Video marketing works in Surrey and Hampshire for local businesses…

I’ve been saying it forever, but now one of the best know seo marketing companies in the world, has come out and agreed.

Here is an interview with Bruce Clay and Mark Robertson from www.reelseo.com:…………

“We had the privilege of speaking with Bruce Clay at SMX, and he spoke at length about how video has impacted the search results in dramatic and permanent ways. Bruce is one of the most-trusted voices in the search engine marketing space–he founded his SEO company, Bruce Clay Inc., in 1996… before the official launch of Google and well before most in the industry today were thinking about rankings. So when he has something to say about search, it’s usually a good idea to listen.

Here’s the video of our chat with Bruce, where he talks about Google’s intentions with YouTube, how video has impacted the Google results, and why video is a must-have content variety moving forward”

Collecting emails on your website automatically, is a must for businesses in Surrey and Hampshire…

A recent survey by Constant Contact reveals that more and more small businesses are using social media to spread the word about their companies. But that doesn’t mean that they’re giving up on other forms of marketing.

When asked “what keeps them up at night,” 80% of the respondents said attracting new customers; 52% said finding better ways to encourage customers to refer their business; and 48% said not having adequate cash flow to run their businesses effectively.

To address those issues, a greater number of small businesses are adding social media to their marketing arsenal. Of the 1,500-plus respondents to the survey, 73% are currently using this form of marketing, and among that group, 80% reported that their usage of social media marketing has increased in the past 12 months. Of the 27% not already using social media for marketing purposes, 62% said they will be using it at some point in the next year.

Of social media’s “Big Three,” Facebook was cited most by respondents, with 95% saying they use it and 82% saying they find it to be an effective tool. Twitter and LinkedIn were neck-and-neck, with 60% citing the former and 58% citing the latter. For both Twitter and LinkedIn, 47% of respondents said they find the social media site effective for marketing. Video sharing tools such as YouTube were mentioned as well–by 45% of respondents–and nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) find video sharing to be effective.

“What’s important to note, though, is that social media is not replacing other types of marketing, such as email, website, and event marketing,” said Mark Schmulen, general manager of social media at Constant Contact, in an interview. “Of respondents, 91% still use email marketing, for example.”

Email, in fact, remains the killer app, Schmulen said, pointing out that 83% of survey respondents said that checking email is the first thing they do when they go online. Among those surveyed, 72% said they check email six times or more each day; only 13% said they check Facebook that frequently.

“Ultimately, social media is just one component of an effective, integrated marketing strategy,” said Schmulen. “As our CEO Gail Goodman likes to say, email marketing lights the fire; social media marketing fans the flames.”

One of the video services we offer is the interview style video.

Many local businesses in Surrey, could benefit from the promotional advantage of having a video on their website.

But its not easy just talking to a camera on your own. Often you’ll forget your lines, don’t know if you are staring too intently, smiling enough and so on.

Some video companies might get you to read of an autocue, but if you’re not used to using one , you will be staring too hard guaranteed…

So my solution is the interview style video.

Below you’ll me Bernard Eden, who is an employment consultant based in Sandhurst

Bernard is a very calm person anyway, which makes my job of interviewing him very easy.

If you would like an interview style video made about you or your business, give me a call today

If you need a video made about your business, I can help..

I make promotional videos for companies throughout the South of England.

Many companies are now realising that video is a very cost effective way of demonstrating their services on their website, rather than having a web page full of words.

It has been proven that a video is 4 times more likely to get clicked on a page than anything else, like a hyperlink or picture.

With video, a company can introduce its staff very easily. The interview style of video, makes it very easy to get the message across, about what you and the services you offer.

Take a look at the video below featuring Martin Wallman of Personal Media Solutions.

I make sure that all my interviewees are relaxed and get across their important selling points. I think Martin’s interview is relaxed, without a hard sell, but in the video Martin get his message across, very well.

I caught up with Keith Grover, (its about time someone did) recently to talk about his website Networking In Surrey.

Keith started the website in 2010. It lists nearly all the networking events in Surrey and is regularly updated.

Its free to join and you can start a blog on the site and link back any post you make to your own site. This is great for your search engine optimisation.

After watching the video about networking in surrey, please feel free to leave a comment, with a backlink to your site

This is part 1

How many visitors are you getting to your website each month?
How many of those visitors are you turning into positive leads?
Is your website on the first page of Google?

Of course any business can be on the front page of Google for their company name.

But prospects for your kind of business or service are not looking for your company name.

When they open up the Google search page, they will put in something like “bike shop Farnham”, “printer Camberley”, “painter Farnborough” or “plumber Sandhurst”.

Those are called “key words” or phrases, those words that people might search for your type of business with.

