Receptional Blog

Welcome to the Receptional Blog where you can read the latest insights by Receptional on various aspects of the internet marketing industry.

Guest Post: Use Site Acceleration to Increase Your Search Engine Rankings and eCommerce Revenue

23/12/2011 - 10:16

Guest Post by David Henzel Learn how to use site acceleration to convert more people and make more money! I was shopping for a watch yesterday, and I found an affiliate marketing site selling every type of watch under the Sun. It was well-optimized for searches for specific types of watches, so it showed up pretty high on Google when I did a... Read more...

Our Holiday Opening Times

22/12/2011 - 12:02

Friday 23rd – 9:00 – 17:00 Saturday 24th – CLOSED Sunday 25th – CLOSED Monday 26th – CLOSED – Bank holiday Tuesday 27th – CLOSED – Bank holiday Wednesday 28th – 9:00 – 17:00 Thursday 29th – 9:00 – 17:00 Friday 30th – CLOSED Saturday 31st – CLOSED Sunday 1st – CLOSED Monday 2nd – CLOSED – Bank holiday Tuesday 3rd – 9:00 – 17:00 Receptional are... Read more...

Most Common SEO Issues 2011 Countdown - Number One

16/12/2011 - 14:01

It's only just over a week away from Christmas, snow has settled outside the Receptional offices and we’ve reached the final instalment of our Top Five Most Common SEO Issues as Seen by Receptional in 2011 list. For any latecomers, the title will have given it away but we’ve been counting down the most common SEO problems we’ve encountered over... Read more...

Most Common SEO Issues 2011 Countdown - Number Two

15/12/2011 - 15:46

It’s Thursday, and this is number two on our Top Five Most Common SEO Issues as Seen by Receptional in 2011 list. Previous issues making the countdown were Titles & Meta Elements, Content and XML Sitemaps, which are all worth checking out, if I do say so myself. Der Der Der Dun-Dun-Dun, Der Der Dun Duuuuuuuun So number two, rarely considered... Read more...

Most Common SEO Issues 2011 Countdown - Number Three

14/12/2011 - 14:48

Welcome readers to the midway point in our weeks countdown of the Top Five Most Common SEO Issues as Seen by Receptional in 2011. If you were unfortunate enough to miss numbers four and five of the countdown, don't worry, dry those tears, here they are: Number Four – Content Number Five – XML Sitemaps Today’s issue, at number three on our chart is... Read more...

Facebook preparing mobile advertising platform

14/12/2011 - 10:07

Already with over 800 million active users, Facebook is focusing heavily on mobile technology in 2012, according to two unnamed individuals cited in Bloomberg yesterday evening. Facebook is putting together a mobile advertising offering that will be launched by the end of March 2012, consisting initially of sponsored stories ads, which feature... Read more...

Most Common SEO Issues 2011 Countdown - Number Four

13/12/2011 - 14:34

Welcome to the second instalment in our Top Five Most Common SEO Issues as Seen by Receptional in 2011. For anyone who missed yesterday’s blog, the premise of this countdown is to highlight common SEO problems – the issues we see time and time again on the vast majority of websites. Number five in our list was XML Sitemaps, an issue that sparked... Read more...

Most Common SEO Issues 2011 Countdown - Number Five

12/12/2011 - 13:50

It’s that time of year again, aromas of spruce trees, turkey and brandy soaked puddings caress cold noses, blinking lights adorn our streets & houses, lofty voices send carols spilling from warmly lit churches and bloggers sit hunched over keyboards, tinsel reflecting in their monitors as they fervently hammer away posting end of year lists.... Read more...

Twantrum monitors consumer rants on Twitter

06/12/2011 - 11:58

A simple site that monitors consumers bad mouthing brands on Twitter has recently launched, courtesy of three Australians, James Aviaz, Julian cole and Ryhs Edwards. Simplistic in its design, Twantrum uses Twitter’s API real time search to pull out mentions of consumer brands with anger-related keywords, and displays them for all to see. Twantrum... Read more...

Strategy first. Social media ROI will follow

05/12/2011 - 15:10

Back in February of this year, research highlighted that 74% of CMOs predicted 2011 to finally be the year that social media efforts could be tied to a quantifiable return on investment (ROI). Yet, as we’re nearing the end of 2011, how social media marketing can be measured remains an often unanswered question. We often have clients approach us... Read more...

Get back the Google interface you knew and loved

02/12/2011 - 09:27

For those frustrated with recent Google user interface changes, here’s a quick tip to “revert” to an interface closer to Google’s previous one, with less whitespace and easier access to cached links and other advanced features. Here are a few things that I’ve disliked about Google’s newer UI and other frontend changes Two clicks to get to the... Read more...

