The Humble Newsletter

The current obsession with Twitter, Facebook and other social media of the moment means that good basic Newsletters and Press Releases are often overlooked in the marketing mix. Yet I regularly monitor sites where a simple newsletter will create a boost to search engine rankings and a big spike in web traffic - sometimes by 200% or 300%.

Of course to do this the Newsletter has to have something to say. Unsuccessful Newsletters are normally the ones where the company is scratching around for something to put in the monthly newsletter rather than publishing when there is something worthwhile saying. A subtle difference that often has a major effect on reader response.

Press Releases and Newsletters also speak directly to interested parties - potential customers who are already interested in what you do and what you have to say.

Once you get this right you can enhance your postings by incorporating social media tools like Twitter to expand your audience, and drive additional traffic to your site.

Google Caffine

Google is in the process of changing it's search algorithm. This will potentially effect every website listed on the search engine.

This latest update, called Caffine, was announced in August last year, but when the switch will come is not certain, although the general precdiction is that sometime around now is probable.

So what changes will Google make in the way it sorts it's results?

Google focuses on the end user, and their experience surfing the web so:

Speed - we want faster results and we don't want to wait an age for a site to download. Slow loading sites could find themselves drifting down the rankings. Want to check the spped of your site? Try this nifty free tool - www.tools.pingdom.com/fpt/

Content - site content and its relevance to the search terms will probably gain more weight.

Mixed Formats - results from Social Media sites like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook will almost certainly be included in the mix, promoting active sites while also giving 'real time' popularity to site rankings.

Domain - the links to the domain, domain age and the keywords contained in it will probably become more important.

So do you need to panic that your site will shortly disappear from Google's searches? Well, no, not if your site is well designed and ethically optimised. But slow loading sites need to look at methods to speed up. There are plenty of ways that this can be achieved by using CSS, minimising Scripts and optimising images.

And if you aren't aware of Social Media Marketing then you need to start paying attention and grasp the basics. This is often more difficult for smaller businesses with fewer resources but it may be necessary to get that Facebook page working and start Tweeting to stay ahead of the pack.

Social Media Marketing - Over Rated and Over Hyped?

Spending time and money on social media marketing is a waste of resources for many companies. This may go against the current trend of Social Medial as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but for many small businesses this is the reality.

So what is Social Media Marketing? Wikipedia describes it as:

“the use of social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service.”

There are a number of reasons to get involved with marketing your company/website via social media. There is the potential to reach a huge audience with all the benefits that can bring, and the search engines, especially Google, like websites with social media links which can improve your website PageRank.

But it’s not for everyone. A successful social media campaign needs time and people, two commodities that many small businesses don’t have. And a half-hearted campaign can do more harm than good. A Facebook page with no entries for 3 months makes a company look worse rather than better. The same can be said for a Blog, Twitter and any other media that requires regular attention – and nearly all do.

Larger companies don’t have this problem as they can employ a specialist or designate a member of staff to run the campaign, update entries and interact with potential customers. Most smaller companies don’t have that luxury.

There is also the product or service you provide to consider. Some don’t lend themselves to social media marketing as easily as others. So if you are thinking of starting a Social Media campaign ask yourself these questions:

• Does your product or service lend itself to this kind of promotion?
• Does your target audience use social media like Facebook, MySpace or Twitter?
• Does your business have the resources to run and manage a campaign?

If the answer to any of these questions is not a positive ‘yes’ it may be better to target your marketing efforts elsewhere.