However, there have been all kinds of social developments in the online community within a relatively short space of time, with sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn becoming part of the way in which people interact with one another nowadays. Skype and video conferencing have also become more prominent in terms of effective communication mediums.

So, this begs the question: Has email now become out-dated in its current form? And if so, what is the next step in its evolution?

The answer may lie in part with three guys from Australia who quit their jobs with Google as they felt that email had “stagnated”. After leaving the search giant, they soon got to work developing their own product; one they hope will reduce the time people spend wading through their bulging inboxes.

The main benefit of their new system, Fluent, which is the result of six months’ full-time design work, is that you should be able to get through your emails “20 per cent faster” than the regular opening before reading approach. Their secret lies with the fact that you can search through your emails instantly as you begin to type. The display has also been given an overhaul too – the “stream” service is more like Twitter or Facebook, bringing email up to date with the way people now like to communicate.

One handy feature of Fluent is the ability to manage multiple email accounts using just the one log-in, while attachments are presented more like a slide show, making them more readily accessible. Items can be actioned right away, which is great when you are waiting on that one specific email and usually have to trawl through masses of junk mail till you get to that all-important message.

There is one issue however, which does bring into question how popular this new service will be when it moves out of its current beta status. That is, how it manages to integrate the user accounts of the leading webmail providers. Fluent can already synchronise with Gmail and integration with Hotmail is something they hope to implement in the near future, but how successful it is at this will determine how far-reaching the product will become.

For now, the three designers are focusing their efforts on appealing to small businesses and independent professionals who would welcome the integration of their many work and personal accounts.

As for the future of email, maybe we are looking at a shift towards faster mail browsing and search facilities, bringing it up to speed with recent trends in social networking. It is hard to see how this would not be a big improvement. One thing is for sure, webmail clients like Outlook are certainly starting to look more than a little out-dated.

We are now recruiting for a Social Media Manager, reporting to our Head of Social Media as part of our growing Social Media department.

The Social Media Department is responsible for managing social media campaigns on behalf of our clients through a variety of channels and formats. The team uses a variety of different systems and tools with the priority to ensure the highest level of strategic return on investment for the client.

Main Purpose of Job:

The Social Media Manager has overall responsibility for ensuring that all social media campaigns are delivered to the highest possible quality standard within agreed timeframes. This includes responsibility for managing and reporting personal work flow and co-ordinating with clients to gather assets for channel management and set-up.

The Social Media Manager is also responsible for implementing and monitoring social media campaigns for a number of clients on a daily basis, and assisting with new business opportunities by assisting in the analysing of prospective campaigns, assisting in the writing proposals, and offering creative suggestions (as appropriate) to the Head of Social Media.

The Social Media Manager must have strong organizational and admin skills and be able to manage their own workflow. Accuracy is vital. They must maintain a strong overall social media and online marketing knowledge and must be passionate about the subject.

They must play an ongoing supportive role in ensuring the Company maintains its position in the industry by staying abreast of current trend and industry developments.

This position will be granted a company laptop for out-of-hours engagement (as required).

Key Responsibilities:

Engagement

• Use broad writing and communication skills, appropriate to a variety of industries and markets.
• Implement pre-defined messaging strategies for the continual ROI of client campaigns.
• Continually update and improve social media channels on behalf of clients according to feedback, company performance, and industry developments.
• Create appropriate messaging both spontaneously and utilizing a pre-written Social Media Editorial Calendar [SMEC] approach.
• Carry out work to the highest possible standard in order to meet clients’ marketing and business objectives.
• Be occasionally flexible in order to capitalize on out-of-hours engagement and channel monitoring tactics.

Monitoring & Reporting

• Monitor activity within client channels on a daily basis.
• Provide suggestions for periodic optimisation of client campaigns.
• Use manual and off-the-shelf tools to capture and compile monthly reports, and conduct weekly measurement of social media activities.
• Suggest any recommendations ensuring continuous improvement and maximum ROI.

Development/other

• Be aware of (and adhere to) terms and conditions of all main social media channels.
• Work closely with Head of Social Media to develop new products and services in line with company goals, industry developments and the marketplace the Company operates in.
• Adhere to departmental process recording, time recording, and client management policies.
• Maintain a high level of strategic social media/online marketing knowledge through personal research, networking, and attending learning and development opportunities where appropriate.
• Assist in the promotion on the social media department throughout the Company.
• Assist in maintaining the high quality profile of the social media department.
• Maintain a professional attitude in personal social media channels.

If you are interested in applying for this position and for further information, please forward your CV and details of your current salary to hr@justsearch.co.uk.

Once owned by the Manchester Evening News, Riverside is made up of five buildings – four of which are named after printing typefaces Aldine, Baskerville, Cloister and Delphian (thankfully not Comic Sans). The Just Search office is in the Delphian building, on New Bailey Street on the banks of the River Irwell in Manchester city centre. The Lowry Hotel and Salford Central train station are directly opposite, with an all important Starbucks just across the road.

