The Quartz Effect

the quartz effect  //  Quartz Marketing is an innovative business service that helps companies develop a strong brand presence through developing strong marketing plans and running simple and effective marketing programmes and campaigns that you understand with you.

Oct 28 / 4:19am

Networking

So I attended my first breakfast networking event in a very long time, in a new town and ultimately new surroundings to me. Networking with fellow business people and professionals has a lot of its advantages and it doesn’t matter if you are a high flyer in the corporate world, run your own business or if you have millions of friends or one friend. There really are plenty of advantages to this great business platform.

It was once considered a method to increase your client base, but business networking is actually much more than that. It’s also a great way to gather information, meet new people, and develop your own skills—among other things! It’s not a platform to sell but really it’s more about building relationships with your peers and more.

                                                                                                                  

Image001
                                              

Learn New Things

Even self-employed entrepreneurs who work from home can benefit from the advantages of networking. When you go to networking events, you’re going to learn something from somebody. Whether it’s the inside tip that a major company in your area is looking for new hires or the fact that Google AdWords has coupon codes inside the latest edition of a certain magazine, you’ll learn something. Every bit of extra knowledge you can scoop up is beneficial.

Expand Your Social Circle

The more people you know, the more connections you have, which is why you really can expand your client base with business networking. In order to do so, though, you’re going to have to talk to others. Just showing up isn’t going to help you out much– remember you’re there to network.

Even though networking events can be pretty crowded, they’re usually just comprised of a lot of small groups of people that are conversing among each other. If you’re relatively shy, make it a goal to approach at least two people per event. They’ll probably even introduce you to someone else, and that will get the ball rolling.

Develop Skills You Didn’t Know You Had

Believe me on this one, I learn something new about myself on most occasions.  Discussing what you do for a living with people at parties and events is also an advantage of networking as it allows you to perfect your ‘elevator speech,’ which is when you get a 60 second opportunity to talk about yourself and your business and how you can help others. Even if it’s just going through the motions, explaining what services you offer, offering pros and cons of certain aspects of your industry, and letting people know how they can reach you should they decide they need some assistance are all good ways to practice doing it with real potential customers. (That’s not to say people at these events can’t become customers, too, but they’re probably not going to be as judgmental.)

There are loads of networking groups in your area, go out there and start building relationships with your business peers.

Have a great rest of the week.

www.quartzmarketing.co.uk

Comments (0)

Oct 25 / 11:18am

A Winning Strategy For Your Website

These days especially I will sit down with a new potential client and they will ask the question:

    "How much does it cost to make a website that will be #1 on Google?"    

If it was as simple as pressing a few buttons, wouldn't everyone do it?  Then of course you couldn't be #1 if everyone was pressing the same buttons!  Website ranking is not a simple thing, it is a combination of content, website structure, how often you update your site, how many people link to your site, and how popular it is (among other things).  The good news is that if you follow the following steps you will be well on your way to improving your search engine ranking and seeing results quickly.  And we are of course here to help if you get stuck.

Image001

The following guidelines will help improve your search engine rankings, your overall website usability, and eventually be your winning website strategy:

·         Provide USEFUL information on your website that ENGAGES your website visitors!  Think about the things that you know or provide that are most helpful and describe them.  Think about what you do that is better than your competition and write about it.  If there is some great new technology that you offer, highlight it!  Create a "Newsflash" or "Breaking News" article to promote these kinds of things.

·         Make an offer that is hard to refuse!  Most likely you can offer a discounted rate for a product or service you provide in order to show a new client how great and easy you are to work with.  From there of course they are going to rely on you in the future.  Think of a coupon they can print even or if they mention your website when they call in give them 10% off.  We all love a good deal right?  So why not make a call to action on your website?  You can probably think of a few things to offer right off the top of your head.

·         Tell your website visitors what to do!  You are the expert in your field so if someone comes to your website to learn about your business they are counting on your expertise to guide them.  In a professional and helpful way explain and guide your visitors to the areas of your website that you want them to go.  This might be directing them to your current promotions, news & events, sale products, your contact information, or whatever you feel is most important based on the nature of your business.

·         Convey a sense of trust.  This is a big one and something we feel is most important if you are trying to sell anything on your website.  Would you input your credit card information into a website that did not look professionally made?  Probably not.  With fears of identity theft and other scams, website shoppers need to know that your website is SECURE and that if they order a product that they will receive it on time and will be what they expect.  This is your opportunity to let people know through content and images that they can trust you and that you will deliver.  Testimonials are great, as with having FAQs, return policies, and shipping information visible.

