I recently read Richard Zwicky’s blog regarding the potential for Google to unveil a masked CPC across all devices in order to disguise the below-par growth they’ve seen in mobile advertising revenue.

Richard makes some very strong cases for Google’s potential to steamroll its agenda because of its stature in the search market and though Mr. Zwicky is as eloquent as ever, I wasn’t convinced that Google would seek to create such potentially tsunami-sized waves in its primary revenue stream.

Here are four reasons why I don’t feel that Google will cloak device-specific CPC.

1. Increased Transparency

To mask device CPC would be to reverse the tide of increased AdWords account transparency. The last two years have been unprecedented in the number of account-level tools that have been made available. For instance, we’ve gained the ability to split data as so:

Top vs. Other – a measure of how adverts perform when in the top positions and side positions

Device – Separating desktop, tablet and mobile performance

Network – Assess how Search Partner performance compares to Google Search performance

On top of this there was also the Quality Score transparency update from early last year and more recently, the changes to Impression Share to make reporting more detailed, thus making AdWords data easier to interpret and optimise than ever before. To make something as fundamental as CPC opaque would be completely at odds with Google’s recent boon of tools.

2. Decreased CPC Disparity

Richard is absolutely correct in the assumption that Google’s shareholders will be keeping very close tabs on mobile’s contributions to revenue, and we will likely see mobile queries surpass desktop searches (potentially in 2013). However, what was a vast difference between desktop and mobile CPC is ever-decreasing as more advertisers understand the importance of mobile advertising: in fact, tablet device CPC has been almost like for like with desktop for over 12 months in many of the accounts I’ve seen.

For me, mobile CPC was around 50% lower than desktop 2 years ago, but is now closer to 20% and I forecast that by the close of 2013, some industries will see like for like mobile and desktop click costs as mobile advertising continues to become more competitive.

3. The Importance of ROI to Advertisers

Even blue chips need to adhere to a measurable ROI from their advertising activities. Many businesses want to see discernible return if they are to continue their investment in any given marketing channel and if that return can’t be clearly defined, we all know of people who shun paid search in favour of search engine optimisation because it’s (and I quote) “free traffic”.

Moreover, digital advertisers are getting smarter and more demanding; there would be a significant backlash if device-specific CPC were to be cloaked and ROI threatened.

4. Speaking of Backlash… Remember The Ad Rotation Riot?

Even if change were to be implemented, AdWords advertisers aren’t shy about expressing disdain for counter-productive change. The attempted removal of the advert rotation option in 2012 is an example of Google’s capitulation in the face of advertiser backlash as they reinstated the fully functional option less than 12 weeks after rolling out the change.

Combining the desktop and mobile search experience is, to my utopian mind, a greater degree of non-identifiable data being made available to digital marketers in order to continue conversations across devices. I feel that Google’s mobile growth is inevitable and as it continues to snare greater market share in the United States and maintains just short of 90% UK search market share, the oligopoly (which is my new favourite word to say out loud) is unlikely to be threatened in the near future – but that’s an entirely new topic.

This domination, coupled with the rise in mobile usage and Google’s increased paid search transparency, leads me to conclude that cloaking CPC would be to swim against the tide of progress. Advertisers need to know how and where their money is being spent and which channel is giving them the best return.

To fudge the PPC channel’s transparency could be a catalyst to drive advertisers away from paid listings, and that would make the shareholders really mad.

Post by Why Google Probably Isn’t Going to Change the Ad Rules Again

Search engine giant, Google, came under severe scrutiny last night, after reports were made public about a serious breach in account security. An unexplained glitch has granted ex-employees and contractors access to Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics. Those who’ve had their right of entry revoked, now find that they can dally with a variety of accounts.

Google can’t guarantee that companies won’t have their web rankings affected. The issue was said to last a number of hours. Worried clients are taking to social media platforms and voicing their concerns – it’s possible that this glitch has harmed their online presence.

Some of the potential problems that could arise from this issue include: redirects to other websites, removal of the homepage URL, deleted sitemaps, the disavowal of links, and access denial to users. Google says they’re working to rectify the issue.

Post by Google Security Glitch

Google loves good content. And what Google wants, Google gets.

