Posts Tagged ‘Search Engine Marketing’
Designing for Brand Identity
Posted by David Redfern in Blog, Branding, Design Wednesday, 3 March 2010 10:10 No Comments
Brand identity is probably the most critical element of retail and business design. As a packaging designer you must be able to offer branding services as part of your design services package. Brand identity is the overall graphic representation that people will associate with a company or product.
In todays market, competition for customers is fierce, so you can see why a strong brand identity is crucial for companies.
Business owners rely on design professionals to invest time into researching, defining, and ultimately building a brand that people can trust. One could say that branding is the foundation of your design and marketing campaign.
For graphic designers who are new to building brand recognition this article will highlight the research process that experienced designers who are successful at building brands will implement in their graphic approach before offering up any directions. When building brands it’s not simply a matter of creativity it’s a matter of doing the right research.
Whether you’re branding a product or a company you will need to put in a good amount of time doing research.
Ask yourself some key questions such as:
* What kind of company are you trying to establish a graphic representation for?
* Who are their clients?
* What is the company’s target demographic?
* What services do they provide, etc.?
The same applies to product branding.
* What kind of product is it?
* Is the product targeted at males or females and what age group?
* How should the product be associated with the company that is selling the product?
Once you’ve collected your preliminary data from your initial questions, filter through and analyze your information to really hone in on your target audience. The ultimate goal of branding is to speak directly to your target audience in order to motivate them to action. In order to do this you better be sure that your target market is clearly defined.
Establishing your target market means identifying who your audience is specifically. To help you find out who your target audience is exactly ask questions like:
* Where is my audience located geographically?
* What colors should be associated with the product or company?
* Who is my brands direct competition?
* What elements have made my competition successful?
* Who are my competitors targeting?
You can do a large amount of this investigating on line. The more accurately you can assess your target market the more effective your brand will be.
If you spend enough time properly researching answers to your questions you will find that you have provided yourself with a guide to direct your creativity in the design process.
Remember, every element of your design is something that will be associated with the business or product you are branding. These elements should evoke emotion, create a reaction, and will not only define the company but be a part of it for as long as it exists.
These may seem like very simple questions, but the trick is making sure that you spend the time to answer them properly.
Many designers throw the term branding around without a true understanding of what that term means or how effective branding is accomplished.
A strong brand builds relevance, credibility and establishes trust. A strong brand speaks to your target market – it motivates customers to act. When done correctly it establishes the company or product as an industry leader.
By answering a few core questions you will be provided with a system of guides to help direct you when it comes to the actual design process. This is your map to an effective brand.
How to hire an Online Marketing Agency?
Posted by David Redfern in Blog, Latest News, SEO Friday, 19 February 2010 12:33 No Comments
If, despite your best efforts, your website is not making the inroads you would hope in the search engine rankings, it may be time to consider recruiting a online marketing agency like Footprints SEO.
The job of appointing a search engine optimisation company can be daunting if you have never worked with an SEO specialist, will likely make or break your online success. For many firms, their SEO is a sales tool so you’ll want to be sure you’re making the right decision. Hiring an online marketing agency can also be difficult if your own web site optimisation knowledge is basic as you do not want to be blinded by science or thrown off course by the use of technical jargon.
As we speak to hundreds of businesses throughout the UK, Europe and USA, we’ve compiled this guide of questions to ask.
1. What new SEO related skills and services have been recently developed?
Online Marketing consultancy is a crowded and competitive marketplace, so you shouldn’t have any problems finding companies to approach. Because SEO changes so quickly, you’ll want your new agency to be on top of their game. A great opening question is to ask the SEO agency you are considering what new techniques they have added to their optimisation repertoire in the last 3 months. Although search engines like Google keep their algorithms a closely guarded secret, a good SEO company will constantly be adapting and updating their methodology and services.
2. Can they offer an SEO site review?
If possible, ask agencies to produce a brief report focusing on problems and opportunities with your current website in search engine optimisation terms prior to signing an agreement. This doesn’t have to be a detailed report, a conversation about the site will suffice. Can the SEO consultant identify possible barriers to stronger rankings? Do they approach the site in a methodical and logical manner? Do they ask questions to get some background to the site and previous SEO efforts? You can request an SEO site audit from Footprints SEO here.
3. What kind of link building strategies will be used and what is their position on link buying and link bait?
The importance of an experienced link builder cannot be underestimated, so have a detailed discussion about the SEO firm’s preferred methodology and previous experience. Be sure to check that link building and off page optimisation is included in the package quoted as some Online Marketing agency representatives will quote separately for each SEO module so you may be looking at an extra cost. All Footprints SEO packages include link building.
Look for an emphasis on relevant links and tactics to increase inbound links from sources likely to drive good quality traffic to the site.
4. What kind of reporting and analytics packages will be used to track SEO results?
You’d expect any direct hire to be able to report back to you about job progress and tasks completed, so don’t expect any less from your new online marketing consultancy. Ask for a breakdown of reporting methodology and copies of dummy reports.
5. Will competitor analysis be used in on and off page optimisation?
Keeping an eye on the competition is a must in any well-executed SEO campaign, so you’ll need to know that your SEO consultancy can bring competitor analysis skills to the table. Ask for examples and a detailed breakdown of what will be included in the competitor research. It’s also worth checking that you can specify sites yourself to be included.