In 2011, a £5m refurbishment scheme created two new reception areas and a redesign of public space providing an impressive office building for both staff and clients alike. It’s a great space, and all part of the JustSearch growth plan for 2012.

You can see the building here on FourSquare and GoogleMaps.

View from New Bailey St

View from Trinity Bridge

Chris Smith, Karl Hodgson and Piotr Porczak all hard at work!

As you can see from the below report we have had a successful year with an increase of £210K in operating profit on the same quarter last year!

In Summary:

• The Group posted much improved results on 2010 (which were also a dramatic improvement on 2009) with £470k profit in Quarter 4.

• The company also had strong positive cash flow in the quarter of £730k

• The company introduced cost savings of circa £1.5m throughout the year

• The company reduced its borrowings by almost £2.2m throughout the year

• Wooshii our investment has seen huge growth in its business of video marketing

• France and Italy were the highest growth areas within the business

Strong cash flow from operating activities in the fourth quarter:

Fourth quarter 2011

• Net sales amounted to £4M (2010: £4.6M) , a decrease of £500K
• The operating profit excluding depreciations (EBITDA) amounted to £470K (2010: £260K), an increase of £210K on the same quarter last year.
• Strong cash flow in the quarter. Cash flow from operating activities amounted to £730k (2010: £250k)
• Net profit for the remaining activities amounted to £80k (2010: £140k)
• The company is directed on the bid to sell foreign products with much media money to proprietary services such as SEO. This gives the company lower turnover but significantly better profitability
• Consultant business Circuit was disposed of for a purchase price of £800k

January-December 2011

• Net sales amounted to £16m (£18.2) million, a decrease of £2.2 million but this includes selling Media Analysis during 2010.
• Cash flow from operating activities amounted to £500k (£1.4m)
• Net profit on ordinary operations amounted to £580k (2010: £840k)
• Brand new cost structure, costs reduced in England and Sweden, with approximately £1.5m
• Strong growth in France and Italy
• The Board of Directors proposes that no dividend be submitted for 2011

After the end of the period

• There was a reduction in net debt of the company of circa £2.0m

Another great year ahead and lot’s to talk about on the horizon. A very big thank you to all our new and repeat customers who’ve worked with us to make this happen. Keep an eye on the blog for some interesting developments in the pipe-line and regular updates starting again soon!

The Web Design and Development Team are responsible for web builds, web development and web design projects for a number of clients.  These projects also require SEO principles to be applied when carrying out development or design work with a focus on design for usability.

As a web designer you will be responsible for the layout, visual appearance and usability of a variety of projects, therefore you should be naturally creative and imaginative.  Some projects will be developed by other programmers in the team some of which you will be required to develop yourself. The web designer may also be required to carry out overflow SEO work at times.

Knowledge of HTML, CSS and W3C is an absolute must, as is knowledge of PHP (although ASP would also be advantageous). You must have experience in designing websites and knowledge of graphic design packages such as Fireworks or Photoshop. Experience of Facebook app development is a must.  Experience of mobile app development and product testing would be advantageous.

As you will need to apply SEO principles in your projects, a basic understanding of SEO is desirable, and it is essential to have an interest in the field and a willingness to learn. Full SEO training is provided in this role.

If you are interested in applying for this position and for further information, please forward your CV and details of your current salary to hr@justsearch.co.uk.

The PPC Department is responsible for managing PPC campaigns for client’s websites, through a variety of formats. The team uses a variety of different PPC techniques with the priority to ensure the highest level of return on investment.

The PPC Account Executive is responsible for monitoring and maintaining PPC campaigns across a number of our client’s websites on a daily basis. This is a technical, hands on role, where you will be liaising with clients to achieve the required results as well as a continual optimisation of their campaign. Knowledge of Google Adwords is desired but not necessary as training will be provided, but a high level of competency in IT, Mathematics, the Internet and Microsoft Excel is a must.

If you are interested in applying for this position and for further information, please forward your CV and current/expected salary to hr@justsearch.co.uk.

The Up sell, Cross sell & Renewal (UCR) team is responsible for liaising with and managing all of Just Search’s clients.  The UCR Team will work alongside Sales, SEO and Content specialists in order to manage a portfolio of clients.

The UCR Manager is responsible for managing a team of UCR Execs and managing the renewal process with each client, working alongside the relevant Exec to negotiate new contracts, pricing services and agreeing the campaign for the next 12 months.

The UCR Manager will deal with any escalated issues or problems relating to the Client and to liaise with their team on a regular basis regarding the service in order to ensure that a high Client renewal rate is maintained.

The successful candidate will have a proven track record in B2B Sales – specifically Retention & Growth.

