With recent updates comes an introduction of a new marketing product called ‘Facebook Premium’. This uses an ad pricing structure similar to paying for TV or YouTube advertising. The initial roll out of Facebook Premium Products are as follows:

1. Ads will run on the right hand side of the page
2. Ads to appear in your news feed (including mobile)
3. Ads will appear when you log out
4. Offers, discounts and promotions for fans

You’re probably thinking that you can already see ads running on the right hand side of the page. The Premium ads will originate from a brand page and consist of a status update or a new video upload rather than just a standard banner, engaging social reach.

It is clear Facebook are relying on brand power to increase social engagement and reach, via user interests or likes. Some brands are even solely reliant on sales through Paid Facebook advertising. Google Adwords does not need to solely rely on business brands or user interests to generate advertising revenue. The Adwords platform is more diverse and features on the Google SERP, Local search, Shopping results, YouTube, the increasingly popular Remarketing and display ads featured on the GDN.

Google Adwords currently has the throne as the webs ultimate advertising medium, but if Facebook continue to innovate and make huge developments in marketing then every business should seriously consider Facebook advertising.

If you would like to find out how Goldladder can create a Social Media strategy that can benefit your business, or find out other services we can offer you, please contact us today.

Sometimes you work with clients that like to see if their brand gets exposure in the press, local or national. Other times, it’s about spotting valuable links from the big news websites out there. Or as is more often the case, you can be asked to evaluate the relationship between SEO and PR, especially as PR is often questioned from an ongoing expense point of view. Would it be good if you could quickly check and keep track of any activity from the newspaper and press sites that supplied traffic to your site? Of course it would!

The new Google Analytics interface may have taken away good old PDF reports (boo!) but they did give us some great custom dashboards which can be shared. So I have made a quick dashboard that shows traffic to your site from popular UK news sites. Use the link below to add a new analytics dashboard to your account.

https://www.google.com/analytics/web/permalink?type=dashboard&uid=jjk6dQswRqOJX75Wgjt1rQ

You can edit each widget to suit – note I have created two local papers there that you will want to change depending on your local rag. Enjoy!

Once upon a time, things were pretty simple in Google’s SERP’s. Organic listings dominated the page, and the ads kept to their own on the right, and were viewed with suspicion by the users. However, our early clients at Goldladder came from the travel and finance sectors – some of the first people to feel the squeeze in the organic rankings. Given the choice between PPC or SEO, it seemed wise to do both, and in the early days we really learned the hard way how to make those ads get clicks. And we then learnt a lot more about why people clicked them.

Then one day the SERPs became ad-dominated. With 3 PPC ads straddling the organic results, users found the PPC results hard to ignore, or just got plain confused/didnt care if the advertiser had used PPC or SEO to get those top positions. From all this click activity, Google had a lightbulb moment (in the accounts department). And since then, the march to change peoples search habits so that they love PPC ads has continued at a furious pace. As a recent example, look at our comments on enhanced ad sitelinks.

Now, organic listings look like all but a footnote on some of Google’s SERPs. And when the search is a commercial exercise, quite right too. Who wants to be taken to out-of-date holiday pages when searching for last minute deals?

But SEO still has a huge part to play. And in an indirect way, Google have acknowledged this by commissioning a study on the relationship between Adwords and Organic results. While Google have presented this in a way to justify keeping your ads running even alongside good organic results, the actual study does reveal that the interplay on all elements on a SERP is complex, and no longer as black and white as the ‘PPC or SEO’ question. (btw, this video saves time for those  ’too long; didn’t read’ people out there).

As an agency, perhaps we see the main advantage of a good combined PPC and SEO program as a way to fine tune PPC against the long tail, increasing conversions and saving money. Also, PPC is in many ways the ultimate SEO research tool – it uses live traffic and real people to show how well matched a keyword is (or is not!) to your business. This lights the way for your copy choices. Finally, the on-page philosophy for PPC and SEO is the same – targeted content based around the keyword. Good for the organic and the Adwords quality score algorithms.

So if you are thinking you need to choose between PPC or SEO, it might be best to think again. Contact us and find out how our combined programs work to save you money and increase performance.

For a few years now Google have allowed advertisers to add up to 4 additional links to their Google ads. A few months ago, they updated this to allow up to 6 links.

