Opace - Web Design and SEO Blog

Opace - Web Design and SEO Blog http://www.opace.co.uk/blog Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:09:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 10 reasons why your business needs a Joomla web design http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/10-reasons-why-your-business-needs-a-joomla-web-design http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/10-reasons-why-your-business-needs-a-joomla-web-design#comments Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:58:01 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2488

Joomla web design for your business website

If you are developing a website for your new business or looking to upgrade an existing design, choosing a Joomla web design offers many advantages. There are of course other platforms you can use for developing your website, including expensive commercial systems and others similar to Joomla such as WordPress and Drupal and of course you …

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If you are developing a website for your new business or looking to upgrade an existing design, choosing a Joomla web design offers many advantages. There are of course other platforms you can use for developing your website, including expensive commercial systems and others similar to Joomla such as WordPress and Drupal and of course you could opt for a bespoke development, but for creating powerful business websites Joomla is our favorite. Let’s take a look at the top 10 reasons why:

1. It’s Free

The Joomla CMS is open source and free to download TODAY so you don’t need to pay anyone to develop a system for you. Of course, you may use a website design company to customise to your exact requirements – creating an overall structure, adding your branding and colours etc, but this is still much cheaper (in both the short and long term) than having a bespoke website built for you.

2. It works

Joomla has already had over 35 million downloads and powers some of the world’s leading websites, so you are using a tried and tested market leading application.

3. It’s supported

That very success has created literally a world wide network of users, supporters and developers who offer constant advice and support via blogs, forums and websites. If you need help, you won’t always need to consult a fee-charging company – just go online first!

4. It’s updated

Following on from the above and the world of Joomla web design, developers are always introducing new apps, plug-ins and modules. Most are free, many are driven by user’s needs and changing technologies. The Joomla extensions directory is a great resource to find new and exciting plug-ins for your website: http://extensions.joomla.org.

5. It’s integrated

You will hear lots about how Google take into account sharing and social engagement when it ranks a website. You can integrate all your social media activity using Joomla.

6. It’s easy to use

‘Easy’ is always a flexible measure but for the day-to-day business needs, Joomla really is easy. You won’t need technical or HTML experience to add content, add new pages, upload photos, amend the navigation, etc. You will be able to assign many tasks to your team so the website is no longer just your concern.

7. It’s integrated – again

The power of Joomla web design means you can develop effective marketing campaigns, building databases for email marketing and fully integrated sales activity.

8. It’s SEO savvy

What SEO means and constitutes seems to change on a daily basis but one thing you can guarantee is that Joomla will allow you manage and integrate SEO with your on page and off page activity, as apps and plug-ins are developed to meet the changing demands of SEO. Two of our favorites include AceSEF and sh404SEF.

9. It’s brilliant for e-commerce

Online sales continue to grow even as the general retail outlook remains uncertain. It’s no surprise that many businesses are looking to create online stores. Having a Joomla web design allows e-commerce components to be added effectively and easily. One of the most common e-commerce components for Joomla is probably VirtueMart.

10. It’s liberating

You will not longer need to go back to the same 3^rd party for each and every change or update on your website. You can choose the partner you want – based on costs or service – not because you have been backed into a corner. Or you can use the worldwide support to help you make the most of your Joomla CMS. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of web design and online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/10-reasons-why-your-business-needs-a-joomla-web-design/feed 0 Birmingham web design company offers advice clients ‘Like’ http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/birmingham-web-design-company-offers-advice-clients-like http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/birmingham-web-design-company-offers-advice-clients-like#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2013 12:55:41 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2481

Birmingham web design company offers social media marketing advice clients Like

A leading Birmingham web design company this week offered some timely advice to help Birmingham businesses make the most of their social media activity. Opace are a web design and social media marketing company who have helped many local businesses maximise their internet marketing. David Bryan, founder of Opace, this week said “Increasingly Google looks …

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A leading Birmingham web design company this week offered some timely advice to help Birmingham businesses make the most of their social media activity. Opace are a web design and social media marketing company who have helped many local businesses maximise their internet marketing. David Bryan, founder of Opace, this week said “Increasingly Google looks at areas such as sharing and engagement when it ranks a website, and so many companies are turning to social media platforms such as Facebook and Google+ to help boost their search engine rankings. However, some quickly get deflated by a perceived lack of success and many stop altogether.” A quarter of UK small businesses (24%) use Facebook to market their organisations, but more than a third of them (37%) say they don’t think it has helped their business in any way. A survey of 1,000 small business decision makers by Constant Contact also found that just 21% of respondents believe they are doing a good job using Facebook to market their business. However 22% of businesses that use Facebook said that they found new customers through the social network, while 12% credited it with generating repeat sales. Furthermore, one third (31%) say they have seen value in spreading the word about special offers or new products. David continued “This survey plus other evidence proves Facebook can bring benefits to both B2B and B2C businesses. The secret to success though is delivering great content and we work with our clients to ensure they deliver content that people will Like, engage with and share.” Opace was founded in 2008 with the aim of delivering exceptional web and internet marketing solutions that deliver tangible results for their clients. Opace have grown to a team of twelve experienced consultants who deliver creative web-based marketing solutions that have helped their clients develop their organisations, make the most of new technologies and web marketing opportunities. David continued “Great content requires more imagination than cash, and humanising the team is a good place to start – don’t keep pushing out sales messages as this is a big turn-off.” David also recommends strong visual content, and incentives and giveaways as a way of attracting and retaining likes. More information about Opace’s services and successes can be found on their website at www.opace.co.uk. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of web design and online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/birmingham-web-design-company-offers-advice-clients-like/feed 0 Adobe proclaims 2013 ‘the year of content’ http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/adobe-proclaims-2013-the-year-of-content http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/adobe-proclaims-2013-the-year-of-content#comments Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:57:15 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2471
In the latest survey from Econsulting and software giants Adobe one message is clear – that content marketing is the main concern for inhouse marketers (and we would suggest social media agency) as they look forward to 2013. The report ‘Digital Trends 2013’ is based on a survey of more than 700 digital professionals carried …

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In the latest survey from Econsulting and software giants Adobe one message is clear – that content marketing is the main concern for inhouse marketers (and we would suggest social media agency) as they look forward to 2013. The report ‘Digital Trends 2013’ is based on a survey of more than 700 digital professionals carried out in late 2012. The report looks at the trends which have now gathered enough momentum to shape the digital marketing and e-commerce landscape over the year ahead. The report compares like-for-like responses to its survey taken at the end of 2011 and twelve months later so it is able to measure changing concerns and priorities of those involved in digital marketing.

Content is critial...

The reports conclusion on the latest results could not be clearer and in the Report’s own words states: "The single most significant trend is the continued emergence of content marketing as a standalone discipline. Content, in all its shapes and forms, is core to everything we do as marketers. There is now a widespread realisation that optimisation of all types of content, both on-site and off-site, and across a range of different formats and devices, is absolutely critical." This is a lesson not just for a social media agency or for marketers, it is lesson that all businesses who wish to achieve effective, long-term search engine rankings need to learn. Where many businesses have been resistant to the importance of delivering unique, relevant content that is regularly updated and delivered across a number of platforms and created to encourage sharing and engagement this survey is one more indication that such resistance could damage their marketing activities. The survey sums up the focus if activity thus: Great content, spread through social channels and consumed anywhere.

Content marketing is #1

Content marketing was the #1 priority of 39% of those taking the survey – a jump from 29% in their last survey, and the single largest jump was in the increased importance of video content which saw a jump from 9% to 21%. We believe one final headline from report could be the slogan for all social media agency work in 2013: Inspired content + informed algorithms = excitement for 2013. The following infographic has been taken from: http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/digital-marketing/digital-trends-for-2013/

Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of social media marketing and Twitter blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Google+ page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/adobe-proclaims-2013-the-year-of-content/feed 0 The lessons of the Twitter Top 10 http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/the-lessons-of-the-twitter-top-10 http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/the-lessons-of-the-twitter-top-10#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2013 13:32:29 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2463

Twitter insights from a social media marketing agency Twitter’s list of its top 10 campaigns of last year should be of interest to more than a social media marketing agency because it contains some useful insights for any business to maximise their Twitter activity and their social media marketing in general. The list contains many …

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Twitter insights from a social media marketing agency

Twitter’s list of its top 10 campaigns of last year should be of interest to more than a social media marketing agency because it contains some useful insights for any business to maximise their Twitter activity and their social media marketing in general. The list contains many top brands and included ‘Promoted’ as well as organic results. The cynics might suggest the Top 10 campaigns equates to the top 10 spenders, but even if that is correct there are still lessons to be learned.

Twitter Lesson 1- integration with other marketing activities

Perhaps the first lesson to learn is that campaigns need to be integrated with other marketing activities. This works on both a strategic, overall level and on a day to day practical level. When planning campaigns, consider how you can leverage your Twitter activity. Develop some effective hashtags and use these on printed marketing material, advertising, website, email signatures and email marketing, blogs, online video, Facebook, etc, etc. A stand alone hashtag has little impact; one integrated into a wider marketing campaign will be much more effective.

Twitter Lesson 2 - incentivise your followers

The second insight may be less welcome but should not be a big surprise: your followers want benefits for making the decision and taking the time to follow your company. Develop a series of offers, incentives and giveaways on a regular basis. We think EVERY business can achieve this, regardless of size and sector.

Twitter Lesson 3 - tell a great story

We’ll give a final word to Bruce Daisley, sales director of Twitter UK: "Some of the best performing campaigns were just great product news, with a great story told well, and they don’t have to be gimmicky." Concentrate your efforts when you have something interesting to say! Twitter continues to offer small and medium companies the chance to develop followers and enthusiasts, as well as aid SEO. It is relatively easy to find people who may be interested in your products and services, and offers a chance to engage easily and effectively. A social media marketing agency or SEO company that specialises in social media can help you develop strategy and campaigns, but it will work best if driven by the real people of your organisation. What do you think about Twitter? Is just a marketing obsession or have you achieved success through the platform? Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of social media marketing and Twitter blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Google+ page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/the-lessons-of-the-twitter-top-10/feed 0 Web design for Birmingham organisations – a checklist! http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/web-design-for-birmingham-organisations-a-checklist http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/web-design-for-birmingham-organisations-a-checklist#comments Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:43:27 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2447

Checklist for companies needing support from a Birmingham web design agency

If you are an existing Birmingham based business – or are looking to set up a business – then upgrading or creating an effective website will be a major contributor to the success of the company. It will never mask poor customer service or low quality goods or services, but it will help your potential …

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If you are an existing Birmingham based business - or are looking to set up a business - then upgrading or creating an effective website will be a major contributor to the success of the company. It will never mask poor customer service or low quality goods or services, but it will help your potential customers to find your company, and develop a pleasant experience that will encourage them to buy – or at least return at some point.

Our top 5 web design checklist

For businesses in the area, Birmingham web design can be the key to their continued success or growth - as such we have put together this short five point checklist of things to consider when developing an effective website:

1. Website system (CMS)

Previously many companies had bespoke websites created for them by specialist design agencies. They had their advantages but today CMS web design solutions have far greater benefits for almost every organisation. However, there are many to choose from so do so homework, read online reviews and speak to the professionals about the different platforms available. Here are some of our favourites - Joomla for corporate websites, WordPress for blogs and Magento for e-commerce.

