There are plenty of different facets of website design Manchester webmasters can choose from – and recently we’ve looked at the power of local SEO to reach your geographic market.

But today we’re addressing one form of website design Manchester companies may have missed – the power of news.

Adding a news section to your website is a great way to keep it looking up to date, particularly if the rest of your content doesn’t change much.

You can go for a formal industry news approach, or a chattier, blog style – either way, you not only add fresh content to your site, but also raise its search visibility.

New figures from comScore highlight this fact – the UK has the highest online usership in Europe at an average of 38.2 hours per month, compared with 27.8 hours across Europe and 24.4 hours worldwide.

Almost half (47.8%) of all European internet users visited a news website in November 2011.

Of those, 12% arrived via Google and 10% had just visited Facebook – suggesting they either clicked a link from the social network, or typed in the news site’s address based on a status update they’d just read.

If your website has no news, you could be missing out on a search audience that spans half the population of Europe – so is it time to add some headlines to your site?

There are different degrees of focus to the types of SEO Manchester webmasters can use in optimising their web content.

Look at the phrase ‘search engine optimisation Manchester’, for example – the ‘short tail’ of this is the generic phrase ‘search engine optimisation’, while the ‘long tail’ is the complete, location-specific phrase.

Whichever industry you are in, you can use longer key phrases in your website content to help improve your rankings on specific, less competitive search queries.

At the same time, a phrase like ‘search engine optimisation Manchester’ makes the page clearly more relevant to Manchester website owners, helping it to resonate with human visitors who click through from their search results.

This is just one example of the kinds of SEO Manchester webmasters have at their disposal; a full-spread approach to search engine optimisation is important if your site is to perform at its fullest potential.

As such, if you adopt long-tail key terms as part of your SEO strategy, make sure they are not just in your on-page content.

Prioritise those same phrases in page titles and headlines, anchor text, image captions and meta tags.

You can also include them in inbound link campaigns to enhance the effect even further, giving your site the best possible chance of appearing on the front page of highly relevant search engine results pages.

There are lots of different sides to social media marketing Manchester businesses need to take into account.

For instance, how closely do you target your local area?

Earlier this month, we saw how Leeds and London residents both search for queries involving the word ‘Manchester’ – roughly one seventh as often as Manchester residents do.

But within Manchester itself, what locations are people searching for?

We looked at a few of the residential areas along Wilmslow Road, south of the city centre, using Google Insights for Search.

The results highlight which areas hold the most promise for the social media marketing Manchester clients undertake.

For instance, both Fallowfield and Withington appeared in roughly the same number of searches carried out by English Google users in the past 12 months.

Both have also risen in popularity since the start of the year – perhaps as students embark on their new-year house-hunting.

Rusholme, by comparison, appears in less than half as many searches as either Fallowfield or Withington, making it less of a prime prospect for mentioning in blog posts aimed at the local market.

But Didsbury is a clear leader in searches – possibly because there is both West and East Didsbury to search for – appearing nine times as often as Rusholme, and nearly four times as often as either Withington or Fallowfield.

How well do you know your own local area, and do you remember to take it into account in your social media efforts?

Contact us to learn more about the social media marketing Manchester’s biggest businesses are carrying out with our help.

 

 

Mobile coupons, or mCoupons, are an emerging component of web development Manchester clients might want to consider – particularly if they have both virtual and real-world stores.

By bridging the gap between the online and bricks-and-mortar worlds, mCoupons are already proving compelling in some markets, including the Far East and China.

However, Western Europe and North America are both now showing signs of experimentation, which could make mCoupons an important area of web development Manchester e-retailers look to move into.

David Snow, author of a Juniper Research report on the global mCoupon market, says: “For the next few years, users will be signing up to multiple coupon schemes and deciding on the ones they like best – so now is a crucial time.”

The study predicts that, by 2016, more than 8% of mCoupons will be redeemed worldwide on an ongoing basis – compared with around 1% of paper coupons.

By investing now in the necessary elements of web development, Manchester clients can stay ahead of the field and begin offering mobile coupons redeemable both online and in physical retail outlets, if appropriate.

In a competitive retail environment – both online and offline – such new features remain a good way of standing out amid a crowded field of retail rivals.

 

When targeting a local search audience, it is important to understand the geographic impacts on SEO Manchester clients may be subject to.

Data from Google Insights for Search shows the relative search audiences in different parts of England for queries including the word ‘Manchester’ in 2011.

The city itself ranks most highly, but many of its suburbs and nearest neighbours also score highly.

Sale ranks in second place with 70% as many searches for ‘Manchester’ as the city of Manchester itself, making it a core target in the SEO Manchester clients apply to their sites.

Salford and Stockport are joint third, with 61% as many searches for ‘Manchester’ each in 2011 as the city itself recorded.

Further down the list, however, areas beyond the Greater Manchester region and its nearest neighbours begin to make an appearance.

Oldham, Bolton and Preston may come as no surprise in fifth, sixth and seventh places, but Liverpool may seem less predictable, scoring nearly 20% as many searches for ‘Manchester’ as Manchester itself in 2011.

The top ten is completed by Leeds and London at 14% and 13% of Manchester’s total number of queries respectively – proving that when it comes to local SEO, Manchester clients can still reach a national audience despite using geographically specific keywords.

 

 

Right folks – that’s us finished for 2011!

If you have an urgent technical query, please do drop us an email at support@firstinternet.co.uk and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year from all at First Internet