Mouseflow

Now I’ve tried various other options for tracking users including one of the most well known CrazyEgg which I found to be okay but not being able to actually watch a user navigating was a big issue for me. Mouseflow has all the features of CrazyEgg but also allows you to watch videos of visitors actually using your site, where they are clicking, where they are moving the mouse and so on.

I only found this last week and since then have found some major flaws that I would never have found before on one of my sites, what I thought was an obvious which was to click a button was being missed and people were clicking an image, I’d have never known this without Mouseflow.

What it does

• Live mouse tracking - This allows you to watch video capture of your users including all mouse clicks, scrolls, movement, keystrokes and filling of forms
• Click & Move heatmaps - See heatmaps of where users are clicking
• Scroll heatmaps - see where your users are scrolling to/paying attention to
• In-page analytics 

How much? Free Trial

Another great thing about Mouseflow is you can get a free trial here and test it out, I honestly will be shocked if you don’t like it, the free trial gives you 100 recorded sessions on 1 domain & 1 months storage. (Use promo code: SALES2013 or TWITTER2013 for 250 free recorded sessions)

After that the prices can be seen below.

I don’t often write a post which is so focused on one product but this really is a cracking web program and I’m already looking to add it to more of my sites, the insights it’s produced for me in a week are well worth it alone. Plus with the Mouseflow coupon that I used when I first signed up it was free with 250 recorded sessions which helped me get an idea if it was worth it.

The post Mouseflow Review – see what your users are doing appeared first on Expertly | Tech, Startups & Marketing Blog.

Today’s lesson is about how to upset your affiliates by simply not speaking to them.. I say not speak I actually mean totally ignore them.

I like most affiliates are signed up to several networks such as AffiliateWindow, Webgains, TradeDoubler, MoreNiche and so on, one of these networks I’m signed up to is TradeTracker. Now one thing that us affiliates like is good communication, be it being told about new merchants, commission changes, offers & deals and answering questions when we ask them.

How to do it well ?

AffiliateWindow are brilliant at communication, with emails coming in telling you if commission rates change, the live chat feature on their website which during working hours they reply within a minute answering any questions you may have.

Webgains also are great at this with a support Skype account always online during working hours for instant chat.

How not to do it

TradeTracker are the perfect example of how not to do it.

I got in touch in February 2012, a follow up to the same issue in July and still am yet to hear anything over 13 months later!!!

Update: It seems that these support tickets go straight to 3mobile and not TradeTracker, so the below 2 screen shots and the 13 month wait are due to 3mobile and not Tradetracker.

Maybe it was the ticket lost somewhere, well it seems it wasn’t as another support ticket also went unanswered!

Maybe a post on Affiliates4u may help… it’s now been over a day and no reply, seems I’m also not the only one whose having issues.

Maybe a little Tweet too…

Finally I thought lets message the COO Heiko Hildebrandt, I mean it’s worth a shot right?

So did they get in touch…? Nope, I’m still yet to hear anything back from TradeTracker, I have over £2,000 outstanding and I have no idea the situation with it, can’t get in touch and frankly I’m pretty disgusted by the lack of communication. My top tip don’t work with them unless you have to!

Update: As you’ll see from the comments section a TradeTracker staff member has got in touch and provided an email to use to get in touch, they also clarified the support ticket issue was 3mobile’s issue. 

The post TradeTracker – How Not To Run an Affiliate Network appeared first on Expertly | Tech, Startups & Marketing Blog.

What do I mean by that I hear you ask, well it’s simple really if you have a web business that relies on Google for the majority of your traffic then they are your boss, you shouldn’t really even claim to be self employed if this is the case as if Google (your boss) decides for whatever reason it doesn’t like you then it can potentially sack you (hit your site, deindex it, slap it etc) and this can ultimately mean your traffic goes, your income disappears and it’s pretty much like being unemployed.

Take for example a site I own, this is a .co.uk site, has been around for quite a few years and it always sat in position 1 for it’s main keyword which brought 97% of traffic to the site. As you can see in November last year it received 13,120 unique visitors, this is around 440 people coming to the site every day, around a month later the site dropped from this position, in fact it dropped from #1 to around #50 + (page 5 onwards) This mean as you’ll see in January the site got 815 uniques (27 people a day).

