Google Plus was one of the new things that launched itself last year and within days of it arriving it was being called a failure many reviewers. Because it wasn’t being used by as many people as Facebook and the media had called it “the Facebook killer”, it was written off as another Google cock-up.
But were they too hasty? Read the rest of this entry »
It’s fair to say that 2011 was mental as far as SEO is concerned. Every week something new would be announced that says “hey guys, do this in order to beat Google” and “you’re doing that still? You’re soooooo January, c’mon, it’s the middle of February now, that doesn’t work!”
It’s enough to make the average man in the street (well, the man in the street with a website and the Internet) to think that it’s absolutely impossible to rank on Google anymore because nerds have taken over. Have you seen “SEO For Dummies” on Amazon? Over 400 pages!! Who’s going to read that!!?? Read the rest of this entry »
“Facebook will boost your brand”
“People are making fortunes from Facebook”
“A Facebook fan-page brings massive return on investment”
These are just some of the absolute cock-and-bull statements that fall from the turgid mouths of people who promote themselves as “Social Media Consultants”. Yes, they do exist, you’ve seen them and I’ve seen them. Heck, I’ve even met a couple in the flesh which is why I keep a bottle of that steriliser spray in my top pocket just in case I have to shake their hands and pretend to tolerate their sweaty pale skin. Read the rest of this entry »
Remember Google Buzz? Eh? Remember it? The social network style chatty-thing that was going to be a Twitter-like tool to allow us all to communicate etc.? Use it? Nahh, nor me. Well, you can scratch it off the ‘To-do’ list because it’s gone away, gone the way of the Dodo. As a method of social networking (or whatever it was) it is no more.
Tossed into the rubbish bin like so many other failed attempts to get the masses to interact using a new, more streamlined and efficient platform. Problem was, though, nobody really used it. Read the rest of this entry »
You type into Google what you company does, you don’t find your site on there. You get frustrated, fed up and disillusioned. You’ve probably tried a few things that people suggested, but nothing has worked.
I’ll be honest, there’s a LOT of reasons why Google isn’t putting you on the front page. So this is the first of a series to help you get the results you need.
Here’s the first three things you need to look at.
Don’t be emotional about it, just look at it with a cold hard mindset. If you resonate with any of the points then work out a strategy for changing that aspect.
For Google to asses the quality of your site, it needs to be able to ‘crawl’ through your site. Crawling simply means having a good look around. A bit like going into a large hotel and checking out all the rooms.
In the same way that rooms with locked doors and a broken lift would stop you searching the whole hotel, there are many ways you can block Google from crawling your site correctly.
If you want to check if Google is indexing your pages, go into google and search “Site:yoururl.com” for example, if we we’re checking to see if our site was indexed, he would type in “site:CallowayGreen.com” into Google. If it says you don’t have any pages, you need to fix that quick.
If you don’t have many sites that link to yours then you are unlikely to rank in Google’s search results.You’ll probably get found for your own company name, but that’s about it.
You need to be consistently building high quality links to your site. If you have the right tools you can check how many links your competitors have and then you’ll have an idea of the work that is ahead of you.
Google continually strive to get the best content ranked the highest. The reason they do this is that people will get quickly fed up and stop using Google if all the sites they find on their search are poor quality thrown together spam sites.
You may have heard of sites in the past six months that were greatly affected with Google’s infamous Panda update.
My advice is to take that extra time to write higher quality stuff. Your website should be full of information that people can use, learn from, implement and make a decision whether you are the kind of company they want to engage with.
That’s enough for now… Please leave a comment below when you’ve had chance to look at your site.
Way back in the 1970s, Douglas Adams created the “Hitchikers’s Guide to the Galaxy”, a science fiction book that was quite ground breaking. Not only for the style it was written but also for the subject matter it addressed and much of what he wrote still resonates today. Like many historical novels (and dare I say it, The Bible) it actually contains thought provoking views on life and I want to discuss one of those today.
You see, one of the stand-out sections of the book for me is the bit where the white mice (it’s more detailed than that, but you can read it yourself!) create a computer called “Deep Thought” with the sole purpose of coming up with the “Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”.
