If you’re not advertising, you’re not in the game
What does Google understand the intent to be, in the face of a search for 'blue widgets'?
Our Daily Articles: Complete Index 2008–2019
An excellent guide to website form design
Examine the forms on your website on different devices, and ask the question: "Is this easy to complete?"
Special characters in description meta data tags
I'm sure that from time to time you've noticed Google results featuring odd characters such as ticks, stars and even smiley faces.
The need to cover every ranking factor in search
Fail on one factor and it could make everything else irrelevant.
Tips for promoting a customer event
What are some of the ways in which we can maximise the number of people who turn up?
What’s the purpose of the page?
Your page may be 'about' blue widgets, but what's the purpose of the page?
ICYMI – All the blog posts from May 2019
Our monthly listing of everything which has been in the blog in the last month...
How many alternative domain names do I need to hold?
In general, I'd say don't bother investing in any variations on your main domain name.
Last chance to get your .uk domain
I'd have thought it natural then to redirect requests for the .uk domain to the .co.uk version
Favicons catapulted to front and centre in Google
Google has been rolling out a slightly new look to its mobile search results; the green URL line is being moved up above the headline, and alongside it you'll see the site's 'favicon'.
How many types of marketing are there?
The Hubspot blog has found no fewer than 40 different types of marketing that it claims are all around today.
Six elements of on-page SEO
'On-page SEO' is the stuff we can just do ourselves, right now
Don’t be anxious about conversion rates: improve them
If you're going to follow up their catalogue request with some sales emails, be honest about it
Beyond Reach
The challenge is to find the pages on the search engines viewed by the most people who might want to buy our stuff.
No.1 and 10 in Google aren’t what they used to be
The 'number one in Google' ranking doesn't have anything like the prominence it used to have
What should go in a call-to-action link?
Think how your call-to-action exhortation might be misinterpreted.
DIY SEO in a few hours each week
SEO is not something that can be done externally on a budget
Is ‘Live Chat’ turning out to be a good thing?
It's the best of both worlds for a section of the potential customer base
The Value Proposition: the reason people should buy your product
It's a critical element which is so often missing
Useful tools to test the speed of your website
A comprehensive list, and I'd recommend making a note of it
New ideas for searches to target in plain sight
Google's giving you massive clues as to what people are looking for
Advert expectation management
There are only a certain number of enquiries to be had
Why we’re giving ‘responsive search ads’ a miss
Google has shown a total inability to understand the requirements of professional businesses
Are your Favicons a little unloved?
They may have been set up years ago and might look a little stale
Not everyone’s one of the good guys
Be careful if you're approached with some hard sell for a service that you didn't know you needed
Videos: just get on with it
Some studies suggest that business videos should be about 2 minutes long
ICYMI – All the blog posts from April 2019
Our monthly listing of everything which has been in the blog in the last month...
Google’s Disavow Tool: only use when necessary
If you're not an SEO geek, this may not be the most exciting two minutes of your working life.
The hed, the dek, the lede and the nut graf
An understanding of these traditional terms can still help everyone's writing
Creating Google Analytics reports the way you like them
There's so much available, and a whole world of data to explore.
Fewer adjectives, more evidence
The market needs to be informed, not persuaded
“Questions & Answers” – yet more stuff to monitor on Google
Anyone can answer, so you'll want to be first to do so
Links point the way for Google
The link on the home page may be just what's needed
What if Google’s sending people to your home page?
Take a look at your home page as a first-time visitor would
Mobile traffic: not as important for us …yet
In all these examples the traffic is still dominated by desktop users
Four different types of blog content
It's good discipline to check that you're covering all of these
Marketing ideas on the go
One that I think you may want to try is the Marketing Scoop podcast
Editing video in YouTube
You can make some footage presentable, quickly and easily
Ways to spend less time on email
Here are a few that I find work for me
Quarterly reviews for your SEO
Quite a few jobs are never quite important enough to get to the top of the to-do list.
Speed is of the essence
If your website developer can't get clearly measurable results, maybe find someone who can
The definitive guide to SEO
The Beginner's Guide to SEO has been completely rewritten, and I recommend it unreservedly.
Making the most of email preheaders
It's a feature we should all be using.
Creating content to match the customer’s buying journey
The model is a three-stage one: information, decision and buying.
Let’s hear it for low quality photography
Embarrassed about the staff shots on your 'About Us' page? You really shouldn't be.
How to make a technical presentation interesting
It's hard to make a technical presentation interesting, even if the audience ought to be interested
ICYMI – All the blog posts from March 2019
Our monthly listing of everything which has been in the blog in the last month...
Helping machines understand things in their own way
Think quality newspaper article, not James Joyce novel or scientific PhD
Blackmail emails: change those passwords!
Ensure that your email password is unique and not used for anything else.
It’s not just content, it’s the right content
We should focus on writing content that is relevant