SEO, Digital Marketing and online security: Recent Episodes
Andy Poulton
I'm Andy Poulton and I've been marketing online since 1999. Listen to my podcasts to learn a little more about a wide range of digital marketing and online security security issues. I talk about
- Search Engine Optimisation - SEO
- Google Ads, Facebook Ads and other forms of Pay per Click - PPC
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Video Marketing
- Web Design and Web Usability
- Cyber Security
- Passwords and Password Security
- And quite a bit more
Do you know how good, or bad, your video calls sound?
Have you ever recorded your calls and played them back? Are you happy with the sound quality or would you like to sound more professional?
Have a listen to this to find out how to make your video calls sound more professional
Help! I’ve got an invisible website, what should I do?
1/ Panic?
2/ Wait and Hope?
3/ Start Again?
4/ Call an expert?
Have a listen and hear expert advice from Andy Poulton, your Chief SEO Officer. Also may contain references to Search Engine Optimisation
The Welsh Italian Pizza Company were in the press recently but it wasn't because of their Pizzas. It was something web related. Have a listen to learn about their domain name nightmare and other howlers and how not to make the same mistake with your website.
In my previous pod I talked about the key Cyber Security threats that individuals and businesses of all sizes face.
This time around I am going to review some of the key protective measures that you can take. Measures that will make your business harder to defraud, harder to hack and less likely to fall victim to Cyber Crime.
Could your business be at risk from Cyber Crime?
You bet it could.....in fact, with Putin's invasion of Crimea the threats are likely to be much greater as the Cyber Criminals use the invasion as a distraction and opportunity
Listen to my latest Podcast to find out how cyber criminals could impact your business
Search Engine Optimisation is the the process that is undertaken in order to make your website search engine friendly. This makes it easy for all search engines to fully understand your business, your services and/or your products so that your website can feature in the search results when somebody is searching for the things you do, the services you provide or the goods you sell.
But it’s not quite as simple as simply being listed. I work at Search Engine Optimisation and if you do a search for that, Google comes back with nearly 23 million results. And with no more than 10 free results on a page that’s a potential of 2.3 million pages of results.
You have to have SEO to stand ANY chance of being easily found in the Search Engine Results Pages
Christmas is just around the corner. Now is an ideal time to take a step back from working In your business (the day to day things that you do) and do a bit of work ON your business (business structure, systems, processes, marketing etc.).
That makes it an ideal time for some top tips for your SEO for 2022.
You cannot be serious….…Yes you can and you must be.
But serious about what?
About your passwords, that’s what.
The Top 10 most hacked passwords of 2021 has been released. And you won't believe what's at No. 1. Well, you might but you should be incredulous because it's just stupidity of the highest order
Does your business use a mobile number?
Of course it does but do you have a landline number or have you ditched that and rely solely on your mobile (cell) phone?
That could be a mistake and if you listen to my latest podcast you'll understand why I think that it is.
Threats of Cyber Crime from Cyber Criminals continue to increase and we all need to be increasingly alert and focussed on the threats, the impact they could have on our lives AND the things we can do to minimise the risk to ourselves and our businesses.
National Cyber Security Month 2021 has the overarching theme “Do your part. #BeCyberSmart” and looks to empower individuals and businesses to own their role in protecting their part of cyberspace.
15 Years ago Bill Gates predicted the death of the password. He was wrong, the password is still with us but it's even more insecure and new advice is to use 3 random words. But how do you choose 3 random words?
Use What 3 Words, that's how. Have a listen to lean how
When I’m asked to evaluate a website I always ask for access to Google Analytics, GA, (other analytics packages are available) so that I can get a feel for how the site is performing. After all, if it’s performing well then there’s probably little to gain from tweaking the website but if it’s not performing then the website needs to be fixed BEFORE any more marketing takes place.
This is a pet peeve of min. Too many people, many who should know better, use the word "Internet" when they should use "WWW" and vice versa. This REALLY gets me because the two are very different. Have a listen to learn the difference
Carousels, (aka Image Sliders) the name given to those annoying sliding images that seem to feature on most websites these days. As you might have gathered, I’m not a fan but is my dislike subjective (taste) or objective (they don’t add anything).
It’s objective, listen to my Podcast and learn why
How could a cup of coffee cost £31,000? It's not about expensive beans, it's all about Cyber Crime
Proper Preparation & Planning Prevents Pretty Poor Performance was the first set of 7Ps that I learned.
When I moved from IT Support Engineer and Consultant in to Internet Marketing I learned about a different 7Ps, the 7Ps of Marketing:
Listen to learn about the 7Ps of Marketing and how they can improve your business.
I want to tell you that there are other search engines available and there may be excellent reasons for using them. Here's a look at the top search engines around the world
Spend 10 minutes listening to my Podcast to learn how you can move your website higher in the search results
Are you selling your sizzle?
I reckon that at least 7 out of 10 websites that I am asked to evaluate fail on one fundamental content presentation issue.
Businesses love to talk about their cow (features) but rarely mention their “sizzle” (benefits).
So, are you selling your steak or are you selling your sizzle?
Whether you are working from home, #WFH, working in an office or still out and about I know that as Christmas approaches the big wind-down starts to feature in our minds.
Nothing wrong with looking forwards to Christmas but it’s important that you don’t allow your Cyber Security guard to fall too.
Why not? Simply because the hackers and cyber criminals won’t – if anything they’ll be upping their activity because they know that our minds will be on other things.
Your website is Responsive, which means that it automatically re-formats itself depending on the device being used to access it - desk/lap tops, tablets, mobile (cell) phones etc.
