The seminar titled “Increase your Internet Footprint” was delivered by Generate UK on Wednesday April 15th at Donnington Grove Country Club and was summed up by one delegate, “The information was fantastic and I’ll certainly be using much of the content to help me increase my own web site’s Internet presence, thanks!” Sara Hodkin, Group Marketing Manager, Fish Brothers Swindon

The seminar was designed to help businesses understand what online marketing opportunities there are available to them (many of which are free) to help increase their web site footprint on the internet.

30 attendees were present to soak up the fantastic surrounding, friendly atmosphere and great content. The slides are available to download here, if you attended or registered for the event please check your email as a password has been provided to you.

Generate UK commenced by providing their top ten tips to increase a web site’s footprint. Initially it is important to understand exactly what an internet footprint is, why it is important and how it can be good for a business.

A number of online activities were then explored including Business Blogging, Online PR, Link Building, Online Advertising, the power of Video and File Sharing, Search Engine Optimisation empowering local optimisation, utilising Forums and Online Communities, the power of Social Media, offering Content to increase reputation and various ways to offer content online encapsulating podcasts and RSS feeds.

Before implementing these activities Generate UK explained that it is vitally important to have your web site correctly set up and the basic requirements were discussed. This included the visibility of a web site through the correct web language and the different browser technology people use, how accessible it was, looking at a web site’s navigation and how Google interoperated it as well as W3C standards. Making a web site easily found should be at the top of the agenda and how important on-page optimisation is, in particular keywords and the processes that any web manager should undertake. Lastly Generate UK discussed the importance of content and how content can play a massive part in helping a web site grow and advance within the search engines.

After light refreshments Generate UK explored a number of tools available to the attendees specifically through Google search engine and how these could impact a web site. These tools included Google Blogger, Local, Knoll, Alerts, Feedburner, Orkut, Analytics, Webmaster tools, PPC (Pay per Click) advertising and Youtube!, now owned by Google and the third biggest search engine.

PPC was next on the agenda and Generate UK demonstrated how PPC can significantly increase a web site’s presence immediately within the search engines. It was at this stage when Generate UK invited Peter Meherne to the stage to discuss his experience of PPC. Peter is from Plain Words, a professional authoring and training company providing technical and business-related writing services and training to a wide range of industries. Peter explained that Plain Words have been using PPC to promote their services for a number of years and have experienced the pains and rewards from PPC. Peter went on to explain that keyword research should not be taken lightly and this process should be continually monitored. This can be done by understanding your keywords and phrases and approaching your keyword research through a more targeted approach rather than a too generic attitude, thus saving money and increasing your conversion rate.

After a well earned lunch break, Mark White from Better Business Blogging a partner to Generate UK talked about the Social Media, how it’s all around us in personal and business lives and the positive effect it can have on businesses. Mark explored the multitude of social media platforms available online to businesses and how a business can re-use the content within different social mediums to increase their reputation, brand and the opportunity to be seen.

Mark summarised by telling the delegates that social media is here, and is here to stay and it’s the businesses who embrace social media that will be the businesses who succeed online.

Generate UK summarised the event and after a question answer session and a free prize draw for a free round of golf or dinner for two, the seminar drew to a close with all of the delegates going home more knowledgeable within the online arena and ready to put their new information into practice.

The lucky winner of the draw was Peter O’Brien from Business Engineering Ltd, who selected a meal for two at Donnington Grove rather than a round of golf. A voucher is heading your way Peter; we hope you enjoy the meal.

For more information on Generate UK seminars please call 01635 551431 or send your details to info@generateuk.co.uk