Search engines operate to bring the best information to web surfers and their bots are crawling all over your online content as we speak, analysing its quality and originality. To improve your conversion rates (turning content views into desired actions like social shares), you’ve got to get in Google’s good books and please your readers at the same time. That’s a lot of people to keep happy. The best way to do this is to write irresistible content and here’s how:

Write Fantastic Headlines

Otherwise known as ‘getting your foot in the door,’ writing killer headlines is crucial. If you write a lacklustre title, you might as well throw away that carefully crafted masterpiece, because no-one will read it. ‘How To’s and ‘Top Ten’s are classic headline templates and they’re fantastic for luring in visitors. For a more comprehensive look on how to create titles, click here.

Hey guys! I got me a reader...

Practice 

You know what they say; practice is the key to success. If your writing isn’t up-to-scratch, there’s little you can do except keep trying – it’s the only way you’ll improve. No-one is born a natural writer and the ability to churn out earth-shaking content only comes with a lot of hard work.

Copy should rule your life; at night, you’ll dream that you’re writing, and on the bus to work you’ll be mapping out your next project plan. You should always aim to improve your content and this means reading widely too.

The bathroom of an epic content writer.

Improve Lives

If your content doesn’t answer questions or help benefit the lives of your visitors, then you’re doing it wrong.  Pay attention to the comments and queries of your readers. They’ve come to you for specific information and if your copy falls short of their expectations, then they’re going to get angry.

Yes, you have a duty to drive traffic and improve conversion rates, but you’ve also got a responsibility to do exactly what your content says on the tin. A piece called ‘How To Spring Clean Your Kitchen In Five Easy Steps’ shouldn’t include shameless plugs to other websites which aren’t relevant. Be a sport and help people out.

What would Jesus do?

Do Your Research

Establishing yourself as a reliable and intelligent point of authority is possibly the best thing you can do for your content. If you’re not exactly Shakespeare when it comes to the written word, people will flock to you anyway, as long as you know what you’re talking about and you can present it in a clear way. Research your content well and use reputable sources when you can.

Your content, Sir, is a load of waffle.

Engage With Your Readers

The fastest way to get your audience to give you the social shares you need is to establish a relationship with them in your writing. Not only should you have an individual voice, but you should invite your readers to leave comments. If your visitors feel as though they’ve connected with you somehow, then they are more likely to play ball and tweet a link to your content. Everyone and their mother is copywriting at the moment, so readers are becoming pickier about who they’ll support. Be their #1 content King!

Post by How To Write Irresistible Content To Enhance Conversion Rates

After Bing announced earlier in the year that site owners can “disavow” links in Bing Webmaster Tools, Google has finally followed suit and launched the tool for users of Google Webmaster Tools, meaning we can now tell Google which links to ignore.

The tool can be used to point out to Google any links that break their guidelines, such as spammy links either placed knowingly by you or an SEO, or those used as part of a negative SEO campaign against your domain.

Google announced the tool on their webmaster central blog, and below is a guide on how to submit your own request to disavow links.

1. Firstly, go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/disavow-links-main, and you’ll see a screen like the image below where you can select the site you wish to disavow links for.

2. You’ll then be able to upload a file highlighting the links you wish to disavow:

3. You’ll then be able to upload a file highlighting the links you wish to disavow:

The file should be in plain text format (use notepad), using one URL per line.

4. Simply click “choose file”, locate the file on your PC then click “submit”. If you wish to add a comment about a particular domain, use a ‘#’ before it, similar to the example below:

# Contacted owner of spamdomain1.com on 7/1/2012 to

# ask for link removal but got no response

domain:spamdomain1.com

# Owner of spamdomain2.com removed most links, but missed these

http://www.spamdomain2.com/contentA.html

http://www.spamdomain2.com/contentB.html

http://www.spamdomain2.com/contentC.html

Using “domain:spamdomain1.com” will disavow ALL links from that domain, rather than from a specific page of the site. If you wish to disavow several links, use the domain command rather than supplying each individual URL.

The first links you should look at are in webmaster tools . Go to Traffic->links to your site->who links the most->more, then download the list of links. From here you can then go through the list of people linking to your site and create a list of the ones you want removing.

More information on the disavow links tool can be found in this video:

If you think your website has been hit by this year’s Google updates or require more information on the disavow tool, Prodo digital can help by assessing your back link profile by carrying out a backlink audit to ensure that your website is not being penalised by Google. For more information get in touch through our website or call 0844 871 7272

Post by Google Launches Disavow Tool

Last week Twitter launched a new look for their profile pages, the update included new versions of their iPhone, Android and iPad apps, which up until now had limited access to visual content.

