6 Common Reasons a Website Gets Hacked and How to Prevent It
Hacking a website may seem like a really complex process, but the most common ways that a website gets hacked is through simple security breaches. There’s lots you can (and should) do to mitigate this risk. Just as you would secure your business premises, you need to secure your website, and that responsibility is yours […]
Entities in SEO: Hot Topic at Brighton SEO 2019
Content has been dethroned; ‘entity’ is the new King (or Queen) of SEO. In September 2019’s Brighton SEO conference, entities were a core focus for many of the industry’s thought leaders – even within the local SEO sphere. Here, we run through some of the key points you need to know about what entities are, […]
The Importance of Online and Google Reviews For Businesses
What are Google reviews? Everyone uses Google, so everyone would have seen a Google review at some point. They appear in the Google My Business profile paired with star ratings and can be left by anyone with a Google account. Reviewers tend to focus on what they liked or disliked about the service they received […]
To Like or Not to Like: The Instagram Update
Back in April, Instagram announced that it would trial the removal of the like count for users in Canada. The proposed change has received a mixed response, with general users, online influencers and business accounts considering what this will mean for their online presence. Currently, there are two account settings available on Instagram – public […]
Fashion Marketing: Top Brands’ Marketing Strategies and Campaigns
Fashion Marketing: Top Brands’ Marketing Strategies and Campaigns Whether you are an influencer, brand owner or work within an e-commerce platform, you will understand the importance of campaign marketing and what your strategies are to help benefit your business. In a cramped online e-commerce market, it can be difficult to distinguish your brand from the […]
What are Google’s ‘Your Money or Your Life’ Pages and What do They Mean for You?
What are Google’s “Your Money or Your Life” pages? “Your Money or Your Life” pages (YMYL) is a Google term referring to pages that, Google deems, could impact “the future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety of users”. Ecommerce sites, medical sites, news websites and many others all fall under this YMYL bracket and are […]
Creating Viral Blog Content for Local and Small Businesses
Often considered the ‘holy grail’ of content marketing, going viral is an extremely effective way of developing your brand and growing your website. Unfortunately, like the holy grail, going viral with your blog content can be elusive and almost impossible.
Controversial Marketing: When Marketing Strategies Go Wrong
We’ve all seen our fair share of controversial ad campaigns and taken to Twitter to bemoan the poor marketing choices of major brands. Truth be told, though, all that bemoaning and subsequent media coverage can just serve to promote the brand more – often leading to increased traffic to their website and plenty of word-of-mouth […]
SEO Myths: Answers to Your SEO Questions
At Active Internet Marketing (UK), we know exactly how confusing the world of SEO can be – with Google’s lack of clarity, the same approaches generating totally different results, and seemingly random fluctuations occurring every day, the world of SEO can seem impossible to understand. Because of this, it’s common for SEO myths to get […]
2019: What’s in Store for the SEO Community?
Around this time last year, we set out some bold predictions for the digital marketing world of 2018. It’s always useful to look back at yourself a year on and assess how far you’ve come, and that’s the idea with our latest blog post. Well, it’s half of it; we’re also going to share three […]
The Value of SEO, and Why Patience is a Virtue
The value of SEO, one of the more intangible aspects of an already intangible digital marketing world, is often disputed. It’s not exactly surprising, either. Why pay hundreds, even thousands of pounds a month to a company potentially miles away from you when you can’t even see what you’re getting for it? Well, allow us […]
What IGTV Means for Businesses
Instagram is the home of visual storytelling. Over the years, the audience on this platform has grown exponentially, with the most recent statistics demonstrating the rise from 800 million monthly users in September 2017 to 1 billion users in January 2018. The latest update to Instagram is IGTV, a feature that allows users to share […]
The Launch of the Google Infinite Scroll: What Could This Mean for Mobile SEO?
Another day, another change from Google. As of 11th April, Google’s mobile search will now be in the form of a Google ‘infinite scroll’, meaning pagination has disappeared from mobile search, replaced by ‘More Results’. What this may mean for Mobile SEO, and for the user too, is yet to be decided. Many in […]
Who’s Fred and Why Does He Have So Many Pets? An SEO Guide to Google Algorithm Updates
Google’s veritable zoo of algorithms is a detailed guide for those in the SEO community, but keeping track of the numerous comings and goings of Google’s animals, and that odd bloke Fred chasing after them with a stick, is harder than it seems. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on the situation, a […]
Why Effective Communication is Your Key to Success
When it comes to business, effective communication is key. Whether it’s internal liaising to successfully collaborate and innovate, or external communication to secure a new contract or propose an idea, such goals can only be realised if they are effectively delivered from the outset. External Communication Would you buy an invisible product and trust that […]
Google’s Latest Algorithm Update: “Insert Name Here”
It’s that time again, folks. Google has recently confirmed a “core algorithm update” – cue: dramatic music and sharp intakes of breath. In a slightly unpredictable turn of events, the powers that be elected to comment on the rumours: “As with any update, some sites may note drops or gains. There’s nothing wrong with pages […]
Google’s Mobile First Index: Everything We Now Know
Around nine months ago, we discussed Google’s Mobile First Index. We outlined what the index would do, why it was being introduced, and how businesses and website owners could effectively prepare for it. Beyond that, though, the SEO industry didn’t know too much at that point. The truth is, no-one did. Gary Illyes, of Google, […]
EU Data Protection Regulation: What GDPR Means for Your Marketing
What is the EU Data Protection Regulation? The EU Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR as it is commonly known) is a new legislation that will apply in all EU countries (including the UK) from May 2018. The regulation deals with a number of aspects regarding data protection. The main focal points are on the way […]
What Does the Facebook Algorithm Update Mean for Business Marketing?
