Before you read this post, you may want to know my opinion on how to build a good business model. For a full account see my guest post on the Irish Internet Association blog Can an Ethical Online Business be a Successful Online Business? Here I pretty much say that developing solid long term relationships, providing value to your customers, is the best business model -- and one that you can be proud of. I've never been a fan of online directories. I believe that many people that start up online directories do so because they see easy pickings amongst small businesses desperate to get more visitors to their websites, but I do realise that this isn't the case for all online directories. Some genuinely believe they have a good idea and either go about it poorly or are out classed by the competition. Of course some, the vast minority, have a brilliant business idea that will help their customers as well as themselves.
General International Web Directories That Have Survived
Two international web directories that are still around from the earlier days of the Internet are Yahoo Directory and
The Open Directory Project. Both have been considered good links to have to help your Google results, but that may soon change.
- A few years back Yahoo started charging $299/year for new listings. I still recommend to new site owners to pay for one year to help get a jump start with search engine results, but the importance of the Directory for it's own sake is waning and it's value to Google may follow, especially as Yahoo has teamed up with Microsoft for it's search results.
- The Open Directory was once considered a link builder's best friend. Listings were easy to add and free and it feeds the Google Directory. A few years back it started taking ages to get a listing reviewed for inclusion and eventually it became known that, due to a lack of editors, some categories were not being reviewed at all, so many have given up submitting. Others have realised that if they volunteer to be an editor in their own category, they can keep the directory going and get their site included.
Other directories from those early days either no longer exist or are completely insignificant.
Irish General Web Directories
When I first moved to Ireland and started a web design business The Doras Directory was the main Irish online directory. It was good because 1) it was Irish when there wasn't a lot of pure Irish content and 2)they reviewed each site and you'd get a rating in shamrocks you could note on your site. So what happened to Doras? At some point Eircom decided to start charging for submissions (some say that they threatened some sites to pay up or be delisted) and the overall quality of the directory went downhill and then eventually disappeared.
This has been the fate of most of the lesser online directories that have been put onto the Internet, so...
Why do people still keep starting up new online directories?
1) It's a good project for an up and coming web designer, or as a marketing tool for an existing web development/online marketing company. If you don't have a portfolio of sites, what do you show prospective clients? You come up with your own project ideas and online directories are a natural choice. When I first moved to Ireland I found it really difficult to find out when and where activities and events were going on so one of my first web design projects was a directory of events going on in West Cork: West Cork Week. It was hard work getting all the listings together and keeping them up to date. The natural progression was then to create West Cork Directory - listings of businesses in the area. The small amount that people in the area were willing to pay for advertising wouldn't cover the time it would take to create and manage them, so I gave up on that idea. As I built up my list of clients, I had less time to keep up these sites and so added easy to manage Google AdWords to the site. It covers the cost to keep the sites going on a minimal level and as people are getting free listings I don't feel guilty about having those GoogleAds or that I don't have the time to update the sites more often.
2) There is a need for a directory to promote businesses and services in a specific region, industry or other marketing/networking group. Most tourism groups and business networks include a directory of members as part of their own websites. It provides value for their members and helpful information for visitors. In many cases inclusion in such a directory will be part of the membership fee.
3) The online directory offers potential to make a profit by charging for listings or advertising. Just after I quietly 'launched' West Cork Week in my home office, Dublin based web design company Webtrade decided to start up their Irish wide online communities in West Cork with West Cork Live. They had a big catered launch and our then local TD and Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh did the honours. They held meetings with business and tourism groups around West Cork and got a number of businesses to sign up for €100/year for a page on the site. (This pretty much made it impossible to get people to advertise on my site.) I don't think the momentum of that web directory lasted more than a year or two. I did end up doing business with many of those advertisers in the following years and most of them felt that they were really let down by that experience.
The funny, or not so funny, thing is that nearly ten years later more web directories, with less going for them than West Cork Live, are starting up and people are paying even more than €100 for a listing.
10 Things to Consider Before Paying for an Online Directory Listing
1) Is the directory THE definitive directory for your region, industry, niche marketing (i.e. West Cork Tourism, Irish Internet Association, Slow Food Ireland, Wedding Directories)?
2) Is there a significant number of visitors to the website? Are there a good number of page views in the section of the site where your listing will appear? (Are the site statistics audited so that you can trust the numbers?)
3) Does the site come up well in searches on phrases related to your business/organisation?
3) Will your listing appear in a section of the site that is easy to get to from the homepage?
4) Will your listing include your contact details, including a link to your own website? Is the information laid out to naturally bring the visitor to contact you and not just trap them within the directory? Will the link add to the 'authority' of your site which may improve your site's search engine results? (Read about Google's PageRank) Some directories use a method of linking so that they can see how many clicks you get, but this may keep Google from passing the value of that link onto your site.
5) Is the site well designed, easy for the visitor to use and does it use current web technology (RSS feeds, user interaction, etc.)
6) Is the cost of the link justified based on the return you expect? If a directory charges €300/year and you make an average of €30 profit per sale, will you make 10 sales over a year?
7) Are there other similar directories that may be better established, higher ranking, better publicised or more cost effective?
8) Is this the best way to spend your marketing budget?
9) How is the directory being promoted (advertising on other sites, in newspapers magazines related to the region, industry, etc.)?
10) Is the directory being run by an established business that appears to be around for the long term? Are you comfortable with their sales and marketing practices?
Think about this listing within the big picture of your entire marketing plan.
- Don't just try it out because they are the first to ask you, or you feel that you should help out someone starting up a new business.
- Look at what other marketing opportunities you have (online and off) and what free directory listings are available to you.
- Talk to people that are currently using the directory, or similar directories and see what the results have been like for them.
- Seek advice from others in the online marketing industry. There are a number of good, honest online marketing professionals providing such advice on our online networking channels (blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.).
If you run an online directory with paid listings, how does your site stand up to these questions? Are you truly providing value to the people that take listings in your directory, or are you just going to take their money and run?
The previous post on this blog; Link Building, more than just Link Exchanges and other posts under Link Building; will give you some alternatives to get more visitors to your website.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Link Building: more than just Link Exchanges
For years people have known that the number of links into your sites effects your rankings on search engines, such as Google (see their page on Google Friendly Sites). Thus started the mad dash to get as many links into a site as possible; through all sorts of tactics, but mainly looking for sites that had an "add a link" button. That brought the masses of spam emails of people sending thousands of emails to any address they could find requesting a link exchange. Sadly, this is still going on, even though we've found out that you need more than just a large amount of links to improve search engine rankings.
