Waseem Saddique Marketing – Tips for Navigating the Google Zoo

Bamboozled by all this talk of Pandas and Penguins? Waseem Saddique Marketing offers some clarity on recovering from Penguin and Panda penalties.

Google Panda

Waseem Saddique comments: “Google Panda is effectively the quality content hunter. In a bid to eradicate content that is keyword stuffed and overly SEO optimised, Google has an agenda for identifying websites with unique content in order to see them feature higher on their search engine ranking lists.”

Top tip – To tackle Google Panda, give serious consideration to the written content that your company is publishing online. Whether you’re writing content for an article, a press release or updating the text on your website, the question you should be asking is - ‘Is the content being produced adding value to a particular topic or enhancing the text on my website?’

If the answer to the above question is ‘no’, Google Panda will simply dismiss the content as poor. Seeking out ‘quality’ content is the primary reason for Panda’s existence.

Some pointers – In order to deal with poor quality webpages Waseem Saddique recommends trying a number of tried and tested tools and strategies: 

·      Use 301 redirects – This allows you to change the URL of a page that is likely to feature in search engines. This is probably the best solution for directing search engines to the correct page

·      Use no-index on your web pages – Using no-index meta data is ideal for your business if you don’t have root access to your web server. You then remain in control of access to your site on a page-by-page basis. Google’s Webmaster tools provide a piece of html code allowing you to install no-index on your site:

To prevent all robots from indexing a page on your site, place the following meta tag into the <head> section of your page:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

To allow other robots to index the page on your site, preventing only Google's robots from indexing the page:

<meta name="googlebot" content="noindex">     

Another option is to completely re-write or add content to your site. According to searchenginewatch.com some businesses have experienced a 700% recovery from the effects of Google Panda restrictions by re-writing their content.

Google Penguin

Waseem Saddique comments: “The latest Google Penguin update was implemented in May 2013 and, in contrast to Google Panda, Google Penguin targets the links on websites, assessing whether those links direct website users to articles or websites relevant to the genre of your site.”

Top tip – Content is again the key, be sure that links directing users to other websites are directing them to a site featuring quality content. Google Penguin recognises websites that are directing consumers to poor content, so getting your link strategy correct is of huge importance.

Pointer - To tackle the Google Penguin Algorithm, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services recommends producing something known as ‘Advanced Content’. Advanced content usually appears in the form of an eBook, white paper or a guide. Offering something of ‘value’ on a particular topic is seen as a major contribution.

Advanced content is well researched, factual and informative and above all should link back to quality sources. Google Penguin picks up on this and will ultimately identify that website as a ‘reliable’ source provider, thus pushing your position to a higher ranking on search engines.

Waseem Saddique Marketing Services serves to help businesses of all sizes enhance their online and SEO marketing efforts. Need marketing advice? Visit www.waseemsaddique.blogspot.co.uk  

Prism Poses Threat to Privacy say Marketing Moguls – Waseem Saddique Marketing Investigates

Prism, a recently launched US initiative imposed by the federal government, is set to reshape the world of marketing say leading marketing experts.

Recently Waseem Saddique Marketing Services, along with countless other marketing companies around the world were introduced to the prospect of Prism, a US federal government initiative that apparently uses ‘backdoor methods, via major online businesses, to monitor private data and conversations without a warrant. This is done by phone surveillance and online tracking.

It’s unconfirmed as to whether the ‘Prism’ concept is in anyway related to the information exposed by ‘whistle-blower’ Edward Snowden, but what is clear is that the public uproar regarding ‘Prism’ has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Waseem Saddique comments: “Upon learning that ‘Prism’ has the potential to violate personal privacy, the public has reacted with outrage, firstly because they know little about Prism and secondly the very notion that something like this exists makes the public feel uneasy.”

Marketing moguls from across the globe best describe Prism as a third party online user tracking system; however where some fail to agree is whether it pushes the boundaries of privacy.

There is no doubt that Prism will revolutionise the marketing world if used primarily for gathering vital data. In theory, online tracking has been taking place since the dawn of the internet, but the tracking systems in place meant that those people that data was being retrieved from remained anonymous.

Marketing experts agree that whilst no harm, of a material nature, can come from third party tracking and targeting for targeted media purposes, Prism takes online tracking to a new level in being able to monitor conversations and record sensitive data.