Passing the Google AdWords Fundamentals and Advanced Search Exams!

30/11/2011 - 12:14

This week I successfully completed my Google AdWords Advanced Search exam, which along with the Fundamentals exam which I previously took in July has now completed my Search Advertising Certificate. Fortunately I passed both of them first time, but I don’t think it would have been possible without spending time revising for them and using AdWords... Read more...

Use Google Verbatim to Assess Anchor Text Impact.

30/11/2011 - 10:02

This is one for the SEO techies and link builders. Short of time? The Google Verbatim option appears to strip the relevance usually provided by (some?) link anchor text. You may find this useful in analysing rankings. I came across an interesting quirk of Google's new "verbatim" search option today. In addition to removing various query... Read more...

Obama joins Google+

24/11/2011 - 10:55

Following from the launch of Google+ pages, the search giant’s latest foray into social networking has gained another boost. The President of the United States, Barack Obama has joined Google+. Actually, Obama’s presence is in fact a brand page run by his campaign team as appose to the President himself, but his arrival is no less prominent. ... Read more...

Receptional’s Blogger Countdown – Why we chose Klout

22/11/2011 - 15:02

In our recent countdown of the Top 50 SEO Bloggers of 2011, several people have questioned our choice of ranking methodology. There could have been many ways to rank each of the bloggers – best post, most traffic etc. but in the end we chose to rank the bloggers in terms of their Klout score, a simple measure of how influential they are online,... Read more...

10 SEO Signals That Scream "You're Doing It Wrong!"

21/11/2011 - 10:52

Generally in life I follow the principle of if I'm not learning from my mistakes then I'm not trying hard enough. All too often it is easy to get carried away with complacency and miss the blindingly obvious mistakes that are staring us in the face. So how do you know when you've become complacent with SEO and missed some real obvious tricks?? 1.... Read more...

Receptional's Top 50 SEO Bloggers Countdown - 10 to 1

21/11/2011 - 09:40

Search Engine Optimisation is a large part of what we do here at Receptional. Starting out back in 1999, we have witnessed the industry growing in leaps and bounds to become not only a fantastic discipline, but also a great close-knit community. At the beginning of this month, we set out to record the Top 50 SEO Bloggers of 2011, based on their... Read more...

Twitter ads exceed expectations

18/11/2011 - 09:57

For the first time, statistics behind Twitter’s advertising products in the UK have been made public, curtsey of computer games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), and the engagement levels have been way above average. EA became the second UK brand (behind Sky) to use the ‘promoted tweet’ service that has already become popular with the American... Read more...

Receptional's Top 50 SEO Bloggers Countdown - 20 to 11

18/11/2011 - 09:56

Welcome to the penultimate part of our countdown of the Top 50 SEO Bloggers of 2011. Be sure to visit the first three instalments of this list first (50-41, 40-31, 30-21), otherwise allow us to introduce the second to last instalment of the Top SEO Bloggers of 2011! 20. Lisa Myers Blog: seo-chicks.com Twitter: @LisaDMyers Klout Score: 51 Mini... Read more...

Mobile internet advertising best practice

17/11/2011 - 11:00

With research indicating mobile internet users may outnumber desktops, it seems the long expected hike in mobile search traffic has finally arrived. Currently, few advertisers are actually taking advantage of some of the opportunities available through mobile marketing, and many are unaware of mobile’s potential to engage audiences. Marc gave a... Read more...

8 fantastic tools for SEO beginners

16/11/2011 - 17:04

Today the SEO team conducted an internal training session for their collegues covering some basic SEO principles and presenting some useful tools that anyone can get and make use of. Below are a few of the tools which we have taken into consideration as basic and important for anyone with little experience / beginner. 1. Xenu's link sleuth... Read more...

Receptional's Top 50 SEO Bloggers Countdown - 30 to 21

16/11/2011 - 09:49

Welcome to the third instalment of Receptional’s Top 50 SEO Bloggers of 2011 countdown. As search engine optimisation consultants ourselves, we’ve decided to bring you a countdown of the top SEO bloggers of the year, ranked by their Klout score. We chose this methodology, as we wanted to highlight those who had spent the time building their own... Read more...

Receptional's Top 50 SEO Bloggers Countdown - 40 to 31

14/11/2011 - 11:19

Welcome to part 2 in our countdown of The Top 50 SEO Bloggers 2011. With search engine optimisation being a key focus of the agency, we have decided to bring you a countdown of the top 50 SEO bloggers of this year. Be sure to visit the first post here, otherwise let’s get straight to it with positions 40 to 31! 40. Andy Heaps Blog: econsultancy.... Read more...

