On Wednesday 14 July at the Assembly Rooms in Chichester, Dr Tony Mobbs from IBM and Françoise Murat from garden and interior design business Françoise Murat Associates shared their experience of social media with SCDF members and organised and hosted by a451.
Françoise explained how she used social media, namely Twitter, LinkedIn and blogging, to connect, network and engage with people, while Tony gave a comprehensive overview of social media and how it is being used at IBM. The message from both speakers when using social media was clear: be open, honest and genuine.
The evening was a great success, and more formal and informal meetings will be planned for the future.
More and more of our clients are using pdf as well as other media downloads as one of their KPI’s for their Web sites. Downloads of pdf’s such as product catalogue’s, projects the client may be involved in or other specific information is a very valuable additional bit of information when determining the overall performance of a Web site. Especially for those sites that do not ’sell’ directly online and need a blend of KPI’s.
If you are using Google Analytics tracking clicks on links that lead to file downloads is pretty much straight forward. As there is no code on the pdf page what you do is tag the link that goes to the pdf itself. You use the_trackPageview() JavaScript in the link to the pdf you wish to track. This will assigns a pageview to a click on the link, and therefore the pdf you specify.
If you wish t track every click on a particular link such as www.yoursite.co.uk/catalogue/june2010.pdf as a pageview for/downloads/june-catalogue you would add the following attribute to the link’s <a> tag:
To ensure that _trackPageviewis tracking the information you want check your Top Content report after 24-48 hours after you have installed the link. You should see the assigned pagename in your report.
Previously known as the Google Local Business Centre, Google has changed the name of this service to Google Places. The Local Business Centre was Google’s online version of Yellow Pages type directory. It allowed businesses to list their details such as address and telephone number plus additional information such as a more detailed description of their products or services, images as well as an integrated Google Map and Streetview of their location. This was at no cost to the business, all they had to do was to open a Google Account. The same account would allow a business all the other free Google offerings such as Gmail, Analytics and, of course AdWords just to name a few.
In April Google announced that they were going to integrate the Local Business Centre with Google Places. Google Places was launched in September last year and listed restaurants, hotels and other businesses as well as non-business places such as museums, schools and parks. As business owners were allowed to update their Google Places listing it was a natural step to integrate it with the Local listing.
There will also be some additional information that businesses will be able to add to their Places listing such as a real time, Twitter like updates such as special offers. Additionally you will be able to add coupons that will appear along side the business listing. Google will also supply information as to visitors to your Places pages.
Google highlights the fact that 20% of all searches are related to location so an effect Places listing is a must for all businesses looking to increase their local presence.
Setting up and managing your Google Places listing:
There is no way to transfer the Google Places listing so make sure that you as a business owner set it up in your Google business account. Anyone setting it up on behalf of you will not be able to transfer it to your account. The best thing to do is to have a specific Google Account for the business no only for the Places listing but for all the other Google services you may use.
It is fairly straight forward; you go to the Google Places home page and click the ‘Add new business’ link and fill in your business information. The next step is a bit more trickey and that is the verification process. Verification can be done by Google sending you a PIN number by telephone, SMS or postcard at our option. The PIN number will verify the account. Once you have entered your PIN the account will be live.
For businesses with less than 10 listings you need to verify them individually. For companies with more than 10 listings there is a bulk upload option. Google puts a lot of emphasis on unique telephone numbers for each listing so any duplicates may result in a business not being listed correctly or not listed at all.
At the F8 Conference on 21 April Facebook announced some major changes to their popular social media platform.
Facebook announced the roll out of their social plugins. Social pugins are simple tools that give users instant personalisation using an iFrame and a cookie on third party sites. If you are logged into your Facebook account and visit a Web site you will see which friends have also logged in there, what their activity is and a set of recommendations based on their actions.
There are three social plugin actions that a Facebook user can take. The first is a ‘like’ or ‘recommend’ button, the second is an Activity Feed to see what other Facebook fiends are liking, commenting on or sharing and thirdly Recommendations which are the most liked content amongst your friends.
Social plugins will appear as buttons and boxes on third party sites and you will need to be logged in to Facebook to use these buttons. The area on the third party site is effectively a small space set aside for the use of Facebook and the information there is in control of Facebook. None of the information there is shared with the third party site.
By liking something this information will appear on your Facebook page and may become part of your profile. Likes and recommendations are public information as if you have commented on a public Facebook Page. The “Like” button, Activity Feed and Recommendations only display your friends’ names and profile pictures and to show the likes and recommendations from people who aren’t your friends in an aggregated format (“15 people like this”).
Some third party sites will be allowed to take this ability even further, showing users personalised content based on the details of their public profile on Facebook.The company will be able to read and interpret that content without asking users. At the moment, only three sites have this extra ability, which Facebook calls “instant personalization”—they are Docs.com (an online document-hosting and editing site from Microsoft), the music site Pandora, and the review site Yelp.
As with previous Facebook changes this has caused a great deal of comment and some users have deleted their Facebook accounts.
If a Web site targets users in a particular geographic location then Google Webmaster Tools can be used to provide Google with information that will help determine how the Web site appears in search results. This data supplements existing information such as language and IP address.
Insofar as Geo location is concerned Google will differentiate between two types of domain names:
ccTLD – Country-code top level domain names. These are associated to a specific country such as .fr for France or .ca for Canada. gTLD - Generic top level domain names. These are not associated to a specific country. So for example .com, .net, .org, .museum. are all generic as well as .eu and .asia as they cannot be associated to a specific country. Google will also treat some vanity domains such as .tv and .me as generic as search engine users as well as Webmasters frequently see these as more generic than country-targeted.
