Many companies shy away from investing in internet marketing because they don’t feel they can measure the return on their investment.

This is not the case. The success of an internet marketing campaign is easily measured. Firstly, you must establish clear goals in terms of what you want to achieve. These might include:

• Lead Generation
• Genrating enquiries
• Sales
• Registration or subscription
• Brand or product/service awareness

Admittedly if you have a clear conversion mechanism like an enquiry form for example then it is very straight forward to measure perfomance but in a case where there is no conversion mechanism which might be the case if you are just trying to build awareness of something. Then, there should still be a specific page on your web site that indicates you’ve achieved that goal and when a visitor views that page and has spent some time absorbing the information then your site has generated value.

You must have be clear which page is going to ascertain whether or not you have achieved your goal.

It’s not easy but you need apply a value to achieving that goal, in short what it is worth to your business.

If you have an ecommerce site then you can calculate your profit per sale. If you are genrating sales leads for a sales team then you can work out what your conversion rate is. For example if you’re converting 2% of leads and on average each sale is worth £5,000 then multiply that by 0.02 and the value of a lead is £100

If your internet marketing goal is to get people to see a specific page then you can estimate the value in a similar way by working out some averages for example but it’s far easier to measure if you procedures in place to qualify where new business is coming from. Regardless of your goals, make sure you understand their relative value.

It’s also important to calculate how often you achieve that goal. You can measure the number of times a specific page or file is viewed using any basic web site traffic analysis software. You can track where your site visitors come from. Again, any basic web site traffic analysis software can provide this. Track conversions where applicable. You can track which page visitors enter your site, where they exit and what they did whilst there.

How much did or does it cost you to achieve your goal and is that a justifable return on your investment?  If it doesn’t then it’s back to the drawing board.

Internet Marketing Services >>

It’s fantastic that the Olympic Games are being held in London in 2012; in terms of the development and the prospects of London; it’s businesses and it’s people. The Games will improve infrastructure, services and the economy both in the lead up to the Games and during the Games. But is all as it seems when it comes to Internet Marketing in London?

Well, it’s true that visible businesses relying on footfall in London should benefit from the influx of people who will be coming to the games but the laws relating to advertising and marketing in the London Games are far more restrictive than they have ever been at any previous Olympic Games. Sure, the Olympic Committee need to ensure they make as much money as possible through official sponsorship but the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 goes much farther than the Olympic Symbol etc Protection Act 1995 .

Does it go too far? I think so, in effect it’s stopping anybody from using a whole heap of words in their marketing and advertising activities like for example ‘London 2012′ together. There were already sufficient safeguards protecting sponsorship within the UK, in addition to the Olympics Symbols Protection Act there are safeguards covering copyright, trademarks and misleading advertising.

Even the Instiute of Practioners in Advertising (IPA) wrote to all 646 Members of Parliament to advise them of their concern stating that the 2006 Act was “too broad and disproportionate” and that “such radical and disproportionate legislation does not benefit anyone, it gives unparalleled power to event holders, which pushes up the price of sponsorship and prevents ordinary smaller businesses from benefiting at all from major national events.

According to a survey by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) marketers are “ill-informed” about the legality of Olympic-related marketing activities.

In the latest Marketing Trends Survey, 86 per cent admitted to having little or no understanding whatsoever of rules regarding what promotional activities they can undertake in relation to 2012 Games. Despite this nearly a quarter (23 per cent) say they are planning marketing activity around the London event.

40 per cent said they had no understanding at all of the law relating to the Games - called the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006. A further 46 per cent admitted to only a very poor or poor understanding. Just 14 per cent described their knowledge of the law as good. The CIM warns “Those marketers planning activities must be fully aware of the Olympic Games Act, otherwise we are likely to see a string of court cases brought against the ill-informed.”

Interestingly the majority of focus around the Olympic legislation has been about offline advertising with much less focus on internet marketing and advertising, I’m not sure if this is because it is harder to police or not.

So what does this mean for internet marketing in London? Well, I can’t imagine that Google is going to disallow the ‘banned’ keywords from being used in it’s Paid Search Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation will also present opportunites to internet marketers so long as the content within sites is not misleading. In short you will need to makee your plans early, be clear about the law and be innovative in your approach. It will be interesting to see what unfolds in the lead up to the London Games in 2012.

For more information regarding the legislation visit:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/Ukpga_19950032_en_1.htm

http://www.london2012.com/documents/brand-guidelines/guidelines-for-business-use.pdf

http://www.b2bm.biz/features/?groupId=13226&articleId=28674

Internet Marketing Services >>

The Leaders Digest is a blog-based website which gives insight into ways of improving performance across your organisation and puts forward thought provoking articles.

Designed for business leaders and written by business leaders It offers a platform for exchanging ideas and viewpoints, allowing you to keep track of the latest developments.

The Leaders Digest was created by Hatch for TLSA who with 20 years experience at the cutting edge of Leadership Training, Sales Management Training and Sales Training, offers tailored, accountable and measurable solutions to the management challenges that face today’s business leaders.

Business blogs are an excellent way for a company to showcase it’s experience, skills and knowledge in an interactive online environment, for building online relationships and for driving traffic to your main corporate website.

For any business looking to improve performance, TLSA’s consultancy and development products provide real-world support in Leadership Training, Sales Management Training and Sales Training.

Take a closer look at our internet marketing services to see the ways in which we can help your business promote itself better online.

