Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0

At last, WCAG 2.0 guidelines have been released!! So what?
Well a hot topic for quite a few years now has been the accessibility of website for the disabled, whether that be visually or physically impaired. The web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) where set out by the World wide Web Consortium (W3C) to standardise the way in which website were built for the visually and physically impaired - problem was that the requirements were so ridged (and in some case ridiculous) that it restricted creativity and functionality - many web developers were frustrated.
The good news is that the new guidelines take into account many of the new forms of media available and make a little more sense.
Find out more by visiting the web content accessibility guidelines online at W3C

Have a great Christmas

Merry Christmas

This could be my last posting for this year (I say could because depending on how the mood takes me I may publish something else). So Christmas is here again. Its been a tough year for the high street - the Internet has faired better but times will be more challenging - I'm not trying to be doom and gloom, there is enough of that about without me joining the band wagon - This is the first time the Internet has existed when a crisis has occurred and the country heading towards a recession. It is going to challenge a few, a few will give up, but I believe that this is the time for online business to really become creative and step up to the plate.

I predict that next year will be a tougher year for ecommerce - it will be more competitive and cut throat - but it is also an excellent opportunity to get really good at marketing your business. The Internet is still the place to be and think about it, if you make your self a strong contender now then when this is all over you will be in a really strong position.

I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. We will be back on 5th January and ready to help you implement your Internet marketing strategy.

Make sure you have your Products in Google Base!

There will be some of you who can remember when Google decided it was going to enter into the shopping comparison market. That is when you search for a product and a list of results for that product are presented to you with price comparisons against all the stores that sell that product. Googles version of this was called Froogle - which was a hit in the states, but struggled to get off the ground in the UK. Well now Google has Google Base - which is pretty much the same thing but is integrated into Googles Universal Search (or click on the Shopping tab in Google if you only want to search Google base results).

So what do you have to do to get into Google Base? Firstly you need to be able to export all of your products in to a csv file or xml feed. The information in here will tell Google the name of you product, the category it sits in and most importantly the price you are selling it at. It then makes this available for searching.

So for example, one of our clients sells PA Systems to the general public, bands and businesses - they have around 300 products - so we integrated a Google Base export. If someone now searches for a specific product that is in the company online catalog then it is like to come up in the Google search WITH the price next to it.

So why is this different to normal search engine optimisation (SEO)? well if you think about the mind set of the person who is carrying out the search - if she knows the exact product name she is looking for and when she searches not only is there a link directly to that product but there is a price as well - how much more of a qualified lead do you get? Should get pretty good conversion rates as long as your prices are competitive.

Give Google Base a go and see how it improves your ecommerce store.

VAT Changes and Ecommerce Systems

So the Government has decided to decrease VAT to 15% in a bid to stimulate the economy and in turn help businesses...

Am I the only one of the opinion that in the short term (and lets face it, these measures were implemented with the short term in mind) this change will actually cause even more problems for smaller business running online stores?

Why is this? Well many ecommerce stores (especially older ones) have the VAT rate fixed in the system - so now the Government has effectively given these business less than a week to get this technical issue sorted. This means they have to get in touch with their web developers and potentially spend a lot of money sorting this out! The only winner in this scenario is the web developer and even then, with lots of clients suddenly needing a big change without time to book it in, headaches will abound in the next week.

Why was the cost and inconvenience of this change not taken into consideration? The main difference between VAT and other forms of tax is that it relies on the VAT registered business collecting the tax from the customer on the Government's behalf. A simple 2.5% change will require all sorts of manual and automated systems being changed - and for many small business already up to their eyes in bureaucracy this is just one more thing they could do without - at potentially their busiest time of year.

To make this worse it all changes back again in 13 months time!! So we have to undo what we have just done.

I hope, along with pretty much other one else, that these new tax cuts stimulate the economy, but what a pain in the backside this will be for many in the meantime!!

The All New Google SearchWiki is now LIVE!

Have you noticed the subtle change that occurred today on Google searches? If you have a google account and you are logged in then it is all change on the Google.

