IBW Solutions, Internet Marketing Experts

SEO SEM Internet marketing

2009-03-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

The power of SPLIT TESTING.

Q:What is split testing?
A: Rather than changing the whole of your booking process or the copy on your website, you should first test to see if conversions or page views increase or decrease because of the changes you've made. Sometimes even small changes to a website can make a significant change, however these changes can adversely effect the site which the site owner or webmaster wouldn't have envisaged.

Don't Rush
What webmasters believe will benefit the website may not be necessarily so and certainly may not be what the customer wants - SO - split test.
How?
Take a specific product and make the changes to the booking for that product only, hopefully you'll already know how that product performs so you'll be able to compare figures after the implementation and see if it has improved sales or reduced them.

Example
It's been said that a button saying "book now" or "buy now" isn't as successful as " add to cart" or "add to basket" so don't rush to your site and start changing buttons willy nilly, split test - change half your products to a new button for a couple of weeks and see the results, if it's not positive then revert back to the original button.

Continual Improvement
Once you've added a new method to your site and tested then leave it a while and then see if you can improve on it, never stop testing or trying to improve the buying process. Once sales are up then start sourcing new ideas and start improving again, then split test to see how that method performs.
All of these techniques come under the "conversion" or "call to action" umbrella and are the difference between a well managed site and a poorly managed site.

Ask
Have you got reliable customers, have you got a great rapport with certain customers? if so - ask them what they think of the new methods, listen to their views - reward them for their time but do get their feedback, it's the customer that matters.
Send out a survey, get a general feedback - ask, ask and ask.

Ending Notes
Never take for granted that the final version is the best - always check your competitors, when shopping on other sites always make notes of good ideas, websites are never finished they are work in practice.

Good luck

SEO monthly costs, search engine optimisation explained

2009-03-08T05:21:00.000-07:00

SEO & Internet Marketing
Lets say you've chosen your Internet marketing company, you're happy with the package and the manner in which the seo work will take place, you've contacted them to discuss the price and are hit with an initial set up cost and then a figure for monthly payments - what the hell is this? you may wonder.
Well - SEO isn't a method or a technique that is performed overnight and that takes a minute or two to create great ranking results - lets look a bit further into what a quality seo company does to get YOU customers

Setting up SEO campaigns and their costs
The most important part of an SEO campaign is the initial setting up, This alone is a highly involved procedure that will benefit everyone, even the seo company - not in a financial way but in an information gaining way, an seo company needs to know about your business so it can structure it's seo campaign around that - it needs to research your competitors, learn about your goals & targets, it also has to look into your target audience and then determine what keywords they're typing in the search engines to find product and services such as yours. This information is key to a successful SEO campaign, however it does take up a lot of time and resources so a setting up cost is required but this will be money well spent. Without a setting up and evaluating your business an seo campaign will be meaningless.

Monthly SEO costs
Once the campaign is running and techniques have been administered, results will be scrutinized and further adjustments will be made to the site to respond to the results, any campaign that is to be successful will take months of researching, tweaking adding and removing certain elements to the campaign and website and it's these important elements that incurs a monthly cost, however don't gasp at these monthly fees which can range from £100 to £1000's as your increase in sales will far outweigh the monthly payments, you'll most probably after seeing the results and increase in sales will want more seo work done so that you can capitalise on the increase in visitors and sales. You'll get back far more than what you put in.

Call to Action
Any SEO company worth it's salt will give your website a survey and will probably recommend adjusting aspects of your site so that it will help convert customers into sales, why have all of this work done only to find your website isn't converting as well as it should - listen to the advice of the seo company and start improving your websites - sales process, usability, credibility and all round ease of browsing.

If you take your business seriously then don't discount or ignore this important marketing service - it could cost you your business.

Hope this has been helpful, and happy trading.

email marketing, direct mail services, enewsletters

2009-03-05T09:08:00.000-08:00

What an affordable method to keep in contact with your customer's, this method is such an overlooked or unknown system of improving your company's sales.

Half way there
You're already connected to the converted as they most probably signed up to your newsletter list, previously bought a product from you or even just enquired, with some basic info such as an email address you can send targeted, interesting and relevant email newsletters to your customers inbox.

General construction of a newsletter
First rule is to have a great subject title that will catch their eye and lead them to open the email, once you've accomplished this you now have to dazzle them with great headlines, a few relevant pictures and then most importantly exclusive money off deals for the product that they're interested in, make it exclusive by a week or so, let them be the first to get the money off bargain, let them know only a few are remaining - push them into buying that product there and then.
Don't just sell add some free info, tip and advice or write a small paragraph on how your company is doing, thank your customer's for their continual support and custom.

Targeted customers
Intelligent email marketing can also be broken into sub categories, maybe based on the region they live, the type of product they had previously purchased, this can be more successful than a general email newsletter to everyone.

Email marketing split testing
Try different email techniques to determine which was opened more, brought in more click through rates and obviously which brought in more purchases. Send them out mid week then test, next time send out in the weekend, then test. Don't ever stop testing - it will pay off and you'll begin to build slick email marketing campaigns every time.

Hope this gives you a quick insight into the powers of email marketing.

SEO, Internet Marketing for Holiday & Travel Websites

2009-03-01T03:25:00.000-08:00

We're pleased to announce that our Bronze, Silver & Gold holiday & travel SEO packages are now published, the three search engine optimisation packages are:

Bronze Package
Designed to increase visitors and bookings for holiday property owners such as Gite complexes, Villas and farmhouses, the prices are very affordable and ideal for the expat or second home owner.