2. Relevant channels

Decide how you want your messages to be communicated. Previously, websites were the main digital source of information but today consumers researching suppliers, products and services access that information in many different digital ways – social media platforms such as Facebook, review sites, YouTube channels and blogs. What channels do you need to have, and how will your content be developed across these channels?

3. Content

Linked to the above, you will also need to decide the content of each channel, including your website pages and blog. What will be the mix of words to images? Is video important and how will it be created and incorporated within your content? Who will write the copy and provide the photos?

4. SEO

SEO should be integral to the web design, not an after thought. The structure, navigation and on-page copy will all be linked to your SEO activity. In turn, your SEO strategy will be reflective of your brand as well as the goods and services offered.

5. Maintenance and updating

From a business, customer and SEO perspective, the website will need to be updated and maintained so you will need to decide from the outset who will do this and how often. Although CMS systems are designed to be maintained by ‘non-techies’, many businesses don’t have the time or desire to manage updates internally. For any business in Birmingham SEO and great web design will make an important impact on their future success. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of web design and online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/web-design-for-birmingham-organisations-a-checklist/feed 0 Birmingham web design company welcomes ‘Heseltine Plan’ http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/birmingham-web-design-company-welcomes-heseltine-plan http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/birmingham-web-design-company-welcomes-heseltine-plan#comments Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:59:53 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2439

Birmingham web design company welcomes Heseltine Plan

A leading Birmingham web design company this week welcomed a plan backed by Michael Heseltine to help generate economic growth in the Birmingham area. David Bryan, founder and MD of Birmingham web design company Opace, said this week that any plans to generate jobs and income in the region must be welcomed. Mr Bryan’s statement …

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A leading Birmingham web design company this week welcomed a plan backed by Michael Heseltine to help generate economic growth in the Birmingham area. David Bryan, founder and MD of Birmingham web design company Opace, said this week that any plans to generate jobs and income in the region must be welcomed. Mr Bryan’s statement came as the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership is set to begin a three-month review ahead of a ground-breaking pilot scheme to stimulate economic growth. The plans were unveiled by Lord Heseltine author of last year’s ‘No Stone Unturned’ report into the devolution of power from central government to the English regions, on Thursday 3 January. The LEP will now draw up a business plan for a pilot scheme. If successful, it could result in up to £1 billion per year being diverted from Westminster directly into the area, allowing local control of major transport and infrastructure work. A trial period would see the LEP managing government funds for local skills, infrastructure, employment support, housing, regeneration and business support. The LEP will now work with the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group to determine the projects and work that are most likely to create jobs and regenerate communities. Mr Bryan continued “We have worked with many organisations who are seeking to grow their businesses, find new markets or develop income streams, so we know from personal experience that the region is full of entrepreneurs and business people who are desperate to develop their companies but need both support and an improvement to economic conditions to achieve this.” Opace was founded in 2008 with the aim of delivering exceptional web and internet marketing solutions that deliver tangible results for their clients. “I realised that some agencies offer brilliant technical solutions but very little service; others were the reverse. I believed it was possible to deliver the right solutions with outstanding service that delivered great results” said Mr Bryan. Opace have grown to a team of twelve experienced consultants who deliver creative internet marketing solutions that have helped their clients develop their organisations, make the most of new technologies, SEO and other web marketing opportunities. More details about the Birmingham web design and internet marketing specialist’s services can be found on their website at www.opace.co.uk. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/birmingham-web-design-company-welcomes-heseltine-plan/feed 0 Birmingham web design gets responsive http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/birmingham-web-design-gets-responsive http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/birmingham-web-design-gets-responsive#comments Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:30:43 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2435
2012 saw a decline in the fall of PCs but this was more that matched by a phenomenal growth in both tablets and smartphones. This is not just of interest to providers, but should be of interest to any company with a website or interest in internet marketing. The simple conclusion to draw is that …

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2012 saw a decline in the fall of PCs but this was more that matched by a phenomenal growth in both tablets and smartphones. This is not just of interest to providers, but should be of interest to any company with a website or interest in internet marketing. The simple conclusion to draw is that people will be accessing websites in increasingly different ways – through PCs, tablets and their phones. For Birmingham business owners, they need to ensure their website is fully responsive to these changes.

Responsive web design for Birmingham organisations

One response is to ask whether the way people access the website matters. It’s a legitimate response to say ‘No’. Most websites designed for PCs can be viewed on other platforms. OK – it might look clunky and be difficult to navigate, but if people want to put in some effort they can just about navigate to the product or service they need. That would be fine if rival companies had the same attitude, but many Birmingham businesses realise that developing responsive websites will be better for clients, and that means better for their business. In simple terms, a responsive web design uses "media queries" to figure out what resolution of device it's being served on. Flexible images and fluid grids then size correctly to fit the screen. Given the rapid adoption of tablets and smartphones -- and the fact that users currently seem to prefer reading their news on the mobile web rather than in apps -- I think it's inevitable that 2013 will be the year that responsive design takes off. For publishers, it offers the simplest way to reach readers across multiple devices. For users, it ensures a great experience on every screen. As Ethan Marcotte, the author of Responsive Web Design, explains: "Now more than ever, we’re designing work meant to be viewed along a gradient of different experiences. Responsive web design offers us a way forward, finally allowing us to 'design for the ebb and flow of things.'" When it comes to responsive web design Birmingham businesses can reprioritise the flow of information to the particular device. The website may promote offers first, or may link to a geographic-based service or offering to take advantage of the mobile device. Even without this re-ordering, they will want to make the experience as user-friendly as possible. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/birmingham-web-design-gets-responsive/feed 0 Happy Birthday, text – you changed everything! http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/happy-birthday-text-how-you-changed-internet-marketing-and-social-media http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/happy-birthday-text-how-you-changed-internet-marketing-and-social-media#comments Thu, 10 Jan 2013 13:46:28 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2426

How texting has changes internet marketing and social media

How texting changed internet marketing and social media Last December saw the lots of articles and interviews to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the text. This blog reflects on the impact the popularity of texting has had on internet marketing and the work of the social media marketing agency. Oddly, its least impact has come …

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How texting changed internet marketing and social media

Last December saw the lots of articles and interviews to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the text. This blog reflects on the impact the popularity of texting has had on internet marketing and the work of the social media marketing agency. Oddly, its least impact has come as a marketing tool. Consumers have been resistant to receiving marketing updates via text, and few companies of medium or small size include SMS marketing as part of their marketing mix. The overall lesson for businesses and the social media marketing agency is that marketing messages need to be concise and concentrated. If you can deliver your message in text-like length, then you are likely to win the attention of any target audience. We are not entirely convinced people have shorter attention spans – there are many reasons to believe the reverse is true – but as consumers they certainly want to receive marketing messages in a much more concentrated form – whether via Twitter, YouTube, Facebook etc. The success of the text also indicated that technology could change communications, and this has driven much marketing activity since. Consumer’s willingness to change how they communicate has since bought us Facebook, Twitter, Smartphones, iPads and lots of future technology as yet undreamt of. The hardware became more affordable and the programmes much sophisticated, but that would have meant little if people were unwilling to adapt to a whole new way of communicating. A less obvious influence that texting has had on the job of a social media marketing agency is its effect on language. Texting soon developed its own vocabulary. In fact it developed several vocabularies for all sorts of diverse groups. Marketers learned that language was much more flexible, that different groups of consumers literally communicated in a different language – and that being unable to respond to this meant lost opportunities for companies ad their marketing teams. Marketing no longer had a ‘Queens English’ to rely on, and whereas dialects were fasting fading, a whole new series of groups had developed their own grammars and language use. And this was reflected in all their future communication, not restricted to texting only. It looks as if the SMS message is on the decline, and may not be around to celebrate another 40^th – but its influence will never be forgotten. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of social media marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/happy-birthday-text-how-you-changed-internet-marketing-and-social-media/feed 0 For social media marketing success develop a social media attitude http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/develop-a-social-media-marketing-attitude http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/develop-a-social-media-marketing-attitude#comments Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:27:09 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2419

social media marketing success - develop a social media attitude

Social media marketing needs to be thought of as an attitude or a business wide approach, rather than just a set of tools. Setting up Twitter, Facebook and the like is easy, and the bonus is they are free. This fact has made many smaller companies pay attention to social media marketing, and a large …

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Social media marketing needs to be thought of as an attitude or a business wide approach, rather than just a set of tools. Setting up Twitter, Facebook and the like is easy, and the bonus is they are free. This fact has made many smaller companies pay attention to social media marketing, and a large portion of those have started using the tools to support their website design and other marketing activities. However, few companies have changed their overall attitude, and this is essential for social media marketing success.

What is a social media attitude?

Firstly, companies need to understand that social media is much more focussed on engagement than more traditional forms of marketing, and the most successful campaigns maximise their engagement. This won’t be done through hard sales or a continual stream of promotions, but it can be achieved through posting about items that will encourage clients to respond – it may be asking for opinions, it might be centred around humour or customer advice; it might involve discussions of topical issues that are connected to the business. People love something for nothing, so giving away products or discounts is a good way to encourage people to respond and share. Another essential for successful social media is to involve the whole organisation – the more varied the posts, and the more individual the more likely your campaign will achieve momentum. Allow people from all departments to post and tweet – it gives a greater insight into the company, humanises the organisation and allows customers to see the people behind the logo. Even for very small organisations, there will be at least one or two who can lighten the load – even if they are the wife and the cleaner (unless they are the same person!)

Encourage social media marketing across the company

Let your employees know about your social media platforms and encourage them to Like, Comments and Share posts and Tweets etc. You might incentivise this, but the best success will be to explain the importance of the social media activity. The greater the level of engagement, the better the SEO performance of the company, and the better the SEO performance the greater visibility of the company – and that should mean more sales and new income generation. If employees think that social media is just another way for marketing or senior management to fill their time, then they will unlikely to be involved. If they believe their jobs, chances of preferment and salaries are dependent on the campaigns then they might be willing to engage – and even come up with ideas that they like from brands they follow. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of social media marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Google+ page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/develop-a-social-media-marketing-attitude/feed 0 4 key social media marketing tips http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/4-key-social-media-marketing-tips http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/4-key-social-media-marketing-tips#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2012 13:12:32 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2412

Why social media? Social media marketing has increased in importance for all organisations. Not only are clients, customers and potential clients expecting it, Google will also be monitoring and giving greater prominence to those websites that engage with people alongside their traditional SEO activity. Here are four social media marketing tips that will help you …

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Why social media?

