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Well today, I noticed our Google search engine results pages looked slightly different to the normal results pages we see everyday. Introducing the Google +1 button and also results based on social sharing within your network.
I did a search in Google for ‘top tweeters in the UK’ and I got the following results page:
A Tesco superstore, I’ve decided, is a lot like Google in the sense that a superstore, as the name suggests, has a super amount of products stacked and placed neatly for us to choose from. Those products are, for the uninitiated, strategically placed (or ranked) in terms of relevance, popularity and the ability to make Tesco money.Read More
Following on from my previous post on 5 reasons why construction companies should be blogging, we now look at how construction companies can use online video and in particular YouTube as the tool of choice.
Online video usage and consumption is on the increase. Fact. Forrester Research recently reported that videos were 50 times more likely to receive an organic first page search ranking than traditional text pages. So, if you want to get some of your content onto the first page of Google very quickly then make sure it’s a video.
A quick search on the web for ‘Rainwater Harvesting Systems’ returns a mix of video, image and text based results. This is called ‘blended results’. What I want to point out here is that the video on the left (circled below) is produced by a company called ISW (Innovative Water Solutions) and yet they don’t have a single text or image based listing on the first page of Google, but the video is there driving traffic to the YouTube channel and then if viewers are wanting to know more they then have to option to visit the company website.Read More
Way back, when the web was new, building product suppliers could be forgiven for merely copying their brochures and putting them online. Since then expectations of your web site’s content have changed vastly, so cutting and pasting your brochure copy simply won’t do.
When someone visits your web page they expect to find the information they seek immediately. They won’t want to be taken through an introductory paragraph of self-congratulatory spin, nor enjoy a portrait of your smiling chairman. No, they want to cut to the chase, to find the product they’re seeking, to find the relevant supporting information and to make contact easily.
If you understand the importance of links – and anyone contemplating social media marketing simply must – then you will also appreciate that creating good quality content is the key to the whole exercise. We discussed this in the last edition of My Digital Insider which looked at Social Media Marketing for construction companies. As the social media network becomes more and more part of our daily activity and the lines of communication between business and personal life become less distinct, so the opportunities for your staff to create these links increases. Which means that – as long as those engaged in link creation understand the dangers of inappropriate or poor quality links – you can share out the job.
Here are just a few link creation ideas. You probably wouldn’t want to use them all, but this does provide a useful checklist if only to remind you that the presentation your MD gave to his chartered institute could be posted to his social networking profile or the video demonstrating the installation method of the ‘pour and roll’ roof membrane product for a major project would look great on YouTube for prospects and customers to view.
