Category : Guest Posts
The upcoming London Conference on Cyberspace, on 1-2 November, is going to offer something very different to the sort of discussions the Foreign Office is used to. As an organisation, our ‘approach’ to the digital world – put simply – is in favour of freedom of speech, keen on the social and prosperity upsides to the medium, concerned about possible threats to individuals and countries by misuse, but there is no policy about the digital world, written down in the traditional way.
So the Foreign Office -hosted conference on ‘cyberspace’ is going to be unusual, to say the least. Discussing behaviours that are ungoverned, and possibly even ungovernable, and ways to encourage, but not demand, good behaviour over bad is a different approach – this is not one set of governments trying to reach agreement with another set.
What the conference is supposed to be about is kicking off debates that need to happen, but without setting out an outcome. So the conference is about discussing some key themes – prosperity; social good; freedom of access and expression; cyber crime and international security.
Given that it’s debate, not outcome, that will be the most important thing, we would like as many people as possible get involved. The event itself is full, but there are opportunities to contribute – tweeting questions to the conference, raising points on Facebook, writing your own blogs. Because we’ll be paying attention. Questions or links shared using the #londoncyber hashtag and the Foreign Secretary’s Facebook channel will be put to speakers in each of the sessions as we go along and tweeted from our @LondonCyber and other Foreign Office social media channels.
Blog posts and tweets will be added to our Storify links. All debate is useful and helpful and we’ll try and encourage and curate it as we go along. After all, you know this better than we do.
Please let us know your thoughts and if you need more information by getting in touch with @LondonCyber on twitter.
Anna Lewis
Digital Communications Manager
Digital Diplomacy Department
Communications Directorate
Thank you for joining us yesterday at the Long Acre for a few drinks and to chat about a topic that everyone loves – travel. It was really nice meeting everyone and thank you for the opportunity to share with you a little bit about the launch of Hotwire.com in the UK. As you might remember from yesterday, we’ve given LBM on exclusive on our survey about the booking habits of UK holidaymakers. For those of you who didn’t have a pen or a smartphone handy, below are a few highlights from the survey of 2000 adults which will be released next week.
Survey results
The survey revealed that nearly two thirds (58%) of Brits are taking more or the same number of holidays as they were last year. However, more are taking shorter breaks instead of one main long holiday and look for bargains once they have decided on the location.
Also, we are hunting for bargain holidays but will not compromise on the destination. 45% of people think of their holiday destination first, and then search for the best price to get there; compared to only 13% of consumers, who have a set price in mind, then look for the best holiday deal to that destination.
When booking hotel accommodation, people considered location (50%) and price (31%) as the most important factors. 49% of people considered themselves to be ‘planners’, booking their hotel two to four weeks in advance while almost a fifth (18%) of the population considered themselves to be ‘last-minute deal seekers’ booking one to five days before they travel. Interestingly, when we asked you, the LBM bloggers, the same question, the results were nearly identical (50% of you are planners and 19% are last-minute deal seekers). The LBM bloggers are clearly representative of the general UK holiday maker J
Congratulations!
Congratulations to the winners of the Hotwire competition who told their craziest travel story. You can read the winning stories from Shimelle Laine and Jorgen Sundberg on the London Bloggers website. Shimelle saved money by renting a broom cupboard and Jorgen ended up staying behind a gypsy camp in Bosnia. Jorgen also shared details of his charity project Blog 4 Girls which might be also worth checking out.
Keep in touch
Do let us know if you would like to be invited to future events, get updates or just need a list of the best deals or any other information on travel trends and savings. Just email us at hotwireUK@atomicpr.com.
Are you in one of the photos
We’ve posted a few photos from the event on our Flickr page.
This was the attitude of some before the launch of Google Instant last month. There was much speculation about what Instant would mean for search. It has now been around for just over a month and I can safely say it has not contributed to the death of seo, but in actual fact has helped bring seo to the forefront of people’s minds.
Clients attitudes
Clients that did not know much about seo or had thought it was not that important suddenly woke up since the announcement of Google Instant. Now they want to know about seo and what their company is doing in terms of search. There has been a complete shift in client behaviour (in some clients) and I am pleased to see people are sitting up and taking note of the “natural” search landscape.
Long tail
Another speculation before Google Instant launched was that it would mean the end of the long tail. People would stop typing long queries as Google would give them the answer or an alternative result before they completed their search. If someone is really interested in a particular query, they will continue to look for it. They may be given more ideas, but only if they are logged in. Where I see Google Instant taking off, is mobile. Google Instant has helped with mobile search as it is now even easier to search when on the go, giving quicker results.
Search strategy
Some thought they would have to change their search strategy to reflect Google Instant and optimise for these partially complete words. However, analytics reports tracks search queries as previously, on the complete word. Google also assured seo professionals that seo would not be affected by instant and they do not need to optimise for it.
It is still too early to really tell what the long term effects from Google Instant will be. One thing is for sure, the search landscape is constantly changing which means no one can rest on their laurels. If you want to stay ahead of the game, you have make sure you are using the seo best practices on your website. Of course those in seo that are already using these techniques will have little to worry about.
Guest post from Jo Turnbull, a freelance seo consultant, blogs about seo, ppc and mobile.
Now that you have set up your blog, you need to get it ranking high in the search engine result pages (SERPs). This requires a lot of link building which in turn will generate traffic to your site.
Here are a few tips to help you on your way:
1. Create a sitemap
Your CMS system should have allowed you to create a sitemap. Once you have this, upload it to webmaster tools and it will let Google know your site is live and ready to be crawled and indexed.
2. Directory submissions
Submit your blog to directories such as blog catalogue and ukblogdirectory. This is free and allows you to write a mini description about your site with a link back.
3. Networking
Meeting people at different blogging events, marketing and technology shows is a great way to talk about and promote your blog. But you can also advertise your blog at other social events, weddings, parties, or even down the pub. Every time you are out and about, think of it as an opportunity to promote your blog. Make sure you have you business cards to hand with the URL to dish out to all those people.
4. Guest posts
Write relevant posts on other blogs. They will usually give you a link back to your site. If you target blogs in your field then you will get relevant traffic to your site.
5. Comment on blogs
Visit blogs you like and be the first to comment on posts. Make sure you comment on relevant sites to your own blog and add real value, do not just comment for the sake of it.
6. Sponsor events
If you are able to do so, sponsor networking events. This can just be small meet ups, such as the events on meetup.com. You may also be able to give a talk about your site and your speciality, attracting more interest.
7. PPC
Yes that’s right, you can do some targeted PPC ads. There are often free promotional codes given out by Google which gives you up to £30 free valid for 6 weeks. You can set your ads to appear at certain times for example lunch times and after work when people are browsing during their free time.
8. Twitter
If you already have a twitter account, make sure you have a link to your site on your profile. All the people you are following and that are following you will then visit your blog.
Remember to love your blog, always add to it regularly, even talk about it at work (if related). The office is a great networking place and you will certainly boost your blog profile.
Guest post by SEO expert and blogger seojoblogs.
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