There is speculation that the changes are Twitter’s bid to take on Facebook, as Facebook has always been the more visually engaging platform of the two and is obviously Twitter’s biggest competitor.

The update allows users to give their profile much more personality and incorporates a header image, a newly positioned profile picture and a photo stream all accessible via web and for the first time, mobile too.

So what have they changed?

Users are now able to upload a long horizontal header image (1200×600 pixels) and profile photos have a new position in the centre of the header image. Some users have merged the two images as we saw when Facebook launched its new Timeline design, showing how much more creative an environment Twitter has created.

Ryan Seacrest showcases an innovative design for his Twitter header.

The photo stream has also been moved up on a user’s web profile and is also now accessible on the Twitter apps in the ‘Me’ section.

So what does this mean for iPhone and iPad users?

The iPhone app looks similar to before in terms of news feed and navigation, however the ‘Me’ section now incorporates a header photo and photo stream.

The iPad app has however been completely overhauled with a new user interface which not only incorporates a header photo but also gives uploaded photos a bigger display area. Images now also appear full screen and links show up within tweets when expanded, giving the app a whole new user experience.

These changes allow profiles to have a universal design across all social media platforms and create more of an engaging environment for Twitter users. This is especially beneficial to brands as keeping your identity consistent across all online touch points allows even greater brand recognition and awareness.

Post by Twitter Redesign 2012: A New Look for Profile Pages

If you consider the wealth of technology that accesses the internet every day, from PCs to macs, laptops to tablets, mobile phones to televisions, it’s hard to imagine a sane web designer or developer. When attempting to create a website for the masses, the variety of devices that will be used to browse the site is usually the first thing that’s considered, however this process is rarely plain sailing; last year there were over 500 million smartphones shipped worldwide, and over 70 million tablets.

Bridging the Gap

Responsive web design, a relatively new technique, has been slowly building up speed, promising to bridge the gap between website coding and user interaction on all internet-enabled devices. Previously, web designers and developers would have created specific sites for specific mobile platforms, however this new technique means that site content will respond to the device it’s being rendered on. For example, if you’re accessing the web through a mobile phone or tablet, the size of the copy and the resolution of the screen will also be taken into account; images will be shrunk and navigation will be simplified.

Simultaneous Implementation

Ethan Marcotte, the man who brought the idea forward on the website design blog ‘A List Apart’ in 2010, commented on the growing trend of mobile experiences moving away from the typical desktop sites. “What’s next?” he asked, “An iPad website? A Nokia N90 website? Can we really continue to commit to supporting each new user agent with its own bespoke experience?”

Marcotte raised a good point, especially for small or medium-sized businesses that are unable to cope with multi-site accessibility, mainly due to resource shortages. Having the ability to implement a change across a number of devices simultaneously instead of re-writing code for each individual device could prove extremely useful for a business, allowing them to reach a wider audience. Furthermore, development of mobile device accessibility will instantly become a fundamental part of the design process.

Who Will Benefit From Responsive Design?

With Google beginning to embrace responsive web design, you need look no further than some of the web’s biggest creative players to see the effect it’s having, for example The Boston Globe’s website, designed in collaboration with Marcotte himself. Puzzlingly, people have been left wondering why responsive web design hasn’t taken over the web. This is due to the fact that it simply doesn’t suit all businesses and their websites. There are differences in how ads are served on mobile sites to desktop sites also in the case of some mobile websites some of the functionality or features do not translate well with responsive web design.

Although responsive web design has had a wave of positive reviews from designers and developers alike, that doesn’t mean it necessitates everyone. Desktop sites, for example, may have trouble embracing responsive web design if they’re content/editorial-driven. Similarly, some developers feel that mobile sites fail to translate well with responsive design – every internet enabled device poses a different complexity.

Google may be taking its first steps towards responsive design for static sites, but when it comes to Gmail, Reader or Docs, it’s unlikely that they’ll roll out the optimisation any further. Responsive design won’t make multi-device development easier, but it will provide consistency for the user experience – an important trait in ever-evolving mobile technology.

