ConversionTactics.co.uk

Unlimited PPC for £75.00!?!!

admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:18:29 +0000

Earlier this week I was speaking to a friend, who contacted me for some advice, they mentioned that he had been approached by a UK company offering 5 key phrases for Google AdWords at £75.00 per month, irrespective whether he gets 100 or 1000 clicks! Having heard it all, I proceeded to inform him that this seemed a little too good to be true! He did his best to convince me that this was true (obviously the salesman did an excellent job here) to which I replied that if this is true then I am informing all of my current clients on PPC to leave us & go with this new company!

Knowing the key phrases in question, I calculated approx what he can expect based on that budget (take into account that a portion of the £75.00 will go to the company) based on a number of factors, it came out the maximum number of visitors he should achieve on this budget is around 150, this is far cry from the word unlimited!

Any how, what I think actually happened was that the salesman must have got his words mixed up between impressions (the number of times the ad shows on AdWords) & clicks (number of times visitors clicked on the ad). However, what left me with some mixed feelings is that my friend maybe entering into a business relationship that is based on a huge misunderstanding, it can only end in tears (more for him). I have duly informed my friend to get this in writing from the company in question (who I am sure can never make such a claim), which will easily clear up this confusion. My friend was lucky that he was able to consult me, but how many are not able to & sign on the dotted line?

Our industry is already full of charlatans & it does not help with companies installing incorrect expectations to get the sale, we need to make sure that we manage our client’s expectations accurately & fairly, this can only be done when an agency does its best to make their clients online endeavours a success through realistic achievements.

I am sure my friend was the not the first & will not be the last to be contacted with such claims, but do not hesitate to contact me should you have a query about such statements being made to you, it will not cost you to have a quick phone chat with me but it could help avoid unnecessary pain in the future.

Offshore Work – Does This Work?

admin — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:52:13 +0000

We always hear scary stories about sending our design, development SEO, PPC etc work to offshore companies, main reason being savings on cost. Indeed many of our existing clients approached us after failing in their endeavours abroad, does this mean that all work sent offshore is doomed to fail? Many will say yes, I however disagree, in many cases I have seen, it is not the offshore company that fails but the expectation & lack of experience of the client themselves!

Individuals / companies that send the work abroad usually think that by simply giving a brief, the offshore company will be able to undertake work to the same exact standards that UK companies can. The problem, in many cases, is that the offshore companies can undertake work to a high standard but this will not be done automatically, the client needs to know exactly what they want & have some experience to be able to effectively communicate this to them & to project manage the whole process. This is simply because; many fail to understand that you are purchasing their technical & design skills, not necessarily the same as being great project managers or indeed understanding the different culture / language differences. The client should expect to project manage all processes of the work, simply thinking that everything will come back as they envisaged is neither viable nor correct.

If you are an experienced in the field of web designing, development or online marketing, then it makes sense to save money, but if you do not have the knowledge nor experience then this is a sure fire way of not getting what you set out to get. Remember by saving money you have to invest your time & if you are someone who wants knows very little about how this all works then deal with a company based in the UK, the charges may be more than those abroad, but this is balanced by saving you time & injecting quality into the project, so it has the best chance of success for your business.

SEO vs PPC; Who’s the Daddy?

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:27:59 +0000

It amazes me that people still ask this question, the answer that benefits most is not which one is best, more so, knowing which method to use when! Remember SEO is not a replacement for PPC & visa versa, these are two distinct marketing channels, each with their own pros & cons. When combined & used strategically, the results can be extremely powerful, however if put together without much thought, then the results can be a really sad (& expensive) affair.

A quick pro & con overview might help out here:-

PPC Advantages

Get your AD on page 1 within hours
Ability to switch Ad on & off as required
High level of control over Ad text & landing pages
Excellent for short term, seasonal or getting rid of stock campaigns

PPC Disadvantages

Running this long term may prove quite expensive
Running PPC is becoming complicated with external factors now affecting your AD performance
ROI affected as cost per click becomes more costly over time
Highly competitive key phrases will be very expensive, therefore not an option for all

SEO Advantages

More cost effective / affordable over time
Recognised as a must have for any going concern business
No pay per click, therefore all traffic result is free
Excellent ROI with targeted key phrases

SEO Disadvantages

Can take months to gain viable search engine visibility
Requires the website design, coding & text to conform to Search Engine criteria
Not built nor applicable for short term campaigns only i.e. seasonal

There are many more for both sides of the argument but the above should provide ample idea. Therefore, next time you have this question pop up, just change it to "Which way is best for my business?" When you arrive at this question, contact us, because we are sure we can help you arrive at the right answer!

2010 Funded & Free Service

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:55:30 +0000

We wish to begin 2010 with some truly tempting proposals & with the current economic climate what is better than the offer of a funded or free service! Read on to find out more:-

Free Service

We are certain that many UK businesses can benefit from our input, but there is always some hesitation for the customer to pick up the phone, well now we wish to try & minimise that hesitation by offering a Free One Day Consultation. This is no gimmick, just a why to allow a potential customer to find out exactly how we can help without any obligation whatsoever, click here to get the full details.

