Online Marketing Show 2009 at Olympia, London

Posted by David Hurst in HigherSites®, News, SEO on July 1st, 2009

Myself and some of the HigherSites team headed up to the Online Marketing Show at Olympia on Tuesday this week (30 June). It’s always interesting to see what other companies and industry professionals are doing, particularly when online marketing is such a rapidly developing field, and on the whole I thought the show was very enjoyable, with some good speakers and seminar sessions. So here are a few of the highlights and lowlights of the show, from my perspective. For those that don’t know me, one of my fields of expertise is online marketing (search engine optimisation, pay-per-click advertising, social media etc.) and I am a Google qualified professional.

Show Overview
The show is put on by Marketing Week and is split into four distinct areas, with online marketing being just one of these. However, it was clear that online marketing is what most delegates were interested in, and I feel that Marketing Week completely underestimated its popularity, given that the Online section was the smallest. The result of this was that the show was very crowded and that the seminar sessions were universally over-subscribed. There simply wasn’t enough space for everyone to sit and listen, so delegates were forced to stand around the edges of the theatre areas in large crowds, straining to listen to the presentations. Others sat on the floor for long periods.

Clearly, online marketing is what marketing agencies are most interested in, and I hope Marketing Week adapt their show next year to reflect that fact.

The Venue
Olympia is a reasonable venue - much the same as any other conference centre really. It’s the usual story with the catering: exorbitant prices; low quality, and; not enough seating. If you can, try and plan your day so that you don’t need to eat there (unless you particularly want to part with £2 for a small bottle of water and over £4 for a pre-packaged sandwich).

Olympia is easily reached by Tube. If you’re travelling from the West Country, as we were, I recommend taking the M3 straight in to Richmond, parking at Old Deer Park Car Park (about £8 all day) and jumping on the Tube at Richmond station, which is no more than 5 minutes walk from the car park. This puts you straight on the District line and you change at Earl’s Court for an Olympia train.

Multi Variate Testing
The first session we attended (and by “attended” I mean: “jostled for space and craned our necks to see and listen from outside the theatre area”) was all to do with multi variate testing. If you’re not familiar with this area of online marketing / usability, it’s all to do with displaying multiple versions of a page and gauging which version delivers the best results. This sort of testing fits neatly between website development and online marketing, because it takes a lot of the guesswork out of the design and development process and provides increased levels of success to online marketing efforts. A page layout ceases to be the preference of the designer or the website owner, and becomes a proven formula for success, as dictated by the website users.

It really is amazing how the tiniest changes to a page layout can have a dramatic impact on the conversion rates of any calls to action on that page. This sort of testing is an absolute must for any website owner that needs better conversion levels. Remember: online marketing only delivers traffic to your website, it is the job of the website to convert that traffic into actual business.

Augmented Reality
This area of marketing is not really something I see myself ever getting involved in heavily, but it is something that is going to be huge. I can’t really explain it as well as a simple video demonstration can, so if you want to know more, do a search for “augmented reality” on YouTube.

I have already seen this technology in action, so it is here and now and available, but it is very expensive at the moment.

How 140 Brands Use Twitter
No matter how proficient you are in a particular discipline, it’s always worthwhile to have a look at things through another expert’s perspective. This particular session was lively and fast-paced with an excellent speaker. I picked up a few points that I will apply to my own use of Twitter and the company use of Twitter for clients as part of a social marketing package. It was particularly interesting to look at how major brands are using Twitter to good effect, and how many different ways there are to use it.

I thought the speaker did a particularly good job of getting across one of the key points of using Twitter for marketing. I have previously tended to caution customers not to use Twitter as a “PR megaphone”, but I like hers better. The analogy was of engaging with guests at a party. No-one will engage with you if all you do is talk about yourself! Online marketing with Twitter is all about engaging with people, and to do that, you need to be interested in what they have to say, even if sometimes you might not like what they say!

SEO is dead! Long live the new SEO!
I was drawn to this session by the exciting title, but the reality is it failed to deliver. Some of the content was largely similar to the content that I present in my own seminars and workshops, but this is no surprise as much of the content comes from the collective mouth of Google anyway. The theme of the session wasn’t really developed well enough, and I felt it could have been better. The speaker seemed more interested in plugging his own business and stand.

Unfortunately he made a bit of a gaff by introducing Microsoft bing as some sort of next big thing, and seemed to indicate that websites should be optimised specifically for bing, and if your current SEO company hadn’t told you about it, you ought to sack them (said as a bit of joke). Unfortunately, during the Q&A, one bright spark put his hand up and asked for some more specifics on how a website should be optimised for bing, which the speaker was unable to give, because of course nobody knows yet. Microsoft don’t publish their search engine algorithms for us to exploit, and as it is a brand new engine, it will take time for this information to filter through. But, given Google’s massive market share, I don’t think I will be spending too much of my time worrying about bing just yet.