Announced earlier today, January 11, Facebook has decided to shake itself and its users up with an algorithm update that focuses on demoting ‘public content’ from media outlets, businesses, and publishers in favour of amplifying personal moments between your Facebook friends. Why Change the Facebook News Feed Algorithm, Again? To restore the community sense of […]
Social Media Trends to Look out for in 2018
Social media strategies are becoming an increasingly important part of businesses’ digital marketing strategies. However, social media is constantly changing and it influences other areas of marketing. For example, changes in the social media world can affect who your target audience could be; this is why it’s important to stay updated. Below, we’ve shared the […]
Google Algorithm Anecdotes: Keeping Track of Google’s Many Updates
Google algorithm updates have caused quite a stir over the past few years. Working out how to optimise a website’s pages to satisfy the needs of Google Pigeon, for example, required a good amount of trial and error, resulting in a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. We’ve already put together a detailed list of how […]
The Future of Digital Marketing and SEO
With enough twists and turns to send the Tasmanian Devil dizzy, members of the digital marketing world ought to fasten their seatbelts for another fast-paced, action-packed year in 2018. Looking directly ahead, as well as a little further into the future, Active Internet Marketing (UK) discuss the future of digital marketing and SEO and how […]
Recruitment at Active Internet Marketing (UK)
There are a great number of opportunities available here at Active Internet Marketing (UK). Whether you’re an aspiring content writer, digital marketer, or web developer, we’d love to hear from you. Our recruitment category will include any updates about upcoming opportunities, so be sure to keep an eye on this section if you think you […]
Why Use SEO?
No matter how internet-savvy you might be, you’ll be forgiven for not knowing much, or anything, about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Whether your knowledge of SEO is non-existent, or you’ve been doing some yourself for your own business but are looking for some extra help from industry-experts to improve your website visibility, we want to […]
Is a Social Media Strategy Everything? The Must-Dos and Myths of Social Media for Business
The short answer? No. But, having a social media strategy does play a large part in an overall digital marketing strategy. On average, over 90% of marketers see having a social media strategy as important to their business; just below this percentage say they use it to increase their exposure and approximately 80% of these […]
How to Survive Google Ranking Fluctuations
“It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking in the dark Under the moonlight, you see a site that almost stops your heart You try to leave, but terror takes the sound before you make it It starts to freeze, as Google looks you right between the eyes, You’re not optimized” Everyone has their well-thought-out […]
Brighton SEO: A Review of Three Talks
Last Friday, three members of our SEO team attended Brighton SEO, a conference bringing together members of the community from around the country. Throughout the day, we all attended a number of different talks from a variety of speakers, discussing a range of topics. Here, we’ve put together a “highlights package” of sorts; each of […]
Bog-Standard to Blog-Standard: What Do Blog Posts Do For Your Website?
It’s 3pm on a Friday afternoon and my line manager has set me the task of writing a blog. With the weekend right around the corner, it is fair to say that my motivation has hit somewhat of a lull. What even is the point of writing blog posts? What do they even do for […]
“You Know Nothing, SEO” – How Game of Thrones Can Serve as an Excellent Reminder of SEO Principles
WARNING: The following post contains major spoilers for the latest series of Game of Thrones. Unless you’ve been living under a rock recently, you’re probably aware that Game of Thrones has just been on TV. It’s also been on Google, on billboards, in magazines, and has taken over a number of social media accounts. […]
The Basics of SEO: An Active Guide to the Fundamentals
“Yeah, I’ll do your SEO. Basically you’ve got to have a really in-depth, technical understanding of how the internet works if you’re going to succeed. It’s all really technical, but really rewarding. Like, the other day I was doing some technical work, looking into the SERPS of this keyword and I was so made […]
Guideline Updates: How Influencer Marketing Has Changed the Face of Advertising
Influencer marketing has become a big business over the last few years and its great success doesn’t seem to be dwindling any time soon. But, why? What is influencer marketing, how has it transformed the face of advertising and what guidelines need to be adhered to? Until recently, the Federal Trade Commission has not closely […]
Mobile and Page Speed: Is It Really Affecting SEO?
Consumers these days are demanding more content, faster and easier than ever before. As the years pass, and technology develops, so does the internet and the user’s demand. It’s 2017 and AI is already replacing some of our jobs, so why can’t this website just load faster? We’re the impatient millennial age and we expect […]
May’s Google Ranking Fluctuations: What’s Google Doing and How Do You Fix It?
If you’re routinely keeping your eye on SEO tools such as Mozcast and SEMrush Sensor like we are, then your mouth will have similarly dropped open at the vast increase that could be seen in May’s Google ranking fluctuations. Every respectable tool that we checked showed, from May 18th, vast turbulence in the SERP’s (Search […]
What Digital Marketing Can Learn From The Big Screen: Three Great Examples of Film Marketing Campaigns
Coming up with original marketing campaigns can be extremely challenging. Ensuring that you don’t simply default to employing overused cliches is no mean feat; a plethora of ‘unique’ marketing techniques has been utilised over the years and, sometimes, it seems like we’re running out of fresh material. Discounts and puns still have their place, but […]
Optimising for Local Search: What Is ‘Post-Rank’ and How Do We Navigate Its Impact?
At the beginning of April this year, Moz released their hotly anticipated 2017 Local Search Ranking Factors (LSRF) survey. Every year, Moz assembles a thorough questionnaire with the intention to audit successful local digital marketers to discover their preferred techniques for ranking locally. The results are compiled and then shared worldwide to create a comprehensive […]
A Short History of Digital Marketing, and How We Can Use It to Get Ahead
‘Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it’. Whether or not this adage referred initially to digital marketing is irrelevant; using the past to better understand and succeed in the future is important. Someone who refuses to acknowledge their mistakes and weak points will only improve if they begin life perfect. […]
What Is Google’s Mobile-First Index and How Can I Prepare?
