Having read our previous post on video marketing, you understand why it’s important to help market your business effectively, but perhaps now need to come up with the ‘Big Idea’.

Since this is often the stumbling block for many of us, we’ve put together 10 ideas suggesting topics that you could use for your video marketing campaign:

1. Customer Testimonials.  Using a video of a customer reviewing your company, product or service will add real value and credibility to your brand.  Prospective customers would enjoy watching a genuine customer testimonial and having the benefits demonstrated to them within a 15-30 second interview.
2. Corporate Video. People like dealing with and buying from people. A few words from the owner, MD or CEO of the business, about the company and the products or services, will add personality to the brand and will give customers a real insight into the people behind the business.  It will also allow you to demonstrate the values and USP of the business in a personal and interesting way.  If you are selling your own services, a short video of yourself gives prospective customers / clients a chance to warm to you.
3. News updates.  Almost like a news programme, you could provide updates on industry and company news via a regular video post.  To add real value to the content, you could then explain how this is likely to impact your target audience together with any relevant advice – this will help to keep your audience engaged and coming back.
4. Instructional Videos.  People find how-to videos really useful, particularly if they have bought a product that needs to be created. Using video you can provide clear step by step instructions on how to use or create the product.  You can also use video to illustrate how your product can be used in different ways and different environments.
5. Advert.  Use videos to create short adverts for your company; products; services or any promotional campaigns that you are running. Integrate these within your website, blog and video distribution channels.  If you are advertising on the television – then why not run these online as well? Just make sure the content and execution is still relevant to your online audience – it may need tweaking.
6. Presentations.  Do you have slides with content that is worthy of sharing?  If you have presentations or documents that can be turned into presentations, that would be of value to your target audience, use these to create a video.  Try and make it more dynamic than a presentation, to make it interesting to watch. It is a video, after all.
7. Speaker at an event.  Have you or someone from your company been a speaker at an event – or are they going to be?  Take a video and edit the footage to create an engaging piece of content that will captivate your audience.  This could be used to demonstrate expertise and credibility in addition to providing valuable and interesting information.
8. Case Studies.  Use a recent case study or success story to demonstrate how your company has helped or solved the problem of a customer or client.  Feature a narrator as well as clips or images that are relevant to the story and success.
9. Product Demonstration. Use video to demonstrate how your actually product works.  Even if you are selling a service you can use a video to demonstrate how people do it wrong but how your product or service gets is right.  A visual way to show your company in action.
10. Knowledge Sharing. Another way to demonstrate your expertise is by sharing your knowledge.  This could be through answering frequently asked questions; discussing hot topics in the industry, discussing the facts or giving suggestions on how to overcome a common problem.  Sharing relevant and useful advice for free could well lead to paying business.

There are plenty of other ways that you could use video marketing, but hopefully this will give enough inspiration to start your first campaign.   Please comment on any thoughts, ideas or questions you have.  We’d love to hear from you….

And don’t forget, if you are looking for a company to produce a high quality video on your behalf – just let us know.

Video marketing may not be a new phenomena, but it is becoming an increasingly important marketing tool.  Not only can it support SEO but it can also increase customer engagement.  Consider this:

• People like things quickly. With more and more content available online, people are more likely to engage with yours if it’s condensed into a brief and succinct video. An easier alternative to trawling through a word-heavy article or white paper.
• People like watching videos.  It is convenient, effortless and can be done via a mobile phone, tablet or on a desktop.  It can be done whilst relaxing or eating lunch during a work break.
• Videos rank well on Google.  Therefore if your website includes video you will be increasing your changes of a higher ranking.  By including your video on YouTube, you will also make it easier for prospects and customers to find you before your competitors.
• Videos show customers who they are dealing with.  Through video, you can give your business and brand a personality.  This will help customers relate to and engage with your business, helping you to build a much stronger connection with them.  It will also help build trust.
• Videos can demonstrate credibility & expertise.  If you are selling a service, you can use video to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise in an area.  This could be through offering advice or tips. All of this will help to build your credibility.
• Videos can help raise awareness of your company and its products /services.   Not just through improved SEO and the increased likelihood of someone clicking a link to a video, but also because videos have that great ability to go viral.  If this happens, your business could benefit from vast exposure.
• It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. These days practically anyone can make a video on their phone, tablet or pc; using basic free editing software.  Even if you’d prefer to use a company for a higher quality and more professional looking video – it doesn’t need to cost the earth. In fact there are custom packages available from as little as £800.
• It is easy to market your video.  Distribution has been made easy and free through sites like YouTube, who give you your own basic channel to share your videos.  It’s also easy (and advisable!) to promote and share your video through the rest of your social networking sites, as well as on your own website.

