Instagram & Facebook – Why?


A few hours ago I read that Facebook had acquired Instagram for $1bn… aptly enough, this news came to me via my Facebook feed. There’s also an official release here from Mark Zuckerberg My first thought once I checked the legitimacy Read more

Return On Influence: The New ROI


There is not a single activity in business which is exempted from a query regarding return on investment.  Focused strategic planning and expenditure to optimise your e-commerce mix is known to be an investment worth making for product and Read more

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Online Reputation Management

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Mike in Digital Marketing, Online Reputation | Leave a comment

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Excerpt: Every business needs to be aware of any communication regarding them or their employees online. This may include things like trending topics on twitter regarding customer service or reviews of your products, having the most recent information about these areas enables you to act fast and prevent negative online chatter which often leads to negative publicity. On the other hand it allows for your business to be aware of positive aspects of your sector online and directly compete for your share of the market and sales. What’s the Advantage? By keeping up to date with the latest breaking news stories relevant to your business, you are able to act quickly and as the old saying goes “jump on the band-wagon.” This may lead to increased sales, spark the need for special offers or even product recalls. Being the first to hear about this style of news can have big impacts for your online reputation. Keeping tabs on your online competitors will soon become a full time job and require attention to detail to help prevent any form of negative feedback and un-ethical online practices taking place. We have all read reviews for products online, just how many of these are manufactured reviews directly from the brand itself and how many businesses can honestly say they have never reviewed another brands product? What about Social Aspects? Again with the volume of internet users trending towards social platforms such as twitter and Facebook, we have to ensure that the message portrayed is fair. By maintaining social feeds…


Business Blogging – Pros’ and Cons’

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Mike in Digital Marketing | Leave a comment

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Excerpt: I am a firm believer that all businesses should be using blogs as part of their digital marketing activities. Blogs provide a simple place for the company to easily publish fresh content which helps the user engage more with the brand. If a company doesn’t have a blog they are potentially missing out on one of the best ways to get new customers. More blogs exist than you would believe. I always recommend using WordPress as the CMS purely because it is so powerful and user friendly, which makes it ideal for almost any client wanting to publish their own content. A blog is a superb way to help boost your SEO efforts online, yet many businesses don’t seem to be harnessing this power. I have looked at some of the most common reasons behind this here: 1. Where is the return on investment? The ROI for a blog is difficult to prove in terms of revenue, however a large part of any business’ online marketing is often SEO and this is where I firmly believe a blog proves essential for effective SEO, especially as Google has confirmed it is uses social networks within its algorithm to rank pages. 2. We will run out of things to blog about! You will be amazed at the volume of content that you can produce in house for a blog. Let me look at this from an e-commerce retailer’s point of view, who can look to call in content from: Marketing individuals who can blog about up and coming…


Run Marketing Boy, Run

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Fayaaz in Other stuff | Leave a comment

After successfully completing last years Reading Half Marathon, Generate UK’s Mike Robinson has decided to set himself an even bigger challenge and participate in the Virgin London Marathon on 17th April 2011. Over the past few months Mike has put himself through a rigorous training routine often limping into the office in the morning complaining about sore hamstrings. Although he hasn’t suffered silently at least his agony will not be in vain as he is set to finish with a great time and we are all incredibly excited to go and support him. Support the Cause As usual Mike will be running to help raise money for the charity Tommy’s, which funds scientific research and provides information on the causes and prevention of miscarriage, premature birth and stillbirth. To learn more about Tommy’s or their work click here. Please show your support by sponsoring Mike on his Just Giving page. Anything that you can give will be greatly appreciated by Mike and the entire Generate UK team. About the Race Established in 1981 the London Marathon is one of the biggest running events in the world. In 2010 36,549 people ran the 26 miles and 385 yard (it’s all about those last 385 yards) route to cross the finish line and this year the race is expected to be just as big. If you would like to show your support in person the race starts at 9:45amon Sunday 17th April. To find out the best spectator spots click to view the interactive race map.


Have Google Missed Out on Superior Social Search?

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Fayaaz in Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media | Leave a comment

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Excerpt: This week’s hottest topic has seen confirmation from Google that social signals from Twitter, Flickr and Quora will influence its search results in more detail than ever before. This news comes just several months after social media giant Facebook and Microsoft announced a partnership that brings “Like” data and profile search to Bing search results. Google have said recently that they want to bring elements of relationships and connections to its search results, providing more influence to the end users search journey. The most recent improvements to Google’s search enable you to gather even more information from your closest connections. Google’s Social Search Firstly Google has ensured social search results will be mixed throughout your natural results based on their relevance, you will have seen these previously, however located at the bottom of all results out of sight. What does this mean? You will begin seeing more related websites from people like co-workers and friends, with annotations below any results they’ve shared or created in the past. The example Google use’s is if you’re thinking of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and your colleague Matt (Cutts, in this case) has written a blog post about his own experience, then Google will improve that post’s ranking with a small picture and brief note. Secondly they have made Social Search more comprehensive by adding notes for links people have shared on Twitter and other sites. Previously Google have shown you results which have been created and linked through their Google profiles. Now, if someone you’re connected to has publicly shared a…


Protected: The 2011 Social and Search Summit

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Fayaaz in Events, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media | Enter your password to view comments.