Google SearchWiki is here. So what is search Wiki? Well it allows you to start having control over the results you get when searching. You can add website, remove website and comment on website in your search.

It is not clear at this stage why Google has done this, but you can be sure as eggs is eggs Google does indeed have a plan up it sleeve. I believe this is the next step in Googles quest to provide the most relevant information to the searching public. If you were not aware, Google is rumoured to be favouring local searches - that is if I am a looking for a plumber and I am carrying out my search from Newcastle, then the results on the search will weight the results to websites that are Newcastle based plumbers - so the results will be different to someone in Ipswich carrying out the same search.

What I believe Google are now starting to do is collect information from the people doing the search who will rank and comment on sites that are important to them and Google will put a weighting on this.

All very interesting.

Full Internet Marketing Partner Services UK

Mancala have just launched a new service to traditional marketing agencies. We are now offering Full Internet Marketing Partner Services in the UK.

Now the 'R' word is being knocked about by economists and bankers (I personally hate the word because as soon as it is said too many people become negative and it becomes self fulfilling - but I digress) it is clear that traditional marketing agencies are beginning to feel the pinch. Why? well their clients want to know exactly what the marketing and advertising money is being spent on and traditional methods do not accurately give you that. Internet Marketing can give that and more and more business (from the enormous blue chips to the smallest one man band) are using the Internet to find their customers.

We already have some big names on board. If you run a marketing agency but don't have the Internet marketing skills - never fear - talk to us, we can offer this as white label service so your client need never know, or we partner with you. Please check out the page on the website

http://www.mancala.co.uk/Services/Full-Internet-Marketing-Partner-Services-UK.mspx

Launch of our Internet Marketing DVD

By popular demand we have finally got round to launching our very own Internet Marketing DVD. The DVD includes a two hour presentation on how you can make your business a success of the internet using out straight forward techniques.

If you cannot attend one of our Internet Marketing seminars but want to get significantly more success from your website the I would recommend the small investment of £27 including VAT to buy this DVD. Not only that, if you implement some of the ideas in the DVD and you improve your business success online then we offer a no quibble money guarentee!!

The DVD is not for everyone - it does require the commitment from you to implement some changes to how you run your website. It is for those who are looking for a massive change in fortunes online.

You can order now at the Mancala Website.

Search Engine Optimisation - SEO Newcastle

Here at Mancala we don't just specialist in SEO in Newcastle. Of course SEO is a big part of Internet Marketing, but don't be fooled that it is everything to do with Internet Marketing.

Ask yourself this - if I drive a lot of traffic to my website is that enough? Well I will help you out if you are struggling to answer this. NO if is definately not enough. Have a think about how you are going to convert these extra visitors to leads or sales - most website are bad to woeful at doing this.

Download my podcast on Internet Marketing where I give some real tips on how you can generate leads from visitors.

Car Finance and Car Loans

We have a new client on board who has a slighly left of centre approach to car finance and car refinance.

Did you know that if you own your car you could use car refinance instead of taking out a loan - you are using the equity in your car to raise money. Of course in a time when it is difficult to get a loan from a bank this could prove rather useful to some.

For those of us who have good credit ratings they will also guarantee to beat any reasonble quote on the marketing for car loans or car finance.

Check them out. IFA Car Finance.

Check the Car Finance blog

The Enterprise Show 2008 - For those out there wanting to start a Business

The last couple of weeks has seen us taking our Internet Marketing seminars out on the road. The Enterprise 2008 shows organised by Business Link in the North East has been starting to make its way around the region in a bid to encourage more people to set up their own business venture. Of course we at Mancala are right behind this - so much so that at most of the venues we are running FREE Internet Marketing seminars.

