It might sound a bit medieval but, as official Google Local Champions, Liberty Marketing will be riding in on their noble white steed to get small-to-medium Welsh businesses online, in touch and up to date with the internet! There won’t be any swords, shields or damsels in distress, instead we’ll be offering workshops and one-to-one support as part as the Google Juice Bar and GWBO (Getting Welsh Business Online) initiatives.

These programmes were masterminded by Google after a study found that Wales is lagging far behind its British neighbours when it comes to online business. Whilst the UK as a whole has the biggest online economy in the world, Wales is not receiving a proportional amount of this benefit. Here are a few interesting facts and figures that illustrate the problem:

• The UK online economy makes up at least 7% GDP
• That’s more that the construction, utilities and transport sectors
• The internet economy contributed more than £100bn to the UK market last year
• In Wales 25% of small-to-medium businesses don’t have a website
• Of the 75% that have a website, a mere 58% have a high web presence
• Welsh businesses with successful sites grew 7x to 8x faster than those without a well-performing website.

These statistics are the result of an in-depth, Google-commissioned study which showed a surprising backwardness in the Welsh online industry. With these stats in mind Google and the Welsh Assembly Government decided it was time to act.

Starting in March 2012, a year of online awareness will see the Google Juice Bar travelling across the country. After the launch event in Cardiff on March 6th, the Google Juice Bars and workshops will travel across the country, helping small-to-medium businesses to blossom and reach their full potential on the internet.

These workshops and Juice Bar sessions are free, friendly and don’t come with any added sales pitches! Best of all, they can cover the area of your choice. Whether you’re a total novice looking to set up a free website for your company, or want to learn how to market your existing website online – the Google Juice Bar experts are here to help.

As official Google Local Champions, the Liberty Marketing team are excited to be part of such a fantastic, worthwhile initiative. As the fastest growing online marketing agency in Wales we are passionate about promoting and boosting Welsh business online. If you would like to learn more about how to boost your business online, or would like to know more about the GWBO initiative, take a look at the following link or get in touch with the Liberty team today!

Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has become a powerful platform for businesses looking to develop a closer relationship with customers as part of an effective, social media based online marketing campaign. With over 300 million users, Twitter helps even the smallest businesses create a big web buzz and connect with their demographic on an engaging, personal level.

Now, Twitter are masterminding new ways for small and medium businesses to promote themselves. After teaming up with American Express, Twitter are taking the online marketing potential of their platform to an entirely new level. Currently only available in the US, Twitter's new online advertising scheme is set to make the hop across the pond later this year.

The new online marketing scheme will make it even easier for businesses to grow their online visibility and boost their business using Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts products. To get the ball rolling American Express and Twitter are offering a fantastic introductory offer to small business owners and other parties looking for an even better way to promote themselves on Twitter. For the first 10,000 eligible businesses to sign up for the scheme, each will be rewarded with $100 of totally free advertising.

This exciting introductory offer is an opportunity for the social networking giant to show small-to-medium business owners just how easy and profitable their online marketing services can be. It is also a sign of things to come. Part of the appeal of Twitter is that it is free of the intrusive ads found on other social networking platforms, now Twitter are finding clever online marketing solutions which don't jeopardise the user experience or the streamlined features which make Twitter so compelling.

For smaller UK businesses looking to use online marketing and social media marketing to increase consumer awareness and maximise customer participation in their brand, these new Twitter online marketing services are set to arrive on our shores later this year, so keep your eyes peeled!

In the meantime, there are dozens of alternative online marketing services out there which can give your online business a real boost. To find out more about how to create an online presence and maximise your business on the web get in touch with the Liberty team today.

If you believe the adage there is no such thing as bad traffic, you could well be wasting a good proportion of your Google AdWords spend by neglecting to add negative keywords.

Negative keywords can be defined as those terms which are not relevant or associated with the products or service being offered. Negative keywords can pose problems, as often a term which is relevant to your industry can also be used widely within another.

An example of the importance of a Google AdWords consultant identifying negative keywords can be seen in the following instance:

If, as a dedicated Google AdWords consultant, you are looking to attract new customers to your Pay Per Click service, you might choose to run an ad campaign with the search term ‘increasing traffic’ featuring heavily. However, traffic is a term more widely associated with the congestion of our roads, and as such your ad will likely be clicked on not just by individuals looking for a Google AdWords consultant or methods or increasing traffic via a PPC campaign, but also individuals trying to work out how long it’s going to take to get to work in the morning.

If your ads are attracting clicks from people looking for an entirely different service, then not only will you receive poor conversion scores, your cost per acquisition will also be far higher than it should be.

So how do you identify negative keywords?

