New Online Advertising Regulations

From March 2011, tougher advertising regulations will place a greater restraint on how businesses promote themselves on their websites and in social media. What are the new rules? And are they something small firms should be worrying about? Jo Russell looks at the changes.

You might say the internet just became a little less free. As of March 2011, the adverts and marketing communications a company puts on its own web site or on free channels like Facebook and Twitter will fall under the watchful eye of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

For years, the advertising industry’s standards body has maintained the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code. The Code ensures adverts are legal, decent, honest and truthful, and is used to justify ASA adjudications on whether adverts are acceptable or not.

A lot of online advertising activity is already covered by the CAP Code, from emails and pay-per-click advertising to banners and pop-ups – anything that has been paid for. But it’s the free marketing space on the internet that small businesses are exploiting so successfully and this, too, is about to come under regulatory control.

So when you promote your firm on your website or tell people about your offer on Twitter or Facebook, you may have to start taking a little more care over what you say about your own products and those of your rivals.

The line between marketing and editorial

The extended CAP Code will only cover online marketing, not editorial. But it’s a tricky distinction to draw. If you write a blog where you talk about your industry, your products or even a weekend away, does it count as marketing?

The ASA admits there are grey areas and has promised to review the Code each quarter. It has also said it welcomes feedback from businesses. That’s a good thing, says Rhodri Ferrier of men’s grooming products producer and 2008 Start-Up Stars winner, Bulldog.

“We’re a very small player in a market dominated by big guys with huge advertising budgets,” he explains. “We have to be fast and clever with what we do, particularly engaging with people on social networking platforms. But social networking is much more about a dialogue with consumers, so we’ll be keen to see what counts as best practice there.”

On the whole, Ferrier is “broadly positive” about the extension. “All companies need to be open, honest and transparent with their consumers, and anything the ASA can do that helps is welcome – particularly in our sector where you see some outlandish claims,” he says.

The don’ts – and their consequences

Outlandish claims about your product is just one of the areas covered by the CAP Code. Other no-nos include selling to children, encouraging anti-social behaviour or simply causing offence. There are also specific rules for sellers of products such as tobacco, medicines and alcohol.

It’s likely that you are mindful of restrictions when planning your advertising or marketing. But social media is so much more informal and immediate that it can be easy to slip up. Even a throwaway comment about a rival business on Facebook or Twitter could lead to a complaint.

Anyone can complain to the ASA. If the regulatory body finds a breach, it can ask you to amend or remove the comment or claim. If you refuse, there are sanctions.

“These include the removal of paid-for search advertising – ie, ads that link to the page hosting the non-compliant marketing communication,” explains ASA’s Matt Wilson. “We have the search engines’ buy-in on this.

“We also have ASA paid-for search ads, so we can put our own ads online to highlight an advertiser’s non-compliance. And we have an enhanced name and shame gallery on our web site, where we can list people refusing to cooperate.”

What’s the real impact?

In reality, it is unlikely that many small businesses will be affected by the extension to the CAP Code. More than 30 million adults access the internet almost every day in the UK; yet in the last two years, the ASA has received just 4,500 complaints relating to internet content. This could change if businesses themselves start using the beefed-up Code to address misleading and untrue comments made by their competitors online – in fact, this may even be the biggest impact of the regulatory change.

Bulldog’s Ferrier says a common sense approach to your use of all marketing channels will ensure you stay trouble-free. He reveals that Bulldog plans to audit its online content as a “belt and braces” exercise.

“We’ll also amend our employee handbook to make sure it covers social networking, and to make sure people are aware that these policies exist, given that we have multiple users of Twitter and Facebook.”

Time will tell how much small businesses might be affected by the CAP changes. In the meantime, there are simple steps you can take to ensure you don’t risk falling foul of the regulations:

What is Bounce Rate - Google Analytics

Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page.

So, if a visitor has landed on your website via a query in Google and very quickly pressed the back button, this will contribute to a high bounce rate.

In cases where visitors are coming from search engines, a high bounce rate may mean that the keywords they used and the content they found on your site are not aligned - so your site doesn't meet their expectations in some way.

Don't look at bounce rate in isolation - look at the overall picture of your website and how it's performing according to the metrics that matter to you. What DO you want your visitors to do at your site? Are you making it easy for them to do that, and are you measuring it

The Basics of Facebook Marketing

1. Have a Facebook Page for your brand. If you're running a business, you need a Page, not just a personal profile. What you do with your personal profile is up to you, but your page should be up, and it should be promoted.

2. Post regular updates throughout the day. Just like Twitter, I see nothing wrong with sharing links to your content here if you write articles or blog posts. I should note that this should be actual helpful content though - not just posts about why people should buy your product. Nobody wants to be a fan of a page that does that.

3. Respond to comments on your Page. Get involved in conversations.

4. Update your photos and videos. You don't have to use third-party services for this on Facebook.

5. Experiment with landing pages for your Facebook Page. It doesn't have to go right to your wall. You can direct fans to any information you want to provide.

The Basics of Twitter Social Media Marketing

1. Post regular Twitter updates everyday. That doesn't mean spam or post them constantly all day long, but there should be enough regularity to let your followers know you're there and don't forget about you. That said, don't talk about anything. Have something valuable to say. If you produce content, share your links. Some may not think it's a good idea just to pump out your own links on Twitter, because it's "about the conversation", but the way I look at is this: if someone is following me, they're probably interested in what I have to say. If I'm writing articles, those are in essence, what I have to say.