·         Be consistent with your wording and design style.  People like to visit websites that are easy to read and navigate with colours that are easy on the eyes.  Stay away from big fonts and bright colours in your text.  Only use a few fonts at most.  Look at other websites that are successful for an example of how you might want to write content and structure things.  Think about what your website visitors might be thinking when they visit your website, and then of course, don't do anything that might annoy them.  That is a usability no-no.

·         Ask your website visitors for their feedback!  This is an interactive way to get free input on your website, how it IS working and how it can be improved.  It's like a "Suggestion Box" that is quick and easy for people to fill out and have it go to you directly.  We suggest a web form with just a couple of fields.  You'd be surprised what people really think about your website ("it was too hard to find the contact page or your phone number") or what they like about your website the most ("it is so easy to use").

 

·         Have a strategy to keep your website content up to date!  This could be as basic as taking 30 minutes from each week to write a news update, a blog entry, or just making sure your website is up-to-date with its content.  Content is KING as far as we see it.  Good content will be found on Google, and the best content to write about is what you do that is unique.  If you offer the very best beef from the best cattle ranches of Southern Africa then you need to talk about that and why it is the best and how to buy it.  If your website is a free online classified portal then you probably want to highlight news, events, and top listings that people search for and buy the most frequently.  Our clients often get stuck and think that what they do is boring and no one would want to read about their business.  This is never the case, we assure you!  Talk about the coolest new technologies you might be using, how you can save people money, time, resources, or make their lives easier.  How you can improve the lives of your customers!  You can even talk about what new projects and clients you are working with (and don't forget to link to their sites and ask them to link back to yours if relevant).

In truth a large number of our clients have the very best intentions to do each of these things but they end up getting too busy WORKING (which is good right?) so they let us handle the website updates for them.  This works out well for all parties involved because we can just give them a routine call, interview them on some things they might want updated with the website, and our team is running with the changes and the site is updated quickly and the search engines take notice.  Quartz Marketing offers quality content creation services and more, give us a call or fill out our online request form for more information.

www.quartzmarketing.co.uk

Comments (0)

Oct 22 / 9:52pm

Pricing - Reality Check

Reality

A client, not too long ago, came to me with a quote from another website company. This client has been with us for a very long time. We've done a lot of work with them and their online presence is much better for it.

They told me that this provider was in London. OK no problem there. London is a great city. They told me that they'd been quoted some upgrades, the same upgrades that I'd quoted for them just a month earlier, and the prices were quite reasonable. So, I asked them to send me the pricing and I'd see what I could do, maybe price match, who knows.

I had prepared a quote in several pieces that came down to 3 deliverables at a little over £1k in total. The quote they sent me from the London designers was for £460.

Now, here's what I've come to realize. There are 2 scenarios, well, maybe 3 that can produce differences in pricing. And let's just assume it's a lower price.

1. The client goes and talks to another reputable firm and the quote is slightly less. In this case, our clients invariably decide that the pain of switching isn't worth it.

2. The client is not comparing apples to apples. They think they're getting a-z, but they're only getting a-e and they've forgotten to make sure that f-z are actually on the bill of goods. Thus, you pay less and get less.

3. The company is actually sending the work to India or they, in fact, have no idea what they're doing. This, unfortunately, was the case with this client and their £460 quote. It took about a month, but one morning this week I got a call from my client. When I picked up the phone, all they said was, "Go ahead, say it." I couldn't summon my inner fool to say, "I told you so."

The fact is, when the pricing discrepancy is large, there's no way that the other provider can actually do the work that much cheaper. That is, without outsourcing or simply delivering a LOT less website for the money. It's gotten so bad that I can smell it when a company is working with cheap foreign labour. And 90% of the time, something goes wrong. The project takes twice as long. The vendor disappears. Or the end result is simply nothing like what you'd spec'd out and they want more money to do the job right.

Avoid this trap. When 2 quotes are drastically different, get more of them. 2 data points isn't a pattern. Buyer beware.

