Category Archives: Link building

Hijacking the news agenda for link building

Posted on by Johanna Hakala

Out of the many editorial link development tactics we use on a weekly basis, hijacking the news agenda is certainly one of the most challenging, but also one of the most exciting and potentially lucrative. Jumping onto a live story requires the team to keep a keen eye on the developing news agenda, spotting an opportunity for a client and then crafting a relevant response.

Our most recent news hijack is also one of our most successful to date and was on behalf of long time client, Ecclesiastical Insurance.

To provide a brief background, 70% of weddings are uninsured and when you consider that the average wedding costs £20,000, this is a huge financial investment not to cover.  Our client Ecclesiastical’s cover is famous for it’s ‘mix and match’ policy, that enables couples to personalise their insurance depending on the elements they are investing in.  Most wedding insurance covers a standard set of suppliers or circumstances so we’re always looking for opportunities to educate the target audience on Ecclesiastical’s offering. So when as a part of our daily scan of the news, we spotted wedding site confetti.co.uk possibly going into administration (22nd August), we jumped into action.

After a quick call to the client (who as a marketing veteran had similar ideas!), we agreed a plan of action.  To speed up approvals, the client’s internal PR team drafted a release for the offline media, which we were allowed to edit and tweak to work for our online contacts and include key anchor text (one of our targets for Ecclesiastical is to improve rankings for the key non-brand search term, ‘wedding insurance’).

As the release was being approved, we drew up a media list of key national and insurance media.

Selling in of the story began on 23rd of August, the day Confetti.co.uk actually went into administration and after our initial sell-in to our key media, we ‘followed the sun’ on the sell-in and handed the release over to the international news wires so it could be distributed to insurance and financial media across the world.

Although we were confident that we’d get some pick up, the response over the next two days was phenomenal. By the end of the week, we had secured 125 links from separate domains for the story – 98% of which featured our key non-brand anchor text, ‘wedding insurance’.  A fantastic result within an incredibly short space of time.

Even more exciting was the calibre of sites that picked up the story.  Yahoo! Finance, Marketwatch.com and the Fox news channel sites all ran our release, amongst many others.

Within the space of five days we had spotted a story, worked with a client’s online and offline marketing team to maximise the opportunity and secured 125 editorial links for key anchor text.  All in all, an exhausting, but exciting week for the Leapfrogg social media and content team, and more importantly a great result for the client.

Learn from the Froggers – News hijacking do’s and don’ts:

So how can you replicate this success? Well, here are a few pointers for both agencies and clients to consider in making this work:

Do read and watch the news…like a hawk!:

Opportunities can pop up at any time, but certain types of brands will always find something to jump on at certain times of the year.  For example, retail brands should always be looking to comment around traditional sales times or seasonal peaks. Travel brands should keep an eye out in the run up to summer – airline strikes give you good opportunities to be the consumer champion, for example.

Do agree a plan of action or process well in advance:

Stories will always need to be turned around quickly – often same day – before the news agenda changes again, so prepare as much templated information and discuss the agency / client processes well before any opportunity arises.  Who would draft the release? Who would approve it?  If key contacts are on holiday, who makes the decisions? And if the media need quotes, images or case studies urgently, who is the go-to to source the collateral you don’t already have to hand?

Understand that the media is a fickle mistress!:

Sometimes today’s news can most definitely be tomorrow’s chip paper – understand that and appreciate that if you don’t give the media what they want and when they want it, you’ll lose the opportunity.  Conversely (and perversely!) some stories can run and run.  It’s difficult for the news editors themselves to predict what’s going to happen next, so appreciate that your agency will not be able to anticipate the twists and turns of a story.  In this way, trust your team to sell in when they think it’s right and to be real consultants to your client and advise you when it’s time to give up.

Enjoy it!

News hijacking is fast and furious, but when it works like it has done for us this occasion, it is one of the most rewarding tools that we keep on ice in our little link development pond here at Leapfrogg.

If you have any similar experiences, get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.

Infographic – the online retail wheel of fortune

Posted on by Rosie Freshwater

With ever-increasing competition online and the demand to deliver a multi-channel shopping experience, online retailers have a never ending list of actions they need to take in implementing a successful digital marketing strategy.

