• Al Wightman, Owner, So What Analytics @AlWightman
• Dan Croxen-John, CEO, Applied Web Analytics @dancroxenjohn
• George Ioannou, Head of Agency, Digital & Wise @georgeioannou

The future of Analytics

• In relation to accurate attribution, for on and offline activity, there are tools that will help us get there, but its just the beginning.
• Make use of the correlations between time and campaigns within Analytics reports.
• Focus on optimising and understanding business performance – this is the bit that is often missed.
• Online is the most accountable channel – but so often we don’t see results driven campaigns.
• Most analytics jobs are advertised requesting someone who can use the technology and capture data, without anything about the understanding of the data and gleening actionable insights.
• Often analysts aren’t good at explaining or demonstrating what they’ve found.
• Mentioned Richard Adams’ diagram on customer interaction at analytics.
  
• 18million people have contacted a brand using social media.
• Its important to review data on your customer service.

How do you make in-store activity trackable?

• Incentivise with foursquare
• Use ipads in store
• Vouchers

How do you measure lifetime value of a customer?

• The best tool to use for this is Excel!
• Merge the data from your various tools.
• Use data warehousing . Can now do this in ‘the cloud’.
• There’s a trade off between privacy and data collection.
• Companies are still not using propensity modelling to target people who are likely to buy, before sending their mail outs – effectively rendering it as junk mail.
• Example web analytics measurement framework from George Ioannou
  
• Web Analytics Simple Scorecard
  

The post SASCON 2012: Analytics 2.0 appeared first on PushON Ltd.

• Andy Betts, Digital & Marketing, Strategist @andybetts1
• Bas van den Beld, Search & Social Strategist & State of Search @basvandenbeld
• Martin Macdonald, SEO Strategy Director, Expedia @searchmartin
• Paddy Moogan, SEO Consultant, Distilled @paddymoogan
• Kevin Gibbons, Director of Strategy, SEOptimise @kevgibbo

Will link building die as a result of social signals in search?

• It wont die but will dwindle.
• We are ultimately a system of nodes and edges.
• Its easy to manipulate search results using links, but screwing with the social graph is much harder to do.
• If you only have social signals and no links, then it will look as unnatural as loads of links with no social.
• For one project we saw that after building up social signals, ranking result stabilised.
• It can be easy to manipulate social signals artificially because there are much more variants.
• This type of artificial ecosystem will still sit separately from the rest of the world, so it’s much harder to fake.
• Using Analytics Canvas, found a 62% increase in organic traffic for clients using social. Massive decrease for clients who don’t.
• We’re still talking about tactics rather than strategy. People forget about the audience.
• Too many people set up social accounts and don’t do anything with them.

What will be the effect of the Bing/Facebook alliance?

• It depends on how quickly they roll it out.
• Google are forcing Google Plus upon people by giving people an account when you sign up for any Google product.
• Google’s biggest mistake was not using Facebook’s data.

How do you see the future of Google plus for smaller businesses?

• If it gets more popular, then it will be important.
  Small businesses should focus more on recommendations in general.
• If most of your visits are from search traffic, then it makes more sense to have google plus integration rather than Facebook integration.
• Go where your target audience is.
• Example:
  Customised message depending on whether the tool detects if you are logged in to Facebook or Google Plus.
• Facebook like coat hangers by C&A in Brazil.
  
• Blackmilkclothing.com – tagged photos of you wearing the products will be added to the product pages.
• To display your photo here simply include this tag #auroraskyelegs in a photo comment on our Facebook fan page, a photo tweet on Twitter or as a tag on your Instagram photo.
  
• There was an error on the page where Paddy was demonstrating this, wearing the leggings. Shame.
• For retailers like Currys, having an iPad next to product with reviews might be a good way to increase in-store conversions.

Should we move away from obvious SEO guest blogs?

• Problems happen when different parties manage different things.
• If its easy to spot as a post written for SEO purposes, then its been done badly.
• It should look more natural/credible.

Will agencies manipulate social sharing?