Standard online tracking systems are in place to help consumers, by analysing their experiences of particular website services in order to enhance website performance and to assess advertising options that would be better suited to a particular target audience.

However, should the Prism tracking system be implemented, marketing companies and other industry streams could be flooded by consumer concerns about what data is being recorded about them. The potential impact of Prism on the marketing industry is that it will fall on marketing experts to educate the public about online tracking.

Waseem Saddique asserts: “According to ‘Social Media Today’ there are three principles to safe online tracking, including:
1. Safe tracking is anonymous.
2. Safe tracking is transparent, informing users of what’s private and what isn’t.
3. Safe tracking respects your privacy, protecting your personal content, connections and conversations.     

The latest reports emerging about Prism suggest that the US Government is adhering to all three of these principles. However, the public and marketing gurus are decidedly sceptical.

Waseem Saddique states: “As a marketing professional myself, the members of the marketing community will soon find themselves awash with privacy queries over the Prism concept. What’s about to happen is that marketing experts are about to become educators about safe online tracking, just as the US federal government is right now regarding Prism.”

Impacted by Google Panda Changes? Waseem Saddique Marketing Offers Recovery Tips

Waseem Saddique asserts: “The adverse effect on SEO rankings for many companies following the Google Panda changes initially wreaked havoc when implemented back in 2011. Many companies have had to resort to SEO ‘Panda Recovery’ measures in order to re-assert a high search engine ranking status.”

Whilst this has proven to be a nuisance, many SEO experts agree that the algorithm changes have been positive for the Search Ranking industry, as the changes targeted ‘low-quality sites’ in order to decrease their ranking status and raise the search engine positioning, of what Google Panda  determined to be, ‘high quality sites’.

Google statistics reveal that Panda changes affected approximately 12% of SEO rankings when it was first implemented. The most recent Panda algorithm changes, believed to have taken place in January 2013, reveal that alterations affected just 1.2% of English queries.

Waseem Saddique Marketing offers some essential tips for SEO Panda Recovery:

1.       Reduce the amount of Low Quality content on your website – As part of the recovery process the number one goal should be to eliminate auto-generated content from your website. This can be achieved by preventing the indexing and crawling of all low quality content, which will restrict Google Panda from downgrading the SEO ranking of your entire site.
2.             Unique is key – Google Panda thrives on unique, high quality content and penalises websites that simply copy articles from other sources. To avoid being punished by the Panda algorithm focus your efforts on publishing fresh, unique and captivating content on your site.
3.        Keep Advertising to a Minimum – Google’s Panda algorithm is adverse to websites with high advertising content. Reducing advert numbers not only pacifies the Panda algorithm, but also improves the user experience. Statistics, released by Hub Pages, reveals that 67% of web users would leave a site if it was saturated with advertisements.
4.       Increase Your Knowledge of Panda and Track Updates - Sites affected by Panda will experience massive changes, especially to page viewing figures. When evaluating Google Analytics it’s likely that you’ll find a substantial decrease in page viewing numbers. This represents clear evidence that your site has undergone a Panda evaluation.
5.       Establish Integrity – The more exclusive, high quality SEO content that you publish, the more likely your website will be to capture the attention of Google ‘crawlers’. This attention expands across backlinks; enhancing your website as a respected resource for providing top quality material for your target audience. Google Panda prefers sites that attract high audience viewing figures for all the correct reasons. 

Waseem Saddique states: “Some things to consider when evaluating your website include:

·         Do I find the information on the site factual, informative and reliable?

·         Does my site portray an element of expertise on the topic covered, highlighting professionalism?

·         Is my site worthy of recommendation to others and would I point my connections in the direction of the site for information?”

Founded in 2007, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services has consistently provided small to medium enterprises as well as larger corporate firms with a range of digital marketing & online solutions.

How to build an ‘App’ for your Business – A guide from Waseem Saddique Marketing Services

It’s estimated that there are 6 million apps in circulation (source: esave.com) across all platforms including: the iPhone app store, the Android Market, the Windows Phone market place, the Blackberry and many more.

Waseem Saddique comments: “The ‘app’ market is competitive, as businesses jostle to attract consumer attention. Therefore, if an app would be suitable for aiding business growth, it’s certainly worth considering the development of an ‘app’ when implementing an online marketing strategy.”