We have already run these seminars at Newcastle (St James Park) and Middlesbrough (Teaching and Learning Centre) and I've got to say it has been fantastic. I think it is fair to say that people looking to start out in business these days are much more savvy than maybe I was 7 years ago when I first thought about going it alone. Firstly, they know that Internet Marketing is the way forward when you have a limited marketing budget and secondly there is so much more advice and guidance from people who have been there and done that which was less forthcoming a few years ago. Of course what these guys are hungry for is how they can do a lot of this themselves and that is where our two seminars has hopefully helped and meant there are a few less pit for them to fall into.

Everything you need to know about Internet Marketing, 40 minutes on the essentials of Internet marketing. This was a 'what you need to know' guide to setting up your first successful Internet marketing campaign. It about how you convert the visitors to your website into leads or sales, and of course how to keep marketing to them.

Then there was Driving Traffic to your Website, which was a 'what it does on the tin' guide to getting qualified, lead generating visitors to your new website.

The feedback from these seminars was fantastic and I am looking forward to the next Enterprise Shows at Alnwick Garden (8th November) and Durham Cricket Club (22nd November). If you are around any of those days come along - the show is free and if you come to our stall or seminar there is an opportunity for you to enter a draw for an iPod Nano just for signing up to our newsletter. Can't say fairer than than.

Deryck

PA Systems and Sound Systems to make a noise about

We do work far a field on all sorts of search engine optimisation projects. One of our latest client is a well know sound systems supplier based in Suffork. PA Supercentre provides PA Systems to buy for any one who needs to be heard - this might be a touring band to a church who would like the vicar to be noticed.

PA Supercentre are based in Ipswich and their parent company, Gofer, are well known in the festival circuit regularly supplying equipment to festivals such as Glastonbury, Tea in the Park and Reading.

Of course we know that PA Supercentre are market leaders in their field, but if you would like more information about complete pa systems for your band, or maybe a sound system to fill your room, how about the right kind of microphones or even mixing desk - you should be contacting the guys at PA Supercentre. And what this space for their search engine rankings to go through the roof nationwide!!

Alternative Ways to Get Visitors - Social Networking Optimisation

I often talk about search engine optimisation (or SEO) to help drive good quality traffic to your website. I also promote pay per click advertising (or PPC) as an alternative way, and a quick win way of getting traffic to your website.

Well I am going to look at a few other alternatives that will also help you get visitors. How about exploiting the advertising potential of Social Networking websites such as Facebook, Myspace and Bebo? These website collect (or more accurately are volunteered) masses of information about the people who use them. What do they do with this data? well now they are offering you the opportunity to target the exact niche for your business. Admittedly you are more likely to succeed in some markets more than others but here is the crack -

If you have a product, say you sell very baggy jeans - you know the sort I mean, the ones that seem to be below the bum line yet still just about stay up - well you business would know that the age group to target these is the 16 - 24 year olds. But there is more, you are likely to know people in this age group who are into Hip Hop music are likely to be interested in your product. Well the likes of Facebook will allow you to specify that you only advertise to these people when they are looking through Facebook. Something worth trying out? I think so. Try our Social Networking Optimisation

Business Link Enterprise Show 2008

Mancala are running two seminars at each of the four Business Link Enterprise Shows.

The show is aimed at encouraging people looking to start new businesses. I have got to say that I am so pleased to be able to run these seminars - if I had know the significance of Internet marketing when I was starting Mancala I would have got to where we are now a lot quicker.

Find out more about The Enterprise Show

If you know anyone who is looking to start a business, even if it is currently a distant dream, then please point them in direction of The Enterprise Show website where they can book on line and reserve their places on the free seminars.

The seminars we will be running are -

1pm - Everything you need to know about eMarketing
3.15pm - Driving Traffic to your Website (not in Alnwick)

Visit The Enterprise Show Website

Ask.com has a face lift. Will anyone catch up with Google

Ask.com has had a bit of a face lift. Is this an attempt to eat into Googles market share?

Probably. But it is still difficult to see the day when Google is not the dominant player in the market. Ask is probably the only search engine that is making any positive dent in the Google empire - but ironically it relies on Google to make its money - the sponsored adverts display on the results pages of Ask are actually Google Adwords, these ads are server by Google to Ask and then a commission is paid if anyone clicks on the ad! So Google is in a no lose situation with this, if they lose market share to Ask they are still getting the advertising revenue.

