Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Lowering Your Cost Per Conversion
Competition for online business is growing and growing as more vendors join the whole internet community. This increase in competition is causing the cost of online advertising to increase beyond all recognition and many companies are unable to achieve cost effective conversions. In the old days, all you needed to do was chuck a list of keywords into Google, write an advert and start bidding. These days, it's a completely different story and those that are successful are running tightly structured campaigns, using cutting edge tracking techniques and are constantly measuring and tweaking their campaigns. So how do I do that then? Simple, leave it to the experts and concentrate on running your business. For information on how to lower your cost per conversion, achieve greater online sales with the same budget or less, then get in touch with Gravytrain Limited.
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
New SEH Group Website - Emmitt Plant
Emmitt Plant, part of the SEH Group have recently launched their new website developed by Gravytrain Limited. Established for over 25 years, Emmitt Plant wanted a new website to showcase their services online and selected Gravytrain Limited for the design and development.
The new website pictured above is the second website built for the SEH Group. For those wanting to take a closer look, please click on the following link: www.emmittplant.co.uk and for more information about how Gravytrain can help your company succeed online, please contact us via our main website: http://www.gravytrain.co.uk/
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Gravytrain Launches New Website
It's been a long time coming but we've finally launched our new website - www.gravytrain.co.uk
You'll notice that it's a little different to before and includes links to our new blog all about the world of online marketing, SEO, PPC and the like. Well done to the team for getting this up and running, it's still work in progress so watch this space.
You'll notice that it's a little different to before and includes links to our new blog all about the world of online marketing, SEO, PPC and the like. Well done to the team for getting this up and running, it's still work in progress so watch this space.
Friday, 27 February 2009
Natural v Unnatural Linking Strategies For SEO
Once upon a time in the land of SEO, lots of inbound links was all it took to get strong rankings on Google, at the time Google didnt really care where they came from just as long as you had lots of them! Here we're going to take a quick look at the differences between Natural and Unnatural links.
Let's start with the unnatural links:
Google knows the score and can sniff out poor strategy like the use of link farms and paid links. It was about a year ago when I was lucky enough to visit the Dublin Google HQ and had the benefit of attending a couple of question and answer sessions with a couple of dudes from California. We all talked about link brokers, text link ad companies, link farms and the like and Google pretty much told us all that they had a good handle on what people were doing in the market place, afterall they only need to Google something themselves to find out!! The bottom line is that using online services that promise to deliver a whole heap of links to your website isnt going to work in the long term - Google aint stupid. Going down the paid links route is also a non-starter, Googles own Matt Cutts has made things perfectly clear in that respect so if you want good results, think real hard before you go buying links.
As for natural links? How do I generate a load of quality inbound links to my website? Well here's a few pointers:
Directories - submit your website to good quality and directories specifically related to your own website.
Blogs & Websites - Get yourself in touch with some blogs and websites related to yours, find people who write about your topics. Offer to do them an article about something specific that their readers would find interesting. You need to be creative!!
Create link worthy content - Created content on your website that will make people link to you, that could be something really simple like a 'frequently asked questions', 'glossary' or perhaps some amusing article about your industry.
There's a whole heap of other stuff you could be doing and some of it quite time consuming if you're not 100% sure what you are supposed to be doing. Very often the most cost effective way of carrying out SEO type activity is to utilise the services of a good quality search marketing company like Gravytrain Limited.
Let's start with the unnatural links:
Google knows the score and can sniff out poor strategy like the use of link farms and paid links. It was about a year ago when I was lucky enough to visit the Dublin Google HQ and had the benefit of attending a couple of question and answer sessions with a couple of dudes from California. We all talked about link brokers, text link ad companies, link farms and the like and Google pretty much told us all that they had a good handle on what people were doing in the market place, afterall they only need to Google something themselves to find out!! The bottom line is that using online services that promise to deliver a whole heap of links to your website isnt going to work in the long term - Google aint stupid. Going down the paid links route is also a non-starter, Googles own Matt Cutts has made things perfectly clear in that respect so if you want good results, think real hard before you go buying links.
As for natural links? How do I generate a load of quality inbound links to my website? Well here's a few pointers:
Directories - submit your website to good quality and directories specifically related to your own website.
