Time and time again the optimization of Natural listings and Google adwords is mentioned as one of the first steps to improving your companies fortunes online.  Often overlooked simply because of a simple lack of understanding Social media and the optimization of this should be considered as one of the first steps for your companies internet marketing.

Optimization of natural listings comes with first on page and link building a long drawn out process. Our Managing Director Garry Pickles explaines further ” Many Companies are still not fully aware of how to get the best from social networking. A Simple fan page or group is created and then neglected.”

The key to improving these fortunes is simple News content and relevant news content at that. If you can engage with the audience and provide interesting information and news on a regular basis then it is possible to generate traffic. More and more social networking sites are used to share infroamtion amoungst there peers this is where the snowball effect of the social networking experience comes into play.

So as with the optimization via link building for natural listings the optimization of social networking accounts isnt easy and dedication is required a longterm commitment is required but there really is nothing to lose. Once your companies grows its number of followers and friends the only way is up and the pages will grow and grow. This isnt a short term fix social networking is here to stay and in 5 to 10 years time you could be broadcasting  your companies information to literally thousands of people daily

So make the move into social networking and consider how you can get the best out of it before someone else in industry does.

The Burberry clothing company enjoyed an increase in its share value today after the effects of more than 20 new stores opening alongside a slick online marketing campaign finally paid off.

Famous for its unmistakeable its camel, red and black check tartan, Burberry was originally a byword for top-end glamour, style and sophistication, before becoming unfortunately associated with “chav culture” during the turn of the millennium. Although most of this was down to cheap knock-offs, rather than the company itself, the effect on Burberry’s fortunes was very real.

Happily for the luxury goods firm, shares on Wednesday rose by 17 per cent to 14p a share. Pre-tax profits also leapt by 23 per cent to £215 million for the first quarter of the year – well ahead of City forecasts – and retail sales rose by 19 per cent to £748.8million.

This represented 58 per cent of overall sales, and was greatly helped by the launch of 21 new stores across the UK, plus the shutting down of nine outlets in unprofitable locations.

The online marketing campaign was instrumental to the success of the company, both in promoting the new stores, but creating a buzz about the new Burberry line of clothing and accessories.

The group’s chief financial officer Stacey Cartwright told the Daily Mail newspaper that Burberry plans to invest further in e-commerce and SEO marketing in order to consolidate its successes in this area. Later this year it plans to launch a new “digital platform,” which will be replacing several of its local websites, he revealed.

“We do believe that Burberry, distinct from what’s happening in the marketplace, has got specific momentum in the brand right now,” Mr Cartwright declared.

The travel industry has been urged by one expert to grasp the challenge of online marketing in order to compete fully in the cyber age.

Addressing a seminar at the recent Advantage Travel Centres conference, travel technology firm Traveltek’s managing director Jenny Picken told delegates that the only genuine way that holiday businesses could compete on the internet was through SEO and online marketing.

Insisting that online marketing was a “necessity,” in the modern world, Ms Picken called on all travel businesses, of whatever size, to make sure that they had a strong and distinct online presence, or they ran a severe risk of being overlooked by web-savvy consumers.

According to the report in Air & Business Travel News (ABTN), she went on to say that a focus on SEO and email marketing campaigns could be just the way for travel companies to increase their profits in these uncertain economic times – and she stressed that “emarketing shouldn´t be expensive.”

Ms Picken said that it was impossible to overstate the importance of keeping their online content up to date, especially in the “news” section of a website because potential customers would simply move on from a site which did not appear to have the information that they are looking for.

Business experts have long said that email marketing campaigns are a highly efficient and inexpensive way of getting brand information across to customers, and she urged the travel industry to grasp the nettle and join the shift to online marketing.

Her views are even more apposite in the face of many recent surveys which show a rise in the number of holidays searched for, planned and booked online

The Google Pac Man logo helps celebrate the 30th anniversary of the arcade classic

Google is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the arcade game classic Pac-Man with a new twist on its logo. You can actually play pac man on the google homepage your yellow little friend dodges the ghosts around the letters of google.

The google logo is often changed to celebrate birthdays of famous people, special events and holiday seasons. Google and twitter search trends has gone through the roof with the word pac man.

To play, Pac-Man on the Google home page, click ”Insert Coin” and when the work “Ready!” appears, use the arrow keys to control your Pac-Man.

If you add Ms. Pac-Man to the mix - The second player uses the “W-A-S-D” keys as controllers.

As long ago as 10 years ago I was willing to make the prediction that television and the Internet would one day mould together and so far the progress has been slow but there is no doubt it is happening. Google purchased You Tube but fully understand the future of the television isn’t going to be ended by a PC screen or laptop. Everyone will always have a larger , brighter television in there homes.

“Video should be consumed on the biggest, best and brightest screen in the house. And that’s a TV. It’s not a PC or a phone or anything else in between,” said Google’s Rishi Chandra.

So what exactly will Google TV be ? It will allow the television to search through programs, dvds and the Internet at the touch of a button. Now one thing that has always let down these proposals has been the poor handling available with a bog standard TV remote. I certainly hope the void between the functionality of a computer mouse and a television remote is solved. We could see Google TV in the Uk as soon as 2011 it will be interesting to see just who google partners its system with will it be Sky , Virgin or both perhaps.

Online Media Direct are pleased to announce a new initiative that allows registered UK charities the opportunity to have there very own blog online setup for free. Blogging is becoming more and more popular online and is a great way of providing up to date news on for instance fundraising events.

Blogging is a great way of generating awareness of your charity plus with the integration of social media advertising on networking sites such as facebook and twitter. So why are we offering this service for free ? Whats the catch you may ask ?

First of all there is no catch we may use the blog as an example of our work but thats it.  Managing Director Garry Pickles explained further ” Charities need all the help they can get these days with the bad economic climate and we as a company feel we are in a position to help these charities. Of course it generates good publicity for our company but more importantly we can help charities raise money online”

If your charity currently has a website and you would be interested in adding a blog or perhaps you would like to know more about what a blog would bring to your charities site please email – info@onlinemediadirect.co.uk

One of the first things we setup when setting up or taking over a google AdWords cpc campaign is conversion tracking. If you operate a e commerce site then conversion tracking is a must if you are going get the best out of your AdWords budget. I am going to give you a few examples from two different AdWords campaigns.

The first campaign was already setup and we ran into the same old problem where keywords were packed into irrelevant ad groups and had very poor quality scores. Now quality scores and CT R’s (Click through rates) are one thing but conversions can in some cases throw these out of the window. You could have one of the best performing keywords and ad groups but if after a period of 3 months the cost per conversion is poor and leaving you with no return on investment then don’t be afraid of pausing it.

If you don’t have conversion tracking installed it is like tying one hand behind your back from the start. If you are unsure of how conversion tracking is installed consider getting in touch with reputable Internet marketing experts. This way it can be installed correctly and they can pay for themselves with the savings generated.

The second campaign was a complete new setup so ad groups were setup correctly the ads were written to generate good Click Through Ratios. Conversion Tracking helped us establish an average cost per conversion and we could adjust ad groups and bidding accordingly. In terms of percentages the savings conversion tracking has made is at 30%

If you consider this over a month or years spend on AdWords its easy to see the benefits. It could stack up to literally thousands of pounds in savings.

Ok lets say you don’t have an e commerce site conversion tracking can still be setup to track emails, sign ups or any other specific goals you may have via your website make setting up conversion tracking a priority for your AdWords success.