Now it is understood that is not just the quantity of links that's important, but that the 'quality' of the links is most important. The site needs to be relevant to the topic and well ranked itself to bring any value to your site. There's a long list of other considerations where there's much debate on if they are relevant or how relevant, but are at least good to keep in mind: the Google PageRank of the page, the number of links on the page, using three way links instead of direct exchanges, etc. There are other factors to consider: your own internal linking structure, link text, etc.
So a good Link Building Programme, while not rocket science, takes a lot of thought and time. In this blog, I've given advice for running your own link building programme (see category Link Building), but while link exchanges are a way to get some links into your site, there are more efficient and effective ways to get links into your site; ways that will also help boost the overall presence of your site on the Internet.
I've spent many nights trawling the Internet looking for good link exchanges for clients, always thinking that there must be an easier way. All the easier ways, though, were dodgy paid links or link farms that were not going to get you quality links or may get you penalised or banned on search engines. Forums and articles on the topic across the net all pretty much said that it just takes time to develop this. When I went to the Search Engine Strategies conference in London this February I decided that Link Building would be one of the things to focus on while there. In many of the panels and talks, Link Building was discussed with all pretty much saying that, yes, it is still important and, no, there are no magic tricks to getting sites to link to you. The highlight of the conference, apart from having lunch with Jill Whalen, was the Link Building Panel.
While this panel didn't give out any magic Link Building Techniques they did confirm that while link exchanges are a good way to get started, you need to get creative in getting more quality links and that the focus should be on the content and quality of the site involved.
- Social networking sites and blogs have now become very important for link building, not just because they may bring valuable links to your site (in fact pages that can only be seen after login won't get indexed by search engines and bring no link value), but they can spread the word about your site more easily than your standard site which in turn may get you a valuable link to your site.
- Articles and Guest Posting on Blogs are a way that you can further push your site. Again you need to find quality, suitable sites.
- Explore other types of sites and media that suit your topic: YouTube, for example is one of the most searched on websites. You can create videos to promote your business, more easily than you probably think. There's also image site, podcasts, etc.
- Other kinds of publicity, online and offline: One of the most interesting stories on the panel was from Dutch Link Strategist Peter van der Graaf, who had set up a PR 'stunt' just prior to the last World Cup. A client had wanted to bring more soccer related traffic into his site prior to the World Cup. The online marketing company set up a 'demonstration', outside the Dutch soccer team's training camp, by women protesting the amount of time their men spend watching soccer - calling for the cancellation of the World Cup. A Brazilian news agency picked up on the story and it started getting mentioned on web sites across the world, eventually getting a spot on the CNN site -- and that online marketing company had one very happy client. So this shows us that a bit of creativity can take you a long way. Some times this sort of 'Website PR' can come for free. Take Dublin web developer Jason Roe. His post on his blog about how he nearly found a way to get a free Ryanair flight, received strong comments from Ryanair staff and the Irish blogging community did not take it kindly. This story was noted on blogs and news sites all across Ireland and Europe, and, like the Dutch story, was picked up and posted on the CNN website (and here I am talking about it again here 5 months later).
None of these techniques are anywhere as boring as trawling the Internet in the wee hours of the morning, trying to craft non-spammy sounding link request emails and begging, begging, begging.
So define your target audience and what sites they go to on the Internet -- and get creative. Don't forget, that having a great site yourself, with a wealth of good content related to your business/organisation is going to better attract the best partners in this task.
If you would like a kick start, check out my workshop "Hands On: Your Own Website PR Campaign". The next one takes place on Friday 7th August, in our Clonakilty offices. The workshop is limited to 5 people so that we can work one on one and actually set up your own campaign on the morning.
Now it is understood that is not just the quantity of links that's important, but that the 'quality' of the links is most important. The site needs to be relevant to the topic and well ranked itself to bring any value to your site. There's a long list of other considerations where there's much debate on if they are relevant or how relevant, but are at least good to keep in mind: the Google PageRank of the page, the number of links on the page, using three way links instead of direct exchanges, etc. There are other factors to consider: your own internal linking structure, link text, etc.
So a good Link Building Programme, while not rocket science, takes a lot of thought and time. In this blog, I've given advice for running your own link building programme (see category Link Building), but while link exchanges are a way to get some links into your site, there are more efficient and effective ways to get links into your site; ways that will also help boost the overall presence of your site on the Internet.
I've spent many nights trawling the Internet looking for good link exchanges for clients, always thinking that there must be an easier way. All the easier ways, though, were dodgy paid links or link farms that were not going to get you quality links or may get you penalised or banned on search engines. Forums and articles on the topic across the net all pretty much said that it just takes time to develop this. When I went to the Search Engine Strategies conference in London this February I decided that Link Building would be one of the things to focus on while there. In many of the panels and talks, Link Building was discussed with all pretty much saying that, yes, it is still important and, no, there are no magic tricks to getting sites to link to you. The highlight of the conference, apart from having lunch with Jill Whalen, was the Link Building Panel.
While this panel didn't give out any magic Link Building Techniques they did confirm that while link exchanges are a good way to get started, you need to get creative in getting more quality links and that the focus should be on the content and quality of the site involved.
- Social networking sites and blogs have now become very important for link building, not just because they may bring valuable links to your site (in fact pages that can only be seen after login won't get indexed by search engines and bring no link value), but they can spread the word about your site more easily than your standard site which in turn may get you a valuable link to your site.
- Articles and Guest Posting on Blogs are a way that you can further push your site. Again you need to find quality, suitable sites.
- Explore other types of sites and media that suit your topic: YouTube, for example is one of the most searched on websites. You can create videos to promote your business, more easily than you probably think. There's also image site, podcasts, etc.
- Other kinds of publicity, online and offline: One of the most interesting stories on the panel was from Dutch Link Strategist Peter van der Graaf, who had set up a PR 'stunt' just prior to the last World Cup. A client had wanted to bring more soccer related traffic into his site prior to the World Cup. The online marketing company set up a 'demonstration', outside the Dutch soccer team's training camp, by women protesting the amount of time their men spend watching soccer - calling for the cancellation of the World Cup. A Brazilian news agency picked up on the story and it started getting mentioned on web sites across the world, eventually getting a spot on the CNN site -- and that online marketing company had one very happy client. So this shows us that a bit of creativity can take you a long way. Some times this sort of 'Website PR' can come for free. Take Dublin web developer Jason Roe. His post on his blog about how he nearly found a way to get a free Ryanair flight, received strong comments from Ryanair staff and the Irish blogging community did not take it kindly. This story was noted on blogs and news sites all across Ireland and Europe, and, like the Dutch story, was picked up and posted on the CNN website (and here I am talking about it again here 5 months later).