What Is Google’s Mobile-First Index? Back in November, Google announced on their blog that more people than ever are using Google to search on mobile devices rather than desktop, and will be introducing a new mobile-first index. Currently, Google’s ranking systems use your desktop website content to evaluate its relevance to the user searching. They […]
Five Great Examples of Influencer Marketing Campaigns
Are you trying to decide whether influencer marketing campaigns are an option for your brand or company? In our previous blog post, ‘Influencer Marketing: What It Is and Why You Should Be Using It’, we detailed exactly why companies should be exploring the impact of social influencers and offered five positive advantages to employing influencer […]
Influencer Marketing: What It Is and Why You Should Be Using It
What Is It? Influencer Marketing is a new, popular, and incredibly effective technique within the advertising and marketing sector. It includes inspiring your consumers through popular ‘influencers’ – those with large followings and audiences on platforms such as YouTube and Twitter – with brand endorsement suited to your particular product. Influencer marketing is commonly used […]
The Tricks and The Treats of Halloween Digital Marketing Campaigns
‘Where there is no imagination, there is no horror…’ Arthur Conan Doyle Before we all dust off our cat ears and shell out our pumpkins, let’s spend some time taking a look at the winners and losers of various Halloween digital marketing campaigns from the last few years. Halloween is responsible for the production of […]
How to Increase Your Website Conversion Rates
Whether you own an e-commerce site or not, your conversion rate is undeniably an integral aspect of your online profile. It can determine the success of your business and offer an honest look into how users are responding to the services on offer. But what is a website conversion rate? With regards to e-commerce sites, […]
What’s Your Story? How to Elevate Your Business through Brand Storytelling
Welcome to the world of brand storytelling. Once upon a time, storytelling was performed in front of a roaring fire; a captivated audience would be gathered around with eyes gazing upwards in eager anticipation, ready to drink in thrilling tales of heroes and monsters, imagining themselves as the championing force for the moral of the […]
New Google Update Snuck in Like a … Well, Like a Possum Algorithm
At Active Internet Marketing (UK), we’re insatiably interested in all of the bizarre tweaks that Google regularly makes. We’ve spoken at length about Google going goth, speculated wildly about their ad button colour change, and waxed lyrical about all of the established Google algorithms, so you can only imagine our frenzied flapping when one of […]
Artificial Intelligence: How is it Used Within Digital Marketing?
“Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior. But then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex when he looks at a flower.” Alan Kay Driverless cars; digital assistants; robots that react to movies about robots on Youtube …it can no longer be denied that artificial intelligence is slowly […]
Feelings over Functions: Why (and How) We Should Market to Emotions
When selling a product, the temptation is to, well, sell that product. We list USP’s (Unique Selling Points), we pay attention to features, we insightfully prattle about its functions. We’re missing the point. By focusing on features rather than focusing on how that product will directly benefit someone’s life, we are negating the very essence […]
Using Snapchat As A Digital Marketing Tool
In our role as digital marketers, we are always looking to get involved with the latest digital marketing tools in order to ensure that our work is ahead of the curve. In one of my earlier blog posts, where I look at the rise of visual content in social media, I started to consider how […]
To AdBlock or Not To AdBlock: Does Advertising and Marketing Deserve Freedom of Speech?
In a some-may-say controversial move, the government have watered down their efforts to target childhood obesity, which includes a decision to backtrack on a junk-food advertising ban. This decision comes only weeks after Facebook began a move towards circumventing AdBlock and other such programmes, a move that will ensure that anyone and everyone will begin […]
Workshop Wednesday: A Guide to Knowing Your Audience Through Persona Creation
Here at Active Internet Marketing (UK), Workshop Wednesday is our chance to comprehensively explore and examine digital marketing techniques, old and new, that could be applied within our own practices to perfect the services we can offer to our customers. Our team of content marketers share the responsibility of running individual workshops, each in turn […]
How To Run An Effective Email Campaign
In a world where social media is considered the leading marketing platform to maximise customer engagement, email marketing is often overlooked by the industry. The phrase ‘email marketing’ is generally used as a term to describe sending an email message with the intention of increasing conversions or engaging customers in an element of your company. […]
The ‘Toilet Paper’ Strategy and Other Stories – a Guide to Creating Controversial Content
As content creators, we are told day in day out to create ‘good, unique’ content to get our websites noticed. This phrase is often sprinkled amongst other terms such as ‘shareable’, ‘engaging’, and my personal favourite, ‘viral’. We are right to strive towards these goals, as ultimately we are looking to inform our readers and […]
5 Reasons Why You Should Have an Active Blog on Your Company Website
With the announcement that Yahoo’s latest earnings are falling due to its investment in the online platform Tumblr, the internet is once again pondering, ‘is the form of blogging really dying?’ Yahoo’s purchase of Tumblr back in 2013 is still considered the most expensive acquisition of all time, a seemingly great idea by the […]
Back to Basics: Boosting Your Social Media Engagement Organically
We hear it over and over again in the digital marketing world that having an engaging and relevant social media presence is key to growing your online authority. This is something that we have written extensively about on our blog, discussing how to grow your Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook following. Now it is time to […]
BREAKING NEWS: Split Testing Being Conducted on Facebook Business Page Layouts
You may have noticed when you logged onto your Facebook business page recently that it looked a little different. That’s because Facebook have decided to shake things up a bit and introduce a new layout. This has taken our office by storm, especially since Facebook themselves have said nothing on the matter, keeping schtum on […]
How To Create A Successful Emoji-Focused Digital Campaign
In my last blog post, I considered the appeal of using the ‘live’ feature to showcase more visual content within social media platforms in order to enhance user experience. Visual content is one of the most effective resources a digital marketer can employ if they want to target a generation of millennials. I will be […]
How to Use Local SEO to Increase Your Online Reach
If you read our blog post about Google’s algorithms, then you know that just about everything you do on your website is monitored and tracked, adding or taking away from your website’s online authority. Since the release of Google’s Pigeon algorithm in July 2014, the emphasis on local search engine optimisation has been growing, with […]
SEO and Marketing Lessons to Learn from UEFA Euro 2016
Marketing, content writing, SEO, web design: it’s all about creating for people, about matching up with the culture of the moment, about starting a conversation between brand and potential customer. As a digital marketer, it’s easy to crawl in through the frame of the computer screen and deal entirely in the world of analytics and […]
Workshop Wednesday: How to Make Innovative Decisions Based on Data in Google Analytics
Thoroughly analysing data allows businesses to come up with better strategic decisions for clients and themselves alike. As a social media executive, I had the opportunity to carry out a great workshop for the content team here at Active Internet Marketing (UK). The workshop focused on understanding how certain factors and influences can affect the […]
Going Live: The Rise Of Visual Content Within Social Media
Social media forms such as Facebook and Twitter are completely ingrained into our society. When done correctly, social media is responsive to the needs of its users. We are constantly demanding more, wanting easier navigation, better content, and instant access to the world around us. I’ll be honest, I’ve checked my phone around 36 times […]
Virtual Reality: Does It Have a Place in the Marketing World?
