The ‘H’ tags & Search Engine Optimisation
Using the ‘H’ tags with your search engine optimisation can make a significant difference to the success of your Internet Marketing campaign. So what are they? ‘H’ tags are used to denote section titles in your content. <H1> tags are normally used for the main title of the content and then lower ‘H’ tags (such as <H2> and <H3>) are used for sub-headings within your webpage content.
HTML has six heading elements: <Hi> through to <H6>. Use <H1> for your main page heading, then <H2> for sub-headings and so on. Remember when using these tags to prioritise your website content accordingly. Search engines view the <Hi> tag as the most important title of the page and then <H2> as the next most important and so on.
You should always make sure your <H1> tag contains your most important keywords. Try to make sure your <H1> tag corresponds to your page Meta Tag Title. This highlights to search engines exactly what your page is about, and helps identify the most important key phrases.
Don’t overuse your these tags though. Just use one <H 1> tag with your most important content, then use as many <h2> and <H3> tags as you need alongside your content.
EU Moves to Prevent ’shock’ Mobile Internet Bills
A new Europe-wide rule to prevent mobile phone users from building up large bills for surfing the internet via their handset has come into force. Customers can now require their phone firm to cut them off when their bill reaches a certain level after accessing the internet in other European nations.
If users do not put in place a limit by 1 July, it will automatically be set at 50 euros ($65; £45). The phone firms will have to warn users when their bill hits 80% of the limit.
Accessing the internet via your mobile phone while abroad is called “data roaming”.
European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, said: “Protection against data roaming bill shocks is a useful step towards building customers’ confidence to use mobile networks to surf the internet when travelling around Europe.
“Such confidence is essential if people and businesses are to use the internet to its full potential.”
The Commission added that if service providers did not honour people’s set spending limits, national regulators would deal with complaints and impose any necessary sanctions.
Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said the move was likely to reduce the cost of data roaming across Europe.
“This measure is likely to bring down the cost of data roaming, because if people stick to their own cash limits and find they don’t get much access to the internet for their money, the tendency will be to bring down prices so you get more surfing for your money,” he said.
For further information on developing a For further information on developing a succesful online marketing campaign contact Direct Submit Internet Marketing.
Microsoft Browser Choice
Microsoft is to send a message to millions of its users across Britain and the rest of Europe inviting them to consider using rival software like Firefox or Google Chrome.
The move is part of a settlement of a long-running dispute with the EU about the way Microsoft uses its dominance to promote its own web browser. Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, reports on how millions of people who have never really thought about which browser to use will now be able make a choice.
China Tightens Internet Controls
China has tightened controls on internet use, requiring anyone who wants to set up a website to meet regulators and produce ID documents. The technology ministry said the measures were designed to tackle online pornography, but internet activists see it as increased government censorship. A number of websites are now being registered overseas in an attempt to avoid controls.
China has the world’s biggest online population, more than 380m users. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Tuesday lifted a freeze introduced in December on registration for new individual websites.
According to the BBC China correspondent, China’s web users often manage to stay one step ahead of government controls. The Chinese authorities have launched a number of campaigns against online pornography, with the government saying thousands of people were detained last year alone.
Google to buy Search Engine Aardvark
It is reported that Google has recently signed an agreement to acquire social search engine Aardvark. Google isn’t disclosing the terms, but news of the acquisition was first reported by TechCrunch, who put the figure at around $50 million. Google told us that it’s “signed an agreement to acquire Aardvark but don’t have any additional details to report at this time.”
Aardvark is a relatively new startup from former Googlers that uses social distribution channels to get immediate answers to your questions. As a user you can either ask or answer questions, and those questions and answers are funneled through friends and friends of friends via social channels, IM and e-mail with the purpose of turning your online network and reach into a easy way to get more qualified answers to your queries.
In some ways, Aardvark is very much like an alternative search engine that puts your social circle to work.
While we can only speculate as to what Google will do with Aardvark and its team at this point, here are few things that might make a service like Aardvark appeal to the likes of Google.
(1) Better search results: Earlier this year Google introduced answer highlights in search results in an attempt to actually answer your queries. From this endeavor we know that Google is interested in better understanding how to actually answer your queries, instead of just returning a list of links.
(2) Google could potentially use the database of Aardvark questions and answers to help them fine tune its algorithms and improve this experience, or even integrate Aardvark answers into results pages.
(3) Social context: Google Social Search attempts to provide context to your queries by returning matching content from your social network. Aardvark is somewhat of an extension of this idea, and could easily factor into and improve the social search experiment.
(4) Insight behind the question and answer chain: Aardvark has tons of interesting data on what searchers want to know, and how or why people choose to answer a particular query.
Aardvark also has proof of concept that distributed social queries are effective means to getting fast answers to user questions and this data could help Google better understand what motivates certain queries and/or prompts quick responses.
Online Advertising
Amidst fears of credit crunch and economic downturn, any marketing activity needs careful planning and monitored outcomes. One of the most popular tactics, online advertising, is viewed as low cost and effective in addition to delivering transparent and measurable results.
Jenny Ogden, campaign manager at Sift Media, outlines some key tips on how businesses can use this tool to support strategic marketing and business plans, and how to make it work on a tactical level.
1 Know your audience.
Research which business websites they regularly use: which do they trust and look to For the latest industry updates and opinion? Where is the competition advertising and why? Speak to media providers to find out about different audiences to find the best match. Register with the sites that are most appropriate and try them. If they’re rise fuland helpful the chances are the target audience will ‘eel the same way, too.
2 You only get out what you put in.
Most lead generation campaigns are based on an offer made to the target audience. It could include: a
white paper or article; a free `how to’ guide; a free trial; a discount voucher; free entry to an event, and so on. Better quality offers generally result in a superior gual ty of leads.
3 Less is more.
When writing copy, keep it short, simple and to the point. Try to be different: if several software suppliers are all advertising at the same time it can he difficult to see the difference in their approach.
4 Did you get my message?
Rather than sending out blanket emails to an undefined audience contextual and behavioural targeting means that messages can he placed to the correct audience in the right place, at the right time.
For further information on developing a For further information on developing a succesful online marketing campaign contact Direct Submit Internet Marketing.
Olderpreneurs to boost UK Economy by 2012
New research conducted by Cass Business School’s Centre for New Technologies, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CENTIVE) sponsored by Microsoft, has revealed that a latent pool of hidden innovators could potentially add a staggering £15 Billion to the UK economy by 2012 if the right conditions were created according to the latest government figures.
Older entrepreneurs, `olderpreneurs’ could contribute an increased 17% of the potential uplift to the UK economy by 2012 and will be key to capitalising on this innovation opportunity as the size of this group expands over the next four years.
With a wealth of experience and insight built up over their careers, this group has the highest rate of business success and longevity, with over 70% of start ups lasting more than three years, compared with 28% for younger entrepreneurs. Moreover, with those over 55 set to account for a third of the UK population by 2025, older entrepreneurs are well placed to tap into the fast-growing potential marketplace through their shared experiences and understanding, the report reveals.
Julie Logan, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Cass Business School’s Centre for New Technologies, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CENTIVE) and one of the report authors, said: “This report shows that in the UK we have a tremendous opportunity to capitalise on the rich pool of entrepreneurial and innovative talent that is held by groups in society that has previously been underutilised. Trevor Baylis, inventor of the ClockWork Radio, said: “We need to create a culture in the UK which encourages and nurtures innovation across all groups in society.
This is especially true for the older generation who have built up experience during their careers which enables them to identify and act on business ideas quickly and effectively. It seems to me that chance favours the prepared mind and I see some of the best innovations coming from this group. But we can help our olderpreneurs further by making sure that appropriate support and advice networks are in place so that great ideas become a reality.”
UK Trails in Speed figures
The UK continues to lag behind the rest of the world when it comes to broadband connection speeds, according to Ofcom’s latest report.
In 2008 the telecoms regulator pledged to publish annual reports on how the UK’s communications sector compares with other countries.
The second Internatic__ Communications Market Report, published in December, looked at the UK, France, Italy, Germany, USA, Canada, Japan, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Brazil, Russia, India and China. It showed only 10 per cent of broadband connections in the UK get speeds of over 8Mbits/sec. This compares to 26 per cent in France, 33 per cent in Sweden and 37 per cent in the Netherlands.
The report will put more pressure on the Government to fulfil its pledge to provide everyone with a minimum speed of 2Mbits/sec by 2012. Despite this, Ofcom said the UK is an advanced digital nation as people continue to embracedigital communications services. Over the five years to 2008 the UK had the second highest growth in broadband lines among 12 countries surveyed, with 23 connections per 100 people.
The report also noted the UK had some of the lowest costs for broadband services. Prices have fallen by 10.1 per cent since 2003 to an average of around £16 per month, compared with £20 in the US, £23 in Italy and £25 in Spain.
However, Richard Thurston, analyst with Analysys Mason, warned that while UK prices are some of the lowest ever recorded they may rise in future. Source: computeractive.
Top tips for great keywords
As an Internet Marketing company we are often asked to offer advice on selecting the most appropriate keywords for a clients Google adwords campaign. We recently came across the following advice supplied direct from Google itself, so thought we’d include it in our blog. Hope this helps…
Keywords are the search terms (words or phrases) which trigger your ad, and they are critical to the success of your AdWords advertising. This email explains how you can choose the most effective keywords, assess your keyword performance and how this affects the amount you pay.
A great keyword is:
• Ideally, 2-3 words long
• Specific (keywords that are too broad or general will not reach users as effectively as keywords that are highly targeted)
• Directly related to the text in your ad
• Directly related to the page your ad links to (specified by the destination URL)
What keywords should I choose?
First, look at your website content and write down every word, word combination or phrase that describes each category of your business. This is the starting point for creating your keyword lists.
Include all brand and product names as well as plurals, synonyms and alternate spellings for each word or phrase. Capitalisation does not matter. Take out keywords that are very generic, irrelevant, or obscure.
Then, group your keywords into close-knit themes and create a new ad group for each theme. Put your keywords into these new ad groups. For example, if your campaign is for digital cameras, you can group together mini digital cameras in one ad group and SLR digital cameras in another.
Try using negative keywords. Negative keywords prevent your ad from showing when a word or phrase you specify is part of a search term. If you specify the negative keyword -repair, for instance, your ad won’t show for search terms such as digital camera repair.
Google may end operations in China.
Google may end operations in China after hackers targeted Chinese human rights activists’ e-mail accounts. The company did not accuse the Chinese government directly but said it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine google.cn. This could result in closing the site, and its Chinese offices, Google said.
Google said the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists were the primary target of the attack, which occurred in December. The search engine has now said it will hold talks with the government in the coming weeks to look at operating an unfiltered search engine within the law in the country, though no changes to filtering had yet been made.
Google launched google.cn in 2006, agreeing to some censorship of the search results, as required by the Chinese government. It currently holds around a third of the Chinese search market, far behind Baidu with more than 60%.
Nearly 340 million Chinese people now online, compared with 10 million only a decade ago. Last year, the search engine market in China was worth an estimated $1bn and analysts previously expected Google to make about $600m from China in 2010. But unlike most markets, Google comes second in search in China. It has 31% of the market compared with about 60% controlled by market leader Baidu, which has a close relationship with the Chinese government. Yahoo has less than 10%. Microsoft has a tiny share of the Chinese market with its new Bing search engine, but in December the technology giant said it was committed to China, calling it “the most important strategic market”.