It’s finally here, location based social media is about to hit the masses, and location based marketing is likely to take off big time.

As Facebook Places finally hits the streets, at the time of writing not in the UK yet, it may now be time for location based marketing to have it’s day. I have always been a strong supporter of location marketing and for many small businesses it is what is required for them to take full advantage of the lower cost base of online advertising and promotion.

What is going to be great about Facebook Places is that unlike Foursquare or Gowalla it will not rely on the front runners or the tech savvy to download the app and start using it. It is integrated into a platform already used by many everyday end users. At the same time it will allow early adopters to carry on using other platforms as they are all integrated to some extent with Facebook Places.

This is the big difference and I why I believe it will start a seismic shift in the way we market locally. Corner shops, pubs, restaurants, and other types of outlet on the high street will now be able to justify investing time on Facebook. It will undoubtedly lead to new innovation from Facebook app builders allowing Facebook Page owners to integrate some type of location recognition into their page.

It won’t just be about offers and discounts either, as many using it will already have networks established over the months and years of Facebook use. Unlike Foursquare where networks need to be recreated, another difference is that Facebook networks tend to be localised. You will have larger percentage of your network local to you or even related to you on Facebook than any other type of network. Leading to more trustworthy and ultimately more useful recommendations.

There is no point in my Twitter network, many whom live 10s of miles away from me or even in other countries, knowing I am having a 2 for 1 dinner in my favourite restaurant. But on Facebook it will be friends and family who will see these updates and are more likely to take my recommendation.

Overall this should lead to more direct use of Social Media by small high street business as the potential will be much more significant. Certainly it will be far more measurable than any other marketing campaigns they run.

After my last few posts on SEO I thought there was a piece missing and that was the how to from all of this. The part most have trouble with is gaining backlinks so I thought I would try to do a quick guide to gaining quality back-links for your web site.

Search engine positions are largely driven by backlinks. Having a site that is search engine friendly helps and I would suggest that any business give thought to why they shouldn’t be using WordPress. Google will determine the quality of a site largely by the number and quality of links to it, from other websites. Sounds good so far.

So I can just go out and pay people to put links to my site from their site or offer to exchange links? Well that’s one solution but not a quality one. When working on gaining backlinks there really is no shortcut to hard work and time. You can of course employ someone, or an agency, to do this for you if you have the budget but with a little regular work you can do it yourself.

The first part to have in mind is that you must have content worth linking to, nobody is going to link to poor content. So once you have some decent content you can then start the linking process.For some of the examples I give you will also need quality content to place on 3rd party web sites.

There are a number of places that you can add links straight away without permission. Look for forums focussed on your speciality, join the forum, ensuring you read the forums terms of posting. In most forums you should be able to add a signature to your posts and within it a link to your website. If the forum allows this, ensure your link contains the key phrase you wish to rank for and links to the relevant page with the content on it. Then all you have to do, as an expert in your field, is answer peoples questions or join in the discussion on the forum on a regular basis. Do it naturally and add value, do not spam forums with lots of advertising you’ll get banned.

News sites also offer an opportunity for links. Every time you write a new piece of content for your site that is news worthy, not just selling something, you can add a link to it in sites like Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Sphinn, Stumbleupon or see this list for more social news sites. Again do this in moderation and do not spam the sites in question they will only ban you.

Article sites are another great way to gain links. You can write content on your field of interest and post them on article websites again with keyword rich links back to your site in the authors biography at the bottom of the article. Article sites have very strict rules and you should follow these carefully to ensure you’re articles are not removed. Here are some suggested article sites. The other benefit of article sites is that others can take your content and put it on their site with the stipulation that they maintain the links and attributions. Therefore with some well written articles you can build a network of links automatically.

Then come what are known as, web2.0 sites, these provide a convenient way to create links back to your site. These sites are regarded as high authority by Google therefore links from them carry some weight. Squidoo and Posterous are two such sites, very much like the article sites, the idea is to write unique content on these sites and link back to yours.

If you have announcements that are news worthy PR sites such as PRWeb can be another great way to gain links.

The same principle of spreading popular content and thereby growing links comes from the use of social media. Linking to your new articles and blog posts on Twitter can have a far reaching effect. But also if the item is relevant to others they may well link to it from their blog or reference it in their articles.

Commenting and guest posting on other related blogs also develops links, with comments you are unlikely to get keyword rich links but they will still help. With guest posts you can build not only links but also a reputation that can lead to referrals.

Linking is what the web was originally built on and it remains as important today as it was at the inception of the web. In addition, content is what we go on the web to digest. Quality content and quality links will feed each other to produce a site that cannot fail to rank highly in the search engines.

Book cover photo: Guided busway by eddiemcfish, on Flickr

I have read so many books, blogs and articles on search engine optimisation tips, tricks, advise and dos & don’ts over the years you start to wonder what to believe. Actually it is quite simple when broken down, there are only a few components to good SEO.