Cash rich and time poor.  Well, the first part may not be true, but for all of us the second certainly seems to be.  We always seem to be on the go, in a rush and trying to multi-task on the move.  More of us are using mobile devices to access content and even shop online, so it’s no wonder that people’s preferences are moving from text and audio to video.

With this in mind, shouldn’t you be starting to think of the ‘big idea’ for your first or next video marketing campaign?  If you don’t jump on board now, you could find yourself lagging behind your competitors and loosing customers….

At DAA Marketing, we can help you showcase and promote your business through a professional video.  From as little as £800 we can script, shoot and produce your project – including voice overs, unlimited amends, music and editing.   Check out some of our recent videos.

Branding is fundamental for business success. Not only should it encapsulate the very essence of a company but strong branding will also ensure that a business stands out in a competitive environment.

Through creative and effective branding, companies can:

• Differentiate themselves from their competition giving, customers a reason to choose them first.
• Give customers and prospects a clear idea of what the brand stands for and what it offers. Not only will this set and manage customer expectations, but it will also build trust and confidence – so long as these expectations are consistently met.
• Increase awareness of the business and its products or services, by engaging with customers and creating a connection
• Charge a premium.  Customers expect to pay more for branded products than for unbranded products.  The same can be said for services.  A well known and respected service provider with a strong brand can demand a higher price than an unknown but equally as good service provider.
• Apply the branding to their complete range of products or services. It will also allow companies to move into new market sectors without changing their core brand identity.

Does your business have a strong brand?

It is worthwhile taking a step back to review your branding on a regular basis.  Here are a few questions to help you assess whether or not you are harnessing effective branding:

1. Does your branding represent the true value of your business?  It is important to always be clear about what your business stands for.
2. Does your branding promote your strengths?  If you are selling your own services this could be your expertise, your customer services, your specialist skills and knowledge, your proven success.  If you are selling products consider quality, price, customer service, innovation and whatever else might set them apart from other products in the market
3. Is your branding still relevant? Does it accurately reflect your company and its’ brand today?
4. Have you listened to and understood what your customers want and need – is this reflected in your branding?
5. Does your brand communicate the right message and does it reach the right audience?  Focus on your target market rather than everyone – it’s your target market that will buy from you.
6. Do you deliver what your brand promises?  It’s crucial that your customers’expectations are met and that your branding accurately reflects your company and what it delivers.  Be careful to avoid overpromising and under-delivering.
7. Is your branding consistent?  Are you confident that your branding provides customers with a universal experience, every time they come in contact with you – across all marketing and distribution channels?

Having answered these questions, you should now have a clear idea of any areas that you might need to review in order to improve the strength of your branding to make it more effective.

If you are still unsure – why not request a FREE brand health check, which we will be happy to provide together with top line recommendations on how you can improve the branding of your business.

We have only touched one some aspects of branding in this post – please subscribe to be notified of subsequent posts.  Thanks for reading

As the deadline for compliance with the new EU cookie law looms (26th May 2012) many and quite possibly, most, businesses are still considering how (or even if….) they are going to comply.  The below information aims to give you a starting point and consider which option is best suited to you and your business.

Where do I start?

The ICO suggests three steps for preparing for compliance; 1. Check what type of cookies and similar technologies you use and how you use them. 2. Assess how intrusive your use of cookies is. 3. Decide what solution to obtain consent will be best in your circumstances.”