If you want to discuss this further, drop me an email at info@quartzmarketing.co.uk       

                                                                        www.quartzmarketing.co.uk

Comments (0)

Oct 7 / 3:08am

Quartz On Twitter: The Story So Far

Twitter

Quartz Marketing took on twitter at the beginning of the year as bold move to consolidate our position in the market, attract more clients  as well as to increase our general online presence.

Who would have thought, that one social media medium would take precedent over another just because of usability, ease of functionality and a more aligned target audience joined by the fact that it is achieving better results for our clients.

When Quartz Marketing embraced twitter, I wasn’t too sure what the results would be like. I totally get b2c marketing and the dependence on twitter and alike, but when it comes to b2b – it’s a whole different story.

‘Follow me’ is replacing ‘friend me’ because if we are doing business, quite frankly, I don’t want you to ‘friend me’. We are not ‘friends’ who hang out on Saturdays. I don’t want a client or prospect seeing photographs of me with a glass of champagne and definitely not in the endless stream of photographs that tend to be openly on display on facebook by people who have no idea what impact it can possibly have.

‘Follow me’ saves me from embarrassment. In a few words, I can tell you exactly what I want to say, without boring you to tears with what the weathers like and how bored I am on a cold, rainy day in Birmingham.

And… I am not alone. In July 2009 there was a study of Fortune 100 companies that found that more had a presence on Twitter (54%) than on Facebook (29%). Surprisingly, only 32% had a corporate blog – of which, I am a big fan. (Source Burson-Marsteller)

Burson-Marsteller found that these top companies were using Twitter for several purposes: company news, customer service, marketing promotions and employee recruitment.

Quite simply, we are not unlike many of our marketing peers who overwhelmingly are choosing Twitter for their clients.

We welcomed the whole Web 2.0 with open arms and saw the dream come alive for many of our clients who chose this path to marketing success.

Low cost, effective and targeted – social networks have provided a platform for even the smallest company to excel

If you want to discuss social media further please don’t hesitate to drop us an email on info@quartzmarketing.co.uk or give us a call on 08443510395.

                                                                                             www.quartzmarketing.co.uk

Comments (0)

Sep 30 / 3:34am

Online Identity

Online_identity

Hi there folks, it’s been a long time since I updated you with what’s been going on here at Quartz, as well give you some Marketing Tips to use for your business and more.

So last week I attended Ad Tech London http://www.ad-techlondon.co.uk, an inspiring conference for Digital Marketing, this event blows me away every time and always gives me an opportunity to see the future of Digital Marketing. There is a lot I picked up this time around but the one thing I would like to share with you today is The Evolution of Online Identities, which is all linked to how we all present ourselves online and develop personal brands.

One of the most inspiring things about the digital landscape is the access and sharing of information. I had a chance to read some of Chris Messina’s thoughts on the new Mozilla Online Identity concept, and it tied in nicely with a lot of the exhibitions I saw at Adtech. What I discovered was that there were many people in a small community trying to solve the problem of 50 usernames and passwords alongside masses of personal assets strewn across the web like breadcrumbs reminding you where you had once been.

One of the things Chris said that caught my attention was:

“In practice, much of what I’ve described is already possible using recent protocols and formats. It’s really just a matter of providing a unified experience through the browser and pushing for wider adoption of these technologies across the most popular social web services.”

In reading Chris’s thoughts and what Mozilla was up to, I thought about my own identity across the web and some of the opportunities that would be presented to us in the near future.

Here’s a rundown:

  • “Following” extends beyond just statuses and drills down into asset types like photos, videos and profile types.
  • Sharing your location enables newspapers to have value again! Viewing The BBC News site based on my postcode and profile offers me neighbourhood specific content like deals, events, movies, personals and friend’s plans as a viewable layer.
  • Technologies like iPad provides interactive experiences for managing profile-types when you travel – My Birmingham profile is different to my Manchester profile because of the places I go, purchases I make, connections I have in each area; recommendations become better targeted.
  • Following your favourite bands gets better – You can choose to follow only their videos and new tracks posted to iTunes. You may hate their statuses, photos, etc.
  • Browsers may hold the key to how your identity is managed across the digital landscape – whether on your laptop, phone, iPad, TV; activities, interactions, sharing, communicating will be seamless.
  • Education can be done from anywhere and courses are tuned for you on an individual basis and information is crowd sourced and created by the students and professors in harmony. Think free-flowing, living books. Like developers use versioning, the same could be possible in textbooks.
  • Check-ins become a commodity and consolidate under a couple service providers, giving the SME market a truly targeted way to connect with their customers.
  • Finding that perfect pickup game with the right level players is a non-issue.
  • Preferences in video games, car stereo receivers and kiosks would all be decentralized and portable; no matter what device, where you are, your login/id personalizes it for you.
  • Forget clipping coupons, remembering vouchers or gift certificates; your profile contains that information and accessible anytime.
  • Discovery becomes more about tuning the degree at which you want a new experience vs. something highly targeted to you. Think of it as a viewing the world through filtered layers that you control the intensity.
  • Rewards cards and keychain tags? Throw them out. Customer loyalty programs will get integrated; your device knows your location and displays the right barcode to be scanned.
  • Friends will follow you everywhere. You’ll have layers of friends that you control what they have access to from your online identity. Don’t want your mum seeing your dirty weekend videos?