Digital marketing is a world that is constantly evolving. The more we experiment the more doors open to us, leading to innovative and extraordinary campaigns and results. For the past few years virtual reality has been on the horizon, with many larger companies dipping their toes into the prospect of virtual reality marketing. This novel […]
Another New Favourite Colour: ‘Google Adverts’ Badge Has Gone Green
My seemingly unending curiosity for Google’s minute changes has once again been piqued. I’m largely confident that my long-suffering colleagues are now getting a sore head from my constant bleating about colour changes, thicker lines, and auto-complete scandals; and so I’ve done what any conscientious person would do: I’ve stopped bothering them and have decided […]
Workshop Wednesday: How to Use Sentence Structure to Get the Most out of Your Writing
For our last Workshop Wednesday our Digital Marketing Team Leader presented a detailed overview of how to both understand and reflect the tone of a business in your writing. Nothing is more important for content and copywriters, nor for social media marketers, or really for just about anyone writing for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). It […]
Workshop Wednesday: How to Fully Understand the Tone of a Business, and How to Reflect That in Your Writing.
Here at Active Internet Marketing, we understand that learning doesn’t just take place behind a computer screen. That is why we have made it our prerogative to make sure that we are talking about digital marketing, and all that it entails, on a regular basis. Everybody has different strengths and perspectives to offer the team, […]
Why Are Podcasts Becoming Prevalent in Businesses?
“Learning never exhausts the mind” – Leonardo da Vinci. This incredible quote can inspire many businesses to embrace change and learn new ways to market their brand, in addition to using video and written content. More businesses can adopt a selection of marketing tactics by exploring new opportunities in the digital world. The question that […]
But Why Has Google Gone Goth, and What Is A/B Testing, Anyway?
Google has done it again. Another change has been rolled out, although admittedly this one has only been implemented for some users, and everyone is panicking. For once, though, it’s not just us digital marketers that are metaphorically taking to the streets with placards, screaming: ‘Why would you change? We thought we knew you!’ This […]
A Guide to Google Algorithms and What They Mean for SEOs
As digital marketers, we all like to say that our way is the right way: that if you want your company to become a household name and to have your website ranking alongside the frontrunners in your industry, then we hold the key. The truth is, despite our varying campaigns and SEO techniques, we are […]
5 Ways Digital Marketing Improves Customer Service
It is now more important than ever to divert a lot of focus and attention on building and improving customer service. In the digital marketing world, it is significant to make sure that your customers can find the necessary help during their online experience with your website. Digital marketing does not necessarily focus on selling […]
How Becoming a Mastermind in Psychology Can Help You Control – Sorry, Convert – Potential Customers: Nathalie Nahai on Marketing Psychology
This blog post on psychology in marketing marks the last blog post I’ll be doing on my 3 favourite talks at Brighton SEO this April. To garner some context, read the first one here. The other two talks can be found here and here. Nathalie Nahai Creating Persuasive Content It was no surprise that the […]
My Take on Why Humour Is Totally Easy and Not Even Risky: Natalie Jones Tells Us How to Connect with the Fellow Kids
Natalie Jones of WooRank Inbound Comedy: Stand out by making your audience laugh I won’t try to be humorous in this blog post, as I’ll only be setting myself up for criticism along the lines of: ‘Did you even understand the talk?’. Yes, I maybe did, but I’m squirrelling away all of my […]
‘I Know You’re SEO’s at an SEO Conference but Please Stop Caring About SEO’: Greg Gifford on Local SEO Marketing
For the context afforded by having read the first blog post in this series, click here. Also, here is the third article in the series. Greg Gifford of DealerOn Marketing to Local Customers Takes More Than Local SEO Greg Gifford’s talk on local SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) marketing was a useful one, because he kept […]
Why Ignorance Doesn’t Have to be Frightening: My First Time at Brighton SEO
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates Within the SEO world, I am a veritable newbie. Having entered into this industry like a newborn babe, wide-eyed and blinking and utterly confused, I was just about starting to feel like I was getting a grasp on exactly what’s going on in […]
How PPC and SEO Can Work in Harmony for Your Business
PPC (Pay Per Click) and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) are often placed at odds with each other. They are seen as two separate ways to generate leads to your website. However, they can actually work well together when used correctly. When there is a unity between PPC and SEO, statistics show a much higher result […]
The Introduction of Instagram’s New Algorithm: The End of the Eternal Scroll?
The Introduction of Instagram’s New Algorithm: The End of the Eternal Scroll? Instagram Announced last month that it would be slowly introducing a new algorithm into the workings of our beloved Instagram. The initial concept of Instagram was to provide a place for people to share images to their followers freely, without comparison between users […]
What are Schemas?
