Why are google asking webmasters to have a mobile friendly website?
As you are probably aware Google are rolling out an update on the 21st April 2015 to penalise websites which aren’t mobile friendly.
The reason for this is Google are looking to improve the experience that website visitors receive when going to websites that are recommended by Google in the search results. Google feel that if they don’t provide their users with websites that are mobile friendly and provide the user with a good experience, then these users may use a different search engine to find the content that they are looking for.
Google are simply trying to ensure that their users have an optimal experience no matter what device they are using. Remember this is an opportunity to not just improve your website to meet Google Guidelines but to also bring your website up to date and provide a great user experience for potential customers that may be viewing your website.
There are more than 1.5 billion mobile Internet users worldwide and roughly 80 percent of Internet users own a smartphone and over 55% of searches on Google.com come from Mobile or Tablet Devices.
For more information about how this update can affect your website contact us on 0121 766 8087 or email your account manager.
Why Conversion Tracking Should be Your Number 1 Priority in PPC Campaigns
When running a PPC campaign Google provides a whole range of data that allows you to get the most out of the money you are spending on the campaign. Using all of the available tools will allow you to manage the data and allow the Account/Campaign to perform to its best.
ROI – Return on Investment
ROI is the revenue generated for every pound that is spent or the amount of profit generated from the ads within the campaign. This is one of the most important pieces of data that should be monitored as this is the overall figure that tells you how successful the campaign is performing.
Conversion Tracking
Conversion Tracking is another tool that is provided by Google and allows the user to see what happens after a customer has clicked on the Ad. Using this data will allow you to see which Ads are bringing in the most business and help invest in the best ones, which will ultimately boost your ROI.
So when running a PPC campaign make sure that all the tracking tools available are set up correctly as these will ultimately help you achieve the goals that you have identified will bring success from your campaign.
If you would like to enquire about Pay Per Click account management, please contact eSterling.
Is your website ready for the Boxing Day rush?
According to Experian Hitwise the busiest day for online retailers in 2010 wasn’t in the run up to Christmas – it was Boxing Day.
Online Retailers in the UK saw traffic levels rise 12% higher than pre-Christmas Traffic Peaks. The second busiest day was the day after – the 27th December. It seems that a lot of turkey-stuffed shoppers are beating the queues and shopping in online sales, rather than hitting the high street.
If you haven’t already thought about how to attract visitors to your website over the festive season, then it’s not too late for a pay-per-click campaign. Trying Google Adwords could be one the best ways to turn some of this festive traffic into conversions for your website. We still have some Google Adwords vouchers available if you want to give it a try, so call us today!
Is your website ready for the Christmas shopping rush?
November is upon us and that can only mean one thing – it’s practically Christmas! Consumers are sure to start their Christmas shopping in the next few weeks and many people will be turning to online stores to beat the queues.
A recent study by e-commerce data quality experts at Postcode Anywhere polled a thousand UK consumers. The results show that while 25% of consumers plan to buy more Christmas presents online this year than last, only 5% will reduce their online spend.
Postcode Anywhere’s sales and marketing director Phil Rothwell said, “With 5% set to reduce spend and 25% to spend more, all things being equal, retailers could well be looking at a rise of around 20% in online sales this Christmas, a similar increase to last year. This is a fairly significant finding, but possibly not a surprising one given the circumstances.”
If you own an e-commerce website you should be thinking about how you can maximise seasonal sales. An easy way to do this is to start an Adwords campaign, which allows you to advertise on Google quickly and simply. You can choose your own monthly budget and even control when your ad appears.
If you already have an Adwords campaign, you should think about increasing your budget from now until January to maximise Christmas sales. Don’t forget that many consumers will be looking for great deals in January as well!
Here at eSterling we can provide you with assistance with Adwords, so if you would like to find out more please get in touch.
Are paid links bad for my website?
I often hear people in the SEO world saying all paid links are bad news. If you’re buying links from link farms or spammy sites then Google may penalise your website, but there are also a lot of good quality links out there that are up for grabs.
