New unlimited broadband scroller

I updated the scroller on my broadband website www.ukbroadbandfinder.com this morning - it now scrolls through five unlimited broadband packages.

Previously it scrolled some of the fastest broadband packages, but I felt it needed a change as:

(a) there is already a superfast broadband page on the site, and
(b) the issue of bandwidth limits has been in the news recently so I figured more people might be looking for a broadband package with a more substantial download limit (even if they are all subject to fair use policy...)

I am still planing to write a specific unlimited broadband page for the site, as that will give me an opportunity to build in more keyword phrases for SEO purposes - but the scroller will fill a gap until then.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Blog articles for SEO

I'm trying to update my broadband comparison website much more frequently - not just with broadband offers (which I keep up to date with) but also keyword-rich and informative articles about broadband.

The aim is three fold:

1. to impress the faceless algorythms of Google
2. to create an expert, trusted environment to undecided but potential broadband buyers
3. to encourage visitors to return for more updated information at a later date

I've decided that using the Joomla blog for articles makes the most sense - they are easy for users to find on the site, and they don't need much formatting. so they are quick to write.

Today I added a blog post about the potential for bandwidth meltdown - this has been in the news a lot recently, partly because ISPs raised it in response to the Beta launch of the potentially bandwidth-gobbling BBC iPlayer.

From an SEO post of view, I made sure I added lots of links out to online newspaper articles and also the The Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG). (This is important, as most of the links on my website are of course affiliate links which don't help SEO). I also included some internal links in the text, which simply provide more routes for a search engine spider to get into the depths of the website.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

More landing page tweaking

This evening I tweaked my Laptops are free Adwords campaign landing page.

I was getting a lot of traffic (and great results on my ads) but once visitors got to my page they seemed to stick there... and go no further. Lovely though the page was, the idea was for them to click through to AOL and actually sign up for some broadband.

I realised that although there were lots of calls to action on my landing page they may have seemed a bit like points of no return - that is, lots of Buy! buttons but not enough More info buttons.

I have now rectified this and the page looks a lot clearer - and it's obvious what the next step is for any visitor.

As you'll see I also have some click here buttons - in my previous life as a web editor I always told people not to use click here as it seemed a bit too late '90s My First Website. But actually on a landing page I think it is necessary as it makes it super-obvious what the next step should be. And as a usability specialist once told me, "Nothing says 'click here' like 'click here'."

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

AOL free laptop and cut price broadband offers launch

AOL have launched their Laptops are free offer for AOL Wireless Plus, AND cut the price of AOL Broadband Wireless to £9.99/month for 6 months.

Over the last few days TradeDoubler has started providing the tracking links for these offers, so I have started promoting them on www.ukbroadbandfinder.com and on all my blogs.

I have also launched a Free laptops Adwords ad group, which drives traffic to a specific landing page.

I'll be pushing both offers intensively through organic search and paid search. The free laptops broadband deal particularly is such an amazing offer - especially for families needing another computer - that I am sure it will increase traffic significantly, and boost my sales.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Adwords landing pages updated

Now that AOL's Broadband Wireless package is live, I have spent a few hours today updating my AOL Adwords landing pages.

I have two - one on 8Mb broadband, and one on wireless broadband.

I've updated my copy to push the price (£14.99 per month), created some new headings, and tweaked the copy around the new offer.

Within Google Adwords, I added a few new keyword phrases, and some new ad variations, particularly around the 8Mb price.

Both campaigns are now live again and getting some clicks.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Promoting AOL Broadband Wireless

The new AOL package Broadband Wireless went live today. It has a download speed of up to 8Mb, a free wireless router, and it's still under £15 a month (£14.99 a month to be precise, but I wonder how many people search on "broadband for £14.99" vs. "broadband under £15"?).

Anyway I've spent this morning putting AOL Broadband Wireless on every site and blog I have. You can see it on:

1. the homepage of UK Broadband Finder, plus the usual package, provider and offer pages
2. my UK Broadband Finder site blog
3. my broadband offers blog, ukbroadbandfinder.blogspot.com
4. my news blog, ukbroadband.wordpress.com
5. and even my BT Tradespace site, at ukbroadbandfinder.bttradespace.com

Short of sticking a postcard in my local newsagent's window, or sending a light aircraft down the valley with an AOL Broadband Wireless - broadband without wires! banner trailing behind it, I think I have covered most bases.

