locally.co.uk

Tag: search engines

  • Could your social media presence mean more sales in 2015…

    Thumb Up Sign

    …and how your SEO plan will look like to harness your audience

    Now that the summer sun and heat (!) have started to cool, the Christmas countdown has started and, dear reader, you will be pleased to know we are around 100 days away from the festive season where we are all jolly, ruddy cheeked and over-stuffed.

    However, as we gear up to the time of year that the majority of our online retail businesses make their money, we take a sneaky peek in to what 2015 could offer us…

    … and it seems that the next ‘big thing’ will be the growth in sales from social media. In fact, back in 2012, experts and industry commentators were predicting that by 2015, social media was going to burst in terms of increased revenue and, that the shopping experience would improve immensely over time.

    It seems that someone, somewhere has been doing some number crunching too – predictions are that by the end of next year, almost half of the sales will be generated by social media and that, for online, local businesses, could be worth thousands and thousands of pounds.

    And which social media platform could hold the balance…?

    Facebook.

    Love it or hate it, the social media platform’s power seem to keep growing and the numbers of consumers it is referring to businesses is set to increase. Thus far, statistics suggest that it send around 25% of referral traffic to businesses and so if you are not on Facebook, or perhaps do not harness it as much as you could, the tail end of 2014, just before the Christmas rush, could be the right time.

    It seems that having a fan base on Facebook for your brand will pay dividends – 80% of your Facebook followers are likely to buy from you through your offers compared to 41% who are not your followers – the moral of this story? Start growing your fan base and offer them some great offers and discounts!

    Recommendations are just as important too, so ask people to like and share as again, 70% of your followers will apparently do this, compared to ‘strangers’.

    You also need to keep an eye on your competitors and check out how well you are performing on social media compared to them…

    • Around ⅓ of online, small and local businesses have a Facebook page or presence
    • Being on social media of this kind can also decrease marketing costs meaning your sales revenue takes less of a hit with expenses
    • The reach of Facebook and many other social media platforms is huge BUT, don’t forget that it is not just there to sell at all costs! Don’t forget to have a mix of offers, discounts and interesting links and ideas.

    Not the only social media platform…

    But, Facebook is not the ‘be all and end all’ of online selling and sharing platforms, and whilst predictions are that its power and focus will grow in 2015, it is important to keep an eye on other predictions that could affect your local, online business;

    • The ‘humble’ mobile is no longer ‘humble’ –Smartphones are everywhere and predictions are that during 2015, 50% of web traffic will be through consumers using their phones. Is your website mobile friendly? If not, you need to tap into this lucrative opportunity.
    • Be social! – Just as we have talked about social signals before and how some people refute that Google takes any notice of this social signals, it seems at odds with the prediction that 2015 will see social media grow increasingly dominant in the world of search engine optimisation. Take a look at your social media presence – is it working?
    • Email marketing is here to stay – But, if you think that a Facebook page and the odd Tweet will be enough, you’d be wrong! But, any email marketing you do will need to be more consumer focused, as well as personalised and targeted. This is simply because as web users, we are being increasingly bombarded with information and data.
    • Real-time – We are impatient, no more so than when it comes to buying something or asking for help; predictions are that response from companies to consumers will increasingly become in real time in 2015 – none of this “we aim to respond in 5 working days…” lark!
    • Content in context – We have been saying for some time now that your content needs to be of quality, with any keywords or phrases well placed within the article or post – and we have been proved right! 2015 promises to be the year that if your keyword sticks out like a sore thumb, you’ll be bounced back past page 10 in the search engine pages! You really do need to be using words and phrases in a way that is semantically correct – in other words, written and used in the right way.

    Don’t get left behind in 2015…

    • Search engine optimisation will be essential
    • If your website is lumpy, complex to use and just s-l-o-w, then Google will take no notice of it
    • Quality content that is fresh!

    Don’t wait until 2015!

    However, there are still 100 days to Christmas and so this is what you need to do:

    ü  Take a look NOW at your website and see what small maintenance ‘jobs’ can be done to refine it

    ü  Spruce up the content now

    ü  Look longer term: sort out the site for mobile

    ü  Use your social media platforms to good effect

    ü  Look longer term – get that online strategy written!

  • Storm in a tea cup or something you need to take note of?

