Blog
15 Years of Change – Weeks 7 to 9
Admin Processes
Administrative processes were all carried out on paper – from tracking spending in a physical chequebook (and the dates on the cheques started with 19 _ _!) to recording hours on timesheets. Today, admin processes have been streamlined thanks to specialised software, which saves times and improves accuracy. At Win Marketing, we use programs like Toggl and Trello to stay on track.
Television Advertising
In the early 1990s, there were far fewer television stations, which meant that there was less opportunity for TV advertising. Brands looked to print and radio advertising to capture consumers’ attention. Today, there are hundreds of television channels – but TV advertising is on the decline as many brands are focusing on social media and viral marketing to communicate their message.
Search Engines
There was a time when Google did not reign over the internet. When Win Marketing first launched, internet users searched with a wider range of search engines. AskJeeves, Yahoo and AltaVista are just a few of the search engines that were widely used. Now, Google and Bing are basically the only two choices – and, Google maintains a huge lead.
Top 5 WIN blog posts
During a brief moment of rest bite during a very busy period of time for the Win Marketing team, I decided to have a look at which of our previous blogs have been the most successful during the past twelve months. Here is the top five all collected in one handy post, Enjoy!
1. Top 5 tips to creating your strapline
https://www.winmarketing.co.uk/5-top-tips-to-creating-your-strapline.html
A short yet very informative post, detailing some of Win’s tips for developing and creating a suitable strapline for a company. Contact Win Marketing on 01509 265890 if you’d like help or advice in creating a strapline for your business.
2. Social media as a cost-effective marketing tool
https://www.winmarketing.co.uk/social-media-as-a-cost-effective-marketing-tool.html
A blog and presentation highlighting some of the many benefits of implementing a social media plan within businesses. Contact Win for all of your social media needs, from training to account management.
3. Marketing opportunities for the Oculus Rift
https://www.winmarketing.co.uk/marketing-opportunities-for-the-oculus-rift.html
A very interesting post looking at the opportunities for marketers within the wearable technology sector. This blog focuses on Oculus Rift, a virtual reality gaming system that is currently under development, and how o2 are planning to use it in a future customer competition.
4. Best Easter marketing campaigns for 2014
https://www.winmarketing.co.uk/best-easter-marketing-campaigns-for-2014.html
A look at some of our favourite Easter campaigns during 2014. Retail spending during the 2014 Easter period was expected to top £2.1 Billion, therefore it’s a very important time for brands and one that marketers need to take advantage of.
5. Our thoughts on the BBC doctor who series 8 launch campaign
https://www.winmarketing.co.uk/our-thoughts-on-bbc-doctor-whos-series-8-launch-campaign.html
Analyses of the Doctor Who series 8 launch campaign and some of the devices and tactics that the BBC marketing team used. Several interesting viral marketing techniques were employed in order to create hype around the latest season and Peter Capaldi’s appointment as the newest Doctor.
So there you go, Win’s top five blogs from this past year. Was there a favourite of yours that didn’t make the cut? Were there any other Easter adverts that you liked but we didn’t mention? What do you think of Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor? As ever, feel free to message us on our Facebook or Twitter profiles if you have any thoughts. Or give us a ring at the office on 01509 265890, we’re always up for a chat!
Ten things to consider for improved website SEO
‘Google Rankings’, ‘SEO’, ‘Meta Descriptions’.
Fifteen years ago your average human would’ve though you were talking gibberish. Now in the present digital age, the effective SEO of a website can sometimes be the difference between the success and failure of a business.
The Win web development team decided to pull together a post compiling of a few useful SEO tips in order for you to maximise your website or blogs potential.
Title tag
- The max length of a title tag should be no more than 50-60 characters if you don’t want any of your title to be cut of by search engines.
- Each page title tag should be unique for best SEO optimisation.
- Make sure to include any keywords as close to the start of the title as possible.
- The title tag should match the first header title within the page. E.g. if you’re writing a blog post such as this one with the title “Ten areas to consider…” make sure that your title tag matches like so “winmarketing.co.uk/ten-areas-to-consider…”
Page URL
- Make sure that your URL includes relevant keywords, using hyphens to separate words.
- Make sure that the URL also matches the title of the page, as long as it’s not too long.
Image ALT tag
- Use keywords when describing your image, giving all images appropriate ALT tags. This is so that search engines such as Google understands what the image is displaying, therefore making sure that the search results are more relevant.
Image file name
- Similar to ALT tags, make sure images are saved under a relevant file name, which mentions relatable keywords.
- The file size of your image is also important as search engines now consider site-loading speed when ranking websites. Therefore make your images as small a size as possible, without sacrificing quality too much.
Front-page keyword density
- Make sure that the content within your page is keyword dense! Google ‘spiders’ crawl through pages, returning those with relevant content within their text.
- However don’t over saturate your page with the same keywords or with too many keywords, as this is seen as bad practise from Google’s perspective and could affect your rankings.
- Moreover, make sure that your page still flows whilst reading it, as too many keywords in unnatural places makes for hard viewing.
Meta description
- Meta descriptions don’t massively affect SE rankings however they do affect click through rates from search engine results.
- A Meta description needs to be short and concise but also descriptive, engaging the viewer enough for them to click through to your page. It should include keywords, as these will be highlighted in bold within the description.
- Think of it as a tweet describing your page!
Make sure content is good enough to drive social shares + plus repeat visits!
- You could have the best SEO in the world however if your content is sub standard, people will always bounce straight off your page once they’ve landed there.
Make content easy to share – Visible share buttons E.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc
- You have to make the sharing process as easy as possible for your audience. They may like your site/page/blog etc. however if they can’t easily and instantly share, then they will quickly become de-motivated. You have to do 99% of the work on behalf of the sharer.
- Social links also help your Google rankings
Include synonyms for keywords?
- Google has a ‘synonyms team’ that are responsible for ensuring that the search engine understands that terms such as ‘cob’, ‘sandwich’, ‘bap’ and ‘roll’ are all interchangeable.
- Therefore it is important that you naturally include both keywords and their synonyms within your website if you wish to enhance your SEO
- It must be stressed that this keyword and synonym population of your website must come across as natural and not artificial or stilted. If it does, Google could identify it as spam, thus harming your search rankings.
Make sure pages are mobile compatible
- Google rankings are affected by your sites mobile compatibility.
- In July, Google announced that they will start showing warnings on their search results if you will struggle to view a website on a mobile device. Therefore the increasing need for mobile compatibility is paramount.
- Before you invest in improving your sites compatibility, you should test your site on as many different mobile devices as possible! Visit your site/page/blog and interact as naturally as possible with it, therefore mimicking a potential user’s experience. Get your friends and colleagues to also navigate your site via mobile so you can gain different user experiences, thus seeing where your mobile strengths and weaknesses are. It would also be advisable to test out competitor websites to evaluate them on their mobile compatibility.
As with anything new, it takes time to see results. Just because you went to the gym once does not mean that you’ll wake up looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Similarly, because you took steps to improve your sites SEO, doesn’t mean that you’ll suddenly be top of Google’s rankings. It is said that it takes around three months to see the results of a new SEO strategy. Therefore, keep consistent with your efforts and you’ll soon be climbing up the rankings quicker than the Beatles climbed the charts back in the early sixties!
I hope you learned something new from this blog post! If you or your company needs help in regards to improving your websites SEO, don’t hesitate in contacting the Win Marketing team on 01509 265890.
15 Years of Change – Weeks 4 to 6
Customer Database
Today, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) databases are complex software systems that keep track of a wide range of consumer information. When Win Marketing first got started, our clients’ customer databases consisted of rolodexes, file folders and spreadsheets.
Graphic Design
In 1999, ‘graphic design’ meant a physical drawing on paper. The graphic designer would create a hand-drawn mock up for the client to approve. Today, only very rough drafts are done by hand. Programs like Photoshop and InDesign are used to mock up designs for logos, leaflets and other marketing materials.
Hospitality
In the 1990s, it was not uncommon to have client meetings over lunch with a glass of wine or a pint of beer. While lunch meetings are still common in the marketing industry, we tend not to see marketing professionals imbibing while talking shop with clients anymore.
Apple or Android? The Win team have their say
The announcement of the iWatch and the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus last month got the Win Marketing team talking about the iPhone and its capabilities. This naturally led to some of the team comparing their Android devices to Apple’s new offerings. The debate began to get really heated after our Managing Director Ann, being the early adopter that she is, began showing off her iPhone 6 in the office this past week. I decided to once and for all settle this argument that seems to know no bounds.
Ole, why do you have an iPhone?
“I just like them. The look, the feel, how they work and their features all appeal to me. Some of my friends and colleagues with extensive knowledge on the technical aspects of an iPhone insist that Android devices are better however I can’t ever see myself changing. I’m an Apple man through and through and I can’t help it!”
Nad, why did you choose an Android device?
“I had an iPod Touch originally as a music device, which I loved. I was going to go down the iPhone route and I even went into a shop with the view to buy one. However after experimenting with the iPhone and the latest Android device that had just been released, I realised I preferred the latter. At the time the Android operating system had more flexibility and customisation than the iOS device, so I bought it there and then.
Since then I’ve kept track of new Apple and Android releases however in my opinion, there hasn’t been a significant iOS release that Android devices haven’t matched or bettered. Now I’m tied into the Android eco system. I use a Google Chrome cast (Google’s version of Apple TV) and I use the Google Music service. Furthermore, for me, Android devices equal more bang for your buck. They have the option of expandable storage through SD cards, upgraded batteries and more cloud storage than Apple products. Finally the choice of Android devices is better too. When it’s time to upgrade my current HTC I’m not limited to one manufacturer. I can switch to a Samsung, Sony, Motorola or LG Android phone that each have their own benefits and features.”
Chris, Apple or Android?
“Android. I don’t like how Apple devices don’t work with non-Apple devices. A good example being the Apple watch, you need an iPhone for it to work. I like how Android can connect with other devices regardless of their manufacturer. I also like how you can drag and drop files such as music onto your devices without having to download a middleman software such as iTunes. Another plus is how all Google Music files are stored in the cloud so I can access them from any device.”
Ann, will it always be an iPhone for you?
“I got fed up with my Windows device in around 2004 and then I went to Blackberry, because of their focus on email. However Blackberry was poor with email attachments such as PDFs. I then moved to an iPhone in 2007 because I wanted a single device for my music, work and social needs. Now I’ve bought into the Apple community. I have Apple TV, Apple servers, Apple macs, iPhones, iPads and iPods all synced up and connected. Would I change from Apple products? I’d never say never however I’m more committed to Apple than any other brand. We never know what will be around in 5 or 10 years time.”
Jo, would you ever change to an Android device?
Yes. I like to customise and personalise my items to me and unfortunately Apple products lack any real scope for extensive customisation. I’ve had an iPhone now for four years and as much as I love it, after experimenting on friend’s Android devices, I’m now tempted to switch after seeing their customisation potential.”
Beth, would you ever buy an iPhone?
“No. I’ve never had any apple devices before and I wouldn’t want to change from Android. I am 100% #TeamAndroid!”
Well there it is. Win have had the definitive say on the seemingly ever lasting battle between Apple’s iPhone and Android devices and it seems that Android have come out on top. Let us know on our Twitter and Facebook whether you’re #TeamApple or #TeamAndroid. I wonder what Tim Cook will have to say about this…
