ThinkVisibility 2010

January 2, 2010

After last years successful conference, tickets have now gone on sale for ThinkVisibility in March 2010. There are some fantastic speakers lined up including Bronco’s very own Paul Carpenter and the ever wonderful Judith Lewis and the conference will focus on Google Local and Viral Marketing amongst other topics. If you are anyone who is anyone in digital marketing (or just want to learn more about certain aspects of it) then sign up now before the tickets sell out. It’s a great day out and a chance to meet up with others in the same industry (and put faces to Twitter names :lol: ). Tickets are on sale now from the ThinkVisibility website.

See you there!

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Think Visibility conference

September 13, 2009

It’s been a really great weekend to be an SEO in the North, as I didn’t have too far to travel to the fantastic ThinkVisibility conference in Leeds yesterday. On only its second outing, it attracted some kickass speakers from the world of SEO, PPC and affliate marketing and gave me the chance to meet some fellow  Twitterers in person. I went as part of the Bronco contingent and it soon become clear how much Dave Naylor was going to be missed as he couldn’t attend – I think I heard his name mentioned at least 300 times during the day (some of the comments were even complimentary……LOL).

We registered pretty early which meant we got the first of the fresh coffee – and it also gave us the chance to meet of the other attendees before the presentations started. It was encouraging to see how many had travelled quite a way just to be there.

First up on stage was an old friend of Bronco, Joost de Valk, who gave a very entertaining and informative talk on Wordpress Optimisation. I’ve long been a fan of his blog and it was a  real treat to hear his new ideas and thoughts in person. He’s a very engaging speaker and was the perfect guest to kick off the day. Next up was Julian Sambles from the Daily Telegraph who took us through the changes he’d implemented at the paper to bring it into the digital age. His trousers rocked. The very wonderful Judith Lewis then took the stage for her presentation on Universal Search. I first saw Judith speak at SMX New York last year and her talk yesterday was just as enlightening – especially the ‘off mike ‘ bits…..(and she was very gracious when my phone went off even though Joost grassed me up..haha)

Anthony & David schmooze with Joost

Anthony & David schmooze with Joost

Lunch was a bit of a crush and as we found ourselves right at the back of the very long queue, we popped out to get some fresh air and a sandwich. Stopping out longer than we thought (so Anthony could admire the local female student population) we unfortunately missed the first part of the panel which was a real shame as it was a lot of fun.

The afternoon brought many different presentations and I choose the three I thought I’d learn the most from. The first, from Paul Robinson was about using data and science to find out about your current and potential customers. It was probably a little more over my head than I’d like to admit but it got me thinking which is a good start no? The second, from Tim Nash, was all about the value of links (and NOT about link building, oh no). It was fab and I could have sat through another hour of it to be honest. Tim took some time after to answer a question and also forgave me for not making the pre-conference presentation on Friday. The last talk I attended was from Zoe Piper on utilising the Adwords Content Network and it was packed full of info, suggestions – and LOLcats. Apparently it was Zoe’s first speaking gig but you wouldn’t have known that as she came across as very confident and with a real passion for her subject.

Unfortunately, work beckoned so I wasn’t able to stick around to see Artur Ortega’s excellent presentation on Accessibilty or for Drink Visibility but I hear that both were a success. All in all it was a fantastic day and many thanks go to Dom for all his hard work. Roll on Think Visibility 3!

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Can Facebook really help your business?

August 19, 2009

These days, there are hundreds of social networking websites available online – finding old friends or sharing interests with others is a major factor in their popularity. Many, many internet users have joined at least one of these social networking sites with one of the biggest being Facebook. If you own a business and you are targeting an 18 to 25 demographic to sell your products, Facebook could provide you with a ready market.

The great thing about Facebook is that it provides tools that can be used to effectively market your products and services, as standard. With over 62 million users worldwide, that’s a lot of potential clients to do business with. So, here are a few tips that can help you use this phenomenal site to market your products and services for free.

Make your profile strong and identifiable. With a great profile, you will be able to attract more people to view it. Social websites like Facebook are all about connecting and interacting with other members, so the more relationships you build in Facebook, the more effective your marketing efforts will be.

Join Facebook groups or create your own group. It can be groups containing members of your target niche and it can also be groups of internet marketers where you will be able to help each other out advertise your business or your products and services.

Add some applications (such as games) and syndicate your blog website using RSS. Reach out to as many people as possible. In order for an online business to become a success, targeted traffic is the key and there is no better way than by using Facebook. So, if you think that online advertising or marketing is not working for you, try a social networking site like Facebook and see if you can tap into its potential.

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The wonderful world of Twitter

July 25, 2009

Contrary to those that know me, I don’t really believe that Twitter is the best thing to happen to internet marketing ever….honest. However, I do think it has an incredibly important part to play in an holistic search marketing campaign, if used with some thought and a clear strategy. Primarily a communication tool, ironically this represents both Twitter’s greatest strength and also its greatest weakness. Anyone with internet access can open an account in under a minute and tweet about anything and everything – and they usually do. The perception that Twitter is where people tweet about what they’ve just eaten is based on fact (hell, even I’ve done it!) but that doesn’t mean that serious users should shy away from participating. On the contrary, the fact that people are actually using Twitter at all means that anyone serious about internet marketing should be part of the process too. Why wouldn’t you want to promote your service or product in an arena where literally millions are ready to listen?

Twitter Followers

However, having millions ready to listen means there are millions of other Twitter accounts to compete against – so how do you make yourself or your client stand out from the noise?

  • Get consensus on the public profile from the start from all parties concerned- agree on the corporate image you want to promote.
  • Establish your online identity. Choose a user name that reflects your company name or one very close to it.
  • Brand your profile page and update your Twitter icon. Use the Bio feature to establish your service or product and always link to a website if there is one.
  • Consider using different Twitter accounts to feed into the main one if applicable, i.e. Customer Service, Technical Support, Promotional Offers. Make sure each are branded the same to ensure continuity.
  • If you’re using just one account try and vary the tweets – a constant stream of promotion or sales pitches can be off putting to potential followers.
  • If you or your client has a blog, tweet about and link to each new post.
  • Always include a link back to the URL if you are promoting something on your website.
  • Use keywords in your tweets so you’ll be found on searches (just like real SEO!)
  • Twitter works best when its two way – follow people back, respond to their tweets, promote others.
  • Take notice of the Trending Topics – these are the 10 or so most popular subject of current tweets. If you have something to say that fits in with a topic, just pop a hashtag followed by that subject on the end of your tweet. That way (for a few minutes anyway) your tweet will be on the front page of searches on that hashtag subject.
  • Don’t wait to tweet until you have something to say – build up your following and then you’ll have an audience for that special announcement.

The world of social media is evolving at a crazy rate and it takes time and effort to build up a presence. However, the rewards could definately be worth it for a well executed and well maintained campaign.

There’s a reason why people like Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross are reaping incredible PR benefits with their Twitter presence – they are an easy reference point for new users, a safe pair of hands, a trusted source. Make your social media campaign a point of reference for your customers and clients too and build up that client relationship in a unique and rewarding way.

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