Conrad Bennett, VP of Technical Services, EMEA at Webtrends elaborates on this (Source: The Drum: Keeping Cookie Law) and advises companies to :

1. Conduct a cookie audit of your website and remove any cookies that are no longer required
2. Update your Privacy Policy and include a Cookie Policy which details all cookies that are placed on the user’s PC/mobile, who owns the cookie and what it does.
3. Plan what approach you are going to take to comply with the EU Directive in getting users to opt-in to accepting cookies.

What are my options?

There are various options for gaining user consent and the best method for your business depends on what cookies are you using and what they are being used for.

• Settings-led consent.  This involves gaining consent when a user makes a change that affects how the site works for them. For example, this could mean asking the user if they want the website to remember a particular language setting and gaining consent for cookies to be used for this purpose.
• Feature-led consent This applies in instances where cookies are used to remember what content a user viewed the last time they visited the site, to enable content to be tailored to them – for example, remembering what videos they viewed last time they visited. In such cases, your site should make clear to the user that taking a particular action will result in a cookie being used. This could mean, for instance, highlighting cookie use when a user turns on a particular feature and requiring consent before the change is applied.
• Consent for functional/analytical cookie use Cookies used to collect anonymous information about how visitors use your site still need user consent. This is relatively straightforward if a user has to log into your site, but more complicated where they do not. You’ll need to make absolutely clear to users what cookies are being used, what they’re being used for, and asking for consent. Below are some suggestions on how you can go about this.

Other options suggested by the ICO include:

• Pop-ups. JavaScript pop-up boxes can be used on the website to explain which cookie is being used and why and then giving the user a yes or no option for consent.  Generally speaking (and forgive me if this does not include you) we, the general public, hate pop ups.  Some may even be blocked by browsers automatically.  So this isn’t necessarily the best option.
• Splash Page. You can use a splash page to provide users with information regarding the cookies that you collect, how they are going to be used and request their consent.  Because this page will come between the user and their required destination page, this is likely to increase bounce rate.
• Banner. A banner can be used on the top of the page, for first time visitors, asking them to consent to the use of cookies. The ICO uses a banner that explains why they want to use cookies and has a tick box for consent. Cookies are disabled until the visitor ticks a box within the banner, to indicate consent.  This relies on the user going out of their way to tick the box, most are likely to ignore what is not seen as an essential part of their experience on the website.
• Footer Bar.  Like the banner, but displayed on the bottom of the page.  If the user doesn’t click yes or no, but continues to use the site, there is an argument that consent can be inferred because they have seen a clear message but are still continuing to use the site.
• Remember preferences.  Revisit the wording of your ‘remember preferences’ to make it completely clear that a cookie will be used to achieve this.  Preferences could refer to the font size or language.
• Highlight any changes to your terms and conditions, this can be used when users have to log into their account. They would need to give ‘specific and informed’ consent to these pages, so consent cannot be assumed just by changing the terms and conditions they agreed to when they signed up. You’ll need to get a positive indication that consent has been granted, as they log in and before they are able to proceed to their account.

In addition to this, the law also requires you to make your privacy policy more prominent.  Instead of hiding it away, consider how you can make it more obvious.  This could be moving its position to a more prominent place, increasing font size, changing the font colour or even amending the description to incorporate the word ‘cookie’ .

What are other businesses doing?

Reaction to the law and the amendment to the law (in December 2011) is varied.  Confusion reigns and many SME’s even believe that there is nothing to worry about as the law is not enforceable.  But whilst the  ICO is likely to initially look at national companies and brands and companies that have had complaints lodged against them; it is still the law.  And all businesses must comply.

Where the ICO’s website has a banner at the top of its website asking for consent, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), who wrote the UK version of the Cookie Law, are not using a pop-up or a banner. Their website instead uses a more prominent cookie and privacy page.

