Companies could see significant results from their marketing campaigns by combining search, email and social media, it has been suggested.
One way of doing this is by using search engine optimisation (SEO) to increase traffic to website pages for signing up to a mailing list or newsletter, according to Jordan Ayan of Email Insider.
Marketers could also publish their email newsletters on the web and optimise these pages to be visible to search engines, as well as use social media to promote website content - such as through social bookmarking and blogging, for example.
"If you blog, it should interact with your email marketing. For example, it should contain a subscription link to your newsletter," Mr Ayan said.
He added: "If people like what you blog about, they are likely to enjoy your newsletter."
A frequently updated blog can also do much to boost an SEO campaign, according to E-consultancy's Graham Charlton.... read full details »
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) should think about marketing their websites more aggressively as the downturn continues to bite.
This is according to Microsoft adCenter's Cedric Chambaz, who told Marketing magazine that most SMEs with an online site do not market them adequately on the web.
He emphasised the fact that online search is the second most undertaken internet activity after email and that businesses should be where their customers are.
Some tips offered by Marketing magazine for carrying out search engine optimisation (SEO) on a tight budget included implementing a basic linking strategy and using long-tail rather than generic keywords to stand a better chance of improving rankings.
"[SMEs'] size, flexibility, responsiveness and adaptability makes them eminently suited to online marketing - indeed, much more so than bigger, more established businesses," Mr Chambaz explained.
Meanwhile, SMEs in the US are deploying online marketing campaigns more in the run-up to Christmas to avoid being overly affected by the predicted drop in retail sales this year, according to Constant Contact.... read full details »
Marketers should focus more on quality website content and less on dubious practices such as link exchanges when formulating their search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies.
This is according to Mark Jackson of Search Engine Watch, who said that a number of websites still engage in link exchanges despite the fact that they could result in damage to their rankings if they are found out by search engines.
Such practices mean that websites could be linking to and getting links from sites with questionable content, meaning that webmasters should instead focus on creating their own engaging online pages to draw natural inbound links, he stated.
This can be done by using link bait such as tips and advice pages, humorous content, useful applications and news updates, Mr Jackson said.
"Once you have content your visitors will want to see, consider using social media promotion, press releases and other forms of online advertising to help get that content noticed," he added.
According to Julie Kent of Search Engine Journal, other SEO tactics that should be avoided include using hidden keyword text, buying links, duplicating content and cloaking, which is when websites show different content to search engine crawlers than they do to normal users.... read full details »
Businesses are expected to spend more on mobile marketing in the next few years by the majority of agencies and advertisers, a new poll has revealed.
About 115 executives were surveyed by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Mobile Council, 62 per cent of whom said they believed mobile marketing expenditure will rise over the next two years.
Respondents said that this can be primarily attributed to the mobile medium's highly measurable nature. Despite this, three-quarters of those polled said they needed more education about the channel.
"Expectations for mobile advertising are high but actual understanding is low. The industry needs to address measurement, effectiveness and benchmarks if mobile advertising is going to reach a tipping point by 2010," commented editor of MobiAdNews and chair of the IAB Mobile Council Jim Cook.
Spending on mobile marketing by some of the biggest UK brands is expected to increase threefold in the next five years, according to a recent study conducted by Vanson Bourne for mobile operator O2.... read full details »
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