Thanks to those of you who came to visit us at the TFM show. It’s the first time we have exhibited at this event and, hopefully, we’ll be there again next year.

My colleague John Heffernan, will be delivering a presentation on PPC at mad.co.uk’s Search Engine Marketing conference in London next month. So if you’ve ever wondered about the intricacies of Pay Per Click then get yourself along.

Last month I asked you to send me questions about Online Marketing which I’ve listed alongside the many questions that arose at the recent TFM show:

• Can you design, source contacts and create content for emails?
• Why should I use MediaCo for carrying out a PPC campaign?
• I’ve used an agency before for PPC and it cost me a fortune, I didn’t see any results or increased visits to my site - how are you different?
• Can you create content and build websites as well as doing Search Engine Optimisation?
• Can you optimise sites in any other languages?
• Do you do affiliate marketing?
• The changes in Outlook 2007 - can you design emails that will help my email strategy?
• Can you help me develop a community around my website, like a blog or a discussion forum?

One of the UK’s leading online marketing companies, MediaCo, is offering free search engine optimisation workshops for businesses keen to maximise their Internet presence.

MediaCo will be one of the exhibitors at the Technology For Marketing (TFM) 2007 event on February 6th and 7th at London Olympia. There, businesses can register for a free workshop and learn more about other online marketing services, including email marketing, PPC management and mobile and SMS marketing.

MediaCo Director Hugh Jackson said: “The aim of the free search engine optimisation workshop is to provide people with an objective guide to making their website more accessible to search engines.”

Search engine optimisation (SEO) involves making modifications to the design and content of a website in order for it to be ranked higher in search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN Search.

This, in turn, can result in more people visiting the site, an enhanced user experience and can reap a higher return on investment and increased product sales.

“We frequently encounter sites that present barriers to search engines and, as a result, they don’t appear well in the listings of Google and the other major search engines,” Mr Jackson added.

“The search engine optimisation workshop will help them to remove the barriers whilst still being effective from a business perspective.”

TFM is the UK’s no.1 showcase event for technology and solutions for advertising, marketing and customer relationship management. Its purpose is to exhibit the best ways to understand, target, and interact with customers.

Established in 1996, MediaCo has grown to become one of the top online marketing agencies in the UK. Its team possesses a wide range of skills covering e-marketing, consultancy, PR, journalism, editing and copywriting and representatives regularly speak at industry conferences and events around the world.

For media enquiries or for more information on search engine optimisation (SEO) and other online marketing solutions, contact:

Email info@media.co.uk
Telephone 0870 7084949
Fax 0870 7084950
Web: http://www.media.co.uk

ABOUT – MediaCo is an established Online Marketing Agency, located in Edinburgh, Dundee and the Midlands. Core services include Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Search Engine Marketing , Email Marketing and Content Development. Its client portfolio includes 3M, Brother, Elsevier, Experian, Thomson Learning, Toshiba and Reuters.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a long-term process that can place your website at the top of the natural section of the search engine results pages rather than the sponsored Pay Per Click area.

A well thought out strategy can drive FREE traffic to your site and we can help you.

Positive results do take time, and, if you use our services, you will have an initial outlay, but the long-term benefits will make it all worth it.

• Entry into the top results in Google, Yahoo! and MSN.
• High page ranking may lead to increased brand awareness and more sales.
• Focusing on the terms your target audience use will make them more likely to find your business and buy your products.
• Content that is easy to use and read can improve customer retention.

Read on for information about driving FREE traffic to your website…

Sample material from “Content Is King – Writing and Editing Online”

By David Mill, Butterworth Heinemann

Contents:

• Search Engine Optimisation.
• Search Engine Optimisation - Introduction and Body Text.
• Search Engine Optimisation - Meaningful Sub-Headings and Emphasis.
• Search Engine Optimisation - TITLE and META TAGS.
• Search Engine Optimisation - ALT TEXT, off the page factors and summary.

What’s in a number?

A lot!

Using the wrong number for a redirect could set back months of hard SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) efforts and send your website down the rankings in the search engines.

Like many elements of your business your website will evolve over time. You may delete or move web pages around or develop mini-sites. Some businesses even find that they want to change their web address to reflect what they do rather than the company name.

Using a permanent 301 redirect is recommended as opposed to a 302 which is temporary.

Redirection ensures that those people who have bookmarked your old site or those search engines who have a record of your old site in their index will not only transfer physically to view the old site - but in the case of search engines all rankings will transfer, too.

Read on to find out more about the numbers game and search engine optimisation

If you do not currently advertise your business online then you should be thinking about online marketing.

We can help you gain an online advertising presence through a targeted, effective Pay-Per-Click (PPC) strategy.

• Advertise online in the sponsored listing section of Google and Yahoo! using targeted keywords that convert customers.
• Manage your advertising budget easily and with greater precision.
• Monitor the positions of your adverts, to ensure they don’t slip.

The shift toward the internet for leisure means that you can carry out a PPC campaign to reach a captive market of customers who may be ready to make a purchase.

