Over the years we’ve covered the art of search engine optimisation (SEO)  here in some detail. From understanding what search engine optimisation is to creating content which attracts lots of links, we have advice that can help.

The thing is, we have so many blog posts now that it’s not that easy to find the key bits of SEO advice you need. That’s why we’ve decided to bring together six of the best SEO articles we’ve written – so you can find out everything you need to know about getting your website to rank highly on search engines like Google.

• Why you should bookmark Google’s keyword tool
  Google’s keyword tool has been around for years now, and it’s one of the most valuable tools you can use when you’re trying to improve your site’s rankings. Why? Because it can tell you what people actually search for online, helping to make sure you optimise your website for the right phrases.
  Learn about Google’s keyword tool >
• Top six examples of link bait
  Link bait is anything on your website that attracts lots of visitors and encourages other people to link back to your website. Because the number of links that point at your site have a huge influence on its rankings, link bait is a great way to climb the rankings.
  See how to write your own link bait >
  
• Big mistakes in SEO writing
  Writing optimised content isn’t rocket science, but there are some basic rules you should stick to – and some key mistakes to avoid. For a start, content is king, not your keywords – so always keep the people who’ll be reading what you write in mind.
  What not to do when you write for your website >
• Six questions to ask an SEO consultant
  It can be a good idea to bring in an expert to help improve your website’s search rankings. But there are lots of people out there who call themselves SEO experts – the trick is spotting the good ones. It’s vital to ask the right questions.
  What to ask an SEO consultant >
• What on earth is Google PageRank?
  There’s a lot of confusion about what Google’s PageRank actually is. Some people reckon it shows you how your site ranks in Google. Others reckon it’s meaningless. But actually, the truth lies somewhere in between.
  Find out what PageRange means >
  
• How to label your images
  Every element on your website matters, and images are no exception. Labelling them accurately makes your images more likely to show up in image search tools like Google Images – and that means you’ll get more visitors to your website.
  Read about labelling images for SEO >

What are the key tips you’ve learnt about SEO? Share them with us in the comments.

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With the summer all but over, so is the festival season that has kept social networks busy in recent months with photo postings, check-ins or simple profile updates. Those active in social media like to show off where they are and what they are doing and those not so lucky to be there like to make comments back, while others in the vicinity often pipe up to say hi, come and meet me. Big ticketing events like these are immensely social but so far it has been more an informal use of social tools and not one businesses have been that great at capitalising upon. Until now.

Ticketmaster last week launched a new feature in it’s Facebook strategy. Seat tagging means now when you book your tickets for your event, your friends can immediately see when and where they will be attending. Either that will make them extremely jealous, or as Ticketmaster hope, it will inspire them to book with you. An article on the changes at FastCompany quotes Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard “Each time a ticket buyer shared with Facebook friends that he was attending an event, that alert generated $5.30 in additional ticket revenue.” So already, the customers were using Facebook to inspire each other to make similar purchases, but now Ticketmaster have made that easier.

It really is an example of social commerce. Via the new application, just as you might visit a site and see the faces of your friends pop up, as other people who have liked the site via Facebook, so now when you go to book your tickets on the venue seat map, you will see what friends have already booked and where they are sitting. It is enhanced Facebook connectivity that could change the way people spend their leisure time.

Unfortunately, for those in the UK, it is a US-based application for the ticketmaster.com website powering it, but don’t expect it to be too long before the UK follows suit. As a nation entertainment ticket buying is a business sector not apparently affected by the current economic slowdown, we like to have treats like this to look forward too.

The Facebook integration feature Work on the interactive seat map that launched in the US last year and is now used in more than 300 venues  allowing fans to choose their exact seats instead of relying on Ticketmaster’s “best available” option, another feature us in the UK will have to wait a little while for yet.

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For some of us they probably already do rule our worlds, but if you needed some statistics to back up the importance of smartphones in the years to come, a new study from research firm IHS iSuppli forecasts the global shipment of smartphones will pass 1 billion by 2015 – that’s more than double the amount shipped this year.

The prediction is 1.03 billion units in 2015,compared to 478 million in 2011. The study suggests that by 2015, 54.5 per cent of the mobile phone market will be held by smartphones, compared to the 32.5 per cent currently reported. The future dominance of Android is further propelled by the findings that suggest the majority of the growth will come at the low-end of the market where the open-source Android is likely to have considerable success against its rivals.

On the back of the same, it will be interesting to see whether Apple will look to break away from brand in order to compete and offer a budget version of the iPhone to reach out to the growth area of the market.

Certainly, if you are not yet designing for mobile phones you certainly need to be soon.

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Back at the end of July, Google announced  via the Official Google Blog, that they were winding down Google Labs, the place where embryonic ideas of the past have been allowed space and exposure to breathe and develop.

Since then projects such as App Inventor for Google, Talk Guru and more recently Google News Timeline have fallen away into history. Next up is Google Squared which Google says will be shut down on September 5th.

If you’ve not seen Google Squared  before make sure you do before it goes. In the modern era it is probably seen as too fiddly and in many ways it reminds me of how a real-life Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy would work.

