July 24th, 2010 — Blogging, Wordpress
This week saw the launch of our new look website at work Adnams.co.uk. A proud moment for me as it was the culmination of 6 months of work involving many different people within the company. It was also based on a vision of allowing customers to easily move from one sector of the business to another online. Exposing parts of the business to them that they may not necessarily have been aware of. Allowing them to communicate with the company easily and through many touch points. Using images, video and the written word to express the essence of the company.
Internally it was to also give employees a voice, allowing them to highlight their experiences, express their passion and present their opinion. Of course there is commercial intent but it is more than that, it is an attempt at creating an experience that extends beyond the visit to the local pub, a trip to Southwold or the act of purchasing wine in one of our shops.
Did we succeed? Maybe, time will tell, but it’s not the technology that is going to get us there. WordPress was the base of the site. It was heavily themed and customised with plugins of various types to allow us to structure content the way we wanted, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter integrated to bring content from other channels. And it will be the content that drives the success; structure and design can only provide so much.
A lot of the reason I write this blog is to remind myself how important content is. How difficult it can be to produce, to maintain consistency and quality. Often we run off to build the next Google only to realise that without the content Google is just a logo and a search box on the screen.
July 17th, 2010 — Online Business
How many times have you seen a web business launch and think what a great idea or that was what I was thinking of doing, well if I could have a penny.
The difference between a great idea and a great business is that someone actioned the great idea to create the great business. And don’t be fooled by the “started in a garage” hype either, most great businesses arrived where they are after many great failures. You just don’t get to hear about those.
So now we have that straight what about that idea of yours? In the words of one famous brand, just do it. Take the idea, start writing about it, take notes, turn it upside down, make silly suggestions, draw cartoons about your idea, match it to colours, give it a voice, talk about it into a voice recorder, present it to yourself on video or Powerpoint. Whatever you do don’t let it go!
During this process every time you find a reason it won’t work bend it, shape it, mould it into something that will work and when you hit the next dead end re-shape it again. You don’t have to spend a penny, you just have to keep thinking about it, adding to it, improving it both in your mind and on paper. At some point you will not be able to manipulate it any more, you’ll hit a wall. Forget about it, leave it alone.
After a few days, maybe a week or so see if your idea still stacks up. If it does, then get into gear and action it. If not move on and have another Great Idea!
July 5th, 2010 — Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media
Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media are now heavily entwined, success in either will rely heavily on your use of the other. Each discipline is now having a massive impact on the other. It’s not just about your Twitter conversation appearing in the real-time search results either.
As you will be aware one of the key aspects of Search Engine Optimisation is links, one of the things Twitter and Facebook are great at is linking. If something you tweet is popular and it contains a link back to your web site it is likely that link will find its way onto a 3rd party blog or web site building up your back links. Conversely if your web site performs well in natural search and you post a popular article it is likely that this will get tweeted or added to Facebook, again completing that circle of linking and popularity.
Therefore the key to getting this referral engine to work on autopilot for you is by ensuring you write about things that are remarkable and therefore linkable.
June 24th, 2010 — Online Business
I’ve worked in the online arena for over 10 years now and when I look back over that time at all the projects I’ve worked on, companies I’ve worked for or with they have all had something in common. The expectation that I can create something from nothing and maybe they are right?
Creating something from nothing in a web sense is a bit like alchemy, where you don’t really start with nothing but that the “something” you do have is not quite tangible or in the right form. So what do you need to perform this conjuring trick?
- A Great Idea – Most of the successful projects I have worked on have been driven by a great idea, reducing a cost, solving a problem or making more profit. I just take the idea and mould it into something that works online.
- Commitment – And I mean commitment from the stakeholder, I already assume you have commitment or you wouldn’t have the job. So often, great ideas fail due to the failure of the stakeholder to commit to the project either monetarily or with time. They want quick results and don’t want to spend any money to get them.
- Belief – You must have belief in what you are doing. If you don’t believe that the pot of gold does exist at the end of the rainbow then don’t start the project. Sometimes that rainbow just keeps shifting, click your heals 3 times whenever you lose some belief.
