New Coffee Payment Method introduced

Coffee Beans will soon become the alternative payment method for Kasumi DeMarco at Wildcat SEO

Any quotations made by the SEO Goddess will have the alternative coffee bean payment method attached.

The coffee beans will be worth varying amounts depending on their weight, quality and appeal.

At this time Kasumi reserves the right to refuse a certain type of coffee bean dependant on her own personal preference.

We are aware of several other SEO and Online marketing businesses who will be monitoring the success of this scheme before introducing their own alternative payment methods, so far we have heard through the grapevine that both chocolate and curry powders are both being investigated ready for launching at this time next year.

Tags: April 1st, Coffee beans, News

Heard it? Searched for it?…the draw to hear or better still see this rant in full flow has been incredible to say the least. Make no mistake, I am in no way condoning the actions of Christian Bale in this ‘episode’ but I have to admit, this is one way to raise awareness for any cause you feel needs a little exposure.

I am not suggesting that this was a deliberate tactic to raise the profile of a future film release but no-one can deny it has had that very effect.

The latest Terminator film called Terminator Salvation (also known as T4: Salvation USA promotional abbreviation) Stars the British actor in the role of John Connor with Bryce Dallas Howard starring as Kate Connor, is due for release in the US on 22nd May 2009 with the UK getting the film on 5th June 2009, this is one way to put the film itself into the minds of the viewing public both here in the UK and over in the US.

Bale recently played Bruce Wayne / Batman in the awesome action thriller The Dark Knight alongside the late Heath Ledger so is still very much the ‘hero’  in the minds of both the cinema going public and the home DVD/Blu-ray fans.

Christian Bale has provided a boost to this forthcoming film and one I am sure will be remembered for some time yet, after all we just love to see the celebs lose it in public, even if we have to wait until someone ‘sneaks’ the recording out at a later date.

The apology from Christian Bale has been aired on US Airwaves of KROQ Radio, Los Angeles and has pretty much declared the end of the matter as far as the two subjects of the ‘discussion’ are involved.

I personally think this would have been much better being released to the general public at the beginning of May 2009, just before the release of the film to take better advantage of the free publicity angle and get some welcome film promotion.

The main point being made here is the old adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity, this may sometimes not be the best way to achieve exposure but it can often be the most cost effective way. It could almost be seen as subliminal advertising, something that in itself could be seen as an unwanted intrusion but nevertheless it does deliver the message when used in a subtle but effective way.

Go on, have your rant but please be careful who you upset, the last thing you want is a court appearance!

Image from MSN

Tags: Bryce Dallas Howard, Christian Bale, Dark Knight, John Connor, Los Angeles, Terminator Salvation, United Kingdom, United States

We have all seen the funny ads on TV recently, just in case you haven’t…watch below:

This is not just a funny advert, it is a very clever way of using simple misdirection, an honest mistake even, to advertise a very different business and related website.

Just think about the consequences of this type of promotion, all over the country people are talking about this ad and the companion website – very clever indeed.

Ask yourself this question, if you want to attract more visitors and business to your web site then can you think of a more original way of doing this?

I think we have all missed the boat on this particular one, as the first is often the best remembered, and thinking about that, I guess we have concluded the purpose of the advert in the first place.

For reference, check out the web site www.comparethemeerkat.com and you will see that not only has the advert itself been cleverly worded and produced, but the companion website delivers a terrific experience as well, just hang around, click some links and no doubt you will be prompted for a redirection, how many of you chose the “I’m serious about meerkats link?”

This campaign is fresh and different in a market that is near saturation, how can we all learn from this?

The trick is to stay alert, never dismiss any idea until you have thought it through completely, you may be on to something so test your ideas out on friends and colleagues and watch their reaction, if most of them like it then you might have the beginnings of something good, possibly even viral which could be where this advert is heading.

I have to add the word “meerkats” to my dictionary as I write this because the spellchecker just keeps throwing this one up all the time, that kind of makes it’s own statement I guess and we should always consider that not everyone searching online has perfect spelling and grammar.

If you have an idea similar and as offbeat as this one why not roll with it, see where it takes you, hopefully to a flourishing web site and bulging order book but beware, being creative and different is all very well but if you come up with a successful campaign like this one, what exactly do you follow it with?

Simples!

Tags: Advertising, Kids and Teens, Meerkat, School Time, Television, Web Design and Development, Website, World Wide Web

Who could deny seeing Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic in their newest advert on TV recently, celebrating their 25th anniversary.

A very clever use of innuendo mixed with strong images projecting the feeling of success and sexiness, a lesson for us all.

