If you have answered don’t know, or not check recently, then chances are you website is floundering or hidden down the Search Engine Ranking Page results (or SERPS). As a company or business website needs to be tended to and updated on a frequent basis, to keep it in good online shape.

Many users don’t just search for information or businesses using a desktop computer anymore, as there are many different types of technology that makes it easy to access the internet. These can often be on mobile internet devices link Smartphone’s, wifi enabled mp3 players, gaming consoles and even flat-screen televisions.

First it would be prudent to have your website assessed by a web development professional who is a specialist in SEM (or search engine marketing). From here the online health of your website can be obtained and see whether your website is cross-platform compatible and search friendly.

Next, check over your website page by page to make sure all links are correct and working, as well as check through content and update where it relevant. Your chosen web professional will check and amend the source code, such as; Meta descriptions, meta tags, H1 header tags and the relevant website URL’s in relation to your desired keywords. These first steps should see a difference to your website rankings and online visibility.

So for more information getting a SEM health check for your business, contact Accord one of the prominent UK Advertising Agencies, who can help your business grow online and raise the profile of your website.

Google Places Can Help You and Your Business

or many of us looking for a particular range of services or a certain type of business the first place we look is on the internet, but more importantly its worth noting that most of us will probably opt for using the Google search engine to make these searches.

To define a search or find the location of a particular business the next place to search is Google Maps or Google Places. The Google maps search function has revolutionised the way we search for places and businesses on the internet.

Although from another perspective if you are a business, it is a must for you to have a Google Places profile listed for your company on Google Maps and also keep the content, contact information and most of all make sure your place maker is located at your exact proximity.

It is a straight forward process to make sure you have a listing and if not complete the entry form to create one.

You will be able to add things like services offered to customers, your email and website links, also you will be permitted to add a number of photo’s to your “Google Places” page. This will allow your Google listing to be easily spotted by potential customers, plus stand out from your competitors.

Your Google maps business listing will accessible to a number of devices such as; a personal computer, apple mac computer, a tablet or even handheld devices like a smart-phone, this means people can find you even when they are on the move.

So for more information on other web services available to you and your business contact Accord the specialist UK Advertising Agency which will be able to help you with any digital marketing assistance to help improve the visibility of your business website.

Image Credit: Google (Google Places)

The birth of the internet has sparked an evolution into the digital age, with over 360 million people using the internet every year; it’s become a worldwide phenomenon. Businesses have branched out online in an attempt to reach out to these millions of customers and increase public awareness of their brand. This is a quick guide showing the reasons why it is so important for companies to make the transition into online opportunities.

Firstly, having a website gives you a business card that is available to all of these people who are searching for the product or service you are offering. It can instantly describe the ethos, morals and ideas of the company, instantly helping to build a rapport with the visitor. It also acts as a port of call, with users in most cases being able to book that service in one swift transaction. Alternatively your website will contain your contact details for the visitor to ring and discuss the matter further, and therefore cutting out having to explain who you are and what service you are offering.

A well built website can help with addressing problems and unveiling new strategies and methods of your business in a worldwide scale. The popular tool for this is to add a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ (FAQ) section, allowing customers to gain a better insight on matters they may have. This allows questions to be answered not individually but on a much larger scale. Finally, a well built website simply adds credibility to a brand, further building the bond of trust between the customer and the business.

For specialist help with your online needs contact a local UK Advertising Agency for sound advice and a future-ready website, from one UK Advertising Agencies who can offer the best in Digital Direct-Response Advertising and Marketing.

Image Credit: Google (Google.com)

In this current climate of economic uncertainty if you are running or managing a business marketing needs in the 21^st century you need to know, understand and use social media networks for the businesses marketing strategy to engage with potential customers.

With the rise of “Social Media” and “Social Networking” have seen big changes in the way we can do businesses whilst engaging with both potential customers and valued existing customers who we want to continue a business rapport with. Social media can come in many different forms, with the likes of; Blogs (or web-logs), social blogs, micro-blogging, web forums, podcasts, wikis, video, photographs or pictures, rating & social bookmarking plug-ins and websites, to name just a few.

As long as businesses interact positively through the social networking medium with their consumers, they are sure to gain extra credibility and caché with new and existing consumers, whilst at the same time increasing awareness to their brand, services or products of any business, ultimately with the aim to help to the marketing campaign for any business.