None of these techniques are anywhere as boring as trawling the Internet in the wee hours of the morning, trying to craft non-spammy sounding link request emails and begging, begging, begging.
So define your target audience and what sites they go to on the Internet -- and get creative. Don't forget, that having a great site yourself, with a wealth of good content related to your business/organisation is going to better attract the best partners in this task.
If you would like a kick start, check out my workshop "Hands On: Your Own Website PR Campaign". The next one takes place on Friday 7th August, in our Clonakilty offices. The workshop is limited to 5 people so that we can work one on one and actually set up your own campaign on the morning.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Google Won't Ring You About Advertising on Their Website
Now it seems obvious to those of us experienced in online marketing and dealing with Google, but it has to be said clearly GOOGLE WILL NOT RING YOU ABOUT ADVERTISING ON THEIR WEBSITE.
A few years back, just after Google set up their European operations in Dublin, a prospective client told me that Google had contacted her and were going to help her manage a Google AdWords campaign. I assumed it was legitimate. I didn't look into it further at the time, they weren't clients and were choosing to do this rather than use my SEO services so I didn't think much about it.
Earlier this year our receptionist said that Google had contacted her husband about setting up an AdWords campaign for his very small website. As I've gained a lot more experience in dealing with Google and using AdWords, it was obvious to me then that it wouldn't be the case. Shortly after this, Twitter friend @whatswhat_sian (Sian Phillips), started posting about a company that was contacting businesses listed on her online directory WhatsWhat.ie offering a similar deal. Then they contacted her, not realising she had copped on to them. Read her post about it. She was really adamant about getting the word out on this and there was a piece in the Sunday Business Post by Adrian Weckler Rogue 'Google' firm targets Irish SMEs.
I didn't take too much notice again, but then today they rang a client of mine, who had the sense to tell them they needed to ring me. Again, she thought they were calling from Google. I rang them back myself and it was indeed the company that Sian was talking about, UK based Matchmaker Marketing. You can Google the name if you want to see their site and also notice on Google a long list of sites with posts by people concerned about them, like:
- http://www.t2.ie/blog/?p=270
- http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=88096
When I rang the number given to my client, he did answer the phone "Matchmaker Marketing" and said that he did not claim to my client that he was from Google, but that he was a reseller for Google. He also claimed that they were the only company licensed to use the Google logo, but very little of what he said rang true with me. As he saw that I was not going to avail of their services he said that I was wasting his time - rich for someone that does cold call sales for a living.
My fear is that this sort of 'marketing' will turn people off of Google AdWords and other online advertising that has potential to increase sales. A lot of companies set up and manage Google AdWords and other pay per click online advertising campaigns, some successfully and others not so successfully, but a potential customer has the right to be dealt with in an honest and straight forward manner.
You may have to pay a good amount for a successful campaign, especially if you are hiring an experienced professional, but it may bring you more sales to justify the cost. Because of this you should do a bit of research before you select a company to manage your online marketing campaign. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Get references from the company and talk to their customers about the results that were actually gained from the campaign.
* What was the return on the amount spent?
* Did the company communicate well what their objectives were?
* Where they comfortable dealing with the company?
- Do you want a company to manage the campaign for you completely or just set it up so that you can manage it yourself over the long term?
- Does the company have experience with PPC advertising in your specific industry or similar industries?
- Do you need a company that can do SEO as well as PPC - and perhaps changes to your site as well?
- Can you set up the campaign yourself? The AdWords system is made to be very user friendly and there is a lot of information available via Google and other sites on how to manage a successful campaign. It does take time and you may be better off spending to at least get the campaign set up by someone with experience.
The following are also important points to consider:
- Organic search listings are the ones that you do NOT pay for. To get good results with these you need to certain things on your website and boost your sites popularity through relevant links to do this. Pay per click advertising campaigns will not get you higher organic search results, though it can boost awareness of your site. If a company claims this, question everything they are saying.
- No one can guarantee that you will get on first page or top of organic or pay per click listings - especially not the organic listings. Some companies get away with guaranteeing that you'll be top for pay per click advertising listings by 1) bidding very high for the the phrase to be certain to outbid all others (which isn't financially sustainable over a long period of time) or 2) bidding on very uncompetitive and unpopular search phrases that no one else would be bidding on. This does not give you much potential for a good return on the amount spent. Most legitimate online marketing companies will not use the word "guarantee" because it has such a bad connotation in this area.
- Google does run a "Google Advertising Professional" Programme.
A person can become a "Qualified Individual" by doing the following:
"1. Sign up for the programme successfully and be in good standing. This means that you have accepted the Rules of Use and are not in violation of them.
2. Manage at least one AdWords account (yours or someone else's) in My Client Centre for 90 days.
3. Build and maintain at least US$1000 (or your local currency equivalent) total spend for your or your team's My Client Centre account during the 90-day period.
4. Pass the Google Advertising Professional Exam. We suggest that you take the exam after you meet the above requirements. However, you can take the exam at any time."
A company can become a "Qualified Company" by doing the following:
"1. Have a billing and mailing address in a country where company qualification is available.
2. Employ at least two Qualified Individuals in the programme. Individuals must be qualified under the main company-registered My Client Centre account and not their own account. See the requirements for becoming a Qualified Individual.
3. Build and maintain the minimum 90-day required total client spend (spend requirements vary by country) for the company's My Client Centre account."
See more in Google's section on AdWords Professionals.
It is not that difficult to achieve qualification as long as you have clients with the budget to do AdWords and know the basics on how to run an account to pass the exam. Qualification has nothing to do with bringing good results for your customers in these campaigns.
If you feel that you do need to work with an "AdWords Qualified Professional" you can confirm that they are indeed qualified by checking that they have a Professional Status page, which they would normally link to from the Google AdWords Professional logo on their own site.
- Some web development companies push AdWords over optimizing your site for better organic search results. Why?
* Google used to give commissions for AdWords spend, but they no longer do so. This was a big incentive for developers to push the AdWords in the past.
* It is a way to give a quick boost of traffic to your site when optimization for organic results (SEO) may take months.
* They don't have the skills/time/desire to do optimization for organic search results. I actually saw this stated on a web development company site yesterday and thought the honesty was refreshing.
