Mediaworks Online Marketing: SEO & PPC Company

Mediaworks Complete 6-Mile Run and Raise Over £1,000 for Sport Relief

mediaworks — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:43:02 +0000

Under a blue sky in 17 degree heat, Sunday, 25th March saw several members of the Mediaworks team complete a gruelling six mile run around the banks of the River Tyne all in aid of Sport Relief.

Mediaworks Complete 6-Mile Run and Raise Over £1,000 for Sport Relief

Posted by: Kev Strong

Monday, 26th March 2012

Under a blue sky in 17 degree heat, Sunday, 25th March saw several members of the Mediaworks team complete a gruelling six mile run around the banks of the River Tyne all in aid of Sport Relief at the Newcastle/Gateshead Sainsbury's Sport Relief Mile.

Comprising of members from various departments within Mediaworks, our Sport Relief runners included copywriters, linkbuilders, business development executives and online marketing consultants as well as Brett Jacobson, MD of Mediaworks Online Marketing.

Raising Money For Charity

In the first charity-led event that Mediaworks have staged, several of our clients contributed by digging deep and donating to the Sport Relief cause as well as other donations including running t-shirts kindly donated from Northern Runner and water bottles from Leisure Lakes Bikes.

As a result of these charitable donations, we have raised over £1,000 for Sport Relief so far with several more donations still being made.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who donated for making this worthwhile, the amazing staff at Mediaworks who may not have ran but put just as much work into drumming up support and everyone else that made the pain worthwhile by supporting our team of runners.

Cotswold Outdoor and Mediaworks Climbing to New Heights

mediaworks — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:27:38 +0000

Mediaworks are pleased to announce their new partnership with leading outdoor clothing specialists, Cotswold Outdoors.

Cotswold Outdoor and Mediaworks Climbing to New Heights

Posted by: Michael Finnigan

Wednesday, 14th March 2012

Now that it’s March and the darkness of the winter months has lifted Mediaworks are pleased to announce they will be assisting the British public in getting back out into the world via their new partnership with leading outdoor clothing specialists, Cotswold Outdoors.

As part of this new affiliation Mediaworks will be providing a bespoke SEO campaigns to help Cotswold Outdoor climb to the heady peaks of Google’s search engine result for a myriad of competitive phrases. That means complex bespoke link building strategies, fully optimised on-page content and a raft of other in-house specialist services to help them compete online as the UK's #1 outdoor clothing specialist.

Cotswold Outdoor was founded in 1974 and has since grown into one of the UKs leading outdoor clothing specialists. With Mediaworks on board we know we can take them to the next level. So make sure to watch this space as our specialist team eagerly begins work on this wonderful campaign.

New Client: Ringtons Beverages

mediaworks — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:20:20 +0000

In a continuation of our growth into one of the biggest digital marketing agencies in the UK, we are delighted to announce our appointment by Ringtons Beverages.

New Client: Ringtons Beverages

Posted by: Emma Pearson

Wednesday, 14th March 2012

In a continuation of our growth into one of the biggest digital marketing agencies in the UK, we are delighted to announce our appointment by Ringtons Beverages.

Ringtons Beverages is the wholesale and UK supplier division of Ringtons Ltd supplying tea, coffee and machinery nationally to cafes, hotels, restaurants, offices, conferences and banqueting facilities.

Mediaworks plan to assist in improving Ringtons’ online presence with a tailored search engine optimisation campaign aiming to achieve success through a vast selection of vertical searches, including wholesale tea & coffee.

Established in 1907, Ringtons is a family business that started out as a doorstep delivery service in the North East.

Now a fifth generation family business, we are hoping to help Ringtons to continue to grow by increasing their online revenue will the full force of our online marketing expertise.

Mediaworks Go The Extra Mile For Sport Relief Mile 2012

mediaworks — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:23:04 +0000

Mediaworks staff have dusted off their running shoes and trained muscles they never knew existed for the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile

Mediaworks Go The Extra Mile For Sport Relief Mile 2012

Posted by: Emma Pearson

Thursday, 16th February 2012

The staff at Mediaworks have dusted off their running shoes and trained muscles they never knew existed in preparation for the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile – a UK charity event helping change lives across the UK and in some of the world’s poorest countries.