Receptional's Top 50 SEO Bloggers Countdown - 50 to 41

10/11/2011 - 09:34

As Search Engine Optimisation is an important part of what we do here at Receptional, we have decided to bring you a countdown of, in our opinion the Top 50 SEO Bloggers from around the world. We have decided to rank the bloggers in terms of their Klout score, a simple measure of how influential they are across social networks. Klout is a much... Read more...

The agency/blogger relationship - Best practice

09/11/2011 - 11:36

I read an interesting article on Umpf’s blog earlier this morning, a summary of a PR/Blogger outreach event they attended earlier in the month. Hosted by Econsultancy’s Vicki Chowney and featuring a panel of three public relations professionals and three bloggers, a series of best practice discussions ensued on the topic of PR/Blogger... Read more...

Google+ pages launch for businesses

08/11/2011 - 15:20

Yesterday evening, Google launched the long awaited pages for their social network platform Google+. Before now, only individuals were able to sign up, but now the social network with over 40 million users has opened its door to brands too. So what does this mean for marketers? The main thing to remember is that Google+ is a child of the global... Read more...

The importance of engaging with the influential

07/11/2011 - 14:52

Social media has undoubtedly changed the way we communicate with each other, particularly in terms of both frequency and volume. The majority of social media comments, updates and statuses fly by with little longevity, as we increasingly become overloaded with the amount of communication we are trying to receive. It’s akin to trying to drink from... Read more...

Dixon's Presentation

01/11/2011 - 11:08

Here is the transcript of Dixon's recent presentation in New York. Hello New York, thank you very much for having me. My name is Dixon Jones, I think my first ever overseas conference was in fact an internet marketing conference in Vancouver many many years ago, so it is very good to be back at the internet marketing conference. I've been doing... Read more...

He who tweets, wins!

24/10/2011 - 10:27

Over the weekend, Manchester City thrashed rivals Manchester United 6-1 at United’s home ground – a result no punter would have predicted… apart from Twitter. We took five of the biggest players from United and City who were on Twitter, and watched their accounts in the days leading up to the Manchester Derby yesterday afternoon, to see if we... Read more...

Secure Search? Say Goodbye to Referrer Data

19/10/2011 - 12:57

Google have announced they are to encrypt searches by default, using the SSL protocol. Simply put, if you are logged in to Google and using a secure connection, the search engine will hide any keywords you type so they will not appear in analytics. As part of a wider initiative to encourage stronger security standards, users will see the https... Read more...

Google Ditches the Plus (+) Operator. Bah

19/10/2011 - 10:07

If you're an advanced Google searcher, then you're likely to be familiar with the plus operator. If you're not, here's the quick explanation: Google rewrites search queries, in order to try to deliver you the correct results, and to help searchers who struggle to come up with the correct syntax for a successful searches. Perhaps the most common... Read more...

Farewell to Google Labs

17/10/2011 - 10:20

As announced earlier this year, Google's experimental site Google Labs has shut down today. This seems to be a product of increasing streamlining going on over at the Googleplex, although it seems rather sad to see it go. A screenshot of the page prior to closure shows that most of the projects within Google Labs are also closing. The exceptions... Read more...

Link Insertion, Advertising of The Future

14/10/2011 - 09:59

Guest Post by Murray Newlands October 27 is the birthday of the first time banner ads appeared on a website. These advertisements appeared on hotwired.com in 1994 and were the seeds to what would become a $24 billion business and generated a CTR of 78%. They were simple ads, for AT&T and Volvo—the latter’s banner didn’t even send the consumer... Read more...

Collecting Leads with LinkedIn Ads

13/10/2011 - 13:19

LinkedIn recently announced a new feature designed to help advertisers collect leads with their LinkedIn ads. The feature, which is currently only available to selected advertisers on a test basis, enables advertisers to collect leads with campaign and contact leads directly on LinkedIn. For those of you out there already using LinkedIn PPC ads,... Read more...

Google +1 rolled out on Display Network

12/10/2011 - 13:08

From Monday, the +1 button began to roll out on Google’s Display Network across the UK on both desktop and mobile and should be visible shortly. The +1 button was rolled out in the end of June this year and has been successful so far on the Google search network, with the idea being that the person pressing the +1 button suggests an ad’s landing... Read more...

How Does Content Monetization Actually Work and When Does it Matter?

29/09/2011 - 09:27

Guest Post by Murray Newlands In simple words, content monetization is the process of earning money through written content. There are several methods to attain this. You can earn money by either selling the actual content content or by working on internet-based writing activities. In the first method, buyers of your content can be anyone from... Read more...

