Promoting in the UK

[Avalon]

We have a site that has a .com that has been optimized and promoted.

We are creating a second site with a .uk extension, which will be hosted in the UK. Content and design will be different. We found that the .com site did not do well on Google UK or MSN UK which is why we're implementing this strategy.

How different is it to promote in the UK. I'm not familiar with what sites dominate over there or even where to start to build up incoming links, getting on MSN, Inktomi etc... The client is thinking of hiring a UK optimization company which is fine if it's going to be in their best interest however they would prefer to stay with our services.

Anyone have any positive experience with this they'd like to share?

[I, Brian]

If your site is a .co.uk, OR hosted in the UK, then you qualify for the listings in Google.co.uk.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean rank top - it's just easier than Google.com - but then again, if you're mainly selling in the UK, it's more targeted too.

Building links is the same old whizz - you just ensure that they point at your .uk site (.co.uk, .org.uk, .me,uk, etc).

[Avalon]

Thanks Brian. Do you know of any sites that can provide me with some resources on good directories and sites to submit to?

[Jeremy_Goodrich]

>finding UK specific links / directories

Try searching in Google UK / Yahoo UK / MSN UK / etc, and limit results to .co.uk domains / or uk domains, etc - that way you can find who to exchange links with, directories, etc.

Also a lot of .com directories - sbd.bcentral.com, etc - have regional branches (including dmoz, yahoo, bluefind, etc) so you can simply add the UK site to the usual suspects list, but instead target the regional categories. Also be sure to link from the .com to the .uk version and say "UK customers please visit our UK website, etc" as not all folks in the UK will limit their searches to the UK only.

Cheers,

Jeremy

[seobook]

Thanks Brian. Do you know of any sites that can provide me with some resources on good directories and sites to submit to?
most general directories also list uk resources.

here is a list of directories of directories.
http://www.directoryarchives.com/index.php?c=335
I think ISEDB & Search Engine Guide both have rather large lists.

as far as UK directories (not my native turf)
I think these are a few of the more well known ones (or at least ones I have heard of)
http://www.splut.com/
http://www.limeysearch.co.uk/ (powers Abrexa)
http://www.atclick.co.uk/
http://www.lifestyle.co.uk/

before paying for submission to any directory you want to ensure that it provides static links which are on pages that search engine index -or- that the directory gets sufficient traffic to warrent its costs and effort.

also you may want to look for sites within you niche...
http://www.business.com is good stuff
or for financial type sites you may want to try something like
http://www.find.co.uk/

you also can search for niche specific directories using

my keywords + submit
my keywords + add url
my competitors url + add url
my competitors site name + add url
etc.

[Avalon]

Great advice from all of you - thanks a bunch

- doesn't seem too daunting of a task now.

[seobook]

Great advice from all of you - thanks a bunch

- doesn't seem too daunting of a task now.
one more tip...

look at the other directory listings in the directories you are going to submit your site to. if they seem like they are optimized anchor text make sure you use it too. if it is just official site names listed then you may be stuck just using that.

when using optimized anchor text make sure you mix it up to use a few variations such that it does not look automated and avoids any automated penalties.

[Avalon]

got it...I never use automated programs anyway since I like to have control over customizing for different sites.

It'll be a fairly new site so do you think I should use Overture's Site Match for a few key pages?

[seobook]

got it...I never use automated programs anyway since I like to have control over customizing for different sites.

It'll be a fairly new site so do you think I should use Overture's Site Match for a few key pages?
I generally do not use paid inclusion, but it depends on the size and structure of your site and your profit margins and how frequently you rotate your content and how much you need their tracking stuff and how urgent your need is.

I usually submit to a ton of directories and take it from there.

[Avalon]

It's taken awhile but not we're ready to do some promoting in the UK. My client has set up a .co.uk site and hosting is in the UK. It's been going for about a year now but it has not gotten picked up by GoogleUK and I told my client they had no links so that's the first thing on my agenda. Hopefully there's no problem with the site looking almost the same as the .com site - prices are different and we plan to change the copy somewhat.

In the meantime, we are directing our Google Adwords Campaign directly to the UK site but need to find out about other PPC systems that are reliable.

The plan is to do Yahoo/Overture UK - and MSN's new Beta version.

Does MIVA have a UK only reach? and does anyone recommend them

Any other PPC UK driven sites?

[dannysullivan]

Miva was largely born out of the UK. It's the combination of the former Espotting, that was based in the UK, plus FindWhat. I believe in the UK, Miva still has a strong network of secondary partners, and you should be able to target just to the UK.

