- Those with a keen interest in online reputation management will have detected the stir caused by Brands in Public – Seth Godin’s Squidoo spin-off. You might also have heard that a tide of criticism caused a bit of a rethink and change of approach.
- In essence there was a mis-match in perceptions. The Big Idea behind Brands in Public was to bring together all the online conversations about big brands into one place – then for a monthly fee allow brands to engage with those conversations.
- On the face of it, this seems like a fairly low-controversy idea. The conversations are happening anyway; on Twitter, Facebook and countless forums. Tracking these is incredibly difficult and time consuming. Brands in Public charges a not inconsiderable fee but offers a ready-made solution. All the big brands need to do is engage and, hopefully, enhance their reputation and standing with their customers. They can also quickly get ahead of any negative stuff that might, otherwise, snowball before it even comes to their attention.
- To illustrate the point, Brands in Public created a range of big-brand pages all ready to go. But since the brands in question didn’t get to engage with their own feedback unless they signed up, it seems they took exception to this. Words like “extortion” and “Brand Hijacking” have appeared in various reports and so these pages were taken down.
- Which is fine. If there’s one thing the Squidoo management understand and embrace it’s receiving and acting upon feedback. The perception of their Big Idea was in danger of being seriously undermined with the very people they were wanting to pay for the service. Rapid adaptation therefore was in order.
- But for those of us sitting back and watching, what does this tell us about the wider picture for online Reputation Management?
- I looked at several of the Brand pages before they were taken down. There WAS some negative feedback included for a balanced picture, but for the most part feedback was positive. The list of initial pages read as a “who’s who” among the big brands – to be on that initial list would, I’d have thought, been cause for some satisfaction for the various marketing departments; a validation of their brand status.
- Instead, though it seems there was a gut reaction “we don’t control this – and we’re not about to pay for the privilege”. It seems they recognised that this was big enough to pay attention to, but only insofar as they wanted it shut down RIGHT NOW – and this despite generally positive feedback and being in some pretty lofty company.
- Which all seems to suggest that Seth Godin still has some work to do on the attitude front. If Reputation Management means controlling EVERY mention of a brand online and monopolising the discussion of the brand then marketing departments across the globe are placing their fingers in the proverbial dyke.
- What reputation Management will have to ultimately become is ENGAGEMENT with the discussions; a balanced approach to the good and bad feedback any company will get over time. And whether or not Brands in Public becomes the main forum for this, the basic idea behind it will surely be at the heart of this approach; draw the conversations into one place, then engage with them efficiently. Oh, and by the by, in doing this promote the brand itself!
Monday, 28 September 2009
Was Brands In Public Run Out Of Town?
Friday, 19 June 2009
Website Design and Joined Up Thinking
- One of the harshest put-downs I’ve heard is the sarcastic riposte “Oh, very impressive! Joined-up talking!” Let's face it, though, joined-up anything is usually a good thing. Linking things together logically is almost always a key factor to success and this is particularly true when applied to business website design.
- The process of designing a new website is just one example where joined-up thinking doesn't just make good sense – it’s practically essential. But what is “Joined-up thinking?”
- Put another way it is “Thinking things all the way through” and whilst a good web design company can undoubtedly help with this, it is really more successful when a client does most of it by themself.
- The starting point in the thought process should be what you want from the site – and that’s not as dumb a question as it might seem. Is the site there to inform? Generate enquiries & leads? Generate direct sales and thus revenue? OR might you want it to do several or all of these things?
- It’s important to be clear on this point from the outset – and it will help if you can communicate clearly to your designers “I would like my site to…..”
- Immediately after this, though, needs to come the question “What will my customers/clients want to use the site for?” Hopefully the answer to this question will tie into the previous answer. For example: “They will visit the site to check availability of my products, place an order and make payment” ties in with “I’d like my site to generate revenue through sales”.
- But in addition, clients may wish to track the progress of their order. They may also wish to contact you with a query, make a return, or to ask about a product they’d like but cannot find.
- You the site owner, in the meantime, will need a site where you can fully manage your stock, track orders, add, change, delete listings and probably send out mailshots to customers periodically to boost sales.
- The trick to joined-up thinking is not to stop with the first, obvious answer to the two key questions but to explore them all the way through – until you have a detailed idea of what you want/need from the site and what your customers or clients want/need. Armed with this information, you are then in a position to give your web design company a clear brief which, when met, will leave you with a site that perfectly fits everyone’s needs.
- You can usually tell when a site has benefited from a joined-up thought process. It tends to be easy to use and to offer that little bit more – like a formal ladies wear website that offers a downloadable prom planning sheet and budget guide or a town council website that offers full minutes of all its meetings for public reference.
- So, to summarise, take that little bit extra thinking time because if you do, your design brief will be that much more focused and, ultimately, your website will be more successful.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Fresh accommodation on the Cotswold Way