And meanwhile EConsultancy have been honest with their approach which having conducted a cookie audit,  making the link to their privacy policy more prominent and updating the content of their Privacy Policy to include information on the directive.  EConsultancy commented:

From our understanding of the Directive, our solution is not strictly compliant because there is still no informed, or active, consent. And, as yet, we have not provided any options to selectively opt in/out of particular cookies: this is still up to the user. However, it is also our understanding that this solution is highly unlikely to be ‘actionable’ by the ICO and even less likely to incur a fine as we are clearly not trying to abuse our users’ privacy.

Our Summary

The Cookie law is a difficult challenge for small and medium-sized businesses to negotiate. It may be unlikely that unless complaints are specifically raised against your website, you will be investigated by the ICO.  But at the same time, if you use cookies you must be compliant with the law.  However, by doing so you risk loosing website visitors and insight essential in improving the experience of your online audience.

At the very least all companies should address their privacy policies and make sure that as many of the manageable changes listed above are implemented.  Then it is really down to you, how you wish to comply with giving users consent to use cookies.

Still not sure what to do?  Find the cookie law as clear as mud….?  I think one thing is for sure, this issue is likely to get more complicated before they it becomes any clearer.

In our last blog post we recapped the basics of the cookie law; what cookies are, what the cookie law is and what is expected of businesses to comply. In this post we consider the challenges that businesses face and the likely impact on them, following compliance with this law.

Public Awareness & Acceptance

Generally speaking, awareness of cookies are and how they are used, is not high. Lack of knowledge and understanding is likely to have a significant impact on consent – and not for the best.  The following statistics were taken from The ICO’s updated cookies guidance report.

• 41% of those surveyed were unaware of any of the different types of cookies (first party, third-party, Flash / Local Storage). Only 50% were aware of first party cookies.
• Only 13% of respondents indicated that they fully understood how cookies work, 37% had heard of internet cookies but did not understand how they work and 2% of people had not heard of internet cookies before participating in the survey.

According to a blog written by Graham Charlton on Econsultancy “Websites applying opt-in consent mechanisms to comply with the EU E-privacy directive will have a hard time convincing users to accept cookies, as just 23% of  respondents said they would be happy to say yes to cookies.” [In reference to their own survey conducted online]

Website Analytics

One of the most controversial issues with the new law, is the inclusion of cookies that are used for website analytics. With little public awareness of what cookies are and how they are used combined with negative connotations with data collection and tracking, the majority of users are likely to refuse consent given the choice. This means that even first party cookies, such as those used for website analytics, will be affected.

For businesses, analytics are critical in ensuring site visitors a positive experience. Without gaining basic insight into how users interact with a site, how can companies improve their site structure and content to enhance the experience for their target audience?

One of its’ most controversial aspects is that its guidelines specifically state that cookies for analytical purposes would require user consent. Analytics cookies have a very low-level of intrusiveness, being first party and tracking visitors anonymously.  [Alice Neeson, Why the EU Cookie law is hopelessly impractical]

Because Google Analytics uses first party cookies to anonymously track website visits it is likely to be a lower priority for the ICO.  In addition, The UK’s Government Digital Service (GDS) has stated that the use of analytics is ‘essential’ to businesses and that asking for consent from users would be disruptive to their experience.  If the EU agrees, this will hopefully result in the exclusion of analytics within the ruling. But this remains to be seen.

User experience

The law has been written with the website visitor in mind.  And although it sets out to give the user more choice, ironically the impact is likely to be negative..

• Users will get frustrated if they have to deal with an increase in pop-ups whilst browsing the Internet.
• This could lead to users selecting sites that are not compliant with the law, because they are not faced with pop ups and prompts
• They may become concerned over the messages that suddenly start appearing everywhere, regarding privacy, cookies, tracking etc.  Which in turn could reduce confidence online and even affect online purchasing habits.
• If businesses suffer a significant drop in analytics data, the overall website experience for the user could be poorer.  Website owners will no longer be able to use insight to develop and improve their site according to their users.

