Aida Kagoya of Support the African Child uses the Internet to reach out to the world

Posted by Chris on October 20th, 2012

I have never been to Jinja, Uganda where Aida lives but of course we can Google it and look at it on maps. ( See short History at the end of this article NB the connection between the U.K. and India ) I do know that it is to the North West of Lake Victoria at the source of the Nile. I first came across Aida on Facebook. Now many of you reading this will have been approached by numerous people from Africa and other countries on Facebook and your first reaction is ” This is probably not who they say they are ” and ” They are going to rip me off or at the very least ask for money ” . With Aida it was different. She had some mutual friends and this helped and when she messaged she was calm and friendly and not pushy.

 

 

 

After chatting for some time on Facebook she let me know that she wanted to get a website established for Support the African Child and would I help ??? I said that I would do my best and kept her in mind when I was talking to various business connections that I had.

There are 3 places where Aida can access the Internet – her mobile phone, the local Internet Cafe and her University. Using these locations, mobile phone and computers, her intelligence and belief that God would provide a solution to the needs of the African Children that she supported, Aida went onto the Internet and started a journey that I think will one day lead to her being one of the most experienced social media marketers in Central Africa.

 

 

Aida

Aida’s  Picture

 

 

The vision I have is of Aida using her mobile phone when at home and the computer at her University when she is there and the Internet Cafe when she is not. Often she said to me that she needed to get to the Internet Cafe or University in order to provide certain information.

 

 

 

When we first chatted I explained to her the Internet Marketing Ecosystem, which was probably a bit ambitious but she understood most of it by getting her to draw a picture on a piece of A4 paper of a WordPress web/blogsite at the centre, a Twylah page alongside and surrounded by various social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. I explained how you would post on the WordPress website and then distribute that post around the social networks sites. This ensures maximum awareness and also helps to drive the website to the top of Google for selected keywords and phrases.

I duly talked to a number of contacts and Costa Rica Headquartered BeachCherry Software Corporation, headed by Vick Gandhi, volunteered to provide the website ( this was very kind of them ). BeachCherry have wide – ranging software development skills which include WordPress web/blogsite design. Aida provided Headings and Content in Microsoft Word. BeachCherry’s WordPress designer in India did an amazing job of building a WordPress website that captured the theme of STAC perfectly despite having no design guidance at all  ( I have actually seen this done by BeachCherry a number of times ).

So this website was being built across the globe with me co-ordinating from the U.K., Aida and STAC, being the customer, in Uganda and Vick and some of his team being based in Costa Rica – the others in India. Sounds like a recipe for disaster ???? Not if you are BeachCherry Corporation who took the whole thing in their stride !! We organised a domain using GoDaddy ( www.supporttheafricanchild.com ) and hosting with Wiser Hosting in Devon, England.

Initially the website was built on the BeachCherry.com website and then it was moved across to it’s own domain.

Aida was able to access the website while it was being developed and she sent in regular check lists of things to be done which were actioned by BeachCherry developers.

Mainly the communication was by Facebook Message and email. Aida had to report progress to her Board Members and Executive Committee.

The website has only just gone live and there is much work to be done but Aida has provided the Testimonial below:

 

Aida’s Testimonial

Thank you very much for your kindness and love that has brought
abundant joy and hope in the world’s neglected and disadvantaged
children more so in Uganda. Words can neither say it all nor action
express my gratefulness because at this point I know that you are
aware of the challenges we face at Support the African Child (STAC) but
you chose to stand in and go all way with us. I do not take you for
granted but live to cherish and treasure every MINUTE you take to
think about us and consider us.

From my very first contact with BeachCherry to the final website
launch, I found they provided an outstanding service and were an excellent
company to work with. The process, from contacting you to receive the
information to be posted, proposed concept designs through
finalization of design and the launch of the website was TIMELY and
EFFICIENT. Every question was answered quickly and they went above and
beyond what was asked of them.The website and logo they designed for
STAC is exactly what we want and their service made every step of the
process simple.