Now this is a vast difference and I bet your thinking either dodgy link building, Algorithm update or something and I can say for sure that no link building was done so it cannot have been that, it could have been an Algorithm change but the site has now (mid-march) popped right back to #1 and is now getting the same kind of stats as it did before.

Luckily for me this website is a site that makes very little money for me so this drop didn’t affect me but the thought if this was my sole major website and the same happened is beyond scary.

So for those relying solely on Google for all your traffic/income, please read this and think what if this happened to me!

The post 13,000 Visitors to 800 in a month appeared first on Expertly | Tech, Startups & Marketing Blog.

Over the weekend I attended the Launch48 Weekend at TechHub Manchester and have it say it’s one of the best events I’ve attended in the tech/business sphere, it involved little sleep, lots of networking, idea creating, learning and most importantly getting involved hands on in creating a startup in 48 hours.

What is Launch48 weekend?

Launch48 are a company who run entrepreneurial events for startups across the UK and the world, they run these ‘Launch48 weekends’ in London and this was the first one in Manchester. I only found out about it at around 11pm via Twitter on the Thursday and thought I had missed out on it but a quick few tweets and I found that there were a few tickets left so I grabbed one quickly. The cost is £49.95 and this includes 7 meals (breakfasts, lunches and evening meals), free soft drinks and beer in the evenings. You also get access to mentors, sponsors, a goodie bag and access to loads of great people.

The Agenda

The weekend starts on the Friday around 6pm and involves the initial networking, then anyone is welcome to pitch their idea, it’s a very informal pitch limited to 60 seconds, So you can pitch even if you hadn’t planned to, you’ll find a lot of people do end up pitching when they had originally not planned or were reluctant to as it’s a relaxed and fun atmosphere but if you don’t have an idea then you don’t have to pitch. Following the pitches everyone votes for the ones they like, this shortlists them and then they pitch again and the final selection of startup ideas are chosen by vote. 5 of the startup pitches were selected and teams of around 5 were created by people going to the idea they liked and felt could help the most.

After the selection of teams you brainstorm the basics and work until around 11pm, then you’re off home and up early for a 8.30am start on Saturday, this is when the real building and researching of the idea starts, we brainstormed, researched, went out in Manchester city centre to retailers and asked questions, this meant a change to our initial business idea but a positive one. The Saturday continues until as late as you want it to and involves starting to develop a MVP (minimum viable product)

The Sunday/final day you develop your MVP more, prepare the final pitch and get your business and marketing plans ready. 5pm and it’s final pitch time, 5 minute pitches with 2 minutes of Q&A, all 5 teams had come up with a brilliant presentation of some great startup ideas. After this it’s beer and pizza and final networking, speaking to people who you may not have had a chance to speak to.

Overall the whole event was brilliantly setup, The guys from Launch48 were great organising, helping, advising and making the event work although the one thing I’d advise would be that Simon take some table tennis lessons as he was took a few too many defeats on the table tennis located in TechHub office space. viable product), then up again for a 8.30am start on the final day.

Would I recommend this for you?

Absolutely, it’s a fast paced, hard working weekend but you’ll meet like minded, entrepreneurial people and make some great friends, you’ll also potentially come out with a real startup that you can continue in the future. Don’t worry if you don’t have a pitch as you can just join a team. The event brings together business and marketing people, designers, developers, students and other people who all bring something to the table. 

When’s the next one?

The next UK one is in Birmingham on the 17th-19th May, I’m more than likely to be attending this one.

So what startups were created during Launch48?

Well I joined the pitch of a startup that was aiming to help local independent business increase footfall, get new customers and get deals, events and information out to people in the local area, ultimately helping small businesses.

We came up with the name WhatsTheDeal.io and developed a prototype app, spoke to retailers who were all very enthusiastic and finished the weekend with a pitch explaining the startup and the ideas behind it.

The other teams came up the following startups. 

RentFriend – a social platform enabling students to rate and review landlords 

TipiHub – bring entrepreneurs and startups together under one roof

CrowdDoctor – bringing together issues in the health sector with tech people to develop and crowdfund solutions

MumTime – a website to help parents exchange free time (babysitting) with each other.

