Engage MC

Local Business Search for SEO

2009-06-09T22:52:00.007+01:00

I've always been a big fan of Google's Local Business Listings. They're free, easy to set up, can connect you with people who want to do business locally and can give you a hand up the search engine results.

So how do they work? Well, very briefly, if someone searches for a business or service with a geographic location, Google will return relevant local business results above the regular natural or organic listings. This is a quick win in terms of optimisation for a local market as it can take weeks to reach the first page of Google naturally.

This image shows local business results for internet marketing near Belfast.

Viewers have the option of clicking through to the company's website or reading their complete profile.

Perhaps the most valuable feature of local search is the customer reviews. Research has shown that consumers appreciate this information being presented as they are searching for a product or supplier. If the reviews are positive it could make them contact you instead of a competitor (Don't nip off and add a fake review now - I'll tell you why in the next post).

We recommend that businesses create a company profile that will include a search engine friendly description, company logo, opening hours photos, company videos etc, anything that will differentiate you from your competitors and make you stand out.

Watch this video to learn how to add your business listing.

Free Online Marketing Mentoring!

2009-06-04T11:29:00.003+01:00

Would you like some free online marketing mentoring in June? I'm working towards Chartered Marketer status and part of the Chartered Institute of Marketing continuing professional development (CPD) programme allows us spend time mentoring a business.

I will look at your whole online presence, make recommendations for improving it and work with you to implement the changes needed. The only thing I need from you will be a letter as evidence of the work done.

If you have a website and are interested in Search Engine Optimisation, Email Marketing, Social Networking or any other aspect of online marketing, please email info@engagemc.com with your contact details and website address and I'll get in touch. I'll choose the business I think will benefit the most.

Sorry but web design / development companies are excluded from this offer.

Belfast Dentists Made Us Smile

2009-03-11T11:11:00.003Z

It's not every day the dentist calls us but we quickly relaxed when they asked us to work on their Search Engine Optimisation strategy. Braden Dental Care are leading Northern Ireland cosmetic dentists based in Belfast. Their patients regularly travel from all over Ireland for the latest pain free dental treatments (increasingly affordable due to the strong Euro and flexible payment options) and they recognise how a strong internet presence will help them grow their practice.

Getting professional search engine marketing advice can not only help you stay ahead of the competition but help you avoid 'black hat' techniques that may penalise your site. We're developing a long term strategy and reviewing their 'pay per click' campaign to improve ad quality score and reduce costs.

Visit Braden Dental Care

Hip Hip...

2009-02-12T15:30:00.000Z

Hooray! We're celebrating our second birthday this week!

We did actually get out the cake tins and make our own buns but they didn't look remotely as good as this. Thankfully our online marketing is better than our baking!

It has been a fantastic two years for Engage MC! We've met some amazing people along the way. We're still working regularly with our very first clients (and very happy to do so) and look forward to developing equally strong relationships with our new clients.

We've continued to grow personally and professionally too, working towards Chartered Marketer Status with the Chartered Institute of Marketing and undertaking Google Adword Professional exams.

But perhaps the most satisfying thing has been seeing the online marketing methods we believe so passionately in, working so well for our clients. Their websites are appearing in the first page of search engine results, they're getting more leads and making sales. They're taking control of their online presence and engaging their customers in conversation. They're delighted and so are we.

Retailers put Coleraine on the map!

2009-02-11T09:58:00.007Z

Last week we were invited to give an Online Marketing Workshop to some independent retailers in Coleraine. I enjoy taking workshops for small groups, they're usually more interactive and you can provide relevant advice to each business.

One of the topics we covered was Local Search. We've all heard how the Internet removed barriers to trade in the global market but some businesses rely on local trade. Thankfully the search engines recognise this and responded with Local Business Search. Google et al will usually have a basic listing for most business already. Business owners can claim their listing, add their description, opening hours, logo, specialisms and even coupons! You don't even need a website which means in localised searches you have a fighting chance of getting the business when previously you may have had none.

It was great to see Minx get straight down to work and put their business on the map!

