This is just a short post and update to the details of our upcoming event on the 11th August in Birmingham:

“Turn Your Website into a Sales and Marketing Machine”

We have decided this month that we will be donating half the money from the tickets to Barnardos. They are an awesome charity (in our opinion), running 415 projects across the UK.

Whatever the issue from drug misuse to disability; youth crime to mental health; sexual abuse to domestic violence; poverty to homelessness; Barnardo’s believes we can bring out the best in every child.

So we thought, as a business, let’s get more exposure and money to them so they can do more of what they do best.

We hope to see you at the event if you can make it.

BOOK HERE… http://www.eventelephant.com/onlinemarketingevent

There seemed to be a frenzy on a few weeks ago for the new iPhone …

This has caused some queuing outside the O2 shops across the UK. Apple seem to be quite clever in the way they use scarcity to build their brand and there’s some kind of assumption that it must be amazing because it’s hard to get hold of one.

Doesn’t really work on me, I just carried on walking past the queue. (more…)

… According to Fifa, it didn’t…

This was the joke banded around yesterday after the terrible decision of disallowing England’s second goal even though it was a foot over the line. There was uproar for about 20 minutes, until German scored their third and fourth goal to finish England off.

After 90 minutes, when all was said and done, it was the poor performance people we’re talking about. Not the fact that the goal line technology should be upgraded and they should allow the referee to watch replays. (more…)

I’ve just subscribed to .Net magazine. For us web designers, it’s a great source of inspiration.

I had put off subscribing for a few months because I thought to myself “HOLD ON, all this information is available on the internet”.

However, each time I go into the newsagents, I pick it up and read it. There is still something really relaxing and inspiring about the printed word. Maybe it’s the tactile nature, maybe it’s because you can just take the magazine anywhere… I don’t know, I just know that people love to read magazines. (more…)

Being a hectic business owner, I run out of time to do the simple things like just getting my hair cut. So this morning I grabbed the opportunity when I drove past and noticed they’d opened up early.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I have my haircut the conversation can go one of three ways. What’s going on in the world, where am I going on holiday or what do I do for a living.

People are already fed up of talking about the England goalkeeping fumble against the USA, so he skipped that and the holiday chat and opted to ask me what I do.

Now I usually just say we create websites. Most people know what a website is so you can pass the time while he chops my hair into shape. But I thought i’d be daring and tell him ‘we help companies get found on Google and get more business’.

Most people obvioulsy use Google, but I never really know whether people really understand about Google and how it works.

The hairdresser looked at me with a mix of puzzlement and sadness and then said “it’s hard for us on Google because our company name starts with a V so we’ll be down the bottom of the list”.

Now, i’m not critisising the guy. He has more important things to be thinking about than page rank.

But it struck me that some people still assume that Google works like a giant Yellow Pages. Well, it doesn’t.

I just wanted to put that straight.

Google is, however, pretty complicated in the way that it does rank sites, and here’s some blog posts from the past to help you work out what you should be doing if you want to get your site higher up Google:

Getting Started with SEO

Reciprocal linking and its role in SEO

Getting on page one of Google

An easy way to get some good Google link juice

Don’t guess with your marketing – measure and test

Often when I speak to larger companies for the first time about online marketing, they tell me the “IT Department deal with that”.

What this really means is “I have no idea what you talking about, but I think it involves that website our IT department set up a few years ago”.

If you’ve been reading our blog for any length of time you’ll hopefully know that promoting yourself online is a LOT more than just having a pretty website. If just having a site is your complete strategy, you’re going to find yourself in a lot of trouble because your competitors are getting busy trying to beat you. (more…)

There was a time not long ago when we were telling companies that they needed Facebook fanpages. They told us they were not going to go on facebook because it’s for kids!

Slowly but surely, more and more people have started to understand how Facebook can be an integral part of your marketing. The question we hear now is ‘how do I get more fans onto my fanpage’. (more…)

I hate bad news. But I have some for you anyway.

It is becoming increasingly harder to get ranked high in Google these days.

