Despite an unfortunate clash with 2 other events on the same night, I’m pleased to say SearchNorwich #3 kept its high attendance with over 50 of you showing up!

The talks and speakers

Charity: Lisa Becker from Keeping Abreast

Andrew Martin: How to use Schema to enrich search results and improve your CTR

Key takeaways from Andrew:

Schema (Structured Data) enables you to help search engines better understand the content of your website – right down to really granular details.

JSON-LD script is the preferred method to deliver the markup into your site.

Google, Yahoo!, Yandex and Bing collaborated to develop schema and it’s constantly evolving and expanding.

Search Engines can use schema to make a variety of extra information/features visually prominent in search results – which in turn can help lure more users to click through to your site.

There are lots of free online tools that can help you learn to write and test schema markup from Google, SchemaApp and schema.org.

Video

Slides

Ashley Hewitt: 3 key stages for client relationship success

Key takeaways from Ashley:

Just because client/agency relationship management doesn’t scoop those ‘sexy’ awards, doesn’t make it any less important. Poor relationships have a direct correlation with poor client retention

Don’t set unrealistic goals or expectations. EVER. If you can’t achieve what you’re suggesting can be delivered, trust will be jeopardised at a very early stage. Use a testing period to understand the true growth opportunities

When meeting with the client, be it a physical meeting or telephone call, listen. As an agency, it’s invaluable that you get a full insight to the business operations and understand the areas/goals that require focus

Ensure that whenever you’re working on behalf of the client, that your actions represent the brand in the best light. Don’t jeopardise clients reputations for a quick win, across any activity, without first discussing the potential repercussions first

Be patient, be clear and avoid any industry jargon when explaining activity and results

Make your client feel important. Whether their spending £100 or £10,000 they need to feel as though they’re being looked after and are getting good value for their budget

Never forget: Your client/agency contact is human. They will have good days, they will have bad days, emotions will occasionally overrule niceties, but don’t take it personally. Maintain a professional standard and always pay attention to changes in tone and communications; ensuring that any potential issues are addressed before they become relationship damaging

Video

Slides

Your feedback

You want to get to know each other better

We received this piece of feedback:

“A half-formed thought that just occurred to me – what if prior to the event, attendees uploaded their logos somewhere? They could form a carousel/grid/poster as part of a “Who’s here” feature. Perhaps micro-profiles that show name/role/logo/interests/what we’re working on. Just another way of connecting dots and learning about those you don’t get to meet on the night.”

I think this is a fantastic idea! As we use MeetUp.com to organise our events, we can already see who is signed up to attend and there is the ability to upload an avatar, location and bio, so I would encourage all of you to do it prior to attending an event!

You were a bit hot under the collar!

There was a couple of bits of feedback saying the room was quite hot – totally agree with you! I tried to get the air conditioning switched on during the event, but the way the mics had been rigged for filming, this was not possible. I’ll make sure it is always an option in the future 🙂

Technical isn’t always scary

One bit of feedback I was particularly pleased about was the difficulty ratings for Andrew Martin’s talk on schema. Despite being a potentially very technical topic, over 70% of respondents rated the difficulty of the talk as “Just right”, which I think is an amazing achievement!

Thanks again to our speakers, attendees and sponsors

You’re all amazing and I hope we’ll see you in 2019 for the next SearchNorwich, which will be the 10th January!

Wow! What an interesting event SearchNorwich 2 was – how will we follow that? Make the pizzas arrive on time, I guess! We’ll be back on Thursday 8th November, kicking off as usual at 6:15pm!

What’s this one all about?

SearchNorwich 3 is going to get technical with Andrew Martin talking to us about one of the most important aspects of SEO in 2018: Schema, specifically, how you can use schema to improve your click through rate (CTR) in the search results.

We’re also welcoming Ashley Hewett from bangbangDigital who is going to be helping both clients and agencies with some tips on how to improve your relationships.

Our charity spotlight this month is going to be from Lisa Becker, who is the Fundraising Officer at Keeping Abreast, a charity that offers support groups across the UK for women facing/considering reconstructive surgery, to meet/talk to others who have been through it.

Never been before?

You should! It’s a really friendly bunch of people and everyone comes with an open mind to learn. In fact, there are loads of reasons to come (apart from the free food, drinks, wine beer and cool arcade machines).

You’ll find out how people are really doing search marketing in the front line and winning results. Apart from listening to the speakers, it’s a great place to network if you’re after a job or just looking to swap advice with someone.

Event information

Date: Thursday 8th November

Time: 6:15pm – 9:00pm

Location: 1st Floor Event Space, St. George’s Works, Norwich, NR3 1DD

Tickets: Attendance is free but you need to register on MeetUp

Event Schedule:

18:15-18:45: Meet new people

Grab a name badge and a drink, wear a smile and you’ll meet some lovely people who want to talk to you about search (and probably other stuff, too!).

18:45-19:00: Charity spotlight: Keeping Abreast with Lisa Becker

Lisa Becker will be presenting a 10 minute talk, letting us know about the work Keeping Abreast are doing.

19:00-19:30: Andrew Martin: How to use Schema to enrich search results and improve CTR

This session introduces Schema, and explains how you can use it to help search engines better understand your company, your website and your online content, and present it in a more interesting way right there in search results.

19:30-20:00: Ashley Hewitt: 3 key stages for client relationship success

Understand how the impact of your working relationships can cause issues and learn how to improve trust, client retention and business success.

20:00-21:00: Networking and chats

Refill your glasses, share your thoughts on what you’ve just learned and meet some new people! Drinks and snacks are kindly provided by our November 2018 sponsors.

How to find the venue:

Never fear, it’s easy to find! Google Maps will take you straight to the front door of St. Georges Works off Colegate which looks like this:

Take a step in and go through the doors directly ahead of you and up the first stairs, turn left and you’ll see a sign for “First Floor” – you’re almost there! Go through the first door on your right and you’ll walk into the 1st Floor Event Space, congratulations, you made it! Grab a name badge, a drink and meet some of the friendliest search marketers in Norwich.

Where to park:

If you’re arriving by car, the nearest car park is St.Andrews Car park which is a mere 3 minute walk away from the St. Georges Works venue. You can check how many parking spaces are free in St. Andrews with ParkBot.

November 2018 Supporters

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