Advertising on Twitter

Twitter, or more precisely Anamitra Banerji, Twitter’s Head of Product Management, has recently announced that the launch of advertising on the 140 character site is imminent.

Such an announcement has long been expected as the long term goal for Twitter was always for it to be monetised in some way. But what does Twitter advertising mean for businesses?

Firstly, if the advertising platform is set up well, it should allow advertisers to target their ads specifically, targeting keywords within a user’s profile or on the page that they are viewing.

Secondly, it provides a huge opportunity for early adopters. Those businesses that can get in early and begin advertising on Twitter from the very start will be among those likely benefit the most.

Not only will these users have the greatest amount of experience of advertising on Twitter, but their ads will see the greatest return as users actually notice them when advertising first starts to appear on Twitter.

Over time, adverts on Twitter will become more commonplace and so the return that is seen from each advert, on average, is likely to fall.

What else will influence the success of this new advertising platform?

For me, there are two other factors that will influence the success of advertising on Twitter and the take-up of it by potential advertisers.

Whether ads are charged on a per click or per impression basis will be interesting.

The second factor I believe will be how Twitter integrates the ability for users to opt out of advertising. @socialtech on Twitter was quick to point out that a Spotify-style model would be the most sensible option, in which users pay a subscription to avoid advertising messages. This seems like the most likely course of action.

So, in short, it’s all about how Twitter rolls out its advertising model, how well it is communicated to potential advertisers and how quickly advertisers adopt and succeed with the model.

At Intergage we’ll be keen to get stuck in and experiment with this new tool as soon as possible. We’ll keep you updated on the potential benefits as we look to provide this as part of our SEM service to clients.

The Intergage Google Wave seminar

You may remember that several months ago we wrote about a new tool from Google known as Google Wave. The full post is available here.

Following-on from this, we are set to provide our clients and associates with an introduction to Google Wave in our first Web marketing seminar of the year.

The seminar will be held twice, once on the 10th March in our Poole offices and once at the Express by Holiday Inn in Southampton on the 17th March. It will provide an introduction to Google Wave and how it can be used to improve the way that you do business in the coming years.

I personally will also be introducing attendees to the latest updates to the Intergage CMS – what they are and how they can be used. This demonstration will include instruction on the new item library feature which has already saved so many of us hours and hours of time when creating new Web pages.

You can find more details about the seminar and book your place(s) here.

Let the links come to you

I am quite often asked by clients about the best websites for them to request links from and how to go about gaining these links.

High quality, relevant inbound links are a key factor in good SEO and so the more you have, the higher your website is likely to rank for your targeted keywords and phrases.

Because of the many emails that we as website owners receive each day with requests to link to obscure foreign websites, many people think that the best way to gain links is by emailing and suggesting a link exchange with relevant Webmasters.

This really isn’t the best way.

Sending emails with link exchange requests is not only increasingly being seen as SPAM (especially when it is not very well targeted) but also involves a lot of work finding suitable targets for often very little return. It is likely that the links you receive will also not be as relevant as you may have hoped for and will be frowned upon by Google.

There is a better way

The best way to gain links to your website is with compelling, interesting content that others will want to read. If your website adds value to a topic or provides something of genuine use to the reader, then it is likely that other websites will link to it.

Providing great content like this is an easy way to attract links, without the active emailing of other Webmasters. You don’t even have to provide a return link in exchange! Great topics for content that others want to link to include ‘top ten’ lists, expert guides and reports on topics related to your industry.

So every time you add a page to your website, for SEO purposes or otherwise, ask yourself: ‘Would I want to link to this?’.

Intergage Shortlisted For National Customer Service Award

I am delighted to announce that Intergage has been shortlisted for a national award for its unique and highly successful approach to customer service.

Intergage has been shortlisted in the Real Business Magazine Customer Kings awards.

These annuals awards recognise and reward the UK businesses that strive hardest to treat their clients like gold.

Intergage has been nominated for offering optional Web cam meetings to its 300+ clients – boosting the number of customers helped every week and saving more than 12,000 miles of travelling in just three months. This – plus all the monthly training and support seminars offered to Intergage clients – meant judges could not resist shortlisting the Dorset and Hampshire digital marketing agency.

Being shortlisted for a national award for customer service is a real credit to our dedicated Client Services team and everyone here at Intergage. We’re proud to work with such amazing clients across the South and hope you will all be supporting us when the final winners are announced!

Judges will choose eight Customer Kings winners plus one Commercial Customer King and the winners will be announced in the March edition of Real Business Magazine.

Watch this space!

A LinkedIn talk with our partners at Taylor Made Computer Solutions

I’m pleased to announce that on the 25th March I will be hosting a LinkedIn talk in Fareham, Hampshire at the premises of our good friends at Taylor Made Computer Solutions.

I’ll be explaining how to get the most from your LinkedIn network and how to use it on a daily basis to boost your business. LinkedIn shouldn’t be a ‘fad’ for your business, it should be a useful tool that generates real returns and revenues.

The talk begins at 08.30am and if you’d like to be there, please do get in touch with Rich Watts on 023 8064 7005