Have anything I might have missed or just interested in the Digital You? Feel free to leave your comments below and any other thoughts you might have please drop me an email at

info@quartzmarketing.co.uk

                                                                                                www.quartzmarketing.co.uk

Comments (0)

Jul 27 / 1:15am

Email Marketing Offer - For This Week Only

Take advantage of our email marketing template design offer and get a fresh approach to your marketing activity. We'll also discuss with you how you can improve your marketing campaigns starting with the right marketing strategy to ultimately increase your business sales.

Why not tell your clients about your offers with a professionally designed email?  Your email campaign will:
•    Be accurately targeted
•    Drive traffic to your website
•    Increase sales
•    Be cost effective
•    Build up brand awareness & customer loyalty

Design process will include:

Cool & Professional Email Template design.

Image001
Two Unique Email template design concepts to choose from.
Image001
Professional editing of your text.
Image001
Custom designed according to your marketing needs.
Image001
Insertion of images / photos related with your business nature.
Image001
Unlimited Revisions until you are completely satisfied.
Image001
Full Optimization + Support from our experts.
Image001
HTML Version of your Final Email Template Design.
Image001
Satisfaction: 100% Guaranteed.
Image001
Duration: 24 Hrs - 2 Days.

All this for £130

For more information send your enquiry to  info@quartzmarketing.co.uk and we will be glad to help.

Email_marketing1

Comments (2)

Jul 3 / 11:40pm

A Guide To Search Engine Marketing For Non Profits

Logo

If you’re a non profit looking to improve your marketing than you need to review The Non-Profit’s Guide to SEM, (http://www.seobook.org/)

As a Non-Profit or Charity organization marketing is a crucial component of your organization. You’re also faced with the challenges of a limited budget. In comes The Non-Profit’s Guide to SEM. This document comes from the writers of the SEO Book – a well crafted documented which lays out the basics of search engine optimization, and has trained quite a few SEO’s out there.

I’ve read this new release for non-profit’s and I have to admit the content is very good and will likely become as popular as the original SEO Book.

If you’re a non-profit or charity I recommend you read this new book. It will definitely help you reach more of that lucrative “free” traffic online!

Share and Enjoy

Comments (0)

Jun 25 / 11:12pm

The Quartz Understanding Of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Seo-blocks

SEO, SEM, Internet Marketing, Adwords, Adsense, PageRank, Optimisation, Indexing, Caching, Crawling - “I just want my site listed on Google!”

There are so many buzz words in the Internet Marketing industry that you almost need your own special pocket dictionary to translate all the jargon. But don’t let the seemingly complex world of Internet Marketing or Search Engine Optimisation overwhelm you.

So what is the difference between Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Internet Marketing, etc?

Let’s break it down…

Internet Marketing refers to any kind of marketing that involves the Internet, such as banner advertising, social network marketing (such as Facebook), viral marketing and of course Search Engine Marketing.

Search Engine Marketing consists of any marketing that involves Search Engines. Such as Pay-Per-Click advertising like Google Adwords or Yahoo! Search Marketing.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) involves giving your website the best chance of ranking well in the organic (or natural) listings.

So how do I rank well on Google?

Firstly, Search Engines aren’t linear. You don’t simply “rank well on Google”, but rather you rank well for particular search terms. Search Engines looks at many different factors when determining how relevant your website is to a search term. For example, they look at the keywords on your site, your domain name, your meta tags, the age of your website, what sites are linking to you and with what wording. SEO involves doing what we can to make sure the Search Engines consider your website relevant to particular search terms.