If you want to see responsive web design in action, have a look at some of the sites listed below:

 Smashing Magazine

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

 Trent Walton (below)

http://trentwalton.com/

 Andersson-Wise Architects

http://www.anderssonwise.com/

 Spigot Design

http://spigotdesign.com/

The Baker Street Inquirer (below)

http://www.alistapart.com/d/responsive-web-design/ex/ex-site-FINAL.html

Teixido

http://teixido.co/

 Naomi Atkinson

http://naomiatkinson.com/

Do you have any great websites to add to our list that use responsive web design? Or do you have any questions about responsive web design? If so please do not hesitate to add your comments below.

Bitly: http://bit.ly/TRXnfL

Post by Responsive Web Design

So you have read Zoe’s brilliant post on becoming the social media star player that you had always hoped you would be. Whilst you have planned and are executing “a winning formula” based on research and practice, I want to draw your attention to her last point: “Facebook and Twitter are two different players”. I cannot agree with this point more; by compartmentalising the two social media platforms, you will be onto a winning strategy.

Now every star team has to have an armful of strategies in their playbook and I’m going to tell you about a key one: live-tweeting.

What is it?

Twitter defines it as a verb meaning “to engage on Twitter for a continuous period of time—anywhere from 20 minutes to a few hours—with a sequence of focused Tweets.” Your focus can be a live event such as a physical launch event or a virtual event like a Twitter Q&A. Of course, depending on whether it is physical or virtual, dictates whether you will need to be out-in-the-field as it were or safely tucked away in an office.

Why do it?

Do you ever remember playing Sonic the Hedgehog as a child? Well, put yourself in the spiky one’s shoes and try to remember what happened when you broke that television that had stars on the front. Is it all flooding back? Good, so you will remember how it made you go faster and grab more rings. That is what live-tweeting is; a turbo boost to drive engagement.

Even if you are not a fan of NASCAR, you will appreciate this example. A NASCAR race was subject to a dramatic delay due to an explosion on the track; instead of sitting in his car twiddling his thumbs, a NASCAR driver named Brad Keselowski took out his smartphone and did what any 21^st century digital dude would do and start tweeting from his privileged position. A long story short: within two hours this driver gained 100,000 followers.

On the different end of the spectrum, O2 UK, during its recent network crash resorted to live-tweeting to stem the backlash and implement crisis management. When a wave of angry tweets came their way, they managed their Twitter account like any good social media team should: try to reply to everyone’s questions, deal with offensive messages in a non-confrontational manner but most importantly, they showed humility.

OK, that’s great for a celebrity or a huge brand, but what about me and my business?

Live-tweeting is essential for creating that holy grail of engaging content: your followers learn that your voice has a unique quality behind it and not only that, but it is authentic. If you need to know one thing about social media, know this: social media marketing is built upon the principle of being honest and frank. For every positive aspect to your business, it will be amplified; the same goes to the negative aspects. By being there, listening and responding up-front, your followers will be happy to continue participating in any future conversations.

How do you do it?

Providing a context is paramount in live-tweeting; think back to when you’ve joined a conversation at the half-way point, if everyone carries on and fails to fill you in on the conversation topic, you feel lost and thus fail to become interested. The same goes for steering conversations off-topic; no-one likes a person who goes off-topic! So, how we get around this is to inform your followers ahead of schedule that you intend to form a Twitter conversation around a specific topic.

• The hash-tag

Enter the hash-tag. Hash-tags are wonderful things, they not only look great and snappy, and they seem to file conversations perfectly too. Inform your followers of your intended hash-tag ahead of time and make sure when you build up anticipation for the event, you attach it to relevant tweets.

• Keep your focus

Your followers will only listen to the conversation in a pedestrian manner if you’re tweeting in the same old way. To really maximise live-tweeting, know what your strength is and use it. Perhaps you are privy to a perspective only an insider can get from an event. What is going on? Who is there? If the event is more like a Q&A session, perhaps you should impart your expert knowledge from within your field of expertise. Most importantly, know your audience and pay attention.

• A picture is worth a thousand… characters

When I said get an insider’s perspective, nothing really encapsulates it like some amazing photos and eye-catching rich media. Photos work really well on Twitter, so even if all you have is a smartphone and not a tablet, the closer to the action they are… the better!

• Tweet frequency

There is no predetermined limit on the amount of tweets you can send in a live-tweeting session. Rather than focus on quantity, think about quality. Tweet when you get the feeling; use your intuition, if something happens then report it or comment on it. If not, then don’t worry. There is no time like the present, so just go with your logic and followers will naturally grow. A great thing about live-tweeting is the power of curation. By curating interesting content, engagement will increase.

