Bookhugger.co.uk

The new service is designed to allow publishers to get the maximum value out of their investment in the creation of web content by showcasing it on a multi-publisher magazine-style website and reaching the broadest possible audience.

The website has been designed to compliment publisher’s existing websites, blogs and social media activity, and launches alongside one of the UK’s largest independent publishers, Faber and Faber who has given the channel much support.

John Murray, Canongate, Sceptre and Gallic Books also gave support and advice in launching the digital channel.

How will Bookhugger work?

Publishers will supply content for publication, which the Bookhugger Editors will schedule to ensure a regular flow of content alternating between all participating publishers.

Cross-publisher content will be prepared and scheduled by the Bookhugger Editors in conjunction with the marketing and editorial teams of participating publishers

The Bookhugger Editors will take responsibility for a number of routine tasks: comment moderation, seeding content (linking to it from other sites), and maintenance of links into the site from other websites and social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

Publishers will pay for inclusion of content on the site, selecting from monthly packages.

The site was founded by Simon Appleby and Matthew F. Riley. Together they have over 20 years digital experience in the media and a strong association with the public sector.

They also developed the book review blog Bookgeeks.co.ukabout which Andrea See, Online Marketing Executive at Canongate said, “We have been working closely with Bookgeeks on online marketing and PR and the resulting reviews, interview and discussions have always been thoughtful and thought-provoking.”

Founder, Appleby said, “Inspired by the Independent Alliance, we believe that smaller publishers can get more out of the Internet if they work together.

“We see considerable benefits for both publishers and consumers in the Bookhugger model. By using content that is already being created, we will help our publishers reach as many potential bookbuyers as possible, while our ability to create exclusive cross-publisher content is particularly important and adds a great deal of value.”

The focus is firmly on the general trade, covering both fiction and non-fiction. Genre publications will be covered by periodic new-release round-ups, author panels and features.

Joanna Ellis, Marketing Director at Faber, says, “From working with them in their agency capacity we know that Simon and Mathew have an excellent understanding of publishers’ needs and constraints. Bookhugger is an exciting way of broadening Faber’s digital marketing activity in a cost-effective way.”

The British Red Cross has pulled in the support of actor Dougray Scott to launch a new campaign for Refugee Week.

As well as using the Brit actor, the charity is harnessing the power of social networking sites by calling out to for people to pledge their support to help refugees by collectively ‘changing their online status’ across their social networks, instant messenger and email accounts during Refugee Week, which is from 15^th-21^st June.



The charity said that refugees arriving in the UK are commonly labelled as a group, and not regarded as individuals.

In attempt to stress this issue, and get others to empathise with the feeling of loss of identity, the British Red Cross are asking citizens to sacrifice their online identities and change their status to ‘label’.

 The campaign idea was formulated by LBi and opens with a teaser film presented by Desperate Housewives star Dougray Scott.  

The viral film, which will be released on 26^th May, depicts the stories of refugees who have been helped by the British Red Cross.

 The viral will be available for viewing at www.lookbeyondthelabel.org and will run in conjunction with an email marketing campaign calling for everyone to alter their online status. 



The campaign can be located on Facebook, Twitter, MSN, Yahoo and Bebo, enabling users of these sites to get involved.

The British Red Cross will also be making history as the first charity to create an online movement to accrue support and fight prejudice via online profiles.  

 The campaign will be supported with a survey of public attitudes towards refugees, seeking to diminish negative beliefs around those who seek sanctuary in the UK. This will be targeted at newspapers, and Refugee Week events at Red Cross centres across the country.  

The Social Media and Marketing survey conducted by McCann Erickson found that 86 per cent of marketing experts thought that social media is more than just a one hit wonder.

Despite this postive feedback, 65.6 per cent of marketers say they don’t know how to use social marketing sites to advertise and promote their business.

At present, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the most popular social networking sitesfor marketers, with 72.8 per cent, 42.4 per cent and 40.2 per cent having a presence on them respectively.

Many offices have revealed that IT departments have blocked access to sites like Twitter or Facebook-effectively stopping marketers monitoring how to fit their brand in with the ever expanding social trend.

Currently over half of UK businessess using social media sites use them to raise their profile or PR, followed by 48 per cent for networking and 30 per cent for advertising.

Joanna Randall, Head of PR at McCann Erickson, Bristol, said, “This study highlights that some of the UK’s major businesses are ignoring social media channels — but they do so at their peril.

“Word of mouth is now more powerful than ever — opinions can be shared with a global audience at the click of a button.

“We all have the ability to influence, both positively and negatively, and therefore as marketing professionals we should be considering how best to harness the power of social media.”

However, the discount retailer is taking extra precautions and is only offering handbags for sale on the site so far.

The company is keen to expands its retail site and have asked customers for their feedback about what they would like to buy on the site.

TK Maxx are one of a long list of retail stores who have failed to uptake upon the advantages of selling online, with may falling far behind in the process.

Large retail companies like Primark and H&M are still failing to meet the demands of customers who prefer to shop online, in the long run losing money from customers who prefer to shop in the comfort of their own home.

A recent survey suggested that shoppers would like to see stores such as H&M, TK Maxx, Primark and Matalan create an online store so they can purchase their products online.

The statistics released by Neilsen Online suggested that TK Maxx has 334,000 visitors to its non-transactional UK site in the last month.

Internet analyst at Neilsen Oline, Alex Burmaster, said, “Customers are increasingly using the internet as a financial first-aid kit.

“So for a strong brand, renowned for its discount pricing, there is no reason to assume it won’t go well, and it is good timing.”

The launch of the new site is the first for TK Maxx’s US parent company TJX, which includes other retail stores including TJ Maxx in the US and TK Maxx and Home Sense in Europe.

TJX Europe spokeswoman Deborah Dolce said, “We are always seeking new ways to introduce our unique off-price model to shoppers. So we are delighted to have this new initiative in the UK to offer our customers the opportunity to buy top-label handbags for less online at Tkmaxx.com.”

She added that, like its stores, the selection online will change daily “with an eclectic mix of brands and fashions, all at up to 60 per cent less”.

The ‘Goo on the Loose’ campaign, developed by agency, CMW, has seen direct mailing ’security strongboxes’ sent to hardcore Goo fans who talk about the chocolaty brand on social networking sites.

The box contains Twisted bars, with an empty Twisted wrapper and a hole at the bottom of the box, were one of the chocolate bars has escaped.

The recipient of the box is then challenged to become an agent for Cadbury’s Intelligence Agency and track down the missing chocolate bar.

Online ads have been designed to direct potential agents to the site.

Visitors to the dedicated website www.cremeeggtwisted.com are able to sign up as agents and are tasked to track down the missing chocolate bars.

To aid agents in their search, CMW have mashed together Google Maps and Twitter to provide clues and targets which have been ear-marked for a ‘gooing’.

Visitors also have the chance to win a  £20,000 luxury trip to Morocco and for the top ten agents, a cash prize of up to £20,000.

Agents must sign up on the Creme Egg Twisted website before the 7th June.

Search Engine Optimisation

The statement made by David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer, suggests that SEO is the “best customer acquisition tool in the online space.

Through studies it has been shown that customers dislike paid search advertising and prefer organic search listings which SEO can improve.

“Furthermore search optimisation works across all search engines and an optimised site does not drop off the first results page even when marketer spending slows or stops – as it can with paid search,” Hallerman added.

However, he did point out that it may take time for the full advantages of SEO to take shape, as developing a successful SEO takes time and is often a long process.

Patricio Robles from Econsultancy revealed recently in a blog post that website security should be an important consideration for SEO.

He explained that if websites are hacked into by cyber criminals, the consequences in terms of search engine rankings can be extremely serious.

Another key feature of improving a business success online is linkbaiting, which experts have urged companies to invest in.

Editor of Econsultancy, Chris Lake, recently wrote on his blog explaining that linkbaiting can boost search rankings by attracting inbound links.

“Everyone involved in SEO (and marketing and content creation) should constantly be thinking about new opportunities for linkbait which will work best in their market place,” Lake said.

He added that linkbaits often consists of content that will be useful to the target audience, such as informative articles, free tools and a list of links.

Linkbaits can also come in the form of how to guides, viral marketing, reviews and comparisons and blogs.

A recent survey by Guava and Econsultancy found that 55 per cent of firms plan to increase their SEO spending in 2009.

For more information about SEO and/or linkbaiting visit Custard Media or Linkbaits.

The search engine giant demonstrated the power the Internet has when it comes to news provision and consumption, with little growth for publications who fail to comply with the growing digital trends.

In March this year, the search engine attracted some less than desirable attention from big media names claiming Google ranked news stories depending on factors not traditionally associated with the press.

This month has seen more indications that Google has become more of a publisher in its own right, something which will cause major problems for large corporate publishers struggling in the current economic climate.

And Google’s vice president of products, Melissa Mayer, had no words of comfort for journalists and publishers worldwide, saying that publishers needed to move with the times to stay ahead of the game.

Mayer indicated that while Google respected the wishes of content producers, there were plenty of things producers can do to help themselves, for example by fitting into a specific model similar to that of Wikipedia’s.

She said, “Consider instead how the authoritativeness of news articles might grow if an evolving story was published under a permanent, single URL as a living, changing, updating entity.

“We see this practice today in Wikipedia’s entries and in the topic pages at NYTimes.com. The result is a single authoritative page with a consistant reference point that gains clout and following of users overtime.”

Mayer then went on to discuss the potential scope for mash ups, which would result in a far more interactive news model than a traditional journalist to reader, via a trusted media system we all know and in time, love.

The new policy will allow users to bid on trademarked keywords in more countries.

It is reported that 190 countries have been brought in line with the trademark policy that already exists in the UK, Canada, the US and Ireland.

Barry Schwartz, news editor of Search Engine Land, received the news tip off by BrandVerity, and subsequently contacted Google for a comment.

Google revealed that as of June 4th this year, the search engine will not look into complaints about the use of trademarked terms by online marketers.

“This means that in the affected regions, a company advertising on Google will be able to select trademarked terms as keywords, and a user searching with a trademarked keyword may see a greater number of relevant ads in the sponsored links section, giving them greater choice,” it stated.

A full list of the countries affected by the up and coming changes can be found here.

A recent study by Guava and Econsultancy revealed that 45 per cent of companies plan to spend more on play per click marketing this year.

The entertainment giant, Disney has acquired a stake in US online TV platform Hulu, the joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp.

Today’s reports have revealed that Disney is taking almost a 30% stake in the platform, although financial details have not been disclosed.

This follows Hulu’s deal in March with Digital Rights Group, making it the first Britiah distributor to work with the service.

The deal will see Disney screen full-length episodes of its ABC TV programmes such as Lost, Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty on Hulu.

President and CEO at the Walt Disney Comapny, Robert Iger, president will sit on Hulu’s board of directors, together with Kevin Mayer, executive VP, corporate strategy, business development & technology and Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president, Disney/ABC Television Group.

Iger said, “From our landmark iTunes deal to our pioneering decision to stream ad supported shows on our ABC.com player, Disney has sought to meet the constantly evolving viewing habits of our consumers, and today’s Hulu announcement is the next important step in that ongoing journey.”

Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu, said, “We continue to aspire to deliver a service that users, advertisers and content owners unabashedly love.”

The Hulu-Disney agreement may have worrying consequences for it’s biggest rivals, YouTube and CBS, who are both involved in a battle with Hulu over online video viewers and revenue from adverts run during the programs.

Industry experts are also predicting that the deal could lumber Apple with some unwanted implications, as their stratergy for selling and renting video content online will be marred by Hulu’s  growing popularity.

However, recent figures show that there is no need for YouTube to start sweating yet.

Despite the site’s flux in popularity, its average time-spent-per-viewer has declined. The site recorded 58 minutes per viewer in March, down from 79 in January, whereas YouTube viewers spent an average of almost two-and-a-half hours on the site in March.

A report led by Guava and Econsultancy found that around 55 per cent of companies have increased their budgets to invest in to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO or natural search) in a bid to attract people to their website and increase business.

The research also found that 45 per cent of responding organisations were to increase their budgets for paid search.

The report is the third annual UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report, and is based on more than 800 company and agency digital marketers. The reports gives a comprehensive overview of the search marketing landscape, and also includes reasearch about the use of social media.

Linus Gregoriadis, Econsultancy’s reseach director, said, “UK search marketers are still getting strong return on investment from paid search marketing despite the recession, increased competition and click cost inflation.

“This research provides more proof that companies are turning to digital channels such as paid seach and search engine optimisation where there is a demonstrable return on investment.”

A large proportion of company respondants said that they are  tracking paid search return on investment effectively has increased from 33 per cent last year to 45 per cent in 2009. For SEO there has been an even bigger increase from 20 to 35 per cent.

Custard Media is an online marketing company who thrive upon providing business solutions to help businesses make it to number one on Google. They offer a wide range of services from search engine optimisation, content writing, pay per click, link building, viral marketing and branding, with 100 per cent flexibility in meeting your exact requirements.

Custard Media have successfully helped companies, such as Shoplaptop, Protouch and Robinsons achieve number one Google results in their field, and are on call to help you target your customers on the World Wide Web.

For further information visit www.custardmedia.co.uk