Many of you may know that there are plans to release the .UK extension in the UK, which will push the .co.uk into the second spot.

Why .UK?

It makes sense, if Nominet had released this to start with, rather than putting the emphasis. It is easier and quicker. Their reasoning so far, is that it will offer higher levels of security in comparison to the .co.uk.

When?

You are probably about as sure as they are. Here is their response to our email asking that very question:

“Our consultation phase has now ended for direct.uk. We will be providing a summary of all the feedback to the board at our next board meeting in February. From here the board will then review the feedback, and may take a view to go down one of several routes to an eventual product, or a different release process, or even the possibility that we might not go ahead with a product at all.

A summary of all the feedback received will also be published on the Nominet website ( individual pieces of feedback will not be published).

Any updates on this process throughout will be announced as and when they come.”

How it affects you

Adam Grunwerg posted an excellent blog over at the Guardian, here, so we won’t repeat what he has summed up quite nicely.

Understandably, the .UK release is not being favoured by the majority. Rebranding costs are likely to run into the millions. That’s not to mention the fact that if your domain is catchy and brandable, you are going to have to fight for it, maybe even pay thousands of pounds at auction.

What do you think of the .UK release?

 

Marketing, in all forms, is not easy. Businesses spend thousands employing PPC and SEO companies, but just as much on useless ones too. The two big online marketing tactics that are used today are SEO and PPC. They are both expensive, but they are proven methods that really do work.

What do they involve?

SEO – Search engine optimisation is the act of increasing organic search engine rankings. Without going into too much detail, things such as content optimisation and link building both help considerably. The majority of retailers will outsource this. As a form of online marketing, SEO is most effective in the long term.

PPC – Pay per click campaigns are used in a variety of places. They can be placed on websites relevant to the business niche, but also next to search engine listings. Effectively, this is a way of paying, all the way to the top! The ability to adapt campaigns quickly makes this a great form of online marketing for short term campaigns

Round 1; costs

The costs associated with both SEO and PPC are certainly not small. Packages for SEO can start at £500 per month upwards, with no guarantees relating to future rankings. PPC campaigns can be designed and implemented for a few hundred pounds, based on an ad-spend that the business decides on.

SEO	PPC
100s of suppliers charging different prices for what seems like the same service A project can escalate well over budget Cost remains constant, regardless of traffic No guarantee of traffic Price stays fairly constant	Prices are transparent Easy to develop accurate budget Cost escalates, as traffic increases Traffic will be guaranteed; a pay on results marketing opportunity Prices increase daily, as more competitors bid on keywords

Round 2; implementation

Implementing these tactics in an effective manner, will ensure that the ROI produced is reflective of what is really possible. SEO and PPC are both tactics that are complex. The major downside of SEO is that doing it in-house can take time. From a PPC point of view, there is the risk of wasting thousands, without any conversions.

SEO	PPC
Extremely complex Lot’s of time Expensive to outsource Hard to pick a provider Work can stop, results will stay	Easy to learn Easy to waste lots of cash Cheap to outsource Hard to pick a provider Once a campaign is live, only minor modifications and analysis are needed If budget stops, results will stop

Round 3; showdown

It is worth noting that some consumers will only click PPC ads on search engines, whereas others will aim for the organic listings. Not covering both bases will mean that a target audience is not being penetrated effectively. Essentially, PPC is perfect for short term campaigns and market testing. SEO should be incorporated heavily for long term campaigns.

SEO	PPC
Results will vary depending on keywords and position Results could take months Stable and reliable in the long term, regardless of budget Perfect for long term campaigns Not cost effective or functional for short term campaigns Tracking tools can be used to narrow down keywords Tends to get produce “generic” results, so overall traffic won’t be 100% targeted	Results based directly on spend Instant results Possibility of being unsustainable as ad spend increases Perfect for short-sharp campaigns, such as new product launches Great way to determine which keywords convert Tracking tools can be used to narrow down keywords Traffic can be 100% targeted

Developing targeted marketing campaigns

There are 100s of factors to consider. The ability to adapt a campaign quickly is one of them. When something comes into fashion, people won’t wait. They want it there and then!