It takes your search term and assembles related search results in tables, with data presented across rows and down columns. While the format may not have been successful, Google’s move towards related search, has probably been heavily informed by the technology behind Google Squared.

If you have used Google Squared before (it’s been around since June 2009) and have any saved squares make sure you save them down before 5th September (you can export as CSV files or Google spreadsheets).

Don’t be surprised if the concept behind Google Squared pops-up elsewhere in a future Google project. The ability to manually customise the square created and modify the ‘relationships’, is something many see as the missing piece from Google’s current suggestion approach. Google has also said that whilst Google Labs will not exist as a separate entity the work of the labs will be continued within existing product lines.

What do you think of Google Squared?

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The internet and especially the social media world is full of infographics, some of varying quality and most covering the same old topics.

Every now and then however, we come across one a little bit different and this is one of those. The Social Media High School Yearbook from FlowTown.com is a pretty good attempt at identifying the USPs and individual characteristics of the many social networks out there. Obviously it has a US-bias in the way it is written – it is supposed to be a High School Yearbook after all, but if  you are new to social media or simply not confident of stuff beyond Twitter and Facebook, then this is a great way to try and understand how the social media sphere works and interacts.

Flowtown – Social Media Marketing Application

Have you seen any other infographics you think break the mould and deserve to be be shared with all?

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The latest Top 50 e-Retailers report from IMRG and Experian Hitwise sees no change in the top 2 (Amazon and Argos leading the way) but there are a few changes in rank and one new entry into the top 10.

With the summer upon us it was travel sites who improved most over the last quarter with each of the major travel brands (including Thomson in 10th position) making a rise compared to May 2011 rankings and the sector making up 1 in 5 of the top 50.

Yet, while getting away was popular so was just getting out. Both Odeon (37th) and Vue (44th) returned to the top 50 after a short stint outside. Interestingly, home entertainment-type retailers (other than Amazon) were amongst the hardest hit by the season, with sites like Play.com, HMV and Game all dropping in the rankings.

So the figures perhaps reflect more seasonal changes than specific trends in online buying but of note are some new names making big impressions on the e-commerce sector. The online offering from fashion-retailer Next overtook Tesco in this last quarter and in July alone accounted for 1 in ever 11 visits for online fashion. In the same sector Matalan is making massive inroads too, having quadrupled traffic to its site over the past three years to record levels last month that lifted it to 40th spot. Year on year the biggest risers have been House of Fraser (up 20 places), Sainsbury’s and Ikea (both up 12 spots).

Interestingly,in the multi-channel era, online only offerings such as Amazon UK (1st), Play.com (6th), Expedia (14th) and ASOS (19th) continue to compete strongly alongside big high-street brands who have moved online.

Thinking of starting your own online offering? Our eshop range come with options for every size of venture and with a drag and drop interface are easy to get to grips with and get online with. Compare the range here.

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We’ve reported on here many times the importance of online business and the importance of fast internet access across the country to ensure businesses can be successful.

The government has announced that £530m is to be invested across the UK, with Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt indicating that £294.8m would go to English counties, £68.8m and to Scotland. Announcements of £56.9m for Wales and £4.4m for Northern Ireland had already been made, but while the funds are there they are not automatically being paid out.

Local authorities and the Scottish Government are being told they will now “need to play their parts”. In England county councils and local enterprise partnerships are tasked with leading widespread broadband roll-out. The Government funding will be available to those showing realistic delivery plans and the ability to match government investment by way of European grants or other source funds.

In Scotland, the Scottish Government will make its own decisions on how to manage its broadband funding, with Hunt urging members of the public to lobby their respective local politicians to do all they can to obtain a share of the investment to combat the frustrations of poor broadband coverage. The aim is for the Uk to have the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015, with the government seeing it vital to help economic growth.

So, if your internet service is lagging behind get lobbying your local politicians.

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The events of unrest, rioting and looting across major cities in the UK have had plenty of media coverage both home and abroad. In an interesting role-swap, some of the most insightful commentary has come not from the UK online community but those in the Arab world, who just a few months themselves were leading and propounding the uprising in their own nations.

Yet, while revolutionary in their own homes, the majority of bloggers, tweeters and social commentators online in the Arab world appear to condemn the tactics and motives of those involved in the disturbances in the UK this week.

One of those Cairo-based blogger, Mosa’ab Elshamy whose Flickr images informed the world of uprising in Egypt less than six months ago. He tweeted this week:”Egyptians and Tunisians took revenge for Khaled Said and Bouazizi by peacefully toppling their murdering regimes, not stealing DVD players.”

Most of those who choose to blog, do so because they want their opinions to be heard. Via a blog you can suddenly have your own media empire at your fingertips. None are more vocal than the cyber-mummy community, the mummy bloggers, who make up once of the fastest-rising sectors of the blogging world. The Uk is no exception and the UK, blogging parents have also been quick to get their opinions out.