    Web Design GoogleThe “Google Authorship is Over!” headline and what it means for your website

    Here at Locally, we like to keep all our online, local businesses up to date with the goings on of search engines and how they will, or will not, select your website for in their rankings. And one announcement that seems to have thrown the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons – in other words, it caught the tech world off-guard – is Google’s announcement that Google Authorship is over.

    Whilst those ‘in the know’ all sucked in their breath, tweeting and emailing their surprise to one another, us lesser mortals have been wondering if this has any implication for us, for our constant, yet brave struggle to outrank the big bodies when it comes to search engine ranking and whether we need to really do anything…

    Scratching our heads, we take to the Internet and research the whole thing, only to end up more confused. Some may say that is has no implications but others may be more cautious… in this post, we attempt to explain the whole episode and what, if anything, it means for your online business.

    Let’s start at the beginning: what is Google Authorship exactly?

    Acronym alert! SERPs means search engine results pages: the further up the SERPs you are, the increase in website traffic you should get (as you are more visible)

    You will have noticed across a whole range of websites the G+ button, the Google plus account that some people and businesses have. If you have a G+ account, you will have a profile and circles of people, from family to friends and circles for acquaintances/colleagues/business associates… in fact, you can create your own circles as you wish.

    When you find something you want to share, you can share it on this platform and send it around everyone, or a selected few; in other words, G+ is a sharing platform.

    As part of this platform, you could also tell Google you were an authoritative writer, blogger or sharer of information… in other words, you ‘owned’ an ‘authorship’ (however, as we will see, this was not quite all that it was cracked up to be…)

    Hence, whenever you search on Google for ‘search engine optimisation’, at one time the top few results in SERPs would be authors you would eventually become familiar with as they are seen as an authority on the subject. What would spring up is their photo and some of the blogs they had written on the issue.

    Now, clearly, it is Google’s ‘baby’ and so some of us opted for a G+ account; you can customise your profile, add a delightful thumbnail photo that shows your best side (but there were rules on this – the photo had to be good quality, not a cartoon or any other kind of graphic; this was all about authority, don’t forget).

    And it is these photos and additional information that has, it seems, been creeping up the ranking in previous years. But many of us were simply unaware that there were additional steps to getting the very best out of this account; this has all changed now…

    … BUT, it only worked if the person verified their accounts (told Google they owned it) and only 12% of people using G+ are thought to have done this. On researching the topic of Google Authorship, we looked into how authors verified ownership of their G+ accounts and it seems it was not easy…

    In a nutshell, Google authorship was a nod to the reliable, trustworthy information, blog etc. that searchers would find useful.

    And…?

    Well, Google has stopped placing weight behind these authorship accounts and have effectively removed them as signal to its algorithm. The effects seem to have been immediate, whereas you would have seen results with photos or graphics, you will now not see these.

    BUT, it seems that companies/business/people with G+ accounts are still figuring in these rankings. Which seems a bit odd but look on it as a minor tweak which could affect some people, but for others it may not make too much of a difference.

    Why is Google getting rid of ‘authorship’?

    Well it seems, according to Google that it was not giving its users what they wanted; it was distracting; and they’ve done their research too. By not having the results high in SERPs (some people say that authorship was removed in October 2013…), it did not reduce traffic to sites nor reduce the number of clicks on ads.

    In other words, no one really noticed. Google have since said it was an ‘experiment’ that last three years and they have been tweaking it along the way.

    As a result, Google have released results from 3 years of data collection that show it was not working how they envisaged it would because…

    • Those that did set up Authorship did not do so properly – in other words, profiles were completed
    • Users did not find any value in it

    Right, what do you need to do?

    Well, it seems that this announcement has caught people off guard and wondering if it is all a ploy by Google to get people on to G+ as they are using these results in SERPs; some people see it as an aggressive tactic to get people to use G+ as most people doubly-serious about their rankings will do anything to get the edge.

    What not to do – panic!

    This is not a massive change to search engine optimisation for some people but, it may be worth looking at Google+ as another platform to add to your website as a means of being able to share your content, offers, business, ideas etc., especially if you do not have an account yet. SEO experts are currently leaning towards this idea simply because one thing that has been noted is that blog posts by G+ authors are coming out near the top of the rankings.

    If you have a G+ profile, you may need to make sure you are using it but, Google are currently telling us that the results are not much different when it comes to SERPs it is always worth keeping an eye on any changes that this search engine creates – after all, it is used billions of times every day across the globe.