This is where PPC wins hands down. Not only can a marketer split test campaigns and get almost instantaneous data to analyse, but they can change campaigns as and when they need to. The cost to test and adapt campaigns is minimal.

SEO focuses on ranking for individual search terms in the long term. This does not leave much scope to adjusting campaigns. To adapt a campaign, new pages and link building programs need to be implemented.

 

Are you afraid of Google Pandas? Quality content is still king!

Google has been rolling out some massive changes for over a year. If you haven’t been affected in the SERPs, the chances are, you won’t be. It has only affected a small percentage of sites.

23 Google Panda updates have been put into place now. The latest was 21^st December, 2012.

Websites that will be consistently downgraded are ones that:

• Use unnatural and black hat SEO techniques
• Publish on-page content that has little or no value to the reader

Black hat SEO did work, for a while. There have been a range of sites that have used these methods to boost their SERPs. Some have paid for 100s of links every month. Trying to force a ranking with such a technique, is not going to be looked on as favourable by Google. If it’s not natural, then avoid it!
Poor content is a killer! Blog posts related to skateboarding that explain what a skateboard is, with a few keywords stuffed in, and are providing no value. Readers are likely to want to know who won the skateboarding vert event at the X-Games or articles such as “Best Value Deck of 2012”, with some solid advice.
Blog networks that focus on producing masses of low quality content, for the sake of selling links are one of the first to be hit hard. Don’t let your business incorporate the above unnatural techniques to rank, but don’t be associated with these low quality sites either.

Don’t let a Panda kill your business!

• Develop content based on what your readers need to know
• Don’t focus on SEO now; it will change
• Focus on quality and not quantity
• If it’s not worth knowing, don’t post it

Don’t be afraid of the Google Panda updates. They are there to help business owners increase the value of their business and weed out spammers! If anything, they will help the web and content get back to what it should be; useful!

Keep generating impressive content and retain rankings!

Whether you are using a free ecommerce website builder or a site that has huge amounts of cash invested in it, you’ll still need to get product descriptions perfect if your going to get the optimum sales volume possible.

Although the task may seem daunting, ecommerce store owners are lucky. Many stores have 1,000s of products online, with the ability to access and upload 1,000s more, if they ever get the time!

Unlike service businesses, ecommerce store owners have the ability to optimise not 10 pages, not even 50, but thousands. Creating great copy is one of the hardest aspects of this business after you build your own ecommerce website.

Why you aren’t optimising your pages and have poor quality descriptions

• There are too many
• It takes too long
• You don’t know where to start
• The manufacturer knows best

Why you should optimise your pages with quality ecommerce product descriptions:

• Google penalises duplicate content
• Increase SEO
• Allow potential customers to understand the benefits
• Boost conversion rates

How to write ecommerce product descriptions

Ecommerce product descriptions can be tricky. The writer needs to be able to incorporate lots of points, but also be written in a way that persuades the consumer to act.

Features that should be incorporated:

• Function – What does it do?
• Explanation– Function, in more detail
• Features – How is the function created?
• *Comparison – How is it superior to a comparative product?
• Technology – The “wow” factor
• Benefits – What will it allow the customer to achieve?
• Brand, Model, Keyword
• The list goes on!

*Used for new products that the customer might not have heard of. Other cases might be those products that are established in the industry, but utilise new technology.

Regardless of the structure that is used, try and stick to that structure. Once one of the product descriptions has been read by a potential consumer, they will easily be able to find what they need, when they look at other products. The structure can be altered, but try not to change it completely.

An example template can be used as a rough guide. Obviously it will need adapting depending on the niche and product.

The {Brand} {Model} {Keyword} is designed to {Function}. It enables {Function} to {Explanation} much better than similar products such as {Comparison}.

Features include {Feature}, {Feature} and {Feature}. Combined they enable {Brand} {Model} to offer {Benefits}.

Using {Technology}, the {Brand} {Model} {Keyword}.

If you are using free ecommerce software it’s likely they’ll explain some alternative methods to writing these descriptions during your induction

Resource:

If you are still in the developing and planning stage of your store, WordPress allows people to learn how to make your own website for free. Once you’ve setup the site, you can then install eCommerce plug-ins which will make it into a functional store!