Social media marketing has increased in importance for all organisations. Not only are clients, customers and potential clients expecting it, Google will also be monitoring and giving greater prominence to those websites that engage with people alongside their traditional SEO activity. Here are four social media marketing tips that will help you maximise the most of your activity:

1. Don’t set yourself up to fail

We still hear from organisations who believe there social media activity has been a failure, but who have set aside little time, no budget and invested in no skills to make their social media marketing a success, so why are they surprised? We are not saying social media needs to be expensive (it needs to be cost-effective) but it does need to be given the same respect as other marketing activity. Social media needs thought as much as expenditure; it needs effort as much as technological know-how. Professional help is available but that will absolve companies of their need to constantly encourage sharing and engagement among staff and customers

2. Do some research

Before you begin ‘talking’ with your activity, listen first. Listen to the buzz about your products and services. Determine which products are generating the interest. Explore what the competition is doing – what they are doing well (and not so well) and what they are doing to encourage engagement.

3. Consider all communications as conversations

When you start your social media marketing you need to realise that the age of the one way conversation is OVER. You need to open all your communications to client conversation, so the words you use to pitch them (and even the tone in which they are written) needs to be much more open. You need to ask for comments, views and opinions – and you need to act on them. If you receive queries or comment, answer in a timely manner.

4. You don’t own social media – people do

It sounds obvious but as well as recognising the above, you also need to act on it. You need to act in a human way, not as a corporation or a brand. For smaller organisations, this should be easy but sometimes it gets forgotten. Remember the things that give you business their USP and make the most of them – it could be the really friendly team, your businesses place in the community or your recognised expertise. Kicking off with these tips should be relatively painless – and if necessary – speak to a social media marketing agency, we’re here to help! Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of social media marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Google+ page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/4-key-social-media-marketing-tips/feed 0 6 Easy ways to kick start your social media marketing http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/6-easy-ways-to-kick-start-your-social-media-marketing http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/6-easy-ways-to-kick-start-your-social-media-marketing#comments Mon, 03 Dec 2012 15:59:51 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2407

It’s good for business and good for SEO so why don’t more businesses carry out social media marketing? Perhaps they don’t know where to start – so here is a back-to-basics on how to get your social media marketing off to a flying start. 1. FACEBOOK No surprises that Facebook is the #1 for social …

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It’s good for business and good for SEO so why don’t more businesses carry out social media marketing? Perhaps they don’t know where to start - so here is a back-to-basics on how to get your social media marketing off to a flying start.

1. FACEBOOK

No surprises that Facebook is the #1 for social media marketing. With an estimated half of users logged on at anyone time its no surprise its social media reach is like no other. They have also developed a range of easy-to-use plugins for your site with simple mechanics to make it easy for others to Like and Share your website and its content

2. TWITTER

Simple plug-ins will allow users to tweet about your site from your site, so the idea is to develop compelling website content rather than just build up 1000s of followers. SEO friendly on page Twitter feeds allows you to update your home page content quickly, easily and regularly.

3. YouTube

We don’t need stats to prove the growth in consumption of online video – just think how your own online behaviour has changed over the years. For reasons explored elsewhere in the blogs, using YouTube can help smaller company’s achieve high Google rankings with well tagged, well described content rich video.

4. GOOGLE+1

Not to be confused with Google+, +1 can easily be added to your website just as it appears next to search results when logged into your Google account. There is a widespread belief that it will influence ranking and overall SEO, so if search is a big part of your marketing strategy, you can’t afford to ignore it.

5. TUMBLR

If you create blog-style content and update it frequently as part of your social media strategy – and you should – tumblr is the most social home for it. With community and social features such as the follow mechanic, as well as Q&A options, uses range from multimedia galleries to customer service portals.

6. FLICKR

You may be no photographer but you are likely to have images of something you could use to build a presence on this pic-sharing behemoth. Flickr’s social features include commenting, sharing, groups and favourites – all ideal as part of your social media strategy. Kicking off with these basic platforms is achievable – and necessary – for businesses of all sizes and in all sectors and are a good place to begin your social media marketing. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Google+ page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/6-easy-ways-to-kick-start-your-social-media-marketing/feed 0 Is early adoption a clever social media marketing strategy? http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/is-early-adoption-a-clever-social-media-marketing-strategy http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/is-early-adoption-a-clever-social-media-marketing-strategy#comments Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:45:03 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2400

Yet another social media platform was launched in October in the continual search for the next Facebook or YouTube. Is it a good idea for business to add a new platform to their social media marketing strategy or to adopt a wait and see policy? Opinsy.com has a good pedigree, as it was set up …

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Yet another social media platform was launched in October in the continual search for the next Facebook or YouTube. Is it a good idea for business to add a new platform to their social media marketing strategy or to adopt a wait and see policy? Opinsy.com has a good pedigree, as it was set up by Ankur Shah, the Brit behind the Techligtenment, a social technology service which was later snapped up by credit agency Experian. Opinsy.com is aiming to harness online opinions in one single, and provide a platform for debate. Shah wants the site to become “YouTube for opinions.” Can Opinsy.com become part of a social media marketing strategy? For businesses, there are no hard and fast rules when considering which platforms to add to your strategy. Early adoption contains a certain element of risk, of course. New platforms come and go, and no business wants to waste time on platforms that are being used by themselves and a couple of techies in Silicon Valley. The advantage is that most new platforms are free for businesses, so the cost is measured in time rather than money. Getting in on the ground level will mean that you have built up considerable experience, collateral and good will by the time the platform goes global. If you are an early adopter, try to get yourself noticed by the developer.

Adding a new platform to your social media strategy

Perhaps the first rule to apply for early adoption and incorporation into your social media marketing strategy is to decide the fit with your organisation and overall internet marketing strategy. For example, Opinsy.com realises that creating debate has commercial advantages – the opinions garnered can drive aspects of your marketing and social media activity. You could also use the platform to market research new products and services, adverts or marketing campaigns, offers or incentives. Early adoption can mean months of activity with very little response or engagement, but it can pay off. It’s a fact that the most popular platforms in 2022 will NOT be the most popular in 2012 but deciding where the changes will take place will produce plenty of expert ‘opinion’ and advice. If you need any help with any aspect of your social media strategy, call us today. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Google+ page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/is-early-adoption-a-clever-social-media-marketing-strategy/feed 0 Can Facebook Offers benefit your social media marketing? http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/can-facebook-offers-benefit-your-social-media-marketing http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/can-facebook-offers-benefit-your-social-media-marketing#comments Fri, 23 Nov 2012 10:37:53 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2390

Facebook offers for social media marketing

Incentivising Customers using Offers Facebook just rolled out a new feature which allows companies to make offers to their customers or prospects on Facebook that they can claim and share with their friends. Brands can now set up an offer that can be redeemed in store, online or both. And, you can expand your brand’s …

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Incentivising Customers using Offers

Facebook just rolled out a new feature which allows companies to make offers to their customers or prospects on Facebook that they can claim and share with their friends. Brands can now set up an offer that can be redeemed in store, online or both. And, you can expand your brand’s reach because Offers includes special news feed stories that tell people when their friends claim them. You can even add features to track redemptions, such as special redemption codes or barcodes. For smaller businesses especially it can become a successful part of any social media marketing or internet marketing strategy. The app responds to the phenomenal growth in online vouchers and coupons. Vouchercodes.co.uk has reported:

The voucher market is growing - retailers are issuing 28 per cent more codes against the same period last year.
Consumers demand for vouchers is still growing, with traffic to VoucherCodes.co.uk increasing by over 30 per cent against Q1 2011.
Adoption of mobile commerce is growing at an incredible rate – traffic to VoucherCodes.co.uk increased by 228 per cent over 12 months.
Over 80 per cent of mobile traffic from consumers researching retail offers on VoucherCodes.co.uk comes from Apple devices.

Research also shows that incentives and discounts are one of the primary reasons for consumers to engage with a brand via their social media channels. Therefore, Facebook Offers allows businesses to reach a wider audience as well as more easily offer them the very discounts they are looking for. It makes a sensible addition to a social media marketing plan.

Social Media Marketing and Facebook Offers

Facebook Offers easily allows users to create In Store offers, Online only offers or both. Creating the offer is easy and a bonus for businesses is that the first time you use Offers it is free. Even for paid-for campaigns you can set a budget for the campaign so keeping control of costs is easy. Polls suggest that an overwhelming number of businesses think Offers is a good idea, and can be a successful part of a social media marketing activity that provides tangible offers for consumers – and increases the engagement as Fans share the offer around their friends. Of course, the nature of the offer will be the biggest factor in its success – it needs to be an offer that is worth taking up, otherwise there is no point in creating ANY offer, regardless of the platform used. If you need any support with your Facebook marketing contact us today to see how we can help. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Google+ page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/can-facebook-offers-benefit-your-social-media-marketing/feed 0 Never mind 4G is your web design even 21C? http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/never-mind-4g-is-your-web-design-even-21c http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/never-mind-4g-is-your-web-design-even-21c#comments Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:21:08 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2385

Never mind 4G is your web design even 21C

October saw the launch of superfast 4G products and services made available to millions of consumers in 10 cities across the UK, including our very own Birmingham. EE, formerly known as Everything Everywhere, launched its range of 4G products and services in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The 4G …

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October saw the launch of superfast 4G products and services made available to millions of consumers in 10 cities across the UK, including our very own Birmingham. EE, formerly known as Everything Everywhere, launched its range of 4G products and services in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The 4G network offers speeds up to five times faster than 3G. The launch of 4G is very welcome but for many businesses in Birmingham the launch of yet another technological innovation merely serves to emphasise how far behind the times there own businesses are. When it comes to web design Birmingham companies often look more 20C than 4G! With regard to web design Birmingham businesses are failing to exploit the technology that is already readily available. Much of this is also free, and there are powerful website CMS systems and literally 1000s of free plug-ins and apps which will help organisations maximise their internet presence. When it comes to faster download speeds, for businesses in Birmingham web design can play a much more important part than 4G. No matter what a business wants to achieve with its website, there are plenty of tools and plenty of online support to help them achieve it. From seamless marketing to better administration, from social media marketing to ecommerce there will be a plug-in that can be installed easily and soon help any realise almost any business goal. The launch of any new technological innovation such as 4G changes web users expectations, and that can have an impact on any business. Users – customers, in fact – begin to expect a level of functionality and design from every website; they expect a level of sophistication and want to enjoy the experience. 4G ramps up this level of sophistication, and they look more critically at websites that don’t give them this. Ultimately, they will start to look – and buy – elsewhere. For businesses in Birmingham web design that achieves a high level of functionality, which looks good and can be found on search engines is a cost-effective option. Developing a ‘future-proof’ website is not science fiction but something that can be incorporated into your marketing plan. For more information on how we can make your website 21C please call us today. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/never-mind-4g-is-your-web-design-even-21c/feed 0 25 Tips for perfect email marketing http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/25-tips-for-perfect-email-marketing http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/25-tips-for-perfect-email-marketing#comments Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:43:58 +0000 edward http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2376
25 Tips to be become an expert in emails! Email layouts in HTML are very alike and similar to the design of a standard web page. Article design is very important with the email going out to so many people, so you really need to know how to focus your content on your specific audience. …

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25 Tips to be become an expert in emails!

Email layouts in HTML are very alike and similar to the design of a standard web page. Article design is very important with the email going out to so many people, so you really need to know how to focus your content on your specific audience. However, it’s still extremely important to consider the constraints of the email when implementing the design.