Add to that the growing sophistication in how search engines display their results; the introduction of blended search, personalised search, social search and real-time search demand a much more holistic approach to search engine optimisation (SEO); an approach that combines traditional activities, such as keyword selection and link building, with more contemporary tactics in social media and content marketing.

A successful online retail strategy is therefore made up of many parts that are continually growing and repeating throughout the customer buying cycle. This can at times be overwhelming as retailers struggle to find the resource, time and skills to succeed in every necessary area.

Understanding this, we thought we would lend a helping hand to online retailers by creating the infographic to end all infographics; the online retail wheel of fortune. This is a graphical representation of the main elements to be incorporated into your online strategy to maximise success.

And here it is! Now being rather large, and very detailed, you will need to download the pdf version to digest it fully, which you can access by clicking here.

As you will see we have split our graphic into four main sections, representing key stages of the customer buying cycle as follows:

Reach
Covering the top line projects and tactics aimed at maximising your online exposure, therefore enabling you to connect with as many prospects as possible, which in turn drives more of the right traffic to your website.

Engage
The tools and techniques you can use to ‘talk’ to your audience once you have found them.

Convert
How to turn those engaged prospects into customers by optimising the user experience on your site, for example.

Retain
The actions you need to take to encourage repeat sales and develop advocates of your brand.

For each key stage of the buying cycle, we have detailed areas of attack, top level projects, specific actions within those  projects and some of the key benefits you will experience. Start with ‘reach’ before working your way out and then around to the next stage.

We realise it is a lot to take in…but this should also highlight just how much is involved in researching, planning and implementing an integrated digital marketing strategy for retailers.

We’d love to hear from you with your comments.

25 questions to ask yourself before taking digital marketing in-house

Posted on by Ben Potter

From time to time, our clients will decide to take their entire digital marketing strategy, or perhaps certain activities, in-house. As an agency we have no problem with this. We accept that relationships built on transparency and trust will inevitably see some clients learn enough from our team, and develop the confidence, to eventually feel they can take things forward without the use of an agency.

Where this is the case, we like to help clients on their way by ensuring they fully understand the range of required skills, technology and resource to manage their online strategy to maximum effect. We do this by working with them to assess their capability and capacity through a series of questions, often with a workshop tagged on for good measure.

The agency vs in-house conundrum is one that you may well face at some stage. To help you decide whether in-house, outsourced or a combination of the two solutions is best for you, I thought I’d share a number of the questions we pose to our clients when they’re considering their options.

You’ll notice the questions tend to be more general than highly specific as responses will inevitably lead to further discussion. What we try and highlight to clients during this process is that search engine marketing has become increasingly complex over the years. This means a greater amount of expertise, experience and resource is needed than ever before if they are to maximise the effectiveness of their in-house efforts.

So with that in mind, here are 25 questions to help you assess whether you have the skills and resource to manage an integrated search, social media and content strategy in-house:

Search engine optimisation

1) What is your knowledge and understanding of search engine algorithms?

2) Are you aware of ‘blended search’, ‘personalised search’, ‘social search’ and ‘real-time search’, and what they mean for your search engine marketing efforts?

3) Do you know how to research and categorise search terms? What is your experience of incorporating these terms naturally into highly engaging web copy?

4) How will you be continuously building links to your website? What is your experience / knowledge of good practice in this area?

5) What knowledge do you have of user-experience and the impact this has on both search engine rankings and conversion rates?

6) Do you understand what needs to be considered when the time comes to redevelop your website, such as the choice of technology / content management system (CMS) and how to migrate from the old site to the new without negative impact?

7) What is your experience of using freely available tools, such as those in the Google Webmaster console and their role in analysing search engine performance?

Paid Search

8 What experience do you have in setting up and managing Paid Search campaigns?

9) Do you know how to analyse campaign data on an ongoing basis and optimise campaigns with a view to maximising ROI?

10) Do you have experience in landing page testing with the aim of improving conversion rates?

11) How much time can you dedicate each day to managing your Paid Search campaign?

Content

12) What provisions/plans/schedules do you have in place for creating content, on a regular basis, in formats, such as articles, press releases, blogs and video?

13) Do you know how to properly optimise all of the above formats?

14) Do you know how to most effectively distribute the above formats to maximise reach?

15) Do you know how to measure the impact of your content strategy?

Social Media

16) What research tools do you have to identify the websites, blogs, forums and communities where your target audience is most active?

