Marketing

Google are a smart bunch and certainly know how to make us work hard to get those all-important rankings. With an ever-evolving algorithm and hugely competitive landscape, it’s a battle to see yourself outrank those you are up against.

That is why those among us in the SEO world look to deploy a host of tactics to ensure the words and images on screen translate to a high position on the SERPS.

Some of these strategies don’t always work though. We can spend time cultivating what appears to be high quality, relevant and detailed content, tailored to the search intent, yet for some reason, the Google gods think it’s not worthy of a high position. So, what do we do?

We must adapt, and match the audience demand as things change, we have to be aware of trends and make ourselves an authoritative voice on those trends. To do this, we adopt link building and digital PR strategies.

These give us the chance to amplify the voice or the message of the brand and the associated content to a potentially new and valuable audience that may have not yet found us via Google.

Building links has long since been known as a valuable tool in the world of SEO. If a high-quality site has a link to your content, it’s basically saying “we agree with this” or “these people know what they are talking about.” From this, your sites credibility grows and those ranking start to improve. So, what is the difference if both aim to give you the same result? In this edition of our blog, we take a look.

What is Digital PR?

Even if you are new to the world of marketing, you’ll know that PR can be both good and bad. In digital, bad PR isn’t so much a controversial statement, or a publicity stunt gone wrong. It’s more so that your content lands on a poor-quality site and causes your own site to lose a bit of its credibility.

Digital PR is where you use PR tactics to secure backlinks or exposure on high quality sites. Think news media, such as The Times, The Guardian, Sky News. Think industry publications specific to your niche. Think big. With digital PR you craft valued assets that can be shared and consumed by a wide audience, who in some cases, may have no interest in your brand but are lured in though your creative content. This could be videos, infographics, detailed reports or articles. Think about articles you may stumble upon such as “The five places you are likely to die.” It sounds a little morbid, it sounds a little odd, but you are giving it a click….Then once you start reading, you’ll find a link within to, let’s say, a life insurance company who have created this novel, quirky PR piece.

I’ll give you another example, how often do we see “Netflix viewers shocked by gory scene in latest show” or something similar? You click it, you want to know what the scene was, what the show was or whether people were genuinely shocked. Once on the piece, you find a few references to specific scenes, perhaps a quote from a viewer, but there it is…..the link to sub to Netflix.

You’ll craft this content, specifically for outreaching, to relevant outlets. With each item you outreach being built to the audience of the publications you are reaching out to. Some you may have built relationships up with through earlier work, others you might find via tools such as Muckrack, Prowly or Dotstar. These outlets become the metaphorical gun that shoots your message out to the new, untapped audience. To get them to do so though, you need two things. Great content, and a relationship.

Digital PR relies on relationship building, and it takes time. You need to build a contact list of site owners, journalists, marketers and more. Reaching out to them will be the start of your journey. Some may not want to know; others may love every aspect of what you have. It’s a slow burner and one where results may not be evident right away. Let’s use an example. At Chillibyte, we landed some links for a property client of ours on the Ideal Home site. This stemmed from spotting an opportunity on Dotstar. We then pitched to the journalist, she liked what we had and published it. Since then, we have been able to offer expert commentary from our client for a variety of pieces for the site where the writer reaches out to us, rather than us having to reach out to them.

You can view digital PR as they way to sing, dance and shout about your brand through being creative, informative and engaging.

What are the common digital PR tactics?

It all depends on what message you need to get across. You may have stories or stats to offer that align with a trend or current affairs. Data driven outreach is loved by media outlets as they can use it to help solidify their story. Expert commentary is loved just as much as it allows the publication to inform their audience with quotes from those “on the front line” rather than just give unsubstantiated opinions.

For the most part, digital PR will include:

• Creative marketing efforts to capture attention (videos, social campaigns, calls to action)
• Research and data driven content that provides valuable information
• Commentary and opinion to show the brand as a voice of authority
• Product launches and partnerships, showcasing innovation, new trends and endorsements

So, what about link building then?

There is a fair bit of similarity between digital PR and link building. The end result after all, is fundamentally the same. However, manual link building is a little different.

We all know that a backlink can help increase your site authority, and much like digital PR, if the link comes from a high-quality site, it’s going to work wonders. In PR though, a link isn’t always guaranteed. Some publications see your hope for a link as a chance to sell you an advertorial package, others may simply ignore links in the press release and just opt for a brand mention.