Blogs & Websites - Get yourself in touch with some blogs and websites related to yours, find people who write about your topics. Offer to do them an article about something specific that their readers would find interesting. You need to be creative!!
Create link worthy content - Created content on your website that will make people link to you, that could be something really simple like a 'frequently asked questions', 'glossary' or perhaps some amusing article about your industry.
There's a whole heap of other stuff you could be doing and some of it quite time consuming if you're not 100% sure what you are supposed to be doing. Very often the most cost effective way of carrying out SEO type activity is to utilise the services of a good quality search marketing company like Gravytrain Limited.
Monday, 23 February 2009
Increasing Conversion With Landing Pages: BMW Car Insurance example
Your businesses is unique. Let me expand on that...What I mean is, there's nobody out there selling your products and services with the team you have behind you. Your website is unique, it may sell the same products and serives as your closest competitor but I guarantee it is different in some way (page content, sales messages, buy process etc). What works for some visitors may not work for others.
We can all generate traffic, whether that be organic search engine traffic, paid search traffic or any other form of traffic generation. I've we're smart, from that traffic we'll generate some enquiries and hopefully some revenue!
OK - so how are we going to do that? The key to this is relevancy - giving the customer what they want and as quickly as possible. That maybe in the textual content on the site, the layout and positioning of key messages and of course how it actually looks.
It goes without saying that if I'm searching for car insurance specifically for my BMW, I'm far more likely to convert if I'm sent to a landing page of an insurance website containing relevant content. An example of this, can be found on the Quotesearher website:
http://www.quotesearcher.co.uk/car-type/bmw/bmw-car-insurance.php
You can imagine that if I have just searched for 'BMW Car Insurance' and end up here, it's going to stand a great chance of floating my boat that a basic car insurance page like this one.
http://www.MotorQuoteDirect.co.uk
The page the user arrives at is far, far more relevant and as a results, probably more likely to convert.
So what other benefits are there?
First and foremost, your PPC campaign is likely to perform better - not only from the increased conversions but also a reduction in your average cost per click. The more relevant your landing page, the lower your cost per click with be. Quotesearcher, a Gravytrain Limited customer has been trialling targeted car insurance landing pages for the last few months, covering such makes as BMW, Audi & Mercedes with great results, increasing the click to enquiry ratio by over 30% on some instances.
For more information about how to improve your online conversion rates, feel free to contact a Gravytrain Limited representative on 020 8941 2364.
Whilst we may have a fantastic track record of improving the ROI of car insurance websites, we also offer the same service for a wide range of customers including: Double Glazing, Commercial Insurance, Home Insurance, Van Insurance, Charities, Mortgages etc.
We can all generate traffic, whether that be organic search engine traffic, paid search traffic or any other form of traffic generation. I've we're smart, from that traffic we'll generate some enquiries and hopefully some revenue!
OK - so how are we going to do that? The key to this is relevancy - giving the customer what they want and as quickly as possible. That maybe in the textual content on the site, the layout and positioning of key messages and of course how it actually looks.
It goes without saying that if I'm searching for car insurance specifically for my BMW, I'm far more likely to convert if I'm sent to a landing page of an insurance website containing relevant content. An example of this, can be found on the Quotesearher website:
http://www.quotesearcher.co.uk/car-type/bmw/bmw-car-insurance.php
You can imagine that if I have just searched for 'BMW Car Insurance' and end up here, it's going to stand a great chance of floating my boat that a basic car insurance page like this one.
http://www.MotorQuoteDirect.co.uk
The page the user arrives at is far, far more relevant and as a results, probably more likely to convert.
So what other benefits are there?
First and foremost, your PPC campaign is likely to perform better - not only from the increased conversions but also a reduction in your average cost per click. The more relevant your landing page, the lower your cost per click with be. Quotesearcher, a Gravytrain Limited customer has been trialling targeted car insurance landing pages for the last few months, covering such makes as BMW, Audi & Mercedes with great results, increasing the click to enquiry ratio by over 30% on some instances.
For more information about how to improve your online conversion rates, feel free to contact a Gravytrain Limited representative on 020 8941 2364.
Whilst we may have a fantastic track record of improving the ROI of car insurance websites, we also offer the same service for a wide range of customers including: Double Glazing, Commercial Insurance, Home Insurance, Van Insurance, Charities, Mortgages etc.