I guess Google will keep an eye on the share that Ask gets, after all they don't want any one muscling in too much and getting to big for thier boots.

Good luck to Ask is what I say, a little competition didn't do anyone any harm.

Next Internet Marketing Seminar Date Release

The next internet marketing seminar date has been announce. Put this date in your diary

Thursday 23rd October at Blackswan Court, Westgate Road, Newcastle.

The seminar covers everything you need to know to get started with your businesses internet marketing strategy and includes hand outs and online resources.

It will be time and money well spent.... and we Guarentee that with a money back offer - if you don't think your business will benefit from the tools and tactics described in the seminar we will give you your money back... simple as that.

Book today by visiting our website: http://www.mancala.co.uk/seminars.mspx

Internet Marketing and the Credit Crunch - what to do, what to do

When the going gets tough make sure you spend your marketing budget right!!

I was reading about how businesses are tackling the fear of recession a few days ago. Of course now is a really good time for a lot of businesses to roll out the excuses for not doing well, business is drying up - customers are not spending - generally bad times ahead!! I don't happen to agree and there a lot of businesses out there who are approaching this time of difficulty with a very upbeat and positive attitude.

In the early nineties when the last recession hit us one of the first budgets many companies would cut would be the marketing budget - of course this made things worse, not only were customers leaving (going bust or tightening their belts) but there was also no process to attract new customers. This was insane in my opinion - but I can't blame them.

Now some businesses will want to do the same, but I would urge them not to. The trick to marketing is having a budget and spending it wisely. So I would suggest the following

1. Monitor every advert/ piece of marketing to find out how much businesses it brings you - if you are unsure if something is working i.e an advert in a newspaper, then stop it - chances are it is not working and until you are sure it is you should not be wasting your money.
2. If something is working, replicate it.
3. Start off small and test if something is going to work. Don't commit a huge budget to something that you have not proved will work for your business. You should always be prepared that you may lose the money you spend, so only spend what you can afford to lose.
4. For the ultimate in traceability do most of your marketing via the Internet using Pay Per Click, email marketing or Search Engine Marketing (SEO)

I strongly endorse marketing on the Internet, it is proven to be the most effective form of advertising EVER. If you want to find out more why not attend one of my Internet Marketing seminars which will give you the lowdown on how you can make Internet Marketing work for your business.

Internet Marketing Seminar - New Date Announced

The next date for our highly popular Internet Marketing Seminar - Internet Marketing for Business - has just been announced. This time we will be running it from our own new offices on the Westgate road.

The seminar covers the simple yet effective methods you can implement (without the need of some technical wizard).

Please come and join us on the 25th September at 2pm for a 3 hour seminar that will change how you promote your business on the internet. We even offer a money back guarantee!!

Visit our website for more information - Marketing on the Internet

If you are unsure what the seminar is about, listen to our podcast. You can find this by going to www.mancala.co.uk/podcast

Good News if you Trade Online - The Internet is completely bucking the Credit Crunch

It's a great time to be an online trader. The Internet is fast becoming the first port of call for shoppers with sales up 38% on the same period last year.... that's incredible when you consider that high street sales were down 3.9% in June. (Read the Sundays Times Article )

Many organisations are now investing heavily in Internet marketing to ensure that they beat the credit crunch - and who can blame them, year on year Internet sales have massively grown by almost double each year - it is expected that 50% of all sales will be carried out online by 2011.

Of course this isn't just happening in the retail sector, the service sector needs to make sure it is keeping up. In my experience most people do not use telephone directories to find a business, be it a plumber, electrician, accountant or lawyer - their first port of call is to do a search on the Internet. If your website is not figuring near the top of those searches then you are not going to generate any business from the web - and with all that extra money being spent you are missing out.