So how do I optimise my webpages for Search Engines?

There is no such thing as a “perfect website”, in fact if you try to over-optimise your website, the Search Engines will likely detect this and penalise you for trying to manipulate them. But there are many things you should do if you’re not doing them already:

   1. Get a domain name with relevant keywords in it.

   2. Try to spread your keywords/phrases naturally throughout your website - but don’t over do it. Search Engines will be able to detect if your website doesn’t ’speak naturally’.

   3. Make sure your heading tags (such as <h1>) are relevant to the topic but try to include a keyword or two.

   4. Be sure to include Meta Description - eg. <meta name=”description” content=”A blog dedicated to Internet basics, the web and online marketing - by Quartz”>

   5. Check that your HTML and CSS validates

   6. Avoid link farms and heavy link exchanging. If a website is relevant to your page and it will be valuable to your readers, then by all means link to it, but avoid linking just because somebody is linking to you.

   7. And finally, the most important aspect of Search Engine Optimisation is… produce quality content. If you are truly providing something original to the web, people will want to link to you and Google will want to list you.

As usual, email me if you have any questions on this topic and more: info@quartzmarketing.co.uk

                                                                                                               

www.quartzmarketing.co.uk

Comments (0)

May 20 / 11:26pm

THIS IS FOOTBALL - Celebrating South Africa 2010

When Germany was announced as the hosts of the 2006 FIFA World Cup despite South Africa being strong favourites the choice was greeted with surprise and indignation around the world. In South Africa Mandela’s Rainbow Nation had gathered to celebrate their impending victory but they instead had to break out into a moving rendition of “Senzeni na” (What have we done to deserve this) to demonstrate their sense of injustice. Singing was their natural response.

In Africa every step has a beat; every thought a song so what happened at this announcement was almost to be expected, Africans always turn to music. People sing when they celebrate, sing when they commiserate, when they work and when they play. It is part of everyone’s life
everyday.

Fast forward to 2010 and the Rainbow Nation along with the rest of Africa prepares for to host the world biggest tournament for the first time. For Africans this is a massive endorsement, another Yes we can! moment so naturally it will be greeted with and accompanied incessantly by song.

On the streets of Soweto, Alexandra, the Cape Flats, in the cities and Suburbs House music has become the soundtrack to many people’s lives. House music is huge in Southern Africa and is not just a source of pleasure but an avenue to international stardom for many young Africans and will have a major impact at the World Cup this year.

Durban’s Black Coffee has become the epitome of this taking the world by storm with his smash hit Superman. Southern African house is smooth and effortless and deeply rooted in the soulful sound of mbaqanga the traditional Zulu sound it grew out of. Dj’s in Southern Africa blended this with House to form Kwaito in an outrageous experiment in the nineties that has developed into the more polished sound it is
today.

The first to rise stardom with this sound was Oscar “Oskido” Mdlongwa from Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. His “Church Grooves” have long provided the standard and have now taken their rightful place in House Music legend. Oskido paved the way for the likes of Black Coffee who has taken the music to new levels as the music gains global acclaim.

On Friday 11th June 2010 The Custard Factory in Birmingham will celebrate South Africa 2010 by screening both opening matches live. This celebration will also include homage to the Rainbow nation and its love affair with House Music bringing together the exceptional talents of Dj’s from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Australia, England and Jamaica to provide the soundtrack to this celebration.

Profits from the event will go towards supporting UK based Zimbabwean Charity WEZIMBABWE’s Education projects in Zimbabwe

THIS IS FOOTBALL
Celebrating South Africa 2010-05-20

@ The Custard Factory complex
Gibb Street Birmingham
B9 4AA

Tickets: http://wezimbabwe.org/thisisfootball.aspx

Featuring

Ilovemydj.co.uk
Wayne Calita (South Africa), Angel J (Australia), Retox and Vaughan
(South Africa) Sniper and the Doctor ft Midnyte (Jamaica)

Slick Management
Dj Selektaa (South Africa) Kinetic P (Botswana)

Simmy4lyfe and Dj Papa Large (Zimbabwe)

New Style Radio
Jayson Wynters (UK)

1:30 pm till 4:00 am

Authentic South African Braai

And South Africa v Mexico and France v Uruguay live to two massive screens

Comments (0)


Powered by FeedBurner