Outdoor Scene Affiliate Programme

2009-01-21T20:11:00.002Z

We worked hard to launch the Outdoor Scene Affiliate programme with Affiliate Future at the end of December and are pleased to report it has had great start. Outdoor Scene is a highly quality outdoor clothing brand for all the family - a one stop shop if you like for all your boots, jackets and base layers. The brand is keenly priced at the best of times but the programme launched just in time for their Winter Ski Wear promotion and this along with great creatives has certainly helped. Affiliates have been keen to promote Outdoor Scene with a few having significant success(It's not unusual for maybe just 10% of your affiliates to be generating most of the sales) and we'd like to thank them all for joining.

www.outdoorscene.com

Equinox

2008-09-10T13:17:00.005+01:00

This week we delivered our Email Marketing software to Equinox, the contemporary living store in Howard Street, Belfast. We're happy to say they got straight into it and have already sent their first campaign to announce the launch of their wedding list service.

After consultation we developed a range of formatted branded templates for their wedding and exhibition teams. Simple list management and segmentation, real time campaign measurement and user friendly interfaces are just some of the features that make in-house email marketing a gift; yes, even for technophobes!

We are very pleased to welcome Equinox on board as a client and for giving us another excuse to go shopping!

www.equinoxshop.com

Belfast Business Centre Go Live

2008-09-09T12:01:00.000+01:00

As the Belfast Business Centre expanded their range of services so did their need for a new content managed website. This week, after days of planning, search engine optimisation, writing content and taking photographs, its gone live!

Almost every inch of the site can be updated by the team and they have taken time to add details of their serviced offices, virtual office services, meeting rooms and a wide range of support services which make running your business that bit easier. The new site has a gallery packed full of photographs and room layouts to help visitors see the flexibility of the space.

www.belfastbusinesscentre.com

Strategy Days Rock

2008-08-25T11:16:00.004+01:00

In Gibraltar anyway! I was thrilled be be invited by the MD, Con McGahon, to join CMG in preparation for Q3 and their autumn marketing drive.

It was a very motivating day and I came away with lots of actions but it was also good to see at first hand the cultural and business environment in which CMG operate.

After work I was whisked away on a sight seeing tour and taken to dinner in a beautiful waterfront restaurant in the Ocean Plaza district.

I think we'll be researching more business development opportunities before my next visit! Thank you CMG for being wonderful hosts.

Retail Therapy

2008-08-13T10:31:00.001+01:00

Belfast City Council have developed an excellent initiative to help independent retailers in Belfast thrive. Designed to be practical and results focused the participants benefited from a business audit and mystery shop process. They also had access to a business mentor to help them develop an improvement plan and looking at long-term and day-to-day issues.

Engage MC were asked to deliver a work shop and provide specialist mentoring in Online Marketing. We really enjoyed meeting all the participants on the night and were pleased to see so many who were already trading online keen to develop their online channel. We would like to thank Time Associates for organising the event and wish everyone good luck going forward!

Patent Attorneys Belfast

2008-06-23T16:52:00.001+01:00

When Belfast based Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys Hanna-IP asked us to prepare and implement their search engine marketing strategy, they opened our eyes to the complex world of Intellectual Property (IP), Patents, Trademarks & Copyright and got us thinking about how Intellectual Property can be used to gain competitive advantage.

From a marketing perspective, the strategic use of IP can help businesses:

Expand into new markets using the patented technology they already own
Increase IP revenue streams by licensing their existing patents to third parties
Reduce R&D costs by using foreign competitors' successful patents that do not extend to the UK & Ireland
Protect their brand and their right to trade in new territories by registering their trade mark
Extend their design rights to new/alternative products
Identify design partners that may licence their successful design

From competitor analysis to design and copyright issues almost every business could benefit from an IP audit and having met Hanna IP we firmly believe that every marketing department should consider consulting a Patent & Trade Mark attorney when preparing their marketing plan.

Visit www.hanna-ip.com

SEO Tools

2008-04-27T00:45:00.003+01:00

This week we've been using this great sitemap generator www.xml-sitemaps.com. XML Sitemaps specialise in sitemap software that generates XML, HTML and TXT sitemaps. Submitting a sitemap to search engines doesn't automatically mean they will list your pages but helps them do a better job crawling your site. XML sitemaps have a free online generator and a HTMl version which you can use to help your visitors find content. It's a great SEO tool and very easy to use!