- Vision – This is the most powerful tool in my kit bag. If I can visualise what the end result will look like, feel like, smell like or sound like I can manipulate and mould the Great Idea into a tangible object. If you can see it you can build it.
- Attitude – Finally you need attitude. You will be punched, kicked, prodded and pulled by others trying to win the stakeholders heart. You will be tempted from your path like Adam in the Garden of Eden. Find an attitude, stick with that attitude and before you know it your creation will manifest itself.
So, what would you like me to create for you?
Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/natura_pagana/ / CC BY 2.0
June 21st, 2010 — Location Marketing
It’s very easy to get caught up in the latest Social Media hype and the new applications hitting the news headlines but before you dive head first into Foursquare or Gowalla, have you done the basics?
Googles Local Business Center should be the first stop for any business that has an office, outlet or other physical high street presence. Google gives you the ability to add very detailed information about your business including opening times, payment options, photos and even video. Your business listing can then appear in the search results or even Google Maps if it is deemed relevant.
“But I already have a web site why do I need to have a listing with Google Local”? Performing a search for Solicitor Norwich returns the Google Local results above the natural search listings, some of which don’t have web sites appearing in the top 10 results. Not only that but your result will also appear on Google Maps and not just the web results.
In addition Googles Local Business Center will provide basic statistics on how many people have viewed your listing and what search term was used to find it. You can also add vouchers that visitors can print off and redeem in store.
There is no doubt Social Media and services like Foursquare are on the rise but they are far from mainstream. Google is still the place to be seen when consumers go looking for local products and services.
June 8th, 2010 — Online Business
It is no revelation that content plays the major part on the Internet. Whether that is video, text or images content is what the end user goes online to get.
With a good content strategy any company stands a fair chance of competing for the top spots in the Search Engines in their chosen speciality. This in turn will result in visits to the website, but what happens then?
The “what” is pretty easy to answer, if I ask for a show of hands of how many of you are using an analytics tool such as Google Analytics to capture information on your website visitors, I would expect the majority of you to raise your hand. For many this is as far as it goes, viewing standard reports for Unique Visitors, Pageviews, Conversion and Bounce Rates.
Some may take that extra step and start segmenting their data, looking at how visitors from particular sources behave or at visitors that perform a particular action. This is great stuff and combining this with marketing costs from different channels you can easily track Return on Investment from each channel. But this still only tells you what someone did, what they clicked on, what they typed in search, what page they left the website on, what path they followed and so on. And that’s enough “Whats” for anyone!
Why they did, what they did, on your website is the critical question. Someone that views 20 pages before leaving your site could have been enthralled by your content, it could just as easily mean they were lost and couldn’t find what they were looking for or that your navigation isn’t very usable. The same could be said of visitors that have a higher than average “Time on Site”. Similarly, just because someone left your site after viewing one page doesn’t mean your site isn’t engaging (although I would be concerned if the percentage of people doing this was high), it could just mean they found exactly what they were looking for straight away!
Getting actionable insight from your data is the key to data driven marketing and a competitor beating website. So it is no surprise that research by Econsultancy and Lynchpin shows that companies are spending more money on staff to analyse web data than they are on the analytics tools themselves.
Now that’s okay for big brands but “Lack of budget and resources is the most significant barrier to an effective online measurement strategy, according to 57% of companies surveyed” the report also says. So for the rest of us it’s time to roll up our sleeves and dust down the calculators, or grab a copy of Avinash Kaushik’s latest book Web Analytics 2.0.
June 1st, 2010 — Online Business
The iPad is now available in the UK, another gloriously designed object of desire from Apple. As with all products of this type nobody actually “needs” one. But then again the lure of the latest piece of “kit” is as irresistible to a Web Geek as a shiny object is to a magpie.
So how do you convince your boss that the iPad is a must buy? After all it wasn’t that long ago you persuaded him to allow you to trade in the Blackberry for an iPhone!
Here are my top 5 reasons:
- Time efficiency – The iPads instant on means a potential of over 11 hours extra work per year based on a PC start-up of around 3 minutes.
- I can work anywhere – Portability means I can carry my iPad easily wherever I go, I can work when commuting or away on holiday.
