All you really need to know about internet marketing for beginners.

All you really need to know about internet marketing for beginners.
Part 1

New to Internet marketing?  This article will go through the basics of what internet marketing does for your business and the different areas it involves. We will also identify the good and the bad aspects of different forums of Internet marketing to give you a general idea of what services you may be receiving from other SEO companies, and where this can be expanded on.

There are many parts of internet marketing but the three main parts which most companies consider are:

Web Design
SEO
Social Media

These parts influence the amount of people who visit your site and could potentially invest in your services or products later on, this is why you should ensure you are getting the most out of your internet marketing. A great way to look at online marketing is to imagining your site as a signature drink - what your drink needs to do is look good, taste good and have people talking about it.

How does this relate to internet marketing?

Well each individual part is similar to what your signature drink needs to have. For example, the website should look good; you need a site that is easy on the eye and allows visitors to navigate through different pages easily.

Web Design is a key factor in creating influence in your business; it’s a front cover for your business and needs to influence a customer and inspire confidence in your brand.

Website design and User Experience factors are a key part of internet marketing and need to be at a high grade to perform the best it can and maximise business brought in through your online presence.

What should you consider when creating a website?

You want your site relatable to the business and this means multiple things have to be considered, from colours to style, text and website type. There are so many options and things to consider, which is why most business employ a web designer to take on the task. This is usually the best course of action as a good designer will take into account your preferences and produce some designs which are suitable for you to choose from.

What are the different types of websites?

Dynamic websites – Dynamic websites, unlike static, allow advanced interactions and allow the ability to use databases to deliver certain content for an individual page. This kind of interaction allows the website to formulate catalogues, photographs, videos and series of data. One of the good parts of a dynamic website is allowing the ability to stop users accessing different parts of the site and can include password restricted areas and other user permissions to get through the site - such as member areas etc. The down side is that it is much harder to implement different SEO techniques into this kind of site, meaning some potential visibility in search engines may be lost.

Flash websites – Flash can implement unachievable levels of interaction that other web types can’t do and can be stunning and eye catching with animations and graphics. But all this is often outweighed by the inability to implement any form of meaningful SEO on to a flash site. Therefore if you’re wanting to get a site to page one of the rankings, flash sites aren’t the option for you. These are best utilised as portfolio sites to showcase work which doesn’t necessarily need to be searched for.

Static websites – One of the simplest forms of website in which the site’s content may include graphics and animation and may have JavaScript features. Static sites are principally for brochures sites. The down sides/limitations being that they’re not very complex and lack in user interactivity, this is because they cannot gather information for a user or serve content which is dependent on user actions.

Content managed websites – These are a Further refinement of a database driven dynamic site. A content management system provides a user login system to protect the interface. This allows the user to add, edit and remove the content from the site and is particularly useful if the business needs a large site which has numerous contributors.

eCommerce websites – These are dynamic websites which have the functionality to implement financial transaction gateways e.g. PayPal. Most eCommerce sites also include a content management system so that all product details can be added and updated, and some include advanced features such as automated stock control.

Part 2

So what do we mean by taste good? Well this has to do with SEO (Search engine Optimisation)…

Coming soon…


Who are we?

We are Red Cow Media, and online marketing agency that specialise in SEO, WebDesign and Social Media marketing. We provide a social media service which helps enhance your social media presence, getting people to connect and spreading your business message. For more information you can talk to one of our friendly team or visit the website by clicking here. 


References:  http://www.thememagazine.com/
http://www.buystockswithus.com/
http://www.optillion.co.uk/web-development/website-types.asp

Other Ways to Gain Links

Many of our clients ask about how relevant having content is to getting good quality links. Well there are ways of getting links without it, but having great content is one of the best long term ways to gain quality links which add value. Strategies not involving content tend to be less effective but some of them can still can help increase your link building. In effect, content is incredibly important, but should ideally be one component of an overall strategy.


Advertising

Big brands focus on advertising because it can make a massive impact on where they are on Google rankings. You will notice businesses advertising anywhere and everywhere online. Effectively, this advertising is content elsewhere online which tells users of their business and links back to their website. Content around the web can consist of videos, images, text and banners which relates back to the site. The primary reason to do this is because advertising both off and on site allows a larger audience to be exposed to your business. As you will see when you go on any kind of site that has video integrated advertising, you will notice that during the video, there will be advertising of services and products. A great example of this is Compare the Market having there videos, banners, text and images all over YouTube and Sky News, linking back to their website. The costs of advertising on site such as YouTube would be extensive, so this is pretty much ruled out for small to medium businesses, however, there are some good alternatives to provide this service on a smaller scale.

Ingrained Product or Service

This is a service or product that you share with others which you are able to keep coming back to. A great example of this is Pinterest, a service which allows users to share pictures with other people and then send them a link to the relevant corresponding website. The use of Pinterest for small businesses has allowed more visitors to be introduced to the website through the links given out and shared. Pinterest has an extremely high PR (Page Rank) score, which means that links coming from this are strong. This is due to people constantly coming back to the site and introducing others to it, as well as the content being refreshed constantly by its users. This makes it a prime site for small to medium business use.