17) Have you got a social media strategy in place based on this research?

18) Do you understand the ‘rules of engagement’ when it comes to using social media tools, such as Twitter?

19) How will you be monitoring where your brand is being talked about online?

20) Have you had experience in dealing with negative comments about your brand or service online?

21) Do you monitor buzz on your industry so you can proactively respond?

22) How will you monitor / measure the success of your social media efforts?

23) What efforts do you make to retain customers and develop advocates of your brand?

Measurement

24) How will you set and measure goals and objectives? Do you have the appropriate experience, tools and processes in place to measure the variables that really matter, such as conversions, cost per conversion, lifetime value of customer and ROI?

25) Do you have experience in studying web analytics to make informed decisions about your website aimed at improving conversion rates?

As well as the above questions we also recommend people consider how they are going to keep pace with latest trends and developments  i.e. how much time can they dedicate to reading, attending conferences and so on? This is an important, but often overlooked, aspect of managing things in-house.

One point I would like to highlight is that even though I operate agency side I do not automatically assume outsourced is the best solution. It is entirely dependent on the organisation in question. It is rare amongst SME’s in particular, that one solution is more effective than the other. Usually, companies will have certain in-house skills and a certain amount of capacity to look after aspects of their strategy. But an agency will usually have invested in technology and a team of people possessing a wide range of skills that can be brought to the table to complement those possessed in-house.

Another equally important point to consider is that even when outsourcing to an agency, your involvement in the project is integral to its success. Digital marketing is never 100% outsourced because to a certain degree the success of a project is dictated by you, the client. I’ll be exploring this in more detail next time around.

Until then…

Why preparation is integral to success in digital marketing

Posted on by Ben Potter

Just before Christmas I had the honour of being best man to one of my life long friends. Of course with that honour came an equal measure of paralysing fear as I considered how I would deliver a best mans speech to remember; fear that was compounded further by an earlier showing as best man a few years ago where I still to this day cringe at just how much I fluffed it.

You’ll be happy to hear, however, that this time around I absolutely stormed it (if I can be so bold to say!). And you know what made the difference? Well, it really came down to one factor; preparation. A few years back, as a younger man (with a slight air of arrogance about me), I felt I could deliver a knock out speech with little planning and even less practice. As an older, and hopefully wiser man, I realised that research, planning and practice were essential components to a successful speech.

Where am I going with this? Well, preparation is equally important to the success of your digital marketing efforts. However, time and time again companies throw money and resource online with very little research or planning. It seems many of the basic principles that people apply to offline marketing campaigns are too easily forgotten when it comes to the implementation of online strategies. Instead, there is often a misguided notion that by throwing enough money at Google Adwords, sticking a keyword or two into a title tag or setting up a Twitter profile, a pot of gold will be waiting at the end of the rainbow.

It’s just not that easy I’m afraid. With increasing competition online and growing sophistication in how search engines display their results, research and planning is absolutely paramount to a successful online strategy. The introduction of blended search, personalised search, social search and real-time search demand a much more holistic approach to search engine optimisation (SEO); an approach that combines traditional activities, such as keyword selection and link building, with more contemporary tactics in social media and content marketing.

But a more holistic and sophisticated approach to SEO in turn demands a greater focus on research and planning. Research is essential in providing insight, focus and direction for your digital marketing strategy. Planning ensures your digital strategy is aligned with your objectives, internal time and resource, offline marketing and budget.

So with this in mind, what do we suggest you look at as part of a detailed research and planning phase? Well, here’s an insight into a few of the things we focus on during the first few weeks of a new project, and review at regular intervals thereafter:

Competitor analysis

For any new project, we ask a client who they consider to be the their key competitors. We then analyse the online marketing activity of these competitors, including SEO efforts, Paid Search campaigns, content and social media. By carrying out analysis of your competitors it provides insight, focus and direction for your own online efforts. Have you ever heard the saying, ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer?’ That’s why you need to analyse the competitive space and know exactly what you’re up against before you get started.

Prospects and customers

A number of sophisticated tools allow you to discover where your prospects and customers spend their time online, what they talk about and how they interact with one another, as well as who influences their purchasing decisions. This research allows you to create a community map; a visual representation of the websites, blogs, forums and social networks where your target audience is most active. In turn, this map dictates where you need to be pushing content along with the social media tools, such as Twitter, that you need to use to engage with your prospects, customers and those people who influence them.

