Making the internet deliver!

 We often get comments from member on how we are doing so well, as their site never really delivered for them. A typical case in point was the owner of a company I spoke to at the recent TCT exhibition in Coventry.

He informed me that he tried the internet but had such a specialist product it was a waste of time putting on. He was so adamant there was no point in arguing with him at the show.

He was making the classic mistake that 1000’s of other company make including myself. I am still amazed how many company websites I visit have the wrong telephone number, address, and missing pages or old news, what is even more disappointing is that over 70% of buyers will not deal with companies who do not have a website, can you imagine what impression these buyers are left with when they land on such a site!

Also you need to stop treating the internet like a telephone book, yes if you type in your name with a bit of luck it will find you, or having your site layout like a company profile. You really need to ensure that you not have a site/software that you cannot easily create & add your own content on.

Having done that, there is loads of really good free information on the internet on SEO (search engine optimization) and free software to help improve your site, but you need to spend some time getting your head around it, before you employ some one to do it for you.

Otherwise when people like me visit it I will be thinking: “it really is a good looking website” but about as much use as a chocolate teapot!

My site is designed for a busy engineer to find what he looking in hurry, and failing that ring me, is your telephone number easy to see on every product page, or tucked away at the back of your site?

You have to take control of your site otherwise it’s like employing a new salesman that you lock into an office with a telephone that only allows incoming calls, and then wondering why he not selling anything.

I have, like others employed poor sales staff, but I have at least given them a chance of delivering the goods, and the same goes for marketing on the internet.

Regards Alan

Use Video to ‘Pump Up Your Marketing’

Using video in your marketing efforts is about delivering your message in a format that you’re target audience is readily willing to it take on board, hence why over a year ago we took the decision to add video via Youtube into the www.mctooling.com listing, with our first few videos being added on the site in November last year.

Since the launch of this video marketing feature on our MC-Video channel, we have recorded them being played over 66,000 times. There is also very noticeable improvement in the number of recorded viewing of adverts which contain videos on the site.

Following our lead companies like: Dormer, Hardinge, Kennametal, Kitagawa, OSG, SGS, just to name few,  have also gone on to create their own video channels, and as industry traditional printed media usage declines, they too are being force into upgrading their online actively to compete with sites such as our own!

A few years ago, creating a marketing video for your business was time-consuming and expensive. You might spend thousands of pounds for a video, but these days don’t be fool into thinking you need to do the same!

The influents of site like YouTube. Thanks to affordable, easy-to-use video technology, wide adoption of broadband internet that allows for streaming video, and an acceptance of—some would say a preference for—more “homespun” video productions, video is a widely popular tool for B2B marketing, as people feel they are more trustworthy source of information, than traditional advertising methods.

As a way of example, this introduction video was created for visitors to the site to help us reinforce our message, and you could do the same!

Remember if you would us to add your video onto our channel, all you need to do is to email it to use, or post to the address below, with a covering note giving us your approval for copyright.

Astonlee Partnership Ltd, PO BOX 7438 Derby, DE1 0JG, United Kingdom

Please feel free to ring us on: +44(0)1332 799913 if you would like to talk to us about using any of our services.

Can you spend a penny?

can you spend a penny

Would you spend a penny to have someone read your advert, instead of spending £1000s on adverts in the industry press that never really get read (other than by your competitors)?

• Targeted at UK machine shop users that are actually looking for your products/services at a time of need
• Rather than hoping someone flipping through the magazine pages is going to read them.
• Even worse, do you really expect them to remember where they saw your advert and in which magazine, rather than just looking for the item they want on the internet!

Would you prefer your advertising cost to be even less than a penny per click?

Well you will be pleased to learn that www.mctooling.com  site software since we upgraded has now recorded over 200,000 of active adverts being open by visitors (expired/deleted ads are not included)!

This means that the majority of our advertisers are spending less than a penny to have their product/service advert, being read by machine shop users who are looking for product/services information on the internet.

Rather than a useless database of company details or magazine editorials!

Hence why over 87% of our advertisers have renewed their subscription in the last year regardless of the downturn!

Can you afford not to spend a few pence per click of your advertising budget to get your products on www.mctooling.com?

Then give Alan ring on +44(0)1332 799913

Should you “swap links” with other sites?

There are many misconception about swapping back-link with other sites, so let me explain:

There are two reasons to get links: the traffic they generate directly, and the incremental boost they give you in the search engine rankings. Now, the amount of boost each one gives you in the search engines is related to the “quality” of that link, and the “quality” is actually an external, machine-calculated estimate of …how much traffic that link ought to give you.

What sort of a link do you think would send you the most traffic? One on a website related to your area of business, or one on an irrelevant website?

A link hidden in the middle of a long list of other links, or a highlighted one in the middle of a paragraph someone’s reading, like this? A link from a long-established, well-known website, or one from a blog launched yesterday?

The answer as to which links will send you the most traffic are obvious …and they’re also what the search engines are looking for. Quality links, within the text, on well-regarded, relevant sites.

So to return to the original question, if I was offered a link from the home page of microsoft.com, would it somehow be valueless because I already have a link to Microsoft on this website? Of course not. It would be fantastic.

There is nothing wrong with “reciprocal” links if they’re useful to the visitor on both sites. Where you don’t want to waste time is on reciprocal links which would never generate traffic between the sites. And an exchanged link between you and a coffee producer in south america is never going to generate traffic, and it’s not going to help you in the search engines either.

MC-Tooling site upgrade news!

