Don’t believe us? According to Google, approximately one per cent of all searches made are symptom-related. One per cent may sound minimal, but this still equates to millions of searches each and every day.

In light of this, Google has recently announced plans to make its symptom-related search results more specific and reliable, and could even recommend whether you should seek medical advice (which lets be honest, you might want to consider as a more reliable form of healthcare than a search engine!).

Introducing symptom search…

Often find yourself scrolling through streams of forums in a desperate attempt to find a cure to your sickness? With so many sources available, and varying opinions, finding sound medical advice online can be more painful than it’s worth. How do you know that this person fervently typing away at the other end of an internet forum is really a doctor, and not Ken from Kansas, waiting for his pop tarts to pop in the kitchen?

Food for thought in more ways than one…

But, has Google found the remedy to millions of people’s searches? In the last week, Google has revealed its working with a team of medical doctors and experts at Harvard Medical School and Mayo Clinic (this is impressive and not another food related mention) to ‘gather high-quality medical information’ which they will then link to commonly searched symptoms. The birth of symptom search could be here.

Will it give me a diagnosis?

Although it won’t be able to identify exactly what the problem is, Google is making it easier for people to explore health conditions related to their symptoms. For example, if you search for symptoms related to a ‘headache on one side’, Google will show a list of related conditions. Meanwhile, single search symptoms such as ‘headache’ will bring up an overview description along with information on self-treatment and advise whether you should visit a doctor.

Should I see a doctor?

Although Google’s new update aims to help people get more ‘in-depth research’ related to their symptoms quickly, it has stressed the symptom search is ‘intended for information purposes only’ and people should always consult with their doctor. Completely understandable – it is a search engine and not a doctor after all!

When is it being rolled out?

The symptom search is currently being trialled on mobile in the US initially, but they’re saying that over time they hope to cover more symptoms and extend the update internationally and with other languages.

Watch this space… but go to a doctor in the meantime!

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A growing digital marketing agency has announced further plans for expansion and welcomed another member of staff to its team.

MiHi Digital, which was founded in Exeter, provides assistance in all aspects of online marketing to businesses across Devon, Cornwall and beyond.

Since the company was set up by Mark Worden almost three years ago it has seen significant growth in its client-base, with a 60% increase in the past 12 months alone. As a result, the company has offered a full time position to its first apprentice and welcomed another member to its team in the last few weeks.

English Literature graduate Ellis Taylor is the latest addition to the MiHi team. She formerly worked at Exeter’s Northcott Theatre and is the founder of awareness group, Exeter Feminists. Ellis is the company’s third full-time member of staff, joining Digital Marketing Executive Amelia Chubb and Managing Director Mark Worden.

Mark said: “I am pleased to welcome Ellis to the MiHi team. With an ever-growing client base, Ellis will be a great addition and bring new skills to the company.”

Digital Marketing Assistant, Ellis Taylor, said: “I’m so excited to be joining MiHi Digital, particularly as the company is growing every day. I’m really looking forward to working with the huge variety of clients and helping businesses across the South West.”

In line with such a rapidly expanding team the company plans to move into a new purpose built building during the autumn.

Mark added: “These are exciting times for MiHi Digital and we are currently planning to move into a larger building later this year. The new office will have more training facilities, allowing us to expand the services we currently provide.”

For more information about MiHi Digital visit https://mihidigital.co.uk/

ENDS

IMAGE: Managing Director of MiHi Digital Mark Worden with newest recruit Digital Marketing Assistant Ellis Taylor (left) and Digital Marketing Executive Amelia Chubb.

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A digital marketing agency has created a full time position for its first apprentice following the successful completion of her course.

MiHi Digital, which was founded by Mark Worden from his living room on the Exeter Quayside almost three years ago, has grown exponentially year on year, seeing a 60% increase in new clients in the past 12 months and expanding its team as a result.

Former journalist Amelia Chubb joined MiHi Digital a year ago as the company’s first digital marketing apprentice. After successfully completing her twelve months of training, Amelia has now secured a full-time position with the company as a Digital Marketing Executive.

Managing Director of MiHi Digital, Mark Worden said: “We are thrilled to offer Amelia a full-time position as a Digital Marketing Executive. She has successfully completed her course at Exeter College and brought a great deal to the company; generating leads through social media, creating content and working closely with clients to help them achieve more from their online presence.”

The apprenticeship was delivered in conjunction with Exeter College’s award-winning scheme, which saw a record-breaking number of applicants this year.

