Marketing Tom - Internet Marketing

Have You Considered a Hybrid Blog?

Over the past few works I have been working with my colleagues at EMCOE (eMarketing Centre of Excellence) to put the finishing touches to the new website. My main responsibility has been the creation of all the content, page titles, headers and links for the site. The site has been built using a WordPress theme and we have used a couple of iStockPhotos for the images. The site only went live about 10 days' or so ago but has already had 11 pages indexed by Google - most of them our 'services pages', though 1 or 2 blog articles have already been picked up.

We like to call the site a 'hybrid blog' - it isn't a standard corporate website simply detailing company information, though neither is it a 'pure blog'. It sits in-between with the home page highlighting recent blog articles and most sub-pages featuring what the organisation has to offer. It was very important for us to build a site which presented information on our services to new, and existing clients - from 4 day courses and workshops to consultancy  - whilst also offering Internet Marketing information and resources to those who had used our services.

The really interesting (exciting?) thing is that at this very early stage Google has indexed the site on both its main search engine and on its blog search engine. Doing a search for an article I wrote on the Wales Marketing Innovation Forum on Google displays this listing on page 1:

When you move over to Google's Blog Search, the same search places not the Emcoe home page (www.emcoe.co.uk) but the Emcoe blog article (http://www.emcoe.co.uk/index.php/2007/09/13/wales-marketing-innovation-forum/) number 1 of its blog results for the phrase: Wales Marketing Innovation Forum

The curious thing is that the above article has not even been spidered by Google's main search engine yet!

TypePad and iPhone - Already On My Amazon Christmas Wishlist

As many people who visit this site know, this blog is created using the TypePad blogging software. I have long been a fan of TypePad and have built, and helped create, a number of sites using this platform. The company is truly at the forefront of social networking and always comes up with new and innovative additions to make the service even better. From tagging, to simple sidebar add-ons, CAPTCHA technology and easy-to-create html pages they are always pushing the boundaries.

Since the beginning (I think they started in 2004) their technology has allowed bloggers to 'moblog' but now, they've made it even better by creating a TypePad interface for the iPhone. With the advanced technology of the iPhone it looks (I have seen but not touched!) like blogging on a phone couldn't be easier. The screenshots from the TyepPad website look great and the YouTube video demonstration below makes this a must-have product for Christmas for blogging on the move!

First Impressions On the Web Do Count

I was in a meeting yesterday with a client and prospective Web developer and we were discussing how the way that people searched for information had changed. The client was convinced that the Internet was the way forward for their high-value purchase, B2B products. They also said something very interesting and relevant, “first impressions count as much today as they have always done”.

We were sat in a room where the key, "traditional" tools for competitor and/or B2B search/research could be found – Yellow Pages and Kelly’s. Even though these are increasingly being seen as tools of the past, along with local libraries, I still speak to clients who view the Internet with reluctance/cynicism and still use these methods (if I don't have my machine in front of me, I use them as a last resort). Common phrases from these clients include: “that’s not the way that people in my industry find out about companies”, “people haven’t got time to use the Internet” or “our clients tend to speak to others in the industry for recommendations”.

All of these are perfectly good arguments but, let’s not beat about the bush, the Internet has changed everything – and especially so if you’re living in the UK, USA and other countries that have fully embraced the technology. When people are looking for company information they tend to use the Internet, when they receive a business card from you they check out your Web address and when someone recommends your business they will check out your company on-line. So many B2B companies develop websites which so badly reflect their product and service offerings and often leave potential clients bewildered, underwhelmed and convinced they will not work with that organization.

The bottom line is this – your clients are going to check you out on the Internet, Google is the favoured tool for doing background and market research  and first impressions do count.

Google on Google Reader

Google have come up with a very simple, yet very effective, way of teaching people about the benefits of RSS - obviously with reference to Google Reader. It just goes to show that with some A4 printouts, a "flat" white board and a digital camera you can create great video.

Grazie

When Web Developers Should Get Back To Basics

I have two objectives in writing this article: the first is to have a small rant about web developers and the second is to prove that by writing relevant content this article will leapfrog ahead of at least one of the sites that these web developers created.

Earlier this week I was trying to find information about two events: the first I will be attending in Swansea and the second was an event where one of my client's had one a prize. Let's take a look at both events.

Lead On 2007 - Liberty Stadium, Swansea
This is an event that is being held in Swansea's Liberty Stadium. It is being organised by the Institute of Directors, Chartered Management Institute, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Wales Management Council and the Chartered Institute of Marketing company called Cazbah. According to the website (more later) the event is geared towards leaders and managers. Speakers include Richard Scase, David Magliano, Dina Matta and Ian Williams, amongst others. It is billed to be one of Wales' top business events of 2007.

Showcase Wales and National Tourism Awards 2007
This Visit Wales (Wales Tourist Board) event was held at Bodelwyddan Castle, North Wales between the 2nd-4th October and according to their website:

The National Tourism Awards for Wales are all about showcasing the very best that Wales has to offer. Turning the spotlight on the stars of Welsh tourism and showing what can be achieved through, hard work, ingenuity and commitment.

At the 3-day event the Showcase Wales and National Tourism Awards 2007 website said that around 250 international travel agents and buyers would be there to do business with Wales' tourism companies.The Awards Ceremony was hosted by the BBC's Huw Edwards and Rob Brydon supplied the comedy.

What are the problems with these site?

Lead On 2007 - the website for this event is almost entirely made up of Jpeg images. We are not talking about standard images here but graphic images of text. The only part of the Lead On 2007 site which is not made up of images is the navigation. Further SEO faux pas include not using keywords like "Swansea" or "Liberty Stadium" in the page titles and no meta descriptions.

I am sure that there will be many people like myself will use Google to get information about the Lead On event in the coming weeks and will be unable to find the site. If you're reading this the web address is: www.leadon2007.com. Good SEO practice would  dictate that  I include a link to their site but this would probably give them a small boost on Google - forget that!

Showcase Wales and National Tourism Awards 2007 - I must admit that over the past week the SEO ranking for this event has climbed up and the site does feature number 1 on Google for the search terms "Showcase Wales" and "tourism awards wales". However, I would say that this has more to do with links from those sites who won awards, press releases and news sites than good SEO on their part.

The big problem I had with this site had to do with its design and content. I felt that for a major Wales Tourism event the Showcase Wales website was, and is, a major disappointment. It had no WOW! factor, lack of good images and information was generally very old. Let's take an example - I was interested to find out who the finalists for awards were and instead of the names was offered an application form (entires closed in June!).  I won't discuss some of the issues that potential buyers may have had.

As for trying to find press releases on the site I have given up and now am relying on my client's own.

One of the problems with sites such as this is that PR and Marketing companies try to create web sites either in-house or get graphic designers to design sites for them. And invariably, these people are usually ill-equipped to do projects like this - they don't have the necessary web design, usability or SEO skills to do projects much justice.

The Solution

If you're looking for ways to create good event sites, take a peek at the Future of Web Apps site. The Le Web 3 website and the Search Marketing Expo site offer straightforward, easy-to-use examples of how to build event sites. The French site was actually built using the same technology as this site and aside from design the cost of the site (except booking) was probably under £79 per year!

Update
For the terms "Lead on 2007 Swansea" this site is number 1.