We have outlined the stuff you need to be on the lookout for below:

Google Local Page Scam:

• Typically £250-£300 setup fee
• 10 guaranteed reviews per month

Why it’s a scam: A Google local page can be created in around 10-20 minutes, so paying £300 for this service is quite over the top. A Google Local service should normally be offered as part of a proper SEO strategy, requiring research and evaluation of your local market to obtain the best possible exposure for your business. The real scam however comes from the guaranteed monthly reviews being offered with these packages. If any package offers guaranteed reviews, then it is almost certain that the reviews are being faked from collections of Gmail accounts or being bought in bulk from countries that employ slave labour. Fake reviews can often be scripted in pigeon English or be cut an pasted from a script and your site can be reported and removed by Google.

Please note: Some companies setting up your Google local page will use their own email address or a mobile phone as backup and can prevent you access should they decide. Always ensure your Google page is in your own control and verified by your own phone number and email address.

If you need advice on Google local page setup, please contact us for free advice.

Facebook Page Package Scam

• Typically £500-£600 setup
• £300-350 per month for updates
• 20-30 “likes” per month

Why it’s a scam: Typically, the company will set up a basic Facebook page, using the “wall” page to notify people of any special offers or promote your products. This type of Facebook page can be created in around 30 minutes so being charged such fees for setup are extreme. The £300-£350 per month updates typically involves a few “wall” posts or images being uploaded taking no more than a few minutes to do. The 20-30 likes per month are almost always fakes and come from either a network of facebook accounts or from countries using slave labour. It is extremely important to remember that having a large number of Facebook “likes” (or Fans) in this way will not generate you any business but you will still be charged the fees each month.

A well constructed Facebook page will consist of good design with calls to action and links to your own website where visitors can buy from your products and services. Typically, and depending on content, a good Facebook business page will cost in the region of £300-350 for a small business. Ongoing monthly work to your page will depend on the level of work. The work done on your Facebook page will link to reports so you can track sales and measure the success of your special offers.

Youtube Video Scam

• Typically £600-700
• 30-60 second “optimised” video
• 5000 – 10,000 guaranteed views
• 20-30 “like” ratings
• 20-30 comments
• 20-30 subscribers

Why it’s a scam: The youtube package is one we particularly recommend you avoid. The “videos” we have seen have been nothing more than Flash/Powerpoint presentations formatted for Youtube and not in the least bit likely to drive any traffic or business to your company. In fact they are more likely to show you up in a bad light.

Video production is a time intensive process (as we know), requiring consultation, storyboarding, on site shooting of various scenes and post production editing. Any reputable video production company or those with the real skills, will come to your premises, do some scene evaluation, discuss your message then return again to light and shoot your video. A good video company will charge in the region of £5-600 per day for this service alone. You wouldn’t want a plumber to fix you car after all!

Aside from the quality of the video, the obvious conbcerns are the guaranteed number of views, likes and subscribers. Ask yourself where the company offering the package is getting the views. These will without doubt bought in bulk from seeding networks or from countries using slave labour. You can buy 10,000 guaranteed views from various networks but be under no illusions that this will do your business any good.

Customers are not that easily fooled by such videos that have acquired fake reviews and likes and it can actually do your business a lot of harm. We have seen numerous videos where the viewers have eitheer exposed the numbers as fake or left extremely bad comments. This does your company’s brand and reputation no good at all so don’t be tempted by such offers – if it sounds too good to be true then it is too good to be true.

If you would like any advice on how to avoid being ripped off by these packages then please contact us where we will be more than happy to help.

What is Google Alerts?

Google Alerts are updates of Googles search results based on any kind of subject, product or service you can think of, and they get sent automatically to your inbox.

What’s the point of Google Alerts?

Quite simply to update you on your chosen subject, service, product etc.

In marketing,  it can be used to great advantage such as;

• monitoring your products and services
• keeping up to date on a competitor or industry
• getting the latest news on industry releases

And so on…

Google alerts for marketing

Google alerts can be used for both reactive and proactive marketing of your products and services. Keeping up to date with current trends or news for example can provide you with an opportunity to get first to market or anticipate demand for products and services.

For example, this example of reactive marketing highlighted an opportunity for increasing sales and improving safety at the same time. The recent BP oil spill sparked outrage at the time but it also highlighted safety issues in the workplace, with the knock on effect of thousands of companies in the oil industry supply chain reviewing their saftey procedures and checking their supplies. The safety and response product suppliers quickly realising the fact made sure their sites were optimised, emails were at the ready with offers of safety products and their PPC campaigns were tuned to address the immediate issue.

