Firstly, a few minutes of perfection from Mitchell and Webb – Apple, take notice, your latest product is showcased here.

Next, the Vocus online conference we attended on Wednesday. A great opportunity to listen to presentations from five influential speakers from the world of PR, social media and marketing, including Deidre Breakenridge, David Meerman Scott, Beth Harte, Lee Odden and Brian Solis. If you missed it, don’t worry, we’ll be talking more about its finer points next week so stay tuned to the Ikroh blog for that…

And finally, an interesting discussion on the importance and impact of fonts. Yes, you heard, fonts, or typefaces, or those words and stuff you read on a daily basis. How you choose to present your content can effect the way your audience reacts to it, so think carefully before you go for the wingdings…

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Link building remains a key factor with search engine optimisation and can have a massive effect on the way a website ranks. Anybody can find links within the web, though finding highest quality links which will provide more leverage within search engines can take time and sometimes become a little tedious. It’s worthwhile to put the effort in, however, and you see the best way to do it below.

When acquiring links for their own website, many people concentrate mainly on the overall page rank of the page they are getting the back link for (usually shown on the green bar which appears on some of our web browsers), and this is the first mistake when acquiring quality, ethical links. The overall score shown in this green bar does not give a clear insight into a page’s actual rank and will be very different to the page rank taken by Google. Therefore, valuing links this way is almost pointless in terms of SEO.

Quality links are built up in various different ways. Below is a descriptive list of exactly what should be looked at to achieve your goal and find better quality links for your website.

Is the site you are acquiring the link from a trusted site?

Always use sites which are trusted. If the link you are acquiring is from a trusted site, search engines will attribute more power to it. There are different ways you can check this, one being the age of the domain. An older domain will gain more respect from an engine.

Is the targeted website relevant to your business?

When acquiring a link for your own website always make sure the link is relevant, from a site providing similar services or information. By attaining links from random sites that have nothing to do with your service, firstly you will not be targeting the right audience and you will not get a lot of respect from the search engines for that particular link.

How much traffic does the website bring in?

Checking the amount of traffic a website produces will give you an idea of link quality. If the traffic is very small the chances are the ranking for that site is not particular high. Also, if the site is receiving low traffic then it is not going to feed your site with much either.

Is the site indexed within Google?

Check the site has been indexed by Google. If it hasn’t, the site will not appear anywhere within Google’s rankings.

Does the website you are getting the link from allow you to use your own text?

Using your own text within a link brings more weight as you can produce more keyword rich content and deliver exact information on the information your business offers.

How many links are already on the page where your link will be shown?

If the page you are acquiring a link from has numerous links already listed, the chances are that the page isn’t picky with which links they list. Search engines can view this is as spam. Avoid getting links from these pages!

Does the website look like a good build?

What does the website look like? Is it professional? If the navigation, usability and layout are not clear, the link is most likely worthless.

Check each of the questions above to help you attain the most effective links and give your site the best chance of success, producing more traffic and more clients. When link building for your own website, always choose quality over quantity –  if a search engine picks links up as spam, or if you choose a link from a site that has been penalized, your website ranking will start to go in the opposite direction…

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Yahoo Japan has chosen Google’s search engine and search-linked ad system over Microsoft in a hope to keep its #1 position in the market. Yahoo Japan is the country’s largest internet portal operator, and following Tuesday’s announcement of alliance with Google, will dominate Japan’s search market.

Yahoo Inc still has a fair stake in Yahoo Japan as its second-biggest shareholder, owning over a third of the company, and will still have its name on the Yahoo Japan brand. Yahoo Inc previously approached Google for a deal, but turned instead to a 10 year agreement with Microsoft after struggling to overcome opposition from the US government.

A post on the Japanese Google blog explained that the merge aimed to provide a more comprehensive service, benefiting from the speed and reputation of Google search, whilst integrating Yahoo services such as answers and shopping.

The search-linked ad system provided by Google will incorporate its technology into Yahoo Japan’s search advertising, while Yahoo Inc will continue to handle the acquisition and development of advertising campaigns.

Daniel Alegre, Google’s Vice President for Asia Pacific and Japan said that both companies would act as independent operators as far as deploying search and advertising services, and would continue to compete in the Japanese market, inspiring further innovation for Yahoo Japan, whilst minimising conflict with other companies. Ultimately, aim of the alliance is to bring about better services for users and partners.

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Meta Descriptions are still able to have an impact on the content of a website. After a person has produced a search, your Meta Tag and description are the first piece of information a customer will see. Therefore, time and thought need to be taken when writing this short piece of content. It can be fantastic way to drive a customer to your site, by providing relevant, intriguing information that gives a satisfactory answer to their query.

Search engines will also often pick up this information as part of a search result, rather than the information taken from content within a page on your site. Making your title and description as eye catching and descriptive as possible will give you a perfect opportunity to really sell what you are offering and produce extra traffic for your site.

Using Meta Information correctly is a very small job, which can still have importance and beneficial effects on your SEO strategy, as well as giving customers an instant better understanding of your business, and a reason to choose your site over your competitors’.

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When using SEO, the aim is to achieve high search results which will produce the most targeted traffic to your website. To date, it still remains that Google are leading the search browser industry. However, Microsoft Bing should not be ignored as it can still produce sufficient traffic to help your business grow. Also, large investments are regularly being implemented into Bing which should see further growth.

Although Bing currently holds only a small share of the UK search market, its presence and authority are increasing. In the US, Bing usage is steadily growing, so the UK market is likely to follow soon. Here are 5 more reasons why you shouldn’t ignore Microsoft Bing:

# 1 – Currently in the US it is more beneficial to be ranked first within Bing than it does to be ranked 10^th in Google. This situation is showing to be similar in the UK.

# 2 – All new PCs worldwide using either Windows Vista or Windows 7 have Bing as their default search engine browser. A massive percentage of PCs currently use Microsoft Windows as their main operating system, which allows Windows a fantastic opportunity to distribute the search engine.

# 3 – Microsoft Bing are implementing a massive new marketing strategy via a television advert campaign associated with The Simpsons. A large investment has been put into advertising Bing for the UK market, selling themselves as the “the decision engine”. This implies that they are showing an extra focus on the actual query rather than basing search results on keyword rich searches.

# 4 – Safari 5 allows the option of switching the preferred user search box to Bing rather than Google. Google have been putting a lot of their efforts into pushing Chrome and the all new browser Google Chrome OS. Could this see Mozilla Firefox (who currently supports Google) switching sides and allying themselves with Microsoft instead?

# 5 – Yahoo will also be using the Microsoft Bing algorithm. Therefore, by showing the position 1 result within Yahoo could also lead to position 1 results within Microsoft Bing. This will boost traffic that extra bit higher.

Here at Ikroh SEO, we pride ourselves on delivering a high level of success for every client. With a proven track record in all areas of online marketing we are always on the lookout for new ways to optimise search results for our clients, and track the progress and developments of the industry closely. We promise to produce the best possible results from your online search engine ranking position (SERPs). Visit us at Ikroh.com for more information on SEO UK, social media marketing, PPC campaigns and web analytics.