This advert serves it’s purpose very well and projects a strong message to the viewing audience.

What has this got to do with web sites and marketing?

The way in which the advertising guys have cut this advert together, edited the scene so you don’t see the subject of the advert until the end is clever indeed, it draws the viewer in and entices you to stay and watch the story unfurl. The way the pilot smiles, the sexy look of the cabin crew (lets not forget the bold use of the sexy red uniforms!), is sure to strike a chord with most demographics who could be watching, and there lies the secret!

The use of subtle “sexiness” and “coolness” is all very well but you have to agree, Virgin Atlantic have not over used the subtleties and neither should you. Promote your business online in a bold and striking way and be daring, use subtle undertones if they are appropriate but keep this relevant to your site and products/services.

For more information on how to make your web site sexy and attractive, visit www.kasumiseo.co.uk for a masterclass in online promotion, the sexy way..

Tags: Advertising, Atlantic, Business, Richard Branson, Television, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Website

Peter van der Graaf

Advanced Search Specialist
Netsociety

Bio

Peter van der Graaf has been active in search engine marketing for ten years having worked on technical SEO for search engines like Alta Vista, Lycos and Yahoo. Peter now focuses mainly on influencing peoples’ behaviour so that they spread the correct messages in order to be picked up by the search engines.

He has instructed at many Dutch search engine marketing firms and speaks at workshops, conferences and universities. He is currently focusing on “viral link-building” which he believes is the most effective way to increase organic ranking.

Interview with Peter van de Graaf

> 1) With the recession firmly biting at the heart of many businesses both large and small, what would you consider to be the most vital action to take to try to win and retain new business?

Luckily I’m mainly working for bigger companies that used to have huge budgets for television, radio and newspapers. Increasingly these businesses want tangible results for their marketing money and that’s where the budgets are directed at search engine marketing. Whenever you have clear goals on your website that can be converted to a certain value, increasing measurability is one of the most important steps to take.
In these harder times you want every pound to create a profit.
http://www.vdgraaf.info/making-money-with-search-how-conversion-really-works.html

> 2) As an online marketing company we often have companies approach us with a limited or reduced budget for the coming year, what advice would you give any business marketing on a budget?

Whenever you can show a direct profit for every pound invested, the budget is sure to grow. When websites don’t sell directly, be sure to attach some value to several KPI’s.
Smart search engine marketing creates chances for smaller companies to compete against larger ones, just by the extra creativity and freedom they have.

> 3) Web 2.0 is no longer an emerging concern but is now firmly established as a specific marketing strategy, with this in mind where do you see the path of Web 2.0 leading?

When by web 2.0 you mean an increasing role for visitors to define the web, I feel it is nothing like established. Websites give their users many possibilities to communicate, but not many companies use this to their advantage.
Influencing public opinion is a mayor role for people like me. Services like online reputation management and viral link building are in high demand. Where online marketing and mainly search engine optimization (SEO) used to be technical, nowadays the importance of psychology and sociology is far greater.

> 4) When planning a marketing strategy many companies prefer to have a year on year budget for marketing and promotion, would this be the best approach over a monthly flexible marketing strategy and what would be your preferred strategy?

I always demand a large enough budget to prove myself first. After that is established most budgets become limitless as long as every pound converts.
This is easy with search engine advertising (SEA), but because SEO is mainly a long term investment I make sure there are many great results on their way to the top. I don’t focus on goals years from now, but keep building towards that with smaller achievements.

> 5) There are many businesses fail to survive their first trading year and in a recession this is likely to be even higher, based on this assumption, what key areas do you consider a must for any start-up business to have covered in their marketing strategies?

New companies don’t have a respected name to put at risk. This gives them more freedom to be creative and makes them more flexible. My advice for smaller companies entering the realm of search is “Define your niche, rule it and grow from there”. This means you need to start as specific as possible with your proposition to customers.
Many niche search terms combined have a huge reach and because there are only 10 spots on the first Google page it is a far better strategy then focussing on that one generic term.

> 6) There are no quick and easy fixes for reduced sales and underperforming web sites but there are companies that relish the chance to prosper where others fail in these difficult times, what is your stand point on being more ruthless to stamp your business presence over that of your competitors?

I have many sorts of customers and offer many different strategies. Ethics and risks to their reputation will always remain to be determined on a case-to-case basis.
My personal expertise is link building and failing businesses offer great chances. Whenever a domain name becomes available again I check if there is any value left in the form of incoming links. The value of these links can for instance be transferred to my websites by using a permanent redirect. Google will then accredit these indicators of importance to me and my site will rank better.