What are Schemas? Schemas have been utilised by website developers for years now, and for a very good reason. Through collaborating with major industry leaders such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Bing and Yandex, one of the main providers of schema information, Schema.org, focuses on defining the item types and properties of a website that are […]
The Importance of Citation Consistency Online
As digital marketers, we spend more time than we would like to admit ensuring that all of the information regarding our clients online is 100% correct. However, this is for a very good reason, and the outcome can often be the difference between sitting on the mid pages of search engine results and climbing all […]
5 Ways to Keep up with Industry Trends
5 Ways to Keep Up on Industry Trends It can be challenging to keep up with the latest industry trends in the fast paced world of digital marketing. With constant advancements in technology, it means that customer’s needs and expectations also quickly change. This can affect a business’s implemented strategies and campaigns. To prevent the […]
How to Create a Successful Social Media Strategy
Creating a social media strategy can be overwhelming for small-medium sized businesses. Which social media platforms should you use? How do you carry out engagement with users? When and how often should you be posting on social media? These are all questions that can seem quite confusing. By simply having a strategic plan in place, […]
Marketing as History: When Advertising Creates Its Own Culture
Looking back at old adverts is always an interesting sojourn into the past. Advertising, posters, and newspaper clippings inform historians greatly on the cultural norms and societal traits of times gone by. The poster above – ‘You mean a woman can open it?’ – tells us plenty about the views of the era. People were […]
How Vloggers Are Changing the Face of Advertising – And Why it’s A Good Thing
Video bloggers, or ‘vloggers’, are a relatively new trend in advertising and marketing, and people are nervous. We can see why. This is a young person’s game, and the people in charge – the kids sitting in front of the camera, are not playing by ‘business’ rules as we’ve established them. No, they’re playing by […]
Top Tips for a Better Work Environment
Working in a creative industry means that we need to keep our employees stimulated within our office. A successful company relies on happy employees, which is why we invest a lot of resources into making sure that whilst at work, our colleagues know that they are one of our top priorities. It can be difficult […]
How to Build Customer Loyalty in Digital Marketing
Customer loyalty can play a fundamental role in any given business, where it allows you to build a stronger brand and provide a higher value in the future. Understanding your customers and their needs is the key to engage in better human interaction. Building loyalty amongst customers may take time and effort, however it can […]
How to Drive Traffic to Your Website
It is every marketer’s dream to drive online traffic to their website, and it can sometimes be quite challenging to achieve this on a regular basis. That’s why we are here to help you discover numerous ways on how you can drive online traffic to your website by following these simple tactics: Utilise Paid […]
The Immediate Benefits of a Mobile Website
As marketers, we know the huge benefits of getting clients to swap from their current website to a responsive design. The longterm enhancements are bound to make a positive difference to your clients online business; however it can be difficult to show any immediate changes to help persuade clients to make the jump. We have […]
Top 3 Marketing Myths & Why They’re Wrong
Even within the industry, there are many misconceptions floating around about what marketing does and even what it is. When contemplating marketing your business, it is important that you thoroughly research and understand exactly what marketing entails and what it can do for you. What you most need to avoid is falling prey to some […]
The Benefits of Understanding basic Code in a Digital World
As technology continues to develop, we are able to offer our clients more and more flexibility and scope when it comes to developing marketing campaigns. We are open to new and changing digital marketing channels, but do we truly understand what is running in the background to make our ideas come to life? Code is […]
5 Ways to Make Your Content Great
We all want our content to be great. Whether you are looking to engage your online community or send the internet into a frenzy with your own viral content, there is a lot to be said for looking outside of the box when it comes down to creating epic content. We have put together 5 […]
5 Tips for Dealing with Difficult Situations
Throughout our careers, we will all be faced with difficult situations at some point or another. Whether you have to deal with poor individual or group performance, improve an organisation deemed to be failing, handle staff or resource shortages, or adverse media coverage; any situation can be uncomfortable and handling it effectively can be difficult. […]
Why Your Website Needs Images
It can be difficult to know what element to focus on when compiling a website for your business or client. There is a danger of falling into the trap of going content crazy, and filling the website with text. However, as humans we are very visual creatures, therefore it is important to get the right […]
5 Social Media Platforms That You Didn’t Know Existed
It can be hard to get ahead in social media marketing, with even the most ambivalent technophobes understanding the ins and outs of Facebook and Twitter. Despite the market being almost completely devoted to the top dogs in social media, there are a few new platforms that are emerging to claim their spot in the […]
The Importance of Online Reviews
For the past 4 years, BrightLocal have been running surveys to help digital marketers understand the importance of online reviews, and the change in their audiences approach to them. The key findings speak volumes, with 88% of those surveyed saying that they read reviews to determine the quality of a local business. With only 12% […]
6 Recommended Books for Digital Marketers
Books are known for their in-depth knowledge, filling our minds with new information and perspectives that you may not have discovered before. It gives you the opportunity to think open-minded, creatively and allows you to deal with challenges better. As digital marketers, it is important for us to expand our knowledge, and this is why […]
10 Tips on Managing Social Media Complaints
Engaging with users online can help build your business’s brand, because it allows your trust and loyalty to come through. However, this is not always the case when out of the blue, a negative comment is thrown onto your social media pages. A face-to-face response is more effective, since you can use your body language […]
How to Outreach Effectively
Being able to outreach to bloggers and other internet presences effectively is a really important skill to have. Many companies use bloggers and third party websites to promote their products and services through adverts, guest posts and sponsored posts. However, bloggers are festooned with requests on a daily basis, so it is important to reach […]
How to use Images Effectively on Your Website
Images can deliver a powerful message in any media, reinforcing content and copy as well as helping to keep your website users engaged. They are also a great way to boost your websites SEO and encourage website shares on social media. The phrase ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ is undeniably overused, however it does […]
Why Responsive Web Design is Important
Having a responsive web design for your website is more important than ever in today’s era, with users constantly accessing websites on their smartphones and tablets. A responsive web design allows a website to be viewed effectively from any device on high functionality, by adjusting to the size of the screen it’s being viewed on. […]
How to Grow Your Small-Business Facebook Following
We have all heard the benefits of social media marketing, leading the majority of businesses to create their own Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. The difficulty isn’t in having a presence, but growing it and appealing to your desired audience. We all want to have thousands of followers, so we have put together our top […]
Why Market Research is Important For Your Business
Market research creates reliability and greater precision for businesses that wish to understand their customer needs. This research allows your business to find out relevant information on its product and service, demographics, competitors, and current trends. We have created a useful guide to help you recognise why researching your market is important for your business. […]
What is the Difference between Content and Copy?