Statistics show that quality ‘apps’ tend to go viral very quickly and are a sure fire way to increase the prominence of an online marketing campaign and increase the exposure of a business. ‘Apps’ have become a particularly favoured marketing tool among SME’s as they look to raise the profile of their businesses.

Waseem Saddique states: “Whilst there are a number of DIY ‘app’ development tools available, it is recommended that you consult a specialist ‘app’ developer, especially if you’re technological knowledge is basic at best. There’s no shame in calling in a professional, after all it’s best to develop an ‘app’ that is effective and less likely to encounter functionality issues.”

What’s the benefit of an ‘app’?

One of the key benefits that ‘apps’ offer is versatility as they can be embedded almost anywhere, whether it is on a Facebook page, on a mobile or smartphone or on a website.

Other benefits include:

#1 – A cost effective approach to online marketing.

#2 – Rapid viral exposure.

#3 – ‘Apps’ are interactive, encouraging consumers to connect with your business, whether        consciously, or subconsciously.

#4 – They offer a revenue stream – ‘Apps’ can be sold on a number of ‘app’ markets.

#5 – They can constantly be refined to keep up with consumer trends.

What are my options for developing an ‘app’? 

Do-it-yourself – Whilst consulting with a developer is recommended, if your budget is tight there are a number of DIY ‘app’ development tools available. One particular DIY tool that is proving popular is Google’s App Inventor. ‘App’ inventor does not require the involvement of a developer and allows you to create Android compatible ‘apps’ that utilise smartphone features such as, GPS and SMS.

Should you wish to capture the iPhone market the ‘AppMakr’ tool is a website-based iPhone ‘app’ creator.

A number of DIY tools also exist for creating microsites, Facebook applications, blog ‘apps’ and much more.

Waseem Saddique states: “It’s imperative, that when developing an ‘app’ of your own, without professional assistance, that the concept and strategy are right from the word go, otherwise the development could become a time-consuming and costly process.”

Hire a freelancer – Freelance websites are a great way to source ‘app’ developers, some of the top sites include peopleperhour.com, odesk.com and freelancer.com

There is a risk element to hiring the services of a freelancer, but it is also a cost effective method compared to hiring a development agency.

The key element of hiring a freelancer is to do your research and when selecting a developer to work with, make sure everything is put in black and white by way of a contract. That way there can be no misinterpretations of what is expected from both parties during the ‘app’ project.

Hire an agency – For the more affluent business owner, with a more significant budget, hiring an ‘app’ development agency is perhaps the best option. If your ‘app’ is likely to play a big part in your marketing strategy, there is no substitute for ensuring that you ‘app’ is developed to the highest standard.

Waseem Saddique comments: “A well-developed ‘app’ can be a ‘game changer’ when jostling for consumer attention. Functionality is of the utmost importance and research conducted by esave.com shows that 47% of consumers will cease to use an ‘app’ if it’s slow and too complex to use.”

A highly recommended ‘app’ development agency (as supplied by masahable.com) is TheyMakeApps.com who have the capability to develop ‘apps’ for all platforms, particularly for online marketing campaigns.

For an all-in-one solution, employ in-house developers

Hiring an in-house developer(s) offers a solution that combines all three of the above. If online marketing and mobile marketing are the essential foundation for the success of your business then, purely for the long-term benefits, employing in-house staff is the most effective solution. 

Over a period of time, in-house staff will have a solid grasp of your ‘app’ requirements and can constantly refine and develop applications in order to keep up with customer trends and tastes. In terms of longevity and establishing an ‘app’ brand having developers that know your business inside out will ultimately prove pivotal.

Founded in 2007, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services has consistently provided small to medium enterprises, as well as larger corporate firms, with a range of digital marketing & online solutions. To learn more visit www.waseemsaddique.blogspot.com

What do new Press Regulatory Laws mean for Bloggers? Waseem Saddique Marketing Investigates

Are you an online blogger for a business? If so you could face high libel fines, thanks to the new press regulation deal.

Blogs, websites and even social media pages could be forced to pay heavy fines should they fail to sign up to new press regulatory laws implemented under the new Leveson deal.

WaseemSaddique comments: “New press regulation laws could change the face of online marketing, whilst the first step seems to affect blogs and websites, there are rumours that the laws could span across social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many more.”

