Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search seems to be defined by crises – first came the dreaded Google updates petting zoo, then we survived mobilegeddon, and we’re currently living under the reign of King Content. But what’s coming next? And how can we prepare for it?

In this post, Rob from Provident Insurance shows us how we can forecast what’s coming next by looking back at what’s come before, and provides his top tips for future-proofing your site and its content.

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So you’ve heard the news, the digital sector is slowly taking over the world and the industry is now worth zillions of British Pounds. But how do you carve a slither, or maybe even a slice, of this big fat juicy cake for yourself?

Check out these free, simple and highly-effective digital tools to ensure you aren’t left with nothing more than a few crumbs and a grumbly belly…

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SEO for small businesses can be a challenge, working in a small business inevitably means you are

1. always short for time
2. always focused on hundreds of things at once
3. always passionate about what you’re doing

Even your job title can feel like a minefield – does Account Manager cover advertiser, marketer, receptionist, sandwich runner, tea maker, cleaner, product developer… etc. etc.?

So when you’re told that Social Media and Search Marketing will make big impacts, you inevitably want to throw yourself into it full throttle and full of enthusiasm. Trying to navigate it yourself however leaves you frustrated and disheartened. I’ve done 5 tweets today, why haven’t I had 3000 orders?!

That’s where the Search and Social Media Marketing Course came in. As chief Tea Maker, amongst many other titles, at Safer Surfacing, I was very keen to learn what impacts a small company could make with SEO. We’re all pushed for time, and time will always inevitably be money to the small business owner, but these five starting points should have you well on your way to that all important Return on Investment (ROI).

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Image copyright: (C) the Oddfellows

For younger people, documenting life experiences, sharing know-how and creating rich content to share on social media seems to be second-nature. This is less so for many older people. But knowledge held by older people is precious capital that must be shared, documented and transferred to other generations. We can’t let it become lost.

The University of Salford’s Search and Social Media Marketing course has challenged my thinking – how can social media play its part in helping us to achieve legacy and in enabling different generations to reciprocally benefit from the sharing of knowledge? And do silversurfers hold the potential to tip social media into a golden age of information exchange? Read more…..

Talks from tutors and industry guest speakers on the Search and Social Media Marketing course confirmed my opinion that social media benefits are growing. This is particularly the case if you want to grow a successful small and medium sized business in the UK.

Have you observed the size of the phone book recently? It is difficult to find a company today in the UK where digital marketing is not affecting it. For the majority of organisations, digital marketing is becoming a must these days and we’ve all heard the saying ‘Content is King’. This is so much so that people in the industry are reluctant to say it because it’s so overused. However, there is no denying that in 2015 this is what any type of marketing comes down to in order to capture your audience!

In particular if you are a small and medium sized enterprise (SMEs), online presence can show your business character and help you to differentiate from the corporate masses. The core of your visibility relies on your content and how you get that content to reach your target audience. You need to stand out from the crowd, so don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.

At present, one of the most effective ways of achieving this is through the channels of social media. From the manufacturing and engineering industries to the retail and construction industries and everything in between, social media is beneficial to SMEs as it builds on social capital and can help grow your businesses.

Image: Social Media Marketing (CC) Jerry Nihen

Below are 3 reasons social media is considered such a powerful tool:

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It was face down on the physiotherapist’s couch that I had my SSMM epiphany.

It was about week 4 of the course and the physio was talking about his own website and trying to improve its ranking. He had recently done some training in New York learning a technique that was not widely available in the UK. He obviously had the makings of some great content and I suggested he get it on his website and have a think about optimising it for some of the more unusual keywords. We also talked about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tricks in general and the many different tools out there that he could use to improve his website and in particular its position on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

It was good to feel that I was starting to make sense of a world I had only stepped into a few weeks previously! Read more…..

I have been writing news pages for my company website www.homes4u.co.uk for the last couple of years and dabbling in Social Media with no real firm plan in place. I knew that content was important for improving search engine results and was under the impression the work I had been putting in was good.

My posts read well and doubled up as press releases. It was only recently, when I was looking at our ranking on search engines, that I discovered we were no longer top of the page for what I would expect to be our key search terms.

So, the question was where do I start? 

My background is Estate Agency not marketing or web design. I like to think I am quite computer literate and I have a good understanding of social media but where my knowledge had gaps was Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). I didn’t want to be reliant on the advice of website designers so I decided to research a Search and Social Media Marketing course.

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Once upon a time there lived an Internet whose pages were bursting with whichever keywords and phrases the user deemed important for rankings – this was essentially SEO web design, albeit in it’s primitive stages.

Fast forward to the present day and SEO web design has become a much more complex, multi-faceted feature of the digital landscape. Many processes in web design can now contribute to – or hinder – your ranking performance in Google and other search engine results. Here are just a few of the most important things you should consider when developing your website:

Keywords Are Still Key

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Student Accommodation in Cape Town and other South African cities is scarce.  So, how does attending an Search and Social Media Marketing (SSMM) course in Salford lead to starting up a company to find  student accommodation in Cape Town?  And, more importantly, finding a solution to the student accommodation crisis in South Africa?  What is the best way to use search and social media when starting an internet business?

If TheRoomLink was conceived on the SSMM course, it was born on a late winter’s day in a cosy hotel bar in Ilkley.  We’d had a few ideas for internet businesses based around the sharing economy.  The idea we liked best was flexible renting.  The idea was simple.  Some people have spare space; they need income and other people need accommodation.

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I joined the Search & Social Media Marketing course to gain a greater understanding of why it is so important to have an online digital presence. Throughout the duration of the course, I have learnt about many aspects of digital marketing from the basics of social media to advanced Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategies.

digital presence (CC) by Jason Howie

Coming from a video production background, the course has given me a great insight into the world of search and social media marketing and why I need a digital presence. I would highly recommend the course and I hope this blog helps you decide whether this professional development course is for you.

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