Conclusion
So, I only managed to catch 4 sessions during the day, but with the exception of the last, the sessions were very useful for me. The stands were pretty much all SEO companies or email marketeers, so these didn’t hold much interest to me, but for a traditional marketing agency looking to branch into digital, I imagine there would have been plenty of potential partners there.

I am scheduled to deliver a 1 hour session on SEO and Social Media at Business South West 2009, and whilst I haven’t finalised my material yet, I took a lot of pointers on how to make my presentations even more lively and interactive. Good stuff.

Overall a good day, and definitely worth going, just a shame it wasn’t organised a bit better and given the attention it deserved.

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Another Connecting Somerset SEO workshop successfully completed

Posted by David Hurst in HigherSites®, News, SEO on June 18th, 2009

It has been a long couple of days. Preparing and presenting a three hour workshop on search engine optimisation for Connecting Somerset - a council funded initiative to help local business owners make the most of ICT. The problem with my workshop is the way the web changes so fast, and search engine algorithms, even faster. What is best practice one minute, becomes a no-no the next. Inevitably, this means I have to modify my presentation and the associated handout every time I deliver it.

It was a real shame that some of the confirmed delegates didn’t turn up. This information is extremely valuable for business owners, and I know of no other forum where you can get it for free (well, almost free - there’s a nominal fee to cover lunch and venue hire). Once again, I had plenty of positive feedback and thanks from the delegates, who appeared for the most part to be very happy with the new things they had learned.

As we move forward, search engine optimisation will become much more closely linked with social media, and this a theme we started to develop today, and one that we will be developing further with a selection of new products from HigherSites.

If any of the delegates do find my blog, I’d welcome some feedback here - just use the comments facility below. If you haven’t attended a workshop yet, get your name to me to be put on the list. You don’t necessarily have to be a Somerset-based business to benefit.

Now, I am hugely tired, and I am going to bed!

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Is Christiano Ronaldo really worth £80 million? Real Madrid think so.

Posted by David Hurst in Rants on June 11th, 2009

I’m a Liverpool fan. I despise all things Manc, but what I despise the most is the way that no matter what they do, they always seem to land with their bums in the butter. Christiano Ronaldo is a prissy, stuck-up, arrogant little git that should not be forgiven by any English person for his role in getting Rooney dismissed in the 2006 World Cup. Last season, he played some great football, but this season he has not had the same form, so presumably Man Utd fans everywhere must be cheering the news that Real Madrid have been stupid enough to offer £80,000,000 for him. Alex Ferguson must be dancing around his office for joy. Eighty million quid will buy some pretty talented replacements and leave plenty of change over.

I watched the Champions League final this year (mainly because my brother who is a Manc fan was at my place and wanted to watch it). In the pre-amble, much was made of who might be the better player - Ronaldo or Messi. Both players were interviewed. Messi had, it seemed to me, a humble disposition and wasn’t interested in such stupid arguments, because he wanted to focus on the game. Ronaldo on the other hand stuck out his chest and boasted that he feared no-one. This attitude showed on the pitch - Ronaldo wasn’t hungry for the victory (also true of some of the other Man Utd players) and they were rightly beaten. Messi looked far the better player, not because he could do better tricks, but because he worked with his team for the victory.

Frankly, I’m pleased for the English game that we no longer have to watch Ronaldo’s ridiculous preening. So, he has some neat skills, so what? There are plenty of people out there who can do much more impressive things with a football (check out www.ballfusion.com - these are local Somerset lads), but they don’t have huge contracts and Real Madrid offering £80 million for their services. That’s because there’s more to being a football player than just skills. It’s about having the humility to be part of a team. It’s about working hard in a game. And, most importantly, it’s about fitness.

Ronaldo can take his over-inflated ego to Spain. There are better players in the world than him, and signing him and Kaka will not automatically bring success to Real Madrid.

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Yamaha FZ6 Fazer S2 dual headlight mod (have both headlights on)

Posted by David Hurst in Motorcycling on June 1st, 2009

One of the most annoying things about my FZ6 Fazer S2 is the way only the left side headlight comes on for dipped beam, despite there being a dual filament bulb in the right side headlight. I trawled around the forums and came across a chap in Canada who makes a wiring harness that fixes the problem. The forum in question is fz6-forum.com and the username of said genius is BD43. Now, if you drop him a line via the forum, and send him some ca$h via Paypal, he will send you a very professionally made harness in the post, with a sheet of instructions.