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A recently released report by the Direct Marketing Association, “Digital Marketing Practices and Trends”, shows interesting insights into usage of the various forms of digital and social media available to marketers. Via an email survey, conducted in November and December 2009, the study explored how businesses are marketing themselves via: online channels, email, social media, mobile advertising, direct mail, catalogues, telemarketing, print and television, and gives an idea of which direction digital media trends are heading.

Social media is evidently a rising contender, with the majority of companies using social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. However, it is still an area in which many companies feel they are still learning – implementing trial and error to find the best results for their business. Analytics for digital media are difficult to track accurately, and this is proving a problem for businesses wanting to see an immediate, tangible result from these channels. The main use of social media for the participants of this study, therefore, seems to be to “nurture a stronger bond with their customers,” says George Orme from David Shepard Associates, who partnered with the DMA on the survey.

Interesting points taken from the report include:

• The most frequent use of digital media for publishers is to generate online sales
• Approximately 35% of companies use CPM (cost per 1000 impressions) to evaluate online programs
• Direct mail still accounts for 17% of the overall marketing budget
• Brand building is cited as the main objective of digital marketing by 71% of marketers
• 62% of marketers use paid keywords
• 45% of marketers use banner/skyscraper ads
• 88% of b-to-b companies use social media, primarily LinkedIn, microblogging and blogging

Rus Rempala (David Sheppard Associates) commented on the future of digital marketing: “We expect to see much more advanced strategic testing in the near future as more and more marketers navigate the multichannel digital age.”

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Even if our teenage years were full of angst, or our childhoods unhappy, we nevertheless can’t help but be touched by the nostalgia of the memories of our youth. Ah nostalgia, that rose-tinted country in which the summers were three years long, ice creams were much bigger and Snickers were called Marathons… There’s power in that there reminiscence, you know. Tapping into a nation’s beloved childhood TV shows, movies, toys, sweets and drinks, even advertisements can buy you über-cool karma from your customers or viewers. Yes! We remember the Clangers too! Let’s be friends!

Nostalgic pickin’s can be incorporated (copyright permitting) into ads, campaigns and promotions. Even mimicking a familiar logo or design has shown to be influential in the reaction it provokes from a potential customer. The affection we feel for the images from our own history seems to hit us in a subconscious way – nothing like a bit of Street Fighter to make you feel all warm and fuzzy and want to buy something eh?

So, without further ado, from Atari to Animaniacs, Zippy to Zepidi, here’s our A-Z* of our generation’s nostalgia for you to muse whimsically (or use for more nefarious, marketing purposes)…

A is for… Atari; The A-Team (Mr T, back in business hitting wusses with Snickers – because he’s got nuts, of course)

B is for… Batman; the infinitely more impressive (and nutritious) Bananaman (“This is 29 Acacia Road. And this is Eric…”); BMX bikes; Bill and Ted; Back to the Future

C is for… Clangers; Converse All Stars; Crackerjack

D is for… Dangermouse; Dungeons & Dragons; dungarees

E is for… Ewoks; Evel Knevel; Espadrilles (the ultimate in embarrassing sunburn)

F is for… Ferris Bueller; The Fantastic Four; Flying Saucers (the cardboard-like sweets that somehow retained their appeal despite their taste); Fuzzy felt

G is for… Garbage Pail Kids; Ghostbusters; Gremlins; Gamesmaster

H is for… Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; Happy Days (eyyyyyyy…)

I is for… Inspector Gadget; Ivor the Engine

J is for… The Jetsons; Jackanory; Jim’ll fix it (but only if you want to eat a sandwich on a rollercoaster)

K is for… The Karate Kid; Kola Kubes; Ker-plunk

L is for… The Land Before Time; Little Shop of Horrors; Led Zeppelin; Lego!

M is for… M*A*S*H, The Muppets, The Munsters; Matchbox cars

N is for… The Neverending Story; Nerf balls

O is for… Operation (or: “The Most Annoying Game in the World” – BZZZZZZZ!); Opal fruits

P is for… Puff the Magic Dragon (sob); Pacman (remember the storm the Google logo caused last month?); Pink Panther

Q is for… Queen and overzealous renditions of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

R is for… “Radical” (though if you ever said this in seriousness, please leave now); Record Breakers;

S is for… Star Wars; Soda Streams; Scooby Doo; Scalextric

T is for… Tiswas; Tron; Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles

U is for… Uno (aka staving off boredom while camping and ending up killing your siblings over a pick up 4 card…)

V is for… VHS (remember them?)

W is for… Woodstock; Weebles; the Wombles; Wagon wheels

X is for… X-Men – nuff said, still going strong

Y is for… The Young Ones; The Yellow Submarine

Z is for… Zebedee (Magic Roundabout); Zippy (Rainbow)

*This list is obviously not exhaustive, so please feel free to add to it by leaving us a comment with your favourite nostalgic delights…

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As e-commerce becomes ever more competitive, retailers are turning to mobile technology to differentiate from their competitors and keep up with modern advances in the way we shop. Generally, sales are on the upturn; according to The British Retail Consortium, retail sales values rose by 3.8% in the last 3 months compared with last year, and total sales have increased by 6.6% since the start of the recession. Despite these positive stats, we as consumers are still making a move to internet and mobile purchase to try to find the best deal and get the most for our money.

To date, m-commerce has not proven to satisfy consumers’ requirements for fast, efficient and easy transaction, with problems ranging from slow page load times and small screens making viewing difficult, to fiddly or long-winded payment methods. Bad experiences mean irritated and frustrated customers, possibly leading to the loss of custom not only on mobile channels, but online and ‘real-life’ branches of the store too.

The percentage of smartphone users is still fairly low in the overall market, though more accessible pricing tariffs which are becoming increasingly available should change this. And so the world of m-commerce is coming; in fact, it’s been here for a while, we just haven’t noticed…

Quick Response (QR) codes – commonplace in Japan for over 10 years – are becoming more and more utilised to marry mobile and retail. The QR pixelated black and white squares can be scanned whilst in-store to provide mobile users with special offers or links to more information. Vouchers sent by SMS can then be scanned off the handset to cash in discounts at the checkout.

But uses for the codes are not just limited to promotions – Ubimark have printed 2D scannable codes into their copies of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, allowing readers to link easily with interactive maps, historical facts and information via their phone while reading. In the UK, estate agents intend to place QR codes on For Sale/To Let signs so that prospective buyers can download information on a property instantly. In France, codes are already in place on public furniture and parking meters to provide additional information.

A YouGov survey commissioned by Broadbank found that 40% of mobile users buy tickets for concerts/shows/events with their phones, and the most popular use of retail-related mobile internet browsing is to compare prices and product reviews, for example via Microsoft’s Ciao. You can even now apply for an instant (low amount) loan via text. We are increasingly relying on our mobile phones to make purchasing decisions, just as online research and commerce has become a trusted method of doing business. The creation of barcode scanning applications means that we can even wander around a shop checking comparative prices while we shop. Our current technical generation is made of confident and fickle shoppers and we are demanding better service via mobile technology.