The Highlights

The weekend was one long highlight however the networking and meeting like minded people is one of the best parts, that too with a weekend where your not simply listening you’re actively involved in starting a real business. I cannot ignore though the great table tennis that TechHub Manchester have which saw a lot of competition.

You can find out more via the Launch48 website by clicking the logo below and if you’re located in Manchester and looking for a co-working space then it’s worth looking at the TechHub Manchester site.

The post 48 Hours to Start a Startup – Launch48 Weekend at TechHub Manchester appeared first on Expertly | Tech, Startups & Marketing Blog.

One of the main aims of Expertly.co.uk is to give you an expert insight into areas of business, tech and marketing. One way that this will be done is via interviews with people who are experts in their respective areas. Our first interview is with Martino Matijevic the CEO of WhichBudget.com which is a flight price search engine, having run the website for over 10 years we ask him about his company, the travel industry and more. If you enjoy this interview check back for more in the near future and if you want to be interviewed yourself then get in touch.

Q. Hi Martino, can you tell us a little about you? (where you’re from, hobbies, etc)

I describe myself as Croatian by origin, British by nationality and French in heart. Originally from Croatia, I was educated in Britain and have started my career there. But in 2003 I decided to pack everything and move to France. Today, I live in Mougins (near Cannes), enjoying the great weather, barbecue with friends, going to the gym and salsa dancing.

Q. Can you tell us about your company and what you do?

I started www.WhichBudget.com back in 2002 as a personal website. Out of necessity (read: no money) I became an expert in finding which budget airline flies where. Being a web developer, I have put my knowledge on a website to share with friends and it gradually grew into one of the leading global flight search engines. WhichBudget searches flight prices directly from airlines and online travel agents but also includes routes by airlines not offering prices online, hence it is more complete than some of our bigger competitors. My job as CEO is to decide on corporate strategy and coordinate the work between our IT guys, marketing team and customer relations managers.

Q. For those looking to go into the travel market can you offer any tips you wish you’d known before you went into it?

Travel is a hugely segmented and complex market. Just the other day I was talking to someone who wanted to start an accommodation database website. He was amased when I gave him a list of competitors, from hotel databases, to hostels, private rooms, villas, castles, cottages, botels, couchsurfing, etc. to setting up a tent in someone’s garden. My best advice would be to concentrate on a niche market and let your USP be focused on user experience – e.g. if you are going to set up an accommodation database, start off by reviewing camping sites in Mallorca.

Q. As many people know relying on Google for all your traffic is a risky business, do you try and spread the risk of your traffic sources and how do you do this?

Today, search traffic represents about 40% of total. 15% is direct traffic and the rest (45%) is referral traffic. Large part of the referrals are via affiliate widgets on our sister site, www.TheTravelMagazine.net, which starts of by creating desire and then refers to WhichBudget for search. The rest of referals come primarily from social sources: between WhichBudget and TheTravelMagazine, we have over 11000 Facebook fans and over 560000 Twitter followers.

Q. What have been your highest and lowest points in business with WhichBudget?

The lowest point has to be when we were hit by Google Panda update and have lost 60% of our traffic. It was panic in the office! We are not SEO specialists and this was a huge blow to our morale.

The highest point has to be the moment I decided to quit my job as IT Consultant for Orange and concentrate on WhichBudget full-time. It was a mix of excitement and uncertainty but it was the right decision at the time and it helped WhichBudget grow from a personal website to an international search engine.

Q. If you weren’t an entrepreneur, what job do you think you’d be doing now and why?

I’d be a chéf, as I love the creative side of cooking on the one hand and seeing others enjoy eating on the other hand.

Quick fire random question round!

Q. One word to describe yourself, what would it be?

Passionate

Q. Last thing you bought?

Opera tickets for Carmen at Royal Albert Hall

Q. Favourite holiday destination?

Lisbon

Q. Random fact about you please.

I was once a contestant on Blind Date.

Q.  Finally, do you see Google getting more involved in the travel industry such as comparing prices of hotels themselves and featuring in position 1 as a threat to your business?