1. Don’t cross the 600px wide barrier

For safety regulations, stay inside of the standard email design width of 600px wide. The reason why a lot of emails are this size is because of its readability. You want a quick reaction and have nano-time to do it in. Us humans tend to scan emails rather then read word-for-word; which means that stuff on the left gets more attention than stuff on the right, which you can read more about in a little while. As assured as you are in creating a great design, make click through to your promotions via elements of eye-tracking studies.

2. Top up on Calls to Action Signs

Your subscibers tend to only pay attention to the very top part of the emails they get, thus making snap decisions on whether your content is worthy of a moment more of their time. Within an increment of time for you client to react, you need to intensify the reactions and visual senses by placing an array of different shaped icons and signs which send signals to your recipients.

3. Be informative in your copy

Write content that sticks, it’s all about quality, be informative, and be descriptive. Sell your product and point out what its qualities are and what it can give. Put all of your most important keywords up front and keep your emails formatted with original language and terms; anything written that sounds too marketed can end up in the spam. Seed a plan of action from the beginning, and build a story arc that captures the client and then starts delivering details, and if you are building a campaign series, create something which builds with each email that you send out, you could build a great story with your pitch.

4. Stick to basic HTML fonts

Sadly it is back to using standard web fonts, rather than embedding Gill Sans or Helvetica. This is one of the many drawbacks with email design and the HTML has to be very straightforward. Email text is no exception to playing the Email-client mind numbing take on HTML encoding and there is no 2 ways about it! Stick with the basics, Arial, Verdana, Georgia & Times New Roman etc.

5. White sheet design with no images

A high number of email clients, including Outlook, Gmail, only allow you to open your fresh inbox messages showing text, blocking your images from display and you losing out on a well-designed call to action sign. An interesting point out the make then is that people won’t then pop the images open, unless you have a descriptive enough HTML serif style banner headline and visible sans-serif copy on the page for them to hit that download images link. Take a closer look at what I have exampled above and picture it without the image; all it does is lead to induce the client a little further and showing them colourful content they can scan over before pictures are then introduced.

6. CTA (Calls to Action)

With marketing everything visual is there to elicit actions; actions of our clients, our users. Calls to Action have to enable specific and functional interactions for our users. Clearer commands and mind persuasive signals result from strong visual images and bright colours that stand out and look clickable! Make readers minds inquisitive, impulsive; make the ideas read out in a flash that this is a bright idea. Just one light side-remark is to mention that CTA will be ever increased if mobile email consumption continues to grow, and if it is then consider this and make your buttons big enough for a touch screen to use.

7. Repeat CTA

By spotting your Call to Action in numerous places on your email, you create the most effective solution to the reader. Items which are seen at the top of the page are instantly accessible lower down the page to allow simple click-through without the fuss of scrolling back to the top of the page to go back to the headline link for example.

8. Identify who the message is from

When an email arrives to your clients, wouldn’t you want them to feel happy and comfortable that it is from somebody reliable and trustworthy? All they need to see is your logo so that they lose any scepticism that this is not a phony email or another stranger, keep this somewhere at the top of the email.

9. Fast reactions – Email is like homepage

Get the conversions you need through designs that quickly transfer users off your email and onto your website. Design layouts need to be streamlined, no long body copy, and over-elaborate design elements. You need here to go for a simple and clean layout and message that gets to the point and grabs attention!

10. No more than 3 columns layout

Designing a layout with more than 2 columns really limits the art board space when you are restricted to a space of 600px wide. You can make your email a lot cleaner if you keep to a rigid format, of 3 content areas wide or less, lying horizontally.

11. Place images on the left, and text on the right

Research studies have shown that the reader’s eyes are transfixed to striking imagery far more than they are attracted to text, even if the text is hyper critical to the email. The eye tracking studies say readers satisfy their visual hunger so design an email with the image to the left hand side, so this is the first thing the readers see before taking to the headlines.

12. F Reading

Tracking the reading patterns from 300 Web users, Web usability guru Jakob Neilsen’s study found that Web users skip over what appears to them as unimportant content, which results in an F-shaped reading pattern. Words and images to the left side of the screen get the most important/relevant content to lead and start with keywords and subheads, bolded words & coloured text.

13. Keep the message Focused

Keep the email message down to a happy medium when it comes to the subject. Try to avoid cramming too many different topics into 1 single email. If you limit yourself to 3 separate subjects then you can help hone in on your responses per campaign. If you want to send out promotions on different offerings then you could spread these out over several separate emails.

14. Optimize your output

The last thing you would want is for your wonderful mailer to fail upon opening it. Keep the emails from overloads by reducing all image sizes to bare minimums; you can do this by reducing output for jpegs, or flattening the artwork before exporting if you use Adobe Photoshop. What you don’t want is to have your clients waiting while a humungous file sits there for download.

15. No entry for background images

Sadly, HTML elements in emails do not permit the usage of background image values in any way, shape or form. Your simple bet here is to physically add the background colour the good old fashioned way into the tables, as some of you would have done as a child no doubt! It’s a tad boring but once you are used to it, you will value white space and column blocking colours, just like a website 12 years ago!

16. Animated email!

Ok so you won’t be using a Flash based template anytime soon, or that new interactive jQuery banner with built in video game, but you will be able to get a good old animated gif and place it into your promotional newsletter! I still would advise to avoid this little temptation as much as possible, as file sizes can be largely affected so go for a simple 2 colour option text if you are going to do something, with 2 frames being the optimum minimalist of choice!

17. Make eye contacting visuals

Designing really well thought out graphics is great but you should realise that using visuals containing people is much, much greater, even if the aim is to sell promotional merchandise such as corporate jewellery, corporate awards or branded pens like we do at Corporate Gifts Co! If you can include a visual of people looking directly at the viewer, or looking toward the product or call to action then the reader is more engaged with what you are saying.

18. Make it snappy

Keep clutter down and copy cut to a 3 line maximum. Gargling on is pointless as your recipient needs to be onto your website in a flash, so give it a thought to keep text copy low, and move onto the landing page with some link such as “further details on the landing page”.

19. Mobile and Tablet friendly

More and more people these days are opening emails while on a mobile device, iPhones, Blackberry, Galaxy’s, iPads and tablets, the data highway is now moved onto a personal, hand held item. To keep in trend with its growing popularity, make sure emails look legible on a phone or tablet device.

20. Indicate roles of communication

The user may want to get through to you right away, so swift communication is important. A phone number and email address/email link should do the trick, and possibly some social media buttons if you feel your social presence is necessary for the campaign.

21. Uniform the design structure

Manage to carry over the design aspects from your website into your marketing or vice-versa. Keep a uniformed corporate image that does not suddenly loose it’s inter-relationship when the user converts onto the website, visual indications include typography, logo, colour scheme and graphics

22. Emails are headed

Website users want to travel through areas of interactivity on the page. Web surfers are used to the blinking, flashing junk to the side of the page. Variation is imperative to the cycle, with needing of large modern image spaces, clean with clear design. Large rectangular window panes with clean scenery to look and gaze. Use photography as the ideological transcendence from ad to website. If you make your photo even resemble a slider, which includes the call to action even if it does not work, users are much more likely to click over the banner, just to see if it works! Take this and put it to good use!

23. Large typography

In some instances, you may be pushed for time, and so you don’t have the selection of images that would spice up your email and make it far more desirable to look at, once the images are downloaded. When a situation hits you and you don’t have the picture that forms up the right impact, increase font size and make the text to the talking. You may even want to design a typographic masterpiece, and use it as a heading, inclusive of a call to action button and a funky slogan all in one place!

24. Nice boarders

As an email comes with a similar design style to a webpage it is easy for a web designer to comprehend slicing up nice images for stylish backgrounds, with text in containers with rounded corners etc. Often a website will separate its sections in this style, with imaged borders and shadows, however in an email design this outstretches it’s practicality and image output, and may require a redesign into something more basic and minimalist.

25. Last but not least, the ‘View in Browser’ link!

Just very straight forward, if all else fails then let your readers view the email in their web browser, where the frustration of formatting a design into email clients no longer applies! So what do you think then, have we missed any important email design tips here? Let us know in the comments! Written by our Guest Blogger, Daniel Vince of Corporate Gifts UK, a business gifts Specialist Corporation. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/25-tips-for-perfect-email-marketing/feed 0 30 tips to increase your website conversion! http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/30-tips-to-increase-your-website-conversion http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/30-tips-to-increase-your-website-conversion#comments Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:39:23 +0000 edward http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2332

Top tips for increasing website conversions Here’s some helpful improvements for website conversions! The way to succeed in business is to stay ahead, continuously grow and develop. Areas of your business you want to grow include lead growth and new enquiries through your website if not sell products. There is a lot to be considered …

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Top tips for increasing website conversions

Here's some helpful improvements for website conversions! The way to succeed in business is to stay ahead, continuously grow and develop. Areas of your business you want to grow include lead growth and new enquiries through your website if not sell products. There is a lot to be considered if you would like your business to well online, turn SEO into traffic, visitors into customers, customers into regular buyers, referrals into reputations and more. In an area of advertising and marketing that is developing with the technology available, such as search engines (or Google to put in a different phrase of saying it), we need to adapt to change. It’s required to adapt to change or be left behind; consistent analysis for our websites’ performances and implementations of numerous quantities of small yet critical changes consist in the new developments. The web domains when targeted specifically at the right demographics and social groups to fit your products, will hit higher revenue payments. Flag down traffic to come into your domain and hit them with a visual environment that is made appealing, measured to the people you funnel in. A proportion of your website visitors will access the site from an organic search, PPC, offline advertisements, a referring website or marketing campaign etc. therefore it is important that when they arrive at your website, their overall experience and expectations are being fulfilled. Here are 30 cool tips to increase your website conversions, regardless of what your objectives are there is something for everyone:

1. A-B testing

Converting a user’s click shouldn't cost a lot of money and an open-source platform ran by Google called Analytics is a joy; there are plenty of programs to assist you with testing your web pages and optimising though. A-B testing is also known as split testing and is where you vary one element at a time only, but this could be where you place your Buy Now button, or some other Call to Action. Ideas such as what day of the week gets you better results, conversion-dependent on items such as coupons, newsletter campaigns, hard sells, soft sells, is it better to use a company’s name rather than humans and so on are all A-B testing Gold dust. Products that provide this type of solution for your website includes:

Visual Website Optimizer – A good website, best service, complete with case studies and a free trial!
Adobe Test and Target – Optimize campaigns and design and test your offers.
Google Analytics – Covers, with no strategy for email campaigns, creating web pages or self-hosting.

2. Multivariate Testing

If you can successfully run A-B testing, seen in the previous step, then the same principles apply to Multivariate Testing. However where A/B testing is simple gem to implement, you should be aware of the extra effort and time that is involved in Multivariate testing – but more results and flocks more money is the grade we work on. Variations on design and factors of a web page such as different configurations on the same are what makes Multivariate a complex but key component to converting.