We can even help you advertise online even if you don’t have a website, contact MediaCo to find out more.

Find out more about the changing face of advertising

3 - Use best practice and avoid harmful spam methods

Search engine optimisation companies such as MediaCo will use their experience and knowledge of search engines’ ranking methods to produce competitive, consistent results. 

While spam methods can result in short-term gains in page rank, it is potentially damaging and can lead to your site being banned from the search engine results pages. Spam methods to avoid include: 

o Presenting pages with hidden text. 

o Page cloaking. 

o Participating in link farms.

o Using multiple URLs with redirects to a single page. 

The features of effective search engine promotion include: 

o Visible text, that is relevant and well written. 

o Keyword frequency, weight and prominence. 

o Quality internal and external links. 

o Title tags and Meta descriptions that are succinct. 

Of course, the most important part of the optimisation is the main text. You shouldn’t sacrifice the readability of your website to try and improve your Page Rank. If your site is well-presented, visitors will become customers. 

4 - Submitting your optimised site 

After the optimised content is completed and approved, it is time for it to be submitted to search engines. To make sure the changes to your site are recognised by search engines as soon as possible it should be individually submitted to the directories. 

These are the nuts and bolts of search engine optimisation. However, you will have to decide whether to attempt the optimisation in-house or contract it out to a dedicated SEO company. 

You are more likely to achieve successful search engine optimisation by using experienced SEO specialists, like MediaCo. 

While your online marketing strategy may also include PPC adverts or email marketing, search engine optimisation will improve the visibility of your website and increase business from customers actively seeking your products or services. 

Ensuring your site is easy to find and easy to use is one of the most important marketing decisions you will make.

—————————–

Gordon Parkes is an Online Marketing Producer, working for MediaCo. With expertise in search engine optimisation, pay-per-click, email marketing and viral marketing, MediaCo create online marketing strategies for a wide range of clients in a variety of sectors.
For more information, visit Search Engine Optimisation – MediaCo.

Search engine optimisation is an important part of your online marketing strategy. A well written, well designed, user-friendly website is more likely to gain a high Page Rank and appeal to potential customers. Read on to find out more about turning casual browsers into customers through search engine optimisation.

——————————

4 Steps to Successful Search Engine Optimisation
(Part 1)
By focusing on the search terms your customers actually use, search engine optimisation (SEO) helps ensure your website attracts customers, not just browsers. 
And increasing business while keeping costs low is the aim of every marketing strategy.

The search engine optimisation process can be broken down into four simple steps.

1 - Make sure you prepare before beginning optimisation

The first step in search engine optimisation is keyword research. This involves:

o Using keyphrase research tools to find the search terms which are most relevant to your site.
o Checking keyword saturation.
o Researching the effectiveness of keyphrases that are currently used in your marketing strategy.
o Analysis of current web analytics reports, if these are available.

The next preparatory step is the search engine diagnostic report. This is a detailed review of the technical and structural issues within your site. As the design of your site can impair optimisation, it is important you listen to expert recommendations on site architecture.

2 - Develop a search engine optimisation plan

After the keywords have been agreed and site changes identified, it’s time to produce an optimisation plan. This identifies the tasks that are required for the optimisation to be effective. These include:

o Matching keyphrases to existing pages.
o Identifying new topic-focused pages and matching keyphrases to these pages.
o Developing recommendations for optimisation of Meta data and URLs.
o Deciding on the use of any information panels in addition to the main text.
o The optimisation and use of a site map.

—————————–

Gordon Parkes is an Online Marketing Producer, working for MediaCo. With expertise in search engine optimisation, pay-per-click, email marketing and viral marketing, MediaCo create online marketing strategies for a wide range of clients in a variety of sectors.
For more information, visit Search Engine Optimisation – MediaCo.

“beckham’s boots”

You may not play like him but the keyphrases might be something you’d type into a search engine to get yourself a pair of football boots.

Or what about:

“big brother chair”

If you’re looking for stuff similar to that seen on the most recent current programme then look at this site (I won’t say anything about your taste in interiors!)

Many internet users research a product online before making a purchase decision and this varies from industry to industry.

So if you have a list of keyphrases from Search Engine Optimisation or a Pay-Per-Click campaign it might be an idea to revisit the phrases to infuse into offline marketing channels and guide people to search using your preferred keywords.

Once on your site, your visitor should be able to clearly review and be persuaded by the benefits of your product or service - teasing them to the “ready to buy” stage.

Find out how we could help you target the best keywords and phrases

So if you were a sports or furniture retailer you may use “buy beckham’s boots” or “big brother chair” in offline marketing channels, such as TV, billboards, print or radio advertising to draw visitors to your (optimised) site through search engines like Google.

Vice versa, any offline marketing could be monitored through analysis of increased visits to, or purchases on your website.

Looking at traffic and search trends when you carry out activity using another channel can then bring you closer to your customers.

Contact MediaCo for more information about monitoring the performance of your site

For more online marketing and search engine optimisation tactics read on….