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Archive for November, 2009

Google and its Caffeine

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

It is a usual name and I suppose related as to giving its searchers and energy boost, but Caffeine is the name for Google newest search engine. According to Matt Cutts, Google’s software engineer, to the searcher nothing will look any different and it will not deliver different search results, it is what happens within that is changing.  The question then is, if it looks the same and does the same, why change its name? Or in fact will this name be present on the Google search page?

The changes are related to speed. How fast is delivers results and how fast it indexes new data? We have been told that searches will not be affected but us search masters cannot see how results can remain static after such a huge change. In better words, a website that cannot be spidered quickly may find itself being thrown out of the SERPS. As pages are indexed quicker, then surely search results will alter as new links and new content is found.

We are sitting here, thinking remove all java script all videos or anything that will slow down the Google spider or suffer on Google. For those bloggers out there, this could be good news, ensuring your content is found straight away must be good for them. Here at FOK marketing we have found certain news items on our blogs being found by Google in minutes and now we know these were probably trial algorithms.

It si possible that is some of the technology is already there, that the impact is smaller that we are expecting, but Matt Cutts has stated that Caffeine will not be launched until after Christmas and then only one data centre as a full roll out.

One ting is sure, that Google data centre will get some usage as SEO gurus around the world will be tapping in to compare search results.

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Dealing with Local Searches

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

Before you decide that search engine optimisation is for you a consideration should where your market is, is it international, national or local. Take car showrooms for example, there is an argument that some people will travel some distance to get the right car for them, so optimising for national search terms might be an option. However the work and time required delivering national car related search terms is considerable and of course will cost more and in many cases the rewards would not match the cost. If you are however a specialist car retailer and the vehicles you sell have a demand beyond supply, you could find national SEO as a very attractive option.

In many businesses however staying local is just not a big enough market and the internet can take that business to a national level. For others though, being local is what the business is all about, say a restaurant or local DIY shop.

We always research the market share before entering any SEO contract and if we do not think the market is big enough to give a financial return we will say so, even if it means not getting the business.

FOK Marketing loves dealing with businesses based in the North East because there is an opportunity to meet, to understand ho each of us works. We also find that it is easier to build a relationship of trust when there has been at least one meeting face to face.
As a business on the North East register with a 5 star rating, you can be assured of a professional and transparent service.

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Marketing the Art Of 2009 Sage

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Heh, what a great day this turned out to be! Ok didn’t quite like the breakfast workshops as the title of the workshop did not match the content but it got much better as the day went on.  Personal favourites were Robert Senior the CEO of  SSF (Saatchi Saatchi and Fallon), who explained that with great ideas people come to you, rather than you needing to push your message to them. Examples of their work included Cadbury’s drummer chimp and the recent T Mobile dancing in the station campaigns. I found this a bit like SEO, where people come to you via search term, looking for a service. Another key statement was how people buy with emotion, so marketing should be just about that, the emotions your target audience are likely to feel to a marketing campaign, get it right, its a winner, get the emotion wrong then back to the drawing board. For the record, Robert stated that Social Marketing was shit! Oh ok??

Collette Dunkley of X and Y reminded me that selling to women is totally different to selling to men and the figures quoted were outstanding. They have had success in the telesales market, where by changing the way they talked to women, increased sales by 43% or so. There is a real argument, that search engine optimisation and websites should be segmented in to male and female segments. An example is how men and women buy cars differently, a sector that FOK marketing is closely associated with, but had never realised the conversion rates we could get by focussing on the female view rather than just the men’s.

But it was Tim Smit who stole the show, not talking much about marketing and more about team creation and having real values, before you die. He was very funny and even though he apologised for not talking about marketing, you pretty much understood if he was talking about people that you were learning about marketing.

The day was finished off nicely for me with a private chat with Peter Cobley of I Spy. He was not shy and explaining the link building principles of Littlewoods and how they managed to get deep level links to their site, increasing revenues and search engine rankings. Really good stuff!!
Days like this are fascinating, and the fact it happened in the North East is a credit to Business Link who arranged it.

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