3. Can’t complete the sale right now?

This is a top priority if you have an ecommerce business, because if you are seeing that clients are leaving – it could be that there is another offer elsewhere, or that they are just making that first-time look at the shops (a behaviour that clients are known to do); then have them at least fill out personal email details somewhere within the site. It is also critical if you are a restaurant for example, to obtain users’ data, and then start sending special offers. Start emailing but don’t merely offer them a newsletter as this is done-with! Spice up with something sizzling, like the hot and juicy offer of the week; ascertain the website visitors’ interest!

4. Design Stylish and Chic

From the seeded beginnings of your web domains objectivity, your visual masterpiece must be creative, modern and ahead of its competitors. You also would need to keep in line with your corporate brand identity, while being a little crafty and digitally intuitive for ideas. After all, refreshing your web design is a great way of modernising your company, even if your product has generally, remained the same. Banners and buttons all add to the buzz and heighten the expectations of your product.

5. F-Reading

Scientifically studies on user’s reading patterns have demonstrated the relationship between the natural eye movements of the web visitor and positioning on a page. Text copy is seen as less important because it is only scanned, so headlines and images gain the most attention and content lead proportionately. Creating an F-shaped grid, take primary positions in the top 2 rows of the page and left hand-side and fill it with branding, navigation, banners, headlines and calls to action.

6. Make the user stay alert!

Take it that every visitor will have 8 seconds to make a reaction or leave your website. That means in that 8 seconds they need to be blown away by your groovy visual impact. Keep up to scratch with the users demand, have the page load 100% in a nanosecond. Scrap any heavy loading Flash, jQuery or garbage banners that take too long to load, won’t need it. Make the time valuable with a fresh principal, strong vocabulary and headlines, say no more? Be clear and concise with what you are offering, it helps out with what you are trying to achieve.

7. Phone Sales-line Number

You need the call ringing off the hook with enquiries, so put your phone number on the landing page where everyone can see. There may be a Freephone number or whatever, but time is imperative so get the sign simple and effective and get them ringing now! Set a direct line to sales, customer services and xyz across the footer.

8. Use testimonials and references

Give a list of happy buyers, being gracious and thankful of their receipt from you. The fact you have a list of people who have reposted their satisfaction back, onto the website shows you deliver satisfaction, good value guaranteed and perfect harmony. Make sure testimonials and references include a date so customers can see that the website is continually being updated and has been selling online for a while.

9. CPA (Cost per acquisition)

Challenge your investment capital to improve margin and conversion. You will be looking to acquire new customers, each new buyer being a new acquisition. Manage your output of PPC, product price competitively, marketing and advertising. Ensure all of these elements to be highly targeted and/or uniquely designed.

10. Email Marketing

Thank god for email marketing, it is a lot cheaper and convenient then telesales and much better value for money. We all do email marketing to drive our sales leads forwards, but do you need to take a step back to have more purity with your design? Again F-Reading is a structural prerequisite for the campaign, along with coloured sections, repeat CTA (Banner Link placed lower down the page), large headed areas, large photo image (preferably with people looking at you) as it causes more of a connectivity to the viewer.

11. Mobile Friendly Campaigns

Email usage on mobile and tablet devices are on the up, so developing a campaign that is viewable on a mobile phone is growing ever more important to the mailer campaign then just targeting success on email client readers like Outlook Express. Once again using an optimized template that works well on any Google Android, Apple iOS or Blackberry OS operating system is a must.

12. PPC Google Adwords

PPC marketing is becoming more important with SEO, particularly as Google Penguin and Panda seem to have killed some of the traditional directory-based ways of building organic search. Review your investment in PPC ROI, and monitor Long-tail Keyword Optimization, Landing Page and Text Optimization, Quality Score, Text Ad Optimization, Click through Rate and reduction in use of negative keywords as they are all requirements of PPC.

13. Retargeting

Clean white space banners and less jargon talking, do the best to upsell your product and be direct with the customer, tell them what to do and order them with might. People react when given strict short, concise orders, no wooly lines with half a page of garble. Design some good banners with less animation, as they don’t have much time to look at them, users are aware of banners and try to avoid them, so try and tone things down and keep it simple.

14. Industry Journals

Being a corporate firm who specialises in B2B or a B2C you have ample number of consumer content magazines to get your name published. With a range of local, national and international commerce magazines, industry journals offer an incredibly diverse breadth and depth of content. Seek out placements for guest articles and advertisements in the sectors that really apply to your product.

15. Newspaper Advertising

Once again you have the choice to choose from a very large or a small geographic location. National newspaper advertising can cover a huge amount of coverage for you. A class field in a national newspaper can cost from £30 per scc (single column centimetre) but it can be up to £80.

16. TV/Radio Advertising

Estimate your budget for broadcasting live on air, and focus on who your target audience will be so selecting the best time of day for your listeners is important. Contact sales managers at TV and radio stations in your area to arrange a salesperson to come and visit you. Talk to other local business people to find out their views and experiences with broadcast advertising.

17. Celebrity Endorsements

There are a number of benefits from choosing celebrity endorsements, such as reputation believability, likability etc. which forms a relationship between the endorser and the product in unit connection. Various studies on Celebrity Endorsers indicate a heightened activity in the brain associated with emotions of affection when consumers are presented with an endorsed product.

18. Segmenting customers

Splitting up the purchasers of women’s and men’s gift items is a great way to hunt down and attract the senses of 2 very different demographics. Grouping off your customers and leads in to segments enables better qualities in the economies of scale and budget. It will enable you to focus more on the positives within the groups and see where the strengths and weaknesses are with your branding and marketing.

19. Create some promotions

At Corporate Gifts we start up an email campaign retailing specific items such as executive silver computer items with a free sample order of silver promotional usb flash drives and run a few split tests for the product shots, headlines, and colour ways to coincide with our emailing, what would you do to your promotion to test its conversion success capabilities?

20. Watch out for Google updates

Spy on Google regularly and read up on the updates across the net. Google’s recent updates include replacing Google Website Optimizer with Google Analytics Content Experiments. Although it uses similar interfaces and shares numbers of Optimizer’s features, Content Experiments simply integrates with analytics, but with only A-B testing allowed, no multivariate testing.

21. Offer your clients rewards for referrals

A little gift card idea with some money inside could spread the positives about your products, and sign up a few friends and family members to add numbers. In the promotional image for this Visa, you can see there are bonus offers for setting up referrals. B2B may offer higher credit ratings in exchange for new business leads, whereas direct retailers may offer a discount, free gift or monetary incentive.

22. Purchase some referrals

When you and an associate tie up so many business deals with each other, you may as well go on to share each other’s client. You know what pays the bills and when you can’t get any more new business through your own trade fairs and sales people, speak to your trading partners as well. Alternatively there are agencies where you can buy these leads for targeting, just try Google!

23. Seasonal Development

Take a bit of inspiration from the sun, snow and the Easter bunny. “Give your heart a valentine” and “know what to give your mother on mother’s day”, target every plausible commercial trigger to send conversion signals to your customers. Marketing seasonal times, internationally or locally to your area bringing forth great fortunes. You should see on Google Analyitcs how your website visits are impartial to times of the year where you see a sharp increase in visits, enquiries, and sales, and better your marketing for this season!

24. Special Offers

As well as seasonal offers, denote some special offers where your best items have been reduced. Lower pricing can enhance your sales by over 200% so always demonstrate to your buyer that you offer incredible low deals on some (if not all) items in your product ranges. Plus pamper up any sales you have with all the marketing you can think of following the steps provided in this article.

25. Social Media

Pick the right kind of networking site to suit your business. Many SME’s choose to avoid Facebook because the profile of their brand is too small. Use Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter to get socialising with your clients and then try getting users from your client’s network too.

26. Targeted Suggestions

Cross sell items that target certain customers and increase shopping cart sizes. Hopefully you are using either Magento or your own highly developed in-house platform to sell anything over the net. Back up any product with a categorized cross sale and pay particular attention to cross-selling when the client has their item in the cart.

27. Basket Abandonment

Adapting the design of your website goes beyond just the visual aesthetics that please the eye; you need an easy to use and streamlined shopping cart to deliver the highest conversion rate. Software such as Sale Cycle can monitor your shopping basket, capturing the customer’s email address, name and abandoned items from their checkout. Keep payment methods simple.

28. CRM systems

An invaluable tool for efficient day-to-day tasks. CRM systems help you to build a complete understanding about your clients/customer which in turn helps you to determine your objectives. They can integrate everything in one place to monitor all of your conversions from retail to email responses and customer service.

29. Visitor Behaviour

Retailers can increase conversion rates and revenue by adapting product recommendations and other content based on valuable visitor behavioural data such as: The past and current behaviour of individual visitors, The behaviour of others (“crowd wisdom”), Visitor preferences such as sizes, colours, styles, etc.

30. Reach your audience

Once you have created a substantial multitude of user-groups, send those groups repeated messages to recapture their attention. When you understand what makes particular clients tick you can convince them to do what you want more vigorously. You may find for example male user groups need a more macho tone to female groups, older age groups are more family orientated then fiery young age groups, B2B is corporate B2C is more personal etc., the list could go on and on – quite literally!

Conclusion

Those are just a few easy examples that can and will increase the profitability and loyalty of your customers. Not only that, but these tips will set you apart from other providers who haven’t caught on. Written by Daniel Vince our Guest Blogger of Corporate Gifts Online, a business gifts Specialist Corporation. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/30-tips-to-increase-your-website-conversion/feed 0 Making social sharing an essential part of your SEO http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/making-social-sharing-an-essential-part-of-your-seo http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/making-social-sharing-an-essential-part-of-your-seo#comments Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:20:58 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2315

Encouraging web users to share the content of your website should be an increasingly important part of your website SEO. Of course, encouraging sharing is good business practice as it will help promote your business, brand, goods and services. However, social sharing plays an important role in SEO and it looks as if this might …

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Encouraging web users to share the content of your website should be an increasingly important part of your website SEO. Of course, encouraging sharing is good business practice as it will help promote your business, brand, goods and services. However, social sharing plays an important role in SEO and it looks as if this might become an even larger role as Google battle to outwit practices they consider spam – such as automated links to low quality websites – and that a less reputable SEO company might still carry out. Here are some great tips on how to encourage sharing of your website content:

1 - Add sharing buttons to every page

Without sharing buttons, websites users won’t be able to share. So as a minimum you need to make sure EVERY page has sharing widgets or buttons. These will include all the leading platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, Pinterest etc. Adding this functionality is easy with modern CMS websites there will be several plug-ins to choose from. Should these buttons be at the top or bottom of the page? As an SEO company our answer has to be: both.

2 - Ask people to share

It’s surprising how many pages don’t do the easiest thing and ask users to share the content. It doesn’t take much to add a line along the lines of ‘like this content, then please share it’. Exactly how you ask will depend on the nature of the organisation, the website and the content – but don’t think you are ‘above’ asking.

3 - Make the content worth sharing

Of course, people will be more inclined to share if the content is worth sharing – and that is largely content or format driven. If the content is compelling, exciting, provocative, funny or groundbreaking then there is a strong chance it will be shared. If the content is on the form of a video, photo gallery or podcast, it is more ‘shareable’ too. If developing such content is troublesome, speak to an SEO company who have experience in content marketing.

