by PierceComms
As Bob Dylan sang, times they are a changing… well in PC HQ anyway – Rory Jeffers has become our latest new face in the office. Rory has been appointed as Creative Director to head up our design team and manage all creative output from our studio. Rory’s creative reputation is renowed locally and already he has made a significant impact both professionally and personally within the team…
A sample of his work can be reviewed at: roryjeffers.com
by Barry
(This article was originally published in the Belfast Telegraph on 14 December 2010)
The EU recently announced it is investigating a potential antitrust case against Google. One of the components of this investigation is the accusation that Google gives preference to its own online properties on its search results.
One example of Google’s preference for its own products is how its own financial information is shown first when you search for a specific stock ticker using Google. For example if you search on Google for PHG, your first results are the latest stock information for Royal Philips Electronics with links to Google’s own Finance site.
by PierceComms
Ok we have still a few more weeks of 2010 to go but we want to be in tip-top shape heading into the New Year so given our growing list of contacts and clients throughout Ireland, we felt it only fitting that we made it official! We have joined the Irish Internet Association and are looking forward to collaborating with the IIA in further building our digital knowledge and engaging in what we would imagine to be invaluable discussions with the association’s growing network of members…
by PierceComms
We have just finished our Internet Marketing roadshow for the year with the final leg in the City Hotel, Derry. All three locations (Belfast, Portadown & Derry/L’derry) provided a fantastic opportunity for us to meet a vast spectrum of businesses all with varying levels of digital knowledge. The roadshow also gave our speakers the perfect platform to wax lyrical on their ‘Mastermind subjects’ and a fantastic job they did too. Special word of thanks to our guest speakers: Sam McIlveen (Digital Publisher, Independent News & Media Group), Jennifer Clear (Owner, Bestbirthdays.com) and Mark Nagurski (Digital Champion, Derry/L’derry City Council).
by Richard
A couple of weeks ago Google updated its search engine results pages (SERPs) whenever you typed in a location based search – and what a major change! Instead of the ‘Google Seven Pack’ , as it was known, appearing at the top of the main search results like this:
now the results page has changed to move the map over the the right hand column and incorporate both Place and organic search results in the main results, like this:
by PierceComms
Date: 04/11/2010 (9:00am – 4:45pm)
Venue: Barley Room, Guinness Storehouse, St James’s Gate, Dublin 8
Cost: €110pp ( or book 2 places for €180)
by PierceComms
Our team of Online experts are hitting the road this autumn to share some invaluable insights into how every business in every sector can make their website work better.
Our whistle-stop tour is free to attend and will prove to be the most productive few hours you’ll spend in maximising the potential of your website. We’ll even have your breakfast ready and waiting for you!
by Richard
Email has been around for so long now that we all take it for granted – and as a means for growing your business email marketing has probably been forgotten about as the newer, shinier mediums such as social media have come to the fore.
It is, however, still one of the very best ways to maintain and grow a business due to its low cost and nature of being able to get directly in front of customers and potential customers. In fact, for almost every website that we work, getting website visitors to part with their email address is one of, if not the, most important objectives. After all, you’ve worked hard on your SEO/PPC/PR/Social Media (you pick the one(s) that apply!) to get visitors to your site in the first place – wouldn’t it more than careless of you to let them go without at least being able to start a direct relationship with them?
by Gavin
What kind of marketer are you? And you definitely are one. Well, you’re one of the following:
The Marketing Cynic: We all know this type. Prone to outbursts of “Money for old rope”, these individuals appear to have an allergic reaction to all the “fluff” that is marketing. Their approach to marketing is to send Malcolm a bottle of whiskey at the end of the year with a note attached explaining that they’re open again at 8.30am on 27th December.
by PierceComms
Our seminar proved to be an Internet Marketing minefield on the 2nd of June in Ramada Encore, Belfast. Feedback was fantastic; everyone enjoyed the day and left with tried and tested tips on how they can start delivering a return on investment from their websites and Internet marketing efforts.
To access the video, please enter your details below:
by PierceComms
Why the new John Lewis ad is dividing opinion at PC HQ
The first time I saw the new ad for John Lewis, it brought a tear to my eye. Not because it was beautifully shot, which it most certainly is. Not because I wished I’d come up with the idea. And not even because, as yet, we don’t have a John Lewis store in Northern Ireland. No, it made my lip quiver and my eyes moist because it made me think about the inevitable death of all the women in my family: my mother, my wife and even my two young daughters. Now I know that death eventually comes to us all and it’s something we have to deal with. Last week I read a quote that went something like this: “From the moment we are born we are all dying one minute at a time” but I found that inspirational and life-affirming. It made me feel that I had to urgently go out and make the most of all the minutes I have left. But the John Lewis ad simply made me feel sad and a bit upset. I hated them for reminding me about the brief nature of human existence.
by Richard
In our profession (search engine optimisation specifically) we spend a lot of time researching the keywords that people are typing into the search engines. One of our main tools for doing this is Google’s Keyword Tool – especially as Google has approximately 90% of the UK search market. In recent weeks, Google has been rolling out a new version of the keyword tool, with a redefined interface.
This is fair enough, I’m always in favour of technological advancement! One of the key things that changed as part of this redesign was the loss of the dropdown box that allowed users to show or hide columns of data. Things like the average cost per click, the search trends, etc. This was replaced by a piece of text saying that you could ‘Sign in with your AdWords login information to see the full set of ideas for this search’.
by Richard
I’m sure you’ve seen Google’s new search engine results pages by now – very interesting! As a user, there are now a lot more obvious options for getting results from Google in the left hand column. These options have, of course, been available for quite some time now – it’s just that they were sitting up in the left hand corner of the screen and weren’t so obvious. Results from blogs, for example, were hidden in the ‘more’ options and so a lot of people probably weren’t even aware that this was an option.
But what effect is this going to have, if any, on companies trying to get rankings on Google? Quite a lot! Why? Well, if it’s much more obvious for people to be able to refine their results by clicking on ‘images’ or ‘blogs’ then that’s what people will do. So, getting rankings on Google’s normal web results pages is going to be just part of the battle. Getting results on the ‘images’, ‘blogs’, ‘news’ and ‘map’ pages is going to become increasingly important as more and more people explore these results.
by PierceComms
Date: 02/06/2010 (9:00am – 4:15pm)
Venue: Ramada Encore, St. Anne’s Square, Belfast (CS Lewis Room)
Cost: £95pp + VAT ( or book 2 places for £160 + VAT)
