Internet Marketing Advice - SEO Newcastle & Internet Marketing Success for Your Business

Relaunch of ecommerce store to buy your PA Systems from

2009-06-16T16:18:00.005+01:00

The New PA Super Centre website has now been launched.

The new website builds on the success of the old website and has improved the experience for the website visitor greatly.

Built for Suffolk based PA Super Centre who are part of Gofer Ltd, the new site allows users to compare products as well as create customer accounts and get much more detailed information on the products. The new website will be backed with a Pay Per Click advertising campaign as well as using email and search engine optimisation to attract new, relevant visitors.

Please take a look at www.pasupercentre.co.uk.

PAsupercentre is one of the UK's leading suppliers of PA Systems and Sound Equipment. Gofer are a leading supplier of sound equipment and cabling to major UK venues and festivals including Glastonbury, Tea in the Park as well as live bands. The website has been built using Magneto Commerce by Newcastle SEO and Internet Marketing agency Mancala

Do you run an ecommerce store? Want help?

2009-06-02T23:58:00.002+01:00

Back by popular demand we are running a new internet Marketing Seminar/

The focus this time is on all the essential information you need to run a successful ecommerce store. The seminar will show how you increase the number of qualified leads to your online store and persude them to buy - we will also tell you how you can get them back to your store and how to increase the average value of a sale.

Worth a couple of hours of your time?

Find out more at our website for Internet Marketing Seminars

Magento Commerce

2009-04-22T23:43:00.002+01:00

We are now creating ecommerce stores using a product call Magento and frankly it is fantastic!!

For the last six months our developers have been learning the ins and outs of this sophisticated and versitile ecommece store creator and are now offering this expertise to you and your business.

The important thing to remember when developing an ecommerce store is to get your calls to action in the correct place. Don't forget the purpose of your store... to make you money!! Make your key products easy to find, clearly price them and where you can offer upsells and cross sells.

Magento makes this easy to happen and we can help you implement your store.

Blog Post appear in Google Quicker than normal web pages

2009-03-31T12:37:00.004+01:00

Something I have noticed recently is that Google adds blog posts to it's index a lot quicker than normal web pages.

I posted an article on a sister blog last night ( www.buymagazines.co.uk ) at about 11pm - by lunchtime today it was in the Google index - amazing. Of course this could have been a coincidence, but I have noticed this time and time again - so here are my tips on getting your blog index rapidly.

Make sure it is already being visited by Google. The easiest way to do this is to get a link to your blog from a website that is already in the Google index.
Make sure you have a xml sitemap and submit it to Google Sitemaps. Automate the site map to update at least once a day.
Get links from other blogging websites if you can.
Update your blog regularly.

And that is all there is to it.

Happy blogging

Updating the content on your website

2009-03-23T23:13:00.003Z

One of the most effective ways I find to maintain high positions in search engines is to make sure that you do the following

Regularly update the content of your website - search engines periodically visit your website and look at the content on it. If your website has changed since the last time it visited it will see that you have 'current' website which is likely to rank better than your competition that is not as well update.
Try and add a new page every week (at least). As your website grows you will increase your opportunity to target search phrases.

Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation are the keys to your business's Internet success.

New Magazine Subscription Review Site

2009-03-11T12:33:00.002Z

If you are looking for somewhere to get honest reviews on magazine subscriptions then you should look no further than www.buymagazines.co.uk.

The site is aimed at those who are looking to purchase a magazine subscription but want to know a bit more about other peoples experiences when ordering via the internet.

Visitors are encouraged to post comments and rate the magazine.

Check it out at www.buymagazines.co.uk

Bubble on the Tyne - Plans to build a bar on the Tyne

2009-03-02T14:13:00.003Z

So here is a client of ours who has decided he wants to get planning permission to build a bubble like structure on the Tyne, just off the swing bridge, which will be an upmarket bar. Ali owns La Riviera (an Italian Restaurant on the Gateshead side of the Swing Bridge) and can be seen talking about the Bubble on the Tyne Project to the local news).

