Tata job cuts 'serious blow' to area

The loss of hundreds of jobs at Tata Steel in Newport will be a "serious blow" to the area, it is claimed.

6 Statistics for local marketers to pay attention to

Statistics, they're boring most people know that, some people are amazed by them, they are numbers and figures that sometimes just don't seem to make sense to some people. However knowing them can give you tremendous insight to how your business needs to progress further.

Have you ever noticed that when you type in pizza delivery it normally returns your local Dominos or Pizza Hut?

Businesses especially new ones and local ones seem to forget some very fundamental procedures used by google, that is that all search results are local to the person searching. It's pretty curious actually.

Now back to the statistics

1. 50% Of mobile visitors visit stores within a day due to localised searching

According to google researchers, and I mean they seem pretty reliable, it seems that a user will google a store and visit that store the very same day. Think about that for a moment. 50% of people that google a store will visit it that same day, that's potentially immense amounts in-store traffic depending on your client base.

Here's what you can use to improve your local rankings:

• Get your business listed on Google's My Business, complete a profile and you'll be good to go, Google's my business allows you to be found a lot easier within the search engine as it itself is localised to the search engine. It also provides information that the user wants to find which we'll discuss later

2. 60% of consumers have used local information within ads

In the same study as before by those brilliant google researchers, there is a definite majority, roughly around 64% that really like local information within ads, and here they are.

• A staggering 67% of people want their ads to be customised by the city/town postal/zip codes that they reside in. 61% also feel that they want ads to be customised to their locality, so that they are relevant to their immediate surroundings.

• 61% of people use the address and phone numbers within the business ads, so really google is becoming a bit like the internet yellow pages... Sorry not becoming, IS.

• 68% also use the get directions or call buttons, they're pretty handy features actually, being able to call or find the place you're looking for with one search, personally I know I've used them before particularly in London where I've been so unbelievably lost.

2. 88% trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation

eighty eight percent trust online reviews? That means 12% of people are sceptics and really aren't worth your time, or they prefer to experience for themselves. Still if 88% of people trust in online reviews then you need to make sure your business sits will with things like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google+ Local etc

Another interesting thing to note is 39% of people read reviews on a regular basis.

In the study there is a trend line, demonstrating that there are more and more people reading online reviews and using them consistently for their decisions about local businesses. This is valuable information because if this trend continues, which it's likely that it is, more and more people with use these reviews.

2. Business Address and Location is the first bit of information locals search for on google

Researcher at comScore shows that the top sought after information by searchers are as followed:

• PC/Desktop

  • Address/Location – 22%

  • Find a business with products/services needed – 17%

  • Phone Number – 16%

  • Research products/services – 11%

  • Hours of operation – 10%

  • Driving Directions – 10%

  • Coupons/Special Offers – 7%

  • Ratings and Reviews – 5%

• Mobile Phone

  • Address/Location – 27%

  • Find a business with products/services needed – 16%

  • Phone Number – 15%

  • Research products/services – 6%

  • Hours of operation –7%

  • Driving Directions – 13%

  • Coupons/Special Offers – 8%

  • Ratings and Reviews – 8%

• Tablet

  • Address/Location – 14%

  • Find a business with products/services needed – 20%

  • Phone Number – 15%

  • Research products/services – 12%

  • Hours of operation –15%

  • Driving Directions – 12%

  • Coupons/Special Offers – 5%

  • Ratings and Reviews – 7%

http://searchengineland.com/study-78-percent-local-mobile-searches-result-offline-purchases-188660

What this information shows is that each media looks towards the location and service/product the business provides. While also looking for where their location is. With the exception of the tablet of which there are less people searching for the business location but more people searching for the business itself and its hours of operation.

This information is useful as you can tailor your businesses online presence to suit each individual media, for tablet users you can provide more information on the business such as the phone number and services but not care so much for the location(still care a little but not as much as you would for PC/Phone).

Proving that searchers are more inclined to search for your businesses information such as location and phone number than say if you have special coupons. Pretty common sense, but still get your presence known!

2. 80% of users prefer to have ads customised to their location

According to surveys done by google, 4/5 people prefer to have their ad's customised to their location and to local businesses. What this means is that people actually want to be engaged with localised businesses.

2. 50% of users prefer the mobile browser to a mobile app

This is a big one, with more people using mobile phones than ever before, optimising your website to mobile will prove to be a valuable asset to have in your business. In April 21 google launched Mobilegeddon, a new algorithm that increases or decreases your rank on google purely on the basis of mobile accessibility. After Brightlocal provided some statistics it was shown that mobile users prefer a mobile friendly website.