Earlier this week Google announced a much more significant update, which mimics their new style of organic sitelinks. We believe this to be one of the biggest and best updates to Adwords since Remarketing, which Google are calling Enhanced Ad Sitelinks.

Example of old style sitelinks

Example of enhanced sitelinks

Unlike previous sitelinks which displayed one, 35 character line of text, the new style displays the sitelink as the headline, and the body text from a related ad.

In order for your campaigns to display enhanced ad sitelinks, your sitelinks need to be very closely related to the ads in your campaign. This would likely mean some serious spring cleaning for most advertisers. With the option to effectively show 5 ads, dominate the top of the results page, and receive more targeted traffic, it’s definitely worth the overhaul.

If you think Goldladder could help your business, why not get in touch?

Here at Goldladder, though we are not strictly a web design agency; a large part of our job as digital experts consists of drawing the attention of clients to the best practice when it comes to creating web pages for SEO/Pay-Per-Click/ReTargeting and general UX.

We’ve found for a long time, the best solution is to simply convey the “bare bones” of a page layout. KISS.

*So extreme is our notion of Keep It Simple, Stupid, that we’ve unashamedly used MS Paint to convey basic ideas to clients. In fact, it’s worked.

So, Goldladder, I’m looking for a slightly better solution than MS Paint?

We’re not in the business of regularly shouting about products that we use; just because we’re so busy all of the time.

One product for us has stood out as an excellent example of Keeping It Simple, Stupid.

Balasamiq – www.balsamiq.com

Balsamiq is a “Rapid Wireframing Tool” according to the website (which you really should check out). It helps people generate ideas (for new pages/site layouts and anything else you can think of!).

Why not take a look at the Balsamiq Video?

Goldladder and Balsamiq:

Here at Goldladder we use Balsamiq directly with clients/developers to ensure key areas of the site are laid out in the best possible manner:

• Organic Search – Ensuring Page Elements are laid out in the best possible manner for Organic Search Traffic Visitors.
• Pay Per Click – we use Balsamiq to help clients understand that there may be a better way of creating a landing page – we provide them with a simple mockup which they then split test against their own!
• Web Design – when we do any kind of design work – we mock up in Balsamiq first – without worrying about silly things like colours, at the first stage of the project. This helps us quickly push ideas in front of the client, who tend to enjoy the basic, uncomplicated features of Balsamiq and how with their opinions: edits can easily be made.

Balsamiq Mockups is frankly an excellent communication tool, which allows whole teams to come together around the “right design”. Including Clients.

The key point of Balsamiq is a collaborative piece of design software (first stage) that allows agencies to focus on key functionality, rather than worrying about colours and actual page copy.

Goldladder have found that to simply convey these ideas with clients, developers and key project stakeholders makes for a simpler working relationship, that allows all to come on board and collaborate. Very quickly and very cheaply.

Balsamiq Mockups offers:

“… the same speed and rough feel as sketching with a pencil, but with the advantage of the digital medium: enlarging containers is just a drag operation, rearranging elements doesn’t require starting over, and your wireframes will be clear enough that you’ll be able to make sense of them tomorrow.”

And a Final Point from Balsamiq

“Mockups intentionally makes your wireframes scream both “This is not final!” and “I just threw this together“, eliciting honest feedback, which results in better wireframes, which results in easier to use features, which results in happier users of your software or website, which is what it’s all about.”

Do you have a project you would like Goldladder to take a look at? With years of experience working with Top Brands, we’re ideally placed to help you in the constantly evolving landscape of digital advertising.

If you’re interested in improving your landing pages for PPC or Remarketing or even Organic Search – Contact Goldladder Today.

So, why?

So that it’s core business of selling clicks and ad impressions continues to benefit from both healthy user numbers, and for the high pricing it can command when advertisers can access desirable targeting methods.

So where does that leave SEO?

Google know that the internet will always need searching. Lets face it, it would be an awful waste if instead of humanity finally connecting globally without barriers, all we did was read what Doug listened to on spotify and lol’d at Kim’s cat.

