Author archive

If you’re keen to expand your email marketing strategy, click-through data should be a key consideration. It provides a wealth of information to help you understand what customers want. A basic send out isn’t enough to capitalise on the many benefits of email – it’s just the beginning. Unfortunately, many businesses don’t take advantage of […]

The Google trademark update has been in place since the 5 May 2008. A month on I thought it would be useful to review the effects of the change. Firstly I’ll take a look at paid search (PPC) activity on Google Adwords and how it’s affected my clients. Here’s a summary my observations: As predicted, […]

Google have quietly introduced their new Merchant Search system. This tool is currently being tested to help find products and services matching a search, for example, secured loans. It seems Google will benefit financially as they’ll receive payment once someone has successfully sent a quote to the merchant. The interesting part of this is that […]

New research has shown that over £3bn was spent on online ad campaigns in 2007. This is a new record in terms of online and represents 16% of the total UK market. The continuing trend is for online advertising taking market share from the more traditional media such as newspapers, magazines and direct mail. It’s […]

When I wrote about usability and writing for the web last week I focused on non-technical stuff. Today I thought I’d run through some of the more behind-the-scenes, slightly tech-y detail. As I already said, users who are reading on the web want to achieve goals and are impatient. So it’s vital that all your […]

Last week I attended Usability Week 2008 in London. For those who don’t know Usability Week marked the London-leg of a ‘world tour’ by the Nielsen Norman Group – the usability experts. The tour also takes in San Francisco, New York, and Melbourne, so I felt quite privileged. I went to an all-day session on […]

This is something I’ve noticed over the past month and have finally found that someone has given it a name. So what is the Google peek-a-boo effect? It’s where new, targeted keywords appear occasionally in the top 5 for a search, then you search again and they’re gone. I’ve seen it in relation to a […]

“We’ve already got a website, so why do we need a blog too?” It’s becoming increasingly important to represent your brand or business with a blog in corporate cyberspace today. There are a number of benefits to be had from embracing the technology, some more obvious than others. Here’s my ‘top ten’ list of why […]

I was recently prompted for my view on the best time to send a marketing email and I have to admit it’s a tough one. On every course or seminar I’ve attended ‘experts’ have insisted there’s no specific or optimal time to send. But as a user, I have to disagree. B2B When I was […]

Building your search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy is a complicated process. It takes experience, time and dedication to ensure your website is found in the major search engines – it doesn’t happen overnight. If you’re considering outsourcing to support your SEO strategy, here are some things to consider when shopping around for the right online […]