That is where a great internet marketing strategy comes in - imagine how much more successful your business would be if you coud -

• Drive more traffic to your website
• Convert that traffic into leads for your sales staff to follow up
• Be able to continually marketing to those leads until they turn into a sale

Are you doing that at the moment with your website?

Consider your website as an additional sales person, and invest in some Internet marketing .

I have created a podcast on the basics of Internet marketing . Download it and listen to see what you could be doing.

If you are interested in my next Internet marketing seminar then visit www.marketingontheinternet.co.uk to find out about the next session.

Don't be satisfied with just beating the Credit crunch, you could actually improve your business!!

Some Useful Google Search Tips

We all take Google for granted these days, the reliable search engine that almost always finds us what we are looking for. But did you know that there are many tools built into Google.

I've created a list of my favourite tools to show you how you can get much more out of the most popular search engine. Please try these out, it may change how you use Google.

1. If you would like to find out who is linking to your website type link:www.yourwebsite.co.uk - this will list all of the sites that have a link back to yours. Useful when you are doing search engine optimisation

2. How about you want a definition of a word and don't have a dictionary handy. Try define: followed by the word you want a definition of e.g. define:internet. Google will return a list of definitions and the websites where you can find out more detail.

3. Need a calculator? simply type in your sum into Google - e.g. 6+6 (hit search button) and the result will come back 12.

4. What about if you want to know the weather. Type in weather and your nearest city and hey presto, you have a 4 day weather forecast.

5. To find out how your stocks and shares are doing just type in the four digit stock exchange code. This will give you charts on how that stock is doing that day.

6. There is a currency converter. So if you wanted to convert £'s to $'s you might try something like - 150 GBP in USD. You can do this with measurements as well - try 10 inches into centimetres.

7. Google will also have a crack at finding the correct spelling of a word for you - just enter it into the search box and see what Google suggests.

So there you have it, Google is a bit more than just a search engine. I use it for the above and much more, it means I don't have to trawl the internet quite as much.

Another Successful Internet Market Seminar

Once again we ran the Internet Marketing for Business seminar and I have to say that this one was even better than the last.

The seminar was held at La Riviera Restaurant on the Quayside which for those who are not familiar with it is a great quality Italian Restuarant Newcastle & Gateshead.

During the Internet Marketing Seminar we covered the three principles of great internet marketing.

1. Driving visitors to your website - this could be using SEO, PPC and email marketing - plus a whole host of other tools and options - including blogging ;)
2. How to convert the traffic ito leads and sales.
3. Using continuous marketing techniques to convert the leads into sales

The comments we got back from the seminar were great -

"Very good presenter and easy to follow presentation. Good hand out material and all very relevant" - Sue Pender, Business Link North East

"Excellent - all made sense. My concentration do not slip at all which says a lot about the quality of the presentation" - Maggie Cottier, MSC Training, Newcastle

"Really well covered, informative, relevent and practical with REAL tips. Very Good" - Penny Jones, Business Link North East

"Very understandable, pitched at a 'Laypersons' level. Excellent" - Judith Falla, Business Link North East

"Enjoyed the whole session" - Peter Moran, Newcastle City Council

"Well presented and very easy to follow. Informative" - Bruce Allison, Design Aid

We are running the next seminar in September - please visit www.marketingontheinternet.co.uk for more details - or if you want a taster of what it is all about why not download our internet marketing podcast

What are the implications of using Brand names in your Google Adwords?

Published with the kind Permission of Matthew Rippon, Property Lawyer with BHP Law Newcastle.

As Published in the NEBusiness Blog - 12th June2008

"EIGHT years or so ago a refreshingly clean search interface developed by Larry Page and Sergey Bryn overtook the likes of Yahoo! and MSN to become the web’s most popular search engine.

At the time, many asked how the site was ever going to make any money. As Google powers forward, it makes you wonder whether those commentators were living in a parallel universe.
Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing. It’s doubtful that even Page and Bryn perceived then that Google would, within a decade, become one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful companies. But if information is what powers the world economy, then Google must be the 21st Century’s Standard Oil.