Although this is a basic list you can spend much time and go into greater depth on each item. That said there really is no need to and when you have an existing business many of the research and choices you need to make will be driven by business requirements anyway. Also a simple list doesn’t mean achieving good search engine position is easy, it still takes time, dedication and hard work to attain and maintain a decent ranking for a search term. So let’s get to that list:

1. Research: Is your keyword or phrase being searched for – no point in spending days, weeks or months trying to get a number 1 position only to find out nobody is searching for that phrase. To do this it’s relatively easy, go to Googles Keyword Tool, put in your chosen phrase and it will tell you how many searches are being performed in a month.
2. Competitors: Competition for a phrase could mean a lot of work. That doesn’t mean you should ignore the phrase, just be aware of the type of competition you face. Take your phrase wrap it in quotes and do a search in Google. This means searching for the exact phrase, see what the number of results are, over 100,000 and you are going to be doing some work to get number 1. Over 1 million results and it may take quite some time before you get any results. That said it is still possible.
3. Content: This is the key to search and engaging customers once they arrive. Ensure you have a page based around your key phrase, written naturally and with calls to action where necessary. Importantly, just write for the end user not the search engines.
4. Title: The page title, otherwise known as the HTML title tag, is one of the most important things to have correct. Ensure your key phrase is at the beginning or as close to the beginning of your page title as possible.
5. Backlinks: Now you have done all of the research and “on site” work required. It’s time to do the most time consuming but important job that will effect your search position. The amount of links your site has from other sites is one of the most important factors that Google uses to asses your site and it’s ranking for a particular phrase. But not all links are equal you need to ensure you have links from good quality and relevant sites. No point in getting links from directories on fly fishing when your site is about basketball. Take your time and acquire links from related sites, ensuring those links have your key phrase text in them.

Doing just these tasks will be enough to get you ranked well for your chosen phrase. Forget all the talk of keyword density, meta tags and page sculpting. Yes some of these can help but they have a minuscule effect when compared with the above factors.

A while ago I wrote about positioning in the search engines and demonstrated what effect different positions had on traffic to a web site. Just this week I came across an anomaly in my results for one of the sites I run. For two very competitive phrases we had been working hard to gain position in the search engines. The idea was based on generating volume rather than targeted traffic.

Now normally you should focus on niche phrases, which makes your job easier when it comes to position and the result more accurate and targeted for customers when they click through to visit the site. But sometimes you do just need to increase traffic to your web site.

You could just buy ads through Google Adwords but this can be expensive as well as resource intensive to maintain. A much more cost effective route to gaining large traffic volumes is to attain position for some highly searched key terms, usually!

After spending many months trying to achieve just this for these particular phrases we are now second only to Wikipedia in the search results on both phrases. With competition in the region of 63 million results on one and 30 million on the other and over 500k searches being performed per month on these phrases.

When I tracked the figures with Googles Webmaster Tools I could clearly see that the web site was getting a large number of impressions from the search results on these phrases. But to my surprise it was not getting any traffic from them!

Looking closer at the results it was easy to see why, the resulting page and title that Google was displaying in the search results was not very attractive. It did not entice people to click on the link and therefore we were seeing no benefit of that position.

So more work to be done on that front and I take back what I said previously, for now. There’s a bit more to it than just being number 1!

This morning as I was packing for holiday I took inventory of what was required, Sat Nav, camera, video, camera, phone, books, chargers, music, DVDs and games for the kids. Along with my clothes, as is the case every year, I have the intention of packing like a minimalist but never seem to achieve it.

This year though when I looked down at the accumulation of gear I noticed something different. Instead of the tangle of chargers, electrical equipment, CDs and piles of books to make a choice from I had two items and one charger, my iPad and iPhone.

These 2 devices have changed the way I will holiday forever. No need for multiple accessories, I no longer have to choose which books to leave behind, which DVDs or CDs I should take. No thinking about which chargers go with which device and spare batteries. These two item encompass it all. My camera and video camera are now always at hand, as are my books and music. It is now possible to flick through a couple of pages of a book or watch a few minutes of video whilst waiting for the train, bus or plane. Hand luggage reduced to it’s most compact level.

Now I wish Apple would make shoes then maybe my daughter wouldn’t insist on taking 6 pairs for one week away!

Photo by:http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrianclarkmbbs/ / CC BY 2.0

This week saw the launch of our new look website at work Adnams.co.uk. A proud moment for me as it was the culmination of 6 months of work involving many different people within the company. It was also based on a vision of allowing customers to easily move from one sector of the business to another online. Exposing parts of the business to them that they may not necessarily have been aware of. Allowing them to communicate with the company easily and through many touch points. Using images, video and the written word to express the essence of the company.

Internally it was to also give employees a voice, allowing them to highlight their experiences, express their passion and present their opinion. Of course there is commercial intent but it is more than that, it is an attempt at creating an experience that extends beyond the visit to the local pub, a trip to Southwold or the act of purchasing wine in one of our shops.

