SEO Blog

LinkedIn Add Applications For Improved Business Networking

October 31, 2008 4:40 pm | Posted by Adrian

LinkedIn, the leading business networking platform has just released applications to help its users collaborate and share information.

LinkedIn Applications

LinkedIn Applications

There are ten new applications in total with more to come I’m sure.

Highlighted LinkedIn Applications:

Wordpress Application: If you maintain a blog on the Wordpress platform, you can now add it to your LinkedIn profile and ensure your network is connected straightaway to your blog. A great way to keep your business contacts informed about you and your company activities.

LinkedIn Wordpress Application

LinkedIn Wordpress Application

Company Buzz: This can be used to monitor you, or your company name, in terms of being able to track who’s saying what about you on Twitter. This can develop into showing you trends and even has the ability to drill down into related terms. The phrase matching, e.g. “impact media” isn’t perfect but a useful monitoring tool never-the-less.

Huddle Workspaces: This service allows any LinkedIn member to collaborate online with any of their contacts. Supported by RSS feeds to monitor progress, this is a handy way to create projects.

In addition, there are apps to share blogs, document files, presentations, reading lists and even your travel plans!

This is an innovative step forward and has enhanced LinkedIn still further.

Using StatCounter to Find Leads for Your Business

10:57 am | Posted by Neil

We originally encouraged a client to install Statcounter because they suspected click fraud from competing businesses. Talking to the client recently they said the Statcounter data had also been invaluable for finding new leads.

By looking at the visitor information they could see the name of many of the companies who had visited the site but had not made an inquiry at the time. With a bit of basic detective work they found the telephone number and contacted the business directly a few days later.

So far they have obtained several successful leads using this method.

14.5 Million Visits to Blogs by UK Users in August 2008

October 30, 2008 7:16 pm | Posted by Adrian

Comscore have just announced in a press release (spookily dated 30th November) that fourteen and a half million of us in the UK visited at least one blog during August this year, accounting for some 41% of the total UK Internet traffic.

Unsurprisingly, Google came out on top-spot with its Blogger platform taking just over nine million visits followed by Wordpress with just under five million visits.

Thank you for being a visitor to our blog!  :-)

Posted in Blogging, Internet News  | The post has tags: , , , ,  |  Leave Comment »

Evaluating Website Analytics Yet? If Not Why Not?

6:48 pm | Posted by Lucy

Have you ever wondered what users are actually doing on your website? Or why your traffic to the site is really high but not converting to sales?

In today’s ever competitive online market having a website is simply not enough to guarantee online sales. Every website should have some sort of analytics installed so web site owners are able monitor and react to trends on their site. If finding out about analytics is on your constantly on your to-do list, move it the top quick, as you could be the last to know why your website isn’t converting.

As with most products, there is a great range of varying products to choose from and each has their own benefits and disadvantages. But it will depend on the level of information that you want to retrieve from your analytics package.

Google Analytics is one of the most used analytics packages which could be due in part to the fact that it is free. The functionality of the product in my opinion is great as it allows all sorts of data to be analysed including, traffic sources, e-commerce tracking and the ability to track website specific goals.
The Google Analytics tracking code requires implementation on every page of the site. This sounds quite simple but you will be amazed at the number of people that paste the code incorrectly or not on every page. As mentioned in a previous post Google Analytics is reliant on users having JavaScript enabled on their browser.

Yahoo has recently acquired Index Tools to create Yahoo Web Analytics. I am yet to use this analytics package but one of the benefits stated is that the data within the reports is updated within minutes enabling you to react immediately to website activity. In addition to the standard reports you are also able to create custom-designed reports.

As you would expect free packages are only able to cover a certain amount and as the price tag increases you begin to receive a lot more for your money, plus dedicated support which is ideal if your website is a big e-commerce site.

ClickTracks is a package which can be purchased and contains a whole feast of data and information. In addition to providing comprehensive reports ClickTracks user interface aims to help you find the answers to your questions quicker. Plus if you don’t want to be adding code to your website then ClickTracks is able to analyse your sites’ log files.

WebTrends uses award winning technology which monitors your customer’s behaviour on your site and collects this information which can then be analysed which is really useful for large retail sites. Areas of success on site are easily identified, which can then be used to improve your site’s performance resulting in more conversions.

This is just a short analysis of four different analytics packages which are available and there are many more. But one thing is for sure; there is no excuse not to have an analytics package on your website.

Martin Moore Ltd To Raise Online Profile

October 29, 2008 9:07 am | Posted by Rob

Martin Moore Ltd are designers and manufacturers of fine handmade kitchens and bedrooms; the company approached Impact Media with a requirement for professional Search Engine Marketing (SEM) services in order to dramatically improve their online visibility within their target market.

The brief also includes promotion of the Martin Moore Stone website; a subsidiary of Martin Moore Ltd.

We are proud to have been appointed as the companies professional Search Engine Marketing (SEM) partner, and we very much look forward to working with Martin Moore Ltd over the forthcoming months.