• Keyword research
  As Google AdWords consultants will doubtless be all too aware, you should never dive into a campaign without having completed thorough keyword research. You will be surprised by how many of the terms you assume will be most popular actually receive a low search volume, with other industry specific keywords mopping up most of the traffic. There are a number of keyword tools that can you help you to identify negative keywords and they are all simple to use so there really is no excuse.

• Take a look at the search results
  The most popular search engines now have a feature which offers keyword term recommendations as you type your keywords into the search bar. This can help to identify other terms you have neglected to consider.

• Look at industry literature and use your intuition
  If you are a Google AdWords consultant operating in-house then you are likely to know your industry inside-out, including all of the most industry specific terms. However, sometimes when you are so involved in a project it becomes difficult to see the wood from the trees. Taking a step back and approaching the industry assuming zero knowledge can help you indentify terms you may have overlooked.

There are plenty of other strategies you can use to identify negative keywords, but obviously our team of Google AdWords consultants have to keep some of their resourceful methods to themselves. For further insight or a no obligation quote, please call our Google AdWords consultants on 029 2076 6467.

As a result of numerous requests from online advertisers, Google AdWords has offered ad group level impression share metrics for the Search and Display Networks, making it easier to identify, analyse and track the success of your highest performing ad groups, helping you to ensure your ads capture the maximum number of impressions.

Here at Liberty, our Pay Per Click advertising team had been suffering from sleepless nights for some time, unable to dampen their excitement and anticipation at having three new columns on their ad groups tab to play with.

The three new columns responsible for causing such excitement are:

• Impr. Share – this tab details the percentage of impressions you received as a proportion of the impressions you were eligible for.
• Lost IS (Rank) – this column identifies the number of impressions you lost due to your Ad Rank.
• Exact Match IS – (Search Network only) shows the percentage of impressions received for searches that exactly matched your keyword divided by the estimated number of exact match impressions you were eligible to receive.

In terms of Google AdWords, it seems it never rains but it pours. Pay Per Click advertising specialists are also happy to see the further addition of an update to the algorithms, ensuring more accurate campaign impression share metrics. This has brought about additional changes that PPC advertising professionals will need to keep abreast of.

• Improved campaign level statistics – an improvement in the algorithms has not only improved impression share metrics, it has also updated all erstwhile campaign-level impression share metrics dating back to May 2011. However, as a consequence of this change, you are no longer able to see campaign-level share metrics prior to May 2011.

If you’re looking to make the most of your PPC advertising campaign, the experienced and professional team here at Liberty will put their expertise to good use making sure you receive the very best value from each and every penny you spend.

Occasionally, amongst the more measurable techniques of link building and PPC advertising, SEO copywriting gets overlooked. Yet great SEO copywriting is an extremely valuable string to your online bow, performing numerous roles which improve your rankings, attract traffic, engage visitors and convert visits to sales. So why is SEO copywriting so powerful? And why is it so tricky to get right?

Proverbially, the pen (or keyboard) is mightier than the sword and this is exactly the case with SEO copywriting. Great writing and clever keyword usage is vital to a high-performing website. The reason that getting your SEO copywriting right is so tough is because it needs to perform multiple functions. You should expect your content to:

• Improve Your Rankings
  Careful keyword insertion will help to get your page ranking highly for your chosen search terms. As a rule of thumb, the higher the keyword density, the better chance your page has of ranking highly. However, a ridiculously high keyword density will look awful and may even be discounted as pure spam, this is terrible SEO copywriting. The trick is to get the balance between high keyword density and great web copy just right.

• Represent You & Your Business
  The text on your website tells your customers everything they need to know about you and what you do. It is a public representation of what you are all about. Great SEO copywriting will give your content the professional edge it needs to impress. Sloppy grammar and spelling are a real turn off for visitors. They suggest a lack of care and professionalism.

• Engage Visitors
  The right kind of SEO copywriting will be able to give off exactly the vibe your target audience will respond to. Once the SEO copywriting on your site has enticed visitors via top search rankings, it now has the job of getting your visitors excited about your business. Whether you’re looking for a slick, professional style or a more youthful, upbeat tone, the services of a great SEO copywriting team can help you hit the perfect note.

• Convert Sales
  Now your visitors have been directed to your website, it is the combined job of your design, your product and the SEO copywriting on your site to sell. Creating engaging, keyword rich content which is persuasive all at once is no easy task and it is only too easy to get it wrong.

SEO copywriting is all about balance. That might sound a little bit zen but finding the perfect compromise between a high keyword density, an engaging tone and text that sells is an art form. The trick is to decide upon your priorities. Decide whether your main concern is boosting your rankings, building on your image or converting sales. Here at Liberty we’ve found that asking our clients to rank these concerns from 1-3 allows our experienced SEO copywriting team to produce fantastic content that works seamlessly with your SEO strategy.

If you’d like to learn any more about SEO copywriting, or would like to find out more about what a top SEO copywriting team can do for your business, get in touch today.