If you are interested in applying for this position and for further information, please forward your CV and current/expected salary to hr@justsearch.co.uk.

The SEO Team is responsible for analysing clients’ websites in order to recommend SEO strategies, as well as carrying out all the programming work on clients’ websites, ensuring the best possible ROI.

The team uses a custom built project management system and a quality management process to ensure the highest level of service for our clients.

As an SEO Programmer you are responsible for defining, implementing and monitoring effective SEO strategies across a number of our clients’ web sites on a daily basis. This is a technical, hands on role, where you will be liaising with clients to achieve the required results as well as continual optimisation. Knowledge of HTML is an absolute must, as is knowledge of an additional language such as PHP or ASP. You should have a strong understanding of SEO principles, as well as an interest in the field and a willingness to learn.

If you are interested in applying for this position and for further information, please forward your CV and current/expected salary to hr@justsearch.co.uk.

We hope that you have found our recent blog posts helpful. Following on from our post on setting up Site Search in Google Analytics, if you have an ecommerce site, then ecommerce tracking is a must. The data collected will enable you to determine if your site is generating ROI for your SEO efforts. In some cases an SEO campaign might be very successful at generating good rankings and bringing large amounts of additional traffic to your site, however if the customers are not converting and buying products from your site then it’s a wasted effort. Ecommerce tracking can help you to monitor your conversion and help you to get a better understanding of which of your products are most popular and those which generate the most revenue.

Here’s how to add ecommerce tracking to your site.

• Log in to your Google Analytics account and enable ecommerce tracking.

Old version of Analytics

• Click the edit button on your website Analytics profile
• Go to the profile settings page and click the edit link
• Go to the Ecommerce section and select yes.

New version of Analytics

• Select your profile, then click on the settings button in the top right corner
• Click on the profile settings tab
• In the Ecommerce Settings section select Yes, and E-Commerce site from the drop down selection.

• Once this has been enabled, you will need to ensure that your site’s final checkout page e.g. receipt or thank you page sends the ecommerce tracking details to Google. There is a little bit of coding involved with this, but a good step by step resource can be found on Google: http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/gaTrackingEcommerce.html

With some ecommerce websites such as Magento the setting up of ecommerce tracking can be as simple as enabling it in your Google Analytics account and then the website platform does the rest for you. However, for other bespoke systems the tracking may need to be included manually. Whatever the installation method, ecommerce tracking is an invaluable tool for determining if your website is making the best out of its traffic.

Final Thought

The information we have covered in these blog post should help you to set up a good Google Analytics account. In our next blog post we will cover even more things which you can set up on your Google Analytics account such as ‘Funnels’, which track which avenues traffic comes through and where people may be dropping out on your site. We will also provide a ‘how to’ guide on connecting Google Analytics to your AdWords account. TTFN

Gemma Neesham
SEO Manager

Now you have set up goals in Google Analytics, in this article we will be showing you how to set up Site Search. Many website such as shopping websites, blogs and forums feature a site search box. They are used so that users can access the information they require as quickly as possible without using a navigation structure. Site search boxes are typically found near the top left or right of the website. Google Analytics can be used to track what users type into your site search box. This information can benefit you in a number of ways:

• Find out the most/least searched terms on your website
• Give an indication into products/pages which are not easily found using the navigation
• Find out about popular products which are searched for. If you don’t sell them, you could be missing out on potential sales

Site Search is not tracked by default in Google Analytics, but can be set up relatively easily.

To set up Site Search on Google Analytics you need to click ‘Edit’ from the ‘Main Website Profile Information’ section of the ‘Profile Settings’ page. Under the heading you will need to click ‘Do track site search’ and enter the query parameters, which Google Analytics will use to track your site search pages.

Your query parameters can be found by performing a site search on your website and looking at the URL:

When typing in ‘example’ in the site search, the following URL is displayed. The letter ‘s’ is used on this website as a query parameter and is therefore entered into the ‘Query parameter’ box, under the Site Search heading. Other parameters could include ‘q’, ‘search’, ‘term’ or ‘query’. This depends on the way your website has been built.

Once this has been entered you can save the changes and the Site Search feature in Google Analytics will now track what users type into your site search box.

For a step by step guide of how to set up Site Search in Google Analytics, please see: https://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=75817&hl=en_US

Note carefully: to enable Site Search on the new version of Google Analytics you need to:

• Click ‘Settings’ – which is on the right hand side of the page in the orange navigation bar
• Click the ‘Profile Settings’ tab

At the bottom of the page you will see the following ‘Site Search Settings’ heading where you can enter the ‘Query parameter’ and click ‘Apply’.

In the last article in this series of blog posts on setting up an effective Google Analytics account, we will be addressing the issue of ecommerce tracking.

Gareth Evans
SEO Programmer