Rachel McCombre makes a valid point, in her blog post on SeoOptimise:

From a user perspective, one might post the question how many people are so concerned about the data protection that they take time to read a website’s privacy policy? From being able to use a website without interruption, the user will now find themselves faced with information about cookies that the vast majority are likely to have no wish to read, and will be forced to state their agreement to the use cookies that enable features that most would rather happened as a matter of course.

Reduced website traffic and engagement.

Businesses using a splash page to inform and advise their visitors about their intended use of cookies, are likely to experience a higher bounce rate.  On the same note users that are put off by pop-ups, may not return to the website.

Sites with social media buttons risk being non-compliant under the current regulations.  A Facebook ‘Like’ button or ‘Tweet this’ button requires the exchange of cookies between sites.  Therefore users would have to give their consent to this for websites to be able to use them or not use them.  Since social sharing is becoming increasingly important for SEO – this could have a negative impact on the volume of traffic to a website.

Costs to the business.

All of the challenges listed above will have associated costs to the business.  To make sure websites are fully compliant will involve resource costs – the more complex the use of cookies, the higher the costs, which could include: project management, website development, compliance and more.

Reduction in consent for analytics cookies will result in significantly less and skewed insight on which to base website improvements and business decisions.   A loss in website traffic and engagement, due to pop ups and splash pages will inevitably lead to a loss of business and income.

Finally and obviously, if a company refuses to comply they face the possibility of significant fines from the ICO.

Our Summary

The overall challenge lies in the interpretation of the law and finding an effective solution that ensures compliance whilst minimising any negative effects on the end-user and their experience.  Not an easy one to overcome.  But no doubt the next 12 months will be a real journey into how this can happen as businesses test different solutions; public awareness and understanding of cookies starts to rise and we begin to see how this law will be enforced.

With any luck, we may even see an amendment to the law, excluding cookies for analytic cookies.  Or is that just wishful thinking……

The deadline for website owners to comply with the EU new cookie law, is closing in on us. With a 12-month grace period almost at an end, the new law will be enforced from 26th May 2012.  But are businesses any clearer about what they are required to do?

Do you have a website?  Is it compliant with the new law?  Or have you, like many others, simply been left confused by the whole issue and unsure as to what you’re supposed to do now?

We’ve written 3 blogs that we hope will give you the information you need to make the necessary decisions.   In this first post we’ll get back to basics addressing some basic but fundamental questions. The subsequent posts will consider the challenges that compliance will pose to businesses and how they can comply with the law.

What are cookies?

Cookies are simple ’text files’ that are stored on a web visitors’ computer (or mobile device).  They are used for several reasons including; storing a user’s preferences, leaving items in a shopping basket, site personalisation, website tracking and targeted marketing.

There are also different types of cookies;

1. Session cookies are only used for the duration that the user is online – they are deleted automatically once the browser has been closed.
2. Persistent cookies are stored, to remember behaviour for future browsing.
3. 3rd party cookies are used to build browser profiles and serve the website visitor targeted advertising.

What is the cookie law?

There has been a lot of debate and concern over the last few years, regarding online privacy and the collection of data for marketing purposes. Following this, a new EU law came into effect, which included a ruling on the use of cookies.

The law aims to protect user privacy and gain consent from users, before collecting and using their data.   This ultimately means that website owners are forced to gain users’ consent before they can use cookies.

The law actually came into effect last year, but the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office), who is responsible for regulating the new rules, gave website owners one year’s grace before the rules were enforced.  This was to give them time to adapt websites and ensure full compliance.  This period of grace is now almost up and all websites will be required to comply, by law.

What are businesses required to do?

According to the legislation, any cookies that are not ‘strictly necessary’ for the functionality of the website must have consent given, by the website user.  According to the ICO’s guidelines this is likely to include cookies used for analytics.  This means that any website using website analytics programmes (such as Google Analytics) must, by law, ask their visitors for consent to use the cookies.

Website owners are expected to make changes to their website, making information visible and transparent regarding their use of cookies and giving users the opportunity to consent to them, before using them.

Our summary….

The law is far from straightforward, has created confusion and provoked negative reaction from webmasters and business owners across Europe.  Whilst the intention of the law can not be faulted, many remain confused as to how the legislation will be interpreted and what exactly website owners have to do to comply.