Don’t miss out on Peter’s Link-building basic sessions at SES London 17 – 20 February 2009

Having the right incoming links is extremely important for ranking in search engines. During the “Link building basics” session at SES London we will share many smart ways to build authority in the eyes of search engines. The session is a must for companies operating in a competitive industry and offers great insights for companies with an online focus.

Love to see you there!

Peter van der Graaf

Tags: interview, link building, Online marketing, Peter van de Graaf, SEO, SES London

Maximise your web business by creating several web sites with different aspects of your business detailed on each site. When you research searching trends and identify your target market then you should also create a web site aimed directly at this market to initiate a focused, targeted marketing strategy.

The concept of the online ecommerce shop or business is not a new one, the idea however that you have a targeted site designing in such a way as to appear stand alone but is in fact branded for your products first and your business second is relatively new. What I am suggesting is to give your customers exactly what they are searching for, the crucial thing is to create these alternative sites with your overall branding and make it clear that this is part of a bigger business so your visitor can be reassured by your brand name and your existing reputation.

Consider this, you run a successful garden centre and you wish to promote your full range of garden sheds. On your existing “parent” site you have all the information and a full catalogue of your products for all your visitors to browse through, this is typical of the early web site approach and in essence there is nothing wrong with building your web site in this way. What happens when web sites follow this strategy is the visitor needs to know what they are looking for and how to get to it. On your web site, this is done through careful placing of web elements and navigation within your web site that will attract and steer your visitor to their choice. Consider that the garden centre has upwards of several thousand items in several hundred specific product lines, how exactly can you target your web site to promote all of these successfully, all at the same time?

When you follow the targeted strategy you can have a web site dedicated to garden sheds, one for garden tools, one for pots and planters, another for ornamental statues etc..etc..

With this marketing method it is easy to see that your visitor can be directed straight to their chosen “department” online and choose from your wide range of garden sheds. The biggest advantage is perhaps the way that each web site can be promoted individually thus each site can have specific targeted landing pages, detailing all your special offers and sale items. When the site has been created and indexed by Google we will see another advantage of specific targeted sites, relevancy! Google simply loves relevancy and will usually rank your site higher in the SERPs if your web site has a high relevancy factor, by this we mean, in terms of your garden centre, a web site that has so much information regarding garden sheds, that sites like www.wikipedia.org and www.dictionary.com direct their visitors to your site as there is no other web site out there that holds more information about garden sheds than your one does!

Ok, perhaps getting a little ahead of ourselves but you should be able to see where I am going with this. A targeted, focused and driven individual web site promoting one product line alone stands a much better chance of higher relevancy that one that simply lists several hundred lines of vaguely related products.

The best practice is to follow the targeted individual web site strategy and cross promote on all your web sites, so all of them effectively promote each other. The main issue is to ensure that you do not follow the principal of separate domains, use sub-domains instead or treat different product lines as sections within your web site, promotion of these “sections” using specific targeting should have a positive effect on your web stats.

There is nothing wrong in having more than one domain for your products and treating these as stand alone web sites but this may result in dilution of your web reach for your overall brand. Better to employ a mixed strategy and use a few domains, sub domains and sectioned web sites to allow for targeted promotion to maximise your reach and saturation.

Wildcat SEO are experienced in this type of strategic marketing, following the principal that your web site can only be promoted for the items or services that you actually provide. We aim to identify specific markets and work closely with our clients to identify targets and open new avenues to promote your online business.

Contact us so we can discuss your needs and put together an action plan to promote your business effectively online.

Tags: Google, Internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing strategy, Search engine optimization, Search engine results page, SEO, Target market, Website

The fear that we are heading for a recession is no longer a myth but a stone cold reality. The powers that be, from wherever you are reading this are doing their thing, playing their part and trying to resolve the crisis. Bit by bit we will emerge from these dark times but what can we expect when we do? Will your competitors still be there, will you still be trading or have you decided to seek employment of another sort.

The reality is that though money and funding is tight and we are advised that borrowing is difficult to come by, being in a recession doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. Difficult decisions have to be made and one of those will undoubtedly be “how do we continue to provide what we provide and sell what we sell?”

Consider this scenario;
You are a small business, you employ several members of staff and you provide valuable services to the business community around your area.
The recession is biting and you see your order books start to show blank spaces where orders once stood. You need to fill these spaces quickly as you have known the bad times in the past, you are aware that there will come a time that the cash-flow situation dictates how many staff you will have to let go, this is not a good time for your business.