Factors used in determing Geolocation of a Web site:
ccTLD is one of the best ways of indication the target area of a Web site as well as using Webmaster Tools’ manual geotargeting for gTLDs (this can be on a domain, subdomain or subdirectory
Server location (through the IP address of the server)
Local addresses and phone numbers on the pages, use of local language and currency, links from other local sites, and/or the use of Google’s Local Business Centre.
Google made it official on Friday when they announced that speed would be one of the factors when determining relevancy and therefore search rankings http://bit.ly/9sBY9o. Google flagged this up last year and also added site speed performance in Webmaster Tools. We have been treating it as part of our ongoing management of client sites since then. Although it should be noted by all Web site owners that speed is another area to keep an eye on but realistically it will only be the very slow sites that will notice a downgrading in positions. However by monitoring it you will be able to spot potential problems before they effect your positions.
Google has added speed of a site as a ranking factor as their own research shows that users don not like slow loading sites. Visitors spend less time on slowly responding sites and Google has seen this from their own internal studies according to their announcement. That is interesting as it means Google must be tracking how long a user stays on a site before hitting the back button or tracking them through Google Analytics. Either way the message from Google is that if it is good for your users then it is good for your search rankings.
As a Site owner what should you do to see your site is performing slower than other Web sites? Webmaster Tools has a site performance section that will show you quickly and easily how you are doing (image below). If you are running slow your first port of call should be your hosting company and make sure there aren’t any issues with the server. You may also want to review just how much you have running on the site and do away with resource hungry flash or reduce image file size.
Speed is part of our overall management of a Web site – make it part of yours!
Since I started using Google Reader my RSS Reader of choice I have found I am reading a wider selection of publications and using what time I have to read to better effect. Let me give you a bit of background. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Reader is a way of viewing the content of a number of Web site on a single page. The Google Reader lays this out like emails so you can scan the titles quickly.
The advantage of a RSS Reader is that all the new content in your favorite Web sites update automatically. There is no need to moving around different Web sites as all the content content is sent to you. There is no need to go to ten sites to see what may or may not have changed thus saving you time.
One of the disadvantages of the enormous amount of information on the Web is that we can suffer from information overload but by using my RSS reader you can scan a large number of headlines in minutes. For me it makes me more selective in what I read and don’t worry about reading everything. Really important topics tend to repeat and reappear in other sources.
The best way to get started is download something like Google Reader, but you can use any one of a large number of publicly available of RSS readers available. Then you can subscribe to feeds. This sign
indicates that the site has a RSS feed. You can click it to be directed to that site’s feed. Typically you only need to click the button to automatically add the site to your reader. However occasionally you may need to subscribe manually by copying the feed address from the address bar and pasting it into your RSS reader.
Then all you do is to start reading your feeds. Open up your RSS reader in your browser to read the latest content from your selected group of Web sites. Even if you don’t read it for awhile all your information will be on your Reader so that nothing is missed.
Social media conversations do not ring the cash register. Engagement does not sell more product. Talking with people just means you have to take time to listen which prevents you from spending valuable time selling more product.
Make your company blog drive search results to the keywords you want to win. Present calls to action that lead your Facebook fans to buy your product. Entice Twitter followers to subscribe to your e-mail newsletter where you can present similar calls to action for purchase.
In short, without a plan, one that’s aligned your overall marketing strategy, any tactical form of marketing, including creating a Facebook Group, will be a waste of time. I think social media is a great small business platform, but without a marketing strategy it won’t prove any more effective than anything else you’ve tried.
I having been tweeting with @paulallington and Done21 over the last day about the value of SEO. Done21 blogged http://almost.done21.com/ that ‘SEO was a terrible thing’. I know this subject is one that has been around the block a few times but lets just take a look at what Done21 was blogging about.
Done21 blogged about SEO after attending a WordCamp talk where the speaker announced that the upcoming change in the Google algorithm was going to result in ‘many people going out of business’ and the audience was ’scared out of their minds’. I don’t know who the speaker was or what exactly he said but that remark as quoted is vague enough to be of no value.
Anyone pitching to you that uses the old ‘the sky is falling’ technique is usually being economical with the truth. Over the years I have had many people trying to sell me or my clients products or services using the old scare technique. My advice is don’t scare so easily and do a bit of research.
What I have real trouble understanding is that Done21 says getting ‘high up on Google is a terrible strategy’. Let’s think about that one s-l-o-w-l-y. Nope, I don’t get it, why is getting good listings on Google bad. I would love to be in the room when Done21 tell their customers that one. My customers would just rush for the door.
Ok let’s look at the next statement ‘when you optimise for search engines you constantly have to update your site’. Just like high rankings, updating your site also falls into the ‘terrible strategy’ catagory for Done21. Sorry Done21 you are really, really wrong there. Updating a Web site is a GOOD thing because visitors to a Web site LIKE up to date information. And because customers like up to date information search engines treat updated sites as more relevant than sites that haven’t been touched for six months. An easy to understand risk/reward ratio here.
Changing servers – no problem. Changing domains can easily be handled by search engines with a 301 redirect, these things happen by the hundreds every day. Google makes updates and changes to their algorithm often and the sky hasn’t fallen and there aren’t great queues of Web companies outside the bankruptcy courts every time there’s a change. Done21 says most SEO tips they have heard are just ‘tricks and hacks’ which says more about who they listen to than the advice itself. I would suggest they broaden their associates.
Good site architecture and keyword phrase research is part of the SEO process and is a serious and precise business. Updating your site and getting links is good marketing, good SEO and common sense.
Professional SEO is as much a part as the Web as Web design and development. Some designers may treat SEO as the enemy, I can live with that. The important thing is that our customers consider us as part of the solution.