[Receptional]

MSN's new Beta version

MSN isn't delivering ads in the UK yet. You can switch it on in the adcentre, but there is no traffic as yet.

[chilleds]

We used Espotting before they changed to Miva, and to be honest, we never got any good results from them. Recently, we tried Miva, and still, we got no good results from them. I can confirm, when Miva was Espotting, they tried the 'hard-sell' approach, which always makes me suspicious. This is just from my experience.

If you're in the UK, I would HIGHLY-RECOMEND YOU STAY AWAY FROM IOMART (SOMETIMES TRADING AS UFINDUS). They are a complete waste of time, they promise you the earth, and provide nothing. They push and push, and constantly call you until they get the sale.

Just my 2 pennies worth.

[evilgreenmonkey]

Looks like we're reviving an old post - but anyhow:

The plan is to do Yahoo/Overture UK - and MSN's new Beta version.

As mentioned, MSN's PPC Network has yet to launch in the UK, it looks promising though and should challenge the other 2 big networks. Think Yahoo SM charge £60 to set-up the account still, plus manually regulates your creative.

Does MIVA have a UK only reach? and does anyone recommend them

Although FindWhat.com has a small market share in the US, Espotting's biggest ad publishers have since dispersed onto other networks. With a few exceptions, your UK MIVA ads will appear on ISP, general content, shopping comparison and arbitrage websites rather then search engines. The biggest UK publishers showing MIVA ads appear to be Daily Express, PC Pro, lastminute.com, Supanet and The Sun. Some clients at our company have seem some good CPA's, although it totally depends on what you're selling.

Any other PPC UK driven sites?


Google (https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/Login?sourceid=AWO&subid=UK-ET-ADS&hl=en_GB)
Yahoo! Search Marketing (http://searchmarketing.yahoo.co.uk/en_GB/srch/index.php)
MSN (http://advertising.msn.co.uk/MSNSites/default.aspx?pageid=173) - Coming Soon
MIVA (http://www.miva.com/uk/)
Mirago (http://www.mirago.com/advertisers/featured.htm)
Web Finder (https://www.webfinder.com/wf/reg_whyadvertise.asp)


HTH :)

[offshelfnet]

We have a site that has a .com that has been optimized and promoted.

We are creating a second site with a .uk extension, which will be hosted in the UK. Content and design will be different. We found that the .com site did not do well on Google UK or MSN UK which is why we're implementing this strategy.

How different is it to promote in the UK. I'm not familiar with what sites dominate over there or even where to start to build up incoming links, getting on MSN, Inktomi etc... The client is thinking of hiring a UK optimization company which is fine if it's going to be in their best interest however they would prefer to stay with our services.

Anyone have any positive experience with this they'd like to share?

I have never specifically targeted UK market, but search engines both Yahoo mostly 80% and Google brought me significant results from British markets, so I believe it is no different that American search engine targenting

[offshelfnet]

one more tip...

look at the other directory listings in the directories you are going to submit your site to. if they seem like they are optimized anchor text make sure you use it too. if it is just official site names listed then you may be stuck just using that.

when using optimized anchor text make sure you mix it up to use a few variations such that it does not look automated and avoids any automated penalties.


This is very good comment, even though it is sounds like obvious , but it is not, my manual post were resembling the automated posts and that is the most important reason why I am waiting for the reslts for so long, all posts must be different as to say they are human edited rather than automated for the search engines to tae them and give a results on them.

[offshelfnet]

We have a site that has a .com that has been optimized and promoted.

We are creating a second site with a .uk extension, which will be hosted in the UK. Content and design will be different. We found that the .com site did not do well on Google UK or MSN UK which is why we're implementing this strategy.

How different is it to promote in the UK. I'm not familiar with what sites dominate over there or even where to start to build up incoming links, getting on MSN, Inktomi etc... The client is thinking of hiring a UK optimization company which is fine if it's going to be in their best interest however they would prefer to stay with our services.

Anyone have any positive experience with this they'd like to share?


I got my results from google.uk on a newly build site, much earlier then google.com the only resonalbe explanations is that UK data centers are much faster then US bsed for Google, for Google I am still waiting... for everything else on marketing efforts I really do not see how different marketing approach can be in uk vs. us google promotion.

[evilgreenmonkey]

offshelfnet: You may want to remove that link to your site before a mod spots it ;)

[offshelfnet]

offshelfnet: You may want to remove that link to your site before a mod spots it ;)

I posted first and after red some rules...}