The loyalty program is software that has been designed and developed by Sweet Tooth Rewards, it is a clear and simple rewards program that can configured in order to meet your individual business requirements.

Rewards programs have been proven to increase customer retention allowing you to fully maximise your marketing budget to win new customers.

We have just become partners with Sweet Tooth Rewards which is recognised as one of the industry loyalty scheme leaders and is available on a wide range of ecommerce platforms.  This is a cost effective module that integrates itself within your existing website and you can reward people not only for purchases but for actions that they take on your website i.e. write a review, like a product etc..

For more information on setting up a loyalty program on your website please contact us and we can discuss your requirements.

Sweet Tooth

So the first step is to carry out an audit on your website to determine what cookies you actually use (it may be possible that you have cookies that no longer serve any purpose and can be removed immediately)

Ensure your privacy policy is comprehensively updated and consider highlighting the link with cookies in the anchor text rather than hiding the information away in your T & C’s or Privacy Policy.

These are the first steps to take and should demonstrate that you are working towards full compliance to the EU directive.

It is important to remember that the law is already in place and has been for the last 12 months, we are as mentioned in a grace period so it is incredibly important that you clearly demonstrate the steps you are taking to comply with the law by May 26th 2012.

There is a whisper on the world wide web that websites may have slightly longer to setup cookie opt in systems as long as they show they are moving in the right direction, I must stress this should not be relied on in anyway although it does stand to reason that the ICO will be targeting websites that are using cookies that act in suspicious or underhand manners rather than those who use cookies simply for analytical purposes.

Unfortunately there aren’t really any examples of obtaining cookie consent in practice as all of the large retailers will no doubt update their websites on the actual day,  the best example we could find was on the BT website, although this might not be practical for many businesses due to the potential cost of implementation (and also the purpose of their website)

BT Cookie Options

So what can be done as a step in the right direction?

1.  You can place a link at the top of your homepage directing your users to your updated cookie policy that leads them to a clear and simple explanation of the cookies that you use and what purpose they serve..

2.  You can also include how to prevent browsers from storing cookies, although this cannot be relied on for the future.

3.  Upon a customer creating an account you can include a tick box that obtains consent from a user informing them of your cookie policy.

According to the ICO guidance the key differences of the new legislation are as below

Some of the possible exceptions

More to follow about this in the near future.....

Further Reading

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vickyb/5859873960/in/photostream (What happened when the ICO implemented an opt out setting on their homepage)

www.ico.gov.uk

Along with the benefit of appearing in a shopping search engine that not only shows your products for free, (Kelkoo, Shopzilla and many of the others charge on a Cost Per Click or affiliate basis) Google Shopping also seem to have increased the amount of relevant products and the associated images on the first page of the search results, so as I am sure you will agree it is well worth spending some additional time, fully optimising your shopping feed in order to get the best results.

How to optimise your Google Shopping feed

1.  Opitimise your Google Shopping Titles

You have up to 70 characters to describe your product in your Google Shopping Feed and I would recommend using them wherever possible (making sure your titles still make sense) as this will increase your traffic by optimising for potential long tail key phrases

A good structure to have might be something like this:

Manufacturer/Brand + Product Name + Item specifics i.e. size, colour, style

So using that formula we would have the following:

"Diesel Mens Loose Fit Jeans with zip fly, Dark Wash, 34W 34L"

or perhaps

"Apple iPad 2 WiFi with 32GB in white with leather case"

When creating your first feed you should ensure that it matches with Google’s taxonomy, otherwise you will find that some, if not all of your products could be rejected.

For more information on Google’s product feed requirements visit the website here.

An Example of Google Shopping Results

2.  Ensure your prices are correct

This may sound simple I know, but how many times have you licked on a shopping search result only to find the price has suddenly gone up on the merchants website.  What happens next?  Well the majority of the time we will click on the browsers back button leaving you with a high bounce rate and customer’s feeling like they were being conned, not good!

Unfortunately it is not uncommon for some merchants to deflate their prices just for the purposes of attracting visitors to their website, but it is somewhat futile, you risk getting banned from these search engines and the ever savvy customer will simply leave your website.  See my previously mentioned point.

Prices should be competitive and include postage charges if relevant, so the customer is fully informed before visiting your website, this will lead to a lower bounce rate and higher conversion rate as you are effectively attracting high quality traffic i.e. customers who actually want to purchase your product or at a minimum, find out more about the products you offer.

As well as possible delivery charges, you should also include all taxes i.e. VAT.  In summary, your prices should be clear and transparent as they would be in store to maximise the chances of turning that person into a customer.

Reviews are key!

