SEO in Kent

In future please contact Webscape Marketing Ltd for any SEO in Kent projects you may require assistance with.

Webscape Marketing can assist you with SEO audits of your website, search engine optimisation of site content, SEO backlinking campaigns and even SEO training so you can do some of this work in house.

Based in Folkestone Kent, Webscape Marketing can help other Kent companies with their SEO as well all other aspects of online marketing, social media and web content.

Social Media ROI Coming Under the Spotlight

After the depressingly predictable social media goldrush seen this year, it appears that questions are starting to be asked of social media and its actual commercial impact.

It's probably about time that some of the heat was taken out of the social media sector. For example just take a look at the starting salaries for social media jobs, the number of self titled social media consultants cropping up around the place, and training courses available. An offshore SEO company contacted me the other day about their services, including what they now call SMO (social media optimisation).

However I recently learnt of a social media debate at Marketing Week, in which Mark Ritson challenges whether Twitter is really a relevant online space for commercial brands to occupy, or instead the preserve of celebrity driven personality culture. As Ritson puts it, social media is a "new and relatively insignificant communications tool that has limited potential for a very small proportion of brands". Ouch.

Then this morning I just read a very good post by Joe Hughes about social media ROI, which illustrates the different ways in which the value to be gained from Social Media could and should be measured. However, Hughes does conclude that Social Media can be very valuable as a brand reputation management tool.

Personally, I can see some value in social media, and feel it is worth participating in. But I am yet to find a good example of a website which has been able to transform social media activity into a core promotional tool that generates value. Twitter followers don't always mean revenue!

Google Caffeine and it's Impact on SEO

Google fully rolled our their new web indexing system, Caffeine, on June 8th this year. But what are the implications for SEO and link building?

Free Directory Submission Software Reviews

I've been test driving a couple of free directory submission software programs. Now normally I tend to take the 'quality over quantity' approach to directory submissions and do a small number manually.

However I have so much link building work on the go at the moment, including some sites with pretty much 0 backlinks, that I thought I'd try out a few programs, ideally free. I also thought about using a directory submission service in India, but don't quite have the time to wait (or the budget) for some of these projects.

The first one I tried was http://www.fastdirectorysubmitter.com/ which offers a free download for a trial. Fast Directory Submitter includes 2000+ free web directories. In the free mode the program allows you submit the site to 150 directories only.

The download was smooth enough and then the interface seemed fairly simple to use, to set up a campaign first although there was quite a lack of explanation. However as soon as I set her rolling, the whole program crashed - not very encouraging.

Then I tried a free download of http://www.sliqsubmitter.com, which again offers a free version that submits to just 100 directories, but you can upgrade to a monthly program to get the full list.

I really liked the interface on this, really simple with lots of rollover help comments and suggestions making it a good proposition for use by temps and freelancers who might do work for me. The submission seemed to go well, although you do have to remain involved to handle the category selection and recaptcha completions for submissions, and it is quite slow. You feel a bit like you are watching a machine in a factory after a while!

I also checked out http://directorysubmitter.imwishlist.com/ but I'm afraid the US style never ending sales landing page kind of put me off, and I don't think it is genuinely free to try (just a free download of the software).

Useful Free Link Analysis Tools

Here are a few useful free link analysis tools and backlink checkers....

Why Don't all Backlinks show up in a link: Search on Google?

Here's a nagging little issue that's been bugging me for ages, and recently came to a head when a client asked me why they had so few backlinks showing up when they use the link colon command?

Hyphens in Domain Names Help SEO?

I've recently been analysing a potential new client, www.red-art.co.uk, to see where they can improve performance in natural search.

Using SEO Microsites to Target Search Phrases

I have recently been doing a lot of work for clients registering additional domain names based on products or relevant search terms. Sometimes the choice of domain name is aimed at a phrase the clients site finds it hard to get ranked for, or simply to prevent other competitors from owning and using a relevant domain.

The ultimate affiliate site inspired by Cheryl Cole

Yet another content site that doesn't sell anything itself, but makes money from affiliate marketing (promoting online merchants in return for a commission). Nothing new in that you might say.

But here's the thing - the interesting differences are the sites theme and its attention to detail. An affiliate site, Cherylcolestyle.com, has been set up around the styles of media darling Cheryl Cole, and selling similar outfits through affiliate merchants. It kind of takes the concept of ASOS.com to a whole new extreme.

I particularly like the way they categorise outfits according to when they were seen during Cheryl's strenuous judging duties on the current series of X Factor.

And according to the site's owners it's only going to be there until the end of the current X Factor series run. A brave move considering the time it could take to achieve real traction in natural search (They ain't doing too good yet for the phrase 'cheryl cole style', let alone more general search terms).

On the other hand, if they have some very clever SEO tricks up their sleeves (and the site founders are all from the SEO and web industry) then they could pioneer a new trend in 'tactical affiliate marketing' - short term yet well constructed revenue generating sites designed to tap into fads and trends.

Perhaps 'Jordan's Dating Site' will be next....

Why Wordpress is great for domain holding pages

I've always thought that spare domain names are only worth something if you actually do something with them.

If a domain can get indexed by Google and start to build some domain history it will start to gain real value. Or when you decide to add a proper website to the domain, you wont have to spend frustrating time waiting to get indexed.

But a single holding page (or even worse the dreaded 'under construction' message) does really look a bit naff.

So that's why we've been using the free Wordpress blogging software install (with a few tweaks) to build microsites on domains for a number of clients, and ourselves. Here's one of the most recent: www.mediterraneanconnections.com.

With a few pages of text, some clever use of RSS feeds, a free design template, a few Wordpress plugins, and a bit of time, you can create a holding site that should start to build sonme really useful indexing history.

You an even monetise your holding site with Google Adsense or some relevant affiliate banner ads from a program like Tradedoubler.

But dont forget, if you are oing all this hoping to sell on your domain for big bucks, remember that a second hand domain name is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, which might not always be what you think its worth.

Marketing Through a Downturn - Tip 1

'Target those customers and market segments which you think will be most recession proof, at the expense of those that you think will suffer the most'

Now I'd been thinking a lot about this one recently, for my own online marketing consultancy business. I'd been trying to think of industries and market segments which might do well out of an economic downturn, especially with PPC.

I thought of the debt sector, which I have done work on in the past, but I know I'd have to be incredibly selective about who I work with as I really wouldn't want to profit from other people's misfortune.

Then I thought about the addiction and rehab sector - another market I've worked on which spends big on PPC. But a contact of mine from this area, said this market could in fact be hit at the upper end by city exec's getting their health insurance slashed, preventing them from checking in for a detox.

It eventually took someone else to point out the obvious. I was discussing my relief at the recent article I'd seen about online ad spend being up with Anna, who works with me part time on SEO. I backed this up with some evidence of old small business leads getting back in touch with me after a few years.

She pointed out that maybe I should forget industry sectors and look at products instead - which led us to think that clients might not be so likely to engage people like ourselves on an ongoing consultancy basis, but instead small businesses might be more keen to pay for training in Adwords and SEO so they can do the work themselves.

I really like this idea, as I've always been realistic and comfortable about people trying to implement our advice themselves if they don't have a large budget, and I think training sessions will really appeal to small businesses who know they should be doing something online but don't know how (or what).

So that's what we are now working on alongside regular consultancy work - a programme of seo and ppc training courses starting off for small businesses in Kent. I'll keep you posted!