- The Cotswold Way Accommodation Directory has seen the welcome addition of two new accommodation providers this month.
- The first new listing appears in the Guesthouses and B and B section of the directory. Needlehole Forge is the quintessential “secluded rural retreat”. It is tucked away close to seven Springs and provides a great overnight stopover point between Winchcombe and Painswick within reasonable distance of the iconic “Devil’s Chimney”.
- Needlehole offers twin and double accommodation with private shower and WC facilities for all guests. In addition to a delicious breakfast Needlehole Forge caters for evening meals, meaning that once you arrive you can completely relax.
- The second new listing can be found in the Hotels section of the directory. Charlton Kings HotelCotswold Way National Trail close to Cheltenham. It provides an ideal place to stop and relax, with spacious comfortable grounds, excellent food and a choice of single and double en suite rooms.
- Walkers find Charlton Kings Hotel convenient as it is less than a mile from the National Trail route. The hotel welcomes well behaved dogs.

Friday, 12 June 2009
How Social Networking can bring your business to life.
- When considering marketing through the medium of social networking, the initial reaction of many companies is lukewarm at best. Typical responses include:
- “Facebook is something you do at home – or try your best to stop your employees doing during work hours!”
- “Twitter is a faddy site inhabited by Stephen Fry and possibly one or two other celebrities.”
- “No-one can decide whether Twitter will be gone next week or will be the biggest thing in marketing since someone decided to sell bread pre-sliced.”
- Perhaps MY biggest “concern” was who on earth would find a business profile on a social media site worth joining? Who cares enough to want to receive a twitter about a business?
- But in asking - and answering - that question lies the secret of success. There ARE aspects of any business that are interesting. We all work (well, most of us!) and so we all share some common ground in terms of shared experiences. Also, there will be aspects of just about any business that are unique enough or interesting enough to be twitter-worthy or worth posting on a blog.
- For example, one of our clients who wanted to give social networking a go but was initially unsure about it has discovered that there are any number of aspects of a rural holiday park that lend themselves to social networking. This includes the challenge of bringing a new caravan onto a site (filmed and uploaded to youtube), local theatre performances and festivals (events posted to Facebook page) and the ever-changing local wildlife with new arrivals of birds and marinelife to the area, as well as some spectacular sea conditions sparked by high winds (the park blog and photo album on facebook).
- This same client has actively encouraged all their staff onto Facebook to post about the business, comment on the new flower beds as well as promote the page through their main website so guests can keep in touch with their favourite holiday destination all year round.
- Another client uses twitter to keep former guests updated with late availability offers at their hotels – and they have followers by the hundred. They promote Twitter through their regular newsletter as being the best way to be informed about the latest, best deals. They can also throw in the surfing conditions on Cornwall’s north coast for those considering a short weekend break for that purpose.
- So, alien and strange though it may seem at the start, promoting your business through Social networks is really just about sharing anything “fun, quirky, useful or interesting” from your day. The actual marketing (late offers, new products etc) happens by itself as part of this process once you become comfortable with sharing this type of information as news. It’s actually more fun than a lot of “work” and could lead to you booting your kids off Facebook or Blogger rather more frequently then they would wish!
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
SEO on a new website – Why make life hard?
- Whether you are re-launching an existing website or starting from scratch, the chances are that at some point in the evolution of any “new” website you are going to think about search engine visibility. The finest, most user-friendly, visually stunning website ever created still needs people to find it after all!
- From my experience, though, the “some point” that a lot of people consider this is several months after the site has gone live when the expected traffic and income hasn’t materialised.
- This can occur even when clients have been strongly advised at an early stage to consider SEO as part of the project. The problem, I think, is that when looking at a reasonably large and important project, which is not cheap, spending more money on something as “ethereal” as SEO doesn’t always seem attractive.
- But here’s the thing: If SEO is front and center of the design process from day one you get better and more sustained results – and so the return on your investment is much improved. There are some very good reasons for this.
- In considering keywords at an early stage you also think in detail about target audience, the purpose of your site and from that you create relevant, keyword rich content.
- The design team can integrate this into the site with relevant, intuitive navigation that draws the target audience into the site towards the desired conversion point (be that a sale or enquiry).
- From this process comes a website that from day one is fully focused and relevant to the search terms for the business. Titles, tags and text seamlessly match to create a website with a clear, search engine friendly identity that also meets the exact needs of the target audience.
- The result is a site that is visible AND that performs. Linking to such a site is much easier then for one with little clear identity or, worse, a site that is attempting to be visible for one set of search terms when the content is geared to another.
- A well-thought-through website, with a clear identity ATTRACTS links. It attracts traffic, it ranks well because it is relevant, it is friendly to social media because people know what the site is about and, in turn, can market it for you by sharing with their friends.
- SEO isn’t just about traffic volumes, therefore, but something that can enhance the DESIGN outcomes of the project by generating a better end result. The fact that it also has a direct correlation to traffic volumes and so income generation (whether through leads or actual on-site sales) is just one more very good reason to think about it early on.
- So, why make it hard? Thinking about SEO from day one will pay dividends – leave it until later and you have a much harder task.
Labels:
Search Engine Optimisation,
SEO,
Web Marketing
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
New Eden Project Accommodation Listings
- We are delighted that our Eden Project Accommodation website has seen a surge in popularity this month. We have added a collection of new listings on the directory in the last couple of weeks. These listings appear in both the B&B and self catering sections with several businesses taking advantage of the new £99 lifetime listing offer.