My next task - to revamp my AOL Adwords landing pages and get those live as soon as possible.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Networking

I had a really enjoyable day yesterday, meeting some of the guys from TradeDoubler and AOL, and some other affiliates.

I picked some brains... and then had a few G&Ts so I was quite surprised I actually remembered the conversations.

All the affiliate networks I am with encourage us to get out there and meet other affiliates, merchants, etc, and since starting this mentoring scheme I have decided to grab every opportunity as it arises.

So today I have booked myself onto the A4U Expo at ExCel in October - getting that Early Bird discount with just hours to spare. It seems to be awash with related networking events but as it's costing me £179 (plus VAT - and worth every penny I expect) I may lay off the gins so I don't risk forgetting everything I learn. Then again, I may just take notes.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

User generated content

User generated content - a great big name for my first, small website poll!

My first broadband poll has been up for a few weeks now. I have to say it is quite a slow process - I hope they will become more popular, and I will try to make the topics more specific. The first poll title was Most important in my next broadband package.

Results so far (it is still up) are:
Superfast 32.8%
Cheap deal 18%
Short or no contract 8.2%
Great customer service 11.5%
Extras and freebies 0%
None of the above 29.5%

Now I want to know what the None of the Above respondents want.

The first poll was really just to test the idea (and the Joomla functionality). My next task is to create more targeted polls (eg a wireless poll on my wireless page, a cheap broadband poll on my cheap broadband page) and ensure the suggested answers cover as many bases as possible (in as few word as possible...).

Then I need to start looking at other types of user-generated content (broadband reviews, here I come).

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

The great SEO programme continues...

I am still working through my UK broadband comparison website www.ukbroadbandfinder.com, making all pages as search engine-friendly as possible (apart from my Adwords landing pages, of course).

I hadn't realised I had so many pages - nearly 250 at the last count. As part of my SEO drive I am looking at keyword phrases, H1, H2 headings, page titles, and internal and external links.

Since I started www.ukbroadbandfinder.com I have seen via Google Analytics that particular broadband providers and packages seem to be picked up by the search engines more readily than others and I have never been able to work out why (it isn't solely a case of ISPs with generic names being picked up less then ISPs with specific brand names). I hope that my SEO-inspired website revamp will boost all broadband provider and broadband package pages on the site!

I am also adding metadata (a description and a few - and I mean a few - keywords). I have heard over the last few years that it is (a) completely pointless, or (b) still worth doing but only as a minor part of of any SEO programme. So although it isn't the first change I make, I am adding it.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Adwords - again!

Time for a quick update on my AOL Adwords campaign - problems I encountered, and how I've set about fixing them.

Despite my previous work on my campaign, I wasn't getting the clickthroughs I needed and my tweaking wasn't having the desired affects. I also discovered that too much tweaking could affect my Adwords history, which could be detrimental to how Adwords judges my campaign, keywords, etc.

Sanj Mirchandani, the Publisher Manager at TradeDoubler, has been really helpful and came back with some honest advice about my original landing page - that it was:

1. too general - cluttered with lots of information about AOL packages, without really focusing on a core offer
2. designed for SEO, NOT for Google Adwords (Sanj pointed out I should design different pages for SEO and PPC)
3. text-heavy
4. unlikely to convert - with too few calls to action

So I tweaked my Adwords campaign to:

1. focus on only four Ad Groups, with each focusing on one particular aspect of the AOL broadband offer
2. get rid of non-converting keywords
3. focus on keywords and ads that would bring in people actually wanting to buy broadband
4. switch on Content Network on my campaign
   
5. put a lower limit than previously on the default maximum cost per click
   

And created four short new landing pages (one for each Ad Group - see one here) with:

1. new images relating to the offer - including the famous AOL free wireless router!
2. brightly coloured headings and buttons - calls to action that really stand out (and link) - using a package called Webstyle
3. content containing my best keyword phrases
4. AOL package details and Buy buttons above the fold
5. small, keyword-heavy AND relevant sections of copy below the fold

So far clicks are significantly higher, and my cost per click is going down.....