Me, The Man & The Baby was bunged up and bothered  by what she saw even from the comfort of her own home far from the troubles. “I knew my son was safe and the only noises we heard were owls. Elsewhere mothers close to the events caused by yobs and rebels were holding their children in fear, trying to explain to them why they could smell smoke or hear sirens.”

So while, many are blaming technology for escalating the troubles, many more are using technology and social media in particular to offer their opnions on it. Not everybody will always agree with what is written but as these bloggers are showing it is just as easy to be productive and add to the debate via a blog as it is to be destructive and join in the troubles.

What’s more. You are likely to get more attention, and publicity of the right sort via your own blog.

If you’ve not thought about a blog before, now may be the perfect time to get your thoughts in the global domain. Our Linux starter package comes with a free installation of WordPress, the leading blogging program and all for less than £1 per week.

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More and more of consumer time is spent online. And more and more of that is spent watching online video.

But there’s been a lag in the amount of TV ad money that has made the shift to online.

Google recently debuted findings at the IAB Digital Video Conference of some research which looked into what the barriers were slowing that shift, and how they were finally giving way.

The research used focused groups of individuals in both agency and client teams, and asked them questions about what they’d been up to in the last 12 months. The full findings are here, but here’s a brief overview.

Which types of Digital Video Advertising are being used?

Pre-roll: 57%
In-banner 46%
Expandable banner with video:34%
Rich media overlay: 34%

Which Types of Digital Video Advertising Will be Used in Next 12 Months?

These numbers all stick pretty much to the pattern above, with the exception of mobile video which 35% plan to use – huge growth.

What will happen to Digital ad spend?

It will Increase, and by a whopping 22%, due to the simple fact that online video offers increased reach, measurable ROI, and higher levels of engagement.

Where will the budget come from?

In short, it will come from the TV ad budget, as advertisers seek the benefits of online including tracking, targeting, efficiency, reduced production costs.

Favourite DVA format?

Undoubtedly it is a 15 second pre-roll on a CPM basis.

That’s (most of) it

Digital Video Advertising is experiencing fast growth as advertisers seek the increased ROI, reach, targeting, efficiency and engagement of the medium.

Nick Leech runs Digital Marketing Agency Euston Digital

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Addicted to using your smartphone?

I have to admit I have had the odd complaint at the family dinner table after finding myself checking for that all important email as my phone buzzed (at least it was on silent), and the latest survey from Ofcom suggests I am not alone.

I even fit into the seventy per cent of smartphone users who admit to taking work calls while on holiday or annual leave. In fact I’m probably in the 24 per cent who admit to doing so regularly – compared with just 16 per cent of ordinary mobile phone users. Yet, I don’t think I am addicted – despite what other members of my family and friendship group think, I just think technology has changed the way the world works. I admit the dining table is probably moving into the realm of bad manners, but emails don’t always arrive at convenient times and sometimes their timing and dealing with them can be very time-specific in a business sense. Particularly in the media world that I earn my corn from.

I am an information junkie, always have been. In years gone by, I would be the one getting ribbed for reading a literary classic or non-fiction book on holiday – even an encyclopedia once. I like to be in the know, and if I am not, I like to know that information is never too far away. That’s probably why I also like gadgets, things that make some of life’s adventures just that little bit easier. So, I carry two smartphones. Two different operating systems, two different numbers. It used to be one for work, one for personal calls, but over time people learn both numbers and it has all sort of merged into one. It does mean I can choose the pick of the apps though for each phone.

On that last point, I did hold off playing games on my phone for a long while. Trying to keep it purely functional, I remembered the wasted days (and nights) from my time as a student when I fell victim to absorption into games like SimCity and Age of Empires. Yet, I did give in. I wanted to find out what this Angry Birds thing was (very addictive, I can now confirm). At first it was a few games to keep the kids quiet, now I have a whole screen (and some) of word games, platform games and just downright silliness. Not that I have much time to play them – I am usually too busy dealing with my emails!

So, I don’t think I am addicted, but then what addicts do? What I do know is that I have yet to find a waterproof smartphone, and am not convinced about putting my normal smartphone in a rubberised bag imported from the far east for under five pounds. That means that on the odd occasion that I am without my smartphone in my hand I am probably swimming or in the bath – although I did recently see a smart-panel that could be installed in bathrooms that ran Android apps….

Coming back to the report from Ofcom, the headlines elsewhere have all been about the break-up of traditional social activity, infringed by smartphones. Yet, the most interesting findings were actually the ones that truly declare us as a digital nation. 76 per cent of households are now connected to the internet compared to just 25 per cent back in 2000. 91 per cent of people now own a mobile phone, compared to just 36 per cent back in 2000.  Plus sixty per cent of households now own an HD-Ready TVand 46 per cent have a digital video recorder (DVR).

A decade ago the mobile phone  was seen as the addiction set to wreck the way we lived our lives. Now we see it as an essential that helps us live our lives more conveniently as ever before. Just as the smartphone is coming under attack by some of the media, so the traditional mobile phone faced the same and overcame it.

Are you addicted to your smartphone?

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