Gest... Who? Principles? A brief introduction to Gestalt Most graphic designers, web designers generally artists will have probably heard of the gestalt principles. For those who don't, or those who need a brief and concise reminder, this is for you. The gestalt principles were formed off of gestalt psychology of which wikipedia's definition is trying to understand the laws of our ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world. Simple stuff, right? Well to be frank it's not quite as simple as people would like to think. What are meaningful perceptions and why is it important to understand our ability to acquire it in regards to graphic design and web development? Well, meaningful perceptions are images on a page, and unfortunately some web designers forget the simple principles of gestalt which are praganz(good form) proximity similarity continuation common fate closure figure and ground Berlin university of the 1930s game up with the gestalt principles of human perception, where images that you see, or designed should not be perceived as a culmination of individual elements, but rather a holistic image, a unified whole. Each of the seven principles tries to find a way of putting it into... perspective... Ahem. Jokes aside. Understanding the key factors of creating a unified image will help you in design and will give your users a beautiful creation to look at. Seven principles is a lot to take in but really they're just common sense. In fact they're probably so fundamentally easy to understand and take in that you'll look back on this and think “Man how did I ever get on without knowing this stuff?” you'll be able to spout nonsense to all your friends down the pub and hopefully(I really say hopefully) be able to impress them with your common sense and big words! Anyway... Praganz Praganz is good form, there are a little misconceptions to this on the internet, but it's sceptical, in my opinion this is a pretty good example and it allows figure and ground to be separate in itself. Good form is basically to have an object as simple as possible, but also rather than it being a series of separate shapes, they are perceived as a complete whole. Which is what the gestalt principles are all about, perceived wholes. Every pattern, shape and structure is perceived to be as simple as possible. Beautiful. Elegant. Stylish. "Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away" – Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Proximity Now I don't know about you, but for me the way I first understood proximity was from James Bond Goldeneye on the N64, you'd plant the bomb and if you got too close you'd blow up. Proximity is being close to things, and how that relates to people understanding imagery, is that people will naturally group things that are close together. Simples. Similarity Similarity is that people will see objects that are similar and conclude that they must belong together. You know, you see two kids walking side by side wearing the same cotton knit jumper and you think well they must be siblings. Or you think that it's just a horrific coincidence, but I digress. The reality is that objects on a webpage will be interpreted as being together is if they are similar or the same Continuation The big one in my eyes, it has a lot of interesting conceptions. For one people will naturally follow things that continue on from each other, for instance you see an arrow, people will follow that arrow down, down, down till the end and see where it leads, if it leads no where they get upset and will probably leave your webpage you lying slanderous fool! Continuation is something humans crave, it allows them to not think of where to look, if you've ever heard of Steve Krug and don't make me think, people don't want to think and continuation does that for them. Common Fate Have you ever had one of those days where you're on the tube/train/bus or whatever and there's a person in front or behind that seems to be going to the exact same place as you? Sometimes it's not them or you being a crazy stalker, sometimes it's actually just common fate. Now interestingly people will look at that and maybe determine that you are within the same group, well they would if you're an image on a webpage. People will see things that move together or have similar end/start points and conclude they must be similar or the same. So next time before you start running from this incredibly creepy guy or gal, remember it could just be common fate. Closure This one is incredible, beautiful and kind of mind bending to a degree. Closure is that people will perceive objects that do not have edges as complete. Their mind literally closes the object and creates it's own boundaries. Pretty... Freaking... Amazing. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, look at this photo. Figure and Ground Of all the principles this as more to do with landscape drawings, basically is that people like things to be separated by what's on the foreground and what's on the background. Distinguishing these is pretty vital and gives a great deal of perspective. There are the seven principles of gestalt, and how they are used within webpages is up to you to determine, it's pretty much common sense to put them into practice.

Most graphic designers, web designers generally artists will have probably heard of the gestalt principles. For those who don't, or those who need a brief and concise reminder, this is for you.

The gestalt principles were formed off of gestalt psychology of which wikipedia's definition is trying to understand the laws of our ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world. Simple stuff, right? Well to be frank it's not quite as simple as people would like to think. What are meaningful perceptions and why is it important to understand our ability to acquire it in regards to graphic design and web development?

Well, meaningful perceptions are images on a page, and unfortunately some web designers forget the simple principles of gestalt which are

• praganz(good form)

• proximity

• similarity

• continuation

• common fate

• closure

• figure and ground

Berlin university of the 1930s game up with the gestalt principles of human perception, where images that you see, or designed should not be perceived as a culmination of individual elements, but rather a holistic image, a unified whole. Each of the seven principles tries to find a way of putting it into... perspective... Ahem. Jokes aside. Understanding the key factors of creating a unified image will help you in design and will give your users a beautiful creation to look at.