Silver Package
Perfect for the small to medium sized holiday and travel business, ideal for an established business that has overheads and needs a significant increase in company and brand exposure resulting in an increase in bookings.

Gold Package
An extended package suitable for the large corporate holiday and travel companies that require in-depth SEO to enhance all search engine listings for their holiday categories.

For full details of the packages learn more here, holiday and travel SEO.

Internet marketing Discussion Group on Linkedin

2009-02-26T09:47:00.000-08:00

Join Internet Marketing Group
If any of you guys are interested in joining our Linkedin discussion group about all topics involved in Internet marketing then feel free to join up and get involved.
The topics will include search engine optimisation (SEO) the changes to our lives since the dawn of social media, the power of email marketing, AdWords management and so on - click here for the Internet marketing group.

See you there!

Website design & SEO - hand in hand

2009-02-22T02:44:00.000-08:00

Irresponsible Website Development
From my experience in talking to small business owners they are always horrified when I explain that there website is not listed in Google for any of the keywords that their business relates to. We explain to them it's because when they spoke to their original web designer SEO was not discussed.
Businesses make a huge investment when ordering a website and they were under the impression that once the website has been developed then the world will know about them. I feel some web design companies are irresponsible in not building a site with SEO already implemented or not discussing how important SEO is to the client.

Website Design and Search Engine Optimisation
Web design and SEO do come hand in hand, but many web design agencies state they are not SEO experts so don't partake in the work, this is bad for their business and for their clients especially as small businesses have a better understanding of how the search engines work now and are demanding SEO from the beginning.

Keywords for your website

2009-02-20T09:41:00.000-08:00

When researching for keywords relevant to your business don't exclude long key phrases, search engines love key phrases and if you got them in your text or other areas then you'll be placed very highly in the search engine positioning.
When you write your copy on the website add keywords and key phrases but you must remember you're selling the product so write some attractive descriptive text, talk as if you're selling the product to a person in the shop, eg. "imagine wearing that hat on a glorious sunny day, you look great and are definitely going to turn heads"

All of these small amounts of SEO tips build up to a complete picture that is a sure fire way to success and thats what SEO is, it's a puzzle that starts to take shape through constant refining. For more info contact us

Contant rich copy, website product description

2009-02-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

Keeping your website copy "real" is the sure way to achieve great rankings within the search engines, there are many different aspects to a well optimised website but they all form a ring around the main ingredient - great copy.

Be real not robotic
It's always a good idea to write your copy as if you're talking to a customer, your keywords should come naturally as your write, within your copy you can also employ the "call to action" methods which push the customer on, whether it's to the payment page or to another product that compliments the original product.

Check back
Don't ever presume you've nailed it, always return and amend your text, if you have a web-stat package that allows you to watch and read the web pages that your customer is viewing in "real time" then this is a fantastic way of seeing spelling mistakes, or paragraphs that are gramatically incorrect.

Bullet points & headers within the copy
If you have a lot of text for the customer to read, break it up - use bold paragraph titles, use bullet points, highlight keywords within the text so that fast readers can pick out the key important elements of the paragraph and still get the gist of the paragraph.

Just a few pointers to get you on your way.

SEO for holiday companies, Internet marketing for travel & holiday websites

2009-02-16T11:51:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

We've uploaded a page to our website which focuses on our Internet marketing talents dedicated to the the holiday and travel industry. As we run a successful holiday website we know the real rudiments of the travel business and we market our and other holiday websites with this in mind - the results are outstanding.
See our page on Internet marketing for holiday companies.

Just a quick update today, been a bit busy- We'll add some larger topics shortly.

Iain and the Team

Tips on Choosing Professional SEO Companies

2009-02-15T05:32:00.000-08:00

There are many cowboys out there in the world of SEO and it can be mind boggling for the uninitiated to choose between a professional SEO company and one that isn't, we've compiled a page that will explain the basics and hopefully make your decision a lot easier. Learn more about our tips on professional search engine optimisation companies.

If you want a chat then call us on 0845 0568790

Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, Website Marketing

2009-02-14T11:34:00.000-08:00

Our website is still being built but most of it is nearly complete, have a look at our search engine optimisation page and see the complete package that you can now order for only £95 per month. Businesses that are low on cash flow are still opting (quite wisely) to spend what they've got on marketing, and that is the message, not because we are marketing people but as a businessman who has built up successful businesses knows that marketing is your doorway to success, I did and I always will spend every last pound on marketing, it's money well spent.

Other pages are being published as the hours go by, keep tabs here.

Regards
Iain Williams

IBW Solutions

Internet Marketing Experts, SEO, Search Engine Optimisation

2009-02-13T11:11:00.000-08:00

Internet Marketing Services
Hello and welcome to IBW Solutions first blog, we'll be writing about all manner of ways that you can increase customer hits to your website. We'll give you heaps of free information, tips and advice that will certainly make a difference to your website unique visitor status and your conversion rates.

Internet Marketing Blog
Have you noticed that you're reading this blog? well this is the first step to increasing your brand awareness and it shouldn't be underestimated - the power of a blog is significant, it creates credibility, it's a platform that the search engines absolutely love and it's also a one click route to your website, so go on go and set up a blog and get writing, if you feel you can't write a good article then ask us, we provide a very cost affective service that can do it for you. You don't have to write too professional, you're writing to people, real people so write as if you're talking to them face to face.

I'm off now to create a profile on the SEO blog so return here as much as you can, even add it to your favourites so that you can keep tabs of our Internet marketing articles.

See you soon

The SEO Team