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