• Yes. Marketers will always try to encourage people to share the message.
• There will be tools available in the future that will replicate the ‘natural’ shape of social ecosystems.
• They will be available within 6 months.

What are we actually doing?  What do we call ourselves?

• Inbound marketing. Everyone seems to hate this term.
• Seo? Online marketing? Holistic marketing? Digital marketing?
• Owned media, earned and paid media?
• We’re doing Marketing. Everyone seems happy with this definition!

What do you think the biggest threat to the industry is?

• Everything changes anyway, tactics generally have a limited lifespan.
• What works now wont work in 12 months time.
• You have to be able to adapt to what works.
• Now we have tools to find out what people are doing, we have much more information available.
• It’s more of an opportunity than a risk.

How will it work for people who aren’t yet on social sites – e.g. My 2 year old.

• There are social networks for 4 year olds – Moshi monsters has the highest average visit count.
  
• You will never be able to fake a natural social profile.
• Ralf disagrees – it’s easy to get real people to connect with a bot without them realising it.
• There are tools that can locate people around you, male or female with single status on their Facebook profile.
• Kids often don’t understand how dangerous it can be to publish their data.

The post SASCON 2012 : Understanding the Role of Social in Search appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Bas van den Beld, Search & Social Strategist & State of Search @basvandenbeld

We want what other people have.

• E.g. Keeping up with the Jonses (recommends the film)
  

Its hard to resist peer pressure

• E.g. The Jagger train from the first last night of SASCon.

We can’t resist our kids

• E.g supermarket gave away personal football cards with childs’ photo.
• Music in store targeted pregnant mums to calm unborn babies, resulting in less temper tantrums in store after the child is born.
• Kids music played encouraging kids to ask for candy (Amazing little dance By Bas Van Den Beld)

History

• There’s normally a different story and outcome depending on who tells it. E.g. Dunkirk/Zeitgeist
• Ultimate in social – Jesus :started with 12 followers… One of the disciples un-followed him… you know the rest…

Human beings need to connect with others.

Google

• Eric Schmidt (Google) – keep an eye on him, everything he says publicly preceeds a big change.
  Famously said recently “We know where you are, we know what you like”
• Google is using connections, account data and social signals.
• Social signals include:
• Your identity and profile
• Your friends and contacts
• What you do
• Google maps
• You can perform a search on your desktop, move to your car, open Google navigation, and the address you just searched on your desktop is available immediately (if you’re logged in).
• Google knows who you are connected to though your social graph.
• Google knows that we trust the people we know, which is why they’re building social recommendations into the search results.
• Click through rates have increased greatly for results with social recommendation.
• They’re adding the ‘thank you’ button for shared content to encourage people to use Google Plus.

Facebook campaign for Obermuden

• We need to have the right mindset and do the right type of marketing.
• Obermuden tourist board said that if you like thier page, they’ll print your picture out and put your photo on their bulliten board in the village.
• Their Facebook followers increased massively.
• Tourism increased.

Trust

• People wont trust you if you say you’re good, they will trust you if people say you’re good ( particularly someone they trust).
• Target people with trust. Stop sellong, start sharing. Be personal.
• Target those who will tell your story in a personal way.
• Give them stuff, make them laugh.

What would you choose, search or social?

• It’s the same thing.

The post SASCON 2012 : The Psychology in Search and Social appeared first on PushON Ltd.

• Peter Cobley, Commercial Director, hômejames @Cobblers
• Rob Weatherhead, Head of Digital Operations, Mediacom @RobWeatherhead
• Darren Herbert, Head of Conversion, Latitude @Herbie_365
• Ade Allenby, Online Marketing Manager, TalkTalk Business @ady_a
• Kevin Cunningham, Client Services Director, Carat @kevcunn

Intro by Peter Cobley

•  Lots of people fall into the ROBO cycle (researching online buying offline).