Mobile marketing is becoming an integral part of multi-channel commerce; customers can research a product online, snoop out the store IRL (in real life) and make a quick double check via their phone to make sure they’re getting the best price. Multiple channels should satisfy different customer needs (ie: finding information via a website, reserving a product via mobile and picking up in person to avoid shipping costs) and not simply replicate the catalogue or website. A good retailer is always trying to make it as easy as possible for their customers to make a purchase or find out about a product. Suggesting related products according to a customer’s favourites or previous browsing history, and predicting where a customer might want to go next simplifies transactions and makes potentially complicated mobile retail faster and more user-friendly.

The key points here are to provide consistency and flexibility; m-commerce makes it possible for customers to get what they want wherever they are, not relying on proximity to a real life store or their computer or internet connection. They want familiarity with the store/website they already know, and the option to customise their purchasing experience. Providing stock details and reservation ability, SMS reports about your delivery status – these are all ways to give the customer full control (and in turn encouraging them to put their full trust in you).

Promotions and offers can span all channels, though be careful not to alienate some divisions of your customer base by leading them to believe that online customers are getting a better deal, for example. Encourage your clients to utilise all variations of your business presence – even if you don’t have a web-savvy customer, they’re likely to know how to use a mobile phone, or at least understand a special offer via text message. Customer service can be broadened from personal service in store, to a helpline, to email, to interactive support on Twitter or Facebook.

A company held to be a successful example of multi-channel commerce is UK warehouse retailer Argos, who provide reservation options on both their website and their iPhone app, which was downloaded by half a million customers within the first 3 weeks of its launch this spring. You can check stock, reserve products or request the transfer of items between stores, and this ease of use is transferred in-store, where self-service checkouts allow you to avoid queues. If you choose to have your item delivered, you are kept up to date with its progress via text.

And the future? Well, we’ll be covering this in a… future blog post, but it seems to be along the lines of completely excluding button pressing from transactions completely. Following on from contactless card purchasing, mobiles will apparently soon be endowed with NFC (near field technology), to turn them into virtual wallets, requiring a mere wave over an equivalent version of a chip-and-pin machine to pay for a purchase. Not satisfied? Ok, how about finger print transactions? Apparently realistically in the works. Minority Report here we come…

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The latest SEO secret is revealed…..

And a big “WHOOPS!” for CBS on the day of the world cup final when this post was temporarily up on their site – um, just testing, honest…

And to take us into a chilled out weekend, kick back and listen to the incredible awesomeness of the Hang Cousins:

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TopSEOs UK, independent authority on search vendors evaluates over 4000 companies each month to find the best internet marketing agencies and rank them accordingly. Ikroh has been steadily climbing the ranks, and this month we’ve jumped up two places for the SEO category and one place for Site Audit, bringing us to #11 and #4 respectively.

We’re more than chuffed and feel the results show our commitment to ethical search and one-to-one personal service. Ikroh is a friendly UK SEO company, made up of passionate and enthusiastic individuals who work in a close-knit team to provide the best possible, bespoke service to each of our clients in all areas of internet marketing. From SEO to PPC, Social Media Marketing to Web Analytics, we’re here to help your business rise to the top of your sector. Call us on (01908) 379 938, or visit Ikroh.com to find out more and see how we can tailor a campaign to suit you and your company.

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The Distimo App Report for June 2010 makes for interesting reading on how app habits and choices vary from network to network and platform to platform. The analytics company measure trends in all the major application stores, showing who’s downloading what from whom. You can download the latest report HERE, but we’ve summarised its main points for you below. Because we’re just lovely.

• More than 50% of payable apps cost less than $2
• Android offer the most amount of free apps (57%) and Windows Marketplace for Mobile the least (22%)
• 9/10 of the most popular free apps and 8/10 of the most popular paid apps in the Apple App Store for iPhone are games
• E-reader apps are among the 10 most popular free apps for the iPad

Apple App Store for iPad

iPad users are choosing iBooks as their #1 free app, and Pages for the most popular paid app. The rest of the top ten for both categories are comprised mainly of weather, utilities and entertainment rather than games. A serious lot then – and suggesting that the iPad is used more for its programmes and utilities than for fun?

Apple App Store for iPhone

Angry birds lite tops the free apps for iPhone, with the rest of the top ten also filled with games apart from #10, which is reserved for a bit of social networking on Twitter for when the birds get too much. In the paid sector things are similarly game-oriented, with the exception of a battery maximiser at #6 and barcode scanner Red Laser at #8.

Blackberry App World

Blackberry users prefer utilities, social networking and themes for their apps, choosing Pandora as their #1 free app, and the Sky2 livescreen theme as #1 paid app.

Google Android Market

For non-gaming apps, Androids are making full use of the freebie GoogleMaps at #1, and going for Beautiful Widgets as their favourite paid-for app. The rest of the utilities category are made up of tools, entertainment and social applications.

For the gamers among them, a bit of old skool Solitaire is the fave free game, and Robo Defense the most downloaded paid app. They’re an arcadey, brain-training, puzzling bunch, filling their top 10 for both free and paid categories with these genres.

Nokia Ovi Store

Nokia users have the ZumZum game at #1 for free, and Shoping List 2.1 #1 for paid apps. The rest of the top 10 is comprised of mainly games, entertainment and music.

Palm App Catalogue

Facebook heads up the #1 free spot for Palm users, with lifestyle, entertainment and social apps featuring highly in both free and paid top 10 lists. Craigslist is the #1 paid app from the Palm store.

Windows Marketplace

With the least amount of free apps available, users are choosing Microsoft MyPhone as their #1 option, and Scrub Communication for their favourite paid app. The rest of the top 10 are made up of mostly utilities and tools.

 What are your favourite apps, and which do you find the most worthwhile? Ikroh‘s app department is currently in development, aiming to create bespoke apps for iPhone and Android of our clients, as well as our own SEO and Social Media tools for clients to download. Let us know what apps you’d find most useful for your business, and we’ll try to make it happen!

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10 Uses for Social Media (that don’t include mooning (ba dum ching!) about some vampire or other)…

Social media is not just about telling the world how much you fancy Edward or what you had for lunch. Nor is it solely about grabbing customers by their nether regions and shouting about how great your products are. It has the capacity to be far subtler, and more powerful – life changing even. Here are Ikroh’s 10 uses for social media.

#1 – Education

We’re not saying you should base your learning entirely on Wikipedia, but the web is a vast source of knowledge, experiences, information and an opportunity for learning that is hitherto unknown of; blogs, research sites and forums exist on every subject you can think of. With the rise of social media, this has taken a step even further forwards. From being able to simply email an assignment to your lecturer or teacher, to creating group documents and presentations to be shared online – social media could prove be an extremely useful tool for education. Some rather hip professors are even beginning to use social media to communicate, answer questions and start discussions. With an abundance of WiFi on university campuses, mobile internet usage on the rise, and more and more students choose e-learning and online courses, social media is changing the way we teach and learn.

#2 – Freedom of Speech

Dairy farmers in California have made use of social networking to defend their industry after shocking videos were aired on YouTube by animal rights activists, showing farmers maltreating their cows. Farmers from the industry turned to blogging, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter to get their voices heard and protest that the cruelty from the videos was not how the majority of dairy farmers operate. They also wanted to bridge the gap between modern farmers and the American public, where views on farming were skewed by being separated by several generations lacking first-hand experience.

