Gravytrain: Making Waves in the Digital Marketing Industry

Posted in Press on March 14th, 2013 by Rebecca

Here at Gravytrain we have been expanding by hiring a variety of talented employees so that we can offer more complex and innovative digital marketing solutions to our clients, as well as become an even bigger name in the digital marketing industry. Today we are pleased to announce that in just five days Gravytrain appeared in three separate industry publications, all of which noted the expansion of the company and our contribution to the digital marketing industry.

Two publications – The Drum and Communicate – published articles discussing our newest recruits, Helene Hall, Sean Hardaker and Adriano Cammarino, who have all joined our expanding Search Team. Discussing the new recruits, founder Kevin Taylor said: “We are delighted to welcome these new faces to Gravytrain. Helene in particular, coming from the client side to an agency, brings invaluable insight into exactly what our clients want. With some of our new additions speaking a number of languages fluently, these hires will help to expand our international reach and allow us to deliver a more strategic and targeted approach for our customers across the UK and further afield.”

Helene has also discussed her new role at Gravytrain, and said: “I’m really excited about my return to the agency world. My time spent client side has given me a wider appreciation of the role agencies need to play in marketing a brand online. This is an exciting new venture for me and I can’t think of a more promising agency to join.” Helene has already established Gravytrain as a key player in the digital marketing industry through the publication of her article “Don’t Sacrifice Design for SEO or SEO for Design” in the online marketing publication Fourth Source, which has now also appeared in Decision Marketing under the title “Don’t sacrifice Design on altar of SEO”.

If you would like to read either of Helene’s articles in full you can find them on Fourth Source and Decision Marketing online. We shall also be properly introducing our new Senior Account Manager Sean, Search Strategist Adriano and Business Development Ash Ruparell in an upcoming blog post, so keep your eyes peeled!

If you want to join us here at Gravytrain and be part of an exciting and influential digital marketing company then visit our careers page to find out more.

Gravytrain article features in Fourth Source

Posted in Press on February 21st, 2013 by Stephanie

Here at Gravytrain we constantly strive to create websites that are not only well designed but also include best practice search engine optimisation as a core feature. It can sometimes be difficult to create a website that is both aesthetically pleasing and optimised to the best of its ability, which is why our new Director of Search Helene Hall has recently written an article for the online marketing publication Fourth Source entitled “Don’t Sacrifice Design for SEO or SEO for Design.”

In the article Helene imparts her vast knowledge of the digital marketing industry, and advises readers how to get the most from their websites. She begins by highlighting the importance of research when it comes to search optimisation and says: “The foundation for any search optimisation is research. Once we have this we can then define the site structure, internal linking and get creative with how we incorporate text to image. As expected, this process starts with keyword research specific to the client, audience and products.”

The article goes on to explain that once the core keywords for a client have been defined it is important to focus on the website’s information architecture. The way a website is structured is crucial to its search engine optimisation, and one of the best ways to find out what works is to look at successful competitor websites. Many optimise their navigation menus by including their keywords at the top, and push down other more typical items such as ‘home’ and ‘about us’.

Successful websites also tend to have a flat structure in their information architecture, which means that the deepest level of the website can be reached in no more than 3 clicks. Internal linking is also a great way to boost the optimisation of your website, as not only does help spread value across the site but also promotes greater engagement from the site from users.

For those that are concerned that their website cannot include optimised content due to the fact that they are image heavy, Helene suggests some innovative solutions for combining Design with SEO, such as utilising Javascript to create images that are overlayed by absolutely positioned text hidden onload. When the mouse hovers over the image the text can be revealed, and can include a degradation fallback that will hide the text using the native CSS: hover pseudo class.

When re-designing a website it is always important to think about how search optimisation can be built into its development from the ground up, and there are some great ways that this can be done without compromising the website’s design.

If you would like to read the full article it is available on the Fourth Source website here.

Kevin Taylor gives advice for 2013 in Fourth Source’s Newsletter

Posted in Press on January 9th, 2013 by Stephanie

Gravytrain CEO Kevin Taylor has featured in the Fourth Source newsletter in an article discussing 40 trends for 2013 that every digital marketer should read. Fourth Source is known for its independent advice, tips, and news for the digital media marketing industry, so we were extremely happy here at Gravytrain to impart some of our wisdom!

Kevin said that: “2012 will be remembered largely for a turbulent year for organic search. Looking back, Google has ended a 2 year period where they have well and truly caught up with those seeking shortcuts to the top of the Search engines. Coinciding with the changes from Google, we’ve seen the rise in “Content Marketing”, with many agencies gearing their offering towards this.”

We are looking forward to the changes in the digital marketing industry coming up in the next year, and we are constantly keeping up to date with information so that we can provide our clients with the best service available. We hope that 2013 will prove to be an exciting year and that we will start to see even more innovative marketing techniques!

Gravytrain Features in the Travel Trade Gazette

Posted in Press on December 12th, 2012 by Rebecca

This week the Travel Trade Gazette (TTG) featured statistics and conclusions provided by a poll conducted by Gravytrain, as well as insight by Kevin Taylor on the increasing use of comparison sites. The story was published as part of the TTG Intelligence section both in print and online.

The article discusses how three quarters of consumers now use price comparison websites to buy holidays, with only ten percent being more inclined to buy from a company with a high street presence. It goes on to discuss how the research conducted by Gravtrain, which included taking a poll of two thousand consumers, discovered that the majority of people – 47% – stated that it made no difference to them whether a company had a high street presence when buying a holiday. However, the study also found that despite a large amount of consumers now going online to purchase their holidays, they do not always pick the cheapest deal, preferring to buy their holiday from a brand that they know and trust.

Kevin Taylor explained that the findings of this report were similar to those concerning the insurance industry, which also has a huge online presence. Kevin noted that “There are very few brokers on the high street these days – years ago there would be one chain and a couple of independents, it’s very similar to travel. But there is still an element of trust here. If you are buying an expensive holiday, you want to make sure you are buying the right one and that’s where the whole brand versus price thing comes in”. Kevin goes on to discuss successful digital marketing also depends on price transparency as three quarters of those surveyed said they disliked brands that try to hide extra costs in the small print. Furthermore, Kevin discusses how website navigability and having a wide range of products also determines the success of comparison websites.

It’s clear to see that even though comparison sites are becoming even more popular, the brand and image of a company still affects consumer behaviour. That’s why it is important for companies to invest in digital marketing so that they can protect (or improve!) their online reputation and ultimately gain a greater share of the market.

Subscribers to Travel Trade Gazette can read he full article on their website.

Cookie Use