In 2006, Google’s advertising revenues in the UK overtook Channel 4. Late last year, it reached a par with ITV.

Although Google has a diverse product range these days, it is still the AdWords service on the search engine that provides its most significant revenue stream.

For the uninitiated, AdWords are the little text adverts that pop up to the right of your search results. Containing a short title (25 characters), two lines of description (each 35 characters) and link to another website, they are triggered by your search query.

Such a powerful tool can be used in very damaging ways of course, which is why Google operates a procedure through which trade- mark owners can complain to Google about the unauthorised use of trade marks in AdWord advertisements. Google investigates and usually suspends the advertisement in question. The trade- mark term in dispute is also then blocked from further use in AdWords for the future.

If you’re looking to start using AdWords, you might want to use a competitor’s trademark term in the text of your advertisement. For example, if you enter the term ‘Waterstone’s’, an AdWord advert for WHSmith pops up.

Google still processes complaints relating to the use of trademarks in third party AdWord text, but since April, it no longer accepts complaints about keywords. And keywords that were previously the subject of a successful complaint will be unblocked.This has caused fury amongst some big retailers.

Teletext has threatened other travel agents with litigation if it finds its name used as a keyword. And a consortium of brandowners including Arcadia are thought to have discussed whether any action may be taken against Google.

It’s a murky area. To be an infringement, the trademark in question must be used “as a sign”.
Those brand owners would have to establish first that an infringement had occurred and this would mean convincing the courts that the keywords in question were a sign even though they didn’t appear in the adverts themselves.

The problem is that there hasn’t been much litigation on this subject. Of course, the mere existence of Google’s previous policy didn’t prevent the brandowners from litigating this issue before. They just chose not to, preferring the quicker and cheaper results generated by going direct to Google. So they have been hoisted by their own petard.

At times like this, I like to come back to the core function of a trade- mark – that it should act as a guarantee to the consumer of the trade origin of the goods or services to which it is applied. If you lived in London and wanted to buy electronics, you might head to Tottenham Court Road where you’d see all the biggest names side by side. I wonder whether WHSmith’s advert next to the search results for Waterstone’s is really so different?"

Internet Marketing Seminar Newcastle

Our next Internet Marketing Newcastle seminar has been announced.

Internet Marketing for Business
Thursday 10th July 2008
La Riviera Restaurant - Gateshead Quayside

To find our more visit www.marketingontheinternet.co.uk

The seminar is delivered by Internet Marketing experts Mancala Technology.

The last seminar was sold out so book your place early.

Visit www.marketingontheinternet.co.uk to reserve your place today.

Search Engine Optimisation Goes Glamorous

Why celebrities are getting into search engine optimisation and why you should be too.

The word in the Internet Marketing Business is that even celebrities are getting their noses into it. It was reported that stars are paying to have their online images cleaned up. It has been discovered that celebrities with not so squeaky clean pasts have paid specialist web placement companies lots of money to get positive results at the top when you type in their name.
Most often it is Google who get targeted more as it accounts for 80 per cent of all internet sources. This works in the same way as most search engine optimisation and web placement companies work to get your key phrases at the top, so by performing search engine optimisation on names there is more good references at the top and bad references move down the page, and because most people never go past the first page of Google it is becoming more popular to get the squeaky clean image right on the front page.

Internet Marketing Seminars In the North East

Internet Marketing for Business Owners
8th May 2008 - 1.30pm, La Riviera, NewcastleGateshead Quays

How can your website be the hub to all your leads generation and new business?
This seminar will show you in practical and easy to understand steps what you should be doing to generate great quality business from your website. We are so confident that you will benefit from this course that we are offering a Money Back Guarantee if you are not satisfied.
Book your place for only £97 + VAT

Places are limited - book online now at http://www.marketingontheinternet.co.uk/

“Extremely interesting and able to put technical content into easily understandable chunks”
Les Hodgson, Next Level Financial Management Ltd

About the Seminar
How much are you taking advantage of the internet? Does your internet marketing strategy get you business, or (as it is for many businesses) could you do much better?

