SEO is not just about increasing your online sales, it’s an effective marketing strategy for any business. A 13 month study by GroupM Search and Kantar Media Compete showed that 86% of in-store buyers use organic search engine listings when researching products online.

When 4 out of 5 customers are using organic search engine listings to research products, how can you afford to pass on the opportunity to be the go-to guy for your niche? With our experienced help, you can reach a high natural ranking and provide those inquisitive customers with rich and detailed information about the products they want. Enquiring customers that grow to trust you are already halfway to becoming buying customers. Even if they don’t buy, they’ll tell their friends about your website and how helpful it was and you’ll get the exposure to potential customers that you need.

Once in place, a well-crafted SEO strategy can deliver powerful results for months (even years!) at minimal upkeep. However, simply getting your site to the #1 spot on Google’s rankings for your keywords won’t suffice. The best SEO strategies revolve around knowing your target customers’ desires, knowing the issues they will encounter and providing solutions to these problems delivered in a personal manner that alleviates any worries they have, satisfies their wants/needs and gently coaxes them into becoming paying customers.

Truly effective SEO won’t just up your traffic ratings. A truly effective SEO plan draws in potential customers, influences the way the act, analyses how well your website delivers value to visitors and adapts to try and convert the 98% who are just visiting and not paying.

I wanted to take some time out and tell you about becoming too driven at work can affect your health & mind set !

With the pressures of work – meetings – Targets- Travelling Ect a lot can slip from your personal life IE keeping fit and eating well.

The attitude of slipping in to “Sack it I’ll get a take away” + ” I cannot be bothered to go Gym I have had a hard day” This happens so easily and it happens to me and a few lads in the office !

We were having a chit chat at the end of the year and everybody said we need to do something as the beer bellies and love handles are getting out of control !

So this is what I did and how its helped me so far !

About 5 years ago I did kick boxing and mixed martial arts and I archived a high level in the sport (2nd Dan Black belt)  I was very fit and healthy – Due to the above things slipped and I didn’t have time to go ” Or used that excuse !!!”

You really don’t notice becoming unfit, being knackered and lethargic creeps up on you more and more . Your train of thought and focus stays on one level, how you handle pressure and tasks changes and depending on your job role it will affect people in different ways I am sure. But this also affects people around you and you won’t notice this until you change your routine.

So in the middle of December I started to get in the mix and to go training again, nothing major 2 times a week and for 2 hours a time. Plus I changed my diet and lowed the calories and the watched portions of my meals.

Getting my ass up again and training has made a huge difference in my performance – mind set and just generally thinking outside the box to improve systems and work more as a team.

Im not the only one to have done this – the whole office has got more proactive out of work and makes time to break them habits. They range from Football – personal training -Gym- cricket  across the lads in the office .

All I will say if the attitude, drive and productivity has increased by 20% in 1 month ! This isnt cause we are working harder it makes you work smarter.

Its looks to work for the guy in the middle of this picture !

If you think you fit it to the bracket of “ I’m to busy to go to the gym” you know who you are !!  Do you self a favour and make some time and I promise you will benefit all around !

Give it ago and see the changes!!

Email me to let me know how your getting on Matthew.booth@seonext.co.uk .. Plus if you have anything to add please leave a comment…

I find there are many different methods that marketing manager follow with their online campaigns, plus the goals they want to achieve from the project.

This has a huge impact on how we help develop their online strategy as at the end of the day they know there market better than us.

When I deal with a good marketing manager that have the information to hand the services/ products they would like to promote from their brand.

I having the information to hand is NO easy task it takes time and a good structure to gather! 

The usual role of a marketing manager is as follows.

• Instilling a marketing focus / ethos throughout the departments
• Researching and reporting on external opportunities
• Understanding current and potential customers
• Managing the customer journey (customer relationship management)
• Developing the marketing strategy and plan
• Management of the marketing mix
• Managing agencies
• Measuring success
• Managing budgets
• Ensuring timely delivery
• Writing copy
• Approving images
• Developing guidelines
• Making customer focused decisions

Breaking this down in to detail above some of the key sections.

 Market Research

Having a good knowledge of their clients / Potential customers is key. Plus building up necessary resources that are available to you though your team.

It is also critical to take a 3^rd party opinion out of as many decisions as possible – you probably don’t think in the same way as a typical customer. The Information can be gathered from questionnaires though social media, customer service calls or directly through your Google analytics.

But it’s important that the information is vetted in a detailed/scientific way using proper statistical methods.

Gut feel can only take your business so far!

The Development of a marketing strategy and plan

Marketing planning must be at the heart of any business and is usually presented in the form of a written marketing plan. Having this information to hand to show agencies your goals

A method I have followed came from a consultant called Paul Smith he developed a process known as “SOSTAC” this is an acronym for the following elements of the plan:

Situation Analysis – where are we now?

Objectives – what do you want to achieve?

Strategy – how are you going to get there?

Tactics – what are the details of the strategy?

Actions – who is going to do what, and by when?

Controls – how are you going to measure success?