2. You should engage in conversation on Twitter. Start conversations that don't necessarily pertain to your own links. Listen to what others are saying, and join conversations with them, regardless of if they are directly related to your brand or not.

3. Monitor your brand. Respond to @mentions (good or bad). Respond to direct messages.

4. Post pictures and videos using services like TwitPic, TwitVid, Yfrog, etc. These things can help humanize your brand and increase engagement with others. They can be conversation starters. People like visuals.

5. Create relevant lists. Create lists of other Twitterers that can provide value to others. You don't necessarily have to, but it might be a good idea to create a variety of lists for subjects related to your niche. If you have a car blog, for example, you might have a list of car brands, a list of other car bloggers, a list for mechanics, a list of auto part vendors, etc.

New Facebook Page design for cyclexpress

We have dabbling with Facebook for quite a while now and turned a lot of customers to powers of this fantastic marketing tool.

Most businesses don't realise that you can obtain your own public Facebook page that is visible in SERP's (Search Engine Ranking Pages) and use this as a catalyst for a good percentage of your digital marketing.

Check it out here: Facebook/Cyclexpress

Google Instant is Now Upon Us

Its been a funny day in terms of everybody's thoughts on the introduction of Google instant. A few people think SEO is now dead and others disagree!

I myself are one of those who disagree. The role of the SEO (Search Engine Optimiser) had changed yonks ago and has been redefined into the Digital Marketeer.

All companies, however big or small should be looking at online marketing and and rest assured that SEO is only one of factor in any digital marketing campaign.

Strangely, people are arguing that the same results are not shown to any two people looking for the identical key-phrase. But this has been happening since personalised search was introduced in January and Obviously, if you clear your cache or sign out of your Google account you can then access the real SERP's. This is unless you're using Chrome and then who knows what results you get.

The one thing thats been noticed is how favourable instant is to big brands. This isn't really surprising, as it is these brands that are more likely to be searched for most often.

So, basically ranking is still going gto be the same with Google instant, but it will change the way people search. It will affect their search behaviour, and that is what search marketeers are going to have to think about more than ever. You should consider that some people will simply deactivate the feature, leaving them open to Google's standard results.

Social Media Promotion Tips

SM sites were intended to allow people to present a profile and keep in touch with interested parties. In essence a combination of email and webpage, they exploded in popularity with the sort of overnight success common to the Web. Of course users drive popularity and where there are users, there is a captive audience - and businesses are always keen to adopt a potential audience

Now Web writing and development resumes often need to include Social Media Networking experience, and businesses have their own Facebook pages. The Web is ever sensitive to the principles of competition and advertisement, so in the wake of this upsurge in popularity and usage come the techniques and principles of Social Media SEO.

Search engines rate all websites based on their internal criteria, and this increasingly includes Social Media pages such as Facebook. With that in mind, let's consider five key ways you can apply SEO techniques to Facebook in order to drive interest

Tip 1 - Respect Your Audience

We've covered the power of individuality on the Web. While it is true the Web offers exceptional degrees of anonymity and collective activity, at the end of the day every user has his/her own judgments to make, and will make those judgments known via clicks and comments. There are websites solely devoted to expounding on peoples' bad experiences, such as the popular Not Always Right. Rest assured that if you stick to sales pitches and infomercials, your work will be forgotten or derided quite quickly.

Instead, focus on promoting interesting, non-sales material on your Facebook page. Comment on interesting developments, or explain a personal angle from one of your employees that helps people connect with your organization. Some of the most profitable sites on the Web don't make any major sales pitches, so take advantage of the chance to have a conversation and keep people interested.

Tip 2 - Identify and Use Your Keywords

We've talked about keywords before, and they remain relevant still. Search engines are able to provide more precise listings based on effective keyword usage, and good placement in a search return is often dependent on how your keywords relate to user searches.

Keyword usage requires research. It isn't a matter of simply plugging in all the buzzwords in every awkward conversation - this is a good way to get sites to blacklist or penalize you in their rankings. Take the time to really examine what key roles your business works toward, and then research the keyword usage of related activities. Pick out those keywords that seem most relevant, and then work them into your site as naturally as you can.

However, keyword use doesn't always require focusing on the content and writing portions. Your Facebook profile includes an 'about' section. Putting your core keywords here is a good idea but keep it concise; more than two or three keywords risks diluting the impact of your message.

Tip 3 - Reciprocity

The interesting thing about your Facebook page is that your company website doesn't host it - Facebook does. This puts your content in two distinct places on the Web, potentially doubling the coverage you can receive during Web searches. Take advantage of that by remembering to provide links from each site to the other. Your company homepage should be linked from your Facebook profile, and vice-versa. This will improve traffic to each site by bringing in visitors from the sister sites, and takes less than a minute to implement.

Tip 5 - Learn From the Best

A writer once commented that every good story has already been written - what remains is for the good writer to borrow judiciously. If there is one thing the Internet is good for, it is copious amounts of free information. Take a look at popular Facebook sites and take notes on what they're doing. You do not exist in a bubble, but rather a network of ideas and interactions. Consider adopting different approaches that others are making work, or putting your spin on them for even more success. Creativity drives much of the Web, so feel free to experiment