It’s also well worth scouring the web for published research, reports and studies on the audience you are targeting. For example, if you’re market is 17-25 year olds there is bound to be some freely available research that provides insight their use of the Internet, such as the social networks they frequent most regularly. If not, you may even consider commissioning your own research!

Content brainstorming

The research that goes into creating a community map will highlight the problems, issues and concerns faced by your target audience. Analysing a number of your key competitors will also highlight where you can gain an advantage by creating content they may not have considered or by bettering what they are already doing. It is therefore important to audit the content you already have (digital assets) and then brainstorm new content ideas that may include additional resources on your website, articles, press releases, blog posts, images, video and audio. Creating and marketing content on an ongoing basis is essential in making your website a stronger resource, building authority and in entering social spaces with something of real value to the target audience.

Site architecture planning

One of the most important elements of creating a great website is information architecture. A site that is well organised and intuitive will set the foundations for search engine rankings, as well as benefiting visitors to your website with a clear and intuitive path to the point of conversion.

In researching new content ideas it is important to plan how this content will be integrated into your website. During the research and planning stage it is therefore a good idea to map out your existing website and then, on the basis of continually adding new content, also map out where you expect the site to be in say, 3, 6 and 12 months time. This helps to provide direction and a clear goal of what you are working towards, therefore forming the basis of a content schedule.

Link research

In-bound links to your website from other sites of relevance and quality is a crucial factor in determining how well your website ranks on the major search engines, as well as driving traffic and increasing online awareness of your business.

Activity in content marketing and social media will yield links to your website but it’s a good idea to spend time researching specific websites, such as directories, organisations and industry bodies that you would ideally like a link from. Once you have your list you can then figure out the best way of gaining a link, be it a direct request, the offer of content, product trials or dare we say it, hard cash!

Benchmarking and setting up of reporting/tracking solutions

Traffic driven to your website from search engines, social media activity and content marketing should be measured by its impact on revenue. Search engine rankings and traffic alone are not appropriate measures of success for your digital marketing efforts; instead focus on conversions to calculate ROI and therefore the impact on your bottom line. At the research and planning stage consider the tools you need to use to measure ROI before setting realistic benchmarks and targets based on the research you have carried out above.

In summary, what I am trying to demonstrate is that when it comes to implementing a successful digital marketing strategy you can’t just jump straight in. Research and careful planning will allow you to maximise your reach, targeted traffic, online conversion rates, levels of customer retention, as well as the number of brand advocates. In an increasingly complex and competitive online space, meeting these objectives doesn’t just happen. Don’t abandon the thinking and methods you would usually adopt when investing your budget offline because although many so called SEO agencies and ‘consultants’ will fall over themselves to tell you so, there are no magic formulas when it comes to achieving long term, sustained success online.

Froggblog top posts of 2009

Posted on by Ben Potter

As we draw towards the end of 2009, we thought it would be useful to compile a list of the most useful articles from the Froggblog written by our team of experts over the course of the last 12 months. It is by no means a definitive list of the key events of 2009 (there have been just too many for us to find the time to write about all of them!). However, there has been some really useful advice shared by our team this year, so with that, here we go…

Strategy

Looking to succeed online? Be guided by these three words

Acquisition, conversion and retention should be at the centre of your digital marketing strategy. Ben Potter explains why.

Digital marketing snakes and ladders

Client Relations Manager, Christos, provides some great advice on developing and maintaining a fruitful relationship with your agency.

All good things come in threes; search, social media and content is another

Ben Potter explains the intrinsic relationship between search, social media and content-based marketing techniques and why they need to work together as part of an integrated digital marketing strategy.

The importance of customer care ‘after the click’

Dan Richardson endured a frustrating afternoon with a customer services rep; this got him angry and he blogged about it with advice all brands should take heed of.

Website Optimisation

Pretty websites do not automatically win popularity contests

Website optimisation executive, Claire Mason, looks at why a successful website has to do a lot more than simply look good.

Quick tips to increase your online conversion rate

It’s one thing getting visitors to your website but quite another turning them into customers. Suzanne Taylor offers some quick tips aimed at increasing those all-important conversion rates.

Improving your bounce rates…Jump to it!