I agree that AdWords can be a good way to get started while waiting for organic results. I also feel that AdWords can be a good part of an overall online marketing campaign, as part of the "big picture". But you don't need to hire a Qualified Professional. A local online marketing professional may be able to get you just a good results as well as being someone that you trust better than someone "up the country". I am not a Qualified AdWords professional. This is just because I have not reached that spending requirement in the required time period. This is because most of my clients are smaller businesses with smaller online marketing budgets and we've chosen to concentrate on getting better organic results.
So you may choose to work with Matchmaker Marketing, they have a lot of customers and maybe some of them are getting results, but you then have to keep in mind the type of company you are dealing with and make your own mind up.
Unfortunately Google will NOT set up your AdWords campaign themselves. Online marketing is just not that easy, but I am giving a workshop "Hands On: Your Own Pay Per Click Advertising Campaign" on the 2nd of October. In the half day workshop I will take you step by step through setting up and managing your own Google AdWords campaign. Click here for more details.
A few years back, just after Google set up their European operations in Dublin, a prospective client told me that Google had contacted her and were going to help her manage a Google AdWords campaign. I assumed it was legitimate. I didn't look into it further at the time, they weren't clients and were choosing to do this rather than use my SEO services so I didn't think much about it.
Earlier this year our receptionist said that Google had contacted her husband about setting up an AdWords campaign for his very small website. As I've gained a lot more experience in dealing with Google and using AdWords, it was obvious to me then that it wouldn't be the case. Shortly after this, Twitter friend @whatswhat_sian (Sian Phillips), started posting about a company that was contacting businesses listed on her online directory WhatsWhat.ie offering a similar deal. Then they contacted her, not realising she had copped on to them. Read her post about it. She was really adamant about getting the word out on this and there was a piece in the Sunday Business Post by Adrian Weckler Rogue 'Google' firm targets Irish SMEs.
I didn't take too much notice again, but then today they rang a client of mine, who had the sense to tell them they needed to ring me. Again, she thought they were calling from Google. I rang them back myself and it was indeed the company that Sian was talking about, UK based Matchmaker Marketing. You can Google the name if you want to see their site and also notice on Google a long list of sites with posts by people concerned about them, like:
- http://www.t2.ie/blog/?p=270
- http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=88096
When I rang the number given to my client, he did answer the phone "Matchmaker Marketing" and said that he did not claim to my client that he was from Google, but that he was a reseller for Google. He also claimed that they were the only company licensed to use the Google logo, but very little of what he said rang true with me. As he saw that I was not going to avail of their services he said that I was wasting his time - rich for someone that does cold call sales for a living.
My fear is that this sort of 'marketing' will turn people off of Google AdWords and other online advertising that has potential to increase sales. A lot of companies set up and manage Google AdWords and other pay per click online advertising campaigns, some successfully and others not so successfully, but a potential customer has the right to be dealt with in an honest and straight forward manner.
You may have to pay a good amount for a successful campaign, especially if you are hiring an experienced professional, but it may bring you more sales to justify the cost. Because of this you should do a bit of research before you select a company to manage your online marketing campaign. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Get references from the company and talk to their customers about the results that were actually gained from the campaign.
* What was the return on the amount spent?
* Did the company communicate well what their objectives were?
* Where they comfortable dealing with the company?
- Do you want a company to manage the campaign for you completely or just set it up so that you can manage it yourself over the long term?
- Does the company have experience with PPC advertising in your specific industry or similar industries?
- Do you need a company that can do SEO as well as PPC - and perhaps changes to your site as well?
- Can you set up the campaign yourself? The AdWords system is made to be very user friendly and there is a lot of information available via Google and other sites on how to manage a successful campaign. It does take time and you may be better off spending to at least get the campaign set up by someone with experience.
The following are also important points to consider:
- Organic search listings are the ones that you do NOT pay for. To get good results with these you need to certain things on your website and boost your sites popularity through relevant links to do this. Pay per click advertising campaigns will not get you higher organic search results, though it can boost awareness of your site. If a company claims this, question everything they are saying.
- No one can guarantee that you will get on first page or top of organic or pay per click listings - especially not the organic listings. Some companies get away with guaranteeing that you'll be top for pay per click advertising listings by 1) bidding very high for the the phrase to be certain to outbid all others (which isn't financially sustainable over a long period of time) or 2) bidding on very uncompetitive and unpopular search phrases that no one else would be bidding on. This does not give you much potential for a good return on the amount spent. Most legitimate online marketing companies will not use the word "guarantee" because it has such a bad connotation in this area.
- Google does run a "Google Advertising Professional" Programme.
A person can become a "Qualified Individual" by doing the following:
"1. Sign up for the programme successfully and be in good standing. This means that you have accepted the Rules of Use and are not in violation of them.
2. Manage at least one AdWords account (yours or someone else's) in My Client Centre for 90 days.
3. Build and maintain at least US$1000 (or your local currency equivalent) total spend for your or your team's My Client Centre account during the 90-day period.
4. Pass the Google Advertising Professional Exam. We suggest that you take the exam after you meet the above requirements. However, you can take the exam at any time."
A company can become a "Qualified Company" by doing the following:
"1. Have a billing and mailing address in a country where company qualification is available.
2. Employ at least two Qualified Individuals in the programme. Individuals must be qualified under the main company-registered My Client Centre account and not their own account. See the requirements for becoming a Qualified Individual.
3. Build and maintain the minimum 90-day required total client spend (spend requirements vary by country) for the company's My Client Centre account."
See more in Google's section on AdWords Professionals.
It is not that difficult to achieve qualification as long as you have clients with the budget to do AdWords and know the basics on how to run an account to pass the exam. Qualification has nothing to do with bringing good results for your customers in these campaigns.
If you feel that you do need to work with an "AdWords Qualified Professional" you can confirm that they are indeed qualified by checking that they have a Professional Status page, which they would normally link to from the Google AdWords Professional logo on their own site.
- Some web development companies push AdWords over optimizing your site for better organic search results. Why?
* Google used to give commissions for AdWords spend, but they no longer do so. This was a big incentive for developers to push the AdWords in the past.
* It is a way to give a quick boost of traffic to your site when optimization for organic results (SEO) may take months.
* They don't have the skills/time/desire to do optimization for organic search results. I actually saw this stated on a web development company site yesterday and thought the honesty was refreshing.