Funded Service

As Business Link Authorised Suppliers, one particular funding of interest is the Directors Development Programme. This is where aspects such as leadership, management advice & training can be provided to the principal or key decision maker(s) of a business with between 5 & 249 employees. This is a great opportunity for those who meet the necessary criteria, to use our knowledge to further your business at a highly subsidised rate. Full details of criteria & funding information can be found below:-

Eligibility

To be eligible for the DDP service, companies must:

Complete a Diagnostic review of the business, including Leadership & Management assessment, undertaken by a Business Link Advisor, to identify or validate their Leadership and Management Development needs
Have between 5-249 staff (including unpaid volunteers)
Be less than 25% owned by a large organisation
Be based within the West Midlands area
Have not received the DDP grant since April 2007
Have not exceeded the European funding limit (up to 200,000 Euros within the last 3 years)

To be eligible individuals must:

Hold a principal decision maker or key decision makers / directors position
Have a development need at principal decision maker or key decision makers/directors level
Be based within the West Midlands area
Not have received the DDP grant since April 2007

Funding available from Business Link

Grant Funding of up to £1,000 is available:

First £500 grant is not required to be matched by the client and is available to the key director (principal decision maker)
Additional £500 grant is available but must be cash matched. It can be utilised by the key director or additional key decision makers identified by the Key Director

Annotating Analytics

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:11:51 +0000

It is a wonder why something so obvious took so long to get done, but at last the time for this new feature has come. Have you ever looked back at your website traffic trends & wondered why certain spikes or troughs occurred? Well now through the use of annotations, you can do just that, identify the time & make a note against this for future reference.

This is well worth it feature that will have many typing away, the obvious benefits range building up a more tangible & clear history as well as being able to attribute any offline marketing efforts to any traffic surges. Although throughout the web, this feature is gaining much deserved popularity, it must be stated that as yet, majority of UK users have still yet to see this feature in their analytic accounts. As always, Google will roll these out in stages, the US has already started to use it, please Google do we UK users always have to be behind everyone?

Google’s Web History Feature

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:20:02 +0000

I currently have mixed emotions regarding Google’s announcement of its Web History feature. This is an opt out personalised search feature which remembers which websites are visited regularly, with a net effect of placing them higher up in your personal search listings. The SEO community at large is still trying to get to grips with exactly what consequences this will have on their marketing techniques. See the offical Google video here:

It is obvious that the user is king to Google as they start to view more personalised results, but this in itself has aroused fears that a user will start to have less choice in terms of results gained. A knock on effect is for smaller or new entrants, with less recognisable names to make an impact near the top of the search results!

With web history being retained for 180 days currently, it just seems that big brands will stand most to benefit from this move. The impact for small businesses will be to start investing in more brand building marketing, such as any of the following:-

Offline Marketing
Conversion Marketing
Increased visibility across Social Media & other blogs
Increased use of Email Marketing

The above will have the effect of raising conversion rates via existing traffic, brand building via non Search Engines & increasing search queries made on search engines being undertaken via your company name, enabling your website to appear near top of search results. It is still early days, but as you can see, with one door shutting another’s is always ready to open.

Who we are

admin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:03:21 +0000

ConversionTactics.co.uk, Chilli zone Ltd's answer to the rising demand for a dedicated online marketing services & consultancy division.

We carry out web marketing services such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) but we differ in a very significant way, in that we are able to also offer "Integrated Conversion Marketing" service, which is summed up as follows:-

What we do

admin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:02:57 +0000

We provide service on a complete range of Internet Marketing services:-

How do we do it

admin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:02:37 +0000

Certainly not by luck, this is achieved by adopting a structured scientific approach starting with a simple client question, “What are you trying to achieve?”

Social Media, Today’s New SEO War Zone

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:07:45 +0000

I guess it had to happen, in it bid to stay one step ahead of Bing.com & Yahoo.com, Google has announced the inclusion of placing "real time" results amongst the natural search results. This means that social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & blogs will be referenced like never before to allow twitters for example, placed minutes before to appear amongst related natural search results. The official video oulines the user benefits, view here:-

This has huge implications for website owners, Social Media was seen by many as more hype than any real business benefit, but with this new Google feature, it now firmly places Social Media at the heart of any SEO strategy. Website owners & agencies alike who did not take Social Media fully to heart will soon need to plan how to integrate Social Media as part & parcel of everyday SEO.

This not only presents opportunities for proactive companies but also places more work on clients who have to dedicate some time to get involved & update various Social Media websites. I expect to see a lot of SEO individuals to start "trying it on" with keywords stuffing at various mentioned sites etc. I have always stuck to my guns when it comes to any dubious method, short term gain is not what business is about, long term is much harder but is more profitable. Therefore, do not concentrate by over optimising for applicable keywords, instead place sensible posts, profiles with keywords that do not detract the user & Google does seem to reward this accordingly.

Still too early to know the full effects nonetheless if not already done, then now is a good time to start thinking about how to integrate Social Media as part of your overall SEO strategy. However, never go in blind, make sure that you tag up your Google Analytics to make sure you are able to find out exactly what impact this is having on your company's bottom line.