Christmas is coming: Black Friday arrives on November 25th

By Matthew Kinlin

This year, we will see Black Friday arrive on 25^th November and with it comes a wave of excited shoppers looking to grab a great bargain.

Black Friday is the annual date that marks the start of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, a huge amount of retailers will offer promotional sales and bargains to kick off the Christmas season.

The following week will see the start of the Christmas shopping period with shoppers flocking out to find the best presents for Christmas. The start of the week has been named ‘Mad Monday’ to announce the arrival of the crazy shopping season.

This means that shoppers will be able to find some great sales to start the season. They can pick up specific items for reduced prices and track down some bargains.

This will help to kick-start the shopping season. Buyers want to get in there early and find what they want whilst stock lasts. Reduced prices will encourage buyers to start looking early for Christmas.

Black Friday is the official launch for retailers. It marks the moment they will officially start pushing Christmas products. Offering reduced rates will get people in the shops and on their websites looking for what they want.

Large online retailers, like Amazon, are offering a ‘Black Friday Deals Week’. This will feature hundred of deals and millions of pounds of savings for online shoppers.

With the official launch of the Christmas season, online shopping will become a much busier place and just like in shopping centres, the internet should be well prepared for this huge influx of custom.

Get your own Google-powered e-commerce website

By Jackie Yeadon

Huge volumes of data pose problems that can only be solved by a powerful navigation (or search) tool. On the world wide web, big data is managed by search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and so on; on a micro level, searches within a large e-commerce website can be a real headache – for businesses and customers.

IAB: Mobile advertising ‘comes of age’

One detail from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC’s most recent bi-annual ad spend study revealed that mobile is an immensely popular, growing channel for marketing.

The study recorded a “staggering” 116% year on year growth (like by like basis) in 2010 – 32% more than it was in 2009.

Advertisers spent £83m on mobile advertising, with overall spend championed by the entertainment and media sector. Other sectors, including finance, telecoms and consumer goods advertising, showed “encouraging growth” in their budgets.

IAB chief executive Guy Phillipson indicated that mobile advertising is a valid channel which has been accepted into the mainstream and offers marketers more choice.

“The power of online to build brands is clearly reflected in the spectacular growth of display, thanks to the popularity of social media and video formats.

“And with mobile advertising finally coming of age, marketers are enjoying an incredible array of digital opportunities.”

Anna Bartz, strategy manager at PwC, said: “All formats – display, search and classifieds – contributed, although display showed the strongest recovery. This was driven by video, social media and mobile, channels which build a strong foundation for 2011.”

The study, released at the end of March 2011, caused a stir because UK advertising spend had burst through the £4bn mark for the first time.

Adrac Ltd: High street traders reap value of e-commerce and good SEO

A balance has been achieved on the world wide web. While many of us recall the Dot Com Boom and Bust the landscape of the net has been altered, made successful and has encouraged traditional retailing into the e-commerce domain.

New research from UK Online Measurement (Ukom, which is powered by Nielsen) shows that half of the top name brands in the UK, for example, are established high street names. They have embraced the new commercial channel the internet offers and are making it work.

These companies, including John Lewis and Argos (according to the BBC’s thus-far exclusive coverage), presumably have really impressive marketing budgets. A quick look around their e-commerce websites reveals virtual architecture of breathtaking proportions, gorgeous photography, clean copywriting, and we assume the hidden aspects of their SEO (we did not conduct an assessment of any depth) are all top notch.

We hear SME’s cry: But We Don’t Have That Kind Of Budget!

Adrac knows from experience of working with large and small companies that budget is actually not a hindrance when it comes to success on the internet, because a huge budget does not automatically equate to good visibility and profit.

Internet marketing, including SEO, can be tailored to any budget and a reputable agency will assess a company’s needs and priorities and structure an internet marketing campaign accordingly. The smallest budgets, used wisely, can increase profits.

Wisely, used in this context, means that this portion of your marketing budget should be used to employ expert help. John Lewis and Argos may keep their SEO in house, or they might outsource it, but you can be sure that they do have someone managing it that knows exactly what they are doing.

Adrac Ltd research underlines that organic search complements SEO

Adrac’s analysis of internet campaign performances for its client websites underlines the importance of a wholistic approach to optimisation.

Natural or organic search positioning uses search term relevance to determine how high a website appears on a results page. Content, optimisation, search engine optimisation and link building all reinforce relevance.

Our recent research reveals how important it is to achieve a page one, top three position; some 95% of search engine users click page one results, and 70% click the top three positions.

- Position #1: 45.46% of all clicks
- Position #2: 15.69% of all clicks
- Position #3: 10.09% of all clicks

Improvements made following client campaigns led directly to quality traffic; in other words, high organic rankings increase their quality traffic thanks to Adrac’s management. Quality traffic offers the best conversion rate – these will be people who want to purchase what you are selling.

This is what we observed:

- A move from #2 to #1 saw a 25% increase in search traffic for the client’s top key term
- The increase in position also saw rise in direct traffic and brand related key terms
- Search traffic doubled when website shifts from bottom half of page one result to top half of page one result

In addition, the analysis revealed that organic search complements non-organic methods of search engine prominence and both are essential for maximum exposure – and a maximum return on investment.

Adrac Ltd has been managing organic search and PPC for clients since 2003. The team are certified Google Accredited Professionals, MSN Ad Excellence members (Bing) and Adrac is a Yahoo Network Certified Agency.

Adrac Ltd: size is no excuse – small businesses should assess the competition

If it seems like your competitors are having more success than you, it’s a safe bet to assume that some of them are. What’s their secret? Competitor analysis could hold the key.

Size, as the old adage goes, is no excuse: small or big, your company can make money via its online presence, and don’t let anyone tell you anything different.

Similarly, don’t ever use the excuse that you’re only a small company with a small budget and the competition is so-o-o-o-o-o much bigger and commands a fearsome marketing spend.

Even on a limited budget, certain essential groundwork can be laid that will strengthen a web presence and which can be built upon gradually over time. SEO is a long term plan, remember, not a sticky plaster. Competition analysis will arm you with valuable insight into what is making your competitor successful, what their Achilles Heel is and if there is wiggle room for your business.

That has to be information worth paying for.

Adrac’s competitor analysis, for example, looks at the success of your rivals on search engine rankings and goes on to deconstruct their online strategies and tactics. The final report also includes a detailed breakdown of link structures, the quality of search engine optimisation and – crucially – which keywords they are targeting and winning to get these results.

Internet marketing/SEO companies like Adrac will use this information to put together an individual, tailored package for your company – a strategy for success.

In these times of austerity, not every small business has the budget to do everything on the list. However, a good SEO company that wants to foster a relationship over time will be willing to negotiate – and perhaps even schedule – an SEO plan.

That possibility, in itself, has to be worth a phone call.