With link building, the core focus is the link. In fact, a link may be all you need to supply to the hosting site as opposed to a huge press release with media files and reams of info.

If you can successfully build links on high quality sites, you stand to see not just an enhanced credibility for your site but gain improved visibility within your industry. This then helps to build relationships among other industry experts, giving you the opportunity to perhaps work alongside each other in the future should opportunity arise.

With increased website credibility, the increased organic traffic follows (hopefully) and from this increased traffic, you should….and we say should….have a better chance of converting visitors into customers.

So how do we build links manually? We do it a little like we do with digital PR, except in some cases, you don’t need content, you just need to answer a question or provide a piece of data that helps another site out. Common link building tactics could include simply requesting a link from partners or affiliates, it could be from providing a blog with relevant images or a piece of data, or it could be from providing content that the host thinks is link worthy such as a helpful tool, some valuable resources or some key data that backs up their story or article.

You may find sites that have broken links where you can reach out and say, “Hey, I see you are talking about buying a new car, your link is broken, but don’t worry, I’ve got this if you want it” They might then just thank you for highlighting their broken page by giving you the link.

Another option could be where you reach out to a blogger for example and tell them you have some content relevant to some items on their site. You might have an infographic that complements their existing work. You don’t want paying for supplying them some valued info that bolsters their coverage, you just want the link that shows where the infographic came from.

You can view link building a little like being a helpful aid to other sites.

Overcoming hurdles

By covering both PR and link building, you stand to gain links from the high-quality media outlets but also the industry specific blogs and sites. This shows to Google that not only does the industry rate you, but the media does too.

Google won’t just take a link as a sign of quality though; it looks at the site and checks whether it serves a purpose to the user. It wants to know; will a click take the consumer to somewhere relevant and authoritative or will it take them to something of poor quality. As a result, links do not become the only factor. The quality of the content and the quality of the site come into play too.

You could, for example, look at a site that gets plenty of traffic, yet all its other metrics point to it being a site of low authority. If the content within is of high quality though, the rankings could be too. Engaging, quality content can convince Google that you are the thought leader in your field. And this, can be priceless.

It can take time though and as a result, many look to link building in favour of content. The thought being that lots of good links will push you to the top step of the Google podium. Whilst to a small degree that is correct, highlighting just one page as the bells and whistles of your site could actually demean your site’s worth. Instead, it’s best to cultivate high quality content, site wide, then when you build links and outreach, not only will Google know you are a worthy voice in the field, but the media outlet will too. 

Wow, we’ve reached double figures! It’s time to blow out some candles and eat some cake! This year, we celebrated our tenth birthday, a special milestone and one we are particularly proud of.

Since our inception, we’ve grown from strength to strength, welcoming clients from not only the UK, but across the globe too. Our place in the world of search marketing, now firmly cemented.

For some of you reading this, you may be new to Chillibyte, either as clients, or even team members. For others, you may have been with us from the start. Whoever you are, and whenever you came on board, we thank you all! You are what helps make Chillibyte great.

So, we guess you want to know what we got up to for our 10^th birthday? Well, let’s indulge you a little in how we celebrated, but first, a quick overview of Chillibyte to give you a little background.

When was Chillibyte founded?

Chillibyte was founded by Sam Trousdale and Tim Watney in the summer of 2013, with the aim of delivering premium search marketing services to businesses that felt their online presence was lacking. Utilising their years of experience in digital marketing, the duo put a plan in place. A plan that would help see rankings rise and sales surge for businesses looking for results that had otherwise eluded them.

Over time, the ability to demonstrate the merits of search proved to be successful. Clients could now see and understand why their brand wasn’t previously seen. They could finally fathom why keywords mattered, why content is king, and why getting to page one on Google is certainly not a given.

Expansion of Chillibyte

With an influx of clients beginning to flood in, rapid expansion was needed. Sam and Tim drafted in Akash Valand, an SEO Jedi who is the walking, talking encyclopedia of SEO strategy. Still here to this day, Akash, now the Head of SEO, has helped Sam and Tim enhance the Chillibyte reputation immensely. Next in was Amber Longhurst, the content writer who can make words sing on a page, no matter the subject.  Now the Head of the Content department, Amber strategises the way content will deliver meaningful and impactful results for clients across property, finance, insurance, beauty, travel, healthcare and so much more.

With a core now built, Chillibyte was able to continually expand as it impressed clients with its results. Valued assets such as Dan Stockwell, now the Head of Web, Jeff So the Head of PPC, and more, all came on board to help Sam and Tim with their mission.