Yes, definitely! Google is already comparing prices of hotels and flights, adding customer reviews (Zagat) and inspirational ideas (Frommer’s) and I can only see them integrating their own products even further in the search process, cutting the rest of us out (unless we bid more to appear in Sponsored Results). But I see Facebook as an even bigger threat. When you are considering going on a trip to Barcelona, who do you ask for advice first: Google or a friend who recently came back from Barcelona? With their Graph Search, we are starting to see the power of social networking when it comes to search.

A big thanks to Martino for doing the interview, if you would like to be interviewed then get in touch.

The post Interview with WhichBudget CEO Martino Matijevic appeared first on Expertly | Tech, Startups & Marketing Blog.

Below are 24 examples of bad placement advertising and marketing that have been found around the world.

Terrible Ad Placement

Asda poor placement

Billboard Placement Gone Wrong

A beer ad on a drink driving news article

Side by side ads gone wrong

Cooper Bracelet advert on a news article about them being a myth

Another poor ad placement at the bottom

Youtube advert for cruise holidays

Obituary ad placement

Ducati ad placement fail

My favourite ad placement ever!!

Youtube ad placement fail

Dirty sign

CNN ad placement

Another news article placement

I suppose that’s one way to try and recover from a PR nightmare

Grilling expert

Grizzly ads

Clever or a fail?

Trojan ad placement

T shirt placement ad fail

UPS can deliver what!

Another bad placement

Hit and run poor placement

Bad groupon placement

The post 24 examples of really bad advert placements appeared first on Expertly | Tech, Startups & Marketing Blog.

This post is all about the Affiliate Networks which are available to use for those of you in the UK. They are a mix of UK based networks as well as networks which have UK related offers. The list below will give you a brief introduction into each type of affiliate network, information about the programs they have and when they make payments.

General Affiliate Networks

These are affiliate networks which have a wide range of UK brands and retailers, they often have a mix of programs for many different sectors and offer a variety of commission from a % of revenue to fixed CPA as well as in rarer cases a CPC basis. If you are getting started in affiliate marketing then it’s advisable to sign up to all of the networks below so you can get affiliate links and start making commission from all merchants.

Affiliate Window

These are my personal favourite network in the UK, they have a massive range of merchants from Boots to Vodafone, Allsaints to Currys and plenty more. If you want to promote a big retailer then the chances are Affiliate Window (AW) will have them. They are very reliable and make payments twice per month via BACS.

Webgains

Webgains are another network which have many UK retailers although more of the smaller retailers, don’t be put off though the retailers they have are often some of the top retailers online but may not have a highstreet presence for example. Merchants include Envirofone, GoneDigging, Nike, FeelUnique and many more. Payments are on a weekly or monthly basis.

Commission Junction

Commission Junction (CJ) are a massive affiliate network who have programs for US and UK businesses. They have a mix of programs including programs such as Match.com, Godaddy, Argos and plenty of others.

Tradedoubler

They have been around for an age and have a big selection of merchants to promote including Dell, Ann Summers, Halfords, Expedia and many more. They offer regular payments and a range of tools to help you promote them.

Affilinet

With a large range of well known brands such as Matalan, Debenhams & Swarovski to name a few they have a clear and clean cut interface, other payments on a monthly basis they are one to sign up to if you are wanting to promote some well known brands.

Paid on Results

This affiliate network also has a big range of merchants to choose from including retailers such as Sunshine.co.uk, BeanbagBazaar, MotelRocks and plenty more. The variety is clear and you’ll be able to find an array of merchants to fit all niches and websites.

CPA Networks

These affiliate networks specialise in CPA (cost per action) offers and lead generation, so if you have a site where you can lock content away, email surveys and freebies or have users who like entering competitions then these are some of the networks you should consider.

CPALead

One of the CPA networks I use is CPALead and I’ve found them to be pretty effective in providing you with offers for users to complete. They specialise in providing you with a solution to lock content behind offers so users must complete an offer such as a short survey in order to get content. Now this type of service isn’t suited for all sites and thus I only use it on one but it’s quite effective when you have something decent to offer.

WowTrk

If you want some great CPA and lead generation offers then the guys at WowTrk have a range of offers in the UK as well as offers for many other countries. Well worth signing up to have a look at the latest offers.

There are of course plenty more affiliate networks to include and i’ll be adding new ones over the next few weeks.

The post UK Affiliate Networks – Guide appeared first on Expertly | Tech, Startups & Marketing Blog.