Digital Marketing Executive, Amelia Chubb said: “Becoming an apprentice after six years as a journalist was a huge step, but completely the right decision. Thanks to Mark and Exeter College this apprenticeship has allowed me to get into an evolving industry that I have always had a keen interest in and to gain hands-on experience, while developing a host of business skills.

“It has been a great twelve months and I’m over the moon to have been offered a full-time position at MiHi Digital. There are some exciting things going on here at MiHi and I’m delighted to be part of its success.”

Mark added: “The growth of the business to date has been based on providing a quality service, measuring and delivering results, all without unnecessary technical jargon. To sustain that quality it’s essential we invest in the people we recruit and provide them all the skills they need to help our clients.”

Mike Blakeley, head of business solutions and enterprise at Exeter College, said: “Apprenticeships are a key part of our offering at Exeter College, providing a fantastic variety of work and training opportunities. Not only does it allow the apprentice to learn on the job, it allows them to develop their knowledge and grow with the company. Exeter has firmly established a reputation of providing a fantastic range of proven apprenticeships for all ages. Amelia, Mark and MiHi Digital epitomise what value apprenticeships can bring to any organisation.”

For more information on MiHi Digital and their services please visit www.mihidigital.co.uk/our-services/

ENDS

IMAGE: Digital Marketing Executive, Amelia Chubb.

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A local digital marketing agency is reaffirming its commitment to the region’s tourism industry by supporting two of the biggest events of the year; the Devon and Cornwall tourism awards.

MiHi Digital, which is based on the Devon / Cornwall border, will again be sponsoring the Tourist Information Service of the Year category for both awards.

The awards take place every year and recognise the work of hundreds of businesses operating in the region’s tourist industry. From cafés to caravan sites, holiday parks to hotels, they attract hundreds of entries from across Devon and Cornwall.

Mark Worden, managing director at MiHi Digital and an awards judge for the past two said: “We’re delighted to be involved again at this year’s awards. The two events give recognition to the fantastic work and dedication from those working in the industry and who play a pivotal role in attracting thousands of people to Devon and Cornwall each year.”

Preparations for the awards are well underway with businesses invited to enter before the deadline on June 12.

Mark added: “There are some exciting developments planned for this year, including new award categories which will allow even more business to enter than ever before. This year’s entry forms are also shorter and easier to complete, so there’s no excuse not to enter!”

For more information on the awards or to enter, visit http://www.devontourismawards.org.uk/ or http://www.cornwalltourismawards.org.uk/

For more information on MiHi Digital and their services please visit www.mihidigital.co.uk/our-services/

ENDS

IMAGES: Managing director of MiHi Digital Mark Worden with last year’s Tourist Information gold award winners.

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So why is it that I’m not clamouring to encourage you to let me manage yours?  It’s certainly something we get asked to do by businesses of all sizes; you feel you don’t have the time to do it or that someone else could do it better for you.

These are incredibly common feelings to have.  We all know there’s only so many hours in the day and making money from social media can seem something of a mystery to many when in reality it needn’t be.

Despite the obvious financial temptation to take on your social media accounts and run them myself, the opinion on the return you get means that I’ve always had the steadfast opinion this simply doesn’t work.

Let me explain why you shouldn’t use someone else to manage your social media accounts….

Your own tone of voice

Social media is about you; it’s about giving your business a voice and that tone of voice needs to be your own.  One thing I’ve learnt since being my own boss is that people buy into passion, and certainly people that are passionate about what they do.

You run your own business, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say you probably like what you do.  People need to feel that through your tweets, your Facebook posts and all of the interactions they have with you (in real life and on that computer screen).

If someone else is doing that for a lot of different clients through vast amounts of social media accounts is your tone of voice really going to be any different to theirs?

I doubt that it will.

How do they know what’s happening?

So a logistical issue; something is happening in your business and you want people to know.  What do you need to do? Tell the person that runs your social media accounts that it’s happening and what it’s all about!

Now the most common reason people tell us they want someone else to run their social media presence is time.  You’re replacing the time you spend posting to social media with time spent telling someone else about what they could be posting.

Does that really make logical sense to anyone?

How do you split your time?

Let’s look at the person running your social media accounts.

They’re going to be running many, so how do they split their time?

No matter man or woman, neither of the sexes can multitask to the point they can run two social media client accounts instantaneously. So if they have ten, or even twenty, when does yours get the loving care and attention it needs?

Social media thrives during different times of the day and days of the week.  You should have prominence through those periods and it shouldn’t just be through a whole load of scheduling (that just wouldn’t be very social would it!).