New press regulation laws have been met with a mixed response. The victims of the recent phone hacking scandal involving the News of the World, which sparked off an entire review of the UK media sector, are strongly in favour of reducing ‘press power’, effectively disabling them from, what they perceive to be, an intrusion of their private lives.

Those opposed to press regulation argue that it takes away the fundamental freedom of ‘free speech’, which many consider to be a very dangerous threshold to cross.

The particular section of legislation likely to impact bloggers and websites can be found under clause 29 of the ‘Crime and Courts Bill’.

Waseem Saddique Marketing Services released a statement saying: “The new clause introduced to the bill states that ‘relevant bloggers or websites are defined as those that generate news material whereby an individual or group has editorial control over a publication within an editorial structure.”

Whilst bloggers would be exempt from damages for comments posted by readers, the fact remains that bloggers and website owners will now be forced to walk a very thin line in order to provide articles that are neutral and not necessarily based on opinion.

Certain publications, such as scientific journals, student publications and charity material, such as newsletters, will not be accountable to the new law. Websites will also be granted immunity on the condition that they sign up to the new regulator.

In a statement from the Chief Executive of Index Censorship, Kirsty Hughes, she said: “This is a dark day for British democracy. This will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on everyday people's web use. I fear that thousands of websites could fall under the definition of a ‘relevant publisher’ in clause 29. Bloggers could find themselves subject to exemplary damages, due to the fact that they were not part of a regulator that was not intended for them in the first place.”

In a case study carried out by Waseem Saddique Marketing Services, they uncovered one particular blogger who will not be signing up to the regulation roster. Harry Cole, a political blog writer for Guido Fawkes, said: “I won’t be joining. My servers are based in the US and should therefore make me exempt from UK press laws.”

He added: “I don't see I should join a regulator. This country has had a free press for the last 300 years, that has been irreverent and rude as my website is and holding public officials to account. We as a matter of principle will be opposing any regulator especially one set up and accountable to politicians we write about every day.”

Waseem Saddique concludes: “Undoubtedly, this could be the first step towards total regulation across a number of platforms. This will ultimately change the face of online marketing, website trends, social media trends and much more. This could be a tactic that backfires severely.”

Founded in 2007, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services has consistently provided small to medium enterprises, as well as larger corporate firms, with a range of digital marketing & online solutions.

Exposed, SlideShare Secrets - The Social Media Solution Taking the Business World by Storm

SlideShare began its existence back in 2006, in just 7 years the social networking site has established itself as one the most unique and innovative social media sites operating today and has taken the business world by storm. Waseem Saddique Marketing Services investigates SlideShare’s rise to prominence and its increasing popularity within the business world.

Waseem Saddique comments: “The statistics for SlideShare make for phenomenal reading. The social media site welcomes 60 million visitors per month and approximately 130 million page views during the same time-frame  SlideShare is also ranked within the top 200 most visited sites on the planet.”

What is SlideShare?  

SlideShare is a social media platform, predominantly used by corporate companies, to display business presentations, but the platform also displays documents, PDFs, video and webinars. SlideShare operates with 55 staff and boasts the title of the world's largest community for sharing presentations.

The secret to SlideShares’ success

Perhaps one of the most defining factors for the popularity of SlideShare is its affiliation with the White House. The fact that arguably the most powerful Government in the world uses the SlideShare network will certainly raise the eyebrows of business leaders around the world.

WaseemSaddique states: “If SlideShare is good enough for the US Government, then it’s most definitely good enough for all sectors of the business world. A major fact worth knowing: In 2009, the official website for the US President (Whitehouse.gov) signed user agreements with eight of the world's leading social media websites. SlideShare was one of them. SlideShare is regularly used by the White House and many other US Government departments.”

SlideShare is also a very unique concept and appeals to a niche market, namely the business community, allowing companies around the globe to store presentations and have access to them during important business meetings, client pitches and other important business events.

SlideShare offers a credible online marketing solution for businesses, as presentations are stored indefinitely and are constantly accessible to current customers, business connections and potential customers.

Why is SlideShare popular among businesses?

The general consensus of business leaders is that SlideShare offers premium viral penetration.   SlideShare content spreads virally through blogs and social network platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Organisations upload documents to SlideShare to share ideas, conduct research, connect with others, and generate leads for their businesses.