Please visit our Search Engine Marketing page if you would like to find out more about how Impact Media can help raise the profile of your business online.

Mandelson, Osborne and a Russian Yacht!

October 28, 2008 7:05 pm | Posted by Adrian

I mentioned last week how Blogpulse was a great service for online market research.

Given the recent popularity of British politicians socialising on the yachts of Russian billionaires whilst on holiday, I thought it would be interesting to see what the blogging community thought of this:

Osborne, Mandelson and Russian Yacht Trend

Osborne, Mandelson and Russian Yacht Trend

As you can see, there’s a spike of interest when it was announced that Peter Mandelson was being ushered back into Government followed by an increase in blogging activity when the news of the (I’m sure entirely innocent) visit to the Queen K, the luxury yacht owned by billionaire, Oleg Deripaska.

Newsnight beckons?

Window Film Installer Selects Impact Media

12:52 pm | Posted by Andrew

Solar Control install high performance window films that not only help reduce the suns harmful heat, glare and ultra violet light but also improve safety, security and privacy.

We are delighted that the company has selected Impact Media to maximise their visibility across the major search engines natural results pages for both local and national business.

To find out more about natural SEO please visit our Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) page.

Website Copywriting for SEO

October 27, 2008 4:21 pm | Posted by Adrian

With the rise of the Internet as the most powerful business tool created, there has never been such a need for words. Regardless of developments in Internet video, the World Wide Web is still a text-driven medium. With blogs, articles, advertising and website text all needing words, copywriting has taken on a new importance in the battle for online presence. Words have always had great power, now they’ve taken on a vital significance for all companies that do business on the web.

But copywriting for the web is not like copywriting in the traditional sense. The requirements of Internet copy and the psychology of the Internet readership are very different from those involved in print copywriting. What’s more, SEO copywriting, the craft of creating copy that appeals both to human readers but also exploits SEO principles to attract higher Search Engine Rankings (SERPS) is an entirely different game.

The SEO copywriter needs to constantly balance the needs of their human reader with the need to maintain strong connections to Google and the other Search Engines. Writing for the Search Engines requires an awareness of what they are looking for. Ensuring that the article is topical, entirely original and contains the important keywords at an appropriate density is only the starting point of SEO copywriting.

The trouble is that even inserting the keywords is enough to flummox the average amateur copywriter. Sentences stuffed with keywords make little sense and the human reader clicks away to another page immediately.

Instead, SEO copy needs to appear like any other form of copy, well written, informative and engaging whilst retaining the highest possible optimisation factor. This requires expert writing skills to blend the SEO into the already tight copy.

Web copywriting is about grabbing the attention of the human reader who is already distracted by images, offers and enticements. Maintaining their interest with relevant and topical content known as ‘web copy’ is the next essential element of successful web copywriting. Web copy should differ from traditional written English because it is more accessible, less formal, and closer to the way that we speak.

The next stage is to lead the reader to the point of making a decision. The original meaning of the word ‘decision’ means to cut oneself off from all other options and choices. The persuasive copywriter invisibly removes all objections and concerns whilst leading the reader to the point of making the decision to click.

The aim of good web copywriting is to hook the human reader into staying at the website long enough to make that all-important click, to compel them to take action. This is the final stage of web copywriting.

Above all things, SEO copywriting creates crisp, attractive text that moves the reader towards the point of action. At the same time, it blends in optimisation techniques that ensure that the copy gets read. Without the SEO element, no matter how good the copy, if no one can find it, they cannot read it.

Excellent website copy is the correctly judged balance between highly compelling copy and expertly optimised text. If you need SEO copy, use SEO copywriting services.

UK in Recession? Invest More in Online Marketing!

October 24, 2008 12:26 pm | Posted by Adrian

Unless you’ve been living in a cave (on holiday, of course), you’ll be well aware of the downturn in the global economy and the fact that even our politicians are now confirming the UK is entering a period of recession.

Is this the end of online shopping as we know it? Not at all. Web based businesses should see this as an opportunity to forge ahead and gain a competitive advantage. If consumers are looking to cut back, where will they start searching for bargains? Of course, it’s not always about being cheapest but whatever online business you operate, you should be looking to position your site infront of your prospects.

Perhaps now would be a good time to review your site (design, copy) and your online marketing activities (SEO, PPC)? You may need to get creative with your offers and offer more incentives? One thing is certain. Now is not the time to be cutting back on your online marketing budget!

Posted in The Think Tank  | The post has tags: , , ,  |  Leave Comment »

Electronic Cigarette Retailer Selects Impact Media

11:44 am | Posted by Rob

Ecigonline supply Electronic Cigarettes and Accessories via their online shop, the company realise the customer recruitment potential of the major search engines and want to capitalise upon this opportunity.

We are delighted to have been selected as Ecigonline’s Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) partner and very much look forward to working with them on this project.

If you are looking for more information on professional SEO please visit our Search Engine Optimisation page.

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