So being one of many for me just doesn’t sound too attractive at the moment!

What is it you’re getting?

What I commonly see with social media account management is a series of packages, perhaps bronze, silver or even gold!

Now before we get too excited about the gold package, what is it you’re actually getting?

A certain amount of tweets?

A set number of new followers or page likes?

Social media shouldn’t be about arbitrary numbers that make up a return on a monthly fee you pay.  One month you may well need a lot more, others you need a lot less; depends on what you’re doing and even more so on what other people are.  It doesn’t depend on justifying your spend to the account manager.

Understanding your business

You get your business; does someone else to the point they can really add value?

Success on social media is understanding who your clients are, who your targets are, the people you are trying to interact with are…. and the list goes on.

If someone doesn’t know this you’ll not be getting the return you could yourself.  So is your money really better spent elsewhere? I’m not so sure, as you might have guessed by now.

Conclusion

I honestly don’t think outsourcing it works! Now many will come to you and rebuff that by saying they’ve got examples where it definitely has.  Fair enough, good luck to them, but what I will say is that for all of the reasons above you could achieve more yourself if you allowed yourself a little time, and the skills to do it.

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The sponsorship is the first of its kind for the business as they seek to support the tourism industry in Devon.

Mark Worden (pictured), Director at MiHi Digital explained; “We’re delighted to be involved in this year’s awards and to help celebrate some of the best tourism businesses in the county.  Many people across the region are involved in the industry and it’s great to reward those who continue to deliver excellence to millions of visitors each and every year.”

Mark continued; “The Tourist Information category has been open to Tourist Information Centres and other businesses providing information to visitors.   They play a vital role in ensuring we promote everything we have to offer as a county and we’re delighted to acknowledge their achievements.”

MiHi Digital are already working with a number of tourism-based businesses, helping them to increase online conversion and boost booking numbers.

For more information on MiHi Digital and their services aimed at helping accommodation providers please visit www.mihidigital.co.uk/our-services/

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Mark Worden, previously responsible for online marketing at two well established Westcountry brands, law firm Stephens Scown LLP and insurance company Cornish Mutual, created MiHi Digital 20 months ago to support the burgeoning online potential of the region’s businesses.

The company, which offers assistance on all aspects of online marketing, has now worked with more than 100 organisations from across England and three other continents, turning over a combined £400m between them.

Mark said; “More and more businesses have embraced marketing their products and services online. Our mantra has been to help and support firms in making the most of the time and budget they spend by adopting a strategic and integrated approach, whilst also cutting out the technical jargon!”

MiHi Digital has provided a particular focus on reporting and delivering results, with one client seeing a 250% increase in turnover having worked with MiHi over the course of the last year.

Mark explained; “If you’re brining in a specialist to support your business it’s vital you fully understand the return you’re gaining; for that reason we’ve been keen to report on every area of online performance for our clients.  Knowing exactly what they’re getting for their money has proven to be incredibly popular with our clients.”

As the business continues to grow, MiHi Digital has now turned to the National Apprenticeship Scheme to give local students an opportunity to begin a career in online marketing.

Mark added  “It’s incredibly exciting to be able to give an opportunity to someone looking to take their first step in digital marketing. We’ve got some great clients; from BAFTA and EMMY nominated individuals to your more traditional professional services; they’ll see and learn how to help a business grow online, no matter what the sector.”

For more information about our services please click here.

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The sponsorship is the first of its kind for the business as they seek to support the tourism industry in Cornwall.

Mark Worden (pictured), Director at MiHi Digital explained; “We’re delighted to be involved in this year’s awards and to help celebrate some of the best tourism businesses in the Duchy.  Many people across the county are involved in the industry and it’s great to reward those who continue to deliver excellence to millions of visitors each and every year.”

Mark continued; “The Tourist Information category has been open to Tourist Information Centres and other businesses providing information to visitors.   They play a vital role in ensuring we promote everything we have to offer as a county and we’re delighted to acknowledge their achievements.”

MiHi Digital are already working with a number of tourism-based businesses, helping them to increase online conversion and boost booking numbers.

For more information on MiHi Digital and their services aimed at helping accommodation providers please visit www.mihidigital.co.uk/our-services/

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Mark Worden, previously responsible for online marketing at two of well established Westcountry brands, law firm Stephens Scown LLP and insurance company Cornish Mutual, created MiHi Digital a year ago to support the burgeoning online potential of the region’s businesses.

The company, which offers assistance on all aspects of online marketing including website design, social media, search engine optimisