Google Internet advertising Webinar

I just attended a Webinar held by Erika Murray from Google Adwords. Very interesting! She answered questions driven by her alliance with Google of course, but had some very good tips.

It's important to plan, plan, plan, then track, track, track in any campaign, that's for sure. I'm going to include a new question in our internet advertising planning asking whether the client would like to specifically drive more traffic, improve the current click-through-rate, or get more sales – more return on investment. Our campaigns usually achieve all three, but we could work on one improvement exclusively for more targeted advertising.

Most of our clients want an improvement on ROI as they want to keep the budgets as small as possible. One of our clients is spending £300 a month (and seeing a big profit – we're making sure of that!), another is spending £20 a month, and their return on investment is averaging around the same percentage. Internet advertising definitely levels the playing field for small businesses!

Could you bring in more customers if you had a fresh look at your marketing?

Barclays bank is recommending to its customers ten ways to tighten up their businesses in these challenging times, including the review of sales techniques.

They are urging their customers to 'sell through the hard times' and 'not to cut back on sales and marketing, focus on working harder and smarter to close more deals'.

Here at 2updesign we're seeing an increase in marketing by our big business clients. They know that the best way to get more customers in is to create, and publicise, incentives. Smart SMEs are doing the same.

It needn't be big budget: Low cost promotions are our speciality, it just means that we need to think more creatively about your business. Maybe you just need strategically placed signage, or a low budget internet advertising campaign to boost your sales. For example, a couple of months ago we recognised that one of our client's target audience was in an office block with a cafe in the ground floor. We arranged that for a week, every sandwich that the cafe sold was wrapped in a printed bag with our client's logo across it. Creative thinking.

Browse our portfolio for some ideas. Our professional services are prompt and tailored to each individual's requirements.

Because we're so friendly we offer a free consultation and quote service! Call us to arrange to meet, or just for a chat.

Read more advice from Barclays: click here
Read more advice from Business Link: click here

How to Market your Business Online Seminar

I went to a fantastic seminar yesterday full of people wanting to know more about how to promote themselves online. It was for the takeITon campaign, Derrick Cameron from Eximium was the accomplished speaker. Derrick's style was clear and friendly, with lots of opportunity to develop ideas throughout his presentation.

Now, I don't want to sound pompous, but I do know this stuff inside out, of course I practice it every day. So you may be asking why I went. Well, it was a chance to meet some great people which I did, and keep up to date with the latest developments on the web. Derrick also delivered explanations on each aspect of internet marketing so well, that I learnt a lot about presenting these ideas to clients.

Find out about the takeITon seminars at: takeitononlinemarketing.eventbrite.com/ I see that most of the upcoming events are booked up – they should be, it was invaluable!

Find out more about Derrick and Eximium at: www.eximium.net

Find out about our services at: www.2updesign.co.uk/websitedesign

Thanks Derrick! You're doing some great work educating companies on their internet marketing needs – so often they are completed unprofessionally and subsequently don't bring in visitors, or are just ignored because they are thought to be too complicated. It's frustrating for us because we prove again and again that these practices make much more money than they cost to set-up.

Tim's New Site Illustration

The new 2updesign site is officially a hit! Our visitor numbers have near tripled since our redesign so thank you again for your feedback!

Apart from being kept busy by our new website, we've been hard at work on continuing design projects. Pictured is Tim Stapleton's newest Illustration produced for one of our North American clients. It's an Isometric Site Drawing of a typical factory with designated areas for health and safety purposes.

Lots of people are looking at our blog page, but unable to sign up to it. It's easy to sign up with your Google account which has a built in Blogger element. Click on the atom link, (left), and Google will take you through the steps. Or sign into your Google account go to Blogger>Blogs I'm following>add>then enter this URL.

Thanks again! Speak soon, Gemma Turner.

2updesign are raising money for Cancer Research UK in the Norwich Race For Life on the 3rd May. We'd better start training, and cut down on biscuits!

The New 2updesign.co.uk website is launched!

What do you think?
Thank you for your feedback on our website since last January's re-design. We've taken it all on-board and spent the last two months developing our new website. The design has more colour but is simpler, and the whole site is now easier to navigate even though there are more pages!

New additions include a bigger portfolio, animations and mini-portfolios on each section page, and of course – this blog!

We've got more plans to put into action this year, and this blog will keep you notified of them all, so sign up and keep track of what we're up to!

Thanks again for all your help, and complimentary testimonials.

Gemma, Creative Director.