 

The support and help that was given to STAC is first class,and I am
thankful to have such a great relationship with Chris Windley ( U.K. BeachCherry Strategy Advisor )  and Vick
Gandhi (CEO BeachCherry). We look forward to the continued
relationship between STAC and BeachCherry and wish to thank you for a
job well done.
Thank you for your willingness to help STAC make a difference in the
lives of these children and I would not hesitate to recommend BeachCherry
to anyone looking for a professional website design

GOD BLESS
AIDA KAGOYA
CEO, Support The African Child.

History of Jinja ( extract from Wikepedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinja,_Uganda )

Before 1906, Jinja was a fishing village that benefited from being located on long-distance trade routes. The origin of the name “Jinja” comes from the language of the two peoples (the Baganda and the Basoga) that lived on either side of the River Nile in the area. In both languages “Jinja” means “Rock”. In most of Africa, rivers like the Nile hindered migration, this explains the ethnic boundaries along the Nile as one moves north from the river’s source on the northern shores of Lake Victoria.

However the area around Jinja was one place where the river could be breached due to the large rocks near the Ripon Falls. Here, on either bank of the river, were large flat rocks where small boats could be launched to cross the river. These rock formations were also accredited with providing a natural moderator for the water flow out of Lake Victoria. For the original local inhabitants, the location was a crossing point, for trade, migration and as a fishing post.

This might explain why, despite this barrier, the two tribes have very similar languages, and the more powerful Baganda had an enormous influence on the Basoga. The area was called the ‘Place of Rocks’ or ‘The Place of Flat Rocks’. The word for stones or rocks in the language of the Baganda is ‘Ejjinja (Plural Amayinja), and in the Basoga dialect this became Edinda. The British used this reference to name the town they established – “Jinja”

In 1954,with the building of the Owen Falls Dam, (later renamed Nalubaale Power Station, the Ripon Falls were submerged. Most of the ‘Flat Rocks’ that gave the area its name disappeared under water as well. However a description of what the area looked like can be found in the notes of John Hanning Speke, the first European to lay eyes on the Source of the Nile:

“Though beautiful, the scene was not exactly what I expected, for the broad surface of the lake was shut out from view by a spur of hill, and the falls, about twelve feet deep and four to five hundred feet broad, were broken by rocks; still it was a sight that attracted one to it for hours. The roar of the waters, the thousands of passenger fish leaping at the falls with all their might, the fishermen coming out in boats, and taking post on all the rocks with rod and hook, hippopotami and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water, the ferry at work above the falls, and cattle driven down to drink at the margin of the lake, made in all, with the pretty nature of the country—small grassy-topped hills, with trees in the intervening valleys and on the lower slopes—as interesting a picture as one could wish to see.”[2]

Cotton-packing, nearby sugar estates, and railway access all enabled Jinja to grow in size. By 1906 a street pattern had been laid out, and Indian traders moved in starting around 1910. The Indians were Catholic Christians and English-speaking, and originated in the former Portuguese colony of Goa on the west coast of India.

The town was founded in 1907 by the British, as an administrative centre for the Provincial Government Headquarters for Busoga region. This was around the time that Lake Victoria’s importance in transport rose due to the Uganda Railway linking Kisumu, a Kenyan town on the lake, with Mombasa on the Indian Ocean, 900 miles (1,400 km) away. British-American Tobacco Uganda (BATU) established a tobacco processing factory in Jinja in 1928.

 

HubSpot is brilliant but you can’t afford it

Posted by Chris on September 13th, 2012

HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing system is amazing. Started by ex-Venture Capitalist Brian Halligan and web architect and blogger Dharmesh Shah who basically saw that startups and growth companies needed a new way of marketing, HubSpot is a truly revolutionary concept ( Inbound Marketing ) and system.

As a business angel and sales, marketing and business strategy specialist with startups and growth companies I have recommended HubSpot to a number of my clients. Some have installed HubSpot and I have been privileged to be involved in the installation and operation of the system. One has changed from HubSpot to WordPress. This was a change that I resisted as I was sure that HubSpot style Internet Marketing was the future and would, eventually, lead to great results for my client  but as I debated the pros and cons of HubSpot and WordPress with my client I could see that it just was not going to work for them. It was too expensive and required skills that they and I did not have. Neither did they have the skills required in their partners.