Basically, the Fazer already has the dual filament bulb and it has space on the back of the bulb connector for a wire to operate the low-beam filament. It also has the correct wire on running into one side of a connector in the frame and space on the opposite side of the connector for the wire from the bulb connector. So, basically, we are talking about plugging a wire into the bulb connector, running it around the fairing and through the frame, then connecting it to the factory installed low beam wire. Sounds simple enough.

Even though BD43’s instructions and photos are excellent, the connector is buried in the frame behind the battery, necessitating removal of battery, battery box and the air box in order to access it. The instructions I had didn’t really cover this step in detail, and it was pretty daunting to say the least. So, I thought I would explain the process here in the hope it might help others to overcome their fear of dismantling their pride and joy. Alas, there are no photos as I didn’t think to take any as I did it, but I think I can explain it clearly enough without. Just read carefully.

These instructions are for a 2008 model UK bike, but should be good for any FZ6 Fazer from 2006 on, and perhaps further back too.

Step 1 - Preparation
Prepare your tools. Having the right tools to do a job makes it sooooo much easier. You’ll need a couple of large-ish Philips Head screwdrivers, a pair of pliers, some hex keys / hex driver and a mini socket. I bought a tool kit from Halfords that had all this stuff in at reasonable quality for not very much money. Zip ties will be useful too.

Yamaha in their infinite wisdom provided no means of propping up the fuel tank, so you will need to figure out how to strap it up. I got a shoulder strap from a laptop bag and looped this around the pillion grab rail. I hooked a small bungee at each end on the holes at the front of the tank, and then connected the strap to the bungee with the hook clasp on the strap. Then you just adjust the strap to suit, remembering to protect the woefully thin paint finish with a rag of some sort. Don’t even start until you’ve figure out how to hold the tank up.

Step 2 - Removal of Cowling
On each side of the fairing, near the fuel tank, are two hex bolts. Remove all of these (4 total) taking care not to lose the plastic washers. Have a tray handy for all your bolts.

Once these bolts are removed, you can slide out the two black pieces of cowling on the top that wrap around the fuel tank. These slip straight out.

We also will want to remove the cowling around the clocks to make it easy to route our wire and access the bulb connector. There are four more hex bolts: one either side of the clocks, and one on each side near the top of the screen. These bolts are different to the others you removed, but keep them separate all the same.

You can now easily remove the cowling.

Step 3 - Lifting the Tank
Time to lift up the petrol tank! Remove the two hex bolts at the front of the fuel tank and carefully lift the tank up. It’s hinged at the back. There are two things to be careful of here: firstly, watch the lower edges of the tank where Yamaha’s woeful painting will have created a very thin layer of paint on a metal seam - if you’re not careful, the paint will flake off; secondly, don’t live the tank up so far that you pull off the rubber fuel hoses at the back - that will be messy.

You will need to attach your strap now, and you may benefit from a second pair of hands. Make sure that whatever you use to hold up the tank is secure and won’t break.

Step 4 - Removing the Air Filter
Once you have lifted the tank, you will see a domed plastic box with foam padding on the top. This is the airbox, which contains the air filter and allows the engine to breathe. There are six black screws holding the top of the box on. Carefully unscrew these and put them safely on your tray.

Once the screws are removed, you can lift off the top of the air box. This needs a bit of pressure, but once you have it moving it will come off smoothly. The air filter should come away with the lid. Put this safely to one side.

Step 5 - Remove the Battery
The battery is in front of the air box. Let’s disconnect it.

Move the red positive terminal cover to one side and unscrew the terminal using a screw driver. Then do the same with the negative terminal on the other side. Take care with these screws not to let them fall down into the frame. Once removed, put them on the tray.

Now, you will see there are four bolts holding the battery cover and box in place. Remove the two frontmost bolts first - one on each side - using a socket driver. They are done up quite tightly. Again be careful not to lose these bolts in the frame. These two are different to the next two you will remove, so again, keep them separate and safe.

Now you can remove the back two bolts. As you stand facing the front of the bike, the right hand bolt will also be holding a bracket with a wire connector. You can leave these wires connected and the bracket will hang off them. Just remove the bolt. On the left hand side, if your bike is equipped with ABS, you will have a bracket holding the ABS fuse box.

Once these bolts are removed and safely stored, you can left the top off the battery box. Just push it out of the way - there’s no need to disconnect it as we can work around it.

Next, you can lift the battery out. This is probably heavier than you expect so use both hands to avoid dropping it.

Step 6 - Remove the Air Box
The rear two bolts on the battery box were also holding the air box in place, so this can now be removed. You will have to gently prise it up off the four metal engine air intakes. You won’t be able to move it far as there are hoses connected to it. These need to be removed.