In proactive marketing, you can watch events over a course of days or even weeks. For example, a few days before an outdoor music festival you might want to keep an eye on the weather. If it’s to be hot and sunny and you sell hats or sun glasses you may want to be ready with your products to capitalise on the heatwave. If it’s to be raining, you had better stock up on umbrellas and disposable Macs.  You get the gist.

There are literally millions of opportunities to be had from Google alerts and if you’ve got a success story then feel free to leave your comments below.

Whilst much of the advice has been “known” by SEO professionals for some time, very little has ever been publicly acknowledged by Google – until now. We now have three important giveaways in the new guide, namely; 

1. Totally new – Google considers Social Media (word-of-mouth buzz) as building your site’s reputation. 
2. Google says you can promote your content effectively – old but good to have their seal of approval
3. Linking to spammy websites can damage your website’s ranking/reputation. Again, old but they’re basically telling us you could get banned.

So what does this mean?

Word of mouth buzz (Social media, online PR)

We’ve known for some time that links are the prime currency for ranking well on Google but it’s now official. Google now acknowledge that getting deep links to your content pages from Social Media and “word of mouth buzz” can help your website’s reputation (and ranking). Here’s what Google say;

Organic or word-of-mouth buzz is what helps build your site’s reputation with both users and Google, and it rarely comes without quality content.

Quite clearly, Google are indicating that adding quality content to your website then getting it out by word of mouth (social media and online pr ) is good for your website’s reputation. 

Promoting your content

It’s nw official! Promoting your content can help your website’s reputation. Their guide says

Effectively promoting your new content will lead to faster discovery by those who are interested in the same subject.

So if you have a blog or update your news page on a regular basis then make sure you, or your SEO company are promoting this for you through the right channels, or getting links from other websites to your new content. If you want help on promoting your content then contact us now.

However, they do warn that;

As with most points covered in this document, taking these recommendations to an extreme could actually harm the reputation of your site.

Everything in moderation as they say but however you read into this, Google clearly considers promoting your content to be a good thing.  

Linking to spammy websites

Whilst not new, it’s never been officially public but it now comes straight from the horses mouth. Here’s what Google say on the subject;

However, linking to sites that Google considers spammy can affect the reputation of your own site.

So, if you haven’t already, then get checking all those outbound links. It’s imperitive that you check all your outbound links to ensure you’re not linking to any bad websites or link farms. Make sure you check for broken links while you’re at it and get them fixed!  There are a number of good tools for checking and it’s worth the effort for all the time it will take you.

If you need help with social media, promoting your content or any other aspect of the new Google SEO guide then give us a call or contact us now.

We’re experts with a proven track record in SEO and Internet Marketing

Only a handful of companies in the UK can genuinely claim to have a proven track record spanning more than a decade. With over 12 years in the industry, we at Breeze Media are experts in search engine optimisation, paid search, social media and converting visitors to customers. We deliver results for a broad range of companies from small businesses to charities to global firms.

Over the last 12 years we’ve achieved top results for companies in ultra competitive online markets such as mobile phones, beer and email marketing  – results very few companies could ever come close to.

We’re a small company which means you’re never a number or a sales target. We’re focussed on your success and we’re transparent about our prices and our processes.

We achieve top results for all our clients, so if you want a company you can trust to achieve success for your online business then we’d love to hear from you.

Over the last few years Google has changed dramatically. There are now videos, images and shopping results in Google’s results pages. Add to that the real time feeds from the likes of Facebook and Twitter plus numerous other items such as maps and news results to name a few. Google even personalises search results for each individual computer so the search results you see on your home computer may be completely different from your work PC.

We’re now seeing more and more mobile devices such as the iPhone, Blackberry and numerous Android devices such as the HTC smartphones. This too has impact on search results.

From years of experience and understanding of search, we know that SEO is far more effective than paid advertising. As Google has evolved, we too at Breeze Media have evolved – keeping up with the pace of search engines so that we keep our clients happy and  at the top of Google.

If you aren’t getting significant returns from Search Engine optimisation then maybe it’s time you let us get you to the top of Google.

Contact us now if you want to get to the top.

Don’t fall into the AdWords trap:  exposing the truth behind the myth

It’s easy to believe that the AdWords system can instantly improve your website traffic and sales for low costs, but don’t be fooled by the sales hype. Some internet marketing companies try to persuade companies that spending substantial amounts on AdWords will give great results but in fact the company often ends up with spiralling costs and very little to show for it. At Breeze Media we take a more considered approach, analysing your business needs in order to provide real results and value for money, and helping you to avoid expensive mistakes.