I find this to cover all the relevant areas and from this aids you in achieving you’re structured approach in achieving your goals. This information is very useful to a SEO agency as it highlights your needs and where we can fit in to the strategy / tactics of your business plan!

Managing agencies

I find that small agencies don’t always have the capacity / skills in-house to develop all the elements of marketing mix.

So Keeping track of the key areas is also critical as without the 3^rd party help you cannot achieve you set goals.

• Websites
• Brochures
• Promotional items
• Graphic design
• SEO
• PPC

Having set guidelines and touching base with your agencies is key, keeping them Informed them of change in your company is necessary as its pivotal that they understand your company to get the most out of them especially in SEO / PPC

If you are launching a new product / service its key to get this out to your clients and attract new business to drive the individual success of your item!

This moves on nicely to my next area.

Measuring Success

As far as I’m concerned this is the most crucial part of a marketing manager and is mainly to monitor SEO/ PPC campaigns.

I would advise for PPC to monitor this on a weekly basis and lease with you PPC Management Company, “we have just posted a blog about PPC – Click to have a look”

Having followed your tasks you should be able to inform them of the success you have measured from the PPC campaign and the conversion and sales this has achieved! It may sound patronising but how do you know if you have make a return of investment if you don’t have this information!

For SEO I would monitor this on a monthly basis- and the same applies you need to look at your conversions to sale.

This is the information you need as you then know where to increase budgets to gain further ROI….!

Keeping this going and rotating the process on a monthly basis is necessary to keep SEO / PPC companies on their toes !

Let me know what you think !!!

I will be adding more information about this topic in time to come if you have any questions please contact me on Matthew.Booth@seonext.co.uk

Mark spent a week with the team meeting some of our newly hired Computer Science graduates.  SEONEXT certainly are now rapidly growing and hiring the best of the new computer technology talent coming out of  India currently, something we are very proud to be able to say.  Special thanks goes out to Charu, and  the two Taruns.

As well as spending time in some long meetings with Vaibhav, the aim of which is of continual improvement of our SEO processes, we recognise skills and development is the only way to make sure we stay way ahead of the SEO game, (which is an ongoing process anyway).

Mark took the opportunity to spend a bit of social time with our staff and enjoyed a few drinks in a few of the bars and Delhi’s finest restaurants.

Our UK team can`t wait for february when we head out again to put the final touches to a Major SEO project we have been working upon……  Will keep you posted !

Thanks also for the usual amazing hospitality!!

So now we’ve reminded ourselves of the basics, let’s look at this in a bit more detail;

It is safe to say whenever someone is doing a search for a product or service, they have an idea of what they want – but not always where to get it. Many things in life teach us to be wary of things we are unsure of. This is something many end-users suffer from when buying or enquiring online. The process starts the moment that your website becomes visible to the very people who you want to attract.

From the perspective of the natural listings, good and successful SEO will always generate site visits, the higher up the page you are – the more traffic you will get. Once the searcher is engaged and on your website – good content, and an easy to use check-out / enquiry system will convert your traffic. So you can always consider higher SERP results in the natural listings to equal more business.

If you are promoting your website via a Pay-Per-Click campaign of any size or budget you will want to measure the success of the campaign based on the following factors;

• Volume of clicks
• Cost
• Number of Enquiries / Sales / Leads
• Cost Per Conversion (Click to sale)

There are many other factors involved in analysing how to improve and reduce your Cost-Per-Click, these include Advert Copy and quality, thorough Keyword Analysis, and a well monitored bidding strategy to name just a few.

 “For my Google Adwords, what position gives me the best value for money?”

To answer this I shall give you a personal example of my own search mentality.

When I shop online as I recently have for a new pair of Leather Boots for work (I’m quite particular about what I like) so I go on to Google and type in “smart leather boots”. The top result is a big chain store offering the usual styles. I like some that I see and go back to Google and search for “English Chelsea Boots”. I have done a generic search and gone from a vague, main keyword to now searching for a specific item, I’ve done my research and now I am looking to buy. But where from? I’ll generally look at two to three websites if I’ve not used them before and generally use the site that offers me the best value and the easiest way to pay.

I can take this very personal example and the last three years of experience working in the online marketing industry to say – to a greater degree, people clicking on the first website to appear in the SERP are researching on their keyword. Once people have spent some time searching and identifying what they want, they will have found the site they want to buy from. If you are in position 3 and have the best service on offer you have the most chance of securing the sale / enquiry.

Positions 3-4 have a BETTER Conversion-Per-Cost ratio than positions 1-2.

When manually managing your bids within a Pay-Per-Click campaign you gain control of the position of your adverts, and the opportunity to engage with your potential clients just when they’re ready to buy. If you wish for your adverts to be in position one in the Sponsored section of Google, you will be paying more than anyone else per click-through to your site.

• Lower positions mean cheaper clicks.
• Cheaper clicks mean more traffic for your daily/weekly/monthly budget.
• You are attracting people who have already researched into what they really are looking for.

As a result of in-depth keyword research, identifying search terms with high-bounce, the difference between a research and a buying keyword, and a good bidding strategy, your conversion goals will become closer to your grasp.