You can also find out more by visiting http://www.bubbleonthetyne.co.uk/

Customise your Trainers....

2009-02-27T00:02:00.001Z

Check out these guys Sneakart.com. They are a North East company and are going on to great things. You heard it hear first, these guys have a fantastic product and I urge you to take a look.

For those looking to customise trainers or something different for any friends, family, children who like to be individual take a look at there massive range of stickers and sneakskins (the name of the transfers) at Sneakart.com

Take a look at this video which shows how easy it is to customise your trainers.

Compare Apples with Apples, have your website specified by Professionals BEFORE you get any quotes

2009-02-26T14:18:00.006Z

Before you go out and spend your hard earned money on a website or ecommerce store why not consider having a web site specification done for you.

Unless you are building and running ecommerce stores everyday how are you suppose to know what is the best approach when building a new one? Luckily we do...

Why not get us to do the hard work of the specification for you - and then you can send the specification out to tender and get the best price. So instead of having to consult three or four web developers (only to come up with three of four different solutions leaving you at the same point you started) - give them all one specification, interview them and get their prices - they will all be playing on a level playing field and you can compare apples with apples.

We charge a small fee for doing this, but it WILL save you money in the long run AND you will get the website you want not what someone thinks you want.

Give Alex a call on 0191 241 6726 for more details today.

New Blog Launched

2009-02-23T23:05:00.002Z

Mancala has launched a new blog. Mancala Today is the official blog of Mancala - Newcastle based SEO company.

The blog will give advice, background and general chit chat about Mancala, its staff and what is happening in the world of Internet Marketing.

Please feel free to check out the blog today.

Mancala Today

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft colabarate to launch the Canonical Tag

2009-02-16T16:34:00.002Z

So what is a Canonical Tag?

A big problem with large website is the amount of duplicate content caused by the same page being displayed but with different URLs. This is a problem we at Mancala have already gotten around by rewriting out URLs to be search engine friendly - but the Canonical Tag reinforces this even more.

How does it work? basically a tag is included in the code of your web page to tell the search engines what the definitive URL is for this page. That is then the page that should appear in the search engine results.

So what? Well it means that in the future the results you get from searching should contain less duplicate information from the same website and so you should get to the content you want easier.

Simple.

Introducing Magento Ecommerce

2009-02-15T19:09:00.002Z

We at Mancala towers have been spending the last few of months getting ourselves up to speed with Magento Commerce.

Magento Commerce is highly sophisticated ecommerce software which will make running an ecommerce store a breeze for our clients who take it up.

The first of these store will be coming on line soon and they are brilliant. From the front end ease of ordering (after all that is the most important thing about having an ecommerce store) and from the back end ease of management, Magneto and Mancala are providing top class solutions for any online store owner.

If you would like a free demonstration on how Magneto Commerce could change the way you run your online store then please just get in touch with us on 0191 241 6726 to arrange demo.

Jelly and Icecream Please - Mancala is six years old and better than ever

2009-02-12T12:33:00.003Z

Mancala reached a milestone yesterday... six years old! And we are stronger than ever before despite the doom and gloom in the market place.

When I started Mancala in 2003 there was only a small appetite amongst the north east business community for internet marketing. It was only business owners with real vision who could see the benefit of making sure their website was ranking high in the search engines - now of course it is common knowledge that the Internet is one of the best (and I believe the best) forms of advertising and attracting new business.

So what has changed in the last six years? well pay per click advertising has really taken off, for many business and clients of ours this brings in significant business - easily making more money than is spent - after all if for every £1 I spent I got £5 back wouldn't you just want to do that all day long? The problem with pay per click is that if you set it up wrong you could be pouring money down the drain - that's why we became Google Accredited Advertising Professionals so that we could set these campaigns for our clients and get maximum ROI (return on Investment).

Email marketing is now a necessary tool for any business serious about gaining leads and business from the internet. We set up sophisticated and effective email marketing campaigns for our clients with proven results.

What about those who's website does not work for them. We now carry our independent reviews of website for anyone who wants one (they don't have to be our client) and will tell them what is not working well and where they could dramatically improve the website and Internet marketing to not only get move visitors but to increase the number of enquiries or sales when a visitor arrives at the website.

We are looking forward to the next 6 years.... in two years time the Internet turns 20, it has grown up and Mancala will be there to make sure that our clients are running grown up sensible and most importantly profitable Internet marketing campaigns.

Now for some more jelly and ice cream!

Running an Ecommerce store or Online Store?

2009-01-12T23:42:00.002Z

Lately I have been spending a lot of time looking at ecommerce stores and what makes a good one and what makes a bad one. Well my research has come to the conclusion that there are a lot of bad ecommerce stores out there.

So if you are running an ecommerce store, or you are looking to set up a online shop of some description here are a few tips to make sure you head in the right direction with it.

Remember the purpose of your online store.... not sure what that is? well the purpose of your store is to sell your products, simple as that. So make it easy for your visitors to buy from you.
Most of your visitors do not know who you are... so there is a little trust issue that you need to overcome. Think about what sort of reassurances you would need to to buy from someone you didn't know. Here are a few ideas - have a prominent telephone number on the page - if they have a query they can give you a call. Offer them a money back guarantee on your sales if you can - if the buyer is not taking a perceived risk then this will help them make a decision to buy. Make sure your web store looks professional.
Give as much information about your products as you can - some of your buyers will only want the highlights of the product information BUT some will want to know everything - cater for both.
Make sure your website is search engine friendly! that means that every page, every category and every product page can we indexed by the search engines - in short it will help you get every product you list into the google database - and if you are lucky, you will get high rankings on every one of these and so lots of free customers!!
Try out pay per click advertising. Google Adwords is a good place to start.
Use Google Base to list all of your products - Google base is like a shopping comparison tool and can generate a whole load of traffic for your website.
Ask friends and family to try and buy certain products from your website. watch them as they do it (but don't give them any help) - see where they struggle, you will be surprised. Try and improve on the areas where they struggle.

These seven tips are the bases for good ecommerce internet marketing. There are plenty more things you can do - so many ecommerce stores do nothing to promote themselves - make sure your's isn't one of them.

SEO Newcastle is now on Twitter

2009-01-08T15:46:00.003Z

In an experiment to try out all the new fangled communications devices on the internet I have set up a Newcastle SEO Twitter account. For those of you not familiar with Twitter it is basically blogging for the text generation.

I will try and use my Twitter account to give short sharp SEO tips. Please follow me by Visiting Twitter and then click on Follow! (that sounds a little desperate - but is still a heart felt plea).

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0

2008-12-23T11:54:00.001Z

At last, WCAG 2.0 guidelines have been released!! So what?
Well a hot topic for quite a few years now has been the accessibility of website for the disabled, whether that be visually or physically impaired. The web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) where set out by the World wide Web Consortium (W3C) to standardise the way in which website were built for the visually and physically impaired - problem was that the requirements were so ridged (and in some case ridiculous) that it restricted creativity and functionality - many web developers were frustrated.
The good news is that the new guidelines take into account many of the new forms of media available and make a little more sense.
Find out more by visiting the web content accessibility guidelines online at W3C

Have a great Christmas

Merry Christmas

2008-12-19T17:16:00.002Z

This could be my last posting for this year (I say could because depending on how the mood takes me I may publish something else). So Christmas is here again. Its been a tough year for the high street - the Internet has faired better but times will be more challenging - I'm not trying to be doom and gloom, there is enough of that about without me joining the band wagon - This is the first time the Internet has existed when a crisis has occurred and the country heading towards a recession. It is going to challenge a few, a few will give up, but I believe that this is the time for online business to really become creative and step up to the plate.

I predict that next year will be a tougher year for ecommerce - it will be more competitive and cut throat - but it is also an excellent opportunity to get really good at marketing your business. The Internet is still the place to be and think about it, if you make your self a strong contender now then when this is all over you will be in a really strong position.

I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. We will be back on 5th January and ready to help you implement your Internet marketing strategy.

