Introducing the Facebook Fan profile pages
If you have a company, a snazzy product, or a corporate champion blogger, then it maybe worth setting up a Fan site on Facebook. Before a fan or a competitor does it for you!
The majority of these fan pages are public which means (with focus on SEO) that people could find the Facebook Fan Club in the search engine result pages, visit the Facebook page and then visit your site.
Another bonus is that you can add links from the Fan page into your site (although no optimised link tags can be added).
Should you be lucky enough to establish a database of registered users on your Fan page, then you can use the group to send out updates to fans ie; changes to your website, add new products. The big bonus is that you are in control of the page, and to an extent can control the information.
Making this page before a fan is therefore key, as you want to be able to control the information to some extent.
The Bonus: When someone joins your Fan page, it is published in their News Feed for all their friends to see (unless they have this turned off). Spreading viral messages..
Its free and takes minutes to set up.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
Friday, 16 November 2007
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Google’s Europe Market Share Update
Google have recently supplied me with data on their Market Share in Europe, sharing information with you
Point to note: Google are unable to locate any recent data regarding the Google Market Share in other countries. They don't actually carry out research related to the search market share themselves. Therefore, they do not always have access to the latest figures. The studies are usually carried out at a country level by companies such as Neilsen, MediaMetrix and CommScore.
Overall, Google reaches 89% of all European Search Engine users (March 2007). The breakdown across countries is as follows:
The below review relates to March 2007 (most up to date!) data on Google’s Search Engine Market Share in Europe and notes (where stats available from Sept 2006) whether there has been an increase or decrease in search engine market share by country.
I await Google market share on the Rest of the World.
United Kingdom
25.3M unique Google users
74% search referral share (interestingly no change)
79% Google reach
Belgium
3.8M unique Google users
93% search referral share (increase)
79% Google reach
Denmark
2.4M unique Google users
90% search referral share (increase)
75% Google reach
Finland
2.1M unique Google users
95% search referral share (increase)
74% Google reach
Ireland
984K unique Google users
80% search referral share (increase)
69% Google reach
Netherlands
7.7M unique Google users
74% search referral share (decrease)
69% Google reach
Norway
1.5M unique Google users
77% search referral share (increase)
55% Google reach
Portugal
2.6M unique Google users
94% search referral share (increase)
68% Google reach
Russia
2.9M unique Google users
60% search referral share
23% Google reach
Sweden
3.9M unique Google users
86% search referral share (increase)
71% Google reach
Italy
16.7M unique Google users
83% search referral share
75% Google reach
France
20.9M unique Google users
84% search referral share (decrease 1%)
80% Google reach
Germany
27.6M unique Google users
86% search referral share
74% Google reach
Spain
14.9M unique Google users
94% search referral share
85% Google reach
Switzerland
2.9M unique Google users
90% search referral share (5% increase)
77% Google reach
Point to note: Google are unable to locate any recent data regarding the Google Market Share in other countries. They don't actually carry out research related to the search market share themselves. Therefore, they do not always have access to the latest figures. The studies are usually carried out at a country level by companies such as Neilsen, MediaMetrix and CommScore.
Overall, Google reaches 89% of all European Search Engine users (March 2007). The breakdown across countries is as follows:
The below review relates to March 2007 (most up to date!) data on Google’s Search Engine Market Share in Europe and notes (where stats available from Sept 2006) whether there has been an increase or decrease in search engine market share by country.
I await Google market share on the Rest of the World.