One of the biggest criticisms is that analytics cookies fall within this rule.  Many argue that analytics should be considered ‘essential’ to a websites’ functionality as they help create and improve user experience and are vital to the success of a website. (This issue is covered in more detail in the next post).

Public awareness will pose another major issue.  What proportion of the public understand what cookies are and how and why they are used?   Without being properly educated, pop-ups and messages referring to privacy and data collection suddenly appearing all over the web could result in widespread uncertainty and a loss of confidence online.

It’s going to be an interesting few months, that’s for certain.  And with just one month left before 26th May 2012, we don’t have long to wait.

Our subsequent posts will cover:

Post 2: The cookie law and it’s challenges on businesses

Post 3: The cookie law – how can businesses comply?

Sources and further reading:

The Marketing People – What is the cookie law?  |  The Drum – Keeping cookie law  |  GCDTech – Why the cookie law is hopelessly impractical   |  GCDTech - FAQS on the EUs new cookie Law 

It might not feel like it sometimes (today in particular!!) but Spring is here.  And what better time to review your marketing to make sure that you are planting the right seeds to attract the right business!

To help you, we’ve created a list of tips that you can cross check against your current marketing activity, to ensure that you are on track for business growth in 2012.

1. Regularly review your marketing plan.  Don’t just write it and put it to the side.  Aim to review it on a quarterly basis to benchmark activity against the plan and to refine it along the way.  This will help maintain focus and prioritize the channels and platforms that are working best for your business.
2. Stay in touch with customers and prospects.  Email or newsletter marketing is a great way to keep in contact with clients (past and present) and prospects.  Keep the lines of communication open to keep you front of mind; maintain relationships and encourage repeat business.   Avoid bombarding your respondents with promotional emails but instead offer content that will have value to them.
3. Create and distribute unique content.  As well as positioning yourself as a thought leader within the online community and your own industry, you will increase your follower base; can capture lead data for business development and enhance your credibility, all of which will improve conversion.
4. Don’t rely on one marketing channel. The purchase journey is becoming more complex, usually with several different platforms being used from research to the point of purchase or appointment.  Plan an integrated marketing campaign that targets a combination of channels that will best reach your desired audience.
5. Base marketing decisions on insight not assumptions.  Make sure that you are measuring the response to advertising, website performance and analysing your customer profiles on a regular basis.  This will help you improve your marketing, increase return on investment and spot new opportunities.
6. If you’re not already – get social!  As well as being able to find and talk to prospects and customers through social networking sites, the ‘social’ aspect of search is becoming an increasingly important element of SEO.  Your website ranking could take a hit if you do not engage in social media activity.
7. Be mobile. Make sure that your clients can find, read and navigate your website from a mobile device.  Check on your own mobile phone.  If you find the experience difficult or frustrating then you need to take action now.
8. Regularly review your website ranking. This is a critical element of SEO and in the fast-moving world of search engine rankings, you need to keep on top of this to ensure you are optimising your website to maintain or improve position.  Complacency can lead to weakened position and reduction in web traffic.
9. Consistent and up to date branding.   Businesses change and evolve with time, so it’s essential that your brand and image is consistent with your business vision and objectives and is represented accurately throughout your advertising and marketing.  You may find you need to tweak design work or completely revisit your brand and positioning.
10. Profile raising media placements.  A great piece of PR will go a long way to raising awareness of your products/ services and brand; reminding customers and prospects that you exist and increasing the credibility of your business.   Keep a constant eye out for any opportunity to get yourself into the media.

So, are you on track for healthy business growth?

If having read this post, you are concerned that you are not doing what you need to do to ensure growth for your business this year, don’t worry.  We are offering a FREE no obligation, marketing health check. As part of this we will give you recommendations on areas that you need to focus on to ensure business growth this year.

Simply call us or complete the online form to receive your health check report.

Don’t let your marketing efforts be in vain.

Visit www.daa.co.uk for more information.