In fact it turned out that HubSpot was moving upmarket -away from S.M.B.’s and towards larger companies and enterprises. I don’t think that it is any mistake that HubSpot’s pricing page’s –   http://www.hubspot.com/pricing/ – highlight a professional package that’s going to cost $600 per month plus, potentially, $1000’s in setup and consulting fees. You would probably be looking at $20,000 per annum as a typical spend. I think HubSpot are being very fair in highlighting that on top of the licensing fee there are other costs aswell. If you don’t have certain skills in house e.g. Landing Page and Call to Action design skills and analytical skills then you will need to find a partner for this and pay them aswell.

Despite all this I am STILL going to recommend that you look at HubSpot and understand what it offers and can achieve before making any decision not to use it. You HAVE to understand what the HubSpot system is trying to achieve ( Visitors, prospects and customers ! ) and you have to understand most of the ways that it achieves this. The HubSpot mantra ” Get Found, Convert and Analyse ” should be burned into your brain in the same way that it is burned into mine.

You must understand that a website is virtually useless if it is not FOUND, if it does not CONVERT visitors into prospects and customers and if you cannot ANALYSE how you managed to get FOUND and CONVERT  visitors to customers.

I can tell you that it is very exciting watching the traffic building to your website which results from the creation of great content and the distribution of that content through social networks.

It is also fantastic to watch how many visitors converted to leads and how many of those converted to orders.

Unfortunately when you are spending around £250 a month ( as my client was doing ) you are not getting the Professional package and you do not get much support so if you can’t do a number of things in house then you are never actually going to achieve the results that you need which means that you will never actually pay for the cost of HubSpot.

This is why I have spent months and months developing the WordPress based Internet Marketing Ecosystem which I believe is more suited to the average SMB and even large business. Of course in the last year or so HubSpot has developed the HubSpot plugin for WordPress and also Dharmesh has emphasized the importance of the WordPress world by investing in WPEngine ( the WordPress focussed Hosting company ).

STOP PRESS !!! January 2013 – The Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( mentioned below ) has now been incorporated into Centripetal Network Consultings’ Digital Marketing Ecosystem. Watch this video >>>> HERE <<<< to see how a system that provides all of the functionality of a HubSpot system at a much lower cost has evolved over the last couple of years.

Internet Marketing Ecosystem – Update, Clarification and Future

Posted by Chris on September 3rd, 2012

The Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( I.M.E. ) has been producing some great results recently even when only partially implemented. You can find previous blogs on the I.M.E by searching on that term here. ( Use search box ). The I.M.E. is a strategy and a process rather than being absolutely rigid about the specific brand of product used. e.g. I recommend the use of WordPress for websites and blogs but websites and blogs based on other technologies and brands may also work using the strategy and process.

It should also be noted that if a website is already in place ( of whatever technology or whoever it is supplied by ) I.M.E. recommended products can be added and the strategy and process employed.

To summarise the recommended components ( products, brands etc ) are:

– A WordPress based website.

– A WordPress based blog.

– A Twylah page.

– Various Social Network pages such as Twitter, Facebook, Google +, Linkedin , Pinterest, digg etc. etc.

The WordPress website and blog and the Twylah page form the ” core ” of the I.M.E. Typically fresh, relevant ” content ” is produced on the blog and the Twylah page ( using the Twylah Power Tweet facility ) and then shared to the Social Network pages ( I use the Twylah share facility which I call Power Sharing ).

If we bear in mind that our overall objective is to get FOUND ( via Google etc. for relevant words and phrases ) to CONVERT visitors into prospects and customers and to ANALYSE how we did it ( basically noting what particular efforts produced the best results with the help of e.g. Google Analytics ).

If we also remember that producing a high ranking ( easily FOUND ) web and blogsite is dependant on ( amongst other things ) – It having relevant, frequently updated content; having on page S.E.O. and also having authoritative backlinks. Whilst conversion relies apon ” channeling ” the visitor through a sales funnel via relevant headlines, landing pages and Calls to Action.

