If you are using Google Analytics to track your Marketing Activity (and if you aren’t, you should be!). Then you may find this tool useful.

Analytics tracking link creator

The tool will allow you to create links that can be specifically tracked as campaigns in Goggle Analytics. For example, if you are running an email campaign, and you want to track how much site traffic the email generates, simple create a link to the landing page using this tool, and insert this into the email as the link to your site.

You will then be able to track the visitors generated by the email campaign under the “campaigns” section of Google Analytics.

Some email marketing systems (ours included) will generate these links automatically. However if the system you use does not, or you would like to track non email campaigns. this is a very useful tool.

Many business owners know that they could be doing more with the internet to promote their company but often they are not sure where to start.

Search Engine Optimisation, Sponsored Links, Website Updates, Blogs, Social Networking and E-mail marketing are just some of the options on offer. Which can be most beneficial to me? – or should I be looking at a strategy combining a number of approaches?

As an accredited associate of the Manufacturing Advisory Service – North West, BSA Marketing can undertake a comprehensive review of your web strategy to help clarify your options and show the best way forward.

If your North West based business is an SME* involved with the manufacturing/processing sector then the review could be100% funded** so there would be no cost to you. Get more information on the web reviews here

Even better, if you decide on things you want to do, you may be eligible** for further government subsidised project implementation work. Get more information on subsidised** project work here

NOTES:

*SME definition:

Companies with up to 250 employees and/or up to €50m turnover. In addition, no more than 25% of the company should be owned by a group with more than 250 employees and/or €50m turnover.

**Eligibility and Availability:

• All MAS services are subject to availability and eligibility criteria.
• Free reviews and subsidised project work are available to North West based small and medium size (SME**) manufacturers or related companies (including research, design, logistics & warehousing etc).
• Large North West manufacturers and related companies can benefit from a free MAS review if they engage their suppliers to benefit from the MAS programme.
• Due to limited availability, MAS North West reserves the right to prioritise its subsidised services.
• Companies not eligible for MAS subsidised support can purchase MAS services at standard rates.

RSS feeds are a great way of adding dynamic content to your site, but what if the content you are wanting to add does not offer an RSS feed.

The answer lies in free tools that create an RSS feed from any dynamic listing on any website. All you do is sign up for an account, and follow a couple of simple steps to create the feed.

Obviously google offer this service through their feedburner site feedburner.google.com. Alternatively, if you would prefer not to give Google even more information about your activities, there are other tools out there including www.ponyfish.com.

You can see the end result on www.net-recruit.co.uk who use a feed generator to deliver the “Latest Jobs” section of their homepage.

You can also use these sites to create RSS feeds for content on your site. A great way to encourage those all important backlinks!!

Optimising images for use on the web is one of those tasks that is simple if you have the right tools. If you happen to have image editing software like photoshop or Fireworks, its a 2 minute task, but these are expensive & if all you want to do is quickly resize a picture they are overkill.

In trying to solve this issue for a client recently, we came across a couple of useful free tools , so I thought I would share them with you.

The first is an online tool – http://www.resizr.com/ no software to install, and very simple to use.

The second is a desktop solution, but again it is free, and it alows batch resizing, so if you have a number of images to process, this can save time.

You can download this from our resources page. If you find them useful, let us know.

Having worked with clients on the development of their web presence over the last 10 years, one of the key issues we have identified is ensuring that a site is kept up to date. A static site which is updated a couple of times are year is likely to do your image more harm than good, so the question is how do you keep your site fresh & up to date.

In my view the answer is content management in some form or another. In is most basic form, a content management system (CSM) allows a non technical user to update & edit content on a site through (usually) a web interface.

Historically, CMS systems have been very expensive to implement, but this is no longer the case, and there is really nothing to prevent the use of a content management system on any site, but the question is which one.

In my opinion, the answer is “It depends on what you are trying to achieve”, as different solutions offer different benefits. For this reason, we would use a range of tools to meet the clients requirements. Our starting point is always:

“What are your business & marketing objectives, and how can we use the web to help you achieve these?”

With this in mind, we now focus on the use of the following systems:

• CRE Loaded – For E-commerce sites, where the prime objective is direct online trading
• Joomla – For information based sites where dialogue with users is a priority
• WordPress – for blogging functionality
• Slideshow Pro – For image & video gallery functionality

With the exception of the last (Slide show pro) these are all open source, and all have basic versions that can be downloaded for free (you will find links to them on our links page).

What we bring to the party is the experience of working with these tools to ensure that they meet your objectives.

Having developed many sites using these tools, we have the skills to maximise functionality & cut development times (our record is 4 days from agreement of design to the site going live!).

We also have the marketing skills to ensure that your new site will become central to you business development programme.

But ultimately, whether you do it yourself, or use a company like ourselves to develop your site, the benefits of a site that you can manage yourself are extensive, and definitely worth consideration.

If you are looking for help in developing your web marketing, or are after some advice on the best direction to take, feel free to call us for a chat, we are always happy to talk.

If you are into SEO or Pay Per Click advertising, you will always be looking for new keyword tools. I have seen a couple launched this week. One of these is free & offered by Google.

www.google.com/sktool/

The tool links into an existing PPC account (if you have one) along with your website content & suggests keywords based on this. It looks like an interesting tool and is definitely worth checking out.

If you want more info on the tool & how it works, the help pages can be accessed on the
google help pages

Over ther years of our link building activities for ourselves and for clients, we have been building a list of Marketing Directories relevant to UK organisations, so I thought it would be good to share with you.There is a perminant link to the list on our Blogroll.

I came across a very useful tool yesterday designed to answer just this question. If you can’t see your website, you need to know is the server down, or is it just you who can’t access it (maybe due to connectivity problems).

Here is a very simple tool for checking this:

www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com

Simply enter the domain you want to check & click the link & the system will tell you if the website is down, or whether its “Just you”

I am always on the lookout for good free tool tools to assist in web marketing efforts, and as the ability to create PDFs is key in developing websites & email marketing campaigns, I though this one was highly relevant.

Primo PDF installs as a print driver just like the Adobe tool, and is very simple to use, and it is free.

You can access the PrimoPDF webiste via the following link:

www.primopdf.com