These could include links generated through press releases, directory listings, article submissions or adverts. All of these sources create links that will bring relevant traffic to your website. They are also available from genuine sources. So why should Google penalise you for paying for these links?
In fact, Google likes to see your site being given a ‘thumbs-up’ by other websites, as this shows positive interaction with your brand. Think of the times you’ve shared a link to a site with a friend because you’ve found it helpful, or fun, or interesting…
So next time you hear the term paid links don’t automatically think ‘bad’, because there are a number of paid links that could be beneficial to your website. Simply give us a call for more information about how to create good quality links to improve your Google rankings.
Why is Duplicate Content Bad for my Website?
Nobody likes a copycat – especially Google. That’s why having content duplicated on multiple websites is a big no-no when it comes to SEO.
Google will reward your website for having unique content – and will punish accordingly if it doesn’t. Using the same copy from the web throughout your site, for directory listings; or even copying and pasting from another site (naughty you!) can seriously harm your search engine rankings.
We have recently been working with a website which had great rankings throughout Bing, Yahoo and other major search engines, but was not getting anywhere in Google. A search using Copyscape showed that the content on the home page was also being used in a number of directories such as Applegate.
Google was therefore penalising the website thinking that the text had simply been copied from the directories. By re-writing the content for the directories we recovered the search engine positions for this site in Google – happy days!
Make sure that you check your site for duplicate content – and each time you join a directory don’t just copy and paste! Take a little time to re-write your content and Google will love you for it. And if your copy is sloppy, simply get in touch with us about our copywriting service.
Article Marketing Insights
Unlike onsite text content (such as blog posts which are on your site), offsite content is posted on other websites.
Article Marketing is a form of offsite content in which articles about your products and services are submitted to article websites. Article sites are like an online library containing thousands of unique articles from different authors across a variety of different categories and topics.
Google rewards these sites for having fresh and unique content and over time, the individual articles are also given credibility in their own right and begin to appear in Google searches. This also makes the links within the articles more important.
Article Marketing is included as part of your new monthly eMarketing service. This process involves selecting relevant information about your business, products or services and shaping this into a quality original article.
I do this by taking a look at your website and doing a little research into the topic. The finished article is then uploaded to several article sites and your company is cited as the author, along with a link to your website.
This method is a great way of getting links to your website from other trusted sites and showing Google you are part of the greater internet community.
Article Submissions are also brilliant for the credibility of your website, as you are demonstrating that your business is proactive in the online community. In time, your site will become more and more trusted, leading to better rankings in Google. As a Copywriter, I find that article submissions are a fantastic way to show that you are engaged with your industry and your customers.
If you would like to have a go at writing an offsite article yourself, check out http://ezinearticles.com as a good example of the type of article marketing sites that we use.
If you would like to have more articles written and submitted by me, just let me know! Call me today on 0121 766 4080.
Blogs are Good for Business (and Google like’s them too!)
I speak with many people about how to improve their Internet Marketing. One suggestion I often make is to have a regularly updated Blog on their site. Many people have heard of the term, but I’m all too often asked; ‘What actually is a Blog?’ and ‘How will it help my business?’
Think of it from Google’s prospective for a moment. Imagine how many websites there are in the world all competing to appear on the first page. How does Google decide which websites deserve to be on page one?
There are many factors Google assesses in its decision making process, one of these factors is how new and unique the content is on your website. Has there been any new content added to the site since 2010? Or are you keeping your site’s content up-to-date regularly and sharing information with users? Are visitors to your site, interacting with the content you creating for them?
If you had to choose between thousands of websites, would you opt to visit the site where there haven’t been any changes for years? Or would you want to see what’s new on the site that makes updates every week?
A key part to being a good Blogger is remembering that you are creating content for your users, not just Google.
Well written, good quality content is good for your business’ reputation, it enables your users to openly interact and share thoughts and ideas with you and in turn your site is rewarded for all your hard work.
Another crucial part to Blogging is to ensure you respond to user comments, no one likes to be ignored regardless of what platform the conversation takes place.