You will see them in sponsored search results and also more frequently in Google Shopping search results, this will increase as more and more review sites are validated by Google, it also appears that merchants who have a higher review history and high ratings are being pushed to the top of the results.

These reviews also inspire trust in a similar manner to the feedback systems of Amazon and eBay, therefore the better your reviews, the higher your click through rate (CTR) should be, dependent on everything else of course i.e. price

These reviews are incredibly important and should be considered as part of your marketing arsenal, there are various methods in getting reviews; a popular technique is to email the customer perhaps 7 days after delivery and provide a link,  in order for customers to leave a review.

Incentivisation to leave a review is often a good idea; remember you will not be the only business asking that customer for their feedback, you could try a money off voucher for use the next time they purchase, which is great for customer retention or perhaps entry into a prize draw.

Moving off track for a minute, you should wherever possible reply to any negative feedback left about your website, product or service, I have found in the past with other websites that negative feedback handled and responded to correctly can sometimes have a positive effect, sound strange?  Not really!  As a customer does want to know that SHOULD something go wrong, it will be dealt with effectively and efficiently.

I am always a bit skeptic of those sellers on Amazon and eBay with 100% feedback, particularly after reading many cases of businesses bribing customers to leave positive feedback, although don’t misunderstand me, I am sure there are merchants who work incredibly hard to maintain that 100% record, but if it is too good to be true......it usually is.

Anyway, back to reviews and Google Shopping

At time of writing this, the following website seems to be taken into account by Google:

Ciao.co.uk

DooYoo.co.uk

Kelkoo.co.uk

Fefo.co.uk

Trustpiot.co.uk

Pricegrabber.co.uk

Shopzilla.co.uk

Reviewcentre.com

Some of these are shopping search engines themselves, notably Shopzilla and Kelkoo and offer additional services to obtain feedback from your customers.  The fees for using these services varies from a fixed monthly fee to a Cost per Click model similar to that of Google Adwords

Provide Unique Product Identifiers

If your product is not unique to your business, then it is incredibly important that you provide the relevant product identifiers i.e. manufacture part number or EAN number.

This is mandatory in all categories apart from clothing and custom made goods but if you are in the clothing business and you have the information it is worthwhile including it in your feed.

Summary

 1.     Optimise your product titles

2.     Ensure your feed is regularly updated and uploaded to Google

3.     Ensure your prices are accurate

4.     Look at using a review system recognized by Google to improve search position

5.     Provide as much information as possible to your feed

So let’s have a look at the major changes and how you can prepare for the switchover which is planned for the 30^th March.

What you can no longer do:

What many of you, when using Facebook will have come across, is a landing page like this:

Wiggly Wiggler Like Page

This tab is set as the default landing page, encouraging you to ‘like’ the page before accessing the other content, from the 30^th March you will no longer be able to control the default landing page, and all users will be greeted by your main page with your Timeline which will look like the one below.

New Facebook Timeline

This is the main feature that has been removed and while a few people are moaning about this change but it really only effects those that simply rely on that one key marketing feature to build up ‘likes’ and in reality the new changes provide you with a whole new range of options to entice potential customers to like your page.

The changes summarised

Facebook Business Page  - Cover Flow

At the top of your page will be what is being called a cover, this is a 851 x 315 pixel banner which is there to symbolise what your organisation is about, there are rules about what this banner can contain, these are:

• No promotions i.e. discount codes, special offers etc.
• No calls to action i.e. click here to purchase…..
• No contact info (including web address)
• No reference to ‘likes’ or ‘shares’ so gone are the arrows pointing to the like button

The banner is meant to advertise your brand rather than a particular product, and Facebook obviously don’t want lots of spammy looking pages offering discounts etc..

Facebook Business Page - Apps

Tabs are now called apps and there are four main tiles promoting these just underneath your banner, although the first one is permanently reserved for photos.  You can have as many apps as you wish, however only four will be displayed, and only 12 will be visible should a user click on the drop down feature.

Even though only 4 will be prominent on the page up to 12 will be visible to users, this doesn’t mean you are restricted to 12 but only these will be on display.  For all other apps they will still be active however only accessible via a link that you share, this provides you with a number of powerful marketing options, for example only providing access to certain apps i.e. competitions to select customers

Facebook Business Page - Pinned Posts

You can also choose to have a ‘pinned’ a post, this will appear on the left of the page, and will remain there for up to 7 days, providing you will an opportunity to promote something for an extended period of time rather than get lost in with all of the other updates you make on the page.  This can be used to promote an app, a special photo, or a particular post, this is useful to drive traffic to a particular section, and also to control what user’s see when they first land on your page.

Before switching to timeline you should go through all of your posts identifying which posts are relevant, and which ones are now out of date and either hide or delete them.

To the right hand side of the page is Friend Activity, you have little control over this and you should monitor this to avoid negative mentions, and take control of this section, by hiding or deleting these posts.

Facebook Business Page - Milestones

In addition to updates, photos and videos you can also choose to publish particular milestone stories such as when your company founded or any awards you may have been awarded.  These updates are rumoured to have more weight with the Edge rank algorithm and have more prominence in the news feed and the timeline than standard posts.

More about Facebook pages to follow in the next week or so but you can use the below checklist as a guideline and if you have any more questions either leave a comment below, on our Facebook wall or email us, we are always happy to provide assistance wherever we can.

Facebook Business Page Timeline Checklist

• Choose a beautiful cover that complies with Facebook guidelines
• Provide a descriptive tag line or description
• Feature your top 3 most important apps
• Pin the post you want to drive the most traffic to
• Highlight important posts made by either yourself or your fans
• Hide or delete the negative or out of date posts made by you, or your fans

1.  Keep your Content Fresh

Since the famous ‘Panda update’ to the Google algorithm last year, more weight and authority has been given to websites that provide high quality unique content on a regular basis.

This can help you improve your ranking for many keywords, particulary if your competition is not updating their website on a regular basis, or their content is of a poorer quality.

So how regularly should you update your website?  Good question and it really depends on the nature of your website and also your competitors.  For example, the more competitive and high volume markets (like Search Engine Optimisation for example) should be updated every day in order to become a real authority on the web, however less competitive areas will only require 1 or 2 updates per week, remember when adding content it is quality not quantity.

2.  Mix it up

Not only does Google now like high quality multimedia i.e. images, videos etc. but so does the reader, it helps break up the text and therefore easier to read.

Videos are great as they can really help you build up back links, consider setting up a YouTube channel and then display them on your website or blog.  Remember that YouTube gets more than 2 billion searches per day, so it is well worth having a having your own channel or at least a presence if possible.

Consider carrying out interviews with colleagues or other interesting people, it doesn't need to be professional quality as long as the content is good and you can hear them.  Don't worry too much that your editing skills aren’t quite up to scratch.

3.  Create high quality original content

This will greatly increase the back links to your website, particularly if the article is interesting.  Copied or regulated articles will not only be boring but Google will recognize them as poor quality articles or duplicate content and will offer your website no extra benefit.

Always add images and videos to your articles.  High quality, original content will in the long term create more backlinks of a higher quality, giving your website the link juice you are after.

4.  Quality and Relevance

Search engines are looking to provide you with most accurate search results to your query (which is why they like well-optimised websites), so with this in mind you should ensure that there is a relationship between the websites to increase the value of the link and providing more authority and 'link juice'.

Lots of links from one or two domains is nowhere near as effective as one or two links from lots of domains, this is indicating that your content is an authority and of importance and should be treated accordingly.

So the more relevant the link, the more link juice it will provide your website, so it worth spending that extra time finding higher quality websites than using link farms and poor quality directories, the results will far outweigh the effort.

5.  If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly

However you carry out your Search Engine Optimisation, do not be tempted into using Black Hat methods, while they may produce results in the short term they can have devastating effects in the long term, with the chance of search engines penalizing your website and leaving out you out there alone in search wilderness.

- So ensure that backlinks contain natural anchor text

- Create high quality, original content including images and video

- Embrace Social Media, these platforms provide an excellent platform to build high quality backlinks

So just to finish this blog post, we have a short video (see what we have done here) about Search Engine Optimisation, for those of you that are unfamiliar, the speaker is Matt Cuts, he is a software engineer and the head of Google Web spam team, for those of you serious about Search Engine Optimisation, his blog makes for interesting reading.

If you require any advice or help with your search engine optimisation please contact us for an informal chat.

Affiliate marketing can be an effective method of attracting more visitors to your website and in turn increase sales or leads for your business only paying for performance, which makes it an extremely effective method of marketing for most businesses.

When launching an affiliate campaign you should allow sufficient time to fully maximise the potential an affiliate campaign can have on your business.

Before you start to create your affiliate marketing program, take some time to find out what your competitors are offering in terms of commission rates and also what affiliates are promoting them.  This information is incredibly beneficial and will also help you promote your campaign.

To help you with this we have put some handy tips together to help you on your way.

1.  Actively promote your campaign

If affiliates are not aware of your program then they will not be able to market it, most affiliate networks will promote your campaign to a certain extent but you should not rely solely on them to do so.

A couple of hours a week actively searching for websites which you feel would complement your product or service has the potential to do wonders.  It also has the added benefit of letting you know what affiliate is out there and who is promoting your competitors.