    The basics have not changed: quality content, regularly updated on your website and plenty of social signals via your chosen social media platforms – it is still a marathon, not a sprint.

    Coming up next: top tips on how to not be punished by Google and then we are off to the Cloud…

  • SEO, spidering, page rank and tags – know what they are all about?!

    What is Search Engine Optimisation?Search engine optimisation (SEO) – a basic guide for all local, online businesses

    Yup, you have all heard those words and we have all sagely nodded, pretending we know exactly what is being talked about; we’ve sucked in breath at what seems like an opportune time in the conversation and rolled our eyes to register our disapproval at something we think we should do… when really, as a local plumbing or luxury spa resort, we haven’t the foggiest what is being debated.

    The stock answer tends to be ‘our web design people do it’ and, with a flick of the hand, we have washed all SEO responsibility from ourselves. We assume the web design people are doing it; they could be but, it does pay to know what it is you may have agreed to (as some of it may cost you money!).

    SEO – what is it?

    SEO stands for search engine optimisation and it is the process by which a search engine – such as Google, Yahoo etc. – push your website to the top of the pages that a searcher will see when they are looking for something. Get it right, and your website will be at the top (or near it) on the results page and that is a really fabulous place to be.

    There are lots and lots of articles on what SEO is, attempting to shed off the veil of uncertainty and mythical powers such as in this article https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014/jan/16/what-is-seo-how-website-google-visibility

    The search engine – a creature with mythical powers

    Unseen, yet powerful, the search engine has an immense power in the background that spends all day and all night, wondering around the Internet, all-seeing and all-knowing. And these are some of the things they do:

    • Spidering – not the hairy-knee’d tarantula type but more a description of the research phase of a search engine’s cycle. It takes a quick look at all or some of the pages on your website and then it will group it along with other, similar websites. So, if you are a beauty therapist, your website will be placed with all the other beauty therapy websites.
    • Page rank – this is when Google or another search engine after indexing your website, will assign a certain level of importance to it. The more reputable and authoritative the search engine believes your website is, the higher the page rank.
    • Search results – this is the list of websites that pop up when a user has typed on a phrase or words they want to search. The users types in ‘gardeners London’ and it will throw a whole load of websites into a prioritised list that it thinks best matches the search that user is making. These are the natural search results, as opposed to the sponsored adverts.

    Many companies and local, online businesses want to improve their performance on these search engine rankings, not surprising when you consider how searchers use the listings; how far past page 2 do you look?!

    How to improve your ranking

    1. Key words and phrases

    These are the words that point the search engine to you website, telling it in one word or short phrase what your company is about. The start of this process is quite simple – simply match the words that are obvious such as an accountancy firm would use ‘tax’, ‘book-keeping’. ‘Self-assessment returns’, ‘small business’, ‘VAT’ etc.

    But, the second step in this first process is to delve a little deeper in to how customers would search for a company offering a product or service like yours. There is a technical trick to finding what their keywords are so you can match theirs… (right click on a text area, this will open a new window of code; at the top of this box you may see their hidden keywords).

    2. Use these keywords on your website

    This is where the ‘marathon not a sprint’ bit comes in to play and why so many online business invest in professionally written articles and posts. You can, of course, write blogs etc. yourself; if a key phrase is ‘website designer Gloucester’, then you can create a blog that has these key word phrase peppered through it (Note the word ‘peppered’, not over stuffed!).

    Companies tend to be a little over-zealous about the number of different keywords and phrases in an article. One blog is not going to cut it – you are looking at creating a series of blogs and posts that have these keywords in them… the marathon, not a sprint bit!

    3. Links

    There are many articles on the use of links on websites but stay away from the whole buying links as this sends the wrong message to the search engines, especially Google and once you have a black mark against you, it can be difficult to claw your way back.

    So, in your articles and posts you add some links to other authoritative websites (like we do in our posts). They need to be appropriate and fit with the content and have an obvious reason why they are there. Like keywords and phrases, just stuffing them in is not the right way to go about optimising your website for the search engines.

    4. Measure

    Many websites, serves and hosting companies have the ability to measure the number of visitors to your website and you should start to see an increase as soon as you start to make these changes. Some people say that when you posts your articles and blogs is important; potential customers tend to be browsing in an evening and over the weekend, so having your articles online before these times is a great way of tapping into a ‘market’ (Monday morning, some experts say is the time people are least likely to be surfing the web, with later on in the week is the ‘best’ time).