Avoiding Pay Per Click scams

It’s always tempting to think that a simple solution, such as a Pay Per Click advertising campaign, will be a quick fix for your marketing needs. However, without being intelligently managed it is usually just a waste of money. This is because the companies pushing PPC schemes such as AdWords don’t have your business interests at heart. Their sales staff usually work on a commission basis and push up their costs with set-up and admin fees that are often unjustifiable expenses, particularly for small to medium businesses. They aren’t interested in the big picture either – your search engine optimisation goals and your long term marketing strategy are of no interest.

How to be clever with AdWords

If intelligently managed, AdWords can be used effectively, particularly for fast moving consumer goods. However, companies which provide services and place value on their customers should think twice about how PPC fits into their sales cycle and whether it is likely to convert clicks into actual sales. Although PPC methods such as AdWords have their place, they won’t make any difference to your search engine rankings. You get far more long term benefits by building up organic Search Engine Optimisation by cost effective methods, and gradually replacing AdWords  – a skill that Breeze Media specialises in.

Real results: how Breeze Media helps clients save money

Example 1:

Company A * was using AdWords to generate sales. They started off paying £200-300 per month for a few months, then it grew to £500-700. They got an ‘AdWords professional’ who charged £1,500 to set up a campaign and after 18 months, their AdWords spend was £86,000 per year. The company was ranking reasonably well with the same search terms in organic searches. Concerned about costs, they came to Breeze Media and we reworked their AdWords campaign, reducing their annual AdWords costs to £8,200 and saving an eye-watering £77,800 a year. At the same time we optimised their organic SEO campaign and got them higher rankings. As a result, the company is getting considerably more sales for considerably less spend. *Client name provided on request

Example 2:

A small company* in a niche market with very  little competition started paying for AdWords in 2007. From an initial £300-400 per month the AdWords costs spiralled to over £26,000 a year after they recruited an “AdWords management company”. They were told by the AdWords company that they would risk losing sales if they didn’t keep up the AdWords advertising. When Breeze Media looked at their campaign, we discovered that the high monthly fees and advertising costs were actually losing them money and creating a negative ROI. We also discovered that the AdWords management people (who didn’t have a clue about SEO) were linking adverts to keywords which already had page 1 ranking anyway. We took the bold step of turning off  AdWords for two weeks to see what difference it made and there was absolutely no drop in sales or enquiries. We then trimmed their AdWords budget to £150-200 per month, targeting more productive keywords. The net saving to the client was £23,600 per annum. *Client name provided on request

The above are only two examples of the numerous companies Breeze Media has rescued from out-of-control AdWords costs in the past year alone, and in some cases we have even obtained refunds. Our results speak for themselves – for example, we’ve just created an organic SEO campaign for a client, costing only a few hundred pounds a month, which has resulted in double the amount of traffic to their site in the first quarter of 2010.

If you want to know how Breeze Media can improve your internet marketing and get a grip on your AdWords spend, contact us now.

Why conversion rate optimisation is really important

The majority of websites do a really bad job of converting their visitors into customers. Typically they will only convert 1 or 2% of their visitors into customers. This is effectively turning away 99% of your visitors which is bad enough but when you consider that the people visiting your website are actually looking for your products and services then then it’s really bad. Why you really need to improve your conversion rate

1. With 98-99% of your visitors turning away you are losing money hand over fist – literally!
2. Adwords, PPC is getting increasingly more competitive and more expensive each passing month. For too often companies will increase their advertising spend just to compensate and they just end up throwing money away needlessly. PPC is costing too many companies a fortune and the only people getting rich are the PPC agencies and Google so you should be looking at ways of reducing your adwords spend.

On the flipside of the majority of websites turn 99% of their visitors away and that’s bad – and when you consider that these same visitors are actually looking for your products and services then it’s really bad! That’s why conversion rate optimisation is really important.

So how do we do conversion rate optimisation?

