We’re Celebrating 20 Years of Digital
As a Hale-based digital marketing agency we’ve started our 20th anniversary year in 2018 with four new recruits and two more to come – and a budding romance between the office dogs! Highlights: · 3 new marketing recruits, 1 lead designer and 2 development roles in the pipeline. · 4 major new clients. · 2 very… more »
Instagram launches new in-app shopping feature
What is the new feature? The social giant Instagram has launched a new in-app shopping feature. The feature provides the opportunity for brands to add links to posts navigating back to their e-commerce store. Currently, only 21% of purchases are completed within a day of viewing a post, after learning this, Instagram decided to take… more »
What does Twitter’s latest update mean for brands?
What is the Update? Twitter’s latest update, tackles the bot problem which the social giant has been trying to keep under control for years. This is in direct response to a recent bot purge which sparked the #TwitterLockOut hashtag to start trending. Twitter has hopes that their newest set of guidelines will solve the problem… more »
Digital Marketing Trends for 2018
…But first, a big WELCOME to Jamie, the newest member of the First Internet family! Here’s his first (of many) blogs, great to have you on board, take it away… OK, here goes nothing! With the online world forever expanding and new technologies being developed, new trends are being introduced every year, and 2018 will… more »
Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid
When it comes to SEO nothing is ever set in stone. Google is renowned for constantly updating its algorithms, making website optimisation tricky. Although, certain practices always remain the same, things that were once considered good practice can quickly become the exact opposite. The key to having a healthy website that appeals to both users… more »
Cyber-attacks strike again… But what can you do about it?
Last month, our developer Joe wrote about the ‘WannaCry’ attack, which caused a crisis in the National Health Service hospitals and some of Europe’s biggest businesses, affecting 230,000 computers in over 150 countries. In the past 24 hours, many companies across the EU and US have been victim to another ransomware attack, this time, named… more »
WannaCry? The NHS certainly did.
On the 12/05/2017 one of the biggest cyber-attacks quickly spread over the world, causing a crisis in National Health Service hospitals and some of Europe’s biggest businesses. The new strain of ransomware WannaCry (also known as WanaCrypt0r and Wcry) is a malware that usually locks users out of their own system (usually by encrypting the… more »
Google and Facebook team up against fake news
In recent months and in the run up to the UK general election, both Google and Facebook have been under pressure to address fake news. BuzzFeed research found that in the months running up to the US election, the top performing fake news items generated more engagement than top stories from major news outlets. The… more »
Is Meta Data Still Important for SEO in 2017?
The world of search engine optimisation is constantly changing. As it evolves however, certain practices that used to be considered ethical become obsolete. As Google rolls out new algorithm updates every year, thousands of SEOs across the globe are forced to adapt. Lately there’s been quite a lot of debate in the digital marketing community… more »
Google Announces Invisible reCAPTCHA, Marking End of an Era for (Human) Users
If you were born prior to the turn of the millennium, you most likely associate the word “CAPTCHA” with an instant feeling of irritation and a squinting of the eyes, in an attempt to read two garbled and barely legible words from a small box on your computer screen. Thankfully, we’ve come a long… more »
A How-to Guide on Social Media for Small Businesses
There is a huge misconception surrounding the use of social media and what it can do for small businesses. Long gone are they days where you can rely on word-of-mouth to get customers for your business as the online world is getting increasingly popular. When the term ‘social media’ crops up many people think of… more »
Fancy a brew and an SEO review?
Several thousand Google algorithm updates happened in 2016 and with many more expected for 2017, there’s plenty to keep us busy! These changes can impact your site performance if you don’t stay up to date, so if your website isn’t performing as well as you’d like recently, it might be time for you to invest… more »
Five major ranking factors for SEO in 2017
As 2017 gets underway it’s a good time to summarise some of the main ranking factors for SEO in recent years, and which are likely to remain at the top of the list during the coming 12 months. That’s not to say there won’t be some new surprises along the way as Google update… more »
Alternatives to Google Search Console Content Keywords
Some of the leading webmaster and SEO blogs were rocked in recent days by the news that the Google Search Console Content Keywords report has officially been retired, leaving a gap in some people’s assessments of their main content keywords. A post on the Google Webmaster Central Blog explained the decision to retire the Search… more »
What is the outlook for online marketing on Black Friday?
Black Friday – the fourth Friday in November – comes the day after the US holiday of Thanksgiving and traditionally marks a surge in high street Christmas shopping, with the corresponding event of Cyber Monday marking a red-letter date for online marketing after the same weekend. Despite being an American holiday, in recent years more… more »
3 alternatives to Vine as Twitter kills its micro-video app
Twitter users were taken by surprise in recent days with the news that Twitter’s Vine micro-video app is being ‘shuttered’ – a polite way of saying killed off – so if short looping videos are crucial to your strategy, or even if you just like playing around with them, what are the most mainstream alternatives… more »
Mobile Google rankings to overtake desktop
With every 7 out of 8 minutes spent on media being on mobile devices, and more than half of searches made on Google are on mobile, it’s clear that mobile internet use is increasing. And with mobile overtaking desktop use, Google is encouraging mobile usage even more. Last year, we were made aware that Google… more »
Internet passes 50% mark to be majority of UK advertising
Internet advertising has reached a major milestone, passing the 50% mark of all UK advertising by value to become the single majority method used in British marketing. Figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau UK and PricewaterhouseCoopers show that in early 2009, internet advertising accounted for about a quarter of UK marketing spend. This gave the… more »
Five essential elements that will improve your ad and landing page conversion rate.
Your product or service might be fantastic, but if your advert or landing page doesn’t prompt the user to buy it, your conversion rate could be very low. This blog identifies five important elements to bear in mind. 1. Images Recent stats show 78% of shoppers want to see images, 67% say the image they… more »
First is best – even in long buying decisions
It’s normal for buying decisions to take longer when consumers shop for high-value products – and for customers to spend that time comparing different product features and deciding on the best value for money. When it comes to web marketing, you could be forgiven for thinking that means it’s less important to be the first… more »