Every website owner wants to drive as much free traffic to their website as possible.  There are plenty of ways to do this, whilst avoiding expensive advertising costs.  But be prepared – it does require consistency and time to be effective!

Here’s 16 tips to get you started.

1. Optimise your website for your target keywords to make sure you naturally appear in search engine results. Use your target keywords in the page title and page content on your website.  Choose your keywords carefully, make sure your content reads well and avoid keyword stuffing.
2. Frequently update the contents of your site to improve your rankings with the search engines.
3. Write and publish articles on article sites such as Ezine and Article Base and include a link to your website in the footer, to generate additional exposure , backlinks and traffic.
4. Submit your website to as many high quality online directories as possible.  Some will require reciprocal links whilst others will be happy to simply add your website.  Avoid link farming where possible, this could have a negative effect on your ranking.
5. Claim your local listing on search engines’.  Start with Google making sure that you include all the relevant information (description, opening hours, website, photos etc).
6. Create a link building strategy – approach companies that are relevant to you and ask them to exchange links with you.
7. Always use your important keywords within the anchor text of your links – wherever you are placing them.
8. Social Bookmarking sites can drive huge amounts of referral traffic to your website.  In particular Tumblr and StumebleUpon have been doing really well in recent months.
9. Set up a Facebook Page for your business. Create interesting updates with content that your audience will value.
10. Create a personal LinkedIn profile for your own professional network as well as a company page.  Use groups and answers to contribute to discussions and post content.  All of this will raise awareness of your and your company.
11. Include links to all of your social network pages and profiles wherever you can, to inform and remind your audience that they exist.
12. For any content that you post online, make sure readers can easily share it across all social networks.
13. Set up a company twitter account and start following and networking with other relevant accounts.  Let your personality shine through and don’t bombard your followers with self promotion.  Instead share things of interest with them and occasionally promote your products and services.
14. Start a company blog and look to post at least once a week.  Blogging sites are ranked highly by the search engines and create an additional channel through which you can be found.
15. Look for opportunities to write guest posts on other blogs, making sure they are relevant to your business and your content will add value to their readers’ experience.
16. Participate in forums that are relevant to you and/or your business. Include links to the relevant sites in your signatures so that they are displayed in your posts. This will increase backlinks and exposure for your website.

All of these methods will drive traffic to your website, but they will require time and dedication.  You will need to prioritise in the first instance, which are the most relevant for your company and industry and try to allocate some time each day or week to work on them.

By starting with small weekly targets or goals (i.e. list yourself on 5 online directories per week; post 3 updates to your Facebook page each week; write two blog posts each week) you are more likely to maintain momentum and develop your marketing activity rather than becoming overwhelmed and giving up.

Of course, if you’re in a hurry and want to implement all of the above immediately, but don’t have the time or resource available, you could always ask a 3rd party to help.

We’ve heard great things about DAA Marketing…  ;o)

The way we use the Internet is changing dramatically.  As ownership of smartphones and tablets rapidly increases, so does the usage of mobile web:

• According to estimates by The ITU (2011) there are nearly 1.2 billion mobile Web users in the world. In fact, Mobile-broadband subscriptions have grown substantially at 45 percent per annum over the last four years
• It is even forecasted that by 2014 mobile internet will overtake desktop internet usage. This is a powerful prediction and one which businesses can not afford to ignore. However, many are.

• A report by Magus and Investis, found that only 20 per cent of FTSE100 corporate websites currently provide support for mobile devices. Given how difficult it is to navigate a desktop website on a mobile device (particularly mobile phones) this is unacceptable for mobile web users.

How does this affect the mobile-web visitor experience?

People accessing the Internet from mobile devices have completely different needs to those accessing via a desk top – and it is critical that any business with a website not only recognises this, but responds to it.