4 - Use your social media platforms

An SEO company will tell you that an easy way to share is to do it yourself by sharing those pages on your social media platforms. In fact there are two reasons to do this. Firstly, posting or tweeting the page will help your SEO (provided it is well optimised, of course). Secondly, you can use that post or tweet to further encourage people to share its contents.

5 - That’s what friends are for

If you family, friends and colleagues really wish a business well then they can show their support by sharing, engaging and commenting on pages, social media posts and blogs regularly. They will help build momentum to your social media marketing activity and blogging. Ask them to set time aside to support the business in a practical way. An SEO company will advice on Google’s latest algorithm changes and how they will affect SEO strategy. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/making-social-sharing-an-essential-part-of-your-seo/feed 0 Most loved Internet Marketing agency in Birmingham? http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/most-loved-internet-marketing-agency-in-birmingham http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/most-loved-internet-marketing-agency-in-birmingham#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2012 08:34:38 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2296

Opace annual customer survey 2012 The results of our annual customer survey have just been announced – and we think they are pretty impressive. As far as our clients are concerned we offer exceptional value, a clear understanding of their needs, and deliver noticeable improvements to their business. The headline figures from our survey include: …

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Opace annual customer survey 2012

The results of our annual customer survey have just been announced – and we think they are pretty impressive. As far as our clients are concerned we offer exceptional value, a clear understanding of their needs, and deliver noticeable improvements to their business. The headline figures from our survey include:

100% of customers rated their service as ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’
80% rated the service as value for money
90% believed Opace gave them enough guidance throughout the project
90% were happy with the time scale to completion of the project
80% have registered noticeable improvements following project completion
100% of clients would use us again, with 70% offering testimonials of their satisfaction

Our confidential questionnaire is sent annually to all our customers and the results collated to help us improve our service offering. As a leading Internet Marketing Agency we have always believed we offer the best service at the best price – and the results of the survey confirm it.

Our service?

100% of customers rated our service as ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’. As one respondent said “I feel Opace has a great team and offers an excellent personalised service”. Client’s appreciated our complete package of services which we delivered in an approachable, personal way – as little jargon as possible, and a real business-focussed attitude.

The best value?

80% rated our service as great value for money. We will never be the cheapest SEO company or web design agency because we employ experienced professionals to provide an ethical service, but our clients overwhelming believed we offered genuine value for money

Exceptional support?

Our clients were full of praise for our service. 90% believed we gave them enough guidance and support throughout the project and 90% were happy with the time scale to completion. One client commented “Very impressed with the speed and professionalism of the job undertaken from the outset, so much so that I would highly recommend Opace.”

Delivering results?

80% of customers have registered noticeable improvements following project completion. Our web design, internet marketing and SEO services are clearly delivering added value to our clients in the commercial, public and not-for-profit sectors – helping them build brand, find new markets and customers. Here are a few comments from customers:

“We have always found our dealings with Opace effective AND enjoyable - a rare combination these days!”
"Yes there are more visitor to our site."
"My understanding hasimproved greatly."
"The client was very happy with the end result and now has better functionality."
"Big increase in followers. Our FB posts are relevant, interesting, and funny."

Overall, we are pleased to report, 100% of clients would use us again, with 70% offering testimonials of their satisfaction within the survey. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/most-loved-internet-marketing-agency-in-birmingham/feed 0 The case for Google+ unproven claim social media agency http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/the-case-for-googleplus http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/the-case-for-googleplus#comments Fri, 12 Oct 2012 13:01:43 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2288

The case for Google+ unproven claim social media agency

A leading social media agency claimed this week that businesses should not ignore Google+ even if the websites value was unproven. David Bryan, founder and MD of Opace – an internet marketing agency based in Birmingham said this week “A websites SEO strategy is centred around Google, and Google+ activity is another factor we need to …

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A leading social media agency claimed this week that businesses should not ignore Google+ even if the websites value was unproven. David Bryan, founder and MD of Opace – an internet marketing agency based in Birmingham said this week “A websites SEO strategy is centred around Google, and Google+ activity is another factor we need to consider. As a minimum websites should allow users to share pages on Google+ as well as other social networks. Indeed we would suggest websites make it much easier for their pages to be shared. Adding bookmarking widgets should not be a difficult or costly process – and it will allow pages to shared via StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, Facebook, Twitter – and Google+ of course. Sharing of pages is playing an increasingly important role in SEO. Website owners might believe that a Bookmarking widget is all that is required for sharing to take place. However, in reality organisations and business needs actively to encourage their website visitors to share the page content. There are a number of ways to do this, but most don’t even use the page to actually ask people to share.” “The links created by sharing compliment back links from highly rated websites, with some of the best back links coming from the likes of news organisations such as the BBC, The Guardian etc. Google’s so-called ‘Panda’ changes to its algorithm were specifically designed to reduce SEO activities it regards as spam. Preventing automated link building was at the front of these changes. ‘Sharing’ of pages is regarded as a more organic activity, and is likely to be given greater prominence by Google in the future.” “Therefore as a minimum make your content shareable on Google+. In the same way that you add "like" and "tweet this" buttons, include "+1" as an option.” When asked about the value of the platform, the head of the social media agency added “Depending on your point of view the jury is still out. There have been many negative headlines and it seems undoubtedly true that usage is limited in the ‘real’ world. It seems the site is currently used by techies, marketers and businesses – in that order - whereas activity on Twitter and Facebook still seem far more prominent with businesses and small business owners.” “There are perhaps some points to consider. Supporters of Google+ will tell you a little longer than G+ has been around to catch up with Myspace. We're all talking about Pinterest and Instagram but they have far fewer numbers and are limited in that they're predominantly image based interactions.” “And the problems of Facebook also need to be considered. Whilst the company this week welcomed is 1 trillionth ‘like’ it also started its first advertising campaign and saw its share price continue to slide. The problem is Facebook is struggling to make the platform work as an advertising model, and the more it tries to please its shareholders, the more it risks alienating its users. This may see a move to alternative platforms.” “The final consideration is that Google+ is backed by ….Google. They have the time, the money to make Google+ work. And, as the #1 search engine, they have the means also!” “As a social media agency we would advise organisations not to forget Google+ but not to over estimate its value either at this stage.” Any organisation wishing to find out about the services of the social media agency can visit Opace’s website at www.opace.co.uk. video or photography; use different types of content to support and re-enforce each other. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/the-case-for-googleplus/feed 0 Using images in your website design http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/using-images-in-your-website-design http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/using-images-in-your-website-design#comments Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:57:49 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2279
Images are important when you are planning your website design for plenty of reasons, but they can also have a negative effect and this article attempts to help you maximise the effectiveness of your design. One area that is sometimes overlooked is the actual images used. Today, stock photolibrary images are cheap and perhaps too …

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Images are important when you are planning your website design for plenty of reasons, but they can also have a negative effect and this article attempts to help you maximise the effectiveness of your design. One area that is sometimes overlooked is the actual images used. Today, stock photolibrary images are cheap and perhaps too cheap as they mean few companies invest in their own photography. This is a shame because good bespoke photography can add to your company’s brand, giving it some personality and uniqueness. Strong photography can be used in the website design, social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest in particular) and printed literature too. The rise of digital photography has reduced the cost of commissioning a photographer significantly so it might be worth exploring before buying from a photolibrary. Video is also good for web visitors and valued by Google so give consideration to using video where possible and placing this on video network sites like YouTube. Once you have your imagery, here are some good tips to maximising their SEO effectiveness:

Use images selectively

A website that loads slowly will be receive a slight SEO penalisation but more importantly will spoil the user experience and they will be unlikely to return or recommend, so always consider how many images you use and the size/resolution of images carefully.

Always include “Alt Text” information

A website design company can help with any technical aspects of this article, but essentially writing effective alt text ensures your web pages are accessible and gives you more places to add your website keyword text. Use Alt text to describe the picture instead of incorporating broader concepts or keywords. Good Alt text specifically describes the image. If your image is of your product, specifically describe the product and in terms that users are likely to search for. For example, your customers are more likely to search for ‘red/white/blue’ rather than ‘taup/teale/aubergine’ even if these are the colours you use to describe products. Alt text helps SEO because it provides words that are easier for search engines to assess than images. Accurately describing your images makes it easier for search engines to consider those images in determining your SEO.

Add title tags to images

Title tags are what show when you hover over an image and can add a further level of description to your image. You can use them to direct traffic to another website or another page of your website and they help search engines classify your images.

Give your image file names some thought

In a similar way to Alt tags, image file names help search engines to understand what the image is describing. This is one of the pieces of information that search engines use when placing image content in their search results, so consider your keywords and construct file names carefully.

Images vs. Words

Although ‘pictures paint a thousand words’ a website design will need written content which will include the keywords you are targetting at the right density and in the right places. Don’t be tempted to replace all written content with video or photography; use different types of content to support and re-enforce each other. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/using-images-in-your-website-design/feed 0 Developing an effective localised SEO strategy http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/localised-seo http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/localised-seo#comments Thu, 20 Sep 2012 08:36:12 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2270

For many smaller businesses who sell their products and services locally, developing localised SEO strategy with their SEO company is a great way to achieve more sales and build their business. There are a number of brilliant tools designed just for local business, and localised search engine optimisation is a cost-effective and often quicker way …

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For many smaller businesses who sell their products and services locally, developing localised SEO strategy with their SEO company is a great way to achieve more sales and build their business. There are a number of brilliant tools designed just for local business, and localised search engine optimisation is a cost-effective and often quicker way to achieve great Google ranking. Even for businesses looking to sell nationally, developing localised SEO can be an effective internet marketing strategy. Here are four tips to successful localised search engine optimisation:

Google Places

Google Places is free and can be an effective SEO tool, but companies sometimes are unable to maximise its effectiveness. So when creating your Places page remember to include relevant keywords in your business description, and choose standard business categories with high volume searches. If you have multiple locations then create multiple pages. Don’t forget to add good quality photos or video, and encourage customers to add reviews.

Localised Keywords

Your SEO company can help you investigate and analyse some localised search terms or you can try yourself using the Google Keyword Tool. Search volumes will be low but should be of a high quality as they are specifically looking in the areas you operate in - some smart thinking and analyse should produce a strong list of such keywords. However these keywords need to be included in the content and structure of the website in the correct manner. Again your SEO company will be able to maximise the effectiveness of this. For more information, check out the following link for an on-page SEO checklist post Google Panda.

Localised Link Building

By getting links from local but authoritative blogs, directories and websites, you should start to appear higher for local searches. You may find that opportunities for localised link building are finite or a little bit limited, which is why it is essential to team this type of strategy with a strong Google Places listing. For more information, check out the following link for an off-page SEO checklist post Google Panda.