United Kingdom
25.3M unique Google users
74% search referral share (interestingly no change)
79% Google reach
Belgium
3.8M unique Google users
93% search referral share (increase)
79% Google reach
Denmark
2.4M unique Google users
90% search referral share (increase)
75% Google reach
Finland
2.1M unique Google users
95% search referral share (increase)
74% Google reach
Ireland
984K unique Google users
80% search referral share (increase)
69% Google reach
Netherlands
7.7M unique Google users
74% search referral share (decrease)
69% Google reach
Norway
1.5M unique Google users
77% search referral share (increase)
55% Google reach
Portugal
2.6M unique Google users
94% search referral share (increase)
68% Google reach
Russia
2.9M unique Google users
60% search referral share
23% Google reach
Sweden
3.9M unique Google users
86% search referral share (increase)
71% Google reach
Italy
16.7M unique Google users
83% search referral share
75% Google reach
France
20.9M unique Google users
84% search referral share (decrease 1%)
80% Google reach
Germany
27.6M unique Google users
86% search referral share
74% Google reach
Spain
14.9M unique Google users
94% search referral share
85% Google reach
Switzerland
2.9M unique Google users
90% search referral share (5% increase)
77% Google reach
Monday, 5 November 2007
Green is the new black
Have you been on MSNs new Green Channel yet ?
http://green.msn.com/
They are offering environmental news content from conservation & environment orgs and useful tools & quizzes to access how environmentally friendly you are, or not as the case may be.
Green really is the new black, I have been advising clients where possible, to explain their Eco-stance on their websites. Following the increasing trend of consumers looking for green information to assist in their decision making process (at the shopping basket).
http://green.msn.com/
They are offering environmental news content from conservation & environment orgs and useful tools & quizzes to access how environmentally friendly you are, or not as the case may be.
Green really is the new black, I have been advising clients where possible, to explain their Eco-stance on their websites. Following the increasing trend of consumers looking for green information to assist in their decision making process (at the shopping basket).
Thursday, 25 October 2007
Trend Spotter Alert !!
This will be a quick post, just to outline, how you should really delve into Web Site Analytics.
It is important to be curious, asking the "Why?", never jump to conclusions and when looking at peaks and troughs, always have an open mind.
It is after that exercise that you can pull out your marketing plan, and say oh, it is because of my Yahoo Banner ad, that I had more conversions, or it's due to that article I submitted to XY directory. But don't look at the plan, until after your 1st review, as you may miss something rather interesting, with the question: Why ?
When on the search for trends (Google Alerts is a good one), look cross industry and notice the changes in customer expectations on and offline. When did X site realise that a helpful online assistant would be essential in their transactions.
I am noticing lately that the social, in social networking is on the rise, with industry experts posting articles on their blog, about their home lives. Connecting in a personal manner is the new way of doing business (Quote: "Sarah G"), it is knowing where to settle which is the issue (Quote: "Sarah G")
My advice and sure would be others too is to not just look at your competition, look outside, get inspiration from everywhere, and do something totally different from the one in which you are next to in natural search or sponsored listings.
Generalising is the key. I will be back with my generalisations shortly....
Sarah G
It is important to be curious, asking the "Why?", never jump to conclusions and when looking at peaks and troughs, always have an open mind.
It is after that exercise that you can pull out your marketing plan, and say oh, it is because of my Yahoo Banner ad, that I had more conversions, or it's due to that article I submitted to XY directory. But don't look at the plan, until after your 1st review, as you may miss something rather interesting, with the question: Why ?
When on the search for trends (Google Alerts is a good one), look cross industry and notice the changes in customer expectations on and offline. When did X site realise that a helpful online assistant would be essential in their transactions.
I am noticing lately that the social, in social networking is on the rise, with industry experts posting articles on their blog, about their home lives. Connecting in a personal manner is the new way of doing business (Quote: "Sarah G"), it is knowing where to settle which is the issue (Quote: "Sarah G")
My advice and sure would be others too is to not just look at your competition, look outside, get inspiration from everywhere, and do something totally different from the one in which you are next to in natural search or sponsored listings.
Generalising is the key. I will be back with my generalisations shortly....
Sarah G
Wednesday, 24 October 2007
Something new in Analytics
The "Big G", Google have announced that in the next coming weeks that they will be adding some new features for its users.
Including:
Site search: Find out what people search for on your site
Interaction: Allow you to find out how users on your site interact/engage with Ajax, Flash and Multimedia (to give clearer picture of page view metrics)
Where visitors go: Looking at whether they have clicked on any outbound links on your site – this is an interesting one !
