The Digitav Blog

Social Media has caused a revolution in the way that people communicate via the Internet. Most people have heard of FaceBook and Twitter, but there are many more such websites and their numbers are growing all the time. Their popularity continues to increase because individuals can comment on anything that they wish. They have a voice. Businesses and individuals are making use of this type of application on the Internet in an ever increasing and interactive way.

No more evidence is needed for this than the announcements in recent weeks by the United States and British Governments that they will be making more Government information available to the public on the Internet and in a variety of ways. According to their statements they hope that new Social Media applications will be developed to encourage people to take a more active role in their own affairs.

When Mr. Kundra, the US Chief Information Officer, says that this innovation may lead to, ‘a YouTube for data’, it would seem that Social Media is expected to instigate social and political change. If more people interact with Social Media sites that are created by the release of this new information, then it would appear that some people think that this may change the way democratic politics is conducted.

In the UK there is apathy towards politics where politicians just seem to squabble and argue and nothing seems to get done. Some teenagers I was talking to a few weeks ago wanted to know why the electorate couldn’t vote on important issues on the Internet. They argued that if they could do this it would get rid of greedy MP’s and would be truly democratic. This may sound a bit like the plot of a movie but when Mr. Kundra talks of, ‘Government as a platform’ and about it being on, ‘a local, national or global scale’, where will these innovations take us?

Another article published recently in the UN Post, the United Nations News Website, quoted extensively from the Brazilian President about the need for the wealthier nations to include poorer countries and their peoples in establishing a new economic, just and democratic world order of nations.

There is no doubt that the Brazilians have improved their own country’s fortunes by making radical political changes. Changes that were brought about by involving people at every level, could Brazil’s real political solutions make a bigger difference in the world with a new platform for public opinion? Could new Social Media applications fed by more information from Government provide the impetus for people to become more involved in politics? Could the use of Social Media applications be the instruments that help to bring about these changes that Mr. Kundra talks about?

It will be very interesting to see how (or if) the new ideas surrounding Social Media activities will develop. Will the new Government data, the development of new applications from the private sector and the expected level of public participation provide the platform for people to build new communities and create new opportunities for individuals, for business and for Government? One thing is for certain, the next stages in the development of Social Media will provide all kinds of new activities that businesses and individuals need to be involved in.

Please comment, contribute or contact digitav for more information.

admin General, Internet, Internet Marketing

Free Guide

Google Maps and The Local Business List is an important and free method of marketing your business online – some recent research from Yahoo indicated that more than 40% of all searches are for local services. That is a search for a business or service that usually includes a geographic reference, such as ‘Employment Law, Blackpool’.

Even if the services you offer are national or international you still want to appear in local searches. There are so many of them it makes sense to use this free service from Google. You don’t even need to have a website to appear in the directory, enter your business details and you will appear in the search results. But, if you do have a website it can even help towards ordinary searches too. This can occur if the traffic to your website increases as a result of an improved performance in the Local Business Listing.

Putting your business on the Google Map might also prompt you to tighten up the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) on your website, which will also have a beneficial effect on your normal search engine ranking too. So whether you have a website or not download the digitav free guide to putting your business on the Google Maps Local Business Listing. If you are already using Google maps you may still find some of the information in the guide useful.

Once you have taken the plunge and signed up you will also be able to view how many people have seen your entry. You can also see how many people clicked on the link for more information and how many people clicked on the link to your website. This makes your entry measurable; you can see how it’s performing and update your entry completely free.

Please comment, contribute or contact digitav for more information.

admin Internet Marketing

Manage your Online Presence

Of course, Social Media activities can be used for Marketing, PR and Communication but Social Media for business is much more than that, it’s about managing the online presence of your business.  It is about managing every aspect of the online activities of your business. This is because there are now a number of online tools for consumers to pass on information and experiences about goods and services they have bought or used, and the effects of these are often overlooked.

A consumer can review or comment on a business and propagate information (that may be incorrect) through a wide range of Internet activities from Review Websites, Blogs, Forums and many types of Social Media sites. Their friends and colleagues can pass this information on through email, their own publishing tools and conversation at a frightening speed.

This rapid dissemination of information can have a huge positive or a huge negative impact on your business and its activities. Businesses can use social media activities to expand the positive information and mitigate the negative information created by this consumer driven environment. Your business should manage its online presence and you should know what is being published about your business activities on the Internet. The use of Social Media is essential and must be taken to the core of every business.

Not being online is no excuse. A hotel in Blackpool was recently dubbed the worst in the UK by the Hotel Review site Trip Advisor. More than 35 reviews were received from guests condemning the Hotel with only three praising it. The Trip advisor website allows a hotel to be notified of adverse comments, allows a response and will remove criticisms if it can be proved that the comments were malicious, if the Hotel chooses to manage their own account. The Hotel was unaware of any of this until the story appeared in the National Press.

By using Social Media you can create a community for your clients. Engage them with information on your products and services, encourage their comments and reactions and then they become more amenable to you and your products. They are more likely to buy from you, trust you and remain loyal to you. This will increase your level of business, increase the number of visitors to your site and help to create a positive image for your business.

Please comment, contribute or contact digitav for more information.

admin Internet, Internet Marketing

Market Your Website Free

Internet Marketing is a term that covers a number of activities that are designed to improve your presence on the Internet. Not just on search engines but in encouraging people to use your websites and buy your services and products.

There almost seems to be an obsession about appearing on, ‘the first page of Google’, and while there is nothing wrong with being there, it does not guarantee that people will buy from you. There are a whole family of methods to improve your online business but Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) seems to enjoy a prominence in the minds of most website owners.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can cover quite a few things both on and off your website and it really can make a difference to your position on search engine results pages. This is important for driving more business to your web site but once your client arrives on your web site, it’s the layout and design that will keep them there and encourage them to use your services or buy your products.

So, it’s very important to make sure that SEO does not interfere too much with the web site design and that the web site design does not interfere too much with the SEO. The web site design and SEO must complement each other to bring more revenue to your business.

As already mentioned there are many other ways to drive Internet traffic to your web site and persuade consumers to buy. I’ll be discussing most of them in future Blogs but for now I’ve listed five of them in a pdf for you to download when you click on the image above. They are described in a bit more detail in the downloadable pdf but basically they are;

· Internet Directories

· Blogs

· Social Networking

· Review Sites

· Google Maps – Business Information

These five things can be carried out by you and are free. There are some links to good examples of suitable web sites in all of these categories. That’s five free things that you can do to drive Internet traffic to your web site. So, what are you waiting for, download the pdf and start marketing your web site.

Contact digitav for more information.

admin Internet, Internet Marketing