I agree that AdWords can be a good way to get started while waiting for organic results. I also feel that AdWords can be a good part of an overall online marketing campaign, as part of the "big picture". But you don't need to hire a Qualified Professional. A local online marketing professional may be able to get you just a good results as well as being someone that you trust better than someone "up the country". I am not a Qualified AdWords professional. This is just because I have not reached that spending requirement in the required time period. This is because most of my clients are smaller businesses with smaller online marketing budgets and we've chosen to concentrate on getting better organic results.
So you may choose to work with Matchmaker Marketing, they have a lot of customers and maybe some of them are getting results, but you then have to keep in mind the type of company you are dealing with and make your own mind up.
Unfortunately Google will NOT set up your AdWords campaign themselves. Online marketing is just not that easy, but I am giving a workshop "Hands On: Your Own Pay Per Click Advertising Campaign" on the 2nd of October. In the half day workshop I will take you step by step through setting up and managing your own Google AdWords campaign. Click here for more details.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Twitter versus The Blogger and her Facebook Friends
The other day a friend made a comment that really made me think about how I am using online networking sites. The friend, who also happens to be a client, mentioned to me that often when she sees my posts on her Facebook page, she just scans down to find other more personal posts. So it made me think that there are probably a number of my Facebook friends that feel the same way. That is one of the problems with mixing Facebook business with Facebook pleasure, your old high school friends may not be interested in your online marketing facts. Was I imposing my "Twitter" style on my Facebook Friends?
When I started to think of how to present my posts in a more digestible format on Facebook I realised that much of this information could be compiled into blog posts -- and haven't I agreed over and over again that Twitter was really eating into my blogging time. So now is the time to address the issues of how to determine where and how to present all of my very useful information across the wide range of online networking sites that I belong to. Here I am going to focus on Twitter, Facebook and blogging.
When you post - whether it be micro-blogging, on a social networking site or in a full blog post - you really have to consider the people in your audience and their preferences and viewing habits Follow what is acceptable and practiced amongst your circle of online friends and in the application you are using.
Twitter
- On Twitter it is much more common to see people mixing business with pleasure. In fact, amongst my follows/followers our conversations go from "What's your favourite blogging application?" to "Who's going to this conference on Friday?" to "The tooth fairy forgot to visit last night" and "This is the best Chinese restaurant in New York."
- Twitter is about telling your followers what you are up to at the moment, as well as any other interesting bits of information you think they may be interested in: links, images, videos, weather reports, etc. So Twitter users expect a number of posts to be put up; and applications created to use Twitter are made to help people view a lot of posts from a number of different people in the best manner. Twitters own web interface isn't as good for this, which I only realised when a couple people said to me, "I only use Twitter via the website and all I'd see were a big list of your posts and nothing else, so I 'unfollowed' you." I support their right to 'unfollow' and believe that we should all exercise this right as needed. I have a good number of followers on Twitter, so think that there are a number of people that are happy enough with my volume there.
- You can pop in and out of Twitter as you have time so it takes as little or as much time as you would like.
- You can have any number of accounts on Twitter that you think you can manage. @ann_donnelly is my main account and I do mix personal and business replies. I also have @omahonydonnelly that I just use for business items, mainly for my partner, who isn't on Twitter himself.
- On Twitter you get a lot of off the cuff responses to new and current events. It's meant to be up to the minute and you may not have time to study up on a topic, but you can always come back later with an update.
- On Twitter you see so many posts that are correcting a previous post with a typo. You are typing quickly, you may be on a mobile phone, so a lot of typos happen. I don't bother correcting my typos like that, unless I think people will misunderstand the post. That just shows the style on Twitter. You are limited to 140 characters, so you use all sorts of abbreviations - official and unofficial - to fit in what you want to say. You may be responding quickly as part of conversation (or to enter a competition) or just to be a crazy little know it all, which we are all guilty of some of the time. Sometimes you do get into an actual back and forth conversation with someone, but many just use private 'DMs' for that. A proper instant messaging application would be better suited.
Facebook
- Initially Facebook seemed to be mainly for keeping in touch with 'real' friends and family; but now that Facebook allows you to set up pages for businesses there are many more people that are using Facebook for business purposes. My partner used to think that Facebook was just for personal friends, but as he has a number of clients located all over the world and now sees many are on Facebook, he sees that it could be another good way to keep in touch with them.
- On Facebook you can also group your 'Friends' and also choose not to see someones replies in your stream, so it makes it easier to throttle between work and personal topics, but this is a recent change and many people haven't set it up properly (including me).
- Your Friends on Facebook are more likely to be people that you have met, so you would probably like to keep them. Here it is more important to mind the volume and make sure that the posts are relative to the audience. Also, on Facebook most people set their accounts so only friends can view their stuff, so if you lose a friend that really cuts that person out. On Twitter, only a few people make their posts private, so the posts are open to the world, so easy to see what people outside your circle of follows/followers are saying pretty easily.
- As you don't see what your Friend's homepage looks like, you may not consider if your numerous posts are taking over, so you do need to be considerate.
Blogging
- Like having multiple Twitter accounts, I have multiple blogs. This blog is for business related posts and Tales from West Cork is for personal posts and I also have a weight loss blog (and Twitter account) that is separate as it's even more personal and specific in topic.
- In an informal Twitter poll, I got feedback that a blog post should take 2-3 hours to properly research and compose, and that many do such well thought out posts 1-2 times a week, with a few quick, timely posts in between. So here quality is more important that quantity. I do agree, but in my case I need to be better about scheduling those 2-3 hours in 1-2 times a week so that the posts get done. This is where I need to cut down on my Twitterage and focus on bloggage.
Just because it's easy to post something on a networking site, it doesn't mean you always should!
So when deciding where and how to post an item, think about:
1) What audience is the item suited to, and
2) What application will best communicate the information.
In many cases it's best to use all of your applications. When I finish this blog post, I will post the link on Twitter and it will automatically be posted to my business page on Facebook -- and many other online networking sites that I have this blog feeding into.
When I started to think of how to present my posts in a more digestible format on Facebook I realised that much of this information could be compiled into blog posts -- and haven't I agreed over and over again that Twitter was really eating into my blogging time. So now is the time to address the issues of how to determine where and how to present all of my very useful information across the wide range of online networking sites that I belong to. Here I am going to focus on Twitter, Facebook and blogging.
When you post - whether it be micro-blogging, on a social networking site or in a full blog post - you really have to consider the people in your audience and their preferences and viewing habits Follow what is acceptable and practiced amongst your circle of online friends and in the application you are using.