More advice on making your website more sticky!

The case of SEO ‘Boondoggle’ – Leapfrogg’s view

Search guru Jill Whalen wrote a thought provoking article earlier in the year debunking many of the SEO myths that agencies and individuals, in the worse cases, hoodwink their clients into believing are more important than perhaps they actually are. Claire Mason gives her view.

Logical URL structure that benefits users and search engines

The structure of your website sets the foundations for how search engines spider and index your content, and also the ease by which visitors navigate the site to reach the point of conversion. A logical site structure is therefore integral to the success of your digital marketing efforts. Suzanne Taylor explains more…

Google Caffeine – SEOs feel the buzz!

Back in August, all the talk was about a new faster Google with better indexing capability, speed and accuracy of search results. Claire Mason carried out some early testing.

How to optimise your site for Bing

Another big story in 2009 was the release of Bing; Microsoft’s new search engine. Claire Mason investigated whether this new engine required anything different to the traditional methods of optimising a website.

25 things to remember when launching a new website

Mistakes made when launching a new website are all too common and can have some pretty dire consequences. Account Manager, Laurence West, well experienced in these matters provides an extensive checklist of things to consider when taking down your old website and launching a replacement.

Copywriting

How to sell your web copy

Some quick-tips from in-house copywriter Matt Crick on creating great web copy.

Syndicating content without losing authority

Publishing content, such as articles, online is a great way of extending your reach and gaining links. But you want to ensure that you are credited with being the originator of this content. Some tips from Suzanne on how.

How to create and formulate an effective blog schedule

Blogging in undoubtedly an important tool for the vast majority of online marketers. But all too often writers are stuck for ideas. If this is the case, you need to create a blog schedule for those moments where inspiration is not forthcoming. Matt explains how.

Social Media

Social capital, getting among the buzz, and what this all means

A good overview of social media and what it all means from in-house consultant Catherine Pryce.

Video: Social media tools you can start using today, for free!

Earlier this year I delivered a seminar on the beauty of free social media tools. Unbeknown to me the whole thing was recorded!

Twitter – A Quick Start Guide

If they handed out an award for social media tool of the year, Twitter would get it. There has been a huge amount of buzz around it and even I was converted! Some useful tips on how to get started.

Paid Search

Top tips on setting up your Google AdWords campaign for maximum ROI

Advice from Paid Search extraordinaire Amelia Dawson on setting up your Paid Search campaign to ensure maximum ROI.

Top tips on optimising your Paid Search campaign to maximise ROI

Part two of Amelia’s mission to stop you wasting money on Paid Search; this time, how to optimise your campaign on an ongoing basis.

How the Yahoo-Microsoft deal will affect SME paid search campaigns

Another major news story in 2009 was the Yahoo – Microsoft deal. Amelia went straight to work investigating what this means for those currently advertising across both networks.

Paid Search; bidding on competitors brand terms…the why’s and wherefores

Just because Google now allows you to bid on competitor brand names, it doesn’t mean you should! Amelia explains the pros and con’s.

That just leaves me to thank our team for some useful and insightful articles over the course of 2009 and to you, our readers, for tuning in. Expect the Froggblog to continue evolving next year, especially in light of a new niche offering we will be announcing during the early part of 2010.

Merry Xmas and a prosperous New Year!

Digital marketing snakes and ladders

Posted on by admin

I don’t know if you saw it but there was a great episode of Property Snakes and Ladders on Channel 4 last week, which saw Sarah Beeny working with a couple who seemed determined to ignore all her good advice and do things the hard way.

They made one mistake after another and only at the last minute did they do a U-turn and finally follow Sarah’s advice to turn their property into a number of flats as opposed to the swanky LA pad they had in mind (next to a derelict tube station in a somewhat run down area of Rotherhithe, East London!). Unfortunately this U-turn came far too late in the day and the couple looked set to lose almost half a million pounds on the project. Eeek!!

I guess by now you are wondering where I am going with this. Stick with me because I could see great similarities in the way Sarah Beeny works with her clients and how digital agencies work with theirs. Why did this couple ask for Sarah Beeny’s help and then almost completely ignore it?

If you are an agency, does this sound familiar? And if you are a client have you continuously challenged your agency to the point where nothing actually gets done? The best agencies will provide very detailed, clear advice on the best way to grow your business through the web using techniques such as website optimisation, link building, social media and content. But virtually all consultants and agencies report that in numerous cases their advice is ignored, despite being paid good money for their time.