Make sure you have your Products in Google Base!

2008-12-08T11:42:00.004Z

There will be some of you who can remember when Google decided it was going to enter into the shopping comparison market. That is when you search for a product and a list of results for that product are presented to you with price comparisons against all the stores that sell that product. Googles version of this was called Froogle - which was a hit in the states, but struggled to get off the ground in the UK. Well now Google has Google Base - which is pretty much the same thing but is integrated into Googles Universal Search (or click on the Shopping tab in Google if you only want to search Google base results).

So what do you have to do to get into Google Base? Firstly you need to be able to export all of your products in to a csv file or xml feed. The information in here will tell Google the name of you product, the category it sits in and most importantly the price you are selling it at. It then makes this available for searching.

So for example, one of our clients sells PA Systems to the general public, bands and businesses - they have around 300 products - so we integrated a Google Base export. If someone now searches for a specific product that is in the company online catalog then it is like to come up in the Google search WITH the price next to it.

So why is this different to normal search engine optimisation (SEO)? well if you think about the mind set of the person who is carrying out the search - if she knows the exact product name she is looking for and when she searches not only is there a link directly to that product but there is a price as well - how much more of a qualified lead do you get? Should get pretty good conversion rates as long as your prices are competitive.

Give Google Base a go and see how it improves your ecommerce store.

VAT Changes and Ecommerce Systems

2008-11-26T11:20:00.004Z

So the Government has decided to decrease VAT to 15% in a bid to stimulate the economy and in turn help businesses...

Am I the only one of the opinion that in the short term (and lets face it, these measures were implemented with the short term in mind) this change will actually cause even more problems for smaller business running online stores?

Why is this? Well many ecommerce stores (especially older ones) have the VAT rate fixed in the system - so now the Government has effectively given these business less than a week to get this technical issue sorted. This means they have to get in touch with their web developers and potentially spend a lot of money sorting this out! The only winner in this scenario is the web developer and even then, with lots of clients suddenly needing a big change without time to book it in, headaches will abound in the next week.

Why was the cost and inconvenience of this change not taken into consideration? The main difference between VAT and other forms of tax is that it relies on the VAT registered business collecting the tax from the customer on the Government's behalf. A simple 2.5% change will require all sorts of manual and automated systems being changed - and for many small business already up to their eyes in bureaucracy this is just one more thing they could do without - at potentially their busiest time of year.

To make this worse it all changes back again in 13 months time!! So we have to undo what we have just done.

I hope, along with pretty much other one else, that these new tax cuts stimulate the economy, but what a pain in the backside this will be for many in the meantime!!

The All New Google SearchWiki is now LIVE!

2008-11-21T10:50:00.003Z

Have you noticed the subtle change that occurred today on Google searches? If you have a google account and you are logged in then it is all change on the Google.

Google SearchWiki is here. So what is search Wiki? Well it allows you to start having control over the results you get when searching. You can add website, remove website and comment on website in your search.

It is not clear at this stage why Google has done this, but you can be sure as eggs is eggs Google does indeed have a plan up it sleeve. I believe this is the next step in Googles quest to provide the most relevant information to the searching public. If you were not aware, Google is rumoured to be favouring local searches - that is if I am a looking for a plumber and I am carrying out my search from Newcastle, then the results on the search will weight the results to websites that are Newcastle based plumbers - so the results will be different to someone in Ipswich carrying out the same search.

What I believe Google are now starting to do is collect information from the people doing the search who will rank and comment on sites that are important to them and Google will put a weighting on this.

All very interesting.

Full Internet Marketing Partner Services UK

2008-11-14T19:17:00.003Z

Mancala have just launched a new service to traditional marketing agencies. We are now offering Full Internet Marketing Partner Services in the UK.

Now the 'R' word is being knocked about by economists and bankers (I personally hate the word because as soon as it is said too many people become negative and it becomes self fulfilling - but I digress) it is clear that traditional marketing agencies are beginning to feel the pinch. Why? well their clients want to know exactly what the marketing and advertising money is being spent on and traditional methods do not accurately give you that. Internet Marketing can give that and more and more business (from the enormous blue chips to the smallest one man band) are using the Internet to find their customers.