The terms content writer and copywriter are thrown around, often referring to the same thing; a writer. However, despite this misunderstanding, a content writer and a copywriter both play very different roles in the marketing world. It is not always easy to distinguish between the two, and some people have differing opinions of what classes […]
How to run a Business Event
The key to engaging your customers doesn’t just lie online. It is important to keep your audience engaged by running events that can help to educate your audience in what you are truly passionate about. There is a lot to be said for hosting and event to keep your clients and potential clients interested in […]
The Benefits of being Google Analytics and Adwords Certified
Google offer a wide range of free certifications that prove to customers and potential employers that you are trained to Google’s high standards in using their top of the range softwares. Not only this, but it means that you can reap the full benefits of Google’s useful and detailed products. In this blog post, we […]
The Magic of Brand Storytelling
The power of storytelling is now being used in small and big businesses as a way to promote their business. It is a way to engage with customers in a new, fun and vibrant way. With the enormous growth in social media and content marketing, telling stories has been part of a strong strategic priority […]
8 Tips for Effective Email Marketing
Email marketing can be used for promotional or informative messages that are directly sent to subscribed customers. These messages can be in the form of press releases, surveys, competitions, or sales and promotions. It has stated that over 54% of marketers rate email marketing as the most effective type of digital marketing and is the […]
9 Effective Tips to Use YouTube For Your Business
YouTube is one of the fastest growing online marketing platform in today’s era on a global scale, with around 4,250,000,000 of videos being viewed daily. More than 1 billion individual users visit YouTube each month, with 100 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every minute. Your business can create effective watchable content to attract […]
Vine For Your Business: 6 Ways to Stand Out
Vine is a free mobile app that allows users to create and share a video that only last for 6 seconds. You maybe questioning how a 6 second video can help create success to your business, and this is what we are about to explain. So why does Vine work for your business? Videos will […]
Google Panda is now part of Google’s core ranking signals
Google Panda was launched at the beginning of 2011 and is one of Google’s most significant spam-fighting algorithms to date. It has been recently found that Google Panda is now part of Google’s core ranking algorithm, however it is unclear as to when this development took place. Google Panda was introduced to lower the rank […]
5 Benefits of Advertising on Facebook
Facebook is known to be one of the most popular social networking site that has over 1 billion users. Your business doesn’t need to spend thousands of money on a print campaign when Facebook already allows you to advertise on a low budget. Facebook advertising to reach their potential customers in a quick and effective […]
Why People Shop Online and how to Utilise Their Retail Habits
Last year’s Black Friday weekend was proof that the majority of shoppers are turning to the internet in search of the best offers and deals on products and services. A record breaking £1.1bn was spent online on Black Friday alone, with the crowds of 2014’s sales heading to their laptops to find the best deals […]
7 Pinterest Tips and Tricks for Businesses
Pinterest is one of the fastest-growing social networking platforms that allows users to visually share and ‘pin’ new and exciting images and videos from other users. It is a great opportunity for business marketers who want to market their products or services, by creating attention-grabbing visuals that drive website traffic to drive sales and create […]
Do’s and Don’ts For Instagram
It can be quite tricky figuring out how to make the most of your business on Instagram. It can be daunting and confusing as to whether or not you are doing it right or wrong. This is why we have come up with a wonderful bundle of do’s and don’ts when using social media for […]
Give Your Social Media a Boost for 2016
January is full of new resolutions and the opportunity to make positive changes to your business before getting snowed under as work returns to normal. Why not harness this enthusiasm for change and improvement and channel it into your social media platforms? We have put together a guide to help you make proactive changes to […]
The Benefits of Having a Mobile App for your Business
It is hard to get away from the feeling that apps are only for big name brands, like ecommerce giants Amazon. However this is not the case. More and more small businesses are following the mobile trend, as it becomes clear that purely having a mobile friendly site does not constitute an effective mobile strategy. […]
4 Tips For A Successful LinkedIn Profile For Your Company
LinkedIn may not be the most popular social media platform in the digital world, however it is definitely the most effective platform for building brand recognition and acts as a successful professional networking tool. It is great for content distribution, product launches and keeping up-to-date with your industry. You can even follow inspiring business entrepreneurs […]
5 Tips for Project Management
Behind every great project, there is a greater project manager. Keeping projects on track is a big challenge, and if you don’t set realistic expectations from the start – with senior management, the client or the team – and don’t have a strategy in place, deadlines can suffer. So how can project managers ensure that […]
From Basic Measurement to Analytics-Powered Solutions: Your Online Journey
Today, the majority of website and app owners are collecting data from their visitors, which they then use to improve their online campaigns and strategies. However, there seems to be a huge difference between some companies, with many relying on the most basic information to guide their online marketing decisions. When we first start out […]
The Facts of Image Optimisation
The world is moving more and more towards mobile usage over desktop searches. This has increased the benefits of including images in search engine results, as they are more more easily seen and are more clickable than traditional organic listings. Therefore it is important to recap a few top tips for optimising your online images […]
Why Email Marketing Is Important
Recent research has shown that email marketing is recognised as being one of the most powerful and effective channel in comparison to other channels within the digital marketing industry. It has been said that 2.5 billion people are email users and this is to increase to 2.8 billion in the next two years. It gives […]
10 Mistakes to Avoid on Social Media
There is no denying that social media is an extremely powerful marketing tool. It is a great way to share relevant information about your business’s products or services; it can provide excellent customer service whilst also engaging with your audience in an exciting manner. However, if it is used in the wrong way then it […]
The Digital Marketing Trends That Will Take Over 2016
Each year, new hardware, software, companies and user preferences cause a host of changes that either get adopted or ignored by the business world. Those of us who get on board earlier tend to have an advantage over those who didn’t, which is a great way to get ahead of the game in the new […]
How to use Periscope for your Business
Periscope is a more personal way to connect with your customers. The Twitter-owned live-streaming iOS and Android app lets anyone broadcast video for free, making it an easy, fast and affordable way to communicate with your customers in real time. Launched in March 2015, Periscope quickly catapulted into the most popular live streaming app available, […]