When contacting potential affiliates remember that they probably receive a large amount of emails on a daily basis and therefore you should ensure your email stands out above the rest, offering exclusive discounts and offer codes always help along with banners that are in keeping with their website.

You may at the beginning want to offer increased commissions, particularly to aid affiliate recruitment; this can also lead to affiliates placing more prominence on your product or service.

2.  Provide the right tools for the job

Different affiliate marketing programs will require different resources for the job and you should ensure that you have these areas covered or a system in place to provide these resources upon request.

Resources that you will be required to provide include:

Creative Banners - these should clearly advertise your business however they should be free from any possible leakage i.e. telephone number where a sale might occur with the affiliate not being awarded the commission they have earned.  You should take some time creating these banners to ensure that they are clear and look professional.  You should provide these in a variety of sizes so that the affiliate can choose depending on the requirements of the website.

Voucher Codes - These can be particularly useful as they can increase your conversion rate, which is great for your affiliate and also for you, it is wise to set time frames where someone can redeem a voucher code so that you can closely monitor the effect of this style of promotion.

Product/Data Feed - If you are an ecommerce website and sell a wide range of products then a product feed is an absolute must, this allows the affiliate to promote a variety of products and display the product information on their website i.e. Image, price and description which can have a huge positive impact on your conversion rate.

3.  Good Communication

Keeping your affiliates well informed is crucial to your affiliate marketing programs success, letting them know what offers you have on at that time or any new product ranges.  This will also encourage affiliates to promote your campaign, confident that it is being managed and promoted professionally.

Keep your banners updated in line with key selling periods and inform your affiliates of any updates using an effective method of communication, this may differ from affiliate to affiliate and you may find better responses using the telephone rather than relying on just emailing all of the time.

4.  Actively monitor your affiliate marketing campaign

You would have spent time working out what commission you can afford to pay affiliates when setting up your program (don’t forget to allow for the networks commissions which is normally around 25 - 30% of commissions paid)

You should closely monitor your conversion rates and ensure that they are in line with your other forms of marketing i.e. how much does it cost to convert a customer using Pay per click in comparison with your affiliate program?

Different affiliates will produce different results but the important thing is to investigate why wherever possible.  For example if one particular affiliate has a high conversion rate it is worth investigating to determine why and if possible duplicate this success with other affiliates.  Or you might have an affiliate with a high click through rate but a below average conversion rate, this could be for a number of reasons but it could be that they are promoting offers that are no longer available. Good communication should resolve this but it is always worth checking.  Voucher codes will increase conversion rates so remember this when carrying out benchmarking activities.

Informing affiliates of your conversion rates (particularly if they are below benchmark) will provide them provide them with an added incentive to improve their promotion of your business, remember they only receive a commission when they refer a sale or lead to you!

5.  Build and nurture relationships

As with everything the more effort you put in the more you can expect in return, concentrate on developing relationships not only with your top performing affiliate (although these are important) but also with new affiliates, providing them with support so they can promote your business effectively.  You will also find that these relationships will provide you with valuable feedback on how to improve your affiliate marketing program, remember they will deal with a wide range of businesses like yourself and are well placed to offer helpful hints and advice particularly on what everyone else is doing and what has worked well recently.

We hope these tips help, if you have any other questions feel free to leave a comment below and we will get back to you, or alternatively drop us an email.  We are always happy to help!

Ok, so Meta descriptions are not key in deciding your website search engine position however they do allow you to promote your business and its products or services using 156 characters and can have a significant impact on your click through rates (CTR).

Meta Descriptions should always be unique to each individual web page and you should avoid the temptation to simply copy and paste the same description for each page.  Your Meta Description should also include the keyword/phrase that you are targeting, this will also help your click through rates and encourage user to click on your website believing it is the most relevant to them.

So let’s have a look at some examples of Meta descriptions with the keyword- “MP3 Players”

Good

We stock a wide range of MP3 players and iPods including iPod touches from only £199.99. Free delivery on order over £50 next day delivery. Order online

 Bad

MP3 Players, Ipods, IPod Nano, Ipod Touches.  Order online

 The second description although it contains almost the same information does not take full advantage of the space on offer and doesn't really 'sell' anything to the person searching, alongside that the first description also informs you of a special offer regarding postage and a call to action.

Remember you have 156 characters at your disposal to promote your business, make sure you use as many as you can!

If you are not sure if your Meta Descriptions are being fully utilised it is worth taking 20 minutes out of your day armed with a cup of tea (or coffee) and see if they might benefit from improving.

If you are still not sure where to start drop us an email and we would be happy to look at your website for you.

First (real) blog post is coming soon, watch this space………