Seven principles is a lot to take in but really they're just common sense. In fact they're probably so fundamentally easy to understand and take in that you'll look back on this and think “Man how did I ever get on without knowing this stuff?” you'll be able to spout nonsense to all your friends down the pub and hopefully(I really say hopefully) be able to impress them with your common sense and big words!

Anyway...

Praganz

Praganz is good form, there are a little misconceptions to this on the internet, but it's sceptical, in my opinion this is a pretty good example and it allows figure and ground to be separate in itself. Good form is basically to have an object as simple as possible, but also rather than it being a series of separate shapes, they are perceived as a complete whole. Which is what the gestalt principles are all about, perceived wholes. Every pattern, shape and structure is perceived to be as simple as possible. Beautiful. Elegant. Stylish.

"Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away" – Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Proximity

Now I don't know about you, but for me the way I first understood proximity was from James Bond Goldeneye on the N64, you'd plant the bomb and if you got too close you'd blow up. Proximity is being close to things, and how that relates to people understanding imagery, is that people will naturally group things that are close together. Simples.

Similarity

Similarity is that people will see objects that are similar and conclude that they must belong together. You know, you see two kids walking side by side wearing the same cotton knit jumper and you think well they must be siblings. Or you think that it's just a horrific coincidence, but I digress. The reality is that objects on a webpage will be interpreted as being together is if they are similar or the same

Continuation

The big one in my eyes, it has a lot of interesting conceptions. For one people will naturally follow things that continue on from each other, for instance you see an arrow, people will follow that arrow down, down, down till the end and see where it leads, if it leads no where they get upset and will probably leave your webpage you lying slanderous fool! Continuation is something humans crave, it allows them to not think of where to look, if you've ever heard of Steve Krug and don't make me think, people don't want to think and continuation does that for them.

Common Fate

Have you ever had one of those days where you're on the tube/train/bus or whatever and there's a person in front or behind that seems to be going to the exact same place as you? Sometimes it's not them or you being a crazy stalker, sometimes it's actually just common fate. Now interestingly people will look at that and maybe determine that you are within the same group, well they would if you're an image on a webpage. People will see things that move together or have similar end/start points and conclude they must be similar or the same. So next time before you start running from this incredibly creepy guy or gal, remember it could just be common fate.

Closure

This one is incredible, beautiful and kind of mind bending to a degree. Closure is that people will perceive objects that do not have edges as complete. Their mind literally closes the object and creates it's own boundaries. Pretty... Freaking... Amazing. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, look at this photo.

Figure and Ground

Of all the principles this as more to do with landscape drawings, basically is that people like things to be separated by what's on the foreground and what's on the background. Distinguishing these is pretty vital and gives a great deal of perspective.

There are the seven principles of gestalt, and how they are used within webpages is up to you to determine, it's pretty much common sense to put them into practice.  

Website? For a small business? Don't make me laugh!

Surprisingly small businesses don't see the value of a website, even in small towns and villages. Word of mouth and advertisements in the local news paper seem to be all they care for. Which isn't inherently wrong, but in today's age that could be to your businesses detriment.

We are now firmly in the technology age, and that doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon. People are now using smartphones and tablets with more frequency than ever imagined in the conceptual days of the personal computer. In those days they thought there would be one for every STREET, not 3 for every person(Tablet, Phone, Laptop/Desktop).

Ofcom a communications regulator in 2014, the average adult will spend 8 hours and 41 minutes a day on media devices, now this does include TV, and Radio etc. The premise is still there, people are HOOKED on tech, it's the new age addiction. With everyone desiring to be interconnected not investing in the internet is a foolish idea.

Now back to small businesses, in my home town I went through my local ad paper and found that a very small portion of the small businesses there actually had a website, this genuinely shocked me. For a while I questioned as to why they hadn't invested in what seemed to me as such a fundamental part of human life now, but after a while it dawned on me, people in small towns don't necessarily have access to people that can create website, or have an idea where to go or how to start.

However to all you small businesses out there that have found this post and if worrying about the next dollar/pound/yen you might receive, even if it costs you a new mortgage, get a website. It will increase your quality of life, and here's why:

A reference point

A website gives your customer a reference point, somewhere to go to see who they are asking to do something for them, a trademark if you will. Something so it eases their mind, because I guarantee you, your customer will google your company and find nothing and get suspicious as to why you have no internet presence in this day and age, questions like “Are they trustworthy?” “How do I know they will do a good job?” will pop into their minds frequently, and so they'll search a key word or two into google and find someone that they can reference to.