I think the main point I learnt from this exercise was that a Google Adwords page should be designed differently to an SEO page - it sounds obvious but it is easy to forget when you are in an SEO mindset with H1 and H2 tags, link text, etc.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Driving sales with Google Adwords

My Google Adwords campaign has been running for a few days now and is driving traffic to my AOL landing page on my UK broadband comparison website www.ukbroadbandfinder.com.

I can't use AOL trademarks, but I have written loads of ads which are quite specific about AOL broadband and dial up package details - speed, downloads, free wireless router, free month, broadband with no minimum contract if you switch to AOL, etc.

Now the campaign is up and running I am tweaking it all the time - clearer Google ads, more popular keywords, keyword mis-spellings - and I'm also continually optimising the landing page (while I also work on the general SEO on the whole broadband site).

It is hard work but the person I really feel sorry for is Jason Henry at affiliate network TradeDoubler, who has been the recipient of far too many emails from me about Adwords functionality, keywords, and optimising. Sadly for Jason, there's more to come.

I'll be working with AOL and TradeDoubler later this week to fine-tune my campaign, and also to find out which areas of my broadband availability website need search engine optimisation (SEO) changes.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Blogtastic

I've currently got four consumer blogs linking to www.ukbroadbandfinder.com

So far they haven't been optimised for search engines (SEO) as I have been concentrating on my main broadband website, but I hope I am doing some things right to build traffic on my blogs and to drive traffic from them to my broadband website.

Google loves blogs if they are regularly updated.

UKBroadbandFinder Offers at http://ukbroadbandfinder.blogspot.com. I use this blog to post new broadband offers or promote aspects of my broadband comparison website (new articles, great functionality, etc). I track all the links so I can establish if any sales come directly from this blog. I also make sure that all links have title text and keyword-rich link text.

My broadband blogs:

UK Broadband News at http://ukbroadband.wordpress.com. This is for news articles about broadband, dial up, mobile, internet and more. There is usually something to write about about each day - for a start there's always a story about Virgin Media (people trying to buy it, spats with Sky, cable broadband offers...). I'm using it to drive traffic directly to my broadband website and increase my credibility in the sector.

The Broadband Glossary at http://broadbandglossary.wordpress.com. Need a broadband definition? I've been developing this glossary for a couple of months now. It covers more than just broadband - dial up, internet, www, etc. I'm trying to add to it each day. It drives traffic to www.ukbroadbandfinder.com, and vice versa - I hope it answers users' questions about broadband and keeps them on my site.

UK Broadband Finder blog at http://www.ukbroadbandfinder.com/broadband_blog.html. This blog has broadband special offers, industry trends (free trials, free broadband) and website information (new articles, new site functionality).

BT Tradespace site at http://ukbroadbandfinder.bttradespace.com. This has short blog and product posts about broadband offers and news. BT Tradespace is quite popular with search engines.

Next blogging steps:

1. BT Tradespace has an option to upload a podcast. I'd like to record my own broadband-related podcast and upload it to the site.
2. Update my ukbroadbandfinder.com blog more often!
3. The first 3 are all on Technorati. I need to link up with other blog directories.
4. Do more for SEO on the blogs themselves.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Broadband Adwords campaign goes live

This week I finalised my new Google Adwords campaign and sent it Live.

I've used Adwords for broadband before but I had found it difficult to get good returns - so a few months ago I switched it off. Since then the sales have been building, but I know I need to make Adwords work alongside my SEO-driven organic search traffic and sales.

With Adwords, the obvious broadband keywords are, not surprisingly, expensive, and my previous landing pages were too generic (which meant I paid even more for my clicks).

So with my new campaign:

1. My new PPC (pay per click) campaign is more targeted - it goes to a revamped AOL landing page that has been optimised for SEO.
2. TradeDoubler sent me some good converting keywords
3. I used an application called KeywordConvert which is really useful for generating keyword phrases (add your keywords to three columns and it automatically comes up with all possible combinations for broad match, exact match and phrase match).
4. I have written targeted ads - four for each Ad Group. It will be interesting to see which of these gets the most click-throughs (and whether those clicks then convert!)