Businesses also enjoy the features that SlideShare is able to provide, some of which include:

• The capability to upload presentations publicly or privately
• The ability to download presentations on any topic and reuse or remix
• The opportunity to embed on blogs, websites and company intranets
• The ease at which SlideShare posted can be shared on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
• The Zipcast feature: Free, no download, 1 click web meetings
• The option to lead share,  generating business leads with presentations, documents, PDFs and videos
• The Slidecast feature: sync mp3 audio with slides to create a webinar
• The potential to embed YouTube videos inside SlideShare presentations
• The option to upgrade the SlideShare experience allowing access to premium features like branded channels, analytics, ad free pages etc…

Waseem Saddique concludes: “SlideShare offers a complete online marketing solution allowing companies to spread the word about products and services that they have to offer. The secret to the success of SlideShare is its appeal to the business community and in conquering the business world, the social networking site is now making strides to conquer the public domain.”

Waseem Saddique Marketing Services – Samba Nation on the Brink of Social Media Milestone

Following research conducted by comScore, identifying that social media penetration in Brazil has reached almost 100%, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services provides a review of the Brazilian population’s embrace of social media.

Social media has become a craze in Brazil and interaction across social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social networking sites, is positively booming. At present 97% of Brazil’s Internet users have a presence on a social networking site, putting the samba nation on the threshold of achieving a monumental milestone.

Why Brazil?

This may strike many as surprising, but the internet and social media are relatively new concepts in Brazil and it’s only in very recent years that the nation has truly embraced both the web and social media on such a wide-scale.

The change in attitude towards social networking sites in Brazil has been rapid and dramatic, with the number of Brazilians using social media surging in recent times. Social media platforms have become incredibly popular among Brazilian people for a number of reasons.

Here are the facts:

1. The majority of Brazilians take to social media sites in order to research products and services before committing to a purchase – Waseem Saddique states “In a study conducted by ‘Oh! Panel’ they uncovered that approximately  61.4% of the Brazilian population will turn to social media in order to access information about products or services before deciding to buy.”

The study that Waseem Saddique refers to also unveiled that approximately 81% of Brazilian people use social media to find new products and/or services and a further 75% use it to track down special discounts.

2. The Brazilian population is heavily engaged with Facebook – On average, recent figures show, a Brazilian visitor to Facebook will interact on the site, in a variety of ways, for around 4.8 hours. Compared to 2010 this is a staggering increase, when a visitor would only spend an average of 37 minutes on Facebook.

As recently as 2011, Brazil was recognised as the number 4 country in the world in terms of its Facebook users with 36.1 million taking to the site. Furthermore, Facebook’s marketing share of display advertising in Brazil exceeded that of media giant, Google.

3. The decision making process of the majority of Brazilians will be influenced by posts they have viewed on social media – Waseem Saddique comments: “The ‘Oh! Panel’ survey uncovered that a staggering 79% of Brazilians put more trust in posts on social media sites about products than they do in the endorsement of a product expert.

Brazil is now recognised as one of the fastest growing social media markets on the planet. The use of the internet in Brazil has grown from virtually nothing to a stage where about 88% of Brazil’s urban  population are now online.

A number of marketing experts predict that the trend will continue, as Brazil looks to make sure that internet technology does not merely benefit the rich, but that less affluent members of Brazilian society will also have access to the social media craze.

Waseem Saddique concludes: “Work is ongoing to ensure that all sectors of Brazilian society are given the opportunity to embrace social media and it won’t be long before 100% social media penetration in Brazil becomes a reality.”  

Waseem Saddique Provides Top Tips for Avoiding Common Online Video Marketing Mistakes, Part 1

With more businesses utilising online video marketing as part of their marketing strategies, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services provides some top tips on avoiding common online video marketing mistakes.

Waseem Saddique states: “The stark reality is that merely producing and uploading a video is no longer enough. Such is the competitiveness among businesses to produce online marketing videos to reach the consumer that the market has become saturated, with thousands of online marketing videos now uploaded on a daily basis.”

Some of the things to avoid when launching an online marketing video include:

• Over Promotion

Surprisingly, consumers do not visit websites to watch adverts, most people experience      enough TV adverts. It is important that a video gets the message across about a product and/or service. However, it’s equally important not to ‘overdo’ it. Making an online marketing video that is a sales pitch is unattractive to the watching audience.

