David Rice

Someone clicking on your website and leaving straight away is never good news. It's especially bad news thanks (or rather no thanks) to Google’s RankBrain, an artificial intelligence system operating behind the scenes. In essence, RankBrain uses machine learning to determine what results are most relevant to any Google Search query. The end goal is to provide better search results, as RankBrain learns what users are and aren’t clicking on. The problem? Google are now paying closer attention...

Since the UK lockdown, time spent online has increased exponentially. In fact, UK daytime internet usage has more than doubled. Consumers spending more and more time online will, and has, created opportunities for some businesses, notably ecommerce businesses. The key for these businesses is retaining new customers in the short term and beyond the lockdown period.  Email marketing Email marketing is an effective and cost effective channel for retaining new customers. There are a variety o...

Basket abandonment rate for eCommerce websites can be frustratingly high. The average rate for abandoned baskets sits around 65%, but for some sectors it can be as high as 80%!Costly delivery and the customer not being ready to purchase top the list of reasons for basket abandonment. However, website UX design is also a major influence. According to Invesp 11% of abandoned baskets are attributed to a complex checkout or basket process and 24% of shoppers are saving selections and deciding l...

It's a question that we're asked a lot and the answer is unequivocally 'yes!'. Our client data tells us that yes, people do click on Google Ads. But don’t just take our word for it: when AdWords first launched in 2000 it had 350 advertisers, now there are estimated to be over 1 million advertisers spending tens of billions of dollars in ad revenue. 1 million advertisers certainly must think they’re onto something! People often have a 'Marmite approach' to Ads – they either love ...

In 2019 it is estimated there will be 2.77 billion social media users worldwide. Social media marketing is recognised as a highly effective means to build brand awareness, demonstrate expertise and build engagement with existing and potential customers. The immediacy of social media requires social media channels to be nurtured with engaging content carefully created for them. Unfortunately, this takes time. With day-to-day operational business needs often taking priority over social medi...

Instagram’s engagement rate is one of the best of all social network platforms, enabling businesses to quickly establish a healthy following. In the current social media era, where “Charlie bit my finger” can receive over 861 million views on YouTube, it's now easier than ever to connect with potential customers. Using social media businesses are no longer limited to advertising in their 'back garden' – they can now connect with customers from every corner of the world, especially with ...

People leaving your website straight away is bad news. There’s never a time where you’d want someone to leave your website, but now it’s more important than ever thanks (or no thanks) to Google’s RankBrain. RankBrain is a complicated animal, but in a nutshell, Google are now paying closer attention if people click to your website from search results then immediately click back again. If someone does this, it’s a sign that your website didn’t satisfy them, and it’s likely Google wi...

You might have looked at how many people are visiting your website, but do you also pay attention to how many are leaving?Using Google Analytics to find out where people leave Google Analytics can give you insight into where people are leaving your website, and you can then do a bit of detective work to try and work out why that might be. Here's three metrics to look at. Related blog: Learn how to set up Google Analytics1) Exit pages Go to 'Behaviour > Site Content > All Pages' and cli...

Just getting started with online marketing for your business? Many of the best marketing tools are free or offer a free version or trial. Here’s 16 helpful marketing tools that won’t cost you a thing...Content marketing 1. Google Trends Find out what people are searching for so you can create content on trending topics. Also helpful for working out which term to use – for example searches for "blogging" are dropping but searches for "content marketing" are on the rise.2. Buzz Sumo Use ...

Email marketing is an extremely effective marketing technique and the relatively low cost means it can deliver excellent return on investment. On average, every £1 spent on email marketing can see a return of over £40. Sounds good, doesn't it? Sadly it’s not quite as simple as putting an email together and sending it out to the world. In order to take advantage of the power of email, you need a strong email marketing list, and when it comes to email, quality is just as important as numbers....

Is your business currently using email marketing, or are you someone who is still sitting on the fence? Either way these email marketing statistics will be of interest to you, if you are doing it already, these stats will just convince you that you have made the right choice. If you are still umming and ahhing, then these stats will do nothing but amaze and convince you that your business should be using email marketing as a vital marketing tool to stay in touch with your customers and attract n...

Are you trying to brand up your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ pages but struggling with the sizes for all? Look no further, in this article you find all the correct sizes for social media branding, so you will no longer have a profile picture that cuts off half of your logo, you will no longer have a cover photo that is ridiculously blurry due to your image being too small, and you will no longer (this is the one that really gets to me the most) have a logo that is squeezed into a tin...

With spam filters becoming ever more stringent, improving your email campaign deliverability can make a huge difference to the success of your communications. So it’s worth taking a minute to review the mistakes that are most likely to put your message in the Junk Mail folder, or worse, stop it being delivered altogether. Simple ways to improve email campaign deliverabilityAvoid using words such as free, cash, guarantee, win, opportunity, earn, offer, limited, and ‘click here’ Avoi...

Google has changed the way Gmail handles images in email messages but what does it mean for email marketers and their campaigns?Gmail 'open' rates to rise Back in December Google announced they were allowing images to be displayed by default in Gmail messages for the first time. The reason for the change was the introduction of new technology running behind Google's email service to scan image files in messages for viruses before displaying them. So why is this change important to your email ...