Internet marketing for business owners will give you the practical information you need to kick start your internet marketing strategy. The seminar will show you how all the pieces of the Internet marketing mix can be linked together to obtain truly amazing results.

The seminar will cover:

• Generating leads from your website
• Driving traffic to you website
• What you really need to know about Search Engine Optimisation
• How Pay Per Click campaigns can work for your business
• Effective email marketing
• Integrating all of the above to get amazing results
• Monitoring exactly how effective your internet marketing is

“This was a ‘Keep it Simple’ guide to Internet marketing. It was delivered clear and concise without confusion or patronising the recipients”
Jackie Marston, Jam Marketing & PR

At the end of the seminar you will have developed your first internet marketing strategy and be ready to take advantage of the customers the internet can deliver to you!

About your Expert
Deryck Harlick has eight years experience in Internet Marketing and is an expert in his field. He has implemented Internet Marketing Strategies for FTSE 100 companies and large blue chip organisations but now shares his expertise with smaller enterprises.

Deryck brings with him a wealth of Internet Marketing knowledge that is unparalleled in the North East. He is committed to helping businesses get the most from the internet and believes that every organisation can increase their number of leads and sales using his very simple techniques.

Book Today
Book your place today for only £97 + VAT
SPECIAL OFFER
Book now and receive a second place on the course for less than half price! Only £47 + VAT
Places are limited so book online today at http://www.marketingontheinternet.co.uk/

“What a great investment! For years we have been told how important a website is to a business, but as a busy organisation we have not had the time really to get the best out of it. Mancala’s seminar helped us identify both a useful internet marketing strategy and how we can deliver it. It cut through the techno-babble and straight towards helping our bottom line.”
Andrew Willson, Director AQCT

Money Back Guarantee
We are so confident that you will find this seminar informative and beneficial for you and your business that if you attend and are not satisfied then we will give you your money back.

STOP PRESS: We are also giving away a limited amount of one to one evaluations with one of our advisors. The advisor will look at your website and your marketing activity and give you practical advice on what you could be doing to improve the number of leads you get.

BOOK NOW - http://www.marketingontheinternet.co.uk/

Internet Marketing Newcastle

We are just about to announce our first Internet Marketing Seminar in Newcastle that will be open to business owners.

The seminars will cover what a typical business needs to know to develop a great internet marketing strategy.

The first Internet Marketing Newcastle Seminar will be on Thursday 8th May at 1.30pm. The location will be on the Newcastle Gateshead Quayside at the fantastic La Riviera Restuarant. More details to follow.

The Joy of Autoresponders

This week I have been spending an unhealthy amount of time setting up a new marketing campaign on the Mancala email autoresponder.

I love autoresponders but I always find starting a new campaign as a bit of a struggle. i guess the comparison would be a writer starting a new book - the first few paragraphs are the hardest, but once you get started it flows.

Generally when I set up an email campaign on an autoresponder I like to get the first three emails done and dusted, that way I can sit back and think about how I want the campaign to end. Obviously the main aim is that the reader eventually becomes a client of mine, but it is what service or product I am targeting that dictates the direction of the email campaign.

Of course I don't always use just an email autoresponder in my marketing, quite often after several emails we may send a prospect a letter - even follow that up with a phone call and another letter. This is how online marketing and traditional offline marketing can mix very well and we find it works great. Quite often by the time we call our prospects they know what we do so well (and we have built up a relationship with our emails and letters) that they are desperate to talk to us and want us to help them out. This is the stereotypically win win and a great way to do business.

Microsoft Offers £22.4 billion for Yahoo

A significant move in the world of online advertising. Microsoft has today offer a huge amount to buy Yahoo. Why? Well Microsoft and Yahoo and playing second fiddle to the all dominating Google. Is this a serious attempt for Microsoft (and Yahoo) to take a more significant slice of the online marketing pie?

We will wait to see what happens and what the detail of the any deal is.