Recommendations

What we mean by this, is that people talking about and recommending your business can provide excellent quality links to your site. If you have another business which you have worked with, they might be happy to advertise your site via a link on their site. You may also want to return the favour by linking back to their website in return, providing a great link opportunity for both sites. Although this is a good idea, recommendation links take a relationship with another business which can take time to build up. An example of high quality linking between sites is Microsoft and 343 Industries, both have reciprocal links that promote each other on their websites.

Community

Having a community relating to your business can cause people to generate content on your behalf. For example Stumble Upon allows people to post and interact with others, with most of its content coming from the community creating their own content for the site. Community is a powerful way to create content without the need to invest time in generating it yourself.

Blogs/Authority

Having a blog on your website is a great way to generate content and keep content fresh and updated. Blogs allow your target audience to read about things going on in your business in realtime and are also a good way of engaging with them in a less formal way than the text on the actual website. It also allows you to become an authority in your area of expertise so people will come back to your page at a later date for anything relating to your business area, eventually generating sales. You can invite guest bloggers to write for your blog, who may also promote their articles elsewhere, again providing linking opportunities as well as good content.

For more information on anything online marketing related, visit our website by clicking here.

What’s the point of Social media?

Social Media has grown from the heart of the internet over many years and allows people to communicate though what is fast becoming known as the new 'word of mouth'. There are so many different types of social media used in different ways, which are all adapting over time. Not only are social media platforms accessible via your computer, now users are able to access it via anything from a mobile to a tablet or TV, making it even more accessible and prominent. Allowing any user to access social media anywhere and everywhere also means users are updated instantly, in real time, meaning anyone who has a device connected to the internet can access the shared data instantly.

So why is this good for a business?

With the ability for people to access social media everywhere, business should think of this as a prime opportunity to attract new customers. Some businesses find social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter too 'social' 'relaxed' to be implemented into their business strategy and therefore think it is unneeded. This is where they are wrong; social media can provide a massive impact on a business either by creating business or making relationships with other business, and providing information quickly to your audience. Another feature of social media is its almost always completely free, meaning you can get your message across to the target audience for free....how many other marketing platforms do you know that offer that kind of ROI?

Another great benefit of social media for business is it allows information to be spread easily, for example the 'like' button on Facebook means that when a user likes your content, it will show up on their profile and allow all their friends to see it. With an average user having around 300 friends, this makes the reach of social media incredible. This makes more people aware of the subject, and therefore of your brand.

Social media doesn’t just connect clients to a business, but businesses to other businesses. This commonly happens on twitter, what twitter allow users to do is announce or quote something that will appear to anyone who is following the user. If the tweet reaches a business that shares or replies to the tweet this might instigate a relationship between both businesses, or provide a great start to discussions.

Another great example of the uses of social media is video marketing. Creating video content and then just posting them on your site means that the only people who are going to see them are the people who visit the site. Posting them out via social media channels would allow them to be seen by the public and generate a wider audience. From there they can be linked to by other social media services like Facebook or Twitter allowing an even wider audience to see the video, making people aware of what the business does.

What the downsides to social media?

The downside to social media is it needs a constant eye on productivity. This can cause issues for some businesses as they may not have time to handle the interaction with social media to get the most out of it. It doesn’t help that to get the most out of social media requires an audience, and the process of getting people to link or add you is tricky. There are different techniques but almost all of them take time and a lot of attention.

Content has to be provided to make people more interest in your social media message, if no content is given then there isn’t much chance that viewer of the social media will be interested in sharing it. This is another time constraint on businesses.

Conclusion

The reason why businesses should use social media is basically as it allows your business to extend and grow, helping it to move forward and be perceived as a 'modern' business. As we all know, the internet is changing the world and now allows people to communicate with one another when they could be on the opposite side of the world geographically. What this does is allows business to communicate and increase the chance of getting more customers and create relationships with other businesses. Not only does this happen, but if a company has a good social media presence this will also result in the SEO being enhanced.

The reason why business should use social media is basically it allows you to extend and grow your online presence, helping you to move forward and be perceived as modern at the same time. 

Like with most areas of business and productivity, everything takes time and investment, all social media is free but getting the most from it takes a lot of time and attention.

Who are we?

We are Red Cow Media, and online marketing agency that specialise in SEO, WebDesign and Social Media marketing. We provide a social media service which helps enhance your social media presence, getting people to connect and spreading your business message. For more information you can talk to one of our friendly team or visit the website by clicking here. 

5 ways to enhance your online marketing

Firstly who are we? We are Red Cow Media an Online Marketing Agency that provides different services to increase the chance of an audience finding you and using your services. We have over 20 years’ experience in this field and seen how rapidly online marketing can change.  Here are ways in which you can enhance your online marketing:

Web Design

One fundamental way to enhance your online marketing is the attractiveness and professionalism of your website; in today’s internet-led world, your website is your main tool to reflect your company, making it a key way to improve your online marketing. A website should always suit the business, including enough detail of what it does, and should provide valid information related to the business, as well as being visually appealing.

