Search Engine Marketing Blog

Impact Media would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We will be away from the office now until the 2nd January 2008 so if you there are any enquiries drop us an email on info@impactmedialtd.co.uk and we will get in touch as soon as we are back.

Yesterday was the Impact Media Christmas outing which ended up being a bit of a triathlon.

Stage 1 - Go-Karting

It all started off with a friendly go-karting session (who are we kidding? More like all out war…) where the field was split: the crazy and the crazier! After the warm up / qualifying session (or to the competitive ones amongst us the first race) pole position went to Rob with 2nd going to Ben and 3rd to Adrian. The green lights of race time then came and Ben managed to catch the confident Rob napping for entry into pole position and the race was on. The race for pole was fast and furious between Ben and Rob with them managing to lap the rest of the group.

Rob #2 (IT Dude) gave up racing when he realised he had no driving skill so instead resorted to bumper-car techniques and made up his own game of seeing how many times he could run Andy off the track. Andy claimed it was 5 times in total ‘though, of course, this couldn’t be verified.

When the chequered flag came down, it was Ben that came in victorious over a disappointed Rob. Ben leapt onto the podium to collect the winners trophy followed by Rob a very close 2nd and Hannah in 3rd after a somewhat controversial overtaking manoeuvre on an orange light.

Stage 2 - Ten Pin Bowling

Next came the bowling which was split between 2 games: the practice and the main event. The games may have been split but the results were pretty similar for both of the games. Lucy ended up being the dark horse among us and although swearing blind she was no pro, beginners luck can only go so far. The real shock came when Andy managed to just pip Lucy to first place with a few well placed / lucky strikes.

Andy picked up his first ever trophy, a tasteful bowling pin money box in green. He immediately set about locating the nearest engraver…

Stage 3 - Food

By this time we were all starved so we finished the day off with a meal, drinks and discussions of the days antics!

A good time was had by all ‘though we can’t wait another 12 months before a bowling re-match.

As part of Impact Media’s ongoing efforts to ensure we provide our clients with a premium service, I was recently required to become a Google Qualified Professional (As will all new Impact Media sales people from now on). Having now passed the exam this adds further value and credibility to our offering, as a sales executive it allows me to provide our clients with the best possible advice with regards to Pay Per Click (PPC).

We believe in building lasting business relationships based on trust and results, if we add value to a business, they will remain a loyal client. We do not need to tie our clients into lengthy contracts and they are free to stop working with us at any time; in order for us to retain business on an ongoing basis we must ensure that the correct strategy is employed from the outset; and the desired results are achieved.

We are a team of dedicated professionals and prospective clients can contact us safe in the knowledge that they are dealing with someone who has gained Google’s recognition as a tested and proven AdWords expert.

Google are currently rolling out the new AdWords Local PlusBox which will now enable the top featured sponsored result in the Google search engine to display even more information.

This information will consist of a map, contact details, address and will even allow people to get directions. The best part is there is no extra charge for this and you will only billed by Google as normal, when someone clicks on your add and arrives at your landing page.

For local businesses looking specifically to target their particular geographical location this could prove very helpful in maximising the online visibility received.

More information can be found here at the Inside AdWords Blog

We are pleased to announce that we have been appointed by National Products Ltd to promote their website www.conservatoryshowroom.com using a combined strategy of SEO & PPC.

Conservatory Showroom allows customers to obtain an instant price for any chosen conservatory online; without the need to enter any personal details.

We are very much looking forward to working with National Products Ltd and anticipate great success over the coming months.

Due to the continued success of the Hello Currency Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign; Impact Media have now been appointed to implement a professional Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy.

We envisage more success over the coming months as we continue to work as Hello Currency’s Search Marketing Partner.

At Impact Media we believe the most important search engines are the ones that deliver the most traffic and this changes from country to country but for the UK and USA the big 3 are the same.

Google, Yahoo and MSN are the big 3 in question and control one big slice of the internet traffic, approximately 91% of all UK and 93.4% of the USA search engine traffic.

UK Search Engine Share:

USA Search Engine Share:

At Impact Media we offer the real deal and optimise website’s for the main 3 search engines so that you get quality relevant traffic to your website.

Bottom line, if your not in the top 3 search engines you are missing out on nearly all natural search enquires.

(Statistics from may 2006 Source: Hitwise)

At Impact Media we know how important it is to have effective and unique content on your website.

Contrary to beliefs writing content for the web differs greatly from other mediums as it has to satisfy a much greater audience. Content development is more complex than people give it credit as in today’s world your copy has to achieve all of the following or it will not succeed in its job to convert:

• Be unique and optimised so that the search engines will index it
• Be visually appealing to create interest
• Compel people to read it and then want it
• Contain the right mix to convey message and benefits
• Be well structured to gain maximum conversion

We believe good website copy is of the utmost importance as it will define the difference between great conversions and next to no conversions.

Simply put:

Great Content = Great conversions + High ROI

The content of your website will be the initial compelling factor encouraging people to buy your product and/or service. Therefore it is of utmost importance that the content is structured correctly to receive maximum impact and a high conversion rate.

When you are creating or having content created for your website keep the following top tips in mind:

• Talk in Benefits
• Use the keywords you want to rank for in the website copy
• Don’t waffle be specific
• Use illustrations if possible to add clarity and visual aids
• Include a call to action (tell them what you want them to do next)

Why is Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click advertising so important?

• The search engines are the web surfers first point of contact when it comes to finding what they want online and statistics show that over 90% go on to make a purchase / conversion. It would be a grave mistake to miss out on this amount of highly converting targeted traffic.

• If your website isn’t optimised for your specific keywords then you are practically invisible to your online target audience.

• Google, MSN Search, Yahoo! Search and Ask Jeeves between them powered 81% of all search traffic in the UK during September 2006.

• Having an effective and useful website will provide you with a 24 hour online sales representative that will be consistently available to prospective clients. If you produce relevant quality content that effectively sells your products then part of your sales pitch is already done for you and hasn’t taken up any of your time!

• Appearing in the search engine’s natural listings is completely free of charge making search engine optimisation extremely cost effective producing a fantastic ROI.

• An effectively managed Pay Per Click campaign can provide large quantities of pre-qualified leads within hours. The ad can be easily set up within minutes gaining you top placements in the major search engines and instantly bringing in highly converting traffic.

• You are in complete control of the budget and campaign meaning that you can determine your own daily, weekly or monthly budget, keywords and keywords phrases you want to appear for and how long you want to run the ad for.

If you have a business and are serious about getting the maximum exposure possible then you cannot overlook the power of the search engines.

Of course, there’s no absolute answer to this question as many search marketing agencies will charge for their PPC services at different rates.

With Impact Media, we work with our clients typically by charging an initial fee to set up their Google AdWords PPC campaign or to optimise an existing campaign. This varies based upon complexity and/or number of products or services but is flexible enough to accommodate most budgets.

We then work on a monthly retainer basis, the purpose of which is to allow us sufficient time to further optimise the account, develop additional Ad Groups and provide comprehensive reporting. Given that we see what we do as a partnership with our clients, no one is tied into any long term contracts and we only want our clients to stay with us if they feel we are adding value.

Some agencies will also charge a monthly service fee as a percentage of the spend they are managing through the pay per click search engine(s) and you should check the details if that is the case as this could develop into a hefty additional charge.

When shopping around for a company to use for PPC management, make sure you have a good chat with them to understand their approach and also ask for testimonials or case studies. If you find a good one, stick with them! Once you do this, the question will change to “How Much is PPC Management Gaining Me?”

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Impact Media provide AdWords management tailored to fit your needs.