How to avoid this mistake – Concentrate on entertaining your audience with a ‘how to’ video, by providing a solution to a problem or by educating them. Doing this as opposed to imposing a product or service on them will generate a more positive response. Treat your viewers with care and show them that you have their best interests at heart.

•  Under Promotion 

Opposite of over promotion is under promotion. Some online marketing videos lack the content in order to drive people towards making a purchase. The key is to sell the benefits of a product or service via the video.

How to avoid this mistake - Reflect on what you want the video to achieve. Set clear goals and targets and establish how promotional the video needs to be. Employ the services of a copywriter to provide assistance on landing page videos.

• Long Length

The competitiveness involved in maintaining the attention of consumers on the internet is fierce. Waseem Saddique says: “Fact. If your video is too long, be in no doubt that similar content will be available to the audience that’s shorter, simpler and much more interesting and it’s all just a click away.”

How to avoid having people navigate away from your video – Unless you’re 100% sure that your audience can endure lengthy content (most common when viewing educational videos), it’s advised to limit your video duration to between 30 and 120 seconds.

• Poor Placement on a Website

Whatever your budget, it’s worth noting that producing an online marketing video is not cheap. Therefore, it’s vital that the placement of a video is absolutely spot on because what’s the point of producing an exceptional video that no-one can view?

How to avoid making this error – Simply embed the video where it will make easy viewing for consumers. One solution is to assess the analytics of your most viewed page and put it there.

• Failing to Identify your Audience

The scatter gun approach to reaching an audience is a pot-luck scenario. Producing a video and releasing it to the masses in the hope of generating ‘quality’ leads is ill-advised. Waseem Saddique comments: “Bringing in a huge numbers of consumers will mean a business can spend more time sifting out irrelevant leads as opposed to focusing on those consumers who want to buy the product or use the service on offer.”

Any video produced should instantly appeal to a specific target audience. Therefore, the video needs to be clear and focused and adapted to reach the desired audience.

How to avoid missing your audience – Research, research, research. Doing your research is the key. Establish what your target market is before launching into a creative idea that’s completely irrelevant to those you’re aiming at.

• Being Boring

Put yourself in the shoes of a customer. As a customer, can you recall the number of times you've navigated away from a video simply because you got bored? The simple truth is that if people are bored by your video, they won’t watch it.

How to avoid making your video boring – Identify what your target audience likes to see, don’t fill it with content that suits your tastes. The key here is to seek advice; videos produced by one person leave the fingerprint of that person and are based around personal taste, rather than appealing to the wider audience.

Waseem Saddique Marketing Services was founded in 2007 and the company has consistently provided small to medium enterprises as well as larger corporate firms with a range of digital marketing & online solutions.

Waseem Saddique’s Google Guide: Get the Coveted Google Top Spot for Christmas

Birmingham based marketing adviser, Waseem Saddique, provides a guide to guiding your business to the coveted Google top spot.

Waseem Saddique asks: “Do you have a website? Then chances are you want that website to feature on top of the pile when it comes to the Google search engine. The primary aim of any website should be to attract targeted traffic, the type of traffic that converts ‘browsers’ into customers.”

Access to targeted traffic can be achieved by hitting that sought after primary position on Google. This can be done by identifying those prime keywords associated with your website. Whilst it’s not overly difficult to achieve top spot on Google, it’s imperative that the right keywords are utilised in order to reach that sought after first position.

Waseem Saddique says: “In short you need to target those keywords that people will actually search for. A simple enough principle, otherwise effort is wasted.”

For clarification purposes, the 3 quickest ways to achieve a page one ranking on Google and begin an ascent to top spot are as follows:

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) – This generates the organic results on Google and makes up the main listings.
2.  Google Ads – These are results sponsored by Google and these will be featured at the top of the page and to the right hand side
3.  Google Place – This is something that can be done by an individual via the Google Business Centre.

However, it is highly recommended, should your budget permit, to do all 3.

What should I choose if I can’t afford all 3?

Waseem Saddique comments:  “A good question. It depends on your overall aim. There are benefits and pitfalls to employing just one tactic. The only sure way to cover all the bases is to implement all 3 tactics.”