The vast majority of consumers will now look to websites when looking for a service online, checking the website out first before investing their money. Consumers are also influenced by different aspects of the site, including:

• Loading Time
• Attractiveness
• Professionalism
• Quality and Quantity of Information

All these aspect should be taken into consideration when looking to enhance the chances of customers choosing your site over the hundreds of other competitors.

SEO

A massive problem with online marketing is that a business has a fantastic looking website, which they may have paid a large amount of money for, but no business coming from it. It essential to have customers going to your website and this can be done through SEO, or “Search Engine Optimisation”.

There are two different types of SEO, off page and on page optimisation, in a nutshell, it helps potential customers find your website and gets it in front of a wider audience.

The on page optimisation deals with what is on the website and in the website code, and what could be improved to help the search engines identify that your site is exactly what the customer is looking for in their search. Off page optimisation comes from quality link building, through a variety of techniques including content generation, articles and reciprocal linking to relevant sites.

Link Building

This is a huge part of the SEO process which needs to be an ongoing effort. It comes under off page optimisation and uses different techniques to help increase the chance of the customers finding your website.  Link building is like a voting system, every link accounts for one vote and this allows search engines to find which page are important and the most popular. 

Over time link building has changed with different algorithms, making it a fighting battle to keep up with the latest techniques in link building. What link building essentially does is create more interest in the site and increases its visibility, opening up doors to a wider audience.

Social Media

One commonly missed part of online marketing is social media, which allows the user to keep a connection with the customer and, again, be used for getting to a wider audience.  Social Media is accessible to anyone and can be customised, it now takes up a huge proportion of online presence and it is seen as a weakness to a business if they haven’t got a social presence. It also allows a business to engage with the target audience on a more personal, accessible level.

One of the main features with Social Media is that is can be seen or accessed almost anywhere, allowing people to see what the business is providing at any time and increasing the chance of the customer picking your company.

It is a myth that for successful Social Media Marketing you need to spend hours each week on the various different pages, it’s all about targeting the right people.

E Marketing

All businesses keep records, email addresses from current customers, old customers and potential customers. They are the easiest record of data to capture and can prove an essential tool in your online marketing arsenal. The most important way of using this data is through e-mail marketing.

Sending the right information at the right time cannot only improve visits to your site but also turn those potential clients into actual clients.

If you found this article interesting, you can check out “Make It, Find It,Share It” where we explain what we mean by the phrase and how it may help you. Alternatively, you can find more information about us on our website by clicking here.

Only 1% of SMEs use Social Media!

Only 1% of SMEs use Social Media!

According to a recent survey completed by TalkTalk Business, only 1% of SMEs in the UK utilise social media sites like Facebook and Twitter as new business tools.

Can this be true? Apparently so! I recently read an article in The Drum which highlighted this and, I have to say, I was more than a little surprised. Social Media platforms are most suited to SMEs in that they are free to use, and help to engage directly with their existing, as well as potential, customers. In 2011, Facebook surpassed even Google in terms of internet usage….yet most companies will invest in a website but not give social media a second thought, meaning they are only covering themselves in half of the online market space.

 

From reading many articles about the emergence of social media specifically as a business tool, I have gleaned that this is mainly down to a classic case of ‘fear of the unknown’. “What does it do?”, “how do we use it?” and “Where do we start?” are all questions we encounter on an almost daily basis. The answer to this is to have a clear cut strategy in place for your social media usage. As with most forms of marketing, you need to have a defined plan. This can be difficult when you don’t fully understand what you’re working with yet, so don’t be afraid to ask for a little advice or input – sometimes the best ideas for content etc come from customers themselves.

It is really important that you don’t overtly try to ‘sell’ your products and services to your online audience. We see far too many cases of repeated posts of “buy our new this” and “we sell that cheaper than such a body”….this is not the way to go. Obviously the ultimate aim is to generate more or repeated business from your social media usage, but this should be done in a more engaging way. Try instead to be informative about the products/services and become a bit of a guru of information within your specified area. Chat with people, ask questions and answer their questions. The idea is to engage with your audience in a way which will leave an impression, making you the first company they think of when they think of a certain product/service.

Another thing to consider is that social media is a long term investment. It won’t generate massive results over night, and it is not a ‘quick fix’, but don’t give up on it! Over time, it is an excellent way of attracting/gaining presence and retaining business and it WILL work if you do it properly and persevere with it.

Perhaps the most important aspect of your strategy, along with what to post, is where to post to. There are so many social media platforms in use, so it is important to gauge which ones will be best suited to the audience you are trying to target. For example, trying to endorse a video game is likely to have a lot of success on Facebook, but yield very little on LinkedIn. Gauging which outlets will have the greatest impact is all about analising where your customers are more likely to frequent.

I will end with a comment from Paul Lawton, MD of TalkTalk Business -
“Social media can prove invaluable as a new business tool and so it’s worrying to see that so few SMEs are embracing it. Its business benefits range from being able to engage and understand the needs of customers and prospects through to gaining insights into target markets and perceptions of your organisation or brand”.

For more information on Social Media and how it can be used to help your business, contact me at kelly@redcowmedia.co.uk

If you are interested in getting social media or any type of online marketing service, please visit our website at by clicking here.