Social Media Activity

For local business, social media marketing activity can have a big impact. A good level of such activity – blogs as well as Facebook, Twitter etc – will help with your overall search engine optimisation, but more importantly it will help develop those local connections that will help your business grow. Let’s not forget that the initial reason for the popularity and growth of social media platforms was to build communities, networks and encourage sharing. Local businesses can use their social media activity to provide offers, information and content that their local community will value. Again, a social media agency can help develop this part of your business and incorporate it within your overall marketing strategy. Opace are a Birmingham SEO company providing a wide range of internet marketing support to local businesses. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/localised-seo/feed 0 A new website design or a mobile app? http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/a-new-website-design-or-a-mobile-app http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/a-new-website-design-or-a-mobile-app#comments Wed, 12 Sep 2012 09:35:18 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2261

What’s best for your business? It was the statistic that got the Twitterati excited as AdAge reported that more people owned mobile phones than toothbrushes (4.8 billion v 4.2 billion). Mashable also predicted that “by 2016 there could be 10 billion smartphones.” This obviously offers some interesting marketing strategies – not least for the makers …

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What’s best for your business?

It was the statistic that got the Twitterati excited as AdAge reported that more people owned mobile phones than toothbrushes (4.8 billion v 4.2 billion). Mashable also predicted that “by 2016 there could be 10 billion smartphones.” This obviously offers some interesting marketing strategies – not least for the makers and sellers of toothbrushes who are obviously missing a trick or too! For many in the business community, it is figures like these that perhaps make them realise how far behind changing customer behaviour they have fallen behind. Most businesses have websites that are barely adequate for the 21^st century, and the concept of social media, mobile optimised websites and mobile apps are ‘for other companies’ – presumably those more successful companies who are happy to meet the challenges of internet marketing to grow their businesses. A new website design might be the first step to meeting these challenges. If you don’t run a CMS-based website then the first thing to do is make sure you correct this as quickly as possible. The new website design will allow you address the many areas of internet marketing and SEO that are becoming standard for even the smallest of businesses – blogging, social media marketing, updating content, adding video and images, etc.

What could a mobile-friendly website design achieve?

A WordPress or Magento website will also allow you to develop an almost future proof website. That’s good for the future of your business and will help you ensure your marketing remains cost-effective: you won’t always be calling in 3^rd party website design agencies. And that mobile optimised website can be achieved by a free plug-in. It will allow you not just to create a website that can be viewed with pleasure on a mobile or smartphone, but actually allows you to restructure the site to maximise the opportunities that mobile searches bring to the company – for example, a stockist locator search tool might be given prominence for those searching ‘on the go’. The idea of a mobile app for small and medium business is no longer the stuff of fantasy. The cost of their development has fallen significantly. As with all marketing a company needs to put itself into its customer’s place: would the ability to connect via an app make their lives easier? Could they book an appointment directly, or check the progress of a project using an app? Can you supply a quote or specification with such an app? If the app has the ability to add sales or increase your level of customer service, then there may be a sound business case for its development. A social media agency could perhaps advise further. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/a-new-website-design-or-a-mobile-app/feed 0 Developing great social media content http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/developing-great-social-media-content http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/developing-great-social-media-content#comments Fri, 31 Aug 2012 09:39:25 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2252

Top tips to help the time-strapped business owner’s post effective social media content The increased importance of social media for businesses has been driven by the two most important players in the world of the internet: Google and web users! For many businesses – either running their own SEO or even working alongside a social …

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Top tips to help the time-strapped business owner’s post effective social media content

The increased importance of social media for businesses has been driven by the two most important players in the world of the internet: Google and web users! For many businesses – either running their own SEO or even working alongside a social marketing agency - it has created an ongoing requirement to develop content for the social media platforms – typically Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and blogs. Here are some tips to help the time-strapped business owner’s post effective content:

1 - Sourcing content

Many businesses will already have a good source of possible content. Firstly, their own website – sharing pages is good for SEO and a way of highlighting products and services across social media platforms. Don’t forget to include pages with testimonials, FAQs etc. Trade association and related websites can also provide a good source. Don’t forget to extend your posts to appeal to your target market. A wedding ring company, for example, should include other wedding related content – dresses, honeymoons, celebrity couples, etc. Google searches, setting up Google alerts or subscribing to RSS feeds will deliver these stories directly to you. Think about news and stories about your local area if your business is specific to a community. Check out YouTube and Vimeo – they may have useful, generic videos related to your products and services. Web users LOVE video so they make interesting posts but do watch them carefully, beware of any mention of competitors and check the comments for bad language and worse. A social media agency can help with sector-specific content generation ideas.

2 - Develop a tone of voice

Even if your content is not unique, your tone of voice can be and it should make your target audience want to read more. Don’t just post or retweet a link without comment – that won’t make your posts interesting or worthwhile. Adding just a short comment or even just a sentence will help you develop a tone of voice across all your social media marketing. Only you can determine the right tone. It may be authoritative, humorous, high brow or young sounding. It will be determined by the audience you are addressing, not your personal preference. It needs to be consistent, too – there is no point having a warm and friendly social media voice only for your website or blogs to be matter of fact and authoritative.

3 - Engage

Again, it doesn’t matter that you are posting something from a 3^rd party but it does matter that you try to engage with every post. It’s easy to ask your fans and followers what they think or for any alternative suggestions – you just need to do it with your posts. Sometimes you can incentivise this – a free product for the best suggestion or funniest comment, but in time it will become something that your fans and followers will want to take part. The second part of any engagement is to respond to the comments in a timely way – but you will need to decide when and how often. Praise the comments received, ask for more, and respond to individual posts. All of this engagement has SEO value but it will also help you develop loyal customers happy to share with their friends. Just three easy-to-follow tips to help you maximise your social media marketing activity but if you need more in depth strategy, contact a social media agency. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of SEO blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/developing-great-social-media-content/feed 0 Your first SEO step – making the most of Google Analytics http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/make-the-most-of-google-analytics http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/make-the-most-of-google-analytics#comments Fri, 24 Aug 2012 08:46:04 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2245

Your first SEO steps to making the most of Google Analytics

Making the most of Google Analytics For a free and relatively easy to use tool, it’s surprising how many businesses either don’t have Google Analytics or – even worse – fail to regularly look at the very important data they can reveal about your website visitors. Effective data mining will play a major role in …

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Making the most of Google Analytics

For a free and relatively easy to use tool, it’s surprising how many businesses either don’t have Google Analytics or – even worse – fail to regularly look at the very important data they can reveal about your website visitors. Effective data mining will play a major role in your SEO strategy. Here are three basic insights that Google Analytics can reveal about your business

1 - Visits

On a very basic level, knowing the number of visitors is an indicator of the success or otherwise of your internet or general marketing activity, and the number of new visitors will indicate the ‘overall’ success of any campaigns and activities.

2 - Pages per Visit

This is the first indicator of customer engagement because it simply shows how many pages were viewed by visitors. A low number of page views may point to some problems, but the page view figures can’t reveal a definitive problem – the figures will just tell you that some further action is required. Low page views will tend to indicate either that there is a disconnect between the search term and the website content or that the website content is not communicating clearly – its could be too difficult to find the right products/services, too difficult to navigate - or the website is just plain dull. It may be time to call in website design experts or an SEO agency.

3 - Bounce Rate

This represents the percentage of single-page visits to your site. It gives you a sense of how many visitors left your site from the entrance page rather than clicking further into your site as compared to total visitors. Like Pages per Visit, Bounce Rate can help you determine the performance of your entry pages based on the actions visitors take (or don’t take) after they’ve arrived on your site. A high bounce rate will indicate that people are not finding what they wanted on the page. There are lots of reasons unrelated to the website why this can occur, but a high bounce rate across the site is another indicator that either there is a mismatch between keywords and content, or simply that the content on the page is unappealing. Further investigation and working with an SEO agency is required. Understanding these three very basic metrics could have a major impact on your SEO – and therefore on the success of your website and internet marketing. However, for that to happen you need to make sure you examine Google Analytics regularly (weekly or at least monthly) and do something to make sure the figures improve. If you found this tutorial helpful then please click Like or Tweet or leave a comment. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of SEO blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/make-the-most-of-google-analytics/feed 0 Use Long Tail Keywords for Effective SEO http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/long-tail-keywords-for-effective-seo http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/long-tail-keywords-for-effective-seo#comments Mon, 30 Jul 2012 18:39:41 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2193

Long tail SEO All businesses can benefit from using niche long tail keywords to improve their SEO and find new customers for their products and services. What are long tail keywords? Long tail keywords generally refers to searches of 3 or more keywords, each one narrowing the search to a more and more specific sector, …

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Long tail SEO All businesses can benefit from using niche long tail keywords to improve their SEO and find new customers for their products and services.

What are long tail keywords?

Long tail keywords generally refers to searches of 3 or more keywords, each one narrowing the search to a more and more specific sector, service or product. Here is an example:

A general search might be on the word ‘Jewellery’
A more detailed search might be ‘Silver Jewellery'
And a long tail search might be ‘Buy Silver Jewellery Online’.

Obviously the narrower the search, the fewer searches but a lower quantity will mean a higher quality as your website will more closely match their EXACT requirements.

How to find and develop long tail keywords?

Just using Google’s search box will provide suggestions, and their Keyword Tool is free and simple to use. Not only will it tell you the number of local searches for any long tail term you develop, but it will also offer other suggestions.

SEO and long tail keywords

Once you have developed these terms you will need to use them effectively to maximise their SEO value. Here are some ways to use them:

in the URLs of your website pages and blog posts
in the meta data
in the titles, subtitles and body copy of your website
in the titles and copy of your blogs, Facebook posts and other social media
in your anchor text for links

Long tail links

Consider the use of long tail keywords in hyperlinks (the link anchor text) to your specific web pages, blog posts, articles and other social media. You can have a number of these long tail links going to each page. It appears as if Google is giving greater weight to varied, long tail links to page – to Google, longtail links appear both more ‘natural’ and also closer to what your website visitors are actually looking for.

The effects of using long tail links

If done successfully the use of these links will do more than improve your ranking for those specific terms. It’s likely that it will be indirectly affecting the page's importance for shorter versions of the hyperlink – so where the long term tail is ‘Buy Silver Jewellery Online’ both variations, 'Buy Silver Jewellery' and 'Jewellery Online', get affected as well as other possible key phrase combinations. Additionally the page and then the website will gain authority as you build authority from the base (of long tail keywords) to the top (Homepage). If you feel you need help devising or implementing this strategy, a reputable internet marketing agency may be a great source of advice and support. If you found this tutorial helpful then please click Like or Tweet or leave a comment. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of SEO blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Googleplus page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012/posts. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/long-tail-keywords-for-effective-seo/feed 0 Joomla Backup and Migration http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/joomla-backup-and-migration-video-tutorial http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/joomla-backup-and-migration-video-tutorial#comments Fri, 20 Jul 2012 15:41:30 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2187

Joomla backup and migration video tutorial Joomla Backup and Migration – In this video we’ll show you how to backup a Joomla website (2.5 or older) and migrate it to a new server using the Free Akeeba software. If you found this tutorial helpful then please click Like or Tweet or leave a comment. …

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Joomla backup and migration video tutorial Joomla Backup and Migration - In this video we'll show you how to backup a Joomla website (2.5 or older) and migrate it to a new server using the Free Akeeba software. If you found this tutorial helpful then please click Like or Tweet or leave a comment. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of Joomla video tutorials over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Googleplus page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012/posts. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/joomla-backup-and-migration-video-tutorial/feed 0 A Post Panda SEO Checklist (Part 2) http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/post-panda-seo-checklist-part-2 http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/post-panda-seo-checklist-part-2#comments Tue, 17 Jul 2012 09:42:29 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2174
Panda and Penguin Google’s recent changes to how it ranks websites have started to have an effect on many businesses and the amount and type of SEO required to achieve high rankings has changed. Our previous blog (http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/post-panda-seo-checklist-part-1) focussed on on-page SEO, so here is a brief guide to off-page SEO that you should also …

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Panda and Penguin Google’s recent changes to how it ranks websites have started to have an effect on many businesses and the amount and type of SEO required to achieve high rankings has changed. Our previous blog (http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/post-panda-seo-checklist-part-1) focussed on on-page SEO, so here is a brief guide to off-page SEO that you should also consider.