Google has become the ever changing beast. Just when you think you know the best way to get your site to number 1, they tweak or change the goalposts and the algorithms. Also, the truth is that no-one really know 100% how Google works. If they tell you they do, walk away quickly. (more…)

I have a question for you.

Put your hand up if you want to be top of Google and get more inquiries and sales than you can handle?

Keep your hand up if you’ve achieved this.

I may be wrong, but I reckon most hands went down.

It’s not that there isn’t enough information on the internet about how to get your company to the top of Google. I could name you several thousand sites right now that are packed with information on SEO.

So what’s the problem?

Well, we’ve just started running a three day training course helping people really understand and implement SEO. Someone asked me why people would pay to come on a course when you can get the information free from lots of sources. This is a valid question that deserves and answer, so here’s a few thoughts.

1) Where the heck do you start?
Many people say that we live in a time of information overload. I tend to agree. If I wanted to, I could start browsing for information on SEO and still be reading blogs and forums till Christmas.

2) What comes after the website?
Most people we talk to already have a decent website. Problem is that they think it’s decent, but do the customers? How would you know if people are being put off? How would you know where they go if they don’t come to your site?  Do you have enough content? Too much content? …. the questions are never ending.

3) “I just want more traffic to my site”.
This is what we hear a lot and this is the point that many give up with online marketing.This is a big one. Again, there are a ton of questions. Do you pay for traffic? Do you use social media? Is Facebook for business or just for my mates?

At our first full SEO training day yesterday, all these questions came out. They got answered, and people went away with an action plan for their online marketing. We destroyed a lot of myths and helped people focus on the actions that will create them sales.

If you’re still reading this, then i’m going to take a stab in the dark and assume you have some of the issues above. So I have one question.

Is SEO training for you?

• Have you already spent money with an SEO company that didn’t get you any returns?
• Are you spending a lot on Google adwords, but you don’t really know why?
• Is your competition coming up above you on Google searches, but you don’t know what to do about it?
• Lastly, but probably most importantly. Are you serious about your success? This course is not for dabblers, it’s for people that want to succeed in business.

Get more info or to apply for a seat? Space IS limited!: SEO TRAINING

Or you could just give me a call on 0845 0573420

Chris Green

P.S .. If you are in the West Midlands, you may be entitled to funding!

Now this doesn’t happen to me, but i’ve noticed that good looking men and women cause quite a reaction when they walk into a room. Like it or not and basic as it seems, attractive people ‘attract’.

On a slightly (only slightly) deeper level people are attracted to people like them. Could be similar tastes, characteristics, hobbies whatever…

Guess what… this very simple truth works with your marketing too.

Most successful businesses are aware of the power of attraction marketing to generate sales and increase their long term client base.

If this is so simple, why do so many companies get it wrong?

Well, most businesses get it the wrong way around. Through lack of a proper plan, they decide to pursue new clients. A bit like the guys you see in the pub that hassle the pretty women after they’ve had a load of beers.

Even when no-one responds to their letters, emails or phone calls; they carry on regardless blaming the recession for the lack of sales.

Here’s an example of a better way…

We are obviously a web development and SEO company. People find our blog and newsletter reasonably funny, informative and useful. So that could be described as ‘attractive‘. Many people have downloaded our free guide to SEO, which in many cases has helped people generate more sales for free.

SEO is a market full of scamsters. By being open, honest and giving away solid free information, we set ourselves apart. People then link to our site and tell others about downloading our material and joining our newsletter.

When we send out details about SEO seminars we host, people respond well and we fill them because people trust us.

So, without spending anything on ANY traditional forms of advertising, there’s tonnes of people who know all about Calloway Green and our ability to help companies rank high on Google and produce great sales results.

THEN whenever someone who follows us decides they want to embark on a full blown SEO campaign, hopefully they come to us.

Now, does this take more time and effort? Yes.

Does it work better than banging out crappy flyers and emails in a shotgun approach, hoping someone will use your product or service? Yes.

So think about your strategy to become more attractive to your potential customers. Remember, people don’t like to be sold to, but they do like to buy. As I found out today when my wife came home with a new pair of shoes!