#3 – News (travels fast)

When an earthquake hit East Canada on 23rd June this year, social media beat traditional news in reporting the event. The first tweet came just seconds after the quake began, followed by approximately 65,000 mentions within the first hour. The almost instantaneous reaction shows the “realtime” nature of social media in a startling way – and provokes the question of how it could be used to help in instances of natural disaster.

#4 – Non-Profit

Social media is an obvious choice for non-profit organisations looking to expand their reach and visibility, as social networking thrives on discussion, ‘belonging’ and sharing information and ideas. Social media can make supporting a cause you believe in extremely easy – click a “like” or “follow” button and you’re instantly in the loop, being exposed to and engaging with important information about the organisation and its work. An impressive recent example is One Difference and their Facebook page’s campaign to send a PlayPump to a school in Malawi if they achieve 250,000 followers. At 234,424 fans so far, they’re well on their way, and have raised £5m in the last 5 years with their clean water, health and sanitation projects, helping over 1.3 million people.

#5 – Revolution

Since the oil spill disaster in the gulf, a false BP profile on Twitter, called BPGlobalPR has been taking a satirical, often controversial and usually hilarious take on the situation, all the while raising funds for the Gulf Restoration Network. They currently have over 185,000 followers and no doubt irritate and rile BP daily… Another oil-related mini-internet revolution is the infinitely louder-than-a-tweet “Vuvuzelas for BP”, a noisy protest organised by Adam Quirk to thoroughly annoy the UK BP division by hiring 100 vuvuzela wielding anarchists to drone outside their office for a day (oh, and also donate the excess funds to the Centre for Biological Diversity – it’s not just about being noisy). Where the news, radio and television have only ever managed to deliver one-way attempts to make a difference, social media actually manages to connect people – possibly hundreds of thousands of people – to rally to protest. Power to the people, eh?

#6 – Broadening Minds

Information is just sitting there, waiting for us on the internet; a gazillion bazillion words and images available to help us learn and grow and understand our world. Social media assists, pointing you in directions you might be interested in by a network of likeminded people. It also raises issues in a direct, conversational way that you might come across otherwise, and provokes discussion – with real people – not just reading someone’s closed opinion in an article or a on a website.

When it comes to sensitive subjects like depression and mental illness, discussion is not always easy, or easily accepted and understood. The presence of numerous blogs, forums, groups and online communities is creating a place for people to talk (anonymously if they so choose) about their problems, listen to others’, find out information and get help. Canadian blogger, Steffani Cameron, after opening up about her depression on her blog, said: “Once you start clueing people in, you find everybody has been touched by these things but it is the elephant in the corner and we are still not talking about it.”

#7 – Science

There are plans in Kenya to launch social media networks affiliated with the National Council of Science and Technology, making updated information available for study and education. In Kenya, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, Professor Raphael Munavu, is eager to see the benefits of information sharing via social media, predicting that it “will ease communication of new scientific findings that are constantly being generated.”

The integration of social media networking into government research departments is already firmly in place in Canada, in the Institute of Health Research and Parks Canada. These maintain Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Flickr and YouTube accounts to upload information, images and video to add to their “storehouse of information” and broadcast events and news.

#8 – Freebies

Toronto tweeters with “Klout” have been offered free flights in association with Virgin America – based on their influence score on the Twitter analytics service. The flights linked with the Virgin America Toronto Launch Event, and influencers were given round-trip flights to LA and back during June and August. The offer relies on the inevitable (hopefully positive) word-of-mouth tweeting that follows a generous freebie, and the influence power of the chosen few to boost their brand.

Freebies are rife (or at least the potential to win one is) amongst social networking circles – “like” on Facebook, follow on Twitter, sign up for email subscriptions etc etc and you’ll win a spanky new something. Getting original and involving your audience proves to be the most successful (and enjoyable) method of holding a freebie comp – suggestions on design/theme/naming of products for example. Let’s face it, everyone loves a freebie.

#9 – Participation

Deep down (and especially online), we’re pretty opinionated – about everything and anything. The beauty of online opinion-sharing is that you can post an idea, a thought, a rant, a bitch – press send and sit back, safe in the knowledge of your rightness, not even having to listen to someone’s opposing idea if you really don’t want to… Ok, so that’s not really in the spirit of things, but it’s a nice bonus. Participation is a MASSIVE part of social media – in fact, the clue’s in the title. We are a SOCIAL species. We like to put our two cents in, discuss, show our boundless authority on a subject close to our hearts.

For a company looking to boost its networking circle, a great way to bring in the masses is giving them the opportunity to affect, suggest and even change things. Think about it – it’s an organic way to hone your services and products exactly to how your customer base wants them. Take My Starbucks Idea – where users can submit suggestions, vote or downvote others, and wait with baited breath to see if their hallowed idea becomes one of the few that make it to actual production. With 93,000+ ideas on the books, it’s showing itself to be hardly a flash in the pan…

#10 – Discussion

Let’s not forget the main reason social media exists – to connect, interact and engage with other people. There are hundreds upon hundreds of active social media sites to suit every possibly interest, demographic and mood – thousands of people all talking about what makes them tick. Finding the right space for you and your business is more important than creating a tiny, insignificant presence on numerous sites. Listening first, interacting second is the key to good social media practice – just like your mama told you – “Don’t be rude! Listen, don’t interrupt! Be attentive and polite! And always wear clean socks…” Actually, that last one might not apply to this situation. Still, good advice.

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In April 2010, Twitter launched its own advertising platform, however, only a few select companies can access Promoted Tweets, due to Twitter’s stress on retaining “resonance” with the tweets they sponsor. They have banned in-stream advertising by 3^rd party ad companies, but existing Twitter advertisers claim that it’s “business as usual”, and that their practises still adhere to the new Twitter guidelines.

There are a variety of options to choose from, but our main contenders deal with either building up a worthwhile following and bidding on relevant keywords (via TweetUp for example), or Self- Service Advertising, which means paying for ads to be broadcast by registered Twitter publishers, who tweet your message to their followers (such as Magpie, Ad.ly, Tweetad etc). Research is the key to making a success of these types of advertising, and if you’re in need of help, consider an SEO company to assist with the technicalities of your campaign.

Self-Service Advertising

Self-service platforms operate on a mutually beneficial relationship between advertisers and Twitter users. Advertisers pay for an ad, which then gets tweeted by registered users who get paid for promoting brands they wish to support. These “Content Creators” or “Publishers” are matched to appropriate advertisers, and tweet their desired message to their followers.

 The premise works on the power of word-of-mouth recommendation – a form of marketing we are more likely to respond to, because we receive the information through someone we know and trust. Publishers are sometimes allowed to rephrase or adapt the original ad to their own way of speaking, and these messages are submitted for approval from the advertiser before going live.

Celebrities have bought into this advertising method, realising the influence they have on Twitter, and taking full advantage of it. You’ll be looking at upwards of $1000 per tweet to buy the services of a top celebrity tweeter, but there are many other influential profiles to choose from, and by narrowing your preferences down to a highly targeted audience, the return on a few choice tweets can be very rewarding.

 Advertisers have several options of payment and and rates vary between platform. By filling in various preferences when setting up your campaign, most platforms will advise a ballpark figure for what you should aim to spend. Some require a minimum spend and most base their prices on metrics such as the influence power of the tweet publisher.