Steps to Improving your Domain Authority
There are many elements that make up a successful, ranking website. Having a high domain authority is something that online businesses strive for, as it brings with it top search engine ranking and strong traffic. However, there are many elements that need to come together in order to reach these high authorities. Ensure that all […]
The Winners of the 2015 Webby Awards
As the deadline for the 20th Annual Webby Awards approaches, we thought it would be fun to have a look over some of the winners from this years competition to give inspiration to anyone who is considering entering for the 2016 awards. Jerome Jarre: Jerome won the Special Achievement award, for his remarkable use of […]
6 Ways your Business Should be Using Snapchat
Snapchat is the fastest growing social network and it boasts over 100 million daily active users. Despite it’s large following businesses are continuing to neglect it as an important part of their social media marketing, with many favouring Facebook and Twitter as their preferred platforms. If you choose to market your business on Snapchat then […]
How to Create a Viral Marketing Campaign
Marketers have many goals and dreams, but creating a campaign that “goes viral” is the epitome of success for many aspiring marketers. It is almost impossible to predict whether a campaign will go viral or not, however there are notable similarities between successful campaigns that are worth paying attention to. We have selected 4 […]
The Secrets to a Successful Instagram Strategy
In today’s modern era, seflies and food photos and videos are great, however it is not enough to form a successful Instagram platform in the long-term. Marketers have the world in their hands to be wildly imaginative and creative with the power of visuals. So you must be curious to know why creating an […]
The Importance of Blogger Outreach
The benefits of working with established bloggers are often questioned, however, what they offer is the old fashioned service of word-of-mouth marketing. Bloggers are influencers, and they will tell others about your product or service. Outreach allows you to utilise these influencers’ reach and communities to get the right niche of people talking about your […]
Digital and Offline Marketing are Merging
Gartner released a survey yesterday that revealed digital marketing is now mainstream. 98% of marketers say online and offline marketing are merging, redefining and taking down the walls that have contained these two industries so far. The survey also found that marketing budgets increased by 10% in 2015, with 61% of respondents saying they expect […]
3 Ways to Start a Conversation on Twitter
Twitter is an incredible tool right at our fingertips. It offers us the chance to broadcast our opinions, visions and queries to a community of hundreds of millions of Twitter users. With over 300 million monthly users, our voices can reach all four corners of the world, allowing us to converse and expand our ideas […]
7 Reasons Your Business Should Be Using Vine
The popularity belonging to the mobile app Vine comes as no surprise as visual content performs extremely well on social media. The app enables users to create six-second videos that can be shared across social networking sites. Vine allows businesses to create powerful messages about their brand as well as conveying information about their products […]
Do Photos Generate More Social Media Engagement?
Everybody wants to increase the level of engagement that they achieve on social media. The tricky part isn’t working out how often to post, but what format your posts should take on. New research confirms that photos could be the answer we have all been looking for when it comes to increasing engagement on Facebook […]
5 Reasons Why Hashtags Are Effective On Social Media
5 Reasons Why Hashtags Are Effective On Social Media So what is this glorious word of hashtagging all about? A hashtag is a word or a phrase that is used to categorise particular topics. Hashtagging is seen as one of the most powerful tools to use in today’s world of social media, and […]
3 Tips When Using Pinterest for Your Business
Pinterest, it seems to be in the world of the unknown for a lot of us. However, it is time to step it up and get to know this increasingly popular social media platform, as it is one of the fastest growing social media platforms of 2015. Pinterest represents a massive opportunity for both consumer-focused […]
How To Improve Your Facebook Business Page
It can sometimes be challenging to maintain or, understand why your Facebook business page is not increasingly growing as you would of hoped. This is why; we have provided some great notable information on how your business can improve their Facebook business page to increase performance. Include All Basic and Relevant Information It is significant […]
5 Ways Twitter Can Improve Your Business
Twitter is a Social Media site used by millions and it has become increasingly evident that it can benefit businesses in numerous ways. It is a tool that can be used to monitor trends, find opportunities for growth, and create advocates for your brand. Here are five ways that Twitter can improve your business. 1. […]
3 Reasons to Monitor your Google Rankings
Monitoring your Google rankings is an extremely important aspect of SEO, as it allows you to work out which of your SEO tactics are benefitting your company, and what you need to improve on. Keyword monitoring is the best method to track which online marketing strategies work, by measuring the successes of your link building, […]
How to use Google Analytics
How to use Google Analytics Google Analytics makes it easier for anyone managing a site to track and analyse their traffic data. This free, powerful tool is a great way of working out which keywords resonate with visitors and what design elements turn people away. Google Analytics uses a small piece of Javascript coding […]
The Benefits of Pay-Per-Click Marketing
What is PPC Marketing? PPC, or pay-per-click advertising is a way of buying visits to your site rather than earning your view organically. Search engine advertising is one of the most popular forms of PPC. It allows advertisers to bid for advertisement placement in search engines sponsored links when someone searches a related keyword.Every time […]
How to Increase your Engagement on Instagram
With over 200 million users and up to 40% more user engagement that Facebook and Twitter, it has never been more essential to get to grips with Instagram. Thanks to it’s visual aspect, it is much easier to draw your audience in and reach out to new followers. It doesn’t take much to improve your […]
How to Gain Twitter Followers Organically
We’ve heard it time and time again that having an active Twitter profile will bring your website more traffic. This makes sense, but in order to do it to a scale that makes an obvious difference to your company, you must have hundreds if not thousands of followers. Gaining these followers organically is a must, […]
How can a Facebook Page Benefit your Business
Facebook pages can be difficult to nurture and grow into a platform that gives back as much as you put in. It can be easy to overlook Facebook in favour of Twitter and Instagram, which tend to reap followers quickly; however if used correctly Facebook could really benefit your business. Firstly, it is a low […]
Why you can’t afford to ignore Google Plus any longer
So many of us have been sneakily avoiding the little red G that has been haunting the internet for the past few years. Google Plus is Google’s answer to Facebook and LinkedIn, an awesome combination of social and professional interactions all in one place. If you still haven’t taken the plunge, here is a list […]
Does Cold Calling Still Have a Place in the Marketing World?