CMG Goes Live

2008-04-17T00:38:00.005+01:00

December saw Gibraltar based CMG, Claims Management Group, choose Engage MC to develop their brand and online marketing strategy. We're pleased to say the research and analysis is now complete, the marketing plan in place and the website launched.

We were happy to choose Radar Design as our partner for delivering the website. Warren and his team consistently deliver high quality design and development; they truly think of everything and we knew their ethos would complement CMG perfectly.

CMG provides innovative out sourced, off shore claims management solutions throughout the EU & EEA.

www.claimsmanagementgroup.eu

Marketing Your Business Online

2008-03-20T01:18:00.002Z

We are delivering a short presentation and Q&A session on Marketing Your Business Online at the next Belfast Entrepreneurs Network (BEN) evening on the 15th of May at the Lansdowne Hotel. We're looking forward to doing a bit of networking ourselves after what we hope will be a gentle grilling, and meeting more local businesses.

If you are attending and would like us to cover a particular subject send us an email and we will try to accommodate.

Queen's Annual Fund

2008-02-11T20:43:00.001Z

Engage MC are pleased to support the Queen's Annual Fund Caller Reward Scheme. The Caller Reward Scheme is a fundamental part of Annual Fund Telephone Fundraising Campaign and contributes to the great team spirit amongst the Student Callers.

The Queen's Annual Fund was introduced to raise unrestricted funds and 100% of the money supports key institutional priorities, including Scholarships, Small Projects that enhance the student experience and the University’s “Area of Greatest Need”.

We wanted to recognise the Students hard work and hope they have a great time!

Cruel Spam

2008-01-09T13:51:00.000Z

I got an email today asking me to "Confirm Your Winning". Normally I wouldn't even open an email like this, but as it is January and my last pay cheque a distant memory, the curiosity was too much to bear. Even my cynical, spam weary heart leapt at the news I had won eight hundred and fifty thousand euro. While paying off my mortgage and buying a boat (in my head), telling myself 'you never know' I checked the address here http://www.urgentmessage.org/. It's definitely spam and I'm crushed.

Why is spam so damn cruel?

Gibraltar

2007-12-15T14:23:00.001Z

Engage MC have just been commissioned to develop the brand and online marketing strategy for a niche insurance company in Gibraltar. This is a very exciting project and represents an important break though for Engage MC in this sector.

More information will be available prior to launch early in 2008!

Just two months 'til Christmas Eve!

2007-10-24T22:53:00.000+01:00

So what can you do now to get the most of the Christmas sales?

Delivery - Let everyone know the cut off dates for Christmas delivery. Don't feel pressurised to offer free delivery - only a small percentage of your customers will be looking for it. Making it clear where you deliver to and what the cost will be early in the shopping experience (and certainly before the payment page) will result in less abandoned shopping carts and happier shoppers.

Balance marketing needs with customer wants - Don't make people register if they don't have too! And if you can't avoid it, don't ask for reams of data if you're not going to use it for marketing in the future.

Opening Hours - Let your customers know if you will be closed and what customer service support will be in place.

Email marketing - Let existing customers know what your best deals are. Create demand where you know there is interest e.g. you left this in your basket and we've only two left, would you like one?

Gift Cards - The trend for leaving Christmas shopping to the last minute is now happening online and a lot of people will buy last minute gift cards which can be redeemed online.

Affiliates - Affiliates need to plan their Christmas promotions too and they will be inclined to promote the merchants that did well last year. Make sure you let them know as soon as you can what promotions you are running, what stock is coming in, what offline marketing you are doing and keep them supplied with seasonal banners and discount codes.

Blog Action Day - Social Marketing Inaction

2007-10-22T16:41:00.000+01:00

The 15th of October was blog action day; the one day in the year when bloggers are encouraged to unite and talk in one voice about one issue for one day. This year the theme was the environment and the official stats are impressive

20,603 Blogs Participated
23,327 Blog Posts (Google Blog Search)
14,631,038 RSS Readers

But the stats don't say how much was raised by people donating one days salary and they don't measure apathy. Hands up (blink if you're lazy) if, like me, you intended to post but didn't get around to it. I started my post, just before I went to see Take That in concert. I watched the £6.5 million production in awe, marvelled at the lighting rig and drove home without a genuine care about the evenings C02 emissions.