UK firms Waste £3bn

The following Article was recently published by Ian Williams, vnunet.com

The UK's small and medium sized businesses are wasting an estimated £3bn of investment on websites that are virtually invisible to search engines, according to a recent report.

Research by Microsoft's adCenter unit revealed that, although 2.79 million small businesses have an online presence, a hefty 62 per cent are not investing in search marketing campaigns to help potential customers find them online.

The survey found that 44 per cent of SMEs believe that search marketing is too time consuming, while 56 per cent consider it too expensive and 33 per cent too complicated.

This is despite the finding that 76 per cent of SMEs promoting their website on search engines see an immediate increase in sales.

To help combat this wastage Microsoft adCenter has launched a set of Search Marketing Guidelines to help small and medium enterprises set up and reap the benefits of search marketing.

"UK SMEs are missing a trick by not investing in search marketing campaigns, " said Nigel Leggatt, marketing manager at Microsoft adCenter.

"In today's world, just having a website is not enough. You have to drive traffic to your site to ensure you are front-of-mind with your potential customers. Search marketing is one of the most cost effective ways to achieve this."

It seems that small business owners already understand the power of search marketing to promote their business online, as 96 per cent said they use search engines themselves to find a product or service.

This is reflected by over half of SMEs claiming that they would be willing to set up search marketing campaigns themselves, and 34 per cent are planning to use search marketing in the future.

"A well-known website can allow a small business to compete on an equal footing with larger competitors, but only if the site can be found by potential customers," said Peter Scargill, IT chairman at the Federation of Small Businesses.

"Having an online presence is something that more and more small businesses are using to drive growth in the future, but they will be wasting their money if they do not make people aware of it."

The new guidelines set out to dispel the myths surrounding search marketing and offer a range of tips on how to get started with search marketing while making sure that the process is as quick, simple and cost-effective as possible.

Read the Full Article

Christmas online sales 'rise 50%'

The proof is in that Internet sales boomed last Christmas.

From the BBC
"UK online sales rose by more than 50% in the three months to Christmas, according to an industry survey.
Internet sales between 1 October and 31 December hit £15.2bn, up from £9.61bn a year earlier, with electronics and clothing doing well, Capgemini said.
Firms with both a High Street and online presence, such as John Lewis, did best, the survey said.
For every pound spent on goods in 2007, 15 pence was spent online, pushing annual electronic sales to £30.2bn.
In 2006, for every pound spent on retail goods, the Internet spend had been 10 pence. "

Read the full article at BBC.co.uk

Of course not every web site will be a winner. The successful ones will be using all forms of online marketing to ensure that they get customers on to there site. The thing is that this sort of marketing is available to everyone, not just the big boys.

Now is the time to start thinking about how you can take advantage of next years Christmas sales, here is a quick checklist for you to get on with - start with number 1

1. Search Engine Optimisation. This the slow burn of the online marketing world, but can give the best long term results.... so start now. Make sure your site is listed in as many external sites as you can find, if you were to target getting you site linked into 5 sites per week from now until Christmas you would have around 250 incoming links to your site. Why is this important? A major part of the search engine rankings is links that are incoming to your site, the more you have the more important the search engines see your site.
2. Email Marketing. Store the email addresses of anyone who buys from you, encourage people to sign up to newsletters, get peoples email addresses and permission to use them! You are now in a position to regularly get in touch with them and give them offers.
3. AdWords Campaigns / PPC. Get started on an AdWords or pay per click (PPC) campaign.
4. Make sure your website has a Call to action, a telephone number to call, enquiry box to fill in and make it easy to buy your products. Don't be shy put these calls to action all over the place, shy bairn get nowt as they say here in Newcastle.

Happy New Year

Better late than never, HAPPY NEW YEAR from all at Mancala.


Of course last year was an extremely busy year, especially at the end and this year has started in the same way. Christmas was a record breaking year for those of you with ecommerce - in particularly our clients had a bumper one - on line sales are bucking the general retail trend so it might be worth thinking about how you will make great sales this year.

I look forward to uploading more posts this new year.