About Footprints SEO
Footprints-SEO.com is an internet marketing company whose priority is to make your organization rise above the competition, we are a group of talented and dedicated individuals with a passion for search engine optimization. We will custom-tailor marketing strategies that are right for you and your business, while ensuring top search engine optimization and web-site design.
Footprints-SEO.com has the answer to all your internet marketing needs.
Monetize Your Traffic To Get The Most Out Of It – Footprints-SEO Masterclass
Posted by David Redfern in Latest News Saturday, 13 February 2010 22:07 No Comments
Establishing your own E-commerce site is not like what it used to be. There are thousands of competition that is all too willing to get a bigger share of the pie. Every scheme and method you can find to augment your sales would be very beneficial.
We have got to admit to ourselves. Most of us are into it for the money. We are not going to waste our time and effort just for the fun of it. Many sites would not wait until hell freezes over just to see their profits. While there are some who takes things lightly there are always those who would rather see profit any given day.
It is common knowledge that without traffic we have no business. Like any business, without any customers you donít get sales. Traffic represents all the people that gets a chance to see what you have to offer. The more people who see your products the more people there would be to buy them.
Nobody puts up an E-commerce site that doesn’t expect profit. We have a startup capital that needs to be regained. With a consistent traffic, we at least have a fighting chance to achieve that probability. Monetizing your traffic would optimize your chances of making the best out of it.
Making Money out of your Traffic
The best and most proven method of making a profit out of your traffic is using advertising. The internet generates hundreds of thousands upon hundred of thousands of traffic everyday. Most of them are searching for something. While some are just looking for information there is also a good percentage that is looking for something that they need.
The internet has proven to be a very reliable source in finding what was deemed to be a very unsearchable product. The internet has made the world a smaller place; you can advertise a product from the depths of Istanbul and still find a buyer from the center of Philadelphia.
Generating traffic is not an easy task. You have to contend with a great number of sites to generate a good number of traffic flow. But if done successfully this could open up a Pandoraís Box of possibilities. One of the benefits is monetizing your traffic flow.
So, to get to the core of it the more traffic you generate the more likely you are considered as a desirable, desirable, in a sense that a good traffic flowing site is easily convertible to profit. Basically traffic equals profit. Advertising is the name of the game; with the good advertising scheme you can use your traffic flow to your advantage.
When you have good traffic you have a good number of potential customers, customers that are willing to pour money into your coffers. Other than that these are also traffic that can be redirected to sponsored links that are willing to pay you for a sizeable portion of the traffic that you have generated.
This scheme is called pay-per-click. With every click a visitor of your site makes on an advertised link you will be paid. The more traffic you generate and the more clicks that happens would spell to more profits.
Affiliate Programs
Another method of monetizing your traffic are affiliate programs. You can link up with other tried and tested sites and online companies and monetize your traffic by having a percentage of sales generated by traffic coming from your site.
The basic idea is, traffic generated from your site will go to another site that can offer a product that you do not carry. Many programs can keep track and make records of transactions that was made possible because of site linkage.
When purchases are made by customers that was led by your site to their site you get a percentage of that sale. Affiliate programs would give you the benefit of monetizing your traffic without the actual need of carrying or promoting a certain product.
There are so many ways and methods to monetize your traffic. All it takes is a bit of hard work and the desire to successfully launch a profit-earning site. The internet is a veritable source of information, many tips and guides are offered everywhere in how to monetize your traffic and make your site a good profit earne
Search Engine Opitmization | SEO Services
Posted by admin in SEO Thursday, 7 May 2009 23:18 No Comments
Overview: Why research keywords?
The answer is quite easy:
Before you get to optimizing your website and promoting it on the Web, you should first select relevant search terms that will reach your target audience.
In other words, you are supposed to pinpoint your Keyword Niche. It should be large enough to draw good visitor traffic, yet ‘narrow’ and specific enough to let you overplay your competitors and get to the top on the SEs.
This task can be achieved with the help of the Keyword Suggestion tool that will help you:
1.
Spy on your competition to get suggestions on the keywords related to your business, and build a list of the keywords you might be using for optimization (Explore niche tab);
2.
Narrow the keyword list by removing the terms that are not searched often enough or turn to be too much competitive (Get suggestions tab);
3.
Get an idea of your potential keyword niche by studying your rivals that compete for your keywords at different SEs, both major SEs and local ones (View competitors tab);
4.
Analyze your competition thoroughly to weight your chances of being top-ranked for the chosen keywords/phrases (Analyze competition tab).
SEO Nottingham by FootPrints
Posted by admin in SEO Saturday, 11 April 2009 11:11 No Comments
FootPrints SEO are experts at search engine optimisation, building high quality relevant links and improving your online presence to drive targeted traffic to your website. Our intimate understanding of major search engine algorithms allow us to provide the edge you need in todays competitive online environment.
Search Engine Results
Achieving search engine dominance is essential, a higher search engine position will result in more exposure to potential customers, and therefore more sales. FootPrints SEO provide services tailored to allow you to achieve and maintain that edge.
Successful SEO methodology is constantly in flux, with search engines using increasingly more complex algorithms.
FootPrints SEO have the knowledge, expertise, and skills to safely and effectively optimise your site. We use only white hat techniques.
FootPrints SEO is search engine marketing (SEO) and online marketing agency based in the UK.