- On Twitter it is much more common to see people mixing business with pleasure. In fact, amongst my follows/followers our conversations go from "What's your favourite blogging application?" to "Who's going to this conference on Friday?" to "The tooth fairy forgot to visit last night" and "This is the best Chinese restaurant in New York."
- Twitter is about telling your followers what you are up to at the moment, as well as any other interesting bits of information you think they may be interested in: links, images, videos, weather reports, etc. So Twitter users expect a number of posts to be put up; and applications created to use Twitter are made to help people view a lot of posts from a number of different people in the best manner. Twitters own web interface isn't as good for this, which I only realised when a couple people said to me, "I only use Twitter via the website and all I'd see were a big list of your posts and nothing else, so I 'unfollowed' you." I support their right to 'unfollow' and believe that we should all exercise this right as needed. I have a good number of followers on Twitter, so think that there are a number of people that are happy enough with my volume there.
- You can pop in and out of Twitter as you have time so it takes as little or as much time as you would like.
- You can have any number of accounts on Twitter that you think you can manage. @ann_donnelly is my main account and I do mix personal and business replies. I also have @omahonydonnelly that I just use for business items, mainly for my partner, who isn't on Twitter himself.
- On Twitter you get a lot of off the cuff responses to new and current events. It's meant to be up to the minute and you may not have time to study up on a topic, but you can always come back later with an update.
- On Twitter you see so many posts that are correcting a previous post with a typo. You are typing quickly, you may be on a mobile phone, so a lot of typos happen. I don't bother correcting my typos like that, unless I think people will misunderstand the post. That just shows the style on Twitter. You are limited to 140 characters, so you use all sorts of abbreviations - official and unofficial - to fit in what you want to say. You may be responding quickly as part of conversation (or to enter a competition) or just to be a crazy little know it all, which we are all guilty of some of the time. Sometimes you do get into an actual back and forth conversation with someone, but many just use private 'DMs' for that. A proper instant messaging application would be better suited.
- Initially Facebook seemed to be mainly for keeping in touch with 'real' friends and family; but now that Facebook allows you to set up pages for businesses there are many more people that are using Facebook for business purposes. My partner used to think that Facebook was just for personal friends, but as he has a number of clients located all over the world and now sees many are on Facebook, he sees that it could be another good way to keep in touch with them.
- On Facebook you can also group your 'Friends' and also choose not to see someones replies in your stream, so it makes it easier to throttle between work and personal topics, but this is a recent change and many people haven't set it up properly (including me).
- Your Friends on Facebook are more likely to be people that you have met, so you would probably like to keep them. Here it is more important to mind the volume and make sure that the posts are relative to the audience. Also, on Facebook most people set their accounts so only friends can view their stuff, so if you lose a friend that really cuts that person out. On Twitter, only a few people make their posts private, so the posts are open to the world, so easy to see what people outside your circle of follows/followers are saying pretty easily.
- As you don't see what your Friend's homepage looks like, you may not consider if your numerous posts are taking over, so you do need to be considerate.
Blogging
- Like having multiple Twitter accounts, I have multiple blogs. This blog is for business related posts and Tales from West Cork is for personal posts and I also have a weight loss blog (and Twitter account) that is separate as it's even more personal and specific in topic.
- In an informal Twitter poll, I got feedback that a blog post should take 2-3 hours to properly research and compose, and that many do such well thought out posts 1-2 times a week, with a few quick, timely posts in between. So here quality is more important that quantity. I do agree, but in my case I need to be better about scheduling those 2-3 hours in 1-2 times a week so that the posts get done. This is where I need to cut down on my Twitterage and focus on bloggage.
Just because it's easy to post something on a networking site, it doesn't mean you always should!
So when deciding where and how to post an item, think about:
1) What audience is the item suited to, and
2) What application will best communicate the information.
In many cases it's best to use all of your applications. When I finish this blog post, I will post the link on Twitter and it will automatically be posted to my business page on Facebook -- and many other online networking sites that I have this blog feeding into.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Do I Need a Blog for My Business?
This is another post aimed at those thinking of getting a blog. All you experienced bloggers are welcome to leave comments and links to their own posts that will be helpful to newbies.
In promoting my upcoming workshop Hands On: Your Own Blog (Set up your own blog in a morning!) I've been asked this question many times so thought a post was in order.
Why you need a blog:
1) If you don't have a website already. Setting up a blog with an easy to use blogging platform like WordPress, Blogger, Movable Type, etc. gives you an inexpensive site that you can update yourself. If you have a little experience with computers, are happy to use a free blogging platform and a free to use theme, the blog could cost nothing to set up. If you need to hire a professional designer to install the blog for you or to do a custom design, with your own domain and hosting; the blog could cost from a couple hundred euro on up. See more about choosing a blogging platform on the post Before You Start Your Blog.
2) If you do have a website your blog can be added as a separate section where you can include news and other current information that would be of interest to your visitors. If you are concerned about portraying a certain image on your site, you can use your blog to lighten up a little -- as people expect a blog to be a little more personal and conversational. Your blog is also a way to show off your expertise in your field with your insights on news and current trends.
3) Most of the popular blog platforms (as noted above) are developed to be EASY; easy to add posts, easy for your visitors to add comments (that are easy to delete if they are just rubbish) and register to find out when the blog is updated, easy add-ons with cool features (like lists of friends, calendars, videos, etc.)
4) Easy, also, for search engines to find and index so search engines love them and index mostly on a daily basis. There are easy to install Search Engine Optimization plug-ins that make your blog have even better results in search engines. Some search engines, like Google, have a separate blog index as well, so you may get double coverage.
5) RSS Feeds - RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and it's true. The blogging platform generates a feed (which is really just a file in a specific format) that can then be picked up on other sites, wherever you or your subscribers want to see the feed - like a feed reader. This means that people don't have to remember to come back to your site to see if you've added something new. They can read your posts where and when they want to. RSS feeds can also be used in Widgets so your posts can be displayed on your main site or a social networking site (like MySpace, Facebook, etc.)
6) Media professionals use the Internet to research story ideas. These days you will see so many ideas started in bloggers or with references to blogs. With your blog you can be part of it.
7) The Irish Blogging community rocks! You may not be looking for a new group of friends, but a lot of bloggers in Ireland (and probably other regions) are very helpful to those starting out and you can build a network of blogs and bloggers in related fields that will help promote your own blog and business.