After seven and a half million years of calculation it cam up with the answer: Read the rest of this entry »
I decided a few weeks ago that I would start taking my fitness seriously.
Sitting at the desk all day is making me very unfit.
I got myself a mountain bike, got myself a helmet, told my wife I would be back in an hour and left to go on my first bike ride in a couple of years.
Two hours later … my wife got a bit worried …
Three hours later she was really stressed …
You see the problem was that I had gone about seven miles from home. As I turned around to cycle back I managed to get a puncture.
Walking back along the canal with my bike in hand I noticed I was getting overtaken by a barge. Those things go pretty slow, so I must have been going REALLY slow. The guy offered me a lift. So I stuck my bike on the front and enjoyed the lazy pace of trundling up the canal.
Why am I telling you this ??
Not sure really…
But i’ll have a go at shoehorning this into a marketing related post.
You see, on the barge, I had time to think and reflect. If i’m honest I don’t do that very often, but it gave me more clarity with why we do what we do with the marketing.
When you embark on a well thought through and implemented SEO campaign, you’ll start to get more attention and more people coming to your website. That’s when you get the chance to have more communication with prospective clients.
You could have the most amazing customer service in the world. But if no-one can find you, you will never get to practice that service. (I told you I could shoehorn this in).
When we have run SEO campaigns for clients, we’ve noticed that success builds upon success. Almost like a snowball, the momentum keeps building over time. Once clients are in the #1 positions for their main keywords, that runs through onto other pages and keywords.
Here’s three quick ideas to get your SEO efforts moving in the right direction:
1. On-site Navigation
You need to make as easy as possible for the search engines to work their way around your site. Make sure that your navigation is not a bunch of pictures, but readable text. Sometimes, just fixing that will have a big effect on your site.
2. Links, Links, Links
It would be great if we just got the content right on the site and then shot up to the first position on Google. It doesn’t work like that though. Google favours the most popular sites that have the most votes (links). How do you get these links? You have to contribute in blogs, forums, and message boards relating to your website. Write articles. Contribute To The Internet.
You need to work out if you have the time to do that, or get someone to do it for you. Doing nothing isn’t an option.
3. Competition
It’s really important to know who your competitors online are. If you don’t know right now, then work out what people would type in to Google to find what you do and see the results. Work out what they are doing well on their site. Check how many links they have to their site. Are they using video on Google? Are they on Facebook?
Only then will you know how much effort you need to put in to beat them.
So, there you go, take a look at those three areas and see how you match up.
If you do decide to manage your own SEO, be sure to make a plan and follow it. If you don’t have the time, give us a call on 0845 0573420
Here’s a sobering thought. You know that lovely bit of Flash animation you’ve got on your website, you know, the one that shows all the lovely images and things you sell in a neat slide-show with transitions etc, the one you paid a lot for? What if I told you it was actually losing you revenue?
Yep – losing you revenue. Not just ‘not helping’ but ‘losing’.
You really have to keep your eye on the ball these days. If you’re getting or even hoping to get your clients via the web then you need to make sure you’re ready for the “next big thing” whatever that is and as an SEO company we are constantly looking to see what works and what doesn’t with regards attracting customers.
Of course there will always be algorithm changes (the last one caused lots of pain for many) but then there are what I think of as the psychological changes – the changes that make people behave in a different way and there’s just been a whopping great change that you need to take notice of.
Many people think this whole SEO lark is a bit of a joke pushed by crazy geeks with their ‘dark arts’ learned by spending far too much time on the Internet whilst watching The Wire on their second monitor. It’s true that the bedroom of the common nerd is a smelly place but to say they’re practicing the dark arts is very wrong – they’re just getting involved in standard good marketing practice whilst the rest of the world sneers.
It was Chris that said “There are 13 year old kids who know more about Internet Marketing than many UK company directors” and he’s right. If you’re a company director and your website isn’t a good lead generation tool then you’re probably being beaten by some kid eating pizza which he just picked up from Domino’s. He went to Domino’s in his Fiat Grande Punto Abarth (he’s got money, not taste) which he paid for with cash.
His neighbours, knowing that he doesn’t go to school or college and only leaves the house to pick up fast food, are convinced he’s dealing drugs or downloading porn to sell at car boot sales. But he’s not.
