A good website is crucial for any business these days, but to take full advantage of the internet as a marketing tool, you need to be in control of your web presence and to be able to update it easily. It may be that you have a website, and you like the look of it, and the image it presents, but are frustrated by the fact that every time you want to change something, you have to go to your web designer to make the change. Well If this is you, there is good news… Enter WordPress, the industry leading, open source Content Management/Blogging system. Using WordPress, we can take the design of your existing website & convert it into a fully content managed site, and because WordPress is such a flexible system, it needn’t cost the earth. From an SEO perspective too, WordPress ticks all the boxes, with Google’s Matt Cutts have been quoted as saying “WordPress takes care of 80-90% of Google’s crawling issues simply through its design. Because WordPress itself has high ranking, it makes an excellent platform for not only blogging but for any web site.” You will find full details of this interview here Once in WordPress, you will be able to make amendments to most elements of your site using a simple web based interface. What’s more, if you want to further develop your site, the nature of WordPress makes this a relatively straight forward and economical process. BSA Marketing have a great deal of experience in developing and converting sites to WordPress, you will find some examples of our work here. If you would like to take control of your site, and explore the possibilities of converting it to WordPress, get in touch. We would be happy to look at your site & discuss the options.
Month: July 2011
Is Google +1 yet another nail in the coffin of traditional SEO?
Over the past few months, Google have been rolling out their +1 button on search results and websites. The button allows users to “vote” for which sites and results in Google search they find useful. For a while now, Google have been talking about how they want to factor social interaction into their search results. It is pretty obvious that the plus one button is a key tool in this objective. Further supporting this is a quote from the Webmaster Central blog: “We expect that these personalized annotations will help sites stand out by showing users which search results are personally relevant to them. As a result, +1’s could increase both the quality and quantity of traffic to the sites people care about.” One SEO company (SEOmoz) has experimented with this, and discovered that it did have a significant impact on a pages search performance. they shared shared page specifically set up for the purpose through his Google+ profile and then encouraged folks to share it through Google+, but not through Twitter, Facebook, direct linking, etc. Within minutes the post was shared dozens of times, and Two hours later, this test URL ranked #1 for its keyword phrase in Google search results. You will find full details of the experiment here. All of this adds impact to what we have been saying; “The key to internet marketing is being valued by your market, and you are seen as valuable if you deliver good, interesting content that is relevant to your target audience”. What the Google + 1 button does is allows people to show their approval for your content, and this approval will have a positive impact on your search results, helping you to Be Heard. So rather than spend resources on “Traditional SEO”, we would recommend that once you have done the basic on page optimisation, you should devote your time to generating good interesting content, and communicating it to those people you know. Then encourage them to “+1” your content if they like it. This should in turn make the content easier to find for those people who you don’t know, creating a positive spiral.
Marketing and Development Grants for North West SME companies with a focus on R&D
Even in these austere times, with the government clawing back any spare funding they can, there are still pockets of opportunity. The TR&DE programme from UKTI offers up to £3000 (which supported companies must match to give a total of up to £6000 funding) to SME businesses based in the North West who get involved with Research & Development to support activity to promote export trade. The programme also offers (in addition to the funding) access to international trade expertise from Grant Thornton and EV. Funding can be used for a range of activities including:
- Market research projects for new overseas market entry
- Assistance with international marketing and branding, including website development and marketing materials
- Advice relating to international commerce and e-commerce protocols
- A review of existing IP assets and protection, strategy and future requirements
- Legal advice around international commercial agreements
- Attendance at overseas conferences
- Assistance in identifying and recruiting new staff to help enter international markets
The programme is limited to a maximum of 230 companies and applications must be made by 19 August 2011 Here is some further info from UKTI: Introduction to the TR&DE funding programme Or contact me: davidw@bsamarketing.com for more details and to help you: