We are constantly asked why we use one platform over another when creating new websites. A big part of our rationale is that blog sites seem to be indexed faster and crawled more frequently by Google. We have had some ridiculously fast results over the years, but only on certain platforms.

So we thought you’d be interested in what the gurus at Google have to say on the subject. This video is from their Official Blog. Please note the last comment: make great content, get well known and Google will probably crawl you more frequently.

Watch the video = 2 mins

Read the rest of this entry »

Most organisations approach web marketing the wrong way. For years the conventional wisdom was to get a cool URL and build a hot site in the hope that potential customers will flock to them online. Unfortunately we still see this thinking every time we sit down to design a website for a client. Too much time is spent on the colour, the font, the logo or some very random but apparently “cool” idea.

As inbound marketers we believe that websites should be treated very differently. Yes, its important to get the layout, look and feel right…but its more important to get the content and conversion right. And above all, its important to get the INBOUND part of your web presence right. This is what will bring visitors to your site, not the hot graphics and Flash animations.

Start thinking about your total web presence and think of your website as the landing pages. If you want to attract qualified traffic to your site you need to start spending time where your prospects are: social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, industry blogs and networks like LinkedIn and Foursquare. Crucially, you need to be found on the first page of Google, Bing and Yahoo for relevant searches.

Finally, you need to start producing compelling content for your organisation. It could be distributed via YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr or numerous other outlets, even your website or blog. Great content has a multiplier effect because it attracts people and will be shared with others. A simple re-tweet by someone with a decent number of Twitter followers could generate a lot more traffic for your website than that hot graphic you’re trying to agree on.

Spend less time on the web design process and more time generating content, joining conversations and participating where your customers are.

If you’d like to find out how Inbound Marketing capable your website is, submit it for a free report at NLYZR

Forrester Research put out a great report on US Interactive Marketing Spend recently showing where marketers believe effectiveness will increase and decrease in the next three years.

The three biggest expected INCREASES were in Created social media, Online video and Search engine optimisation (SEO).

The areas predicted to have the biggest DECREASE in marketing effectiveness were Newspapers, Yellow Pages, Telemarketing and Radio.

(information sourced from SEOMOZ)

Marketers see greater potential in interactive channels