The latest in the line of CV’s which stand out is one by a Philppe Dubost who has made one unique resume based entirely on an Amazon product page, great idea as Amazon product pages are universally instantly recognisable. I’m not going to lie when I first clicked a link on someone’s Twitter I thought I’d just been sent to Amazon and a product, I had to double take before I realised what it was and how damn clever it was. You can view the whole page here.

The resulting page has become a viral sensation and has been featured on thousands of sites and at a guess hundreds of thousands if not millions of people’s social profiles. The unique look of this makes it stand out of the crowd like no other.

Another great CV was one done on the domain name EmployAdam.com in which an unemployed graduate spent his last £500 on advertising it on a billboard, this result was press coverage across the UK and the rest of the world.

These types of CV’s and resumes stand out from the crowd and give you a massive advantage over your standard PDF or word document you may email or post to an employee. 

Another person who was a designer decided that times had changed and paper or email was out of touch so he designed an iPad app with his CV on it. Available to download here on the App store (over 2,500 downloads to date!)

Another person redesigned a Twitter page to that it looked and acted as a CV.

I must confess that I personally in early 2013 decided to play around with my CV and decided that I may apply for a role at Google, now I thought what better way to get my CV noticed than by making it look like a Google search.

I’ve purposively blurred out some of the info on my CV below, I’m definitely no Photoshop master but with bit of time I managed to knock it up, I never used it nor plan to, it was more of a fun little experiment to see if I could make it look half decent.

At the end of the day if you want people to take notice then doing something a bit differently can often mean you will get noticed, I think nowadays in creative industries or jobs that require creativity such as PR, marketing etc it’s quite essential to stand out of the crowd as this something they expect from you in the job role.

Spotted any more CV’s that stand out? Post them in the comments.

The post Awesome Examples of CV’s appeared first on Expertly | Tech, Startups & Marketing Blog.

Clean Windows Anyone?

Real cash inside, protected by security glass

Advert for McDonalds Coffee

Advert for Law & Order (clever use of the light)

Advert for a rock radio station

Clever Job Website Marketing

An advert for a Brazilian Theme Park

Watch brand advertising inside buses

A DIY store

Genius method to donate clean water to Africa

Ugly Betty Advert

Advert for a brand of Tippex (eraser)

Duct Tape Ad

High Impact Advertising

Clever ad for a surfing site

Toothpaste for strong teeth

Very nice gym advert

Stop Smoking Advert

Advert for a Vampire Tv Show

Clever Snake Wrapped Bus

Another stop smoking related advert

Clever Billboard

National Geographic Tv Advert

Ad for a Sky Diving Company

Shark Week on Discovery Channel

Seafood Restaurant

Washing Powder Ad

Simple but awesome shaver ad

Crisp Advert (Lays/Walkers)

A nice alternative look

Your dog may be disappointed with this ad

Razor ad with added dead pigeons!

Epic Paint Advert

Paint Advert

Thinking outside the box

Oven Bus Stop

Tank driving around advertising money saving site (myvouchercodes.co.uk)

Nose Hair Trimmer

Nikon Camera Advert (flashes when you walk past plus red carpet)

Nivea Sofa

Nike Football Advert

Unknown Nail Polish Ad

Land Mine Charity

Massive Lego Brick

Lipton Tea Bag Carrier Bag

Film Poster (yes it’s meant to be smashed)

Kitkat Bar

Marketing for a film

Jeep 4×4 Car Ad

Flea Treatment for Dogs

iPod Advert

Car Insurance Advert

Awesome ad for Inception (film)

Clever lightbulb moment

Well Hung (Ad unknown)

Hot Drink with actual steam (over manhole cover)