We already have some big names on board. If you run a marketing agency but don't have the Internet marketing skills - never fear - talk to us, we can offer this as white label service so your client need never know, or we partner with you. Please check out the page on the website

http://www.mancala.co.uk/Services/Full-Internet-Marketing-Partner-Services-UK.mspx

Launch of our Internet Marketing DVD

2008-11-07T15:01:00.002Z

By popular demand we have finally got round to launching our very own Internet Marketing DVD. The DVD includes a two hour presentation on how you can make your business a success of the internet using out straight forward techniques.

If you cannot attend one of our Internet Marketing seminars but want to get significantly more success from your website the I would recommend the small investment of £27 including VAT to buy this DVD. Not only that, if you implement some of the ideas in the DVD and you improve your business success online then we offer a no quibble money guarentee!!

The DVD is not for everyone - it does require the commitment from you to implement some changes to how you run your website. It is for those who are looking for a massive change in fortunes online.

You can order now at the Mancala Website.

Search Engine Optimisation - SEO Newcastle

2008-10-21T23:17:00.003+01:00

Here at Mancala we don't just specialist in SEO in Newcastle. Of course SEO is a big part of Internet Marketing, but don't be fooled that it is everything to do with Internet Marketing.

Ask yourself this - if I drive a lot of traffic to my website is that enough? Well I will help you out if you are struggling to answer this. NO if is definately not enough. Have a think about how you are going to convert these extra visitors to leads or sales - most website are bad to woeful at doing this.

Download my podcast on Internet Marketing where I give some real tips on how you can generate leads from visitors.

Car Finance and Car Loans

2008-10-21T23:09:00.003+01:00

We have a new client on board who has a slighly left of centre approach to car finance and car refinance.

Did you know that if you own your car you could use car refinance instead of taking out a loan - you are using the equity in your car to raise money. Of course in a time when it is difficult to get a loan from a bank this could prove rather useful to some.

For those of us who have good credit ratings they will also guarantee to beat any reasonble quote on the marketing for car loans or car finance.

Check them out. IFA Car Finance.

Check the Car Finance blog

The Enterprise Show 2008 - For those out there wanting to start a Business

2008-10-21T01:23:00.003+01:00

The last couple of weeks has seen us taking our Internet Marketing seminars out on the road. The Enterprise 2008 shows organised by Business Link in the North East has been starting to make its way around the region in a bid to encourage more people to set up their own business venture. Of course we at Mancala are right behind this - so much so that at most of the venues we are running FREE Internet Marketing seminars.

We have already run these seminars at Newcastle (St James Park) and Middlesbrough (Teaching and Learning Centre) and I've got to say it has been fantastic. I think it is fair to say that people looking to start out in business these days are much more savvy than maybe I was 7 years ago when I first thought about going it alone. Firstly, they know that Internet Marketing is the way forward when you have a limited marketing budget and secondly there is so much more advice and guidance from people who have been there and done that which was less forthcoming a few years ago. Of course what these guys are hungry for is how they can do a lot of this themselves and that is where our two seminars has hopefully helped and meant there are a few less pit for them to fall into.

Everything you need to know about Internet Marketing, 40 minutes on the essentials of Internet marketing. This was a 'what you need to know' guide to setting up your first successful Internet marketing campaign. It about how you convert the visitors to your website into leads or sales, and of course how to keep marketing to them.

Then there was Driving Traffic to your Website, which was a 'what it does on the tin' guide to getting qualified, lead generating visitors to your new website.

The feedback from these seminars was fantastic and I am looking forward to the next Enterprise Shows at Alnwick Garden (8th November) and Durham Cricket Club (22nd November). If you are around any of those days come along - the show is free and if you come to our stall or seminar there is an opportunity for you to enter a draw for an iPod Nano just for signing up to our newsletter. Can't say fairer than than.

Deryck