Launched in Beta to review outgoing links.
For more information, see the blog post from Google themselves:
http://analytics.blogspot.com/2007/10/exciting-announcements-at-emetrics.html
Including:
Site search: Find out what people search for on your site
Interaction: Allow you to find out how users on your site interact/engage with Ajax, Flash and Multimedia (to give clearer picture of page view metrics)
Where visitors go: Looking at whether they have clicked on any outbound links on your site – this is an interesting one !
Launched in Beta to review outgoing links.
For more information, see the blog post from Google themselves:
http://analytics.blogspot.com/2007/10/exciting-announcements-at-emetrics.html
Friday, 19 October 2007
Facebooks getting personal
The Wall Street Journal posted this article about Facebooks plan to launch a new advertising system which will target ad delivery to Facebookers based on the profile information they submit.
It is aimed that in the near future the system will even be able to 'predict' (Minority report stylee: "How's your sweater") what they are interested in, trawling other information on the page, even before the Facebooker submits their interests.
Although Facebook has a higher advertising rate, than other search mediums (aka:Google) it is thought that via enhanced targeting, upmarket facebookers, that this advertising avenue, will definately be one to watch, as right now my thought on the subject is that, it seems logical that Facebook will provide attractive conversion rates.
Interesting times are ahead, could Facebook become the new Google, when looking for and generating customers. Or will Facebookers flock elsewhere if the commercial nature becomes too rife. Already we have flyers along the side and seeing ads being displayed within the new feeds sections.
It is aimed that in the near future the system will even be able to 'predict' (Minority report stylee: "How's your sweater") what they are interested in, trawling other information on the page, even before the Facebooker submits their interests.
Although Facebook has a higher advertising rate, than other search mediums (aka:Google) it is thought that via enhanced targeting, upmarket facebookers, that this advertising avenue, will definately be one to watch, as right now my thought on the subject is that, it seems logical that Facebook will provide attractive conversion rates.
Interesting times are ahead, could Facebook become the new Google, when looking for and generating customers. Or will Facebookers flock elsewhere if the commercial nature becomes too rife. Already we have flyers along the side and seeing ads being displayed within the new feeds sections.
Friday, 12 October 2007
Optimising content & links
These are all steps I've known about in the search engine world for over 5 years, now putting finger to keyboard and sharing with you.....
Search Engine Optimisation steps to take:
Step 1:
You need to review target audience, what are their needs, optimise site around these needs. Look for online studies for demographic information, visit other sites, social communities where audience reside online.
Step 2:
The selection of keywords should be based on campaign strategy, competition, products & volume. We research keywords using, tools such as WordTracker, Overture keyword checker (currently offline) & data from Google & Yahoo search marketing accounts. E-consultancy reported (2006) that over half of the online audience now use phrases that are 3 words or longer in their search queries, this further indicates need for key-phrase analysis to determine the most appropriate. Studies have highlighted that it is important to note the different themes used in search, when choosing appropriate key phrases:
Search themes (courtesy and thanks sent to e-consultancy) include:
Comparison: compare hotels
Price: cheap holidays
Intended use: family holiday in September
Product type: package holiday
Product spec/feature: Hotel with spa facilities
Brand: Seymour Hotels
Location: Hotel Jersey
Action: Book Hotel Jersey
Google’s keyword tool is a great way to generate synonyms and variations of your existing keywords. It also predicts monthly search volume on Google for previous month, based on campaigns locaiton and language settings, and gives indication (if interested in PPC) of the number of advertisers bidding on each keyword across all of the Adwords.
With regards to competition analysis, the below tool could be used to identify the most common key-phrases listed on each page of competitiors sites, showing 2nd, 3rd and 4th most popular key-phrases.
http://www.abakus-internet-marketing.de/tools/topword.html
We also use the advanced search syntax for competitor benchmarking in Google and identify pages that perform well through googling [“keyphrase” site:www.competitor.com].