Presentation by Rob Weatherhead

• There are now 1.2 billion mobile subscribers
• You must be mobile ready to future proof your business.
• Search is still a key part of reaching users.
• Right place, right time, right message,  right device.
• People use different devices and are in a different state of mind at different points in the day. Make sure you keep this in mind when scheduling your messages.
• Direct response action ‘opening hours’ have been extended.
• Most people aren’t mobile  when they’re using a mobile device, the are likely to be on the couch in front of the T.V. Its important to target your message, and encourage people to look you up in the web.
• Reach people at every stage using multplatform channels – from exploration, excavation to
• Search runs across every stage of the process.

Presentation by Kevin Cunningham

• “Having a campaign based on sales is not doing your campaign justice”
• To really understand multiplatform marketing, you need to understand all the influences.
• Track offline.
• Set campaign objectives within the limitations that you are operating in.
• Invest in measurement personnel, processes and systems

Presentation by Darren Herbert (in a transparant t-shirt)

• Conversion attribution is limited, and retargetting isn’t accurate when people are using the Internet on multiple devices (e.g.  Work P.C., home P.C., mobile, PS3).
• Other limits, JavaScript or cookies blocked.
• New solution : ‘fingerprinting’ (e.g. By Bluecava/AdTruth)
• You can then retarget user groups with more effective adverts.
• Completely circumvents the EU cookie directive because it profiles by device rather than by user.
• Other solutions – unified logins (e.g. Google and Facebook).

Presentation by Ade Allenby from Talk Talk

• Tablets are geared towards content consumption rather than content creation.
• But there’s likely to be a change; more businesses are introducing them into the workplace.
• Different devices are used for different ourchase types and actions.
• Smartphone purchases tend to be used more for emergency purchases – click to call is used more.
• Desktop or tablet users are often researching an ‘issue’.
• Divide media messages by device types.
• Police the brand space manually using different devices (e.g. If using affiliates)

Questions to the Panel

Q. Why aren’t people talking about Connected T.V.?

A. Limited penetration at the moment, and more prevalent in the U.S.  But it will be a key part of the mix, and we need to learn more about it.

Q. Would you change your message to target ‘slouchers’ rather than purchasers after a certain time?

A. Cater for both and test. Depends on keyword analysis/customer profile. Brand terms are different again.

Q. Tracking for the different devices.

A. Econometrics is ideal, but make sure you’re using analysing the data and that its implemented correctly.

The post SASCON 2012: Marketing Across Multiple Platforms – The Challenges and Opportunities appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Before reading this article, I automatically assumed I would disagree. Especially as people have paraphrased it by saying Jane thinks that “all men in the SEO industry treat women as sex objects”, and even “all men in SEO are rapists”.

I normally disagree with anything vaguely feminist, and this was looking like another extreme rant to ignore. I’ve ignored it for most of today in fact, and had no intention of airing my views on the matter.  But a colleague asked my opinion about it… a couple of times. So I read it.

I personally think this post has exploded as a sensation on Twitter because people have summarised within the constraints of 140 characters… And people have gone with a ‘News of the World’ style for that summary.

The post isn’t so much a generalisation of male SEO behaviour, but talks about a few examples bad eggs in the industry, and Jane feels that they perhaps felt their behaviour was acceptable in the context of the SEO conference.

In my experience, having been to a number of SEO conferences, and having worked for 5 years in SEO; I have always been treated with the same respect that my male colleagues receive.

I don’t have any strong feelings against women used as entertainment at conferences; in fact as a marketer, I think it makes good sense  – you sell more tickets, you get better photos, it helps promote the next event, etc. A woman is a better visual call to action than a table magician for example.

And men are always going to chat women up, in any industry/context, (and especially where alcohol is involved) – we’re human beings first and foremost.

But I do agree that the extreme incidents that Jane talks about should be tackled, and prevented.  Not by banning female entertainment at conferences, but by highlighting the individual bad behaviour, raising awareness and getting people talking about how it’s not acceptable.