Monday, 15 December 2008
Gravytrain Limited Christmas Opening Hours
With only 10 days until Christmas, we thought we'd tell you when we'll be open over the festive period.
24th December - 9am - 12noon
25th December - CLOSED
26th December - CLOSED
27th December - CLOSED
28th December - CLOSED
29th December - 9am - 5.30pm
30th December - 9am - 5.30pm
31st December - 9am - 5.30pm
1st January - CLOSED
2nd January - CLOSED
After the weekend of 3rd & 4th January, we're back to normal on Monday 5th January!!!
24th December - 9am - 12noon
25th December - CLOSED
26th December - CLOSED
27th December - CLOSED
28th December - CLOSED
29th December - 9am - 5.30pm
30th December - 9am - 5.30pm
31st December - 9am - 5.30pm
1st January - CLOSED
2nd January - CLOSED
After the weekend of 3rd & 4th January, we're back to normal on Monday 5th January!!!
Four Golden Rules - Part 3
Your website will need a good history. A domain name that has been around for a few years will help your rankings, conversely a new domain may indeed hamper your efforts. If you have purchased a previously used domain, you may end up paying a penalty if it's been used by spammers in the past. Long term if you are doing the right things, this will improve.
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Four Golden Rules - Part 2
OK, here's the second part of our Four Golden Rules.
Part Two - Don't try and trick Google.
Google have huge resources and money available to them, we all know that. This effectively means that they are almost always one step ahead of the game and that the clever tricks of the past are no more, if they do exist it's almost inevitable that they will be short lived. In a nut shell, don't try and trick Google as they will almost always know about it and eventually catch you out.
Part Two - Don't try and trick Google.
Google have huge resources and money available to them, we all know that. This effectively means that they are almost always one step ahead of the game and that the clever tricks of the past are no more, if they do exist it's almost inevitable that they will be short lived. In a nut shell, don't try and trick Google as they will almost always know about it and eventually catch you out.
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Four Golden Rules - Part 1
Achieving a number one ranking on Google can mean a huge traffic volumes and providing you have the right landing pages, some serious sales!! That's why so many of our customers want to be there. So how do I ensure that my website ranks higher than all those 100,000's websites out there all targeting the same keywords as me??!?!
Part One - Ensure relevancy
Google's mantra is 'relevancy, relevancy, relevancy' and they probably throw a few more in for fun. To achieve high rankings, your website must be 'relevant' to the users search. For example a company who does car insurance will not rank well for the keyphrase 'mortgages'. using the keywords 'online car insurance' however would be relevant. Your website needs to be carefully constructed to allow Google, Yahoo & MSN to find your relevant content, linking your website together so that Google finds out as much as it can about what you do and how you do it.
Google generally looks at the following too:
Part One - Ensure relevancy
Google's mantra is 'relevancy, relevancy, relevancy' and they probably throw a few more in for fun. To achieve high rankings, your website must be 'relevant' to the users search. For example a company who does car insurance will not rank well for the keyphrase 'mortgages'. using the keywords 'online car insurance' however would be relevant. Your website needs to be carefully constructed to allow Google, Yahoo & MSN to find your relevant content, linking your website together so that Google finds out as much as it can about what you do and how you do it.
Google generally looks at the following too:
- The page title, headline and meta tags
- The body text and page content
- Site structure and internal linking of your website
- Outbound links
- Numerous factors in the HTML code of your website
Google will search through all of this to determine how relevant your website appears compared to search phrases and index your website accordingly.
One thing to bear in mind though, is the 'over optimization' of your website. This is where Google smells a rat and interprets what you are doing as trying to manipulate the results. This can result in penalties or indeed removal from the index.
We'll bring you part 2 soon, but in the meantime feel free to contact Gravytrain Limited to find out more about either Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click or indeed any form of online marketing. We'll only be too pleased to help!!
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Ranked Number One for 'Property Insurance'
A number one ranking on Google search results for the right keyword can mean a lot of visitors and a lot of sales. Just ask Gravytrain Limited customer PropertyQuoteDirect.co.uk who now rank number one on Google thanks to some really hard work over the last six months by our SEO team. For more information about any of our online marketing services, please contact us via our website: www.gravytrain.co.uk
Friday, 19 September 2008
Google's Quality Score Changes
Last month, Google announced forthcoming changes to their Quality Score system - improvements is what they called them! Here's a brief run down of what those changes are:
1. Quality Score is supposedly more accurate - basically because it will now be calculated at the time of the search query.