The I.M.E. fulfills all of the above criteria. It would take a long time to explain all of the ways that it does but we can take a few  examples:

A blog posted on the WordPress Blogsite ( or page ) can then be Power Tweeted via the Twylah platform ( initially placing the Power Tweet into your Twitter community ). It can then be ( power ) shared to Facebook, Google +, Linkedin, Pinterest and Digg. This creates backlinks from all of these places to your domain ( the WordPress web/blog and Twylah page are all in your domain ).

It is worth remembering that Google is now looking at the whole picture rather than simply relevant keywords and phrases and backlinks so the fact that a piece of content is being shared ( liked, ReTweeted etc. etc. ) around multiple social networks is a powerful indicator to Google.

Poundbury Systems uses IME for Internet Marketing in Dorset

Posted by Chris on August 25th, 2012

Dorset based computer and telecommunications provider Poundbury Systems is dominating Google searches for ” Managed Backup Dorset ” by using a combination of the Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( IME, see link below ) and it’s own hosting facilities and National IP network ( also see below ).

Recently, Poundbury Systems launched a Managed Data Backup service from it’s Headquarters in Dorset. As part of it’s promotional campaign Poundbury Systems wanted to ensure that it was found for relevant searches using Google and similar search engines ( Many potential customers use search engines to obtain information about particular products or services).

Poundbury Systems has a WordPress based website and blogsite which is hosted in Poundbury’s Hosting Facilities in London. It is important to understand that these are high performance U.K. Hosting Facilities ensuring that a properly structured web/blogsite has the best chance of achieving a high Google search position for relevant search terms. ( Whilst the exact influence of website hosting performance on Google ranking is debated amongst SEO experts, the fact that it is a factor is not usually debated ).

The first thing to understand about the use of an Internet Marketing Ecosystem is that you must understand what search terms you want to rank for ( this means what would someone type into the Google etc search box in order to find your products or services ). In this case the products, services and therefore search terms are ” Managed Data Backup ” and similar and related words and phrases.

The ” Managed Data Backup ” blog post below was created to complement the web page dedicated to that subject here – http://www.poundbury.com/futureline-assure/ . So this meant that there was relevant content available. The links to the web page and blog post were then distributed via Poundbury’s Twitter, Twylah and Facebook pages ( amongst others ).

I also shared the links via my personal Internet Marketing Ecosystem.

The results are pretty stunning with Poundbury Systems occupying the first 4 natural search results ( this may be subject to a particular persons search results but has been tested by a number of people ) when there are nearly 6.5 Million search results ( roughly equates to people searching on this term ). Other search positions are also occupied by either the Poundbury web/blogsite or elements of my IME e.g. there is a Twylah post appearing.

There is no Pay Per Click payment being made and no ” Black Hat ” SEO techniques have been used. This is simply achieved by understanding what the company wishes to be found for and writing and distributing relevant content. i.e. Content Marketing.

It is anticipated that this particular blog post will be found by people searching on the phrase ” Internet Marketing in Dorset ” or similar and will therefore be of interest to those who might want to use Poundbury System’s excellent Hosting facilities and the Internet Marketing Ecosystem.

Relevant Links:

Internet Marketing Ecosystem link : http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2012/03/12/the-internet-marketing-ecosystem-this-is-the-way-it-is/

Managed Data Backup link : http://www.poundbury.com/poundbury-launches-fully-managed-data-backup-solution-from-dorset/

Poundbury National IP Network link : http://www.poundbury.com/internet-connection-dorset/

Internet Marketing Strategy – Lichfield – Update using IME

Posted by Chris on July 23rd, 2012

When it comes to dominating the search results for Internet Marketing Strategy Lichfield the Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( IME ) is clearly working really well. A search on ” Internet Marketing Strategy Lichfield ” today shows that we have FREE ( natural ) listings for 5 of the results on the first page.

The M&A Rainmaker ( WordPress ) blog – this one – heads the listings. Followed by a Pinterest listing, a Digg listing and a Twylah listing. The Pinterest and Twylah listings mirror their growth in the Alexa rankings ( just read this morning that Pinterest is now the No 3 social network ). Despite Digg’s problems it remains a solid way to get a Google ranking and in my estimation is a key component of the IME.

