BT Business has today announced plans to make enterprise quality digital marketing more accessible to small businesses with the launch of BT SearchSmart in partnership with the UK’s largest independent search agency, Latitude. BT SearchSmart is a cost effective service to help small businesses market themselves better online.
With 25 per cent – Pounds Sterling 78 billion – of UK retail spend in this year projected to come from online sales(2), businesses need to ensure they are capturing potential customers online. Consumers are also increasingly researching a purchase online with 41 per cent using search engines to identify new companies and websites(3).

A comprehensive search engine marketing service, BT SearchSmart gives small businesses access to highly trained search marketing experts to improve their online returns. From Pounds Sterling 74.99 per month(4), businesses will receive an in-depth telephone consultation, including a web site audit, advice on on-site optimisation, and keyword targeting. BT SearchSmart can also build and transparently manage pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.

Chris Holder, partner and co-founder at Brand X PR, and small business owner said, “Online is set to become an increasingly important channel for us, and until recently, this type of service was only available from dedicated agencies or if you had a specialist in-house, both of which were beyond our budget, so it’s refreshing that it’s now available as a subscription service from BT.”

“Professional marketing services have in the past been out of reach for the vast majority of small businesses who don’t have access to the skills or tools needed to manage search campaigns. That’s the gap we are filling with BT SearchSmart.” said Bill Murphy, managing director, BT Business. “Search advertising is growing rapidly and is now the leading advertising format in Europe growing at a rate of 26% year on year(5). We want to make sure that small businesses can participate in this rapidly growing market at a price they can afford and with access to the tools to manage their campaign performance effectively.”

BT SearchSmart will give small businesses access to a dedicated portal where they can manage all their search marketing activity in one place with online reports, recommendations and access to qualified professionals. The reports will track improvements in individual keyword rankings and transparently report on paid search spend and allocation. The search marketing professionals are all accredited Google AdWords professionals.

Alex Hoye, Latitude CEO, said, ” This partnership brings together BT’s reach and trust with Latitude’s technical expertise to enable small businesses to succeed as more consumers move online. We are excited to make our scale, technology and experience managing campaigns for big business now accessible to smaller enterprises through a service especially designed to meet their needs.”

There are a range of BT SearchSmart packages designed especially for small businesses including support for PPC, search engine optimisation (SEO) and web analytics. Additional free advice and support from BT Business includes best practice guides on a range of digital marketing topics.

For more information about BT SearchSmart visit www.bt.com/searchsmart

Related Articles

Synapse India Secures Google Adwords Certified Professional Recognition

Dave Fall Joins Clickable To Lead Product And Operations

Build SEO Optimized Membership Websites with Wordpress Membership Site Plugin: MemberWing

Synology® iPhone Application DS Audio is Now Available on Apple® App Store

TK Carsites Launches New Search Optimized Banner Ads

Posted: 09|17|09 at 9:59 am. Filed under: Business.