Sport Relief 6-Mile Run

On Sunday, 25th March, 2012 a team of Mediaworks employees are aiming to raise a tonne of cash for Sport Relief by partaking in the Sport Relief Mile 2012 and undertaking a sponsored 6-mile run across Newcastle & Gateshead.

What makes this all the more special is our Sport Relief Mile team include non-runners and gym-shy individuals willing to put themselves through a 6-mile run in order to help others who are less fortunate around the world.

Although we will be training hard, we need your help to make a difference on this Sport Relief Mile!

Sponsor The Mediaworks Team

We would love it if you would sponsor us to help us raise money for Sport Relief. Sponsor our team today at https://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/mediaworks/donate or sponsor an individual.

Name	Sponsorship Page
Team Page	http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/mediaworks
Brett Jacobson	http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/brettjacobson
Kev Strong	http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/kevstrong
Marc Swann	http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/marcswann
Peter Stranney	http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/pjs
Michael Finnigan	http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/michaelfinnigan
Emma Pearson	http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/emmapearson1
Katherine Weir	http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/katherineweir
Jonathan Birch	http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/jonathanbirch
Chris Smith	http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/chrissmithuk

Who Will You Be Helping?

In the UK, Sport Relief supports young people, old people, local communities, refugee and asylum seeking women, victims of domestic and sexual abuse and people with mental health issues.

Internationally, Sport Relief supports people living in slums, people affected by conflict, street and working children, people affected by HIV and Aids and many other people in desperate situations.

Just £5 could buy new clothes for a child living or working on the streets of Napal and £50 could feed 100 vulnerable street children in India for one day. £500 could provide a young carer in the UK with one to one support for a full year, to help them cope with their huge responsibilities at home and help them to keep up at school.

Want To Help?

We would love you to share our sponsorship attempts to help us make as much money as possible for Sport Relief, so to help you we've enabled you to easily share it on your favourite social networks using our share buttons.

Thanks for helping support our Sport Relief Mile 2012 fundraising attempt.

Google Promoting Voucher Codes Through PPC in the UK

mediaworks — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:09:26 +0000

This morning we discovered that Google were testing voucher code placements within the Pay Per Click advertising for UK users.

Google Promoting Voucher Codes Through PPC in the UK

Posted by: Kev Strong

Tuesday, 7th February 2012

This morning we discovered that Google were testing voucher code placements within the Pay Per Click advertising for UK users.

This was reported as early as June 2011 in the US and Canada, but this is the first of the UK tests we have seen.

A search for “Keyword Tool” showed the screenshot below on both a non-signed in and signed in account – the common denominator being that no AdWords account existed.

However, a smaller voucher offer appeared for a signed in account that had a connected AdWords accounts, as shown in the screenshot below.

This takes you to a Google AdWords redemption page:

Mediaworks Expand in 2012

mediaworks — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:45:09 +0000

Mediaworks has started the New Year with a bang, after welcoming five new staff to our illustrious team after a year of phenomenal success.

Mediaworks Expand in 2012

Posted by:Katherine Weir

Monday, 30th January 2012

Mediaworks has started the New Year with a bang, after welcoming nine new staff to our illustrious team after a year of phenomenal success.

Emma Adcock will be joining us as a Customer Relationship Manager, where she will be responsible for building and maintaining strong relationships with our clients as we develop online marketing strategies. She previously worked for Black &White Advertising as part of their marketing team.

Joining our copywriting team is Katherine Weir, who recently graduated from Sunderland University with a Masters in Magazine Journalism, and Emma Pearson, who recently graduated with a Masters in News Journalism, also at Sunderland University. Their role within the company involves optimising website content and writing informative content for our clients.

Jonathan Birch is our new Online Marketing Executive, who will be liaising with journalists, publications and news sources to develop and promote the online presence of our clientele. He recently graduated from Northumbria University with a Masters in Cultural Management, focusing on marketing techniques used by different sectors.

We also welcome Marty Hayes as our new Senior Digital Strategist. Marty graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies, and since graduating has worked primarily in Ecommerce at Ethical Superstore, Berghaus and Fashion Union. In his new role he will be working closely with Daniel Hoggan, our Head of Search, to maximise the impact that Mediaworks can make across our key accounts, resulting in increased traffic and revenue for our clients.

As well as the above, we also welcome Michael Finnigan to our SEO Copywriting team, David Winn as an inhouse developer, Marc Cranston to our sales team and William Cook as a new SEO Executive.

The latest recruits will be on hand to help us expand the business even further, continuing our success and hard work for the unbelievable portfolio of clients we have. Now seen as one of the largest digital marketing agencies in the UK, it’s never been a better time to join Mediaworks.

Four Unexpected Effects of the SOPA Blackout

mediaworks — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:58:25 +0000

If the SOPA legislation is passed in the US and your website is found to have copyright infringing material on it, what does it mean for your, your business in the UK and the Internet as whole

Four Unexpected Effects of the SOPA Blackout

Posted by: Michael Finnigan

Wednesday 20th January 2012

On Wednesday, millions of Americans started the day expecting to visit their internet ‘happy place’ only to be met with a series of blackouts designed to promote awareness about the SOPA and PIPA piracy bills in the U.S.

The idea behind this new legislation is to reduce the amount of trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods on the internet. The problem with the bills though is that they are poorly worded and will do little to reduce pirated material. The bills will instead give law enforcement the power to remove an entire website for a single, copyright infringing blog post.

It has been suggested that this legislation would then have the knock on effect of constricting our ability to share information, give governments the ability to shut down whistle-blowing websites like WikiLeaks and damage the freedom of speech we rightly enjoy on the internet today.

The good news is that, despite the disruption, the blackouts seem to have been a resounding success and people all over America have gone to great lengths to contact their local representatives and preserve the internet. So what’s changed since Wednesday?

PIPA Supporters Withdraw their Backing

Perhaps the most astonishing effect is that staunch supporters like Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Ben Quayle have withdrawn their support after being bombarded by “legitimate concerns” from Americans and people around the world. Sen. Marco Rubio said on his Facebook page: “As a senator from Florida, a state with a large presence of artists, creators and businesses connected to the creation of intellectual property, I have a strong interest in stopping online piracy… However, we must do this while simultaneously promoting an open, dynamic Internet environment … Congress should listen and avoid rushing through a bill that could have many unintended consequences.”

Congress’s Switchboards Crashed

Just one of those unintended consequences was the barrage of emails that ultimately crashed the U.S. governmental servers. Many of the websites that blacked out their services replaced their home page with a holding page that provided internet users with information on how to contact their local representatives. The resulting bombardment was enough to crash their servers.

Sites That Got It Right

Those holding pages have now become synonymous with the blackout. Just take the images from Google and Wikipedia above and below. In all probability when you woke up on Wednesday morning it was one of those pages that brought the SOPA/PIPA to your attention, or at least inspired you to act.

Now that the blackout is over, Wikipedia announced results that their holding page was viewed 162 million times with 8 million people following through on their instructions to contact local representatives – it’s no wonder their servers crashed.

Google also blacked out their U.S. services and collected over 4.7 million e-signatures in the space of 24 hours sending a clear message to politicians debating the bill.

B-I’ll be Back

But whilst all of this sounds productive, there is no doubt that the bills will return. There has already been talk of reviving SOPA and PIPA as soon as February, even despite the massive backlash and it just goes to show the enormous amount of influence the people in Hollywood have over the Democrats.

How This Affects the UK

If the SOPA legislation is passed and your website is found to have copyright infringing material on it, then without warning you could find your site blacked from U.S. sites like Google, PayPal, Google Checkout and more.

Competing websites will also go to great lengths just to lodge complaints against rival websites and have them removed without warning. It may also be extremely damaging to start-up sites which rely on sharing information as it would simply be too risky for an investor.

So whilst it looks like the internet has temporarily protected itself, even without the influence of the media, it looks like the SOPA and PIPA bills will only hide away for a short time before rearing their ugly heads once more.

One ironic thing I feel compelled to mention before I finish the article regards the SOPA author Lamar Smith and his website. If you were to visit his site just one month ago you would have found an un-sourced, copyright infringing photograph ‘stolen’ from photographer DJ Schulte. If Smith’s bill had gone ahead, Schulte would have been well within his rights to have Smith’s website shut down and he knows it too.

What an uncomfortable moment it must have been when Lamar realised he had broken the very law he was trying to get passed. Awkward.

Mediaworks Praised By North East Chamber of Commerce

mediaworks — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:07:56 +0000

Mediaworks has been hailed by the North East Chamber of Commerce for our successful search engine optimisation campaign with ScS Sofas.

Mediaworks Praised By North East Chamber of Commerce

Posted by: Emma Pearson

Wednesday 11th January 2012

Mediaworks has been hailed by the North East Chamber of Commerce for our successful search engine optimisation campaign with ScS Sofas.

Our huge success with market leaders ScS was featured on the NECC website and tells of the boosted revenues and increased relevant site traffic as a result of the work we carried out.

ScS experienced a massive surge in new traffic and sales in the first month of strategy implementation last year and has continued to achieve enormous success.

Jim Moore, the Operations Manager for ScS, said: “Mediaworks have played a vital role in the development of our website, bringing a level of expertise in SEO and CRO that has undoubtedly improved visitor and sales numbers.”

The NECC is the region’s leading business membership organisation and supports over 4000 businesses across the North East.

The article praised Mediaworks for continual growth and success in the online marketing sector.

It said: “Through hard work, tenacity, and determination, Mediaworks has made a name for itself as the leading online marketing agency in the region, as well as receiving growing national recognition for proven ROI and excellent results and now boasts a client list including Tommee Tippee, Azko Nobel, international law firm Eversheds as well as leading fashion retailers Van Mildert and Jules B.”

Mediaworks was appointed by ScS after they attended a conference and realised that their business would benefit greatly from a strategic and targeted SEO campaign.

Managing Director Brett Jacobson, said: “The success with ScS is demonstrable of the expert results the team here can achieve.

“The team’s level of knowledge and expertise is second to none, and that is clear from the large number of contracts we are bringing in month on month.”

Helping Viking Direct to the Top

mediaworks — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:05:05 +0000

Continuing with our growth into one of the largest digital marketing agencies in the UK, we are pleased to announce our appointment by Viking Direct

Helping Viking Direct to the Top

Posted by: Michael Finnigan

Thursday, 22nd December 2011

Continuing with our growth into one of the largest digital marketing agencies in the UK, we are pleased to announce our appointment by Viking Direct, one of the UK’s largest suppliers of office furniture and stationary.

Part of the Office Depot group, one of the largest suppliers of office stationary worldwide, Viking are a highly recognised UK brand who continue to pioneer and grow in the consumer stationary and office supplies sector. As part of this continued growth, Viking Direct have appointed Mediaworks to assist in improving their online presence with a tailored search engine optimisation campaign aiming to achieve success through a large selection of vertical searches including ink cartridges and office furniture.

Operating, initially as a business-to-business (B2B) company, Viking Direct are keen to further expand their market share in the business-to-customer market (B2C).

Not only are Mediaworks assisting in search engine rankings, but we are will also be consulting on a variety of other areas of Viking Directs online offering including technical consultancy, in-depth market analysis and ongoing SEO strategy.

With our continual success and growth in the online marketing sector, we are confident that we can send Viking Direct to the top.

The Twelve 'Shopping Trends' of Christmas

mediaworks — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:59:01 +0000

If Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales figures are anything to go by then consumer spending for this holiday season will continue to break records.

The Twelve 'Shopping Trends' of Christmas

Posted by: Michael Finnigan

Thursday, 22nd December 2011

If Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales figures are anything to go by then consumer spending for this holiday season will continue to break records. It’s all down to a dozen or so emerging shopping trends that Mediaworks thought you would like to hear about. So without further ado:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

A Hike in Social Media Sales

Perhaps the most surprising shopping trend to emerge is sales through Social Media. The most interesting part, however, is that these shoppers were found to be twice as likely to buy gifts as people who were shopping at retail. This has led IBM Coremetrics, the company who organised the survey, to predict social media as the next big market retailers will target in 2012.

Deals, Deals and More Deals

Part of social medias success is due to the massive networks of people sharing deals and discount codes. As a result people have become far thriftier than they were before but whether that is because of the increase in communication or just because of the dire state of the economy we don’t know.

There is an App for That

What I can tell you though, is that these shoppers are using their smartphones to find the best deals, both online and in shops. Mega companies like Amazon and Best Buy have developed versatile and intuitive apps that centre upon user reviews and are encouraging online sales, but consumers are also resorting to specialist apps like barcode scanners and QR code readers to find the cheapest deals whilst in store.