Showcasing your skills

A website allows you to showcase your particular skills in your profession, from galleries of your before and after shots, to videos on what you've been doing. Showcasing your skills means that your client will find you particularly more alluring, because they can see what you can do, and if they think it's worth the money they'll take it.

Connectivity

Connectivity is having a connection to your customer, a website is a bit like a store in the good old days, people would go in and browse your wares and either purchase something or leave. A website functions in that very same way, people will come to your website, browse you for a little bit and either choose you or look somewhere else.

Accessibility

With a website you are ACCESSIBLE! The best kind of thing to be. People can find you easily and handily and you can potentially turn over a greater profit because you can reach more people in loads of different media's. Some people like photos, some people like videos, everyone's taste is different but with a website you can display all of these media's in a very, very accessible way.

By now you're probably thinking, well still it can be really expensive to set this up and do it properly, I say it's worth every single penny you can spare. In the 1930s the great depression happened, as I'm sure you're aware. It wreaked havoc in America causing businesses to restrict their budget on advertisements and public awareness to save costs through such struggling times. There was one company however that completely against the rational mindset of trying to tide through it, spent more money than they had previously spent on advertisements. That company was Kellogs, ring any bells? They saw a golden opportunity and took it, when all the other competitors were down and out, they took the gamble and it paid off... BIG TIME

Now the question is, do you want to be a small business? Or a Kellogs? Well to be honest either way you'll be fine, as long as you have a website.

What defines an "Organic" search?

An organic search defined by google is:

“Organic search results are listings on search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to their being advertisements. In contrast, non-organic search results may include pay per click advertising.”

Pretty interesting but straightforward stuff. Basically an organic search result are the results that are not paid per click advertisements, adwords etc. I mean that's all well and good, but why organic searching? Why not just pay per click?

Organic searches were found to have a particular amount of success, A study by BrightEdge concluded that organic searches were the largest driver of revenue, over paid search, within most areas studied. According to Groupons marketing team, 60% of all direct traffic is of organic search, and according to BloomReach 49% of the UK consumers use organic search to find retailers.

However in further studies from Slingshot SEO, it was concluded that 18% of organic clicks go to the first results, 10% to the second and 7% to the third. That means 35% of organic searches go to the top three results of an organic search. Mind blowing.

What does that mean for the business itself interested in SEO strategies? Well with 79% of all people clicking on the natural search results, and 80% not clicking on PPC(paid per click) advertisements. It seems logical to invest in natural search results.

Now this opens up some interesting thoughts, why do companies focus so heavily on PPC when organic search results seem much better? Well suppose that 20% of people that do click on your ad, they could potentially be more likely to be interested in your product. Increasing in your revenue. Customer commitment and all that.

So why does PPC fail so heavily? While organic results sky rocket the company to greatness? Well my interpretation of it all is that people really don't like being sold something forcefully, PPC seems forced and the psychology would mean that people would shy away from something and choose something that seems a little more authentic and natural. However in reality getting your results to the top of google is tremendously difficult, and requires hard work and strong SEO team. Particularly if the keywords you'd like to use are high trafficking. PPC means that you can be at the top of google for an arbitrary price.

I suppose it's status, high ranking google means you're high in the standing, to people that's respectful and for a business having your clients respect is paramount to achieving a strong customer base. Page one google rankings helps that.

Anyway, that's enough of my interpretation of the situation.

Really, if you have ever heard of eye tracking and heatmaps, there's a much simpler and easier to digest version. People will view the content in an F-Shape, starting from the top left, scanning the words until they reach the end and moving on to the next line. This is all well and good, but the thing is, with each line the users become more and more disinterested, and thus create an F shape, where the centre line of an f is smaller than the top and so on and so forth. So by the time the user hits the third of fourth line they're not even taking in half the information on the sentence and they are just scanning and hoping for key words of relevance
.

As you can see from the image, the F-shape model holds true, with 91% of google users seeing the top paid results and 100% of users seeing all organic results.

9% of the users don't even bare witness to the top paid advertisements, that's a shocking amount, for every 1,000 searches, 90 people don't even give your ad a glance. That's insane amounts of revenue lost. In contrast if you have a result on the first page you are guaranteed to get a look in, with 100% looking at all organic results, with more intensity of concentration towards the top of the page.

To be within the top three organic search results are paramount if you really want to reach for the sky, it'll open up more opportunities and provide exposure to your business or website. Investing in a strong SEO team, or even trying to do some yourself is worthwhile.

My name is George, thank you for reading.

Heath investigated by five forces

Former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath is being investigated by five police forces as part of their inquiries into allegations of historical child abuse.