8) Blogs integrate well with your whole online marketing strategy - yes you should have one of these to make sure you are taking advantage of all the Internet has to promote your business! I have a friend that says email marketing is the glue between your online marketing efforts and I say that your blog can be the petrol that really gets it moving.
9) Your blog won't take over all your spare time - at least it shouldn't. If you are focused and organise your time you can have an interesting and current blog without spending more time than you can afford to give.
Who shouldn't have a blog?
If you absolutely:
- cannot stand the thought of putting your thoughts down for the world to see (many people are like this);
- will not find 2-3 hours at least once a week (as there's nothing worse than a blog that has a couple of posts from a year ago);
- do not have a target market that uses the Internet at all (but it's very hard to imagine any businesses with many customers like that).
If you still have questions, you can comment here and I will reply, or come along to Hands On: Your Own Blog workshop this Friday! If there is a demand we will be putting on additional workshops.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=a5bda7bf-2156-4155-ba65-82c9d264c618)
In promoting my upcoming workshop Hands On: Your Own Blog (Set up your own blog in a morning!) I've been asked this question many times so thought a post was in order.
Why you need a blog:
1) If you don't have a website already. Setting up a blog with an easy to use blogging platform like WordPress, Blogger, Movable Type, etc. gives you an inexpensive site that you can update yourself. If you have a little experience with computers, are happy to use a free blogging platform and a free to use theme, the blog could cost nothing to set up. If you need to hire a professional designer to install the blog for you or to do a custom design, with your own domain and hosting; the blog could cost from a couple hundred euro on up. See more about choosing a blogging platform on the post Before You Start Your Blog.
2) If you do have a website your blog can be added as a separate section where you can include news and other current information that would be of interest to your visitors. If you are concerned about portraying a certain image on your site, you can use your blog to lighten up a little -- as people expect a blog to be a little more personal and conversational. Your blog is also a way to show off your expertise in your field with your insights on news and current trends.
3) Most of the popular blog platforms (as noted above) are developed to be EASY; easy to add posts, easy for your visitors to add comments (that are easy to delete if they are just rubbish) and register to find out when the blog is updated, easy add-ons with cool features (like lists of friends, calendars, videos, etc.)
4) Easy, also, for search engines to find and index so search engines love them and index mostly on a daily basis. There are easy to install Search Engine Optimization plug-ins that make your blog have even better results in search engines. Some search engines, like Google, have a separate blog index as well, so you may get double coverage.
5) RSS Feeds - RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and it's true. The blogging platform generates a feed (which is really just a file in a specific format) that can then be picked up on other sites, wherever you or your subscribers want to see the feed - like a feed reader. This means that people don't have to remember to come back to your site to see if you've added something new. They can read your posts where and when they want to. RSS feeds can also be used in Widgets so your posts can be displayed on your main site or a social networking site (like MySpace, Facebook, etc.)
6) Media professionals use the Internet to research story ideas. These days you will see so many ideas started in bloggers or with references to blogs. With your blog you can be part of it.
7) The Irish Blogging community rocks! You may not be looking for a new group of friends, but a lot of bloggers in Ireland (and probably other regions) are very helpful to those starting out and you can build a network of blogs and bloggers in related fields that will help promote your own blog and business.
8) Blogs integrate well with your whole online marketing strategy - yes you should have one of these to make sure you are taking advantage of all the Internet has to promote your business! I have a friend that says email marketing is the glue between your online marketing efforts and I say that your blog can be the petrol that really gets it moving.
9) Your blog won't take over all your spare time - at least it shouldn't. If you are focused and organise your time you can have an interesting and current blog without spending more time than you can afford to give.
Who shouldn't have a blog?
If you absolutely:
- cannot stand the thought of putting your thoughts down for the world to see (many people are like this);
- will not find 2-3 hours at least once a week (as there's nothing worse than a blog that has a couple of posts from a year ago);
- do not have a target market that uses the Internet at all (but it's very hard to imagine any businesses with many customers like that).
If you still have questions, you can comment here and I will reply, or come along to Hands On: Your Own Blog workshop this Friday! If there is a demand we will be putting on additional workshops.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Before You Start Your Blog - What you need to decide.
This post is meant for beginning bloggers, particularly those that are attending my "Hands On: Your Own Blog" Workshop. If you are an experienced blogger, please feel free to comment and/or leave a link to your own blog post, or other recommended resources on basic blogging.
Should I use a free, hosted blogging application (like Blogger or WordPress.com) or should I register my own domain name and set the blog up on my own web hosting package (at a cost of approx €120/year)?
1) If you are setting up a personal blog or have a VERY limited budget, you may be happy using a free hosted application, where you will have an address for your blog like http://yourname.blogspot.com or www.yourname.wordpress.com.
- The benefit is that it is absolutely free and if you aren't sure about what you want to do with your blog you can leave it and start another.
- The downsides are that it doesn't appear as professional as having your own domain and you don't have control over your files so you are at the mercy of the blog provider if they choose to remove your blog or have technical problems. You need to back up regularly.
- You can choose in the future to move your blog into your own domain/hosting. You just need to be sure that it's done in a way to maintain any links to your blog and value you've gained toward search engine placement.
2) With your own domain name/hosting package you register the domain name that suits your business (if it is available). You then install the blog application onto the domain so that it goes directly in as www.yourname.com or www.yourname.com/blog.
- If you already have a website this is your obvious choice, unless there are technical reasons why you cannot install the blogging application on your hosting package (like me).
- The benefit is that you have a more professional appearance to your blog and it is a mini-website for your business.
- The downside is the ongoing cost of approx. €120/year, which is really not that much as far as web services go, particularly seeing how much benefit your business will get from your blog.
- Free hosted blogging platforms often offer less facilities for customisation and plugins to enhance your blog.
3) You could take a third option and register a domain name (for approx €10-20/year) and have it forward to your free hosted blog.
What blogging application should I use?
There are a number of blogging applications that are very good and widely used. Your choice of application will depend on the features available and what applications you currently use. For our blogging workshops we are offering you the choice of two platforms:
Blogger is one of the earliest blogging tools and is now owned by Google.
1) If you currently use a lot of Google applications you may prefer to use Blogger as it is on the control panel for your Google account.
2) There are a few templates to choose from and you can customise the look of the template from the control panel if you are familiar with HTML/CSS.
3) I haven't seen any benefit in search engine results based on the fact that Google owns it, but this may be developed more in the future. I've been told by employees there via Twitter that they are coming up with more aids for this, but for now you have to manually change the templates to get best results on search engines.