Digital marketing is just one member of the extensive and varied marketing family, alongside print marketing and telephone marketing to name a few. It’s tough to work out which method to use, or which combination will reach your audience. A question that we have seen all over social media so far this week is whether […]
How your website could be killing your conversion
We are a digital marketing company, so it is our job to improve our client’s online conversion. Obviously, having a team of digital marketing experts improving your website is a way to increase conversion, but there are steps that everyone can put in place themselves before seeking professional involvement. You can read more about this […]
Use Social Media to Promote your Blog
We find ourselves talking about this a lot here at Active, and it’s common knowledge that once you’ve published a new blog post you stick the link in a tweet, Facebook post and on whichever other social media platforms you use. However, it’s very easy to make that first step, but very difficult to get […]
We are Recruiting!
Here at Active, we believe our team of talented web developers, writers and video editors are the key to our success. Our unique ethos is to “make it personal”, with just five clients to every member of staff, ensuring that each of our customers receive the incredible service they deserve. Through the use of web […]
5 Video Blog Ideas for the Uninspired
It’s very easy for us to tell you that video blogging, or vlogging, will give you a massive SEO boost. That’s all well and good, but what do you actually put in a vlog? How do you make it engaging? We spend a large amount of our time storyboarding, filming and editing videos for our […]
5 Key Areas of SEO Practice for Beginners
Content When it comes to creating compelling content, it is important to remember that it plays two roles; providing information and increasing the pages search-ability. By researching popular keywords and phrases that could be used in your content, and writing about relevant, trending topics, you put yourself in a much better position to be found […]
5 of the Best FREE WordPress Plugins
Here at Active Internet Marketing, we are constantly testing new plugins to optimise our WordPress websites. Our web team have tried hundreds of free plugins, and have managed to narrow their favourites down to the top 5. WordPress SEO by Yoast Yoast is every bloggers dream come true. It takes you through inserting meta data […]
Northampton College Presentation – Adam Prosser April 2015
Recently our Managing Director, Adam Prosser, presented at Northampton College in an effort to raise awareness with the students about potential careers in Digital Marketing. The presentation covered potential earnings the industry can offer and how these compare to the average earnings in other career paths that the students may be considering. He then went […]
How to Create Good Content for SEO
Creating content is easy. There, we said it. Anyone can ‘compile research’ via a trusty 5 minute Google search only to regurgitate the same information into one neat little article for your blog or newsfeed. The only problem is no one’s going to read it! Creating good content – the kind of content that doesn’t […]
Can you use viral videos to improve your business?
It’s no secret that nowadays having a video on your website is a crucial part of building your SEO presence, it helps your rankings, your conversion rates, and can help your social presence. So what’s the next step? You’ve added a video to your homepage explaining who you are and what you do, you’ve even […]
WordPress Plugin Vulnerability
According to WordPress security guru’s Sucuri, multiple WordPress plugins have been found to be vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting (XSS) due to the misuse of the add_query_arg() and remove_query_arg() functions. The have released a list of the initial plugins that have been found to be affected, which can be viewed below. Jetpack WordPress SEO Google Analytics by […]
Responsive Web Design & Mobilegeddon
What is Responsive Web Design (RWD)? Responsive Web Design, sometimes abbreviated to RWD is a way of designing a website to work across multiple resolutions to provide the best viewing experience for the user. The aim of responsive website design is to minimize the amount of scrolling, manual resizing and zooming the site requires […]
WooCommerce Vs. Magento
It’s very likely that whoever has decided to start their own e-commerce store has come across the two most popular e-commerce CMS platforms, WooCommerce and Magneto (and rightly so too). As it stands, they are the two leaders of the e-commerce bunch, ranking in at the top two market share holders amongst every store online. […]
The Importance of User Experience When Creating a Website
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Google Introduces Mobile-Friendly Tags
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Successful Seasonal Marketing Campaigns of 2014
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How To Make The Most Of Pinterest
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What we learned from the Content Marketing Show – November 2014
On Wednesday we were fortunate enough to attend the Content Marketing Show…
The (Useful) Novelty of Web Video
Corporate web videos have become more and more of a thing…
How Do You Rate Your Calls to Action?
It’s well known that Calls To Action (CTAs) are needed in Pay-Per-Click…
CAPTCHA Images And Your Conversion Rate
As we’ve just released our about our Conversion Rate Optimisation services…
Active Internet Marketing (UK) – CRO Video
Active Internet Marketing proudly present our Conversion Rate Optimisation video…
5 Tips on Writing Successful LinkedIn Articles
If like me, you are an avid user of LinkedIn, I’m sure you’ll have noticed a change…
Twitter Analytics
As some companies may know, Twitter Analytics was only available to advertisers…
Lessons To Take From A Brand With Amazing Social Media Success!
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How Can Conversion Rate Optimisation Help You?
One of the newest pieces of technology to penetrate the UK Market, Conversion…
Effective Email Marketing: A Slight Seasonal Taste
Email Marketing is one of the most undervalued tools in the Marketer’s arsenal. Effective…
Does Duplicate Content affect your search ranking?
It goes without saying that you have to create unique and genuine content for your…
Why You Need Social Media Management Tools In Your Business
Social Media is obviously a big part of any serious business, wanting to establish…
Should I Use Twitter As Part of My Social Media Strategy?
One word: Absolutely! Twitter is such an invaluable tool to plunge you in at the deep…
Local Listing Optimisation: What is it?
Local Listing Optimisation is often referred to in “Local SEO” but what does it actually…
Onsite SEO / Technical SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) covers a number of factors that affect the ranking of a page. Within…
The Importance of External Links in SEO and Ranking
External links are pretty self-explanatory. Essentially, an external link is a link that either points someone…
What is Content Marketing?
The field of content marketing is fast growing, and ever evolving. By reading the definition of what…