Now the campaign has been running for a couple of days I can already see where I need to add more keywords so I'll try to do that this weekend.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Narrow down your broadband results

I haven't posted for a while but I have been busy working with my friendly neighbourhood techie (otherwise known as Brett) on www.ukbroadbandfinder.com.

Today the new broadband results filters went live - which means customers can narrow down their broadband search by lots of factors including download speed, price, upload speed, broadband type, download allowance and more.

This should be particularly useful for people in urban areas who can get loads of broadband deals in their area, or for anyone who knows what's important to them in a great broadband deal - superfast broadband speeds, a cheap broadband deal, unlimited downloads, or a one month broadband contract.

I've spent a lot of time today testing the new filters and reworking the text and and I'm sure I'll adapt the filters over time as I get feedback on what works best (and what users want to filter on to narrow their broadband search).

The broadband search filters work on a postcode or phone number search - or just go to the broadband packages listing page and filter from there.

So check out the filters now on www.ukbroadbandfinder.com

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

New wireless broadband article

I'm still adding new and updated original content to my website.

Today I have added another article to my broadband comparison website, www.ukbroadbandfinder.com.

This one is about wireless broadband and Wi-Fi - how it works and what some of the terminology means.

I've also included a list of broadband packages that come with a free wireless router.

As with all my new pages (and some of the old ones - retrofitting takes a long time...) the wireless broadband page has a search engine-friendly URL - http://www.ukbroadbandfinder.com/wireless_broadband.html

I've also added several blog posts to my UK Broadband finder blog (about recent changes to the website) - as we all know, Google loves frequently updated websites!

So check out my wireless broadband article now on www.ukbroadbandfinder.com

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Polling day has arrived

I said in my last Broadband Apprentice post that I wanted to add a poll as a regular feature. After a couple of tweaks, the UK Broadband Finder poll is now up - check it out at www.ukbroadbandfinder.com

I'm going to aim for one poll a month. The first one asks what is the most important factor driving visitors' next broadband package purchase. I think the results will make interesting reading as cheap broadband battles with blistering superfast speeds or unlimited downloads. I'll report back on the results at a later date.

Why am I adding a poll?

1. to learn more about what my website visitors: what they want from their broadband, biggest broadband gripes, best / worst providers, etc
2. for feedback on my broadband comparison website
3. to drive visits through publicity from press releases and news stories (about my poll findings)

So check out the poll now on www.ukbroadbandfinder.com

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Find broadband faster

Problem: How to help visitors to my broadband comparison website narrow down their choice to the best broadband deal for them?

If you live in an urban area you might have all the ADSL broadband deals available to you, plus several LLU provider deals, plus Virgin Media cable, plus Sky satellite. Unless you've heard particularly good or bad things about a broadband provider, or you are buying solely on price, or you can't get ADSL broadband at all, it can be really hard to know why broadband package A might be any better than broadband package B.

Broadband can be quite a long sell, and while I want to have enough helpful content to keep buyers on my broadband website until they have made an informed decision, ideally I should be speeding up the time it takes for them to choose and buy broadband.

So I have been looking at ways I can help my visitors find a broadband package more quickly.

1. Search by bundle / just broadband - visitors could already select home or business broadband on their initial postcode or phone number search - now they can also select broadband-only or bundles on my broadband search box.
2. Best Sellers - I've written a new page (suitably optimised!) called Broadband providers - best sellers which lists the top 5 broadband providers on www.ukbroadbandfinder.com
3. I already had several pages of element-specific broadband packages, eg Cheap Broadband, Superfast Broadband, Special Offers, and Free Broadband.

In progress:

1. There has always been a filter on my broadband package listings and results page so visitors can reorganise their results by price, download speed, broadband type, and provider (alphabetical listing). But I don't think it is obvious enough so I'm looking at making this stand out much more - and adding an Unlimited Downloads filter.
2. Add a poll - a regular poll on visitors' views on different broadband providers would help other users, and help me highlight the best deals and providers.
   
3. Best Buys for each category - to highlight particularly great deals

Check out the changes already on www.ukbroadbandfinder.com. I'll be coming back to this issue as my website develops and the broadband filtering speeds up.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

In my last post I mentioned the new broadband articles I had written. These were keyword-rich but I know search engine optimisation (SEO) is about more than liberally dotting the word broadband about the site (which, as it is a broadband website, it has enough of already).