Its more likely, that they may use what’s called “long tail phrases” like ” I’m looking for a plumber in Sandhurst” or “RIDGEBACK Avenida 8 bike surrey”

So its important that your site is optimised for the KEYWORDS pertaining to your business.

This is where Usher Media can help you.

There are 3 parts to our business.

1. We build websites that are fully optimised for local businesses. They are not like the other CMS (content management systems) sites that are out there.

These are built on the WordPress platform. They can be updated by you or your staff, very easily. You can add products, add video reviews, create new pages and write about products, all with keyword rich phrases that the search engines love.

It really is very simple to do.

2. We make promotional videos very inexpensively. We help you to tell your story, show off your products and services, make a connection with a prospect easily and using the power of YouTube, drive traffic to your site.

This is a very powerful form of marketing.

3. If your website is going to be found on the internet, you need to make sure that your site is fully optimised.

This is call Search Engine Optimisation or, better know as SEO. There are strategies that will enable your site to appear on the front page of the search engines.

These are fully legitimate tactics and strategies, that are endorsed by Google. It is through having your site optimised, that you are going to see more people coming to your site. Which means that you are more likely to have prospects.

Being on the front page of Google is very important. Being in the top five positions on the front page for the “KEYWORD PHRASE” you’ve chosen as a keyword for people to find you, is very important.

Many websites have been built by designers, that have no optimisation applied at all.

So how can we help you?

If you want a website that you or your staff can update easily, please call me..

If you want or need a video made about your business, call me..

If your site is not showing on the front page of Google for more that your company name, please call me for an informal chat.

I will take a look at your site and give you my best advice freely. I offer a very personal service.

Sean Usher

07712 777 822

Carolyn Stanley is an independent travel agent in Camberley.

With nearly 30 years experience in business travel and leisure travel, she really knows her stuff.

Carolyn works with companies large and small with their business travel needs and can save your staff a lot of time in searching for the better deals, because she has access to the most up to date information on her database.

Its the same with the domestic holidays. She is widely traveled and can give you personal advice and will save you time and most probably money, when searching for holidays.

So wherever you are going on holiday, give Carolyn a call for the very best advice.

I met up with her recently to find out more about her business.

Lesley Yacomine is the owner of a franchise for Selclene Cleaning Services.

Selclene is a cleaning company that operates in the Twickenham, Teddington, Richmond, Hampton, Brentford and Isleworth areas.

I met up with Lesley to create a video that explains her business.

Being at the top of the search engines for your keyword is very important, if you ever want to get any leads or business from using this internet thingy….

Especially for your key words….

If you want to get any traffic (visitors) to your website, you will increase the chances dramatically by being in the top 3 positions for the “keyword (s)” yu have decided to go after.

Recent information tells us that if your are in position 1 of Google, you will get 46% of all clicks. In position 2. 30%, position 3. 13%…position 5. 2.5% and so on to position 10 and you’ll get just 0.15%

So, as you can see it pays to be in the top 3. But how do you achieve this?

To enable your site to be at the top of the search engines, you need other sites linking to you…

Apart from other sites linking to your site, Google likes it, if  you put regular content on your site, your on page SEO is good and you have an older site (not always necessary, but they do seem to favour older sites).

However, by far the best way to improve your rankings in Google, is to get quality back links to your site. (Often called off-site SEO) Getting a link from quality sites, government sites or educational sites are among the best back links to have, but even links from others in your industry are good too.

A word about “Keywords”…Keywords are a single word or string of words that people put into the search box to find a business or service like yours.

Of course its very likely, that if someone puts your company name in the search engines, they are going to find you, unless you have a major problem with your website listing. But the people who type your company name are probably looking for your telephone number.

But your site needs to be “optimised” for the keywords associated with your business or service. You should have a minimum of 10 keywords that you rank for on the front pages of Google,

Google ranks pages and not sites, so you need pages relating to the keywords..

So for example, say you are a beautician in Guildford, you will need to optimise your site for keywords like facial treatments guildford, beauty salon guildford, waxing guildford etc

You would have those keywords as names for your pages and weave other words into the article in your page.

So to sum up…You need back links from quality sites or other related sites with good rankings, regular updates on your site and you need to optimise your site for up to 10 key word…simples

It is possible for you to be on the front page of Google and get more business and more leads.

Google is the place to be, they have 80% of all traffic in the UK.

Although this article is simplistic, there are some good tips here. If you have any comments please leave them below.

Sean Usher is the owner of Usher Media www.ushermedia.co.uk He is a video marketer for small businesses and works with many companies to improve their rankings in the search engines, through search engine optimisation (SEO)

When it comes to flooring in Basingstoke, one of my clients is very proactive in promotion.

We’ve made a few videos for him now and posted them on various sites including YouTube.

Here is a video I made for him