SEO in a Social World

27/09/2011 - 15:46

Simon Heseltine heads up SEO at AOL. That now that includes Huffington Post, which added lots of Social credibility to AOL's search statistics. I caught up with him in Tampa, Florida, where he shared some social insight and how it affects organic search. Firstly, some headline AOL stats: 23% of social media messages include links to content,... Read more...

The truth about working at Receptional...

14/09/2011 - 12:42

The truth about working at Receptional... Not only have I got some valuable experience to add to my CV, I have learnt and improved many skills; event management, organisation and time management to name but a few. I believe they will be really useful both in my future working career and in everyday life. The working environment at Receptional is... Read more...

Majestic SEO displays more inbound links than Google

05/09/2011 - 10:17

Check out this new post on the Majestic blog: http://blog.majesticseo.com/general/majestic-seo-does-show-more-inbound-links-than-google/ This highlights some research we carried out about the number of inbound links that Majestic SEO has, for the website receptional.com, in comparison to Google. As well as explaining about the change in Google... Read more...

AdWords Feature Update: ‘Top of page bid estimates’

02/09/2011 - 09:46

Earlier this week, AdWords announced a new metric within the AdWords system that will help in managing PPC campaigns. The new metric is called ‘top of page bid estimates’, and effectively approximates the cost-per-click bid price required for our ads to show in the banner positions (as below), above the organic search results. This feature... Read more...

My Top Tips for Marketing on Facebook

31/08/2011 - 11:49

My Top Tips for Marketing on Facebook Making a Facebook page to market your brand is a challenge. Making it work well, before and after a visitor has “Liked your Page”, is even more difficult. Listed below are some suggestions of how you can improve your page and make it more worthwhile and engaging to your audience... Read more...

5 Tips to Find Contacts for your Blogger Outreach

04/08/2011 - 12:38

As a link builder myself, Blogger Outreach is one of the strongest weapons in my arsenal. When I’m looking for exposure, or to obtain links, reaching out to bloggers is often the most successful ways I go about it. Here are 5 tips how to find contacts for Blogger Outreach: Networking – Get out there; go to shows, industry events, meet with... Read more...

How the BBC lost 65,000 twitter followers in a matter of seconds

26/07/2011 - 12:18

Last Thursday, the 21st July 2011, the BBC lost over 65,000 followers on twitter - straight to a main rival. ITV. Laura Kuenssberg, formerly the BBC's Chief Political Correspondent, recently left for greener pastures over at ITV, and in doing so, changed her Twitter feed from @BBCLauraK to @ITVLauraK, taking her 65,000 Twitter followers with her.... Read more...

Bing Tests Organic-PPC Mixed Search Engine Results Pages

26/07/2011 - 10:15

You may have recently noticed that Bing is currently trialling a new look search results page that has pay per click ads merged in with organic results. You will no doubt be familiar with the look of the traditional search results page (below), as it is the standard for the main search engines, with the usual banner ads immediately above the... Read more...

40 Great Posts for Marketers on Using Google+

19/07/2011 - 09:22

Google+ is still in the field trial stage, however many millions of people have already created an account through receiving invitations from fellow friends, colleagues, etc. So we thought that we would compile a list of 40 posts that stood out to us. These come from a variety of different websites, authors and even some Google employees. There... Read more...

When is a Link not a Link?

15/07/2011 - 10:23

Thanks to Olivia for putting together this infographic. This rendering may be a bit squashed. Click on the graphic to see it in full size. Here is the link as to where you can read the full post explaining the infographic: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/why-counting-links-is-not-so-easy Read more...

The London Blog Club with Judith Lewis

30/06/2011 - 14:19

On Tuesday night, Barrie Smith hosted the latest edition of the London Blog Club. Turnouts were up on the previous event, with nearly 50 people in attendance to listen to tips from Judith Lewis (Mostly About Chocolate) on how to increase Reach, Subscribers and Followers to our blogs. Judith gave an excellent speech with useful tips and insight... Read more...

Why I’m unplugging on social media day

29/06/2011 - 13:22

Mashable has deemed the 30th June to be Social Media Day - “A day to celebrate the revolution of media becoming social”. It’s the second year of the annual occasion, but this year, I won’t be partaking in the celebrations. Don’t get me wrong. Social media has undoubtedly changed our lives, and for the most part, for the better. We’re able to... Read more...

Dixon discusses Google's Panda update at the SEM conference in Poland

29/06/2011 - 10:26

Google’s Global Launch of the ‘+1’ Button on Google Search

28/06/2011 - 10:40

Today is the day that Google globally launches its +1 button on Google Search, a feature that allows users to click '+1' in order to recommend an advert or site. How does it work? It’s all about word of mouth marketing…but on Google search. The logic being that when making decisions, people often turn to those they trust for recommendations. With... Read more...

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