    But, this is an never-ending task… once you have completed this cycle, you need to start again!

    And this is why https://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/01/11/5-big-reasons-to-monitor-your-website/

    SEO is the process of getting your website as close to the top of the results page as possible. There are many other technical aspects to getting your website noticed all of which can be helped along with some expert input, such as meta tags and more.

    Is your website search engine optimised? If not, what help do you need?

  • We need to talk…

    Contact UsHaving a presence on social media is all well and good, but just sitting there, like a wilting wallflower at a rave is no way to go about attracting customers to your local, online business.

    Cast off the the paralysis of doubt and the cloak of inexperience, and dance your way to the centre of the dance floor – because if you are on social media (and let’s face, who isn’t and who cannot afford to be…?), we need to talk.

    You may have read in previous posts (Part 1 and Part 2) concerning your online and offline marketing activities, that being on social media is a little bit of a must for local businesses; with exciting opportunities around the corner with Twitter and CardSpring, soon enough the social media platform will be following suit.

    This presents one danger – that companies will just use social media to sell, sell, sell. Consumers are a little savvier than this, finding such gratuitous marketing not only off-putting but frankly, shallow.

    And so, companies and businesses, including you, are told/advised to use social media as a platform for conversations.

    We need to talk about this because, in a recent survey by Socialbakers, on a small proportion of customers have done this (13%) but – and this is the bit we need really talk about – is that only 67% of this very small group respond… eventually.

    Your physical business

    OK, you sell flowers. You sell them in a high street shop and online with a fabulous website. You invite comments and questions about creating the ‘perfect wedding flower posy for your big day’. You have 4 brides asking questions about everything from ‘hand ties’ to the flowers that will be available for a January wedding… and you don’t bother answering.

    If they were in your shop, and you didn’t answer their questions – this is, by the way ignoring them! – what would happen? Yup, they would leave, probably in a huff and make their way to the next nearest competitor who may just have a conversation with them, both in the shop and online too.

    Stop!

    Why would you treat a question from a customer or fan of your product any different online, as you would offline?

    The idea of being on social media is to connect with customers; and to connect you need to interact, hence this means having a conversation.

    A really good example…

    On my personal Facebook page I have a liked a page to do with garden sheds as next spring, I will have my own writing shed in the garden. It will restore my life/work balance and I will have to walk to work (67 steps. I’ve counted) hence, I will have twice daily exercise – there and back.

    The company regularly posts photos of garden sheds, potting shed, work rooms, summer rooms etc. that they have completed that week or fortnight so people can see their work. I like every picture out of jealousy but this is what I really like – people posts comments and questions and the company respond every time, to each individual comment or question. Sometimes a straightforward thank you to a positive comment, or they respond with prices etc. to questions but without the BIG sell, sell, sell!

    I like them. I will buy a writing shed from them. Because I know that if I ask a question, they will answer. They are interested. They are interested in my writing shed and they will build it with the same care and passion with which I will use it.

    Lessons to be learned in the art of online conversation

    1. Respond!
    2. Respond in a timely fashion – I think this local shed company has the right idea; they post every fortnight or so with a series of photos and a short status. People respond and they comment immediately. None of this waiting 24 hours (another thing this survey found was the speed to which people responded was also s-l-o-w)
    3. Post at times you know you can be online and active – so shoving a few photos on Twitter, asking a question or input from people as you are about to serve Sunday lunch to 12 people or enter a board room meeting for the next 4 hours are two examples of when it is NOT the right time to post…
    4. Monitor what’s happening on some social media platforms; get up to date statistics and data from https://www.socialbakers.com/twitter/country/united-kingdom/

    Did you know…?

    53% of customers expect to hear back from a company or business within an hour – see how important it is to pick your time?

    Of these respondents, 38% also said that they formed a negative opinion of companies that did not respond in an hour, with 42% (of which I am one) saying that this quick, swift and friendly interaction created a favourable opinion… however, the study stops here; there are no figures about how many people then went on to buy from this company, although a guesstimate would be that the figure would be high (think ‘Me and My Writing Shed-To-Be’ scenario).

    Companies and businesses from local to global say that they plan on doing more of this social media interaction lark – 80% of American businesses said they planned on doing it in 2013 but it never quite materialised…

    Content is great. Selling is great BUT, interaction with customers is also just as great. But do it properly. Apply the same rules of general niceness online as you would in a face-to-face situation as stop ignoring your customers!