Ad.ly

Ad.ly prices depend on the campaign, keywords and chosen publisher. CTR generally ranges between 1%-3.5%. Your dashboard gives you tracking information, and recently launched Ad.ly Analytics gives you even more in-depth data on your Twitter account and its activity.

Featured advertisers using Ad.ly include: Toyota, Microsoft and its affiliate sites like msn and bing, Universal, NBC, Sony, Kia, American Airlines and The Wall Street Journal, and celebrities often use their influential power to promote Ad.ly tweets in their own feeds. 

Magpie

Serving over 17 million followers, Magpie claims to hold the title of the original ad network for Twitter. Its pricing is based on how your maximum CPM bids fair against other advertisers with the same keywords. Minimum spend for a campaign is $20.00. A full range of campaign management tools are available to help you.Featured advertisers using Magpie include: Playstation, Hershey’s, Burger King, Tetra Pak, The Sun, LG, Heineken, Audi, Bacardi and XBOX 360.

Sponsored Tweets

Sponsored Tweets allows you to filter for your tweeters according to: number of followers, location, follower ratio, maximum amount you want to spend on each tweet and other variables. You can then handpick the tweeters you prefer. Prices are based on a CPMF, which takes into account the cost per tweet and the number of followers the publisher has.

Twittad

 Twittad follows the same methodology as other self-service ad platforms, and includes the addition of “Targeted Tweets” – automated @replies and DMs in response to targeted keywords or location. There are two types of campaign:  2 tweets published over 3 days, or 3 tweets over 5 days. You can target your audience via a number of preferences, including information on publishers’ followers. For Target Tweets, you are able to set a maximum daily budget on your auto replies, which cost $0.05 per tweet.

General Tips for Self-Service Ads:

• Don’t phrase your ad in the first person – whoever is retweeting your message does not, in fact, own your business, so saying “I’m offering X number of freebies today…” is going to look bizarre coming from a random source.
• Research your chosen publishers before you choose them – look at their tweet history to see what kind of things they talk about, and the response to their conversations. Make sure their thousands of followers haven’t been attained via automated keyword following, in which case their followers might not be interested in what they have to say after all.
• Popular tweets are often topical, funny or offer a competition or promotion.
• Test the water before you blow the big bucks – try out small bids and low cost tweets at first to see their reaction, and play about with targeting different keywords and demographics to see what works best.
• Target your audience carefully. Research the followers of your chosen publisher to ensure that they will be preaching to the right crowd.

Search Based Advertising

RiotWise

RiotWise is an offshoot of OneRiot’s social media search engine, and offers a range of advertising options for marketers, including self-service ads, matching advertisements with trending topics. OneRiot uses its TTFA (trending topics forecast algorithm) to predict topics that will trend in the near future. Due to this “realtime relevance”, CTR is meant to be 3-4x the industry norm for this type of advertising.

Campaigns work by OneRiot indexing an advertiser’s content from their site or blog, from which it extracts chosen keywords and creates relevant ads to match current trending topics. Revenue is shared between the advertiser and RiotWise.

TweetUp

A newcomer to the Twitter advertising arena is TweetUp, offering a different, search-based platform. It’s too soon to say how successful this network will be, as the whole program has yet to go fully live, but it is definitely one to watch.

TweetUp is the brainchild of Bill Gross, dubbed “the AdSense of Twitter”. It doesn’t plant ads in timelines, so does not violate the new terms. The Idealab company works by raising the best and most relevant tweets “above the noise”, increasing visibility and attracting targeted followers. TweetUp works via a ranking algorithm which bases each tweet’s score on the tweeter’s number of followers, influence, number of retweets and so on. Ranking is also influenced by keyword bidding (though bidding alone is “not enough to boost [a tweet] to the top,” according to Gross). TweetUp 101 gives a good overview of how things work.

TweetUp is free to register, and your tweets will then be indexed and scored by TweetUp, showing up in search results according to how you rank against others using the same or similar keywords. The service is free unless you choose to bid on keywords to boost your position. A relatively new service, live since the end of May 2010, TweetUp is going up against Twitter’s Promoted Tweets as a long term solution to Twitter visibility, claiming that its aim is to build followers and loyalty with quality tweets for a company’s overall growth. Bidding is not yet enabled, but the TweetUp search platform is already in place with influential sites such as Seesmic, TechCrunch, TweetDeck, Answers.com and Twitterfeed, with bidding to follow in the next few months.

Twitter can be a beneficial asset to any marketing campaign, or to increase awareness of your business or product. Linking Twitter advertising with your ads on other social media networks or a blog can maximise its effectiveness. But first and foremost, do your research thoroughly to find out the best way of approaching your Twitter ads and reaching your target audience. If you plan on sticking with Twitter, concentrate on making your business account as successful as possible to give you extra authority in the network. And remember, Twitter is all about the conversation, it never responds well to blatant marketing pushes or hard-sell blurb. Make what you’re talking about interesting, amusing and genuine if you want it to work for you.

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“Everyone Loves Music”

The success of Spotify in the last few years has been huge – its 7 million European users include people from all walks of life, who use the player as a personal radio station, listening to the music they enjoy while they work, browse the internet or relax at home.

Spotify intersperses its music with advertising (on the free version, at least), targeting specific audiences according to demographic, location and mood. The current formats are split between audio and graphical (banners and skyscrapers), or a mixture of both. Advanced advertising includes video as well.

Pricing is by CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) – £10CPM for audio ads and £6CPM for display ads. Targeting is organised by postcode, age and gender, or even by music tastes, and uses absolute targeted impressions, which means your ads will not be wasted on anyone outside your targeted group. Spotify users provide demographic information upon registration, which is used to aid targeting.

Audio advertising copy can be any length, but the ads are limited to approximately 2-3 minutes of advertising per hour of music listening. This can be accompanied by a logo, banner or packshot (in 250×250 gif format) which replaces the current album image and is clickable/trackable. Information regarding the ad scrolls below the tracklist, and is also clickable. Audio can be a great way to attract attention and place a call for action.

Display advertisements come in tower, banner or leaderboard format, and can scroll in sideways or from the bottom of the player. These are flash compatible and can be served by a 3^rd party ad company. There is also the option of a screensaver, which has high impact as it covers most of the player until the user scrolls over it, whereupon it minimises to a clickable leaderboard at the bottom of the screen. CTRs for display ads range from 0.2-2.2%.

Ads can be used to publicise promotions, directing users to an entry point, either under the home page, in a pop up or a separate tab. These promotions are also targeted, and you can run several different campaigns for different targeted demographics. This format is ideal for Spotify, as it is simple for users to enter, since their details are already logged within the system. Advertisers can opt in to receive entrants’ details.

Recently run ads generally have some aspect of affiliation, for example 3 Mobile have offered 24 months free Spotify Premium with one of their Sony Ericsson contracts. Seat’s Ibiza campaign combined a competition for tickets to the new Shakira tour and now a limited edition Shakira car.

 Spotify’s mobile app has just been given an upgrade to make it compatible with iOS 4, including a “nice little surprise”, according to their blog, making it not only the music player of choice for personal computers, but for background listening on internet-compatible mobiles too.