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Online Videos Become More Popular Than Ever

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Fayaaz in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media | 1 Comment

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Excerpt: With the growth of superfast broadband it has become incredibly easy to watch high quality and even full 1080p high definition videos online. The internet isn’t going to replace television anytime soon, however, the online video marketing is growing at a rapid rate. Compared to television, watching videos online is more convenient, as you can watch when and where you want. This added convenience, coupled with the increase in content is really driving up usage as “Online video usage in the U.S. is up considerably from the same time last year as time spent viewing video on PC/Mac/laptops from home and work locations increased by 45%”. When it comes to watching videos online there are no surprises about which site is dominating the market. In January 2011 YouTube had 112,764,000 unique viewers in the United States alone! Second was Facebook with 32,328,000 unique viewers, displaying a clear link between social media users and online video viewers. This makes sense as videos uploaded to social media sites are very easily and very frequently shared. The report suggests that although YouTube had the most viewers, it did not manage to keep those viewers on site for as long as some of their competitors. YouTube’s average time per viewer was 2:23 minutes compared to Netflix 11:08 minutes. This is most likely due to the longer content that is on sites like Netflix compared to the shorter, user generated content on YouTube. Many companies are taking advantage of the growth in online streaming to advertise their products. According…


Digital Remit Advice

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Mike in Internet Marketing, Web News | 1 Comment

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Excerpt: From March 1st 2011, the ASA’s (Advertising Standards Authority) online remit is being extended to cover all marketing communications on an organisation’s own brand website as well as other non-paid for space under its control. The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (the CAP Code) applies in full to all marketing messages published online. This includes the specific rules which relate to misleading advertising, social responsibility and the protection of children. This is a huge development within advertising and can only be seen as good news for both the client and business. It ensures high standards are met and adhered to as with other forms of media. What does it cover? • All marketing messages available on the businesses’ own websites, regardless of sector, type of business or size of organisation • Marketing communications in other non-paid for space under the advertiser’s control, this includes all social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. How will the ASA force companies to comply with the new online remit? In addition to the ASA’s present sanctions, which already achieve a high level of compliance, CAP member bodies have agreed new sanctions to apply to the extended remit such as: • An enhanced name and shame policy – providing details of an advertiser and the non-compliant marketing communication on a special part of the ASA website. • Removal of paid-for search advertising – ads that link to the page hosting the non-compliant marketing communication may be removed with the agreement of the search engines. • ASA paid-for search advertisements – the ASA…


Using LinkedIn to Promote Your Business: Company Pages

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Fayaaz in Digital Marketing, Social Media | Leave a comment

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Excerpt: LinkedIn has established itself as the place to be for professional networking, where individuals can connect with other business people, discuss relevant topics and share valuable information. It is not about posting up pictures from your latest night out like Facebook or about commenting on funny videos like YouTube, LinkedIn is a place of business. So in this place of business it makes sense that people can connect with a firm or brand and not just an individual. That is the idea behind the LinkedIn company page. A new feature released towards the end of last year that we have been following since its creation. Although the company page is not as effective as it could be just yet, they are offering a new way for a brand to promote itself and “attract new leads”. The page has a couple of tabs. The first being an overview tab that lists all of the employees in the business that have a LinkedIn profile and choose to list the company as there current workplace. Below this sits a news feed that displays the company’s latest tweets and blog posts. The fact that this is below the fold means it doesn’t stand out if you’re not looking for it, but at least it is there (like I said, the page could be more effective). Most importantly the tab contains a section where you can add an enticing blurb about the company and a link to your website. Another exciting new tab on a company page is…


APP-AHOLICS.COM – Lighting up London on the 7th February!

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Fayaaz in Digital Marketing | Leave a comment

1st February 2011 App-aholics is a creative and vibrant new mobile development company committed to designing and building amazing apps. To celebrate its launch, on Monday 7th February App-aholics are advertising on the world famous Piccadilly lites. This will be followed by the distribution of thousands of leaflets throughout the city of London, ending with an open invitation between 12- 2pm (including complimentary drinks) at the Marquis of Granby for all those businesses interested in talking apps and discussing ways an app can help their business grow. “Rick Gaskell Managing Director for App-aholics said “Mobile applications provide businesses with a great opportunity to increase its customer engagement and truly connect with its audience.  We believe in creating and developing effective Apps which have a positive impact on business and above all provide a measurable return. App-aholics has been created by a group of dedicated industry professionals and we’re confident that App-aholics will become a recognised brand itself within the mobile application industry.” App-aholics provides companies with a holistic service when it comes to developing a mobile app. From the creative thought process right the way through to the development of the application across all mobile platforms. If you are interested in talking to App-aholics direct or attending the open invitation event at the Marquis of Granby, 2 Rathbone Street, London W1T 1NR please contact: Joe Baily Sales and Marketing Director Commercial House 53B Kingsbridge Road, info@app-aholics.com 0845 475 1460 www.app-aholics.com


SEO for SharePoint

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Mike in Search Engine Optimisation, SharePoint | 2 Comments

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Excerpt: Firstly what exactly is SharePoint? Microsoft SharePoint enables people to work together and share information easier than before. SharePoint 2010 allows your staff to set up a web site to share information with others members of staff, manage documents from start to finish and publish reports online, helping you and your business to make better decisions. SEO for SharePoint When building any web facing site, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is crucial. Building a site without SEO in mind drastically effects how you rank within search engines; sites without SEO fail to attract natural traffic. Ideally SEO should always be factored in from day one of the project. There are many things to consider when planning a site, below is a guide to some of the basic SEO steps for SharePoint projects, this is by no means a checklist simply a set of facts which will help you and your SharePoint website attract visitors through natural search. Domain Name and Friendly URL’s In SharePoint 2010, you need to carefully plan your site infrastructure and page names so it can be more meaningful to the crawlers and the users. Search engines are more likely to crawl your site if the URL is friendly and does not contain deep domain folders i.e /blog/marketing/seo/sharepoint/article1. Page Titles that are Effective Give your page a meaningful title, if the subject of the page is “cloud computing” that is likely to be a keyword you wish to be found for and should form all of or part of your page title. Meta Elements This is one of my…


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