For me, Twitter is more about messaging than any other social media platform. The micro-blogging platform is tailor-made for those who can write engaging content in 140 characters or less; yes, a relentless and challenging pursuit, but eyes are on the prizes: followers, replies, mentions, favourites and the gold medals of retweets.

Have you organised or participated in a live-tweeting session? What was your experience like? Leave your comments in the box below.

Post by Live-tweeting: What is it and is it worth it?

What is a Canonical Tag?

A canonical tag looks like this: <link rel=”canonical” href=http://www.example.com/”  /> this should be inserted into the head section of the HTML of a page within a website. (See below)

What Does it Look like?

Why is it Important?

Many SEO technicians suggest a canonical tag appears on every single page of a website for ‘good practice’ – but why?

The main functionality of a canonical tag is to signal to Google which page you consider to be the most important from a group of pages which can have very similar content.

This can be very useful when you have duplicate pages on your website e.g. the homepage or you have a number of similar product pages which produce multiple URLs on different sort filters or tracking parameters.

AND WE ALL KNOW DUPLICATE CONTENT IS BAD

Examples of when to use it:

Often on websites the homepage and folder levels will be duplicated. This is because the page and its content can be found in another folder for example

http://www.homepage.com/index.html

Is the same as

http://www.homepage.com/

When you’re a webmaster or SEO it is important to know how to look for these. The duplicate homepage at folder level can be found by adding a range of different default naming conventions to the top level domain, depending on which server your website is hosted.

There are 2 main server

There are 2 main servers

Microsoft IIS

/Default.aspx       /Index.asp        /Home.asp     /Index.htm

Apache

/Index.html       /Index.php      /Default.php       /Home.php

Finding Duplicate Content through Google:

Google will automatically omit web pages from its search results that it considers to be duplicated. However this doesn’t mean that it cannot see them which will be causing damage to your SEO.

To find out exactly what Google considers to be duplicate content, we can use a ‘site colon’  to identify the pages.

For example: ‘site:www.riverisland.com’

If we scroll then through the results to the end this, is what we will come across:

So take a note of the last URL in the SERP’s and then scroll through to this. When you find it (it should be around the same position) any URLs after this will then be shown as being very similar in the search engines eyes and may need to have canonical tags inserted.

Sorting and Filtering

Another example where to use the Canonical tag is when a website features a sort filter. This is very common on e-commerce websites:

The top level of the category forms on this URL

http://www.riverisland.com/Online/men/t-shirts–vests

However when we sort it by ‘latest in stock’ the URL forms like this

Example 1

http://www.riverisland.com/Online/men/t-shirts–vests?startindex=1&itemsperpage=60&sortoptions=1&category=b2bec2a6-2a9f-4415-9ed6-75079dc9e196&categoryname=t-shirts+%2f+vests+&includerelatedcontent=0

and if we filtered it by prices low to high the URL changes to this:

Example 2

http://www.riverisland.com/Online/men/t-shirts–vests?startindex=1&itemsperpage=60&sortoptions=3&category=b2bec2a6-2a9f-4415-9ed6-75079dc9e196&categoryname=t-shirts+%2f+vests+&includerelatedcontent=0

Now theoretically much of the content on these pages is similar, so in order to signal that we would like http://www.riverisland.com/Online/men/t-shirts–vests to be considered the main page for all of these variations what do we need? Yes you guessed it…

<link rel=”canonical” href=”http://www.riverisland.com/Online/men/t-shirts–vests“  />

We need the canonical tag on Example 1 and Example 2 and any other example of filtering which can be found throughout the website.

UPPERCASE and lowercase

*One more thing to take into account is issues with uppercase and lowercase. For example:

http://www.myclothes.com/Online/Mens/

http://www.myclothes.com/online/mens/

If a page resolves on both of these this can also be classed as duplicate content and will need to be redirected to the preferred URL or have a canonical tag present.

Duplicate Content Caused by URL Parameters, Like Session IDs or Tracking IDs

Tracking parameters exist to identify the different sources through which traffic is driven to a given page. Session IDs exist to identify a specific user. Whilst both are extremely useful, they can cause duplicate content. If a user links to the URL

http://www.prodo.com/?utm_source=newsletter4&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=prom1

It could then appear in the eyes of Google as a URL.

A canonical tag will need to be applied to this to avoid the issue of duplicate content.