I am sure that the beautiful Sarah Beeny will agree; the most successful projects she has worked on are those where the client has listened fully to her advice and implemented it. I know this is true for the projects that I have managed.

However, the similarities do not end there. The change of program name from “Property Ladder” to “Property Snakes and Ladders” is indicative of the market that we find ourselves in today. The housing market has crashed and with it the demand for the vast majority of products and services has done likewise. It is therefore more important than ever to ensure you have a strong online presence, that your site is able to convert visitors into enquiries/sales and that you focus on retaining those lovely new customers you acquire. Therefore, if you have employed an agency based on a thorough review and understanding of their approach, requests for case studies, testimonials and references, it is vitally important that you go on to implement the recommendations that they make.

The key thing underpinning this of course is trust. By doing your homework you will find it much easier to let go of what you think you is right and listen to their sound advice.

So how do you get this heightened level of trust? Here are a few more pointers:

  • Firstly check out the agency before you sign up. Ask to speak to their clients and search on the web to check out their reputation. Find out long they have been in business and ask to see evidence of successful campaigns
  • Do some research around the topics of SEO, social media, etc but be willing to learn. Remember not everything you read on the web is true and this is particularly evident when it comes to search marketing where everyone has a different opinion. In the end, an established and successful agency will have the experience to know what is best for your business.
  • Make sure you are aware of what is involved in the project; how much time, cost and work is going to be required and commit the appropriate resource. Don’t let things disappear down the dreaded ‘black hole’.
  • Make sure your agency is open about what they are doing. A good agency will be in contact regularly asking for feedback and discussing creative ideas. Transparency is key; run a mile if there is any suggestion of ‘cloak and dagger’ techniques or especially if the agency askS to have access to your website without telling you what they are going to do.
  • Remember there are no magic formulas to achieving your goals online. If it sounds to be good to be true, it probably is.

In summary, if you have done your homework and employed an expert the worst thing you can do to damage the relationship, and limit the results you are likely to achieve, is to ignore their recommendations. You have employed an agency for their expertise. Make sure you are prepared and willing to listen to their advice. By all means question things; a good agency will want you to learn but your goals will only be met by taking the advice of an expert and running with it.

This all reminds me of one of the first things I read when I joined Leapfrogg all those years ago. It was pinned to the wall just next to Ben and was a quote by much respected search marketer, Jill Whalen of High Rankings.

“..no SEO company in the world will be able to help you unless you are ready to forget about what you think you want and learn more about what you really need’.

I could not have put it better myself!

Ugly? No wonder you don’t get any action

Posted on by Ben Potter

Now I’m a big fan of ecommerce sites and will buy everything from flights to shoes, but a key part of what makes me remain on site, checkout and return, is the design and functionality of the site.

My morning regime of delicious Dorset Cereal and TeaPigs Darjeeling Earl Grey leaves me wondering if good design can sell anything and make even the most mundane, sexy.


Now, I’m not going to go into any detail about the beautifully integrated Protx shopping cart on the Tea Pigs site or the fact that they have a clear navigation. I’m instead going to touch upon the design of the packaging, the website, the casual approach to communication and ultimately how of these elements that make up these brands make me feel. Good design and cute styling compels me to browse the Tea Pigs site, read all of the content and explore their products. And while I forget that it’s only tea I have to ask myself whether I would feel the same for a site selling toilet roll?

The Yorkshire Tea website by comparison, fails to capture my imagination and their ID= domains don’t inspire confidence either, but all is not lost.. and I seek refuge mixing my own blend of muesli on this site…

Now with any introduction, first impressions count. And this is true for ecommerce sites as well. After all, we, as consumers, haven’t really for the time to find out if your site ‘has a nice personality’ or ‘is a lovely person’. And It’s no mystery that beautiful people get more attention (coupled of course with the idea that there is always an ugly girl left crying at the end of every party), but it certainly raises a few interesting points.

When you visit a site that looks great do you bookmark it? Do you email your friends about it? Do you share it on Facebook, Blog about it? Post a link on your site about it? Buy from it? or remember to buy? Do you yearn to work for that company?