My IME is now benefiting from years of continuous content updating and posting. Remember that in the IME the WordPress website/blog and the Twylah page are the ” core ” of the IME. Often ( but not always ) content is generated via this WordPress blog and then posted to Facebook, Twitter ( which automatically generates posts to Twylah ) , Linkedin, Google + and Digg. Posts to Twylah can be re-posted to Facebook, Linkedin, Google + and Digg ( to name a few ) if required.

In addition to building our networks on each of these social networking platforms we are also creating links from e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Twylah, Pinterest, Linkedin, Google+ and Digg back to the M&A Rainmaker WordPress blogsite.

Each of these systems are powerful in their own right but when combined in the Internet Marketing Ecosystem they are virtually unbeatable – as the Google search results show.

Remember that some of the keys to a high ranking website ( one that gets found for the searches that you want it to be found for ) is that it has relevant, continuously updated content; that it has on page SEO and that it has authoritative links from websites that are regarded as having authority. All of these criteria have been completely satisfied. Mostly though we have to make sure that our posts talk about the subject that we want to be found for in an appropriate way. Google ALWAYS tries to give searchers the results that they want.

Talking about individual performance on specific networks there have been some wonderful comments on Twitter lately from friends in the U.S.A. ( you will remember that a key part of my success with the IME has been knowledge of systems like Twylah and Pinterest – which eminate from the U.S. ).

Here’s a comment from Mike Martino

LICHFIELD England – Many great philosophers have come from the City of Lichfield yet none have mastered the art of  like Chris Windley.

who has been very kind and generous in his praise of my activity on Twitter.

 

Chris Windley is now a Six Figure Mentor. Find out how to get more traffic, visitors, leads, orders and CASH from your website. Turn your Internet presence from a liability into an ASSET !!! Click >>>>>>>>>>>>HERE <<<<<<<<<<<< for more information.

 

 

Internet Marketing Masterclass in Lichfield Staffordshire

Posted by Chris on May 21st, 2012

Over the last few months we ( Silicon Crossroads VCT ) have been giving clients and selected friends and business contacts what amounts to an Internet Marketing Masterclass. This graphic here:

buddy media social marketing

which appeared here http://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-marketing-landscape-complicated-2012-5 shows just how complicated social media has become. Actually these are not all the categories or all the companies and products in those categories because I can think of a few more.  If you are trying to keep up with the ever changing world of Internet Marketing and Social Media you have your work cut out.

I always start off my presentations on this topic by saying that our focus on Internet Marketing should NOT be taken to mean that we don’t believe in other forms of marketing ( so called Traditional Marketing ) e.g. Word of Mouth ( WoM ), advertising, mailshots and in particular emailshots. Actually our research has led us to the conclusion that one of the primary objectives of much Internet Marketing is to get someone’s name and email address.  Once a person has ” opted-in ” to your email database you have a friend and a prospect. All you need to do is to send them relevant, interesting, funny etc information so that they STAY on your email list !

When I originally started learning about Internet Marketing it was because I had seen some research that said that about 50% of the people who were researching and buying telephone systems did their initial research online. Today we all use Google and other search engines to research and buy the things that we are interested in or want to buy.

In the Masterclass I ask people to think about something they have researched into and perhaps bought online. You can do this too. Think about ” the process ” that you went through. ( This is the simple version ) You wanted to buy something. You Googled it. Some search results were presented. You clicked on a few. Explored the websites that you were taken to.  Compared the offerings. Made a decision. Bought. OR maybe you found a couple of suppliers you liked but wanted to wait to make the decision to buy so you just bookmarked the site or signed up for emails from the company.

I always like to understand what the ” young people’s ” process is because I think it is often different to the way we use Google. e.g. my son ( age 22 ) is always working on cars and if he doesn’t understand something or wants something he will type the exact question into Google e.g. ” how do you fit a light bulb to the rear quarter light of a Peugeot 105 “. As they say – you can tell someone’s age by the way they type things into a mobile phone – one finger is OLD, one thumb YOUNGER, two thumbs YOUNGER STILL. So different age groups Google ( Internet search ) in different ways.

