At Ph. Creative we are very pleased to be working on the Mersey Tigers new website that is being launched with aplomb!

We're currently building the Mersey Tigers a strong online presence with their new site which will be launched soon. It will include exciting and clear content, fixture and match listings and much more, along with interactive links to facebook and twitter.

The Mersey Tigers may have lost their association to Everton, but the rebrand has essentially opened up the club to a wider audience, like the red side of the city. In line with the new branding the club also welcomes their new captain Andrew Sullivan.

You can catch the Mersey Tigers get their season under way on September 19th when they challenge the Cheshire Jets in the BBL Trophy at the Echo Arena.

Be sure to keep checking our news for the latest on the Mersey Tigers and Ph. Creative...

At Ph.Creative, we apply various conversion techniques to our sites with the ultimate goal of capturing as many prospects through a website as possible. There are lots of clever tricks that we apply and over the next few weeks we’ll be giving away some of our pearls of wisdom absolutely free...

To get the ball rolling, our first tip to convert visitors into customers is the most important one, and quite often the one that people struggle with...

The Call to Action

In order to create a compelling call to action your landing page needs to be direct and to the point from the first glance. Don’t over complicate the message or simply assume that users know what they are supposed to do. All landing pages should be designed with an ability to influence - instructing what the user on what to do next every step of the way. This means clear, short calls to action with visual click cues to illustrate what they need to do.

Whilst this is key to engaging your visitors, it's also crucial not to overwhelm the page with too many calls to action. Ideally, a landing page should have one main call to action, supported one or two additional, less important offers. One primary visual cue will help move the visitor towards conversion.

Another good way to ensure users follow the call to action is to support it with a strong testimonial. Tests show that a testimonial specifically placed around the data capture button qualifies the call to action and enhances the potential for a user to use the form.

Many small businesses in the UK are failing to make the most of their online presence, with 47% of SME websites having either very basic or no SEO work at all.

A recent study - the State of UK Business Websites 2010,  looked at 1,001 SME websites and compared them against a range of SEO criteria.  A correlation between the size of a business and the levels of search engine optimisation was the first point found. It seems larger companies tend to have better optimised sites, while over 70% of companies with less than 50 employees have either very basic levels of optimisation, or none at all.

Amazingly, 12% of all business websites are not indexed in any search engine, which almost defeats the purpose of having a website in the first place. Many of the problems are down to businesses not implementing SEO basics. For instance, 35% of websites did not have unique page titles, and 56% lacked unique page descriptions. These are relatively quick SEO wins for small businesses.

Clearly, there are plenty of small businesses that are yet to see the value of effective SEO, or perhaps lack the knowledge to carry out the basics of site optimisation. These businesses should be looking to correct this as, implemented well, SEO has the potential to be a very important and cost-effective sales tool.

Whilst not every company will have the resources or know-how to run an effective campaign, simply getting the basics right, such as ensuring that a site can be indexed and contains relevant content, can make a noticeable difference to search results.

Businesses of all sizes and nature are flocking to social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.

The fact is, that a presence on these platforms not only allows companies to engage in conversations with consumers, but also serves as an outlet to drive sales through deals and vouchers.

And while some of us have been participating in the social web for some time now, the rate of adoption among small businesses is increasing too. Social media as a marketing tool in small businesses has doubled from 12% to 24% in the last year. Last year, businesses were learning about social media.  This year, it's more about engaging it and using it properly to increase busines opportunities.

Businesses are finding different benefits and techniques to make proper use of social media marketing and it has become the most cost effective way of reaching the people we need to build a network and generate opportunities.

Since it's launch in February 2004, Facebook has become the most popular social networking site on the web.  This week, Facebook will reach a milestone of an impressive 500 million users.  

To celebrate, it’ll launch “Facebook Stories,” a visual memorial to all the ways the social network has changed people’s lives. Amongst the love stories and natural disaster reunion tales, it will be clear to see that the social network is no longer simply used by kids or peer groups - it has also become an important business tool.

Whilst previous announcements of the social networking leaders' milestones have been about the numbers, this time the company wants it to be all about the users.

This demonstrates the continued growth of the social networking site. People are now paying it the attention it deserves, and is has become the most cost effective way to do paid search and highly effective in reaching geographic and demographic areas.

Facebook reached 400 million users five months ago. This time last year, it had just reached 200 million and eight months before that it was at just 100 million. It's not surprising to see the social networking phenomenon has now become a key element of business strategy across the globe.

Coca Cola saw phenomenal results this week when they joined an online discussion using Twitter’s “promoted tweets”.

Where the usual number of visitors to click on a regular ad is around 0.02%, Coke saw impressive stats with an engagement rate of 6%.

Twitter first introduced the new advertising system in April, allowing companies such as Starbucks and Sony Pictures to pay to display their postings on pages of search results for popular topics. Disney Pixar became the first company to buy an ad within its “trending topic” section just last week.

Unlike search results, this form of sponsorship appears on the main page Twitter users see when they are logged into the service, at the bottom of the user-generated list of the 10 most popular talking points on the site.

Coke tweeted messages congratulating the England and US teams, linked to videos on YouTube and invited people to celebrate their teams’ success.

Naturally, many advertisers are now excited about the potential of social networks to promote word-of-mouth recommendations of their products.Using social networks as a business tool allows great opportunities to establish relationships with consumers that can’t be achieved through TV and press.

Twitter is quickly becoming a trend amongst individuals, businesses and brands worldwide. However although millions are signing up to the social networking phenomenon, a disappointing trend is the retention rate of users.   Many people sign up, test the waters for a few days, and quickly find it to be of no use or value, and promptly abandon their accounts.  As we always say, it's not the tools, it's how you use them. To remedy this, I've outlined the common mistakes of new users and some ways to help stop you becoming one of the Twitter quitter statistics...

Don't just follow celebrities and brands

This is one way traffic. Celebrity tweets are simply there to push messages your way - unless you're extremely lucky, they won't respond directly to you.  Follow relevant discussion groups and get involved. Comment on other people's tweets in order to increase your own visibility.

Have something interesting to say

Be creative. Not everyone is interested to know what people are having for dinner. The most interesting people are those who aren't openly trying to sell their products or striving for web fame. Talk about relevant subjects and consider what you want to get out of it. If you talk to interesting, relevant people, you will immediately add value to your business through building a strong network of quality contacts who will give credence to your knowledge.

Get Mobile 

Having Twitter on your mobile allows you to remain up to date and tweet more frequently.  Tweeting once or twice a day won't give you much value.  In order to build up a strong following and increase your credibility, you need to be dedicated to your tweets.

To get you started, check out Twitter Mobile for the iPhone... http://www.twittermobile.co.uk/nbsp;

Twitter isn't for everyone, but if you fancy giving it a try, do so with a little bit of knowledge - you never know, you may just get something out of it other than knowing everyone else's plans for the evening... 

Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel’s Los Angeles studio fell into darkness as they lost power before recording their Monday’s episode.  We always love a guy that challenges the norm, and Jimmy did just this by whipping out his MacBook and used the Photo Booth to record the shows footage. He walked around the studio interviewing staff members whilst audience members watched the unconventional shooting spectacle. 

Check out the episode here!

This is a first class example of how TV is now merging with online media. Video has become the most engaging form of communication online, and will be even more prevelant in web design and a core component in online marketing going forward.  Web advertising already outdoes TV advertising which demonstrates the power of online.  People want immediacy, control and content on the move and we think that this is the shape of things to come...