- I can work for longer – With it’s extended battery life I would not be limited to the 2-3 hours the battery on my laptop lasts when out of the office.
- Energy saving – Due to the longer battery life I would not use as much electricity charging the iPad compared with a laptop.
- Testing – As the iPad is going to be so popular we need one to test our websites display as expected for our customers.
What valid business arguments do you have for buying an iPad?
May 17th, 2010 — Social Media
There is a lot of discussion over Facebook and privacy currently and how they may not be doing enough to notify it’s users of what is or isn’t being made public.
As an Internet professional where do you stand? As you know, to be able to do your job effectively you will have to use Social Media as part of your work. As such you need to include some personal revelations to ensure you come across as human.
Even if you specialise in Email Marketing or SEO you will still need to integrate Social Media for maximum effect. But how much are you willing to give up? Is your success dependant on this? How can you advise clients or colleagues to do what you’re not willing to?
And really is your privacy at that much risk or is the same fallacy that we faced when e-commerce became popular and the scare stories around rogue companies using your credit card details or not supplying goods. When in reality most credit card details that are used illegally are obtained off-line. Yes, they may end up being used on-line for fraudulent transactions but the acquisition happened in the off-line world. Personal privacy isn’t that different, if you don’t shred important documents, check that your post hasn’t been tampered with or even vary your daily schedule and route to work!
Personally, I accept that giving up part of my privacy is required by my career choice, in some ways like a celebrity expecting to be photographed when out shopping or on holiday. I rarely mention family, but you’ll find my whereabouts on Foursquare from time to time. You’ll know how often and how far I run in a week if you follow my MapMyRun updates and you’ll also notice my love for chess in from my Twitter lists and occasional Tweets.
But if you didn’t see this part of me then all the ReTweets of Internet related articles, mentions of new beers or wine, company events and other work related stuff would be out of context. I give up some of my privacy not because I want to sell product or my company but because I want to express what I care about and because all of this is the real, Sean Clark.
May 13th, 2010 — Search Engine Optimisation
A lot of importance is put on being number 1, coming first, being better than the rest. But does it really matter?
Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats for example came 3rd in the UK General Election, and look at the power they’re are now wielding, or Susan Boyle from Britain’s Got Talent 2009 who is certainly not complaining. But when in the world of “Search” coming second is a different matter!
I’ve just been going through Googles Webmaster tools, a mine of information about your site, which supplements Google Analytics. Specifically what you can now see in Webmaster Tools is the quantity of impressions your keywords or phrases get in the Google search results and the number of clicks they produce. You can also drill down to see how many clicks you get dependant on your position in the search results.
Clicks by position - click for larger view
What you can see from the results is a stark contrast between appearing first or appearing second in Google. If you click on the image for a larger view you’ll see that in both first and second position for this search term my result appeared 590 times. For position one I got 320 clicks but when my result appeared second I only got 73 clicks.
Now lets put that into perspective, say I sold products and that the site had a conversion rate of 2%, click to sale, with an average spend of £50.
- Position 1 becomes worth £320
- Position 2 becomes worth £73
Therefore, being first in the search results can be worth over 4 times as much in terms of revenue with the right keywords or phrases.
May 7th, 2010 — Social Media
As UK politicians look to agree a way forward this weekend we find that this election wasn’t really driven by the Internet as many of us thought it might be. What the Internet did do is allow for the issues to ripple through the electorate rapidly. There were many calls of #fail as late voters were locked out of polling stations and YouTube made prime time election coverage as mobile users beat local TV crews to the scoop.
There was more awareness of the election amongst younger voters leading to record turn outs in some areas. Facebook Groups sprung to life, although a bit late in the day, as status updates announced friends issues with government and policy. Twitter hash tags were fighting for popularity as updates of the nights events were encapsulated, 140 characters at a time.
So the Internet, or indeed Social Media, didn’t topple any government. But it’s immediate nature did allow for the speed of communication many Digital Natives have come to expect. We know the effects Social Media has had on business, we can see the interest it can drum up in once unpopular subject matter. As this method of communication infiltrates the workplace, what will be the expectation of tomorrows managers in terms of communication?