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Oooh, shock horror, there’s been a leak! Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, tweeted this little nugget on Saturday night…

“Ok, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch facebook competitor very soon “Google Me”, very credible source”

…which then got retweeted to oblivion and prompted a flurry of speculation over a new attempt by Google to take on the twin social networking giants of Facebook and Twitter, perhaps as a reaction to Facebook’s intention to launch a new Open Graph Search Engine – a real contender to rival Google’s pole position in the online world. FB founder, Mark Zuckerberg has predicted the distinct possibility of Facebook’s user population hitting 1 billion once it has hooked in those pesky avoiders in Japan and Russia (China is on its way, apparently, despite government bans, with an estimated 92% of Chinese ‘netizens’ using social media).

Remember Google Wave? Orkut? Buzz? Hmm, us neither. At least, the endeavors have yet to take off in quite the same all-encompassing manner that Facebook or Twitter have. Oh sure, I have a Buzz account, but, ahem, no one else I know does. So who am I meant to network with? For me, at least, it’s no more enticing than the Yahoo! mail prompts that ask repeatedly, “what are you doing right now?” – gosh, just leave me alone, I’m trying to check my mail here, you big clingy, desperate stalker…

TechCrunch suggests - though admittedly a “lame” approach, – that cloning is the way to go for Google. For example, email platforms are fairly indistinguishable, but the main contenders still enjoy their own crowds of popularity – therefore Google should swallow some pride and just work on a well-working, uncomplicated clone of Facebook. I have to (rather heatedly) disagree.

Let’s think about this: people use Facebook or Twitter for very different reasons; because of a general (sometimes inexplicable) personal preference of the platform, because they provide different networking services, host different communities, invoke different types of interaction and communication. And though we might hold both types of account, we generally spend more time on one than the other, or, more interestingly, network with different friends/contacts depending on each platform. We stick to these preferences like glue. No matter what Facebook does (privacy issues, anyone?), they are not losing users. Twitter similarly has legions of loyal – utterly loyal – followers whose addiction is fully-grown, and they are not likely to switch to a new idea just because it’s similar.

What Google needs to do is find some distinction of their own – not Facebook, not Twitter, but a 3rd way to network, some way that will intrigue users of all types of social media networks. Clones don’t work – there are a shedload of them out there already being ignored (bye bye MySpace, see ya Ning, adios indenti.ca…). I think with the hindsight of Wave and Buzz we’ve seen that just having a big ol’ ‘G’ behind you does not a success make.

How about some innovation? How about tapping into the Google psyche and automatically creating a “Google Me” profile upon registration, based on Google search results for personal information, interests and keywords. Who hasn’t Googled themselves? Who wouldn’t like to see their own bizarre Google World, which they can then adjust, adapt, add to and customise? What about web cam chat incorporation? What about integrating apps so users can play pong together, send photos to each other, synchronise their GoogleMaps while organising a meet up… Feel free to poach, by the way.

Think about what is most annoying about Facebook or Twitter and IMPROVE it. I get peeved with Facebook for the inability to add html naturally within a post or page, not being able to truly customise your profile with images and video besides embedding them within your wall (I do realise there are apps that let you do this, but the average FB user won’t bother, and so many apps drive you mad with their inconsistency and bugs). I get annoyed with Twitter when I lose track of conversations, constantly clicking between profiles to see what’s been going on. It has a smugness that grates after a while (unless you’re a dyed in the wool Twit, in which case you’re in the clique that is laughing at me while I fall behind on the current trends…), its search is annoyingly crap and I know many people who have given up at the first hurdle because they find it too difficult to get the hang of.

Either side of the Google fence are those who agree with making the most of G’s different services, and those who don’t. My opinion (while I’ve got you here): yes, offer the option to link to email and other Google services if you want to, but personally, my problem with the whole thing (take Buzz for example) is that it’s based in too dull a format – too clinical, too much like a work-intranet – if Google want to make a worthwhile social media site, they need to break away from their Gmail style and wow us with something a little more visually interesting. Facebook’s reign will end. Twitter’s whale will beach, eventually. But Google will still be there… surely?

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Here at Ikroh we LOVE Google Analytics and seeing as we’re Google Analytics authorised consultants, we felt the need to talk about the newish “Intelligence” section. 

There are a bunch of new functions, including the Daily Alerts feature, which comes in incredibly handy as it can send you emails whenever something peaks. To set this up, click on Google Analytics -> your site -> Intelligence -> Daily Alerts -> Create a Custom Alert.

Google Analytics is designed to constantly monitor all traffic throughout your website. At any given moment that your chosen important information happens, an alert within your intelligence reports will automatically be relayed back to you. The Google Intelligence System will define individual sectors and always keep you updated. If your bounce rate was to rise or fall, an alert will also be raised for you to check over and make adjustments. It’s not always easy to keep tabs on every little area within your website and its performance, but by using this tool, every alert could be significant to handling your business more simply, ensuring you’re not missing any important information.

Together with Analytics Intelligence is an algorithm which detects any fluctuation in your site’s traffic. These notifications will give you a clear insight to the changes required within your site to make it more beneficial. Simple – listen to intelligence.

When using the navigation system to view your reports you will see three different possibilities: daily alerts, weekly alerts and monthly alerts. From these you can see exact information on what has been happening within your website on three different timeframes.

A fantastic feature within this service is the ability to customise your options. For example, if you are most interested in producing results from a specific country or town, you can do this from using the selection: Manage Intelligence Alerts. You can also set up more than one customised alert at a time. This can really benefit online business as you will be able to see information from specific targeted areas.

When you first start out using this tool, setting up your own alerts can be a little confusing until you understand how the system works. If this is the case, try starting with one of the available templates on the Manage Intelligence Alerts page. Click copy, then simply rename the alert to what best suits your requirements.

Just the same with automatic alerts, it will always be most effective to try all custom alerts out with your own data. Sign in, or create your own account to try it with your website and you will soon see that with practice, massively beneficial results will be not too far away.

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Using Facebook Ad creates an advert to appear in a small box in the right sidebar of Facebook pages, displaying information, promotions, an image and a link to your chosen destination.

Setting up a Facebook Ad is quick and simple to do, working on either a Cost Per Click (CPC) or Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) basis by bidding on keywords. Using the personal preferences most Facebook users have provided when setting up an account, advertisers can choose from a range of options to target their ads specifically to as direct or broad audience as they like.

These ads are run daily, according to the model you have chosen, and are set within a maximum daily budget – so you will never overspend accidentally. Facebook is used by a staggering 500 million people worldwide, so the audience potential in this medium is pretty high, whatever your targeted demographic.

Ads are comprised of a destination URL (which can be your Facebook page itself, your website or blog, or any landing page you choose), a title (25 characters max), the ad’s body text (135 characters max) and an image. Facebook make it as easy as possibly by making suggestions for content and images via the link provided.

You are then able to configure your targeted area and audience, by location (country/city), age (you are even able to target people on their birthdays), gender, marital status/sexuality, language, likes and interests, education and work information, and by existing contacts and friends on Facebook. You are given a running total of the reach of your ad, depending on your chosen demographic.