• Regardless of the size of the mobile or tablet screen, the user will still need to scroll around to view the site in its’ entirety.  Frustrating to say the least, this will also reduce the impact of the site.
• Even with a strong mobile connection, large images will still be slow to load which will again lead to a negative experience.
• It can be really difficult to navigate a desktop site on a compact mobile phone screen.  It may seem like a challenge for web visitors to find what they are looking for or they may not be able to find it at all.
• Many websites use Flash, particularly on their home page, which will not work on many handsets. This will make some of the content inaccessible. Not only with this reflect poor usability but it could also mean that the company’s key message is not being relayed.

What does this mean to businesses?

Businesses needs to make sure that websites are mobile-ready to avoid alienating both clients and prospects who want to visit the site on-the-go.

• Have you looked to see how your website is displayed on a smartphone or tablet? Unless you have specifically tailored your website for mobile, the chances are it is not displayed well.
• If you’re not convinced that this is a potential issue, you should also take a look at your Google Analytics.  This will tell you exactly how many of your visitors are accessing your website via a mobile device and will also show you how many are leaving straight away.  You may well be surprised at the numbers.

Why do you need to act now?

Stay ahead of your competitors.  You have an opportunity to get your brand out there before your competitors all follow suit.  This will ensure clients and prospects a great user experience, leaving them more likely to return.

Mobile SEO. Having a mobile website will improve your rankings in mobile search results. Google gives more value to mobile websites in search results from mobile devices, to ensure the end user has a positive experience. This is great for prospects searching for your services in your local area.

Manage expectations. Consumers are starting to expect similar levels of functionality and experiences as they get on the desktop web. In order to manage customer expectations you need to tailor your website on the Web to make sure they can use it in the way they need to.

Tips for creating an effective and functional mobile website

Functionality is key.  Hours spent on creativity and design is pointless if a visitor can not use the website in the way that they need to.  With this in mind, here are some tips to ensure that your mobile website is functional and effective.

1. Device Detection. Make sure that your site has device detection in place – without this your mobile content is effectively invisible to many users and your desktop website will be served.
2. Speed is critical. Mobile users have very little patience, so reconsider images, particularly large images, to keep download times to a minimum.
3. Site Structure. It’s crucial that you consider what content your mobile visitors will be looking for when on the move. Whilst your desktop can host a variety of interesting pages and features, you are extremely limited with a mobile site.  So only include the most important information.  This would usually be contact details, brief company description, areas of specialism and links to your desktop site and social networking links.
4. Simple navigation.  Make sure navigation is simple and obvious.  Use menu tabs and buttons that describe the page clearly, even if it sounds basic.  Remember, it’s all about usability.
5. Versatility. Your mobile website needs to work well on any platform and wherever you are.

Finally, don’t let developers leave you feeling baffled and overwhelmed and don’t succumb to hefty prices. The most effective solutions are the most straightforward, for both you and the end-user and won’t cost the earth to implement.

Well this is the aim, for new website FAME.  FAME is a new Twitter Game that has its’ rather ambitious sights set on gaining as many Twitter followers as Lady Gaga (all 21 million of them!) and sharing them with the winner of its daily draw, for one day.

The game is free for everyone to participate in.   You need to visit the website and authorise it to connect to your Twitter account.  Once you’ve connected FAME will automatically follow and unfollow the winner of the draw on your behalf, each day.  It is then up to you if you wish to continue to follow them afterwards.

On joining you will be given one entry, but can ‘earn’ more entries into the draw by sharing a tweet on the website (“I’m playing FAME! Join me: http://play-fame.com/88759f98 (@fame)”).  The more entries you earn for that day, the more chances you have of winning the draw.  You can also earn more entries by inviting friends to join – all a calculated ploy for FAME to increase its user base with the hope that it will quickly go viral.

One winner is randomly picked by a generator each day, but if the winner is a spammer or bot, FAME will draw again.  The winner is direct messaged and FAME adds their own Avatar to the bottom of the winners logo, so people know why they are appearing in their feed.  At the end of the 24 hours the account is reset to how it was.

This is a pretty new game, so follower levels are currently low.  But should this take of virally, they will increase rapidly.

So the question is – if you were the winner and had access to a high volume of followers for one day, what would you tweet about to encourage them to continue following you…?

We’d love to hear your comments.