Off-Page SEO Checklist:

1 - Site Speed and Server Time

Google Caffeine made load times a SEO ranking factor so make sure your website sits on a fast UK-based server, and any avoid downtime.

2 - Link building

Links are still important for SEO but the two factors to think about are quality and timeliness. You want links from relevant and well-ranked websites – and you want these to be built over time. Google will penalise links to poor quality and/or unconnected sites and links which are created very quickly may get a ‘slap’ for looking artificial - this will look like a spamming activity. Bad practice here can lead to Google removing your site from searches – so use an ethical internet marketing agency for any link building activity. Avoid automated tools.

3 - Link Anchor text

Don’t over link a keyword – it should perhaps account for no more that 20-30% of your links. Include generic links (e.g. ‘read more’ and ‘visit http://www...’) and naked links to create a variety.

4 - Content Marketing

Google likes to see links to your site from blogs, directories, Wikis and other authoritative and relevant web pages. Again quality is the key here – quality content on quality websites is the thing to aim for.

5 - Social Marketing

This is one of the major changes and will mean a regular commitment to engage with clients via social sharing platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ etc. You will need to link back to your website and use keywords in titles, copy and links without over doing it. It’s likely you will need daily interactions to build a following, and should aim to engage for 80% of the time and sell for just 20%.

6 - Add visual interest

Website visitors love non-verbal content so images and video is important, but for maximum effectiveness any such content needs to optimised, so place keywords carefully in ULRs, tags, titles etc.

7 - Google +

Perhaps it is no surprise that Google gives increasing prominence to its own social platform. Whilst its use is still compared to Facebook, its importance for SEO is growing so you should set up an account, populate it with relevant content and start building your circles. Together with on-page SEO detailed in our earlier blog, actioning the above will help you achieve good search engine rankings and give you that competitive edge. If you found this tutorial helpful then please click Like or Tweet or leave a comment. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of SEO blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Googleplus page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012/posts. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/post-panda-seo-checklist-part-2/feed 0 A Post Panda SEO Checklist (Part 1) http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/post-panda-seo-checklist-part-1 http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/post-panda-seo-checklist-part-1#comments Tue, 17 Jul 2012 09:23:10 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2159

Panda and Penguin Google’s algorithm changes – commonly referred to as Panda and Penguin – have been designed to improve the search experience of Google’s customers, which by now is almost the whole of the globe. Businesses are finding that their search engine ranking performance is being affected by these changes. Here is a brief …

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Panda and Penguin Google’s algorithm changes – commonly referred to as Panda and Penguin – have been designed to improve the search experience of Google’s customers, which by now is almost the whole of the globe. Businesses are finding that their search engine ranking performance is being affected by these changes. Here is a brief checklist of how the changes can affect your ranking – and what to do. We will look only at on-page SEO here – a separate blog looks at off-page SEO: http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/post-panda-seo-checklist-part-2

On-Page SEO Checklist:

1 - Meta data

Make sure your keywords are included in your meta data, particularly the meta title. Also don't forget your URLs, headings, image ALT tags and of course your text. But do this sparingly, the rules have changed so be careful not to ‘over optimise’ your keywords.

2 - Fresh content

This seems to be increasingly important to Google. A blog is a great way to achieve this as well as help with social media requirements (see point 6 below). An internet marketing agency can help with setting up a blog and providing copywriting support to ensure you have a website that is kept up-to-date with fresh new copy.

3 - Quality content

Copy for each pages needs to be unique and relevant. Use your keywords in titles, sub-headings and copy but don’t use them so much the copy appears stilted. Always write for your customer base – if they find the content is exactly what they were looking for, they will come back to the website and share it with their friends – the best SEO you can hope for.

4 - No duplicate content

It appears this is being heavily penalised. So remove any content that is not original (for example, copy about products and services that you have used from a supplier’s websites etc). Make sure product pages are not largely repeating standard information, and ensure you haven’t duplicated parts of your site on similar domains.

5 - Social Sharing

Ensure every page can be shared; use social sharing ‘widgets’ to allow this. Encourage social sharing of your content as part of your social media marketing strategy.

6 - Interlinked Content

This is good for the website user but also good for SEO. Ensure the keyword is included in the link text (anchor text) e.g. ‘for more information about keyword’ but also try to vary the anchor text used.

7 - Redirects

Ensure all redirects work and you use a search engine friendly 301 direct when moving to a new ULR. Ensuring all the above are actioned regularly – together with general SEO good practice - will help ensure your website retains and indeed improves its Google visibility. If you found this tutorial helpful then please click Like or Tweet or leave a comment. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of SEO blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Googleplus page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012/posts. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/post-panda-seo-checklist-part-1/feed 0 Twitter marketing tips for small businesses http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/twitter-marketing-tips-for-small-businesses http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/twitter-marketing-tips-for-small-businesses#comments Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:59:22 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2140

Twitter Marketing Tips Social media and customer engagement are becoming more important for SEO – and that means they should become more important for every business. Perhaps the foremost social platform for businesses is Twitter. The appeal of Twitter marketing for a small businesses are obvious – it’s free, it has SEO value and …

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Twitter Marketing Tips Social media and customer engagement are becoming more important for SEO – and that means they should become more important for every business. Perhaps the foremost social platform for businesses is Twitter. The appeal of Twitter marketing for a small businesses are obvious – it’s free, it has SEO value and its only 140 characters so content is short. Here are some tips especially designed for time strapped SMEs and sole traders designed to make the most of their Twitter activity.

1. 80% engagement /20% sales

Twitter is all about engagement and the hard-sell will just mean potential customers soon stop paying attention to your Tweets – or stop following altogether. So make sure 80% of your tweets engage – they may be general Tweets related to your products or services, community-based content or testimonials or reviews etc.

2 - Vary the content

Mix the content so that you include photos, video and links to your website and others. For inspiration, look at the content that your rivals, suppliers and local companies tweet. Don’t automate Retweets as this looks impersonal, but do Retweet posts you think your Followers will respond too. Tweets are great for daily offers and voucher codes, exclusive Twitter discounts etc – they give your followers something to look out for and help build a following.

3 - Tweet regularly

You need to be posting at least once a day, ideally two or three times. Don’t keep repeating the same tweets. There are free apps like HootSuite and Tweetdeck that will allow you to schedule your posts, but don’t forget point 4 below.

4 - Respond and Engage

Whilst scheduling can help, don’t forget to check for any responses to your posts – and make sure respond appropriately and within a short a time as possible.

5 - Twitter and SEO

All forms of social media will help with your SEO, so include Twitter as part of your overall marketing strategy – whether you action it yourself or use an internet marketing company. The Agency can help with a tailored overall strategy, find followers or post your daily Tweets.

6 - Gaining Followers

Use the search box in Twitter to source suitable companies to follow – and a proportion of them will reciprocate if they like what they see. Search for local companies and organisations, search on your company keywords or terms your customer base is likely to include in their profiles or tweets. This process takes time so set aside an hour each day – and get the team involved. If you found this tutorial helpful then please click Like or Tweet or leave a comment. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of social media marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Googleplus page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012/posts. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/twitter-marketing-tips-for-small-businesses/feed 0 Top Tips to getting your business blog post to #1 http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/top-tips-to-getting-your-blog-post-to-number-1 http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/top-tips-to-getting-your-blog-post-to-number-1#comments Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:06:18 +0000 Brett Sidaway http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/?p=2127

Successful Business Blogging Blogs are a great for businesses. Besides being a way to engage with customers, encourage feedback and build brand, done correctly business blogging is a relatively easy way to achieve high Google rankings with a minimum level of SEO expertise. Google’s recent algorithm changes – commonly referred to as Panda and Penguin …

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Successful Business Blogging Blogs are a great for businesses. Besides being a way to engage with customers, encourage feedback and build brand, done correctly business blogging is a relatively easy way to achieve high Google rankings with a minimum level of SEO expertise. Google’s recent algorithm changes – commonly referred to as Panda and Penguin – have increased the importance of unique and relevant content for websites, and regular blogging is an excellent way to introduce this level of regularly updated content without continually changing the structure of the site. Many blog platforms such as WordPress are SEO friendly and free, so here are some common sense tips which will help get your business blogging off the ground:

1 - Use your keywords at every opportunity

Firstly, you need to know your relevant keywords. If you don’t know them you are largely wasting your time. An internet marketing agency or SEO specialist company can help you determine the correct keywords. Once these are known, ALL your blogging needs to be centred around them and the same single keyword or phrase should be included in the following:

The title – with as few other words as sense will allow
Your headings and sub-headings
Your URL i.e. www.yourcompany.co.uk/blog/relevant-keywords
The content

Don’t try to fool Google – you need to make sure the title reflects the content which matches the ULR which reflects the content, etc.

2 - Develop great content

Write interesting, unique content that includes your keywords. Don’t write solely to cram in the keywords as this will create boring copy that reads like it has been written by a computer for the SEO purposes only. Some SEO advisors talk about ‘keyword density’ but there is no magic formula for great content. The greatest SEO benefit is for the blog to be shared, liked and commented upon – and that relies on brilliant content, not a mathematical formula.

3 - Encourage Comments

There are two ways to do this.

Firstly, content - write the copy so that it invites feedback – ask for customer’s views/experiences/opinions.

Secondly - ensure that ‘Comments’ are enbabled. You may wish to moderate, but you will certainly wish to respond and develop ‘conversations’ with those leaving comments.

Your SEO is greatly helped by this type of social engagement

4 - Encourage Sharing

Again, writing copy that encourages people to pass the blog on/share with friends etc. will help but likewise there are a whole series of social sharing widgets that make it simple for people to share on social platforms. These will include links to Twitter, Digg, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest etc. SEO friendly blog platforms and CMS websites will make this kind of social sharing easy, and once again sharing is a big tick for your SEO. You don’t need to be an SEO guru to give your blogs the best chance to top rank in Google – common sense, good blog design and imagination will go a long way. If you found this tutorial helpful then please click Like or Tweet or leave a comment. Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of internet marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace Googleplus page live at https://plus.google.com/111516148099633923012/posts. ]]> http://www.opace.co.uk/blog/top-tips-to-getting-your-blog-post-to-number-1/feed 0