“Here’s an overview of the options so you can decide for yourself what best suits the requirements of your business.”

SEO – This tactic should be implemented if you’re looking for a long term solution and consistent success in your drive to reach the Google top spot. However, this approach does require patience as it takes time to achieve. Google will punish you if it’s achieved too quickly. Aside, from being penalised, the SEO option is arguably the most sensible approach for the online marketing of a website.

Google Ads – If it’s instant attention you seek for your website then Google Ads is the solution. The upside is that it gets your website on the first page of Google immediately; the drawback is that there is a cost for every time someone clicks on your advert. For those on a tight budget, cost implications will need to be considered and a careful assessment of keywords will need to be undertaken to ensure that the right people are clicking on your advert.

Google Place - Google Place provides an opportunity for businesses to gain exposure free of charge. Research identifies that 97% of consumers will search for a local business online. Places for Business lets you make the most of your listing and show customers why they'll want to choose you. Being on Google helps people find, share, rate, and recommend your business to their friends, and people across the web. Places for Business lets you see what people are saying, and respond to customer reviews.

The Social Savvy Solution: Waseem Saddique Marketing Services Announces Record Number of Businesses Using Social Media.

As the number of internet users on a global scale rises to 2 billion, Waseem Saddique Marketing, a Birmingham based marketing consultancy, announces a record number of businesses are turning to Social Media to enhance their internet marketing campaigns.

According to a report released by Forbes, a record 81% of businesses worldwide are now utilising Social Media as a form of online marketing. Due to this surge, Waseem Saddique Marketing has revealed growing interest in the use of its marketing consultancy services.

Waseem Saddique, CEO of Waseem Saddique Marketing Services, commented: “Businesses are becoming far more aware of the impact of Social Media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and LinkedIn and they are looking to maximise the potential of such sites to increase customer bases and become more interactive with their consumers.”

Many of the businesses represented by the 81% figure now employ staff dedicated solely to providing that social savvy solution. Waseem Saddique Marketing is pleased to report increased use of their service as businesses make contact in need of advice and guidance on using Social Media to enhance online marketing strategies.

Social Media has become a widespread phenomenon, with a distinctive allure and the capability to reach out to audiences through laptops, smartphones, tablets and a whole host of other means. Basically, there is no escaping the reality that it has become an integral part of society that many cannot do without.

This latest announcement from Waseem Saddique Marketing Services comes as no surprise as businesses do battle to keep themselves ahead of competitors and in the sight of target audiences.

Waseem Saddique states: “Many businesses have turned to Social Media because of the reach it provides and the simplicity of being able to interact with potential customers. Social Media sites also allow for fresh and innovative approaches to online marketing campaigns.”

Further factors behind businesses increasing their use of Social Media have been revealed by SocialStatistics.com

One in every nine people on Earth is on Facebook (this number is calculated by dividing the planet’s 6.94 billion people by Facebook’s 750 million users).

People spend 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.

Each Facebook user spends, on average, 15 hours and 33 minutes a month on the site.

More than 250 million people access Facebook through their mobile devices.

More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook.

30 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook each month.

300,000 users helped translate Facebook into 70 languages.

People on Facebook install 20 million “Apps” every day.

YouTube has 490 million unique users who visit every month (correct as of February 2011).

YouTube generates 92 billion page views per month (these YouTube stats don’t include videos viewed on phones and embedded in websites).

Users on YouTube spend a total of 2.9 billion hours per month (326,294 years).

Wikipedia hosts 17 million articles.

Wikipedia authors total over 91,000 contributors.

People upload 3,000 images to Flickr (the photo sharing social media site) every minute.

Flickr hosts over 5 billion images.

190 million average Tweets per day occur on Twitter (correct as of May 2011).

Twitter is handling 1.6 billion queries per day.

Twitter is adding nearly 500,000 users a day.

Google+ has more than 25 million users.

Google+ was the fastest social network to reach 10 million users at 16 days (Twitter took 780 days and Facebook 852 days).

How to Simplify your Online Marketing – A 3 Step Guide from Waseem Saddique Marketing Services

Waseem Saddique Marketing Services offers expert guidance to clients around the world when it comes to online marketing strategies. This article provides a three step guide on simplifying online marketing campaigns in order to stand out in a competitive market.