So, social may be there in the results, but it will not stand in the way when you go searching for something interesting. Google know this. It activates whole different SERP layouts depending on the type of query you use. Looking for a hotel? Here’s a map with pins on, some Trip Adviser results, and last minute bargains in the ads. Looking for a link between flu epidemics and population growth? See research papers, Wikipedia entries and no commercial distractions at all. As an advertiser, choosing PPC or SEO is no longer relevant.

But, with everyone seeing different results, on different SERPS pages in different areas of the world at different times, intermixed with recommendations from different friends, how can the SEO set out a plan to optimise and measure results? And what exactly are the metrics of success?

1. Click path data analysis

Facebook and Twitter may moan about Google’s assault on ‘their’ social territory, but I think they will benefit. With seeing what freinds and family are up to in the search results, Google is essentially prepping everyone to become a conversion that is more likely to be a follow, subscription or like.

So, for the SEO, understanding where the real transactional conversions are coming from is essential. If they are coming from a pool of social users, how is that pool getting replenished? Click path analysis will show you if good old fashioned organic results are driving people into your many social company profiles, ready to become customers, and how this relates to the end conversion.

2. On-site Optimisation

It’s amazing to me that many high profile websites are still not addressing the issue of how they render in social profiles, or measuring placements and effectiveness of the on-page social sharing buttons. With most web devs still taking the money and running, it’s back to the SEO as the right person to ensure a site is optimised for search AND social. People only share and click if it looks right on their wall.

Also, precious few websites are addressing issues like duplicate content, and still thinking that ‘More is better’ rather than ‘relevancy is better’. The above mentioned algorithm updates should by now have re-shaped the way SEO’s think. Modern SEO needs to present a website to the search engines that makes every page count, and ensures that importance is given over to the core subject. I still see a lot of sites that dilute themselves and offer both visitor and search engine a confused picture of priorities, so the 2012 SEO engineer has plenty to get busy with in this respect.

3. Relevancy and Interests Research

No matter which way we go in online, it all comes back to the keyword. Obviously for search, but also the right keyword helps you find the right interests, trending topics, location etc. The keywords also create content, match expectations, and can shape entire products and services into something that is in-demand. Each needs different ways of evaluation as to worthiness and use in a digital campaign, and without it, even the best campaigns can sail off in the wrong direction.

A good SEO does not just have a good background in finding popular keywords, they should also be able to evaluate why people are using the keywords, and access the part of the ‘tail’ where commerce takes place. This same lateral thinking works as well on interests, hash tags and so on.

4. Multi-channel conversion analysis

All of these channels – search, social, ‘socialsearch’ even – boil down to a conversion point that happens at at the end. Good SEO’s that have been involved with conversion analysis (rather than just shifting in traffic) will be able to identify, action, protect and grow conversion sources. With social in the mix, SEO’s can evaluate ongoing business.

Also, offline will feature more as a measurable target on the SEO’s radar. Injecting call data into analytics will become the norm, and early indications are that socially sourced traffic may be inclined to follow up in person. If so, evaluating the complex paths leading to call-based conversions will be essential.

Sounds like 2012 will be a busy year for the SEO, and I hope the above has given you some goals for the year. If you think you need some attention in the areas above, we’d be delighted to help. Happy new year!

Marketplaces are awash with apps that serve no real purpose. You don’t know what to
look for, and when you do, app search engines are poor. You hate your bloated smartphone and don’t use 80% of the apps, and despise the constant app updates.

Now, it seems even the developers are sick to death of the whole deal, with this guy flogging his app and all royalties on eBay. Not surprising when you check the treatment Apple give app developers.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/qEi6MrDbMbk/

I hope 2012 is the year we start realizing that the mantra ‘there’s an app for that’ is stupid.
What there should be, and where it can be done, is a well designed service that uses html5.

To answer the question, desktops are still the main source for consumers to make purchases for every day shopping needs but this doesn’t mean tablets or mobiles will eventually be the preferred consumer choice for shopping. As technologies continue to emerge and innovate, it will become increasingly important to optimise your site for mobile and support the user experience which is associated with purchasing a product on the go.

Putting a bigger emphasis on your marketing campaign for mobile devices this Xmas could help you achieve a greater return on investment and earn you some extra mince pies for the festive season!

Recent Study Sources: http://insights.chitika.com/2011/shopping-goes-mobile-in-time-for-the-holiday/