Some people do not understand ( or believe ) that a website is a waste of time and money if it is not being FOUND ( for relevant search terms – words and phrases ). The objective is not only to be found for the company name ( hopefully that is a given ) but for the PRODUCTS and SERVICES that you provide.

This begs the question ( which not many people ask themselves !! ) – What ARE the products and services that YOU want to be found for ?? This is actually a fundamental question and a cornerstone of everything that you do from Search Engine Optimising ( SEOing ) to putting the correct CONTENT into your website and to your blogging strategy.

You may be surprised at how few companies do this and how difficult it seems to be for them. If I was being cruel ( which I sometimes feel like being ) you would think that they don’t actually know what it is that they are trying to sell and therefore be found for.

For other people it is a relatively easy question. They know what they are trying to sell and therefore promote and therefore be found for.

Once understood ( and played with a little bit because some will be easier to rank for than others ) these are the “terms” that will be woven into ALL new content. ( You may want to go back and review what you have already done on the basis of this review aswell !! ).

N.B. This is an interesting time to be talking about what Google ( and other search engines ) want to see in order to rank your web/blogsite high because Google has recently changed it’s “algorithms” penalising some SEO practices. If you read some of the books about Google you will find that it was originally based upon the practice of ” referencing ” research papers i.e. a paper written on a particular subject ( the topic of interest ) would ” reference ” ( provide links to ) other worthy papers. Google ALWAYS ( and in my mind always will ) tries to provide people with the information or answer they seek – to it’s best ability. Therefore, put simply, if you provide ( good, relevant, interesting, nice to read and look at ) CONTENT you will be FOUND over the long term without any risks of being penalised. I guess some people might call this a ” Content Marketing Strategy “.


Once you have been FOUND the next task is to CONVERT visitors ( to your web or blogsite ) into Prospects and then Customers and then ANALYSE how/why/with what you achieved this success and then REPEAT IT !!!

N.B. I borrowed this Get FOUND, CONVERT,ANALYSE mantra from HubSpot ( http://www.hubspot.com/ ) who came up with a new
” meme ” ( means a completely new area, in this case, Marketing Strategy ) called Inbound Marketing.

So, you get FOUND ( because you have built your web/blogsite to be found for the things that you want to be found for ) then you CONVERT ( via the fact that you had the right ” Landing Pages “ ( more on this another time ) and ” Calls to Action ” then you track who found you, who they are, what they did when they went onto your web/blogsite and where they came from. e.g. Was it a Twitter/Twylah post that you made that led someone to your website who then emailed/phoned you or subscribed to your email database ?

For those familear with the term we are talking ” Sales Funnels ” here like :

funnel1

from http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/16759/3-Tips-For-Better-Lead-Management.aspx

It is probably useful to remind ourselves of ” How to create a high ranking web/blogsite ” ( in simple terms ). A web/blog/domain will rank high on Google ( and other Search Engines )  IF:

  • The CONTENT is relevant to the search ( and regularly updated with “rich” new content )
  • The ON PAGE SEO has been done ( Titles, tags etc ) and it is ” easy to be seen and spidered “.
  • There are LINKS back to your your website/domain from other ” high ranking ” websites/domains
  • It is based on a ” powerful platform ” ( like WordPress or HubSpot )
  • The website itself and the hosting environment are ” High Performance

Once we understand all of this this we can understand why we must create what I call an ” Internet Marketing Ecosystem “.

Similar to

which was created by http://davefleet.com/2010/01/2010-social-media-marketing-ecosystem/

In my Internet Marketing Ecosystem I typically advise to have :

  • A web/blogsite based on something like WordPress or HubSpot. ( You are on Mine )
  • A Twylah page. Here’s mine  http://www.twylah.com/cwindley
  • Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, Linkedin accounts ( as a base ) N.B. I have all of these and more but not all in M&A Rainmaker.
  • Other accounts where you can post url’s on high ranking websites e.g. digg.com

and then you can establish an ecosystem that grows in power with every blog post and Twitter Tweet !!