     1.    Make the consumer the centre of your attention 

In order to improve your brand it’s a good idea to move away from metrics and strategies that have no real impact on developing your online brand. Too many brands make attempts to justify the money they spend on online marketing by trying to apply some kind of statistical data. Things like click through rate (CTR), view through or Facebook likes, whilst they look good, they are not wholly relevant to building an online brand or reputation.

Waseem Saddique, CEO of Waseem Saddique Marketing Services, comments: “Before the days of online marketing, brands didn’t worry about measuring the impact of full page advertising spreads via the printed media by attributing the success to statistics.” 

It’s all too common nowadays for a business to focus on advertising that delivers results in terms of numbers whilst losing sight of generating advertising that stimulates the interests of consumers. In order for consumers to be attracted to a brand by a unique online marketing campaign, they need choice, control and relevance applied to their experience.

Give the audience what it wants by making online campaigns mysterious and intriguing make the experience relevant to the website page encouraging visitors to click, view and interact. Allow interaction with your website to be instigated by your audience, give them the control in terms of how much they want to engage with your site. As some marketing experts put it ‘instead of real-time bidding (RTB), how about applying real-time relevance’?

2. Remember, ‘content is king’

Whilst flashy images, fancy videos and eye-catching colours may ‘WOW’ the consumer, ultimately it’s the words on your website that sell. Indeed, writing styles have had to adapt in order to meet the demands of an online audience, however, content still has a major impact on the ‘decision-making process.’

However, it’s important to remember that content needs to remain focused on where consumer attention is focused. Don’t dive into a full blown sales pitch about how great your company is or make your copy too pushy. Instead create copy that is suitable for current media platforms such as mobile phones, tablets and other forms of mobile media because current consumer attention is focused on information that they consume whilst on the move.

Waseem Saddique states: “Bring your content to life through advertising technology that gets your words and images alongside an established brand, as this will enhance the content experience and will make a lasting impression upon consumers.”

3. Above all, simplify the strategy

Rather than developing an online marketing strategy for the mobile phone, a separate strategy for tablets and another for the standard desktop, focus on one specific platform, then revise that strategy to correspond with other strategies. This will create brand consistency and help to eliminate overreaching by trying to do everything at once.

Brands are now able to respond directly to how consumers interact with a whole host of devices. In an age where consumers swipe, expand and share adverts or interesting brand content, it’s no longer viable to revert back to traditional approaches to online marketing.

Brands need to flaunt their assets through fresh, fun and invigorating new concepts that capture the imagination and leave lasting impressions that are unique to devices, contexts and formats.  

Improve Website Conversions

Waseem Saddique is a marketing expert and is offering his expertise on how to improve website conversions to companies all over the world to ensure they are successful in increasing revenue.
Improving your web site conversion rate is the most important thing you can focus on if you want to increase revenue. Every website loses potential customers due to discouraging sales funnels and badly designed websites.

“There is never a better time to review your whole site to see why it might fail to convert interested prospects,” says marketing expert Waseem Saddique.

High traffic results don’t necessarily mean that your website and marketing measures are successful. Once the traffic is guided to your website prospects need to be converted into buying customers.

“Generating traffic is relatively easy compared to conversions. I mean, you can buy traffic but you can't buy conversions,” Waseem Saddique explains

The tricky part of marketing is increasing the percentage or rate at which you convert traffic to qualified leads or sales.

Below are Waseem Saddique’s basic tactics that you can use in order to increase conversion rates on your website:

Understand the intent of your traffic - There are different stages of the sales cycle, visitors will need different landing pages and content with different offers and information at each stage. You will need to create engaging offers that attract the visitor’s attention – this way prospects will be more willing to invest their time in making a purchase.

Make the most of Google analytics - Ensure to track the behaviour of your audiences. Use Google analytics data to clearly understand the behaviour of your web browsers and prospective clients.

Be prepared for the ‘window shoppers’ - Some prospective buyers are still in the research stages, you will need a different marketing strategy for less qualified prospects.

Make relevant landing pages - The landing pages need to be relevant to your ads! Users need a consistent and seamless user experience. You need to ensure that browsers are engaged and moving through the purchase.

Test your landing pages - Spend time developing and testing your landing pages through split tests.

If you put these tactics to good use, over time it will give you a significant edge of the competition.