For a detailed analysis of how social media marketing practices could help your company engage with your target audience, contact a specialist social media agency like the Accord Group or which is one of the best specialist UK Advertising Agencies which have the technical and expertise to help improve the visibility of your website on many of the top search engines.

Google the global and by far the worlds most popular search engine has just released its new “Panda 2.2 Update” algorithm, which has been controversial since its first launch back in February of 2011. It seems that the new 2.2 Panda update is aimed at more of a “Ranking Factor” than algorithm update as such. This is important for anyone hoping to recover from the original Panda release back in February.

The Google Panda release was implemented to look at websites and their content more closely to determine relevance and the quality of content on a website and index them accordingly, this could also mean to being scrutinised for inappropriate against content on the same page and among search results for associated search terms.

For a detailed analysis of how this Google update might affect your website, contact a SEO Direct Response Advertising agency like the Accord Group or one of the many specialist UK Advertising Agencies which have the technical and specialist skills to help improve the visibility of your website on many of the top search engines.

When checking some results today I noticed that the map seems to have been moved to the right hand side of the screen and now hovers and moves as you scroll down the results. One strange result of this is that it now covers up some of the PPC results which is surely going to anger some people!

People who are appearing on the maps and also have a top 10 listing,  now have a red marker next to their listing indicating where they are on the map.

Is anyone seeing this new way of displaying the Google Maps or is it just us?

The new way Google seems to be showing the Google Map

Alternatives to Reciprocal linking, selling Sea Shells on the sea shore??!?

While reading the blog over at SEOmoz, I came across the great post called Hands on Tips for Link Building. In the blog, Paddy Moogan talks various tips on finding sites to get links from, which is a great post. But the one part that caught me attention was the alternatives to reciprocal links. In the post, he talks about how you can try offering links back to people you are trying to get a link from in the form of a link in an e-mail list or a micro site you run.

We all know the score when trying to build backlinks, you find a great site that would be perfect for your client, you shoot them an e-mail. The response is that they usually want some form of payment or want a reciprocal link back. While not completely bad if both your sites are related in theme, a reciprocal link isn’t as powerful as a good old one way link.

So what other alternatives are there that you could barter with when requesting a link? If you have a lot of Twitter Followers or Facebook fans, you could offer a plug through one of those sites. If you host your own industry Podcast, you could again give a shout out to your new friend. These both obviously rely on you being fairly popular or influential in the first place. Paddy’s idea of offering a link on an alternative site is a great one, especially if it is one you have control of. Blog’s are great as you could write a small review for the person in exchange for your back link. This may seem hard work in some cases, but next time you are requesting a link and they ask for a reciprocal link or payment, why not suggest an alternative pay back for the link.

When selecting campaign keywords you need to consider: What, where, how and why.

• What is my main sales proposition?
• Where am I located in Google and the country?
• How good is my current website and how much history do I have?
• Why am I considering optimising for that keyword?

.Ideally you would start with a targeted keyword that is exactly what you do, what you offer and where you are located, for example if you were a “luxury hotel in Devon” that also offered spa treatments you might consider “luxury hotel in Devon with spa”.

Your first step would be to establish what the potential traffic of this keyword is. To complete this action go to the Google keyword suggestion tool.

If the above keyword had limited to no search volume, then is it worth optimising? Arguably yes, you want to show for exactly what you are, treat it almost as your brand keyword, that with good content and a well structured website you should appear in the SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) with minimum effort. Yes, it will have a low click level, but your conversion should be a lot higher the average.

In using the tool, “country house hotel in Devon” was a search suggestion with a search volume of 250 per month and when placed on exact match it had 140 ASV (Average Search Volume). This keyword should be another to consider, but it’s not going to Wow. Therefore, you need to look at more generic keywords.

Consider looking at generic searches, for example, “Devon Hotel”, “Devon Hotels”, “Country House Hotel”, “North Devon Hotel”, complete a Google search and find if you already have a ranking in the top 100. This is a simple task by simply changing your settings to 100 and using the control F function.

If you find your website ranks for “Hotel in Devon” in 63^rd position with no optimsation this keyword would be a good starting point for any SEO campaign. The hardest challenge is always to get a website to rank within the top 100 places, if you are already there, you have an advantage.

Finally, review the competition ahead of you, identify your main competitors and set SMART objectives.