Your ‘Campaigns and Pricing’ options include currency, country and time zone, campaign name, maximum daily budget, specific date scheduling or continuous distribution, and a choice between CPM or CPC, including your maximum bid. Facebook also make suggestions for budgets and costs, and give an example of estimated impressions or clicks per day for each price. Organise and manage this aspect according to your budget, aims and analysis of your marketing campaign. An SEO company like Ikroh can be invaluable in helping with this if you are unsure what you are doing.

You are able to review your ad at this point, and ensure that all links, images and information are fully working and correct. Advertisements must comply with the Facebook ad guidelines.

Payment options are via Visa or Mastercard credit/debit card or PayPal and billing is daily. You have access to conversion tracking and analytics of your ads. “Facebook Insights”allows you to see the actual results of your campaign, as opposed to just your targeted audience. You can use this to analyse and adapt your ads to make them most effective. Facebook ads can also be tracked with Google Analytics.

Adverts can be used in a variety of ways:

• To drive traffic to your Facebook page and increase the amount of ‘fans’ or ‘likes’ for that page (a ‘like’ button is included in the ad for ease of use, and the user’s actions are documented on their profile wall for doing so).
• To drive traffic to your website or a targeted landing page.
• To publicise a promotion, new product or service (i.e. a temporary campaign as opposed to a long-running one)
• To increase awareness of a brand or service.
• To hold a competition or poll.

The social nature of Facebook means that it is most useful for strengthening brand reputation and awareness, building a steady, loyal group of fans and customers around your page or profile, which in turn will increase your authority and presence. Hard-sell ads are not necessarily the way to go – the basis of social media is the exchange of information and is not consumer-driven. Providing interesting information, fun competitions, games and promotions is a better way to generate interest in your Facebook page – and in turn, your company. Users of Facebook groups and fan pages want to be part of something that engages and amuses them, and the most successful business pages on Facebook do just that. Facebook’s own case studies can be found here.

ROI is variable, dependent on the targeted audience and nature of the product or business and ad itself. The formula relies on testing and adapting accordingly, making changes as you see results to optimise the success of this type of advertising. Ikroh can help with all aspects of online marketing, also provide management in advertising on other social media platforms such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as Blog Marketing, SEO and PPC.

Check the Ikroh blog for more Advertising 101 posts, including Spotify and Twitter in the following weeks…..

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Ikroh are proud to announce they have recently taken on Jo Gatford as their new Head of Social Media Marketing, to help them provide this important service to all their clients. Ikroh are now able to set up and maintain a company presence across various social media platforms, working in conjunction with clients’ SEO and PPC campaigns, increasing visibility via content distribution and gaining critical insights into what customers feel about their company.

The current ‘trend’ of using social media for marketing purposes has proved to be more than just a fad. Instead, it is a whole new approach to reaching target audiences and interacting personally; gaining honest feedback, increasing a business’ network and strengthening a brand. Social Media Marketing has become a powerful tool for online marketing if used thoughtfully and effectively.

Having a website is no longer enough. Most businesses now run a blog alongside their main site, which can provide more personal information and opinions, as well as serving as a great forum for announcements, achievements and promoting new products. In addition to this, it can be beneficial to branch out to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, to distribute content and news on article sharing and bookmarking sites, to broadcast multimedia on YouTube, Flickr or Picasa, advertise and promote services and more…

The best kind of recommendation comes from word-of-mouth communication between friends, colleagues – people whose opinions we respect and trust. But, with a web full of a million different options and alternatives, as consumers, we are supposed to take a business’ word that they are reputable and worth their own hype. Visibility and transparency are the keys to success in this situation. Social media allows a company to connect with customers on a personal level and build a community around their brand, increasing awareness, site traffic and encouraging trust in their products and services.

Ikroh creates tailor-made Social Media Marketing strategies for clients, working in conjunction with their existing marketing campaigns, making analyses and adaptations where appropriate and maintaining and developing an online presence that will increase profitability. As always, Ikroh works closely with clients in a personal, friendly, sincere way and its Social Media Marketing department is there to help with any queries or issues along the way.

Social media is not something to be ignored. It’s steadily embedding itself into the online and offline marketing world, and it’s here to stay. Get on top of the game and let Ikroh.com design you a Social Media Marketing Strategy that will make your business a force to be reckoned with.

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Recession, reshmession – at least when it comes to online shopping, it seems.

Though total retail sales have fallen in the last year, e-commerce is growing, at a rather astounding rate. Predictions in 2007 that online commerce by 2009 would have reached £28 billion have already been surpassed – totting up a staggering total worth of £38 billion last year instead. The Forrester UK eCommerce Forecast for 2011 of £50 billion looks like it may well be exceeded too.

There are approximately 40 million internet users in the UK alone, and the online retail business is increasing steadily each year, even while traditional “face to face” retail statistics are falling. Consumers are using the web to find bargains to help save pennies during this tough financial time, and for speed and convenience rather than going to the shops. This includes shopping for basic necessities, like online supermarket delivery. The shift has been made, it seems, since most research for products is done online, it’s an obvious step to order it there and then, rather than make a trip out to a store. Last year, Amazon.com’s sales increased by $7.11 billion, regardless of the difficult economic climate we’re facing.

If you run an e-commerce site, then you should be rather happy about all of this, but there are still important aspects to be mindful of when running an online retail company. Given the massive range of choices and options available to internet consumers, we are becoming far more discernable about the sites we use. Having a firm brand reputation and good SERP ranking is a great start (check out our summary of Matt Cutts’ site review at Google I/O for tips on optimising your site), but there are also plenty of “turn-offs” to try to avoid when creating or developing your site. Here’s Ikroh’s list of the top bugbears which put people off using an e-commerce site, and what you can do to help your site be accessible, usable and effective:

•  Bad Navigation – Getting lost, confused or frustrated while navigating a website is a top turn-off when trying to purchase something online. Make your navigation logical, helpful and easy to use. Users rarely want to click more than twice to get anywhere they want to go. Make things obvious for them.
• Inaccurate Representation of Products – Provide large (or enlargeable), clear, accurate photos of your products. What they see is what they want to get. Relevant close ups and options for different views or varieties are always a bonus too. Let’s face it, people don’t want to have to imagine what their shoes are going to look like in bright orange – they want to see it for real. You’ll also avoid disgruntled customers complaining what they’ve received looks nothing like the descriptive picture.
• Unclear/Misleading Shipping Charges – Display your shipping costs and methods on your homepage or header – whatever you do, make it easy to find. Unless you’re charging extortionate amounts for flying products in on the back of a golden eagle, you should have nothing to hide. It’s a pain to have to search for shipping costs, or get to the checkout to discover you could have got cheaper postage elsewhere. And the WORST one is claiming “Free P+P!” when really there are catches involved, eg: “Psyche! It’s only free P+P when you spend £50 or more…” or similar tricks. Don’t lie. Your pants will catch fire.
• Crappy/Elusive Customer Services – This goes hand in hand with the shipping issues. Important things to display prominently on your site are: Shipping and Returns Info, Privacy Policy and Contact Details. Respond to feedback/questions/complaints PROMPTLY, by email or phone. Don’t send people round and round with automated responses – allow them to get in touch with a real person. Bad or good, customer service reputation is one of the main aspects of your company that is guaranteed to be discussed through make-or-break word of mouth .
• Registration – Sites which require registration before placing an order may well lose customers who can’t be bothered/don’t want to give out their information. Don’t make it difficult for your consumers to get what they want. If they enjoy the service you provide, they’ll use you again. You will generally take contact details anyway during checkout for returns/queries, so people don’t want to have to remember a password or feel like they’re being tied into a company when they just want to buy a DVD. Back in 2008, a ‘scam’ registration subscription ended up taking £19.95/month from registered users’ accounts because the clause was hidden misleadingly within the T&C – registration requests don’t inspire trust in customers – after all, you don’t have to sign up your details to shop in a regular store, do you?
• Longwinded/Complicated/Unsecure Payment Processes – Preferably, make customers able to complete the payment process in one or two pages – simple as possible. Make the details of sale clear, and give options on how to pay – not everyone trusts Paypal – and most of all, make sure it’s SECURE. Stalling pages with further recommendations are annoying, as are separate credit card number fields that you have to tab through after every 4 numbers, grrrr. Enable cart tracking every step of the way, and make it easy to change options and deselect/add additional items.
• Cluttered, Disorganised Layout – Get your grandma to test out your site. Or your three year old. Or that hermit who thinks he’s Napoleon. Usability is paramount – make it perfectly acceptable for an utterly un-web-savvy consumer to make short work of ordering something from you. Even things like making sure your product picture, info and all relevant links (“add to cart” etc) are above the fold, so the customer doesn’t even need to scroll down an inch. Cluttered pages full of recommended products, offers and random info distracts from the main aim of accessing that page – to PURCHASE.
• Slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow Response and Shipping – The purpose of using an e-commerce site is usually for speed and value for money. To go through the whole sequence only to discover it’s going to be 2 weeks until you see your item… arrrghhhhhh! Here’s to Fast Shipping – we all love it; it could be the reason your site is chosen over another. Similarly, regular, prompt updates on how your order is processing and when it will be shipped keeps customers happy and reassured.
• Rubbish Promos – Like the point about fake free postage and scammy registrations – be honest about what you’re really offering. Hooking someone in by promising technically untrue promotions leaves a bad taste in the customer’s mouth, and they’re likely to drop off your site then and there. Think carefully about what you want to offer – genuinely (or even a limited period of) free shipping, money off vouchers, half price sales, BOGOF offers – you don’t have to completely cripple yourself, but it’s worth offering a decent, honest promotion now and again, with no strings attached.
• Badly Writton/Spelld Content – Ahem. Spot the deliberate mistakes. Proofread. Several times. Read it aloud, check spelling and grammar, make sure what you’re claiming is true. At the very least, it looks rushed, shoddy and unprofessional to have mistakes and typos on an apparently professional site, and doesn’t promote trust in your brand.
• No Reviews/Feedback – Anyone can write a fake testimonial and publish it on-page. I don’t know of many people who take quotes like that as absolute truth, even if they are. Comment and review forms for products and services allow customers or site viewers to insert their own opinions, which are not only extremely helpful for the potential consumer, but give you, as the host, an insight into which items are popular, and which are perhaps not worth stocking in the future. It shows that people have bought from you, have been pleased with your service (hopefully) and want to share their experience.

Take advantage of the change in the consumer climate and make your site as easy to use as possible. Many, many people find shopping, even online, a pleasurable experience. Giving customers what they want, along the simplest route possible, will increase your sales. Along with your SEO plan, you should always be observing which aspects of your website are successful and which need tweaking. Don’t be an annoying, irritating or frustrating e-commerce provider – the more helpful your site is, the more popular it will be.

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Four years have now passed since the launch of Twitter - its massive worldwide impact pretty impossible to ignore. Since its launch, the question of integrated advertising has always hung over its head. Is there money to be made from micro-blogging?

As of April this year, apparently yes. Twitter revealed a plan to launch “Promoted Tweets”, a service for businesses to highlight ordinary tweets to a wider audience than just their followers. The first phase comprised of promoted tweets appearing at the top of Twitter search results and within user feeds on both Twitter.com and third party clients accessing the service, eg: Tweetie, Twhirl, TweetDeck and TwitterBerry – the first ever was to promote Toy Story 3′s release.

Twitter’s version of keyword ads initially only appeared on searches within their own site, though we will start to see more ads at the top of SERPs too, following a cash deal with Google and Bing. Further development and subsequent ’phases’ depend on the reception to Promoted Tweets, as a statement from the Twitter blog explains:

“Before we roll out more phases, we want to get a better understanding of the resonance of Promoted Tweets, user experience and advertiser value. Once this is done, we plan to allow Promoted Tweets to be shown by Twitter clients and other ecosystem partners and to expand beyond Twitter search, including displaying relevant Promoted Tweets in your timelines in a way that is useful to you.”

The technique claims to be more organic than traditional search advertising, since the Promoted Tweets are still, organically produced Tweets, and their very survival depends on the reaction from other Twitter users – if an ad is not Retweeted, replied to or favourited, it disappears from the search results. The rules for a Promoted Tweet state that it must “resonate” with users, to encourage communication and sharing of the information – a basic ethos of the Twitter brand.

Twitter’s first advertising partners include Starbucks, Bravo and Virgin America – all companies who are heavily using Twitter as a conversation package for their customers and clients. Twitter’s chief operating office Dick Costolo, who is one of the speakers from Ad Age’s Digital said: “We wanted to do something that just enhances the conversation that companies are already having with their customers on Twitter.”

Twitter is not the first company to try and build an advertising model around search results via Twitter. Bill Gross, a search ad pioneer, also rebuilt a structure of promoting companies, by buying keywords for their own tweets with TweetUp. But it seems Twitters quest of integrity has led them - just 2 months after launching their own ad platform – to banning other ad networks, such as Ad.ly, from posting “in-stream” ads. Twitter defends Promoted Tweets as a non-invasive method of sponsored advertising that is partially controlled by users which should not interrupt conversations. According to blog posts from both Ad.ly and TweetUp, business is continuing as usual, the companies claiming that the way they operate does not infringe on the new Twitter regulations, though certainly some tweaking is to be expected.

Advertisers wanting to use Promoted Tweets (a very select, elite group to begin with) will start off by purchasing keywords on a per-thousand cost basis. For now that is how it stands, however, developing the performance of Twitter ads and their pricing will be based on a metric called “resonance”. This will provide extra impact on the Tweets that are Retweeted, replied to or marked as a favorite, and is based on the quantity of user clicks through posted links.

Differing to the way Google, Bing and other search engine’s structure their site, Twitter will only provide one ad at any given time. Users will be able to use these ads to start conversations and Twitter claims companies will be able to provide a better service for their customers.

Promoted Tweets will give companies benefits which are not given from other sources within the web:

• A data feed on search engines, enabling viewers to scroll through previous and subsequent Tweets within the advertisement
• Indexing real time search available on professional accounts
• Professional accounts will also have the option of setting up multiple accounts from one user
• A dashboard which follows what’s happening with brands and their Promoted Tweets

The true value of Twitter Ads is not yet known, but this is certainly an area which Ikroh will be monitoring closely to get a better idea, and see just how beneficial results can be.

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