On one hand I think, as a social marketing initiative, blog action day was successful, but on the other hand, did it really make a difference?

Visit the blog action day website.

Thank You Distilled!

2007-09-24T13:22:00.000+01:00

I've another thank you to make this morning. This time to Will and Duncan from Distilled. Distilled have an excellent reputation monitoring tool that we use as part of our reputation monitoring service. So good in fact that we upgraded our account and were entered into a prize draw to win a copy of Web Analytics An hour A Day by Avinash Kaushik.

I was over the moon to hear that we'd won not just because it was a very thoughtful and appropriate prize but it was my birthday too and I've been running to check the post every day since.

Thanks again.

Thanks Nicklas!

2007-09-24T13:07:00.000+01:00

We're really happy with our gorgeous new website which was designed by the very talented Nicklas Persson (http://sl33p.com) and in his own words "brought to you by the colours #ded4d4 and #464646".

Thanks Nicklas!

The web on your window

2007-09-17T22:18:00.000+01:00

Not so long ago we we talked about putting our shop windows on the web, now we're literally putting the web on our shop windows! Touch screen technology has been around for a while but we're now just beginning to see it deployed on the streets of Belfast.

RE/MAX Excel in Stranmillis have just launched Vision Homes. This clever technology has allowed them to keep their window display updated every day. Window shoppers can search the for sale signs any time of the day or night, and if they find something they like, send brochures to their mobiles or email addresses and register for updates.

This is just one example of how touch screen technology can be used to market your business even when you're closed. It can be deployed anywhere with a thick piece of glass and a computer. Museums, art galleries and tourist attractions can use it to complement exhibits, supply multi lingual content and give directions. It can even be deployed on car windscreens and green houses!

Vision Homes was developed by the innovative local company Origin-Partners.

Searching for Serum

2007-09-17T10:37:00.000+01:00

Engage has recently completed a search advertising campaign for the brand new ecommerce store Serum.co.uk. Serum.co.uk specialise in Redken and Tigi haircare products and the very popular GHD styling irons. The keyword targeted search campaign appeared in the UK and Ireland and gave the site a successful kickstart.

Engage also provided advice on growing a customer base and email marketing. We'd like to wish the team at Serum every success!

Check out the website!

The survey said......

2007-09-07T21:33:00.000+01:00

Jupiter Research asked consumers; How useful were product reviews when you researched your most recent online purchase? The survey said; User generated product reviews were as useful as manufacturers websites and more useful than shopping comparison sites and email newsletters.
When asked what do you want to know about the reviewer when making a purchasing decision, respondents said

How the reviewer used the product 78%
Reviewer's level of expertise 41%
Where the reviewer used the product 39%
Dates of when the reviewer used the product 33%
Other products the reviewer bought 22%
Other product recommendations by the reviewer 22%

Younger shoppers (16-24) were significantly more interested in reviewers attributes e.g. age, gender, location and income.
Its easy to remember to include testimonials and reviews in tenders and proposals but we often neglect our online presence. Product and service reviews at the point of purchase can make the difference to whether a visitor will answer a call to action or continue researching suppliers. If you don't have any, get some. Ask clients past and present to supply reviews and start publishing them. Where? It will depend on your product or service but places to consider include Google Products, Google Maps, Sutori, Amazon, shopping directories and some directories e.g. FreeIndex.co.uk, oh and don't forget your own website.

LifeandLooks.com

2007-09-03T18:25:00.000+01:00

We are very happy to have been engaged by LifeandLooks.com to increase brand awareness and online transactions through search advertising, banner advertising, online pr and promotions.

LifeandLooks.com is an online health and beauty store selling premium brands to a worldwide audience! LifeandLooks.com hosts brand names including Armani, Calvin Klein and Dior and is an official Clarins reseller.

Owned by James McKay of McKay Pharmacy, the store not only has the stock to treat every ailment but features sound advice from professional pharmacists.
Stay posted, changes are on the horizon!

Visit www.lifeandlooks.com