Free Shipping

This thrifty attitude means that shoppers are looking to save a penny wherever possible and eCommerce sites have noticed that. So in order to remain competitive many of these sites cut their shipping costs – they can’t afford not to – and this year a monstrous 93% of eCommerce sites offered free shipping.

Apple Products Dominate Wish-list

One of the biggest factors that is driving sales though, is the rise in tablet and smartphone devices. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that Apple devices - arguably the most popular smart-devices - are at the top of everybody’s wish-list with the iPhone 4S at No1.

Surprising Shopping Habits of Men

And who is buying all of these gadgets? Men of course, but joking aside this year has had some truly unusual shopping results for men. You see, according to a Social Shopping Study by Perfomics in 2011, men have out-shopped women in almost every category. How has this happened you might ask? Well, simply because shopping is now electronic – and because stores don’t have enough seats for middle-aged men to fall asleep on – but, Performics found that 63% of men shopped online in 2011 vs. 52% of women and I hate to break it to you ladies, but it is time to pass the torch.

Most Popular Gift Categories

So what were us men buying? According to Performics it was more of the same: Jewellery for the ladies, toys for the babies, home and living for the misgiving and electronics, fashion items and computers for… something that rhymes with computers. No surprises there then.

From High Street to iStreet

What did come as a surprise mind you was the 22% rise in online sales over 2011 meaning that sales for Cyber Monday exceed $1.25 billion.

Groupon

So instead of running around the shops on Christmas Eve like a maniac, customers are using their extra time to find cheap deals on events, restaurants and things to do in their own city using coupon sites like Groupon and using them with friends. Other sites rely upon word of mouth and notify users of any particularly good deals – once they’ve picked one up themselves, of course.

Video

This emphasis on sharing information is why we expect to see a great deal more video reviews popping up on eCommerce websites. Flashy apps that let you try on clothes simply aren’t good enough at the moment – with exception to the Ray Bans fantastic sunglasses app – and people are much more inclined to trust the opinion of fellow customers. It is also much easier to judge a person if you can see them than if you are just reading their inexpressive txt speak.

Recognise your Customers

This issue of trust is altering the way we shop online. A study by Jarain and Blue Research found that 75% of consumers who were asked to register their details on a website would immediately alter their behaviour: 54% will leave and not return; 55% will return if a site recognises them and 48% are more likely to purchase from a site which recognises them. Does that mean in 2012 websites will begin to find a way to recognise a customer without them having to part with their precious details?

So what Does the Future Hold?

So if you gather round the Mediaworks Magic 8 ball we’ll tell you what we see: There will be a rise in QR codes, Augmented Reality Apps, mobile phones instead of credit cards and even more focus on deals and coupons sites.

Whatever it might be though, the outlook certainly looks good and we look forward to finding out whether our predictions come in the New Year. In the meantime, happy holidays.

… And a partridge in a pear tree.

Mediaworks: At Bursting Point

mediaworks — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:49:19 +0000

After a year of incredible innovation and growth, we are pleased to announce that we are no longer able to fit in our beloved premises on the Team Valley, Gateshead.

Mediaworks: At Bursting Point

Posted by: Michael Finnigan

Thursday, 22nd December 2011

After a year of incredible innovation, growth and exciting new clients Mediaworks are pleased to announce that we are no longer able to fit in our beloved premises on the Team Valley, Gateshead.

It’s all down to our ever expanding team and unbelievable portfolio of clients that we have been forced to look into new 5000 square foot offices, more befitting of our amazing success.

This year alone has seen our MD win Young Business Executive of the Year and our company sign incredible brands like Alfred Dunhill Ltd, Viking Direct and Tommee Tippee and we hope that in our new offices we will attract even more.

So over the Christmas period we will be looking to start plans to relocate to a yet undisclosed location which will allow us to improve upon our already sensational service and offer our clients a remarkable location to discuss our continued business.

Some of the proposed facilities include a state-of-the-art office working environment, large reception area, dedicated kitchens and dining rooms, a number of luxurious conference-enabled meeting rooms and even a dedicated gym.

So make sure to watch this space for impending notifications of our final destination and we hope that you will look forward to joining us on the journey to becoming the UK’s leading digital marketing company.