Final Word

The Canonical tag should be used in situations where duplicate content may be an issue due to similar pages within your website, duplicate pages where they cannot be redirected and for pages created through tracking parameters just like the examples previously mentioned.

It is important to remember however, that even though Google strongly adheres to the canonical tag, it is always better to redirect when it is safe and possible.

If you have any questions about the canonical tag and could use it for your website, feel free to comment in the space below and Prodo will happily respond.

Post by When to Use the Canonical Tag

Within the first instalment of the conversion rate optimisation series, we discussed a crucial starting place within any conversion process; attracting the right type of traffic. By delivering these visitors, the likelihood for them to complete your desired goal will be significantly higher. But to simply isolate the focus on selecting the right type of keywords would be naïve, because if they land and notice the offering and accessibility of the site is lacking, then the careful and strategic SEO planning will invariability be wasted.

SEO & Its Misconception

Often an SEO campaign can be deemed successful once rankings have been achieved which then coincided in an upsurge in traffic. But when this traffic does not materialise into the expected end goals, a negative and unnecessary misconception of SEO usually takes place. In that the person may feel ‘SEO is indeed Dead’ and halt any activity in favour of a different marketing approach in an attempt to reach their site objective with greater success.

But once this new approach you adopt fails, what next. Do you suggest that any marketing activity is flawed and is all nonsense?

Of course not, because if you have thought through your strategy and planned each avenue, then the rewards are certainly possible.

Keep Calm, Carry onto Your Road to Conversion

Everyone experiences moments were they simply want to give up, pack their bags and wish they never started their ‘apparent’ failure in the first place. These moments are evitable and arguably beneficial as it allows you to seek out new information and experiment ways to avoid a reoccurrence of the failure. And although that can be seen as a life lesson, it is certainly important within the achievement of your websites goals simply because the online marketplace is not only really competitive; but people who browse the web want things to be shown to them with ease and minimal hassle.

That last part may sound simple, however by making something obvious to the visitor isn’t necessary obvious to the webmaster.

So….

First Things First

 Researching your competitors can be a good starting point, but what if they aren’t doing it right either. What if they are ranking number one for all of your target market keywords, but they have simply missed the point in terms of their pricing, site layout, the obscure placement of calls to action or they have completely misjudged their position in the marketplace which is instead dominated by other big players whose allure will entice visitors to them as a result of their trust. Remember being number one in Google does not necessarily mean you are the best in the eyes of the consumer. So as shown below, you will need to develop ways to get them on your side.

CRO, Onsite & SEO: Integrate, Never Separate.

A quote from Jamie at SEOmoz says that “Well, SEO and other online marketing initiatives are certainlycomplementary. But I’ll be honest with you: you will see more sales from focusing on conversion rate optimization and site optimization alone than from SEO alone. That said, I’d never recommend you do only one…”

So effectively within this triangle an authority figure within SEO claims that CRO and Onsite are fundamental to the sales process. But what he proposed within these elements is that the entire business model needs to be reviewed to cater exactly for their customers needs before, during and after the customer’s decision making process.

The Before

 This simply encompasses the decision making process for a customer to become interested in completing a sale. So factors such as price, product quality & diversity, preconceived notion of the site based on its design compared to the competition and the trust element of the brand can be viewed as top level aspects which contribute to that initial thought.

However, this can be taken a stage further because going back to a previous point; users need to be given what they need without complications. So for them to analyse your suitability; clear and obvious calls to action needs to be complimented with an easy to navigate user journey which allows them to flow through with ease.

And as the search engines are now placing ever increasing emphasis on user experience, getting this right will also pay dividends within your SEO.

The During

An onsite aspect of this would relate to how easy and effectively can you make a goal once you have decided that this product/service is what you require. And unfortunately, this is where many sites can fall short. Either the check out is too confusing and long, or the sales people conducting it aren’t helpful or knowledgeable enough to deal with their specific request.

The After

 For many businesses this can be seen as a neglected part of the conversion process because they simply forgot about those who actually purchased from them to then instead place complete emphasis on gaining new sales. New sales are fundamental to a business, but considering according to Accenture, “the cost of winning back a customer after they’ve defected is 50-100 times the cost of retaining that customer. Researchers have found that in some industries, a mere five percent increase in retention raises profits by 25-95 percent, with twice the return on sales and gains in market share from year-to-year.”