4) There is a wide selection of widgets that you can use to add content to your site, but to easily use this you need to use a standard template.
5) There are a number of tools you can use to more easily add/edit posts from "Blog This!" buttons on your web browser to a Blogger gadget on your iGoogle page.
6) Even if you host your own blog, the control panel for your blog is still on the Blogger site and the files are "published" to your own site after you make a change.
7) Added 29 June 2009 You can only publish posts in a Blogger blog. You cannot create information only pages like "About Us" or "Shipping Info".
Word Press has two applications WordPress.com is the hosted version and WordPress.org is where you can download the application to install on your own server and it seems to be the web developers blogging choice by far.
1) Using the application takes a little more getting used to, but is still very user friendly.
2) There are a large number of templates (themes) available, including very professional looking themes that you can purchase for a more unique look to your blog. The templates are customisable if you have knowledge of HTML/CSS
3) There are a number of plugins to for WordPress blogs, including those for statistics, calendars, best search engine placement, spam reduction, etc.
4) There is a large community of WordPress users that you can look to for support via their own blogs and forums.
5) You have the choice of the hosted version or hosting your own blog.
6) WordPress.com does not allow you to add many widgets like GoogleAds, if you'd like to make some money from your site.
7) Added 29 June 2009 You can create information only pages like "About Us" or "Shipping Info" to make the blog appear more like a 'regular' website and not just a blog.
More Resources:
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=5f217da4-a583-4f8f-9d21-5238d43ad23c)
Should I use a free, hosted blogging application (like Blogger or WordPress.com) or should I register my own domain name and set the blog up on my own web hosting package (at a cost of approx €120/year)?
1) If you are setting up a personal blog or have a VERY limited budget, you may be happy using a free hosted application, where you will have an address for your blog like http://yourname.blogspot.com or www.yourname.wordpress.com.
- The benefit is that it is absolutely free and if you aren't sure about what you want to do with your blog you can leave it and start another.
- The downsides are that it doesn't appear as professional as having your own domain and you don't have control over your files so you are at the mercy of the blog provider if they choose to remove your blog or have technical problems. You need to back up regularly.
- You can choose in the future to move your blog into your own domain/hosting. You just need to be sure that it's done in a way to maintain any links to your blog and value you've gained toward search engine placement.
2) With your own domain name/hosting package you register the domain name that suits your business (if it is available). You then install the blog application onto the domain so that it goes directly in as www.yourname.com or www.yourname.com/blog.
- If you already have a website this is your obvious choice, unless there are technical reasons why you cannot install the blogging application on your hosting package (like me).
- The benefit is that you have a more professional appearance to your blog and it is a mini-website for your business.
- The downside is the ongoing cost of approx. €120/year, which is really not that much as far as web services go, particularly seeing how much benefit your business will get from your blog.
- Free hosted blogging platforms often offer less facilities for customisation and plugins to enhance your blog.
3) You could take a third option and register a domain name (for approx €10-20/year) and have it forward to your free hosted blog.
What blogging application should I use?
There are a number of blogging applications that are very good and widely used. Your choice of application will depend on the features available and what applications you currently use. For our blogging workshops we are offering you the choice of two platforms:
Blogger is one of the earliest blogging tools and is now owned by Google.
1) If you currently use a lot of Google applications you may prefer to use Blogger as it is on the control panel for your Google account.
2) There are a few templates to choose from and you can customise the look of the template from the control panel if you are familiar with HTML/CSS.
3) I haven't seen any benefit in search engine results based on the fact that Google owns it, but this may be developed more in the future. I've been told by employees there via Twitter that they are coming up with more aids for this, but for now you have to manually change the templates to get best results on search engines.
4) There is a wide selection of widgets that you can use to add content to your site, but to easily use this you need to use a standard template.
5) There are a number of tools you can use to more easily add/edit posts from "Blog This!" buttons on your web browser to a Blogger gadget on your iGoogle page.
6) Even if you host your own blog, the control panel for your blog is still on the Blogger site and the files are "published" to your own site after you make a change.
7) Added 29 June 2009 You can only publish posts in a Blogger blog. You cannot create information only pages like "About Us" or "Shipping Info".
Word Press has two applications WordPress.com is the hosted version and WordPress.org is where you can download the application to install on your own server and it seems to be the web developers blogging choice by far.
1) Using the application takes a little more getting used to, but is still very user friendly.
2) There are a large number of templates (themes) available, including very professional looking themes that you can purchase for a more unique look to your blog. The templates are customisable if you have knowledge of HTML/CSS
3) There are a number of plugins to for WordPress blogs, including those for statistics, calendars, best search engine placement, spam reduction, etc.
4) There is a large community of WordPress users that you can look to for support via their own blogs and forums.
5) You have the choice of the hosted version or hosting your own blog.
6) WordPress.com does not allow you to add many widgets like GoogleAds, if you'd like to make some money from your site.
7) Added 29 June 2009 You can create information only pages like "About Us" or "Shipping Info" to make the blog appear more like a 'regular' website and not just a blog.
More Resources:
- Blogger.com Features
- WordPress Features
- Problogger.com - Choosing a Blog Platform
- Blogger vs. WordPress Comparison Chart 2009
- Niche Blog Hosting: WordPress vs. Blogger
- Blogging Wars – WordPress Vs Blogger
- Blogging Basics 101 - Choosing a Blogging Platform
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Stop the Downgrading of Bantry Hospital
Skibbereen Business Association has asked that I set up a petition to show their support in the campaign to stop the downgrading of the Bantry Hospital.
Click here to view and sign this petition.
Downgrading the hospital will take away 24 hour acute services currently provided there. These services will then be available at Cork University Hospital, which will then mean a 2 hour, or longer, trip for the patient and their family and friends that will want to visit/assist the patient.
More serious will be the lack of emergency care in the area out of hours which may lead to an increase in fatalities due to the time to get to CUH. According to the website beara.ie "Currently 70% of admissions to the hospital are emergencies and outside 'office' hours." (Click here to view full story on beara.ie)
Click here to view and sign this petition.
Downgrading the hospital will take away 24 hour acute services currently provided there. These services will then be available at Cork University Hospital, which will then mean a 2 hour, or longer, trip for the patient and their family and friends that will want to visit/assist the patient.
More serious will be the lack of emergency care in the area out of hours which may lead to an increase in fatalities due to the time to get to CUH. According to the website beara.ie "Currently 70% of admissions to the hospital are emergencies and outside 'office' hours." (Click here to view full story on beara.ie)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