- The first addition to the Eden Accommodation site can be found in the self catering section of the website. Beachside Stone’s Throw is a fantastic holiday apartment overlooking Porthtowan beach. Sleeping up to 5, the apartment enjoys a private balcony, parking and a truly stunning location on Cornwall’s north coast. Beachside Stone’s Throw is within easy travelling distance of the Eden Project being close to the A30. In addition to Eden, staying at this apartment allows guests to explore much of southwest Cornwall including Penwith, Penzance, St Ives, Newquay, Helston and The Lizard.
- The first of the new B&B accommodation providers to appear on the directory was Arches Guesthouse in St Austell. The Arches offers a high standard of en suite accommodation to guests including the indulgence and comfort of a four poster bed in the Green Room. Being located on the new cycleway to Eden, Arches B&B is very conveniently located for the Eden Project and is popular with walkers and cyclists visiting the attraction.

- Also to be found in the Guesthouses and B&Bs listings is Rosemoor B&B. Rosemoor offers guests comfort, freedom and privacy. The guest accommodation is in a separate annexe to the main house with a guest entrance adjacent to the car parking area. Rosemoor B&B is close to bus routes to the Eden Project and is ideally located for St Austell’s amenities and The Lost Gardens of Heligan.
- For further information on advertising, why not visit the Eden Project Accommodation website?
- Other advertising websites offered by Cnx include Cornish Connexions and the Cotswold Way Accommodation Directory.
Labels:
Advertising,
Eden Project,
Web Marketing,
website news
Thursday, 12 February 2009
New Listings on Cotswold Way


- The Cotswold Way Accommodation Directory has seen two new listings added so far this month, adding to the variety of available accommodation on the site. The directory, which is one of our in-house projects, is continuing to perform very strongly in the search engines and the new businesses choosing to advertise on the site are a positive sign of the growing popularity and profile of the site.
- California Farm is located between Winchcombe and Leckhampton. As this is a particularly stunning section of the route, walkers may well be attracted to the idea of breaking their journey here to take time to enjoy it. In addition to delicious breakfasts, California Farm’s owners offer evening meals to their guests by prior arrangement. The farm owners also operate a small riding stable. Guests who might be interested in riding should enquire at the time they make their booking. Accommodation offered includes a choice of double and twin en-suite rooms.
- As well as being well suited for walkers, California Farm is ideally placed for accommodation for race meetings at nearby Cheltenham racecourse. From California Farm a short car drive provides access to the county city of Gloucester and the Roman town of Cirencester.
- At the “top” end of the Cotswold Way, is The Old Manor at Paxford. The Cotswold village of Paxford is close to Chipping Campden and the owners of this lovely B&B will collect guests by car from a convenient local location if required. The Old Manor typifies local Cotswold manor houses with butter yellow sandstone and mullioned windows. Guests can explore the local area on foot or by car (a taxi service is available for guests for tours and visits) including Stratford-upon-Avon and Bourton-on-the-Water.
- Like many friendly B&Bs along the Cotswold Way National Trail, The Old Manor offers freshly prepared home-cooked evening meals by arrangement for the convenience of guests. Accommodation is double en-suite with a bed-settee for children to share with parents.
- Visit the Cotswold Way accommodation Directory at: www.cotswold-way-accommodation-directory.co.uk
Labels:
Advertising,
Cotswold Way,
Web Marketing,
website news
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