Let’s start with your existing website and see how it well it converts as it stands. Now that we’ve got our base conversion rate we now want to duplicate the pagea couple of times but this time we’re we’re going to change the buy buttons with something more eye catching. We’ll also try different wording and this is known as the “call to action” or “sales command”. We’re now going to test the new pages using a technique called split testing. We use Google optimizer to serve up different versions of our test pages to each visitor in a loop so that we obtain different sets of results. Just like this;

Visitor 1 sees page A………Visitor 2 sees page B………Visitor 3 sees page C As you can see the changes we made have made a difference and page C performed the best giving the highest conversion rate. This is great stuff so we now want to use page C as the basis for a repeat of the test we just did. This time we’re going to introduce a catchy headline and change the colour of one of the buttons. See below; As you can see, the addition of the catchy headline has improved the conversion rate but the combination of the catchy headline and the different colour we used for the button has had a bigger increase. Great – we’re definitely on the right track. We can take this even further again by adding things like;

• bold text in the descriptions
• bigger product images
• persuasive text phrases in the product descriptions such as
  • take action now
  • when you order
  • when you make the purchase

In fact there are hundreds of things you can add to increase conversion rates. The main point to remember is that you can only make changes in small steps and you have to measure the results every time. There are no shortcuts and not even the best brains on the planet can predict what will produce the best conversions. If you would like us to evaluate your site and help you increase your conversions then contact us now.

If like us you are being bombarded by telephone calls from companies selling 20 thousand social media bookmarks, or social media campaign management or social media monitoring  packages then you’ll understand. They’re as annoying as those vuvuzelas every body’s complaining about that are ruining the world cup.

So what should you be on the lookout for?

Basically, if they do manage to get through your switchboard or past your receptionist then listen for the buzz of people in the background – it’s a sure sign of a call centre.

Social media bookmarking offers

The typical first lines will be

“would you like 20,000 social bookmarks to sites like Digg, technorati”

“we guarantee to get you on the front page of Googele with our social media packages”

Getting social media bookmarks and links in vast quatities like this means spamming the social media sites and this is frowned upon both by the social media websites and search engines.

The methods used to get thousands of such links involves automiatic submissions programmes that submit under false accounts. The accounts themselves may have been generated automaically or have been created by people slave labour call centres in 3rd world countries.

Social media monitoring offers

Whilst these aren’t scams we’d strongly advise wasting any money purchasing such tools and offers. We’ve had numerous calls in the past few weeks from companies selling social media monitoring packages. There are numerous free packages that do the job every bit as good as some of these “branded” packages.

Have you been called by the latest scammers? If so we’d love to hear your story.

Fill in our comment form below.

Redesigning your website won’t make you more money.

Spending thousands of pounds on redesigning your website won’t make you more money or convert more customers unless you test the impact. Products that go on supermarket shelves always go through market testing so what makes you think a website redesign is any different? People have different tastes and you may put off more people than you attract, so don’t risk it for the sake of vanity.

Don’t believe everything a web design company tells you.

Most web design companies selling redesigns aren’t interested in the bigger picture, such as your search engine optimisation or your long term marketing strategy – they’re only interested in making money from a redesign. Their sales staff work on a commission basis, and their designers will almost always push one of their designs rather than a design that will attract new customers and enquiries, so bear this in mind before you fork out expensive design fees.

Learn from the mistakes of others – a true story!

A client contracted a web design company to redesign their website but it had disastrous consequences, which saw their site drop from the search engines and all their enquiries disappear over the course of a single week. The web design company responsible for the redesign had replaced the clients’ website with a “Joomla” based content management system, renaming their existing pages and removing all of the on page optimisation they had done previously. The bill for redesign cost £4500 with the client losing £3000 in online sales over the same week. On top of this, the client had to launch an emergency adwords campaign of £2000 to cover the period where the site dropped from the rankings leaving them out of pocket by £9500. Even after the original site was reinstated their rankings took over 4 weeks to reappear in the search engines, during which, the company lost several thousand pounds in online sales.

Note: 40% of all our new clients who came to us in 2009 describing drops in enquiries and sales were as a direct result of their websites being redesigned.

The moral of the story is this;  if you have an existing business website that earns you enquiries and sales, then do not redesign until you have assessed what you could lose!

Tweak your way to success with conversion optimisation and split testing.

Tweaking your website with small changes over a few months is far safer and can save you thousands of pounds in design fees and lost sales. This method is known as conversion optimisation. It involves making small changes such as changing the colour of a button, adding a form, changing page header and asking asomething the right way.

Read about how conversion optimisation is done.

Each time a change is made, the effects on orders and sales are measured in a process called split testing. The best performing changes are kept and the process begins again; increasing your sales!

After a few months your site will have changed from what it was into something new and beautiful that makes you more sales. Best of all the small changes are very cheap to achieve.

If you want to know more about conversion optimisation then give us a call.