  • Seeing double yet?! Offline and online marketing

    See Fingers

    Why you need both, how to link them and why they are important for any local business

    We all know it’s a busy place out there. The Internet is crammed full of websites – https://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-websites/ estimate that by the end of 2014, there will be 1 billion ‘live’ websites. Somewhere in the Internet soup is your website.

    Add to this, the dizzying swirl of the high street. Is it dying? Do we need another celebrity to revive it?

    Some businesses offer their services locally; they may not need the reach of the website to stretch to Japan and the far out post of Humpybong, Queensland, Australia (it exists! Check it out…) so, the question is “why bother?”

    A technological age

    If you haven’t noticed, we live in an exciting, yet terrifying technological age. We have people attempting to hack our bank accounts, and yet we can talk to friends and relatives in a different time zone.

    We have a business, which we need to thrive in order for us to flourish. Regardless of whether you only offer your products and services to a local community, or whether you want to send your business into the global stratosphere, you really do need an online and offline marketing strategy.

    Without it, your website is quite useless and underutilised; neither will the locality flock to your doorstep or call your number.

    The world has changed. Catch up.

    Virtually everyone has a smart phone, a table, a PC, a laptop a super-duper TV that can guess what we like to watch and directs us there; we can connect wirelessly and remotely to the stereo in the car and we can make payments to people  by ‘bumping’ our phones together.

    When people want to buy something or need a service, from gardening to cleaning, to window cleaning to wedding dress alterations, they turn to the Internet. Better still, they take to Facebook, Twitter or other social media platforms and check out what people say about you.

    This is how the modern day, 21st century potential consumer of your product or service makes the decision of whether to trust you (or not).

    And so, you have to reach these consumers and you do this with the new fandangled way (online) and the ‘old-fashioned-but-still-valid-way’ (offline). Read on, and be an expert within minutes…

      Online Marketing Offline Marketing
    Definition Anything that requires tools on the Internet; the use of content, for example, engages ‘algorithms’, making your online presence more visible to search engines Tools and activities that are not Internet based
    Activities and tools
    • Website
    • Social media (Facebook, Twiter, Pinterest etc.)
    • Online forums and review sites (Trip Advisor etc.)
    • Email marketing…
    • Business cards
    • Leaflets through doors
    • Adverts in newspaper
    • Adverts in community newsletters/magazines
    • Sponsorship of local community shows or event
    What do you do in each category for your business?(left blank – you fill it in!)

    Separate but dove-tailing

    Now you know what is what, and in which ‘category’ it falls, you need to do something else: pull it all together. Just when you thought it was simple…

    Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

    Just as we can debate this for hours on end, we can argue about whether online is more important than offline activities, and which one supports which but at the end of the busy work day, as long as they support each other, you marketing should be working at its best.

    And here’s how you get the supporting scaffolding encompassing both…

    • Consistent branding (*a whole separate post…) – is you have a logo, a slogan, a tone of voice, a colour theme, a  key message etc. use them consistently across ALL marketing activities, from the header on your website to the leaflet you push through people’s doors. This way, your brand becomes more recognisable
    • Interplay – you can use your website to drive people to your shop (if you have one), and the foot traffic in your shop/stand/stall/pop-up event to your website. Your online website is NOT a separate entity – your physical presence and your online presence are all part of the same business.
    • Targets! – your customers are essentially the same for both your physical presence and your online presence too. You need to ensure that ALL marketing tools and activities are hitting these ‘targets’.
    • The right social media platform – Most people are on Facebook, some are on Twitter, the odd one or two thousand might enjoy the delights of Pinterest… are you getting the drift? Just because you are permanently on Facebook doesn’t mean your ‘target’ customer or audience is. Do your research and find out where they are hanging out…
    • Measure the results – this is the bit many local businesses forget to do, finding out which of their strategies is working. If nothing else, just ask customers ‘how did you hear about me/us?’ Or put special offers or coupons on leaflets… on ads in newspapers… competitions on social platforms… signing up to newsletters for 10% off… but now we are teaching Grandma to suck eggs.

    How are you dove-tailing your online and offline marketing activities? Is your strategy working? (Do you even have a strategy?)

    There’s load of help out there for creating a marketing plan but it does take some time and effort; start with this https://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-bryan/5-simple-digital-marketin_b_4816425.html a well written piece that takes in the basics.