Scottish Highland Games Ad

Another clever advert

Hairdresser Ad

Massive Gym Advert

Skipping Carrier Bag

Closed Guitar Shop

Anti Graffiti Advert

Shaving Company Advert

Ad for Superglue

Mhmm Chips/French Fries

Flip Flop company

Fitness Center Ad

Brilliant Fedex Van

Paparazzi Bus Stop

ESPN (sport) TV Channel

Durex Advert

Extra Time Durex Ad

Duracell Advert on the side of a bus

Drink Driving Campaign

Another Drink Driving Campaign

Mobile Phone Network Advert

Coca Cola Advert

Very Clever Drinks Company Ad

Dog Training Company

DHL sports car on a van

Sumo Ad

Martial Arts Ad

Disaster Movie Advert

Chemical Safety Campaign

Charity Shopping Trolley

Big Carrots

Interactive Advert to write on a cast/pot

Camera Company Advert

BMW vs Audi Ad

Kitchen Roll Advert

BBQ Company

Drinks Company

Beer Crate Shopping Bag

Batman Ad

Deodorant Advert

Holiday Company

Audi Advert

Suspension related advert

LG Appliance/FridgeFreezer advert

Advert for Yoga Classes

The post 99 Awesome Examples of Guerrilla Marketing appeared first on Expertly | Tech, Startups & Marketing Blog.

It’s well known that when you have a website you put important stuff ‘above the fold’ meaning you put it where users instantly see it rather than where they have to scroll down to read it, now if you monetise your website via adverts then it makes sense to place them above the fold, meaning more exposure and the chance of more clicks which turns into higher revenue. Now there is nothing wrong with this however Google launched an algorithm update early last year (2012) which relates directly to the page layout of a website. Place too many ads at the top and above the fold and you may get penalised by Google.

So what’s the big deal and why post it a year later? Good questions, I’m only writing about it now as I only came across the specific update late last year and Google have started introducing additional Google ads/comparison to more searches  in different areas. Now I understand that people don’t want to go on websites and see loads of adverts, they want to see content related to what they have searched for and that’s fair enough. The issue comes when Google launch an update like this and then do exactly what they say you shouldn’t on their own site.

Take this screenshot below for a search for the term ‘Hotels in Manchester’

Now I can’t tell you exactly what percentage of the page is taken up by ads but in comparison to the one little natural result i’d say about 85-90% of the page is taken up by Google ads and content and the majority of that (70% of the entire results) are paid for. So when you make a search there is a high likelihood of you clicking a link that will make Google money. Now I hear you say they have the right to do this as you could choose to go to another search engine but lets face it the majority of us don’t.

This isn’t great is it and even more so for that the fact that Google actively tell you not to fill your own site up with ads so why are they allowed to do it. Ultimately when you search for that you are going to get shown hotels and companies who can basically afford to be shown so not necessarily the best and most suited to you. Google do have measures in place to prevent rubbish sites being featured highly (Google Quality Score) however if you have a half decent site and a high CPC (cost per click) you’ll more than likely get up there. What chances do smaller businesses/hotels have of getting traffic.

The question you may have about this new algorithm is where do I now place my ads? Well Matt Cutts (the main man at Google for everything SEO) has basically implied that you are best to look at how visitors see your site (Google Browser Tool - a great tool to use) and to make sure you don’t have all your ads visible in the area that users see when they first log on to your website. As long as your site looks quite natural then I’m sure it doesn’t matter too much if you have a few ads above the fold as long as there is good content there too.

How many people will this affect?

It will affect less than 1% of searches so the chances are you’ll be fine but if not you’ll probably soon know about it when you see a drop in traffic, you’ll also probably know that you had too many ads at the top anyway.

If I’m affect how I do recover? 

Reduce the amount of ads at the top of your site and make sure the layout is more focused on your content rather than your ads, yes this may mean less CTR (click through rate) but it may also mean Google takes the penalty away from your site.

What does the future hold for Google and it’s own page layout?

Well it’s quite obvious that not many people can really affect what Google does, It is it’s own business and you choose to go and visit it when there are others out there however in reality they are a monopoly and have increasingly had investigations from competition commissions in the EU and from those in the US. It’ll be interesting to see what the future holds for them and if any of these entities will fight to help free up the search market.

So ultimately all you and me can do is adhere to these new algorithm and just hope that Google take a stance on their own double standards (highly unlikely), a government body will step in and put some legislation in place or that Bing and other search engines take some of the market away and so Google will have to become more competitive.

A more in depth post can be found: http://searchengineland.com/too-many-ads-above-the-fold-now-penalized-by-googles-page-layout-algo-108613

The post Google, Double Standards & The Page Layout Algorithm appeared first on Expertly | Tech, Startups & Marketing Blog.