Some people are not afraid to use HubSpot Marketing Grader!

Posted by Chris on May 17th, 2012

A year or two ago I started using HubSpot’s Website Grader to evaluate the performance of client’s and suppliers ( potential and actual ) websites. HubSpot’s Website Grader has since evolved into Marketing Grader which looks at the wider picture of a companies Internet Marketing efforts including it’s website, blogsite and social networks, automation software, analytics and internet influence ( Klout ).

Having put quite a few websites and internet marketing efforts through the HubSpot Grader I now know that there are a lot of companies in the 30/40 out of a 100 range, quite a few in the 50/60 range and only a few in the 70/80 range.

Nikki Pilkington ( who designed this blogsite ) has a grade of 85/100. see  http://www.nikkipilkington.com/ and http://marketing.grader.com/site/www.nikkipilkington.com. This is a very rare score. Nikki’s website is based on WordPress and she has large networks on e.g. Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest. She blog’s regularly.

Nikki’s Marketing efforts are a great implementation of what I call an “Internet Marketing Ecosystem “.

One of the companies that has most impressed me is Staffordshire IT.  http://www.staffordshireit.co.uk/ . The reason that I am impressed is because often, when I show people the HubSpot Marketing Grade, they go into denial. Many of them have not heard of HubSpot ( which I am not totally surprised at but you would think that Internet Marketing professionals would be aware of a company that has created a whole new way of looking at Internet Marketing – known as Inbound Marketing ) and whether they have or have not they often have a ” who are they to grade my internet marketing efforts ” ? sort of attitude. John Bryan, M.D. of Staffordshire I.T. was not like that – he took the report in his stride and actually grasped the points that were highlighted in the report and worked on them. http://marketing.grader.com/site/www.staffordshireit.co.uk .

When I first met John his score was around 75/100, Since he has worked on it he has reached 84/100 and has a stated ambition of reaching 90/100 which would be an amazing achievement.

Staffordshire I.T.’s website is also based on WordPress and they have a blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts and use Google Analytics.

Some sceptics say that the only way that you can get a high score with HubSpot’s grader is when you use HubSpot software for your website. This is clearly not the case as we have two website’s in this example that are WordPress based and which have high scores.

WordPress then Digg then Twylah top Lichfield Internet Strategy Search for Chris Windley

Posted by Chris on April 7th, 2012

Key components of the ” Internet Marketing Ecosystem ” by Chris Windley are a WordPress based web or blogsite; the Twylah page ( derived automatically from Tweets on Twitter ) and the use of Digg.com. ( Alongside Social Media sites like Facebook, Twitter itself, Linkedin and Google +.)

WordPress currently ranks as 18th in the worlds most ” powerful ” websites. Digg ranks 186. Twylah ranks 10,935. ( http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/twylah.com ).

Google is the top website, Facebook the 2nd, Twitter the 9th and Linkedin the 12th. So, when you post something on a WordPress web/blogsite
( like this one ) then re-post on Digg, Twylah and all four Social Networks mentioned it is not particularly surprising that a search on ”  Internet Marketing Strategy Lichfield ”  reveals that the WordPress post itself is at search position  3, the Digg post at position 4 and the Twylah position 8 on the first page of a search that has some 244,000 results.

As we know getting Found for a particular search term or phrase is a function of a web or blogsite having relevant content, on page SEO, high quality links and a powerful platform. All of these ingredients are present in the ” Internet Marketing Ecosystem ”  that I have created.

The core or epicentre of the Ecosystem is the web/blogsite and the Twylah page the other websites mentioned are supporting players to the content posted on the web/blogsite. The Ecosystem is extraordinarily powerful when it comes to achieving a high ranking position for a particular word or phrase.

This is a content driven strategy – it is not an SEO driven strategy and therefore it is complimentary to Googles recent announcement that it will penalise over-SEO’d websites.

N.B. Chris Windley’s Brandyourself profile can be found >>>>>>>> HERE <<<<<<<<<<<<<<


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