NEWS

News, Insights & Opinions
Achieving SEO results with Podium
Achieving SEO results with Podium
|Podium
Podium examines the outstanding performance of an SEO, content and social marketing campaign after the first 12 months. Achieving outstanding page-one-on-Google search results isn’t easy, particularly because of the ever-changing algorithms that Google implements to ensure the cream always rises to the top. Essentially, ‘organic’ search is exactly that: organic. The days of artificially setting up a website to ‘cheat’ Google have gone: it is a meritocracy and only the best, most frequently-updated websites will prosper. We have written on here before about how long it takes to achieve results... Read more...
Using PR to boost SEO campaigns
Using PR to boost SEO campaigns
|Podium
Podium has demonstrated the power of PR when it comes to boosting SEO results with some outstanding national and regional media coverage for a client, leading to a huge spike in web traffic. We produced a one-off media relations piece for our technical SEO client, Agents Property Auction, about a property that was going under the hammer with a starting price of just £1. The ‘fixer-upper’ property is in Middlesbrough, so we worked with the Evening Gazette on a piece before the auction, and then on a follow-up piece that... Read more...
Hiring : Paid Social Media Intern
Hiring : Paid Social Media Intern
|Podium
Growing SEO, PR and marketing agency Podium is hiring. We are looking for a social media intern for an initial paid six-month contract, to work on developing the social media accounts of our increasingly diverse, and always-interesting, client base. Joining a small team, the successful candidate will be expected to hit the ground running and will be given responsibility for working on live accounts from day one. No photocopying or tedious data entry will be required. You will be working with a number of our existing clients to develop their... Read more...
Should you spend more time on content creation?
Should you spend more time on content creation?
|Podium
Some bloggers spend as much as 10 hours per week on content creation, on top of their full-time jobs, according to The Drum. The research, unveiled as part of Social Media Week London, underlined the importance of keeping content updated, fresh, informative and entertaining. It’s so important that people are spending 40 hours per month on maintaining their blog. The growing influence of bloggers and the utter dominance of online media (social and otherwise) as a way of receiving news and information would suggest it’s probably time well spent. The... Read more...
Maintaining marketing momentum with Podium
Maintaining marketing momentum with Podium
|Podium
One of my favourite quotes of all time came from Andy Warhol, writing in 1975, and goes as follows: What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the... Read more...
Media relations: Podium secures Chronicle PR coverage
Media relations: Podium secures Chronicle PR coverage
|Podium
Podium has worked with its public relations client, Thompson and Co Solicitors, to secure prominent double-page PR coverage in the Newcastle Chronicle this week. The coverage relates to the successful conclusion of a clinical negligence claim, in which Thompson & Co secured an apology and out-of-court settlement on behalf of its client. Media relations campaigns are an outstanding way for law firms to raise their profile and to increase awareness of the work they do. Thompson & Co represents scores of clients who have been the victims of industrial illness... Read more...
Hiring: PR & Social Media Intern
Hiring: PR & Social Media Intern
|Podium
Please note we are no longer accepting applications for this position. Podium is hiring. We are looking for a PR and social media intern for a fixed six-month contract, to work on developing the social media output of our increasingly diverse and always-interesting client base. Job outline below - to apply, send us a CV and covering letter to info@onthepodium.co.uk or give us a ring on 0191 233 6397 if you have any questions. Growing PR, marketing and SEO agency Podium has a six-month internship position available for a recent... Read more...
Is Facebook appropriate for businesses?
Is Facebook appropriate for businesses?
|Podium
“Should businesses use Facebook?” remains a very pertinent question. There are times when using Facebook can feel like a strangely hollow, unrewarding experience. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it frequently makes me despair of the human race. It has become a wasteland of recycled jokes and memes, bandwagon-jumping, pieces of so-called ‘wisdom’ delivered in picture form, baby pictures, selfies, clickbait, compliment fishing and cries for help. There are still plenty of people on my news feed who make using Facebook worthwhile. I won’t flatter their egos... Read more...
