitter taste in the mouth.  Companies, which have been demoted, are the ones, which scrape content from others and as such sites such as airfairesflights and hotfrog have taken a hit. Other web platforms such as voucher sites have also been hit hard.  On the other hand websites such as ebay and the national lottery where users spend a long time reading pages have actually benefited from Pandas launch.

So you might well be asking yourself … what is good content all about? While there are many possible answers, we believe it’s all about ‘page view duration’ and that this is now a critical factor for Google. We believe that content is now more important than hypothetical keyword density or similar on page factors. Also sites with duplicate content will also suffer and so if you want decent rankings then it’s important to produce good quality, literate copy.  Focus your website copy on selling to customers as opposed to writing for search engines.  Make your copy witty and interesting in order to entice your audience to stay on the site and read its content for longer.

You might also be asking yourself… what about backlinks then?  Well our opinion on this is that it has always been important to obtain multiple back links from a diverse range of sources i.e. article sites, social media sites, directories, classifieds etc so its important to keep up this good work. Don’t worry either if your links are from some websites which have a “no follow” attributable to them like YouTube because the theory now is that Google could now count that link.

Also activity on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter almost certainly appear to be favored by Bing and Google, specifically “shares” on Facebook are just as important,  as is links to your site from your fans/friends walls.

Another key ranking tool is Googles +1 button (the equivalent to facebook “likes”), which is shorthand for “this is pretty cool” or “you should check this out” which will soon be affecting SERPS (Search Engine Results Page)

But the +1 button isn’t just for search results as Google is working on a +1 button that you can put on your web pages too, making it easy for people to recommend your content on Google search.

When building your own website it is vital to consider a number of salient points which will help produce a user friendly well optimised website.  Below is a 16 point list:-

Content

• Headings are extremely important more especially as search engines pick up pieces of headline snippets for web searches.  So ensure that all your headings are concise and relate specifically to the topic.
• Ensure that all font is the same size and is easy to read.
• Any styles, font, colors used throughout the site are consistent on each page. Also remember that choosing the right color theme will be a deciding factor as to whether or not users stay on your site and browse or leave quickly.
• Use bold text sparingly and only where essential.
• Ensure that the content is literate, knowledgeable and easy to read.
• Try to avoid pop-ups, which can be invasive to a user.

Navigation

• Ensure each of your URL’s are meaningful and that a user can immediately identify with what will be displayed on the page.  This also helps with SEO performance.
• Ensure your navigation is user friendly and easy to navigate around and try not to create too many sub directories / navigation systems as this only confuses a user and they soon loose interest.
• Ensure any internal links are consistent throughout the site and make them stand out by putting them in a different color or underlining them.
• Any search box available to a user should be easy to access (usually on the right hand side) and work properly. There’s nothing worse than a search box not turning up any results.

Accessibility

• Ensure that your site loads quickly to avoid losing valuable customers and SEO performance.
• All images within the site should have appropriate ALT tags more especially to help those users with visual impairment so the functionality isn’t lost.  Also remember search engines don’t read pictures so they need telling what the image is all about.
• Ensure that flash and any add-ons are used sparingly and also that they don’t interfere with your SEO performance.  CSS & HTML 5 will greatly help if you want to include these features within your website.

Identity

• Ensure that your company logo is consistent & prominent throughout the site and that your tag line sums up what your business / brand is all about.
• Ensure your home page is clear, concise and sums up everything about your business quickly.
• Ensure that the site layout, colors used & font sizes are all consistent with your brand identity.

Raising awareness of your products/services is where the sales process begins. However, in order to provide an excellent return on investment then you need to measure the performance of all your marketing activities.  This can be done by:-

The value of marketing activities to the business

In practice shareholder value is driven by:

Better returns – better margins achieved through price premiums supported by differentiated propositions, focusing on best customers and products, capturing value created through better pricing, building stronger relationships, improving allocation of spend and effectiveness of marketing activities.

Accelerated growth – driving greater sales through strong brands and communication, innovating new products and services to broaden the portfolio, extending the customer experience, entering new markets, finding new niches, developing additional channels, and cross-selling to existing customers.

Improved efficiency – achieving cost advantage over competitors through streamlined supply chains, improving productivity of people and efficiency of processes, working in partnership to share resources and outsource non-core activities, and better financial management.

Some larger companies have various marketing budgets for:

• Advertising & Promotion
• Brand Development (other than advertising)
• CRM (Customer Relationship Management) budget
• New Product Development Budget
• Sales Force Budget

To improve marketing a business needs to be able to measure its performance in order to understand how it may be improved. Areas where marketing performance indicators can be utilised to benchmark your marketing activities against include:

Quantative Marketing Performance Indicators

• Measuring Sales Revenues (increase in sales attributable to the promotional activity less the cost of the activity)
• Measuring Profitability (allocate costs to the activity to understand the profitability of products and customers)
• Market Share (measure by the numbers of customers now, versus the number of new customers after promotional activity, less cost of activity)
• To drive sales of certain product range (measure on products sold before promotional activity v products sold after activity, less costs of the activity)

Qualatitive Marketing Performance Indicators

• Generate brand and product awareness (measure on what needs to be known, what should be known, what is known and what is not known. Measure this by conducting market research and or test with consumer panels before and after promotional activity.)
• Generate company awareness (measure as above)
• Generate customer knowledge (measure as above)
• Improve Customer Satisfaction (measure by consumer survey before activity v consumer survey after activity)
• Improve Customer retention

Remember if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it!

Webmasters always find it difficult to decide on the budget for their PPC campaigns and search engine optimization. It is important to take a balanced approach so that you get the best of both worlds. PPC campaigns will help you get immediate traffic to your website but the problem here is that if you rely just on paid traffic, you will end up depleting all your budget on your PPC campaigns. This will affect your profit levels very badly.
SEO or search engine optimization will help you get organic traffic to your website. It is important to increase your organic traffic to your website. Driving organic traffic is the long term solution to all your website traffic generation needs. You will be able to drive more targeted traffic to your website by optimizing your website for the right set of keywords. Though this may take a considerable amount of time and efforts to implement SEO, it is worth taking the trouble. You just need to invest once initially and after that you will have to just incur minimal expenses on ongoing maintenance.
You can always supplement your traffic level with paid traffic after implementing SEO for your website. You can use PPC traffic during special seasons such as holiday seasons and other shopping seasons based on the nature of the products and services you have for sale.
It is always helpful to hire a professional search engine marketing company that takes care of both PPC needs of your website and your SEO needs so that your service provider will be able to take a strategic approach and know what exactly has been done in terms of SEO and where your website needs support. It will take a considerable amount of time to get to the top of the search results for keywords that have very high competition. You can use PPC to drive traffic to your website for such keywords as you are still waiting for your SEO efforts to produce the desired results.
Choose a dependable SEO company to take care of your SEO needs and your PPC needs. Experience of your SEO or search engine marketing company is vital here. Time your campaigns carefully so that you get the best value for your money. It is best not to take one or the other approach to your online marketing efforts. An Holistic approach always pays the best results.
As your SEO efforts start bearing results, you can gradually reduce your PPC spending. You can revisit your PPC budget in times of special seasons. If you have a brand new website, then you may have to depend heavily on paid traffic initially. You will have to however take ongoing efforts to drive traffic to your website. It is very important that you take your SEO efforts fast and drive organic traffic to your website. In case your SEO efforts fail to produce the desired results as fast as you desire, you can augment your SEO efforts with PPC.