Some interesting data has recently been published about Google’s earnings for last year. Google had a very good 4^th quarter in 2011. The earnings breakdown shows that there has been an increase of 34% Paid Clicks on the Google Network worldwide. The big thing to notice here is that from Q3 leading in to Q4 – cost per click reduced by a figure of 8%.

More people are clicking, and clicks are costing less money. Vigilant management of your paid campaign will ensure you are spending correctly, and over time you can reduce your conversion cost.

This couldn’t come at a better time for businesses marketing online right now. Working with SEO Next you can rest-assured that your advisors are all up to date on the latest trends in the internet marketing community.

We are now working with a number of clients for whom we manage both SEO and PPC campaigns. The purpose is to optimise the cost per conversion, and improve the cost per click until results have been achieved via our comprehensive SEO service. We pride ourselves in helping clients re-align their marketing budgets from PPC to SEO whilst improving sales, enquiries and most importantly profitability.

2012 will be the best year to date for SEO next. We can work with you on your journey to making this your best year also.

Ever since I can remember I’ve wanted to be known. I wanted to be part of something truly great – A cause, a role. Something I can sink all of my passion into.

Going back 10 years or so, I was very much your average teenager. At the age of 17 looking for direction, looking for help and looking to make a difference. I met a random bloke in a local park as I drank a 3 litre bottle of White Lightning – he later turned out to be a Youth Worker with Corporate Youth Strategy (Stockport). During the following six months I bumped into him more often and ended up getting myself involved in running the local youth club, and a youth forum group. I then got involved in the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP).

A young James Scroggie

Image taken at the first national sitting of the UKYP (Source: BBC News website), where with the other 300 delegates we created the first ever Youth Manifesto presented to Government. This subsequently was raised in the House of Commons and is now partially government funded.

As a result I got invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace in Jubilee year for my efforts in the Youth Development and Voluntary Sector.

This was merely the start of a very varied career path. From my time in the UKYP, I have grown to hold ethics very strongly in my views and this has helped me be passionate about all aspects of my life.

About three years ago I was looking for a change in career path, and with the help of one of my closest friends who I’ve known for what is now 23 years, I found my way into a customer service role at an Internet Marketing Agency. I was shocked at how many business owners / managers I spoke to who in my view did not have the vision, passion, and drive to know where their marketing budget was going, and what it was achieving. I quickly developed a great interest in helping people create a real working strategy for improving all aspects of their online presence. I feel very passionate about strong values, ethics and trust.

Over the last three years I have developed an in-depth knowledge of Google Analytics, Google Adwords, Search Engine Optimisation, and over everything else, the ability to identify what is working, what is not, and how to implement a new marketing strategy for all businesses to succeed. I have managed marketing budgets of any value from £100 per month to £30,000 a month projects across hundred of different businesses within a vast range of industries.

My start to 2012 has already seen some exciting movement in my life, both with my personal life, and in my career.

I came into contact with Justin and Mark at SEONext where I found something I want to see in everyone – passion. The brothers have grown a company starting from nowhere to being the fastest growing company of its type in the UK. I am very proud to have joined the team and I look forward to bringing my passion to the table while the company goes from strength to strength.

2012 is looking at being one of, if not the best year of my life. With career-growth, expansion, and a hint of romance too.

Get in touch if you are passionate about what you want to achieve, and let’s bring our passion together to make this year the best for you too.

Joining the team

Our SEONext team went all over town and saw all of the main attractions. We donned our SEONext branded clothing everywhere we went and as you can see they went down really well, even Lady Ga Ga was impressed in Times Square as the clock ticked down!. Here are some of the pictures from the trip;

Next (no relation!) today announced  that its autumn and pre-Christmas sales were on target, after buoyant online business made up for a poor showing at its stores. Next has seen its share price rise 39% over the past 12 months, easily outperforming a 5% fall in the broader FTSE 100 index, due in no small part to the fact that its online store performs outstandingly well in the search rankings via a solid SEO and PPC campaign.

Online sales peaked on Boxing day with consumers making some 96m visits to UK retail sites, spending a collective 13m hours online. That’s 19.5% more than on the same day last year, when 80.5m visits took place. Online sales are expected to continue to grow exponentially in 2012 with one specialist commenting “On-line shopping will be a particular growth area this year therefore using this insight to drive marketing and business development should be at the heart of retail business strategy.”

With the Olympics and the Queens Jubilee projected to provide a welcome boost to the economy, their is plenty to be positive about!

If you want to discuss how SEONext can help your drive your business into 2012, please contact one of our team!

I hope santa has been and given you everything you deserve this year! We all wish you a Merry Christmas and hope you have a well deserved rest this christmas. Check Google out today, its a musical christmas theme!

Right, I better go and open more presents and watch The In-betweeners movie!!! Christmas Top of the Pops is on now guys, keep your feet back, feed yourself until you pop and ENJOY!

There are still a few glitches with the website and mark my words there will be many more additions to the website. If you have any comments to make to help us with our pursuit of making it awesome, please email us at info@seonext.co.uk.

Have a great christmas everyone, enjoy yourselves!!!