SEO - achieving more page one search terms with Podium
SEO - achieving more page one search terms with Podium
|Podium
We recently blogged about the importance of companies using the data at their disposal to create online content. Far too few companies do it, so we thought we’d take the opportunity to lead by example, and have taken a look at some of the data behind our clients’ successful recent campaigns. One of the key measurements we use (although there are many) is to look at ‘Page One search terms’: basically, the number of different words or phrases that, when typed into Google, will result in our client being listed... Read more...
Firms must use their data for online content and PR
Firms must use their data for online content and PR
|Podium
Not enough companies make use of the data at their disposal to create PR stories and web content, says Steve Maybury This week, the Guardian has given us the news... Read more...
Press Coverage for Newcastle Clinic
Press Coverage for Newcastle Clinic
|Podium
Podium has worked with Newcastle Clinic to secure press coverage in one of its target geographical areas, Cumbria. The opportunity was spotted by the Clinic, home to the North East and Cumbria's only open-sided MRI scanner. A news story revealed a Carlisle man was being forced to pay for a second MRI scan on his injured knee because another private clinic had gone into administration. Shaun Fryer, MD at Newcastle Clinic, stepped in to offer a free scan to the gentleman, which was completed within days - instead of the... Read more...
SEO sounding good for Acoustic door company
SEO sounding good for Acoustic door company
|Podium
We were approached recently by Norsound, an acoustic door seal company based in the North East following a dramatic drop in their website rankings. Their rankings had slipped and they... Read more...
Is it time you gave your marketing a competitive edge?
Is it time you gave your marketing a competitive edge?
|Podium
I arrived in work the other morning to find a box of chocolates on my desk. Posh orange liqueurs, they were, presumably from an admirer. My immediate response was, naturally,... Read more...
Newcastle PR team creating front-page news
Newcastle PR team creating front-page news
|Podium
Podium has worked with its public relations client, Thompson & Co Solicitors, to help generate the front-page story in today's Sunderland Echo. The story focuses on Thompson & Co's role in helping secure justice for the family of a woman who had suffered a serious stroke that went undetected by medical staff. Though this is a tragic story, it is something that is worth highlighting as part of a PR campaign because of the need to ensure that mistakes are not repeated. As is so frequently the case with clinical... Read more...
Copywriting: Make Your Copy Sparkle!
Copywriting: Make Your Copy Sparkle!
|Podium
‘Make your intro sparkle!’ was the frequently-repeated, usually shouted, mantra of the man who taught me how to write. He was (and is) Mike Lockley, a fairly cynical but thoroughly likeable former national tabloid journalist, who can still be found upsetting people with his newspaper columns in the Midlands. At the time, I was relatively fresh out of university and attending a day-release journalism course at Wolverhampton College. The lessons were difficult: I’d gone from spending 2,500 words on an essay to no more than a tenth of that on... Read more...
Podium secures SEO work with leading North East law firm
Podium secures SEO work with leading North East law firm
|Podium
Podium has secured another new client, this time working with North East firm DMA Law to provide Search Engine optimisation (SEO) for its website. The arrangement will see Podium providing technical website set-up and optimisation to improve the flow of web traffic to the site and to increase its profile in Google searches. DMA Law specialises in a number of practice areas, including family law, wills and probate, conveyancing, life planning, criminal defence and dispute resolution. It has offices in Darlington, Sunderland, Peterlee, Pity Me and Hartlepool. Podium MD Andy... Read more...
Ad campaign shows success of integrated marketing approach
Ad campaign shows success of integrated marketing approach
|Podium
We have been seeing some good early results following the launch of our ad campaign for Newcastle Clinic. The adverts, which have been showing across the ITV Borders region in April, as well as across the Tyne-Tees region on the online ITV Player, are generating leads and interest and helping to drive both phone enquiries and traffic to the website.   The advert focuses on the key product messages, that Newcastle Clinic is home to the region's only open-sided MRI scanner, which makes it perfect for people suffering from claustrophobia... Read more...
How long does SEO take?
How long does SEO take?
|Podium
It’s a question we hear a lot in the Podium Office – how long does SEO take? The answer is one that we find most difficult to explain – we can’t tell you! And any SEO company that promises you results within a month would best be avoided. SEO is made up of many different factors that include:- How much information is on your site How relevant the information is on your site How much competition there is How well the site has been setup both on the page content... Read more...