But is being responsive enough? Listen to this podcast to hear some of the common pitfalls and how you can avoid them.
Podcasting is simply the audio equivalent of blogging. It’s where you create an audio recording and share it across the internet. Find out WHY you should Podcast, HOW you can make your own Podcast and WHAT you should do with it once you have rec
The Bounce Rate is one of the most powerful metrics, a powerful insight into the minds of the people who are visiting your website.
And yet all the Bounce Rate does is record the percentage of people who visit your website but leave almost straight away without doing anything more than viewing the page they landed on.
Do you know the Bounce Rate for your website and do you kow how to fix a poor one?
Have a listen - and learn.
Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads are 3 of the top website advertising platforms - but which is the right one for your business and which one is the best?
I started providing SEO services in 2001 and things were a lot simpler than they are now. Back then it was all about keywords. Keywords in the keyword Meta Tag, keywords in the Meta Title Tag and Meta Description Tags and keywords liberally scattered throughout the content.
As things have changed, the number of SEO myths has grown and these are the ones that I most frequently encounter
Use this as a golden opportunity to pull ahead of your competition
And it’s not difficult. You can take advantage of one of the government support packages to give your marketing activity a boost. The coronavirus Bounce Back loan is perfect for this.
I am frequently asked whether Twitter can help with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and my answer is usually a pretty vague “it depends”.
But listen to this podcast to understand how Twitter CAN support your SEO and digital marketing
How do you know whether marketing option "x" is going to be better than marketing option "y"? You don't but if you approach your campaigns with a plan then you'll be well placed to find out which works better and which should be abandoned
For years, technologists have been promoting digital transformation but corona virus, lock-down and working from home has really pushed many businesses to take a fresh look.
Lock-Down means that a lot of us are having to work very differently, working from home, whether from a home office, the dining table, the kitchen table or a bedroom dressing table or a shed at the end of the garden it’s all quite new
Remember, In the middle of the storm it can be difficult to see anything but chaos but the storm will pass. Your best defence is to do everything that you can to still be standing when the storm passes.
How easy is it to read the content of your website? Have you actually paid any attention to how many potential customers you may be losing because your website is difficult to read?
Have a listen to learn WHY this is vitally important
I am frequently asked by small businesses why a hacker or cyber criminal would target them?
The answer's pretty simple, as a small business they probably don't have a cyber security expert and are an easy target
and post a photo of you flying off in your private jet only to have your house burgled and £50m, yes MILLION, of jewellery stolen in a robbery
Christmas is nearly here, people are beginning the big “wind down” and it would be so easy to let your guard down too.
Well, let me tell you, the hackers and cyber criminals won’t – it anything they’ll be ratcheting up their activity because they know that our minds will be on other things.
Are you using email marketing for our business? If you are, well done. If you are not, why not? Give this a listen and if it sounds like something that might be of interest, then please get in touch.
How do you budget for SEO? How do you determine value for money? Have a listen and get in touch with questions
How much is a Page 1 result on Google actually worth? Do you think SEO is expensive? Have a listen to see how it compares to TV, radio and print advertising to understand the true value of SEO
The SEO practitioners who cheat are known as “black hatters” or “unethical” whilst the good guys are “white hats” or ethical.
Which you choose is up to you, however the impact on your business, if you make the wrong choice, could be disastrous. How can you tell which is which?
How clean is your mobile phone? Did you know that it could be covered in E-Coli, Streptococcus, MRSA and more? Have a listen to find out more
Twitter's great, right but your news-feed can move to fast to see what people important to you are saying and this is where Twitter Lists comes in.
It saves time, helps you focus and makes you a better communicator.
Have a listen to learn more about Twitter Lists and how you can use them
WordPress, the world's most popular website builder but you need to keep it up to date - listen to find out why this could be crucial to the survival of your business
Millions of emails and passwords are available to cyber criminals but how do you know whether you are at risk?
How do you know whether they've got their hands on your email addresses, passwords and maybe more?
Have a listen to find out
Videos are great, but they're no good for your business if they can't be found and this podcast looks at how you can optimise your videos and make them easier to find in YouTube and Google Search
If your website uses WordPress(WP) then you find yourself in good company. It’s by far and away the most popular CMS, being used by 32% of all websites. WordPress is popular for a number of reasons, the software is free (but you’ll still need hosting that will cost), it’s pretty easy to use and there are thousands of “themes” (designs and templates) that you can use to define the way your website looks and many of them are free to use. There’s lots of places you can turn to for advice and support and lots of professional developers who can customise your site so that is does exactly what you need.
The “Dark Web” has been in the press frequently over the past couple of years, associated with tales of hacking, the sale of personal information, credit card data, drugs, weapons and other illicit items. However, there’s been very little by way of explanation as to what the dark web is and how you go there and this item looks to answer that, purely for research purposes of course.
I always push the need for “fresh content” on website because it’s well known that it really helps with your SEO. However, I am often asked how long a blog post or web page should be. Listen to learn more
I see good sites, OK sites, indifferent sites and some real shockers but it does not matter how good (or how poor) the site, whether pennies, pounds or thousands was spent on the development loads miss out on the provision of basic information. A lot of which is a legal requirement when a business is using a website to promote themselves.
We all do silly things when online but here's 5 things you might do that you really should stop doing TODAY!
But first you need to understand what 2FA is so have a listen to my podcast to learn all about Two Factor Authentication and how it can add an extra layer of security to your internet activity
SEO - takes effect immediately, right?
Wrong! Have a listen to find out how long SEO can take