Did we succeed? Maybe, time will tell, but it’s not the technology that is going to get us there. WordPress was the base of the site. It was heavily themed and customised with plugins of various types to allow us to structure content the way we wanted, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter integrated to bring content from other channels. And it will be the content that drives the success; structure and design can only provide so much.

A lot of the reason I write this blog is to remind myself how important content is. How difficult it can be to produce, to maintain consistency and quality. Often we run off to build the next Google only to realise that without the content Google is just a logo and a search box on the screen.

How many times have you seen a web business launch and think what a great idea or that was what I was thinking of doing, well if I could have a penny.

The difference between a great idea and a great business is that someone actioned the great idea to create the great business. And don’t be fooled by the “started in a garage” hype either, most great businesses arrived where they are after many great failures. You just don’t get to hear about those.

So now we have that straight what about that idea of yours? In the words of one famous brand, just do it. Take the idea, start writing about it, take notes, turn it upside down, make silly suggestions, draw cartoons about your idea, match it to colours, give it a voice, talk about it into a voice recorder, present it to yourself on video or Powerpoint. Whatever you do don’t let it go!

During this process every time you find a reason it won’t work bend it, shape it, mould it into something that will work and when you hit the next dead end re-shape it again. You don’t have to spend a penny, you just have to keep thinking about it, adding to it, improving it both in your mind and on paper. At some point you will not be able to manipulate it any more, you’ll hit a wall. Forget about it, leave it alone.

After a few days, maybe a week or so see if your idea still stacks up. If it does, then get into gear and action it. If not move on and have another Great Idea!

Photo by:http://www.flickr.com/photos/cayusa/ / CC BY 2.0

Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media are now heavily entwined, success in either will rely heavily on your use of the other. Each discipline is now having a massive impact on the other. It’s not just about your Twitter conversation appearing in the real-time search results either.

As you will be aware one of the key aspects of Search Engine Optimisation is links, one of the things Twitter and Facebook are great at is linking. If something you tweet is popular and it contains a link back to your web site it is likely that link will find its way onto a 3rd party blog or web site building up your back links. Conversely if your web site performs well in natural search and you post a popular article it is likely that this will get tweeted or added to Facebook, again completing that circle of linking and popularity.

Therefore the key to getting this referral engine to work on autopilot for you is by ensuring you write about things that are remarkable and therefore linkable.

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/intherough/ // Creative Commons

I’ve worked in the online arena for over 10 years now and when I look back over that time at all the projects I’ve worked on, companies I’ve worked for or with they have all had something in common. The expectation that I can create something from nothing and maybe they are right?

Creating something from nothing in a web sense is a bit like alchemy, where you don’t really start with nothing but that the “something” you do have is not quite tangible or in the right form. So what do you need to perform this conjuring trick?

1. A Great Idea – Most of the successful projects I have worked on have been driven by a great idea, reducing a cost, solving a problem or making more profit. I just take the idea and mould it into something that works online.
2. Commitment – And I mean commitment from the stakeholder, I already assume you have commitment or you wouldn’t have the job. So often, great ideas fail due to the failure of the stakeholder to commit to the project either monetarily or with time. They want quick results and don’t want to spend any money to get them.
3. Belief – You must have belief in what you are doing. If you don’t believe that the pot of gold does exist at the end of the rainbow then don’t start the project. Sometimes that rainbow just keeps shifting, click your heals 3 times whenever you lose some belief.
4. Vision – This is the most powerful tool in my kit bag. If I can visualise what the end result will look like, feel like, smell like or sound like I can manipulate and mould the Great Idea into a tangible object. If you can see it you can build it.
5. Attitude – Finally you need attitude. You will be punched, kicked, prodded and pulled by others trying to win the stakeholders heart. You will be tempted from your path like Adam in the Garden of Eden. Find an attitude, stick with that attitude and before you know it your creation will manifest itself.

So, what would you like me to create for you?

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/natura_pagana/ / CC BY 2.0

It’s very easy to get caught up in the latest Social Media hype and the new applications hitting the news headlines but before you dive head first into Foursquare or Gowalla, have you done the basics?

Googles Local Business Center should be the first stop for any business that has an office, outlet or other physical high street presence. Google gives you the ability to add very detailed information about your business including opening times, payment options, photos and even video. Your business listing can then appear in the search results or even Google Maps if it is deemed relevant.

“But I already have a web site why do I need to have a listing with Google Local”? Performing a search for Solicitor Norwich returns the Google Local results above the natural search listings, some of which don’t have web sites appearing in the top 10 results. Not only that but your result will also appear on Google Maps and not just the web results.

In addition Googles Local Business Center will provide basic statistics on how many people have viewed your listing and what search term was used to find it. You can also add vouchers that visitors can print off and redeem in store.

There is no doubt Social Media and services like Foursquare are on the rise but they are far from mainstream. Google is still the place to be seen when consumers go looking for local products and services.