On the right hand side of the box, is the first one. Squeeze the spring clip with your pliers and gently pull the air box backwards and slide the hose off the connector. On the back of the air box are three more hoses which need the same treatment, only this time, pull the box up. Lastly, remove the green sensor by gently pulling it out of the box.

Put the box somewhere safe.

Step 7 - Access the Connector
Now, pull the battery box up and back, and you will find a soft plastic sleeve covering a connector. Pull the sleeve back and unclip the two halves of the connector. On the female side will be a green wire that has no corresponding pin on the male side. This is where you will connect one end of the wire. BD43’s harness has the correct connector to just clip straight in, but don’t do it yet.

Look at the front of the frame on the left hand side and you will see a hole with wires fed through. We want to run our wire through this hole.

Step 8 - Run the Wire
Pull the bulb connector off the right hand headlight and snap up the plastic cover on the back. Insert the correct end of the harness into the available slot here. If you are making your own lead, make sure you solder on the right connector. Snap the cover back and plug the connector back onto the headlight.

Now run the wire around the fairing to the left hand side. Use the existing clips on this side of the fairing to retain the wire, and use zip ties on the other side for a tidy install.

Feed the other end of the wire through the hole in the frame and click it into the correct slot on the male connector.

Reconnect the two halves of the connector and cover with the plastic sleeve again.

Step 9 - Re-connect it all!
Follow the steps in reverse. Push the battery box forward and down and slide the battery in. Reconnect the air box. This can be tricky. First of all slide the rear hoses on part way (using your pliers on the spring clips - they are lubricated so they will slide on easy), then slide the right hand hose on fully. Now line up the ports and press down firmly until the inner join between air box and engine is flush. This takes a bit of pressure from both sides. Finally, push the hoses on fully at the back and re-insert the green sensor.

Re-connect the earth (left side) terminal to the battery and then the red live connector. Put the lid back on and screw in the front two bolts. Then, taking care to re-install the brackets, screw in the back two bolts and check the battery box and air box are firmly seated and properly connected.

Slide the top of the air box back on, by lining up the air filter in the top with the grooves in the bottom. Screw in the six black screws and make sure it is shut tight.

Carefully remove your tank strap and drop the tank back down, then screw in the two hex bolts.

Now install the cowling around the clocks, using the four little hex bolts, making sure it is properly snapped into place.

Finally, slide the two side pieces of cowling back into place, and screw it all tight with the remaining four hex bolts, remembering the nylon washers.

THE JOB IS DONE!

Now you can turn on the engine and admire your twin headlights.

You may find that your right hand headlight is not properly levelled, and this may give some trouble come MOT time, but you can always slip the connector off the back of the headlight for the test, and re-install afterwards.

Huge thanks go to fz6-forum.com and most of all BD43. All comments, suggestions and modifications greatly appreciated - submit yours below.

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TCX Synergy Motorcycle Boots

Posted by David Hurst in Motorcycling on May 28th, 2009

I bought myself a pair of TCX Synergy boots last year, and have been very pleased with them. They took a few hundred miles to wear in properly, but once they had, they have been very comfortable, warm and waterproof. I like the discreet styling that allows you to wear them anywhere without looking like you’ve just come off-piste.

Unfortunately, the stitching on the left boot started to come away. I was pretty annoyed about it, because I had stupidly discarded the store receipt, so the store refused to change them. I took a photo of the boot and emailed it to TCX in Italy. Within an hour, I had a response saying that my email had been forwarded on to the UK distributer. Sure enough, I got an email from them half an hour later asking for my address so they could send me a new pair. Just like that!

On Saturday a nice man from DHL turned up with my brand new boots.

We live in the Internet age, where companies can grow up overnight and become huge without actually having to invest any hard work in developing customer relationships (eBay, Google, Facebook, Paypal etc.), and as such seem to completely forget that it is the customers that make them what they are. Instead, customers of these companies are treated with utter contempt. So, how refreshing it is to find a company that cares about its customers and stands by its products no matter what.

It is because of this stellar customer service that I shall now only ever be wearing motorcycle boots with “TCX” printed on the label.

Other companies take note! This may have cost TCX a pair of boots, but it gains them positive publicity in the form of this blog post, and they have gained a loyal customer, who will likely be buying boots every 18 months or so from them.

So, if you are looking for a new pair of motorcycle boots, can I suggest you check out what’s on offer from TCX. Their customer service isn’t just brilliant, their products are good and they stand by the quality. The TCX Infinity boot is ranked best motorcycle boot by RiDE magazine too, so it’s not just me singing their praises.

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