Down in the MC-Tooling.com dungeons, the Astonlee team have been celebrating the completion of a major site software upgrade, which having been promised would take only 2/3 days, has taken us a month to get it working correctly (“ho how we love these software designer houses”).

We have implemented this next generation software upgrade to improve the site “Search Engine Optimisation” (SEO) functionality for google, but it will take a couple of months before we really see the full benefits of this. Hence why we planned July/August being the main holiday season, when business normal slows down anyway for this upgrade.

To help make it even easier than ever for everyone use the new page layout etc, we have started the creation of some tutorial videos on how to use/get the best out of the site, and are working flat-out to get them all completed a.s.a.p.

The home page as also had a major update to make it easier for visitors to locate the item/service they are trying to find, and to raise the prominence of the featured adverts section.

Some other great news is that earlier this month we recorded over 190,000 viewings in the 10 months since the site was launch (mid September last year) which is a fantastic result bearing in mind how bad the turndown as been in the industry.

It is also very pleasing to see that our geographical targeting is working, with over two thirds of our traffic coming from the UK, so what is the point of being on a site that may have higher ranking/traffic volume, if the majority traffic is coming from places like India, and the UK traffic is so small it doesn’t even warrant a mention.

However this approach does make it a lot harder work for us, but it does mean we deliver honest value for money, hence the reason why we record every time a visitor opens your advert. We know that we cannot force them to buy from you, but at least you know your advertising budget is being read and not being recycled or wasted in none target markets.

So it’s really pleasing when talking to so many of you about the business you received. Such as from Bob Coals, at Midland Metrology who told me about one of the best orders he had received this year, it was for two 30” projectors from an Irish company who saw his advert on our mctooling site, they contacted him and flew over specially to purchase them from him.

This latest update means no other site delivers in the UK better value for money, especially when you consider what’s included for a fraction of the cost as compared with so called market leaders provide.

So please help us by remembering to add your: new products, news letters, and the special offer or your videos, so we can all gain the benefits of this unique site!

tutorial videos

Please feel free to ring us on +44(0)1332 799913 if you would like to talk to us about using any of our services.

Regards

Alan

Did you Know?

• 91% of engineers use the web to find components and suppliers.
• 90% of engineers use the web to research product specifications and 82% research products online before generating an enquiry 
• 80% of engineers access news and technicalinformation online and 68% check product availability. 
•  The statistics prove that the internet is a fantastic and powerful toolbut users can sometimes get information overload.

After extensive market research within the industry MC-Tooling.com was launched to provide a specialist service to meet the needs of UK machine shop users with the simple objective of making it easier and faster for them to find exactly what they are looking for!

MC-Tooling is not just another online directory, it is a B2B site ran by experienced tooling engineers for engineers and designed to be a true tooling guide – crammed full with blue chip companies,high technical content and useful links/videos.

Thats why we are on target for our monthly veiwing of our adverts to be over 200,000 by September!

When Old News is Good News?

Just by adding your own press releases on to your website: I find it hard to believe as to why this is so often ignored or neglected by so many companies, even after they paid some pr guy to write it for them?

Some clients comment when I suggest it, saying “well, I don’t want duplicate content on my site.” or “I’ve been too busy to do it”  So if you don’t give a damn about promoting your site fine, otherwise get the f*ing releases up there and quit moaning  about duplicate content or not having the time!

Who the hell cares about duplicate content? Maybe it’s just me, but I thought the purpose of a press release was to bring exposure. It can’t do that if you sit on it. On top of putting the news out to your regular readers, customers, or visitors, it also allows you to archive your releases for search engine & journalists who visit the site wanting to learn more about your company/products or site history.

 If you don’t have a press room or at least a press release archive, ADD ONE!!!. And just publish the thing, and be done with it! Why companies refuse to grasp this concept is just beyond me. After all it’s not rocket science and it so easy…

Are you spending enough on your site SEO?

This is a good honest post by Matt McGee, a search engine marketing consultant in the USA, on his Small Business SEO blog, which discusses the cost of getting search engine optimisation work done on your website. In Small Business SEO: Costs, Expectations & Realities, he addresses the strange situation whereby businesses seem to think they can get someone to “sort out their website” for a couple of hundred pounds a month.

How do Engineers use the web?

Did you know:

• 91% of engineers use the web to find components and suppliers.
• 90% of engineers use the web to research product specifications and 82% research products on-line before generating an enquiry
• 80% of engineers access news and technical information on-line and 68% check product availability.
• The statistics prove that the Internet is a fantastic and powerful tool but users can sometimes get information overload.

Traditional media usage is declining: As online media usage increases, traditional media usage declines. Ad pages and circulation have been trending down for magazines; trade show attendance is declining as well.

Many industrial marketers have recognized this trend and have shifted marketing dollars away from traditional media: 38% have reduced trade show attendance and 30% have reduced print advertising in the past year, according to the GlobalSpec 2009 Industrial Marketing Trends Marketing Survey.

So why are companies still spending 1000’s on adverts in the engineering industry magazines that nobody read?

UK £1.7 billion Industrial Distribution Market Report

I found this report by AMA Research, as it mention one of my old employers ”Cromwell Tools Group” where I was a board director, but felt this report would of interest to others in the industry. 

AMA Research have published the third edition of the report ‘General Industrial Products Distribution Market – UK 2009-2013’.

The report provides an informed and up-to-date review of this estimated £1.7 billion distribution market and, with around 100 pages including original input and primary research, represents excellent value for money.