Good design can make us do so many things, from evangelising about a brand (I Love My Apple Mac Video) to massively increasing inbound links and sales.

But what about a poor looking site that doesn’t capture your attention or imagination? What does it make you do? Or better still.. what doesn’t it make you do?

Hilary Duff Topless Pic

Posted on by Ben Potter

That was the subject of an email I received over the weekend and what a disappointment it was not to be greeted with a picture of the Cheaper by the Dozen star upon opening it. But this is not to say I was scouting for such unsavoury material, on the contrary, I was going through my email account, deleting emails I no longer needed, re-sorting my folders and occasionally pausing to investigate interesting emails with catchy subject lines.

And whilst there was the obviously emails offering all sorts of remedies for particular “dysfunctions”, I had to praise how such scammers and spammers constructed these subject lines, and whether they tested their results.

On a daily basis I’m pitching to site owners, bloggers and journalists to take a few moments out of their day to speak to me, have a look at one of my client’s sites or better still, write about one of my clients and the email subject line is of fundamental importance. If you are simply including “Link request” in your email subject then chances are your email is going to be ignored, after all, it doesn’t really call people to action like the Hilary Duff subject now does it?

But what about including something personal? Something with their name or brand name in? or a subject which sums up what you want, without mentioning links?

Of course, how you ‘pitch’ your emails will depend upon the client you’re working on behalf of, but however and whatever you are doing, be sure to test, tweak, test some more and then tweak again and then continue to tweak based on the feedback and responses you are getting.

If your link request emails aren’t working, then change them. Try to add value to the subject line, to maximise readership and ensure they respond. No one likes to have their emails deleted, especially when you taken so much time to tailor an email specifically for them, so make sure it get through!

Have you had any funny or interesting email subject lines? Can you offer any more advice? or how about an insight into the type of subject lines which grab you?
Being sure to keep it clean of course…

The Morality of Paying for Links… Links are not Prostitutes!

Posted on by Rosie Freshwater

Would you ever try and bribe a traffic warden to prevent him from giving you a fine?

Pay the hot guy next door to accompany you to the party your ex boyfriend will be attending?

Paying someone to do your household chores and then guilt tripping your partner by saying that you did it all?

Would you ever pay for sex?

With all the above comes a certain question of morality, is it right to buy your way out of situations to make yourself more comfortable and come out on top in doing so? I believe the same could be said for Link Buying.

Fortunately Link Buying is now becoming less common, due to Google’s tight strictness with the buying and selling of links…

Basically Link Buying disregards the quality of links, sources and the long term impact it will have on sites. It violates certain webmaster guidelines made by Google which is seen as the ‘easy’ way to get more link juice flowing to your site. In search engine terms it is almost seen as ‘illegal’ to step ahead in this way.

Google states the “Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results”.
However, this being said not all paid links violate these Google guidelines, as when done for advertising purposes this is acceptable.

Links are primarily intended to:

  • Manipulate PageRank
  • Increase site optimization
  • A Higher Search Engine Ranking for Your Website
  • An Increase in the Informative Nature of Your Website
  • Linking Increases the Credibility of Your Website
  • Establish Connections within the Internet Community
  • Suggest an Affiliation with other Websites

According to Matt Cutts, from Google:

“Tactics like lavishing on reciprocal links; or reciprocal links don’t work as well — let’s try this fad called triangular linking; or let’s try buying links; all these sorts of things. These are not the sort of links that are best for your site. They’re certainly more high risk.”

So the morality issue is down to the individual, do you want to cheat your way to the top with a ‘quickie’ shortcut or really achieve top quality status with the links supporting your website and reputation?

In my opinion you may also lose the satisfaction of ‘Link Building,’ this is the term we use to increase linkage to a website and I feel it is unfair when some companies like Leapfrogg, walk the moral ground and manually work hard to Link Build, building lasting relationships and sourcing the best quality links for our clients, when there are others out there in our industry who use ‘pimp’ sellers to buy cheap links and rush their way to the top to take the credit.

At the end of the day we must remember that paying for links may be a shortcut, but the actual quality of links gained by a website is what is important.

In working the honest way, people will want to link to your site because they wish to without being bought.

Do not treat your website like a prostitute… treat it like your husband /wife… give it the care and attention it deserves and you’ll soon have link juice flowing in and increase rankings and conversions as a result.

Honesty, really is, the best policy!