Step 3:
Base site architecture and navigation on the audience & keyword research in step 1 and 2, ie: If site sells Shampoo, consider how could categorise so people find what they are looking for in natural search, ie: are people looking for Shampoo for Coloured Hair or are the searches more brand related. Set themes, as this will assist with setting future objectives, performance, and ongoing optimisation. For example for retailers themes would be based around product ranges, categories and subcategories.
Structure of the site is also about labelling content in the most appropriate way & making link journeys relevant for spiders and humans with this in mind place appropriate keywords in filenames.
Step 4:
Make sure the website is suitable for users and search engine spiders. Spiders are unable to fill out forms, read JavaScript links, and they sometimes have trouble with Flash. We can use these areas, as long as we make sure that we provide alternative HTML links in the navigation. Ask E-scape Interactive about the document (in continual progress) titled ‘code considerations’ document for more details.
Step 5:
Where possible you should look as every link as an opportunity, and be descriptive (within reason) with every link, be it general more information ‘on subject’ link, link to image, video clip – it is important that using Alt & Title attributes that we let the spiders know what they can expect at the other end of the link . The online sitemap should be given close SEO attention.
We have experiene in optimising both videos and images, ask E-scape Interactive for details.
Step 6:
Search engines need to read keyword rich text to help them determine what the website is about. As mentioned before the copy produced should be based on the chosen keyword phrases and the sites target market needs. Looking at generating a keyword density of 3 – 7%. (No more than 10%) within the text.
Step 7:
Place the important and page relevant keyword phrases into each pages unique Title Tag. Typically between: 10 to 15 keywords (60 – 70 characters). The information you place in this text will appear as clickable link in search engines. Also make sure that the meta description is focused on the page content. Remember that just 15-20 words (approx: 150 – 180 characters) of the meta description are visible within the SERPS of Google. Keywords in the meta data are now not deemed as vital, however useful for engines which use meta crawlers. Use 5 to 8 keyphrases maximum otherwise there will be a dilution effect which will decrease keyword density
A good example of keyword density can be found by Googling, Yahooing, or Live searching for Cycle breaks Jersey: There are 266 words on this Seymours page (which ranks 1 or 2) 10 of which are the keyphrases, giving a keyword density of 3.75%. Which is about right for number of words on the page, note also the link off the page.
Step 8:
All the search engines place weight on the sites overall link popularity when determining the natural search engine placement. With this in mind it is important to make sure that the site is link worthy ie: is it full of useful information, updated content. Then people will link to the site without asking. Another way of creating links is contacting directories (relevant & quality ones), increase reach in Blogs, Forums, niche portals, and if e-commerce site shopping portals (ie: Froogle & Ebay).
Hint 1: You can find people to link to by putting this into Google "niche word""add url" or "niche word" "add site".
Hint 2: You can find all links to your site by putting this into Google link:www.URL.com to exlude internal links put in, site:www.URL.com and to find niche directories put in: intitle:"word directory".
Link building is an important practice, as with all other steps, relevancy is key. Steer away from link farms and be selective in who you decide to create link partnerships with.
The best way to assess links in is to use the Site Explorer tool at Yahoo, placing relevant code within your meta data.
This is your basic list - next step is integrating your results with your sales & marketing strategies.
Search Engine Optimisation steps to take:
Step 1:
You need to review target audience, what are their needs, optimise site around these needs. Look for online studies for demographic information, visit other sites, social communities where audience reside online.
Step 2:
The selection of keywords should be based on campaign strategy, competition, products & volume. We research keywords using, tools such as WordTracker, Overture keyword checker (currently offline) & data from Google & Yahoo search marketing accounts. E-consultancy reported (2006) that over half of the online audience now use phrases that are 3 words or longer in their search queries, this further indicates need for key-phrase analysis to determine the most appropriate. Studies have highlighted that it is important to note the different themes used in search, when choosing appropriate key phrases:
Search themes (courtesy and thanks sent to e-consultancy) include:
Comparison: compare hotels
Price: cheap holidays
Intended use: family holiday in September
Product type: package holiday
Product spec/feature: Hotel with spa facilities
Brand: Seymour Hotels
Location: Hotel Jersey
Action: Book Hotel Jersey
Google’s keyword tool is a great way to generate synonyms and variations of your existing keywords. It also predicts monthly search volume on Google for previous month, based on campaigns locaiton and language settings, and gives indication (if interested in PPC) of the number of advertisers bidding on each keyword across all of the Adwords.