Difficult decisions have to be made before the ability to stay afloat leaves you stranded. It is all too easy to be pessimistic in times like these but there may be a solution that you can consider to help ease the situation. There are people out there who still need your services, those businesses that you supply still need you only right now they may be afraid to commit to any spending. What about  those businesses that are spending the money, are still advertising, putting on sales and drawing customers in, why are they spending when they should be saving?

Ask yourself these questions, are those businesses your competitors? Could those businesses be your customers? Why are they not spending their money buying your services? Then perhaps the biggest question of all – do they even know you exist?

It is more important now than ever to seek new avenues to generate revenue, capture new business and gain new clients so why not let them know you are still trading, still out there and still providing those services that has made you successful in the past? Advertising can be expensive but it may bring in the customers that you need so badly.

Perhaps the best method of advertising is on the Internet, boosting your web presence in these dark times can often see you leapfrogging your competitors simply because they didn’t think clearly and perhaps they got too caught up in the recession to see a possible way out.

The advantages to increasing awareness for your business online are potentially huge and could be life saving for your business. What you lay down now to promote your business online will reap benefits and rewards well past your steady rise from this recession. Spend now, promote now, do your bit to raise your online profile and save your business from extinction.

This advice does not apply to every business, only the ones with enough clarity and focus to succeed where others fail, forward thinking businesses will survive and could gain more credibility and longer lasting success if they act now and promote their way out of this recession, onwards to success and a stronger stake in their target market.

Online promotion can offer new ways to seek business, it can open new avenues for growth, help to exploit the weaknesses of your competitors and show the business world that you are a serious business who knows how to survive and prosper.

What you need is to have someone offer you a way forward, a way to success and a way to out perform your competitors – Wildcat SEO can inject this forward motion into your business.
Wildcat SEO offer a huge range of online promotional methods to ensure maximum exposure of your business both in this recession and beyond.

Act now for the future of your business and leave your competitors behind.

Tags: Advertising, Business, Employment, Internet marketing, Online advertising, Small business, Target market

I found this fascinating quote today:

Writing an attractive and optimised article is always hard. Remember to use a strong <h1> title for you main heading and follow through with a short snappy paragraph, using linking for keywords and phrases.Kasumi DeMarco, Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa, Nov 2008

You should read the whole article.

Tags: web article optimisation, web optimisation

Well I have been talking about doing the “change theme” thing but instead I thought it better to edit this great Amazing Grace theme by Vladimir Prelovac.

I have kept the same basic layout and got busy on the graphics, I think it has turned out pretty good but can also see I need to mess around with it some more.

Watch this space…

by Kasumi DeMarco

Does an SEO goddess have similar qualities to a SEX Goddess

The qualities of a any true goddess according to Wikipedia is “female deity”

But where did the term sex goddess originate?

It can be traced back to the 1946 film,
Gilda, starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford.

Gilda was designed and written from the beginning as a “sex goddess” exploitation film-specifically for Miss Hayworth.

Shooting started on the film even before the male star had been selected.

Gilda is a fantasized version of the seductive vixen-tinged character that every man supposedly dreams of.

1

What about other renown SEX goddesses…

2 3 4

5 6 7

Why not vote for your favourite Goddess of all time…

What is the definition of an SEO Goddess in the 20th Century?

An SEO goddess is a divine female character, who stands out from the crowd, which is fairly easy for most female SEO goddesses in a predominantly male dominated world.

How do you know an SEO Goddess when you meet one?

ATTITUTE

A positive, out going and almost intuitive attitude to her clients as well as fellow SEO goddesses and especially their male counterparts!

EFFORT

The effort and enthusiasm she puts into being an SEO goddess is 100% at all times.

CONFIDENCE

She oozes confidence to those around her, in an appealing and friendly way!

DETERMINATION

No matter what is thrown at her she will remain purposeful achieving what she originally set out to achieve.

FOCUSED

She ignores any distraction, whilst being able to multi-task but still giving her total and complete attention.

Do you need an SEO Goddess?

If you are currently;

Under performing

Lacking substance

Then you need the services of an SEO Goddess

A SEO Goddess will use her raw power to allure the search engines to find your web site, using charmed techniques learn’t during stringent training accompanied by a use of powerful SEO tools.

Once you web site is found an SEO Goddess will attract relevant visitors who will eagerly visit your site with a sense of sheer anticipation.

Every one of your visitors should each be truly satisfied having found exactly what they were searching for.

But Remember

an SEO Goddesses work is never done…

Tags: SEO Goddess