Yearly Archives: 2009

Google Invalid Promotional Code for Free Advertising – has anyone else had this?

I got my copy of the Director magazine this week (as an IoD member you get a free subscription). I have tried using the Google free advertising leaflet which is coming up as ‘invalid code’ when I enter it into Google adwords. I have contacted Google Support who said:

‘Thank you for your email. I understand that you are having trouble entering a promotional code. I have searched for your coupon but i am unable to locate it. To this end, I ask you to please contact the third-party provider with which you signed up for AdWords and they should issue you with a new one.

Google AdWords works with certain third-party providers to offer promotional coupons to new AdWords advertisers. If you signed up for AdWords through one of these third-party providers, you will receive a promotional code to enter in your AdWords account.’

With that in mind I contact the Sales Exec for the Director Magazine. He too contacted Google and got this response:

There was a problem with the Google AdWords voucher codes in the last edition of this publication. Google quickly realised this was an issue and have taken steps to sort it out, but unfortunately not before some people received incorrect codes. They will be issuing an apology, along with an increased £40 voucher offer, in the next issue of Director’

What I find stunning is that the Director magazine goes out to 52,000 IoD members (and others that subscribe independently) so every individual could potentially have an invalid code. Considering the size of Google, I really cannot believe that they could quite manage to make such a blunder. What’s more, is that the IoD members are all on company boards (or equivalent), so it really couldn’t happen to a better bunch of influencers in business.

Anyhow, I have a new code and have applied it to the PPC account and have a happy customer. So I got there in the end 🙂

So my question is this – has anyone else had such a bad experience of Google free promotional vouchers as I have?

More business is being done online – so where are you at?

When you switch on the news or logon to a news website all you hear is the doom and gloom of the recession. There are always winners and opportunities at times like these, and it is making sure you are on the right side of it.

Looking at some statistics always focus’s the mind on the opportunities:

In the UK people spend more time online than in any other European country, averaging 33 hours per month. That’s 8 hours a week, double the time spent reading newspapers and magazines. (comScore World Metrix, Sep 200, JupiterResearch, ‘Media Consumption Patterns: Online Vies with TV As Primary Medium)

30% of consumers are more actively seeking out promotions than they were 12 months ago. (The Retail Bulletin ‘Consumers seek out promotions as economic downturn bites’, Jun 2008)

73% of users find search engines an important resource when researching a product, ahead of personal recommendations (63%). (EIAA Mediascope Europe Study, Nov 2007)

Around 30% of online consumers in the UK, France and Germany post a comment to an online newsgroup or a website during a typical week. (Harris Interactive ‘Digital Influence Index’, Jun 2008)
Social networks now receive one in, every five page impressions in the UK.— Hitwise ‘The Impact of Social Networking in the UK’, Nov 2007

What this means for businesses is that:

More people are spending more time online.
The user of search engines when researching a purchase is key.
More people are searching for discounts and vouchers
People are actively getting involved with online communities and posting comments.

Getting involved in doing business online is key to surviving the rocky road ahead. The slow down will drive the adoption of new technologies and the use of the internet.

Businesses that embrace the new technologies and building business online will grow their competitive advantage. Companies that ignore online marketing, do so at their peril.

Google Glitch on Saturday 31st Jan

I was at my brothers this weekend and made chocolate muffins with my nieces. I went to Google to search for buttercream icing and got the warning on all search engine listings ‘ malware warning: “This site may harm your computer,”.

I initially thought it was the MAC I was using but then decided it had to be Google and perhaps it had been hacked or something. Anyhow, it didn’t last for long and I got the recipe (and the muffins were yummy!).

Anyhow yesterday in the news the headlines were:Google Glitch Briefly Shuts Down Search Engine Saturday

I then wondered what was the impact of this glitch on traffic to websites on Saturday and if this had a real impact on the bottom line for companies. I hear that it was down for 1/2 an hour and the data from the website analytics would reflect this. Looking at the websites that I manage, this downtime in Google must have been for quite a short time – as there is no correlation in a drop in traffic or sales for that day.

The traffic was slightly lower than for other saturdays but who can tell what is an average day anyway in these erratic economic times!

SearchWiki – the future of search?

Back in November 08, Google released SearchWiki where you can customise your own search, by adding, deleting, re-rank or comment on search results. You can write notes to a particular site and these results will be shown every time you re-do the search. This is only available for signed in Google account users.

Long term, if Google is storing the data on people’s custom ranking, will it use this data to determine search listings? Microsoft also launched a similar beta project last year where people could post their ratings on a site.

So what does this mean for web masters?
In October Google launched their search engine optimisation starter guide and on page 22 which talks about opening dialogue with the commnuity that you service. This would take it to another level – so based on customer ratings your site could rank higher than those who haven’t engaged with their customers / community and haven’t got good ratings………Certainly food for thought for where the future of search could be going!

Content is King – how could you forget!

Over Christmas and New Year I was reading various email newsletters and blogs that I follow. The Google blog is one I follow closely as they frequently give great information on search engines and new product they are launching / upgrading.

Going back to basics on search engine marketing is probably one of the key aspects I have implemented this year. It is really easy to get caught up in link building campaigns or social media marketing. Adding good relevant content on a site is the key to engaging with your site users and potenitally building great inbound links. There was a posting in October on the Google blog about how to generate inbound links into your site through site content.

I am a firm believer that ‘merit based inbound links’ in the future will have a greater weighting in the algorithms than directory or purchased links. So web site owners need to be investing in adding content to their site to make the most of this opportunity.

Adding content is key to growing rankings for any website. Forget trying to re-optimise existing content or tweaking key word denisities on a page.

So how can you grow content on your site:

Set up a blog and integrate it into your website – and give commentary and insights into your industry. Ensure you blog on a regular basis, so your passion and commitment grows your credibility.

Participate in forums in your industry – as this will drive traffic to your site – and will drive traffic to your new content.
Think laterally about the content that you can upload to the site– it might be your take on an article in an industry publication or that you have launched a new product. What ever you decide is appropriate for your website, I recommend that you look at creating a content plan for the year. So you have a plan of how your site content will grow, rather than haphazardly adding content. That way you can be more focused around the key phrases you want to target.
Be committed – some clients think that once they have got their site live, it’s the end of the project and they can sit back and wait for the rankings. How wrong can they be? It is the start of the journey, and the clients need to be committed in terms of time and cost (to either invest in a content management system or for a maintenance contract) to grow their presence in the search engine listings.

On The Web

Your online credibility is an increasingly important way of showcasing your specialised knowledge and expertise which will build your online credibility. As more people engage with the social web differentiating yourself become imperative

Contact Us

You can use either the email address or phone numbers to the left.