With regards to competition analysis, the below tool could be used to identify the most common key-phrases listed on each page of competitiors sites, showing 2nd, 3rd and 4th most popular key-phrases.
http://www.abakus-internet-marketing.de/tools/topword.html
We also use the advanced search syntax for competitor benchmarking in Google and identify pages that perform well through googling [“keyphrase” site:www.competitor.com].
Step 3:
Base site architecture and navigation on the audience & keyword research in step 1 and 2, ie: If site sells Shampoo, consider how could categorise so people find what they are looking for in natural search, ie: are people looking for Shampoo for Coloured Hair or are the searches more brand related. Set themes, as this will assist with setting future objectives, performance, and ongoing optimisation. For example for retailers themes would be based around product ranges, categories and subcategories.
Structure of the site is also about labelling content in the most appropriate way & making link journeys relevant for spiders and humans with this in mind place appropriate keywords in filenames.
Step 4:
Make sure the website is suitable for users and search engine spiders. Spiders are unable to fill out forms, read JavaScript links, and they sometimes have trouble with Flash. We can use these areas, as long as we make sure that we provide alternative HTML links in the navigation. Ask E-scape Interactive about the document (in continual progress) titled ‘code considerations’ document for more details.
Step 5:
Where possible you should look as every link as an opportunity, and be descriptive (within reason) with every link, be it general more information ‘on subject’ link, link to image, video clip – it is important that using Alt & Title attributes that we let the spiders know what they can expect at the other end of the link . The online sitemap should be given close SEO attention.
We have experiene in optimising both videos and images, ask E-scape Interactive for details.
Step 6:
Search engines need to read keyword rich text to help them determine what the website is about. As mentioned before the copy produced should be based on the chosen keyword phrases and the sites target market needs. Looking at generating a keyword density of 3 – 7%. (No more than 10%) within the text.
Step 7:
Place the important and page relevant keyword phrases into each pages unique Title Tag. Typically between: 10 to 15 keywords (60 – 70 characters). The information you place in this text will appear as clickable link in search engines. Also make sure that the meta description is focused on the page content. Remember that just 15-20 words (approx: 150 – 180 characters) of the meta description are visible within the SERPS of Google. Keywords in the meta data are now not deemed as vital, however useful for engines which use meta crawlers. Use 5 to 8 keyphrases maximum otherwise there will be a dilution effect which will decrease keyword density
A good example of keyword density can be found by Googling, Yahooing, or Live searching for Cycle breaks Jersey: There are 266 words on this Seymours page (which ranks 1 or 2) 10 of which are the keyphrases, giving a keyword density of 3.75%. Which is about right for number of words on the page, note also the link off the page.
Step 8:
All the search engines place weight on the sites overall link popularity when determining the natural search engine placement. With this in mind it is important to make sure that the site is link worthy ie: is it full of useful information, updated content. Then people will link to the site without asking. Another way of creating links is contacting directories (relevant & quality ones), increase reach in Blogs, Forums, niche portals, and if e-commerce site shopping portals (ie: Froogle & Ebay).
Hint 1: You can find people to link to by putting this into Google "niche word""add url" or "niche word" "add site".
Hint 2: You can find all links to your site by putting this into Google link:www.URL.com to exlude internal links put in, site:www.URL.com and to find niche directories put in: intitle:"word directory".
Link building is an important practice, as with all other steps, relevancy is key. Steer away from link farms and be selective in who you decide to create link partnerships with.
The best way to assess links in is to use the Site Explorer tool at Yahoo, placing relevant code within your meta data.
This is your basic list - next step is integrating your results with your sales & marketing strategies.
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