Internet Marketing London >>

You need to create a brief for your designer, this is a set of instructions. In the design brief you need to communicate as much as you can of what you want whilst allowing your designer to have freedom to be creative. Your design brief should be clear and concise. Discuss with your designer what kind of information would be helpful. Here are some examples of the kinds of information you should consider:

Purpose - Is it educational, commercial, informational or simply for entertainment. Clearly define the objectives of the website and your goals.

Target Audience - Clearly define who is expected to be using the website and provide as much information about them in terms of their likes and dislikes.

Structure & userability - Provide the designer with a site plan / structure outlining what functionality and features will be required for each page. For example would you like animation, sound, video, sign up, offers etc.

Branding - If you already have corporate or product branding then make sure you provide a style guide to the web designer.

Content - How much content will there be? Do you have a tone of voice? Are there specific facts/messages that are to be included? Is there any special visual material for them? How important is their location within the site?

Style/Emotions/Mood - Do you want it to look modern, traditional, contemporary, light, cool? Do you want it to feel informal or formal? personal? humorous? serious? friendly? funky? Use competitor and customer research to help decide.

Colour - Can you attach colours to the kind of impression you want the site to create? Do you want a main theme of one colour (monochromatic), many colours, bright colours, pale colours, a mixture of bright and pale, etc

(more…)

Hatch is delighted to announce the successful launch of Blue Velvets brand new e-commerce website. www.bluevelvetboutique.co.uk

Blue Velvet is a new Lounge Boutique concept presenting a cutting edge of fashion accessories and designer jewellery.

The website makes full use of Ajax technology and has a strong emphasis on novelty and variety, this beautiful site is expected to be a fabulous success.

Blue Velvet is constantly on the lookout for new and exciting designers and products. They hold exclusive events seasonally for their VIP clientele in luxurious settings in London, giving them the opportunity to preview Blue Velvets newest collection in its entirety before it goes online. Events such as these ensure that Blue Velvet is a constant evolution of style.

Blue Velvet is committed to exceeding their customer’s expectations and wants them to be delighted with their purchase.

The Hatch team have worked hard to create a user friendly website that compliments Blue Velvets beautiful products and we wish them every success with their new venture.

London 2012 officials have revealed the much-anticipated design for their new £496m Olympic Stadium.

The stadium will stand at the heart of the Olympic Park and is billed as a concept representing a new era for Olympic stadia.

Lord Coe suggests that the new stadium will be “inspiring, innovative and sustainable.” illustrating everything that Olympic bid stood for.

However; not everybody agrees. With the costs for the stadium increasing by 77% from £280m to £496m, some residents of East London view the stadium as just an expensive glamorised goldfish bowl; that will not be delivered in time.

Following the debacle that was the Millennium Dome, is the Olympic stadium just another white elephant on the horizon?

After a little debate accompanied by the usual grunts and moans from our Web Developer, we at Hatch believe that the Olympic stadium augments and compliments the other great stadia that London now has - Wembley, the Emirates and the new development at Twickenham.

At Hatch we have some breaking news of our own. Following on from the ‘Hatch wins the Olympics!’ post the website that we are currently designing will now incorporate user generated content, web 2.0, social networking and collaborative participation features.

Residents of London and beyond need not be concerned; the new website will be delivered on time, within budget and we’re quite sure you’ll love the design.

Croc shoes have really caused a stir in the fashion industry since they were first introduced in Nov 2002.

Following on from the success of their footwear range, in 2008 Crocs will be launching a clothing line available in the same exuberant colours as their footwear range.

Crocs quest for world domination doesn’t end there, they are also one of the star features of Kirsten de la Beck’s polo team sponsors - sweetfeetshoes.co.uk. Kirsten runs K Law Solicitors, a niche private practice law firm.

This piece of good news follows on from the re-branding work that Hatch has just completed for the firm.

The new Brand now represents the desired attributes of the firm’s services & initiatives. The logo is clean, elegant and easily implemented; allowing it to communicate easily with K Law’s key audiences.

On the crocs debate opinion is divided. Crocs are viewed as either being hideously ugly or a ground breaking. One thing for certain is that the former will not be a word used to describe the new look K Law brand.

Hatch is proud to announce that we will be participating in the 2012 London Olympics. Well, not exactly.

Sadly our Technical Director will not be lining up in the 100m final, however he and the rest of the Hatch team will be heavily involved in the creation of a website that will eclipse the phenomenal achievement of winning gold at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

This new and exciting project will showcase our three key areas of strength: web design and build, online strategy and online marketing.

Keep visiting our blog for regular updates regarding this intriguing project.

We are currently redesigning our website. Yes, even we use our services. Our new website hatchnow.com, will be visually attractive and clean with an easy-to-use and powerful web interface, everything you would expect from a leading creative online marketing company.

Hatchnow.com will help us to provide an even better service for both new and exisiting customers, however you can still continue to visit our blog to keep up to date with the latest news from Hatch and our clients.

If you would like to discuss your individual needs in moe depth then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Hatch is delighted to announce that it has launched a client based group on facebook.

The aim of this project is to enable Hatch clients to upload pictures or videos relevant to their business and broadcast it on one of the fatest social networking websites on the internet.

It’s easy to get started, all you have to do is register and you’ll be able to take advantage of added benefits such as instant messages; which the Hatch Team will endeavour to respond to. You’ll also have the opportunity to create links to your website and leave useful tips and advice on our discussion board.