NetNews our ONLINE NEWSLETTER (NetNews December 2008)
Developments in web marketing, site design, and web services
The Online Newsletter from Net Commerce Solutions
Despite the Credit Crunch, Internet trading seems to be holding up, with 10% Christmas online spending growth predicted this year by Deloittes. I hope this pattern carries through to your own business, and hope that by next year we are looking at a brighter business scene for everyone.
For us, we end the year on a high, having maintained our position as the only low price SEO company in TopSeos Top 10 list – see section (4) below.
In the meantime, I and the Net Commerce team send you best wishes for a Happy Christmas, and the best possible 2009 for all of us.
1.NET ISSUES
Significant issues that could impact on your website approach
Article Marketing – how to use it effectively
a) Understand your purpose - the aim is not to show your command of your subject but to write an article that will be accepted and read, and provide links back to your own site.
Good quality articles are an important source of content for many web sites, particularly ezines, (article hosting sites) and such sites will accept, and host articles containing a link back to your site.
Those links back are a wholly valid way to grow your link volumes and build your site Page Rank. Moreover, visitors may follow the link to the full article on your site.
b) Put the article on your own site – this creates fresh, keyword-strong material for your site which will help your Google rating (Google assess sites with a steady flow of new content more highly than those which change rarely).
The version of the article on your site should be longer, and hold more detail than the version you submit to the ezines – this extra content adds additional interest for your site visitors, and demonstrates your competence. As an example, see the full version of this article on our articles page.
c) Don’t rely solely on Article Marketing - you should follow other link building and site promotion actions, including reciprocal links, directories, and online press releases.
d) Use only high quality article hosting sites – the key step is to find good quality article hosting sites. These will carry articles with good content, and will typically have a good Page Rank of their own. Such sites specify their article submission guidelines clearly.
In many sectors there are a few knowledge sites, or portals, which carry articles and possible sector news. Finding these sites however can be hard going. Additionally, they often require articles to be submitted by email, rather than via automated processes – this can be very time consuming.
For most site owners, it may be best to just create the base article, and then ask a web promotion company like ourselves to actually submit the articles.
e) Prepare your submission material– for each article, collate your submission material before you make any submissions. Typically this can be a Word doc which holds the article, a brief article summary, a brief author bio and image, the keyword list, and HTML links.
Prepare also a version of the article in Notepad, in case the article hosting site require this format. With the material assembled, and the material in paragraph (f) to hand, you can
submit each article very quickly, mainly just copying and pasting the text from the Word doc or Notepad.
f) Be careful with your data – prepare a spreadsheet to hold details of the article hosting sites including author name, user name, and password. Note the key submission rules and link formats permited by each article site. This does take time, but when completed, your author accounts can be quickly opened, and articles submitted very efficiently.
We have extensive experience of this promotional option – just contact us if you wish to pursue it.
2. NET HAPPENINGS
News, themes and trends from the Internet – home and abroad
Digital channels are still developing strongly.................
Text messaging - In Q3 2008 volumes reached 6.5 billion per month, ie c217m text messages are being sent daily in UK. Figure has increased by 38% on 2007 levels. (themda.org)
Mobile web use – the number of Britons accessing the web via their phones grew by 25% during H2 2008 to a figure of 7.3m. This compares with growth of only 3% in the number using PCs to access the web. (Neilsen Mobile)
Time Online – Europeans spend on average 12 hours per week online – the figure has grown by 36%, from 8.8 hours per week in 2004. (EIAA/nma.co.uk)
Social Networking – Facebook had 14.2m unique users in August (versus Bebo at 5.0m users. (Nielsen Online/nma.co.uk)
Online Shopping Update - UK growth continues............
• forecasts for UK 2008 online Christmas spending growth range between 10/15% (Cap Gemini/Deloittes) and 39% (Verdict Research/nma.co.uk)
• UK internet shopping spend is likely to reach £44bn by 2012 (Verdict)
Internet Promotion – shift to new media continues…....
• online advertising income in the UK is predicted to increase by 26% during 2008,reaching c£3.6bn pa. By contrast TV ad spend is likely to reduce during the year (endersanalysis.com).
• this would mean that online advertising revenues will surpass TV ad spend for the first time, and become the largest advertising outlet in UK.
• paid search, particularly with Google, will be over half the £3.6bn total.
3. NET TIPS
Some hints you could consider
Google is king – but don’t overlook other engines – with over 80% share, Google clearly matter most. But other search engines where competition for keywords is lower now provide good Cost Per Click value. Thus, Yahoo/MSN should also be used within the mix of PPC providers - typically, we do include them within our PPC programmes.
Natural Search Results – recent data (Axandra/iProspect) shows that 60% of web users select a natural (unpaid) search result in preference to a paid search result.
Although we run many PPC programmes, and business spend on PPC is increasing strongly, we have many years experience in natural search management – see our Pay Per Click section.
4. NCS FOCUS
News and services from NCS that might help
NCS ranked in the UK top 10 organic search engine optimisation companies – the ranking is given by TOPSEOs.com, a well known independent authority site on search vendors – NCS held this position between August and December and is the only low price UK company within the top 10.
Multilingual/International Sites - we act regularly for internationally-based clients, providing them with multilingual text, as required, for all or part of the site. Recent sites
include clients or activities in US, Morocco, Ireland, China, Portugal, France. We always use professional translators whose home tongue is the target language.
However, it is essential for the website developer to know enough of the target language to be able to put the translated text to proper use. NCS uses people fluent in French, German, Italian and Spanish, to ensure the translated text is used in the right way.
As part of this we have set up International Pay Per Click processes e.g. for UK, Germany France and Spain - contact us if you intend to extend the reach of your own business.
Add Call Back to your site– we have recently added call back functionality to client sites – initial feedback is positive – let us know if you think this could help your contact processes.
VAT rate change - many people without a regular website development company found the VAT rate change problematic. All VAT rate changes sought by NCS customers were
completed on time without fuss. If NCS are not yet managing your website, just call us on the number below.
Dave Abernethy,
Managing Director,
Net Commerce Solutions Ltd
Tel: (+44) (0) 870 246 7642
info@net-commerce-solutions.co.uk Web site: www.net-commerce-solutions.co.uk
Registered in England and Wales. Company number 4052885: 6 Bramble Close, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 4AN
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