Yesterday, Twitter and Yahoo announced their partnership deal had been agreed. This probably comes as no surprise to many of you, when Google and Microsoft have already struck similar deals with the micro blogging platform.

The deal between Yahoo and Twitter should encompass three distinct areas. These are:

• To Access your Twitter feed directly from Yahoo
  You will be able to check for recent tweets directly from Yahoo Mail, Sports, and Yahoo Homepage amongst other Yahoo properties.
• Update status from Yahoo
  You will be able to update your Twitter status from a selection of locations on Yahoo.
• Search and Media Integration
  Twitter updates will soon be available from Yahoo Search, News, Finance and Entertainment.

The real-time search integration is already set up, and Yahoo users will probably already have noticed these within their search results.

Is Yahoo Playing Catch Up?

Many folks in the SEO / Social Media community have stated they believe Yahoo is playing catch up with Google and Microsoft – both of whom reached similar deals last year with the social media platform.

Do you think Yahoo is playing catch-up with Google and Microsoft? Use the comments section to share your thoughts!

Is this good for SEO?

Here at Creare, we always ask questions related to SEO, we care about the quality of search, and how this kind of deal impacts the end user. Time will tell whether this will have an impact on Yahoo users, but personally I can’t help believing that there will be positives as well as negatives. Some users will be pleased with this as it will make using Twitter more streamlined, and they will be able to do everything all from one place, others may find the constant twittering within their search results an annoyance. But, Twitter isn’t going away anytime soon – if you’ve not embraced it then do so, you may enjoy it and get totally addicted…

SES London is the biggest search marketing conference in Europe. All the leadings SEO consultants and experts will be attending this exciting event to share their knowledge and discuss new techniques. The event is being held at The Business Design Centre and runs from 15h February to 18th February.

Many SEO experts will be speaking at SES London, offering their insights and expertise in Search Engine Marketing. They will discuss all aspects of search marketing, from developing SEO content for websites through to analysing analytics data to get the best from your website. You can learn why an XML sitemap is important, what Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites can do for your business.

Nick Rinylo, SEO Department Manager here at Creare, will be attending the event today and will hopefully return with some useful nuggets of information for the rest of us.

What’s today’s agenda then?

• Bryan Eisenberg, will divulge ‘21 Secrets of Top Converting Websites’ this morning.

• Shari Thurow and Alan Perkins will offer advice on successful Information Architecture.

• Jeff Ferguson and Crispin Sheridan will offer their insights into Digital Asset Optimisation.

• Mel Carson and Lisa Myers will give a Social Media 101 talk.

• Lisa Myers, Maile Ohye, Dan Cohen and Julian Sambles will talk about the future of SEO and how to distinguish useful SEO advice from the guff that abounds online.

• Jon Myers and Dave Chaffey will give an introduction into paid search and the benefits that can be obtained from it.

• Brent Payne, Paul Roach and Julian Shambles will talk about realtime search.

• Jim Boykin will share his knowledge of link building.

• Abhishek Rungta and François Planque will discuss best practices in outsourcing.

• Sante Achille and Mikkel deMib Svendsen will talk about the usefulness of xml sitemaps, synidication and sitemaps.

• Rishi Saha, Mark Pack and Mark Hanson will discuss how digital media affected the 2008 elections in the USA and how this could pan-out for the upcoming UK elections.

• Johnathan Allen, Heather Lloyd-Martin, Greg Jarboe and Amanda Davies will offer real advice about developing great online content for websites.

• Judith Lewis, Paul Reilly and Matthew Wood will talk about New Affiliate Opportunities and Strategies.

• Crispin Sheriden, Bas van den Beld, Marco Corsaro and Anders Hjorth will discuss the meteoric rise of Social Media.

• Matt McGowan and Mike Grehan will finish up with a discussion at the Hilton Cocktail Lounge all about black hat / white hat SEO.

What a Long Day! But, I expect that there will be a lot gained from attending such an interesting and useful event.

Are you attending the conference? If so please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Reasons Why Email Marketing Could Be The Best Idea To Give Your Brand A Boost

Email Marketing seems to be becoming that latest must-have accessory for your search engine optimisation campaign, but what exactly is it? And more to the point, how exactly does it work to help your rankings?

In short, email marketing is a form of marketing that dates back from several years ago, and has essentially come back into fashion as a result of the positive impact it can have on SEO and branding campaigns.

It works through the use of newsletters and promotions sent directly to a group of email addresses.  It generally requires a database system being installed to include the email addresses of potential and existing customers in order to send out a group letter at the touch of a button.  Software technology means that fully branded newsletter templates are available in which you can implement all the necessary information about your company.  They even enable you to use pictures, links and logos to further market your products and services.

This can help your search engine optimisation in a variety of ways.  By including top quality content, your customers will be able to gain a better understanding of your company on a regular and personal basis.  The regularity of contact brought about through the newsletter system also means that you will be consistently in the minds of your target audience – a great tool for reinforcing your brand.  By directing further traffic to your website through the use of inbound links, you should also see some increase in search rankings as well as this boost to your brand through direct customer involvement.

So to ensure your brand is fulfilling its full potential, email marketing could be an avenue for you to explore.  Feel free to get in contact for any information you need.

Images And Videos, Implemented To Illustrate Your Content

As part of the content writing team here at The Creare Group, we write a wide variety of content in many forms, on a daily basis.

Often the text that we write focuses upon a selection of topics, from dyslexia, to air conditioning. As none of the team profess to be experts in these fields, needless to say that a small amount of research is required.

One thing that we have come to realise most recently is the importance of using alternative content, such as videos and images, not only to make the site look aesthetically pleasing but to support the text.

It is important to remember that not all of the potential customers visiting your website will know as much about your products and services as yourself, you are the expert after all. If the topic that you are writing about is somewhat technical you should consider backing it up with either videos or images that illustrate the point that you are trying to make.

Talking from a web design point of view images are a great way to break up large blocks of text, making your website appear much more aesthetically pleasing.

Similarly, videos offer an ideal way for you to explain your products and services without large quantities of text. The Creare Group currently utilise two forms of video as part of their marketing strategy.

Firstly, in the form of on-site videos; once loaded a presenter placed on the homepage of the website will explain to the customer details about the company, its products and services. From there they can navigate around the website quickly and efficiently without the need to trawl through text.

Secondly, video blogs; The Creare Group regularly publish video blogs relevant to their industry, again this gives others interested in website design and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) easy access to information on these topics, presented by experts in the field.

Most importantly perhaps, videos add a human element to any website, providing a face to a brand, something that is missing from many online businesses.

Images and videos have other benefits too, namely as part of a websites Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). As part of Google’s Universal Search, Internet users can search for specific content, including image, videos and whole web pages.

By implementing all of these, potential customers are more likely to be directed to your website above the competition.

I often wonder at the marketing skills of technical optimisers and do we (the optimisers) get caught up too heavily the listing and not look at a customers site objectively enough? Within the Creare SEO department we implement all sorts of techniques to ensure all aspects are addressed and i believe that some people are naturally better at this than others.

I also believe that PPC click campaigns allows optimisers to take and step back and look at such important factors in terms of conversion rate and making sure that the site provides the user experience required. At Creare any issues regarding this are minimised and this is why;

Creare specialise  in marketing, web design and SEO which means that we have the required skill sets to offer a fantastic service for all out customers whatever your industry.