2. Keywords will no longer be tagged 'inactive for search' which effectively means all keywords will be active and will be evaluated with each search query.
3. 'First Page Bid Estimates' will replace 'Minimum Bids'
These changes are taking place as we speak and should be complete in the coming weeks.
With Google changing the way they do things almost weekly, its crucial to stay ahead of the game when spending your hard earned money with them. The most sensible way to do this, is to hire the services of a Google Qualified Company like Gravytrain Limited. They will help you through the whole process, ensure your campaign is taking advantage of the latest developments and more importantly make sure you get the best return for your money - as opposed to simply lining Google's pockets. For more information about the range of online marketing services Gravytrain offer, please contact us via our website: www.gravytrain.co.uk
1. Quality Score is supposedly more accurate - basically because it will now be calculated at the time of the search query.
2. Keywords will no longer be tagged 'inactive for search' which effectively means all keywords will be active and will be evaluated with each search query.
3. 'First Page Bid Estimates' will replace 'Minimum Bids'
These changes are taking place as we speak and should be complete in the coming weeks.
With Google changing the way they do things almost weekly, its crucial to stay ahead of the game when spending your hard earned money with them. The most sensible way to do this, is to hire the services of a Google Qualified Company like Gravytrain Limited. They will help you through the whole process, ensure your campaign is taking advantage of the latest developments and more importantly make sure you get the best return for your money - as opposed to simply lining Google's pockets. For more information about the range of online marketing services Gravytrain offer, please contact us via our website: www.gravytrain.co.uk
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Quotesearcher Taxi Insurance
Gravytrain Limited customer Quotesearcher has recently ventured into the Taxi Insurance market with the launch of several Taxi Insurance pages. Niche insurance aggregator Quotesearcher is looking to expand on their current car insurance offering, providing various leads and quotes for regional brokers or specialist insurers.
Monday, 15 September 2008
Google v Microsoft
In their quest for world domination, Google's recent launch of internet browser 'Chrome' clearly demonstrates their desire to take on the ever popular Microsoft Office. If Google gets it's way, you and your business with use Chrome as a platform for a suite of web-based applications sending Microsoft Office straight to the recycle bin. Google already have Google Docs, albeit in a relatively primitive form compared to Microsoft Office, but this could be just the tip of the ice berg. I guess we'll just have to watch this space...
Friday, 29 August 2008
New SEHBAC Website Goes Live
Gravytrain Limited's customer SEHBAC today launched their new website. Offering a host of home improvement services including Double Glazing, Conservatories, Doors, Blinds and the like, SEH & BAC have recently merged to form SEHBAC. The new website combines the previous content of the website with the new look corporate image.
SEHBAC have selected Gravytrain Limited to develop both the new website but also look after their online marketing efforts via Search Engine Optimisation and Paid Search Marketing with a view to turning SEHBAC into one of the UK's leading online home improvement companies.
http://www.sehbac.com/
SEHBAC have selected Gravytrain Limited to develop both the new website but also look after their online marketing efforts via Search Engine Optimisation and Paid Search Marketing with a view to turning SEHBAC into one of the UK's leading online home improvement companies.
http://www.sehbac.com/
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Google Take Over The World?
Let's face it, we all think Google are taking over the world? Well most of us probably do, but ask the Russians and the Chinese and you'll get a different story. You'll also find that in the Czech Republic and South Korea, local based search services lead the way. In Russia, according to Time Online Google's market share is only 21% in favour of the Russian website Yandex at 55%!! Here's a link to the whole article - certainly makes interesting reading!
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article4596416.ece
Here at Gravytrain Limited, whether you are looking to expand your business on the internet in the UK or Russia we will do our best to help!
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article4596416.ece
Here at Gravytrain Limited, whether you are looking to expand your business on the internet in the UK or Russia we will do our best to help!