Today, we celebrate ten years of Chillibyte with many of the people who joined Sam and Tim in the early stages of the journey still with us. A few faces have gone, and a few new ones have joined. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the Chillibyte ethos of giving your search marketing a kick!

So, let’s tell you about what we did to celebrate.

Chillibyte’s 10^th birthday party

With Covid putting pause to many events throughout 2020-2022, we approached 2023 knowing that if everything was as close to normal as possible, we could enjoy a 10^th birthday with our team. If it wasn’t, a party via Zoom may have been our only option!

Sure enough, life in 2023 is pretty much the same as it was pre-covid. This means we can have some fun.

So … what did we do?

We started with a vote organised by Senior Account Manager Kim May-Papailiou. A selection of event types was given to us, and we could all choose a preference. Options such as a meal and drinks, an escape room or a trip to a sporting event, were all listed among many others.

Being a team never to shy away from excitement, an escape room experience was chosen with a meal and drinks added in for good measure.

So, on a balmy July day, the team headed to Brighton. Some keen to soak up the atmosphere had already arrived in advance of the majority. Once all together, we headed for the Pier Pressure murder mystery at Preston Manor. With questions around whodunnit about to be answered, it was time to don our detective gear and go investigating!

The murder mystery solved by Chillibyte

Chillibyte is a team of around 15 people, and with the organisers of the event suggesting we break into smaller teams for a more competitive experience, we soon had captains picking their colleagues as prized assets. With none of us qualified in criminology and a few having visited the pub in advance, this could be a taxing affair……

Split into three teams, we navigated the manor attempting to solve a murder. Like a game of Cluedo, we needed to locate a weapon, the criminal and where it was committed within the grounds. Adorned with our costumes provided by the venue, we set out on the hunt for answers.

An hour is set on the clock, and penalties are in place for incorrect answers. Penalties that would affect the result for some.

With puzzles ranging from the simple to the complex, it was a true combination of excellent teamwork, a little luck, and some random guesses that we all managed to get back to the “Detective” with our allegations.

All three teams made it within the hour, but one failed. As you enter the room to announce your findings, the Detective confirms whether you are right or wrong with each accusation. If you have them all correct, and complete it in the quickest time, you are the winner. Unfortunately, the writer of this post was lured by a false indicator from the detective, thinking it was a helpful hint. Instead, he made a decision that cost his team a further five seconds. Putting them bottom of the rankings.

Whilst a career in MI5 may not be beckoning for any of us, we thought it was time to enjoy some food and drinks, satisfied a fictional killer had been found and justice served.

Seaside dining and city centre cocktails

Solving murders, even fictional ones, is hard. Leaving Preston Manner, we ventured closer to the seafront, stopping at a few pubs on the way to test the beers and break down our case findings. Time was moving quickly though, and with a drink or two enjoyed, it was time to move on to Shelter Halls. Now if you have never been, we recommend it. A huge selection of eateries, all under one roof, offering an eclectic mix of different cuisines. Whereas in a regular restaurant, you may order from one specific menu, at Shelter Halls, you can order your main from one, your side from another, and a drink from another. Fancy adding a side of pasta to your burger? No problem! Enjoy a little Indian food but wouldn’t mind some fries too? You can do that!

The service was speedy, and considering you are ordering from multiple menus, the wait for things to arrive from each outlet was incredibly short. It gets very busy though, and booking is a must. With tables often held for short periods, we knew that after eating it was time to explore elsewhere.

A bar close by that had a ship’s hull as part of its interior provided a welcome rest spot before we dived deeper into the city. The Cuban band outside gave us some welcome tunes to bring the afternoon into the evening.

As time progressed, a few of the team headed home due to childcare and other commitments but a few stayed out to see what else the night may bring.

A cocktail bar, where you “roll the dice” was next up. Bohemia is a great venue where your preferred drink can be ordered unless you “roll the dice”. The barman gives you two dice, each number represents a spirit. The numbers you roll then determine what the mixologist must use. Their ingenious creative skills mean you end up with a drink combination you may have never thought possible. In one instance, we were taken back to 1920s New Orleans with a whisky-based drink that looked appealing but didn’t quite give us the taste we hoped for. Our next roll provided something a little fruitier and from there, we had found our tipple for the evening.

With the night drawing to a close, it was time to reflect on the day and also the company itself. Sitting around a small table. Sam and Tim both enthused about how far Chillibyte has come and how excited they are for the next chapter.