I've worked on SEO before, particularly when I used to work for other companies and I got to spend their money on it - and I have also tried to follow the principles on UK Broadband Finder (adding keywords, not using Flash or images to convey content). But I knew I had got lazy with my H1 and H2 headings and that I wasn't making it easy for Google to spider down through my website.

SEO was one of the areas I spoke to AOL and TradeDoubler about - and Sanjeev Mirchandani, the Publisher Manager at TradeDoubler, has helped me out with an SEO checklist covering the basic SEO principles. He also had a good browse around www.ukbroadbandfinder.com and came back with feedback on what I'm doing right, and where I'm missing a trick. (Good - lots of content. Bad - little internet linking from within the body text, poor use of H headers).

So I've started work on some of the main articles, making SEO changes in the following areas:

1. including SEO keywords in H1, H2 and H3 headers
2. using SEO keyword phrases in the body text, particularly near the top of the page
3. adding internal and external text links (again, using keyword phrases in the link) to make it easier for Google to visit other pages on the website (rather than just relying on the surrounding page navigation)
4. adding new content
5. diving into Joomla and giving my main content pages search engine friendly URLs (eg http://www.ukbroadbandfinder.com/dial_up.html)
   

There's loads more to do - and now I'm worried I've added too many links and keyword phrases - but it's a start. Next step is to give each of my broadband packages a friendly URL (over 100 of them) which will take time but should be worth it.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

More broadband content!

Content is king was one of the first things I learnt when I started working as a web editor back in the mists of internet time (well, 1999). We all used to say clicks and mortar without irony as well.

I may not say clicks and mortar any more, or make my fingers into quotation marks to stress a point (ah, the delights of 20th century business meetings) but it is pretty obvious that new, relevant content is still vital. So when I started this TradeDoubler / AOL broadband affiliate mentoring scheme it gave me the push I needed to look again at content gaps on my broadband website, www.ukbroadbandfinder.com

UK Broadband Finder needed more content for three reasons:

• to keep broadband buyers on my website by answering their questions and helping them with the buying process (I think we used to call it "stickyness")
• as a vehicle for all those broadband keyword phrases I need to include, to improve my organic traffic via the search engines
• to keep the website changing regularly
  

So as a first step I have been written a few new articles:

• Getting started with broadband
• Switching broadband providers
• Dial up internet access
• Broadband for Macs
  
• Short contract broadband

I've noticed already that we're already getting more organic traffic - some of this may be down to the appalling weather but I can see from Google Analytics that some of it is content-driven.

I've also written more broadband definitions for my Broadband Glossary blog, which has also driven more visitors - to the blog itself and then on to www.ukbroadbandfinder.com.

Now, I'm off to do some SEO!

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder

Welcome to The Broadband Apprentice

But... what is it?

I run a UK broadband availability website where you can compare broadband in your area - you can see it at www.ukbroadbandfinder.com

The website started last year with a handful of broadband providers and our trusty broadband checker (thank you, SamKnows). Now it has over 100 broadband packages and more than 20 broadband providers; a broadband speed test; broadband FAQs; a business broadband section and more.

But despite all this, there's a lot more I could do to make UK Broadband Finder more effective, credible and profitable. I've learnt a lot in the past year from podcasts, books, forums, and the day-to-day running of my website, but I know I still have loads to learn.

So when I was lurking on the Affiliates4U affiliate forum and read about the inaugural AOL / TradeDoubler affiliate mentoring scheme for broadband affiliate websites, I applied... and was chosen.

This mentoring scheme will last for around six months, and I'll be getting advice and practical help improving my website, including website feedback, SEO tips, and pay-per-click (ppc) advice. In return, AOL and affiliate network TradeDoubler should get more sales, good publicity and feedback on the problems broadband affiliates encounter.

My Broadband Apprentice blog will follow this mentoring scheme for the next few months, from my point of view.

This is a big opportunity for me. We've already had our first meeting and I've started work on improving my website's effectiveness. So please check back and find out how www.ukbroadbandfinder.com is doing.

By Sarah, UK Broadband Finder