I think Jane’s post is a good start…

The post Women as Entertainment in the SEO Industry (Response) appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Friday 23rd December: 10am -3pm
Saturday 24th December: CLOSED
Sunday 25th December: CLOSED
Monday 26th December:  CLOSED
Tuesday 27th December:  CLOSED
Wednesday 28th December:  NORMAL HOURS
Thursday 29th December: NORMAL HOURS
Friday 30th December:  CLOSED
Saturday 31st December: CLOSED
Sunday 1st January:  CLOSED
Monday 2nd January: CLOSED
Tuesday 3rd January: NORMAL HOURS

Of course, we’d also like to take this opportunity to wish all of our clients, friends and associates a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

The post PushON Christmas Hours appeared first on PushON Ltd.

******** This position is now closed ********

We’re recruiting, and have a new job spec out.

If you’re interested in working for us, please take a look here:

Account Management SEO Job in Manchester

We’re an agency of people who work extremely hard, but we’re a friendly bunch, and there’s a good social scene.

Please give us a shout if you have any questions about the role.

No recruitment agencies please.

The post Account Management SEO Job in Manchester appeared first on PushON Ltd.

For a growing minority of your website visitors, i.e. organic visitors who are logged into a Google account, you will no-longer be able to see the keywords that they used to find you.

The announcement is a bit vague, and tries to explain the benefits of the change to the way keyword data for organic searches by logged in users is shown.

It’s a bit like when your bank sends a letter to say they’re increasing charges and tries to tell you it’s for your own good.

Understandably, the analysts are raging – just check the comments on the announcement.

Google have made this change, which is a clear deterioration in service, due to privacy concerns.

Why would the search term used to find your site be a privacy issue?

Well from your perspective, it doesn’t make a difference whether the user is logged in or not, because the data isn’t segmented by logged in versus not logged in, and there doesn’t seem to be any enhancement in terms of demographic data available. And either way, you can track against a unique reference using a custom variable and form data (not that you or I would do that).

But it’s the data that Google collect.

The search engines, including Google are regularly asked to provide data by government agencies and federal courts.

In fact, in the last recorded figures, for the 6 months between July and December the United States filed a whopping 4,601 requests for user data, of which 94% were accepted and complied with (partially or fully). Despite it’s size, the UK is up in the top four with 1,162 requests of which 72% were accepted.

Country	Data Requests	#
United States	4,601	1
Brazil	1,804	2
India	1,699	3
United Kingdom	1,162	4
France	1,021	5
Italy	837	6
Germany	768	7
Spain	359	8
Australia	345	9
Poland	272	0

If you’re interested to know more, here’s Google’s FAQ on user data requests and the full list of user data requests by country.

Many people will disagree with me here, but I personally prefer security over privacy, and would rather that Government agencies are able to see search data on certain topics, or to assist with court cases. Of course there are downsides, and there will be occasions where this information is used in a hugely negative way. But on balance, while I understand why Google have made this change, I’d like my keyword data back please.

They welcome feedback, so hopefully this will be temporary.

Credit to Sam for mentioning this today.

The post Analytics Keyword Data – Unavailable For Logged In Google Users appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Both videos are well worth watching, but for very different reasons.

The post Google Webmaster Central – Matt Cutts Does Numa Numa appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Reasons to avoid bidding on your competitors brand terms

• It can annoy your competitors, and you’re likely to receive a cross email/call asking you to stop.  It is however completely legal, and does not break any of Google’s policies as long as you are not ‘passing off’ or using trademarked terms in your ad text.
• It doesn’t always work – especially if your product has significant differences, has a higher price, or where brand loyalty is high.
• It can result in high bounce rates – especially if your adverts suggest you are the competitor that you’re bidding on (something to avoid). You need to work your adverts and landing pages hard to ensure you are giving the user a good experience.
• If your competitors notice it – they can also retaliate and start bidding on your brand.

Reasons to bid on your competitors brand terms

• You’re targeting people who have a specific interest in buying relevant products/services.
• Total cost, cost per click and subsequent cost per conversion is normally very low.
• You can achieve a good ROI with a small investment. This depends on the scale, volume and relevancy of the competitors.
• It can be good if your brand is not yet established. You can ride on the back of a competitors marketing activity/brand.
• You can exclude the area where you know their head office is to reduce the chances of your competitors noticing.

The post Pros and Cons of Competitor Brand Bidding In PPC appeared first on PushON Ltd.