So by rewarding and enticing those customers to revisit is something which needs to be within a websites business model. Measures such as a FAQ section to respond to complaints or queries can showcase that trust and human element; discounted prices for any future purchases or perhaps follow up respondents to ensure that what they received is as expected and if any additional support can be delivered.  This will not only aid conversions from those customers, but you will inevitability start to assemble a variety of brand advocates who are willing to suggest it to others and positively promote it via social media avenues.

If you have any additional points to make on this series, then please leave a comment below because the range of tactics involved in gaining a conversion varies depending on industry.

Post by Visitors Have Arrived? Now What

In case you hadn’t noticed, infographics have become an increasingly popular way of displaying and sharing information over the Internet. In today’s blog post, we are going to discuss what it is about infographics that makes them so popular and how you can use them to help benefit your business.

Info-what?

First things first, an infographic, or information graphic, is quite simply a visual representation of information. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as by collating data into pie charts or graphs, by using tree diagrams and timelines or even just through pictures. Infographics usually contain smaller chunks of text, and rely more on images to get their information across.

So why do people like them?

Quick and easy

According to the Visual Teaching Alliance, 65% of people are visual learners; this means that they respond better when information is presented in a visual way, to how they’d respond if it were simply a text document or a list of figures. Following on from this, the human brain can process images more quickly than words, so an infographic is a much faster way of conveying information than say, a document is.

This infographic from Plaid Creative is a great example of how an infographic can be extremely simple but still convey a lot of information. Entitled “The Perfect Pour”, it shows the various different types of coffee and what goes into them. Textual information is kept to a minimum, but the pie-chart-style images are easy to understand.

Shareability

As a nation of Tweeters and Facebook users, we all love to share the cool stuff we’ve found on the Internet. An infographic, which is generally just an image, is very easy to pass on through social media platforms, and a good infographic can spread like wildfire.

Sharing = Links

Of course, when people start to share something, either through blog posts, shares on Facebook or Retweets, it generates more links, and therefore visitors, to your site.

Demonstrate your expertise

Remember how we said that a well-written, informative blog post can establish your position as a source of knowledge in your particular field? A well-produced, interesting infographic can do exactly the same thing, which is great because it means you can market yourself through an infographic, without actually doing all of that annoying self-promotion stuff.

We recently created this infographic for Archers Sleep Centre which was featured on their blog. The infographic provided visitors to the site with information about a variety things, from the pros and cons of memory foam, to the best tips for getting a good night’s sleep.

Try it yourself

So now that we’ve convinced you that you absolutely need to start producing some infographics, here’s a few simple things to remember to make the process a bit easier:

It’s an INFOgraphic

Remember that this is all about information, so make sure you use genuine facts and figures rather than opinions and ideas – an infographic should be an accurate portrayal of data, not just something based on guesswork.

This infographic, The Small Business Social Media Cheat Sheet, produced by Flowtown, gives a lot of information about the different social media sites and how small businesses can make use of them. Rather than adding their own thoughts and opinions on each site, the creators have simply stuck to the facts, so that the infographic remains informative and useful rather than confusing the reader.

Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Make a decision about the information you’re trying to get across and stick with that plan. You might find that once you start researching a subject, you discover far more information than you expected to. That’s great, but only use the relevant facts and figures – if you pack your infographic with more information than it needs, it kind of defeats the whole point. It’s supposed to be simple and easy to digest.

Make it fun!

An infographic that’s full of really useful information about a certain topic is a great way to guarantee shares, but even better is an infographic that presents useful information in a really fun or unique way. You can be really creative with an infographic, so make use of colour, illustrations and make sure that there’s some humour in there too!

Now what?

Once you’ve created your infographic, you need to get it out there! Add it to your site or blog and then use the Embed Code Generator from SEO Gadget to create a code that allows other people to add it to their sites. Visual.ly is a great site where visitors can search for and share thousands of infographics; if you upload yours to the site, you can tag it with relevant keywords so that users searching for a specific theme will (hopefully) find it! You can also submit it to infographic blogs and there’s plenty of those on the Internet! Here’s a few of our favourites:

• Cool Infographics
• The Infographics Showcase
• Daily Infographic
• Love Infographics
• Submit Infographics
• Infographics Archive
• Infographr
• I Heart Infographics

What do you think of infographics? If you’ve seen a really good example of one, share the love and tell us about it in the comments below!

Post by Fantastic Infographics!