Comments for Elmnet

Comment on Is search engine optimisation overrated? by John Picton

John Picton — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:35:14 +0000

Yup, very valid point there Richard regarding the ‘address on stationery’ question. I suppose it all depends on exactly where your stationery / business cards etc end up!

Thanks for your comments.

Comment on Is search engine optimisation overrated? by Richard

Richard — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:20:05 +0000

Having the web address on all stationery does help, but I’d argue that it doesn’t generate new business, which is the point of most SEO; using blogs to attract inbound links (mentioned in your post) is SEO.

I think you hit the nail on the head with ‘don’t see SEO as a magical answer to all our marketing questions’; it can be a primary portion of it, but you should never put all of your eggs in one basket!

Comment on Is search engine optimisation overrated? by John Picton

John Picton — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:30:24 +0000

Absolutely, that sums up nicely the point I was trying to make. You can spend a lot of time and money on SEO which could be far more effectively used elsewhere in your campaign! And traffic to a site isn’t necessarily any good if it doesn’t convert. Personally I would rather have a warm introduction than a Google number 1 any day of the week!

Comment on Is search engine optimisation overrated? by Richard Lane

Richard Lane — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:12:28 +0000

Interesting post, John. As with most things in life I guess it comes down to moderation – e.g. focus on covering the bases and SEO will deliver for you alongside your other marketing / awareness activities. The trick is getting the effort/reward ratio correct.

Comment on Is search engine optimisation overrated? by michelle

michelle — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:05:58 +0000

We’ve obviously had this conversation a few times over the past couple of years. Having looked at the way my business works and performs I would be in complete agreement that SEO is overrated, at least in terms of what I do.

If you type my name into google then it’s number one and listed in most of the sites on the first and second pages. But the thing is that it’s specific, people already know who I am, therefore they are actively seeking out my website. It’s those keywords that have brought them directly to my site. I agree completely that a website is a tool in a bigger marketing campaign, it’s a fabulous way of showcasing what you do, getting out immediate information etc, but if it’s not backed up with other methods, it’s just one in millions and the likelyhood of attracting work from that alone is minimal.

Even in this digital world people still like to be given a physical business card, a good well written letter, a compliment slip, and best of all, a personal recommendation. The next one is Keywords, useful again if people know you, but not the be all and end all. For example, GoogleAds, I have an advert out at the moment, which is generating traffic to my website, which is great, it’s doing it’s job in that it is helping to spread awareness, but it is still the people who I make contact with myself then point to my site that give me business. Is this just the nature of what I do, or a recurrent factor?….

Comment on Improve your SEO – write a blog! by John Picton

John Picton — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:49:42 +0000

Just to follow up this article, for our test item we wrote a blog item on facebook, and how to best utilise it in a marketing campaign for your business. A quick Google search today shows that our post appeared at number 17 using the search terms ‘using facebook for business’.

Comment on Apple’s new OS is here, first impressions? by Katherine Wildman

Katherine Wildman — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:29:13 +0000

Thanks for this John – I will get ‘upgrading’ forthwith … even more reason to reinstall Aperture : )

Katherine

Comment on It wasn’t like this when I was a lad! by John Picton

John Picton — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:27:32 +0000

And it used to take between four and five minutes to load in software from tape which was less than 48Kb!!!

Comment on It wasn’t like this when I was a lad! by Michelle Milburn

Michelle Milburn — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:06:55 +0000

OMG, the ZX spectrum with a casette recorder…I had one of those!!! I think I was about 9 or 10!!! To put that into perspective I also have my great grandfather’s wooden castle (precursor to lego!), all little wooden panels and posts that you fit together to design your own fortress. About 80 years old I think. It was a major luxury to have one of those back in the 20′s. It’s mint!!

Comment on Build up a contact list and grow your business. by John Picton

John Picton — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:36:27 +0000

Ha! Now that’s the trick! How to get people to sign up?

I think that you have to word it so that signing up to your database is going to be beneficial to them. There has to be something in it that they want. People don’t sign up for fun, they sign up if they are really interested in what you have to offer. Try and think of it as being more a case of ‘If you sign up look what you (could) get out of it’ rather than ‘Please sign up so I can take your money’!

It’s so important to build up these contacts that we’re considering putting together a competition. I’m still thinking about the details at the moment, but I reckon that a ‘Sign up here and win a custom coded content managed website’ competition may do the trick. It’s targeted, there is a benefit for the subscriber, and I get a database of potential customers who all want websites. And if they don’t win the competition then everyone who enters gets 20% off should they choose to ask us to build one for them.

In your case how about a similar theme? ‘Sign up here to win an original painting worth £1000 – and 20% off any purchase if you sign up and don’t win’. Remember that your customers can always buy again from you, so it’s probably worth taking the hit.