No one understands your business and your customers as well as you do, but we also understand that finding the time to invest into creating blog posts for your website is very difficult.
eSterling are able to create blog posts for you. We always have both the search engines and your customers in mind when we create blogs for your website. This means that every blog post is created from scratch by our professional Copywriter and each post is unique and relevant.
From only £25 per post, you can have a professional Blog and be on your way to creating your own library of useful information to keep both your website visitors and Google happy.
Call Cassandra our Copywriter direct on (0121) 766 4080 to discuss Blogs in more detail.
Google releases +1 button for social search recommendations
The social web has just moved +1 closer to influencing Google Search.
Its recommendation system is similar to Facebook “Likes”, except the big difference being that +1’s also appear in Google search results.
This will only appear for users which are signed into their Google Account and you’ll also need to update your settings via the Dashboard (when it’s fully released). However at the moment it’s not fully live, so in order to get started now you can activate it via Google Labs here as an experiment.
What can I +1?
• Organic search results
• Paid search results
• Website pages (if the visited website incorporates the +1 button)
It’s likely that +1 buttons will be added to other Google properties too.
How will +1 help?
Is Google Natural Search the place for social recommendations? But recommendations are great, right? So why wouldn’t you want them in your search results?
+1’s appear publicly in search, on ads, your Google profile and across the web. This means that the results recommended by your friends will appear in relevant results. (So let’s hope you trust all your “friend’s” recommendations). It won’t just show your friend’s recommendations it will also use other connections such as Gmail contacts and Twitter followers, for example.
Your own +1’s will appear in a tab in your Google Profile. However, this will depend on whether you have allowed your +1’s to be visible to the public.
How will +1 influence PPC?
Google states that no changes will be needed with your current search ads as this won’t affect your Quality Score. Google go on to mention that : “(+1s will be one of many signals we use to calculate organic search ranking)”.
This strengthens the case for social media to influence rankings.
Is +1 going to be the new hurdle for customer services? Or will social media only effects results for socially active consumers?
Internet users are on the move; make sure your website is mobile too.
Did you know that the number of mobile internet users is set to surpass desktop internet users within the next four year’s?
There is a very good chance that at least 5% of your customers, prospects or friends are browsing your website at this moment using mobile handheld devices.
What is the difference between a mobile website and my existing website?
New mobile browsing technology, such as the Apple iPad and iPhone and other smart phones have much smaller displays than traditional PC and laptop monitors.
Mobile sites are specially designed for these devices, and are quick and simple to use on mobile devices. This means that mobile users are able to access your website asily thus helping your company tap into a lucrative audience of new customers that want access to your website when they’re on the go.
The potential of mobile websites can not be ignored and this is why:
• 89% of the UK population have (or use) a mobile phone.
• Smartphone sales increased by 48.7% to 54.3 million units in this year’s first quarter.
• Smartphone usage is up 70% and growing faster in the UK than Europe.
• In the past three months, monthly Android traffic has grown at a rate of 43%. In 2009, monthly traffic from Android devices grew at a rate of 38%.
• As the number of mobile internet users looks set to surpass desktop internet users within the next 4 years, mobile advertising is expected to grow to £355m in Britain by 2014.
• The UK is 5th biggest mobile internet market globally.
• 7.1 million Brits now access the internet through their mobile phones.
Mobile internet browsing is popular because it is fast and easy to use. It allows people to access websites, products and services when they want, wherever they want. This type of internet user will expect to find mobile websites, and ignore those which do not meet their expectations.
If you find that your current website looks great on a desktop, but is not suitable for mobile users, then it’s time to get a mobile website that suits the purpose perfectly.
By investing in a specialist mobile website, you are showing your customer base that your company is at the forefront of new technology. This attracts tech-savvy customers or key decision makers using mobile technology due to travel and busy schedules to choose you over your competitors.
A mobile website will not replace your existing site, but make sure you are leading the way and contact eSterling today about your new mobile website.