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
New Lifesure Website Goes Live
Earlier this month, the new Lifesure website designed by Gravytrain Limited went live. From the initial concept, the Gravytrain team's core focus was online conversions. In addition to providing Lifesure with a cutting edge design, the Gravytrain Limited development team have developed a tracking system capable of pushing the referrer code right the way through the process, ultimately allowing Lifesure to spend their marketing budget far more efficiently. For details of the Gravytrain enhanced tracking system, please contact your Account Manager.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
New Lifesure Website In The Making
As part of their continued expansion, Lifesure have contracted Gravytrain Limited to redevelop their existing website. The primary focus is to improve online conversions whilst bringing the whole look and feel of the website up to date and in line with their new offices. Ryan Copeland of Gravytrain has been handling the development scheduled for launch towards the end of July. The website caters for Japanese Car Insurance, Park Home Insurance, Annual Travel Insurance and Motor Caravan cover. Lifesure are a family business based on St Neots in Cambridgeshire and have recently moved into prestigious office premises just off the A1.
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Google Revises Keyword Bids for Brands
Every wanted to know how many people are searching for your brand? We're now able to tell our clients exactly how many people have searched for their brands on Google. Gravytrain Limited can now track the volume of searches for every keywords, giving our clients a far greater insight into consumer search habits. The information is updated every month should help with planning and where to better spend your marketing budget!! For information about how Gravytrain Limited can help you, feel free to contact us via our website: www.gravytrain.co.uk .
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Google's Market Share
We all know that Google has the largest market share of any search engine right? It's certainly true that they have just over 70% share here in the UK. So what about the rest of the world? Apart from the US which is broadly similar to the UK, Google appear to have made massive in roads throughout Europe as follows:
Google Germany - 89%
Google Bulgaria - 90%
Google France - 90%
Google Holland - 95%
Google Poland - 90%
Google Israel - 90%
Seems to me like Google is taking over the world, but let's be serious for a moment. If you want exposure and want to reach people actively searching for your stuff, then Google is the place to be. For more information about Gravytrain Limited's SEO & PPC services, contact us via the website http://www.gravytrain.co.uk/ .
Google Germany - 89%
Google Bulgaria - 90%
Google France - 90%
Google Holland - 95%
Google Poland - 90%
Google Israel - 90%
Seems to me like Google is taking over the world, but let's be serious for a moment. If you want exposure and want to reach people actively searching for your stuff, then Google is the place to be. For more information about Gravytrain Limited's SEO & PPC services, contact us via the website http://www.gravytrain.co.uk/ .
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Online Conversions?
Statistics....
According to Forrester Research, almost 45% of retail sales are expected to be driven or made on the internet by 2012...that's only four years away, just in time for the London Olympics. Over 80% of businesses in the UK use the internet to research and find potential vendors and finally well over three quarters of individual internet users decide how credible or trustworthy a company is purely based on their website. Some interesting stats, but what do they really tell us? They really only tell us what we already know and that is: A companies website plays a huge role in whether or not we do business with them. You'd think that being the case that companies would be seriously on the ball when it comes to their websites, making sure they are geared to convert, ensuring customers get what they want easily and quickly...well that's pretty much a load of rubbish!! Most companies don't have a clue and spend far less time and attention than they would on their latest brochure or traditional media copy / advertisement. At Gravytrain Limited, we've spent the last 10 years mastering online conversions and how to make the most of your website. To find out more about what Gravytrain can do for your business, please contact us via our website: www.gravytrain.co.uk .
According to Forrester Research, almost 45% of retail sales are expected to be driven or made on the internet by 2012...that's only four years away, just in time for the London Olympics. Over 80% of businesses in the UK use the internet to research and find potential vendors and finally well over three quarters of individual internet users decide how credible or trustworthy a company is purely based on their website. Some interesting stats, but what do they really tell us? They really only tell us what we already know and that is: A companies website plays a huge role in whether or not we do business with them. You'd think that being the case that companies would be seriously on the ball when it comes to their websites, making sure they are geared to convert, ensuring customers get what they want easily and quickly...well that's pretty much a load of rubbish!! Most companies don't have a clue and spend far less time and attention than they would on their latest brochure or traditional media copy / advertisement. At Gravytrain Limited, we've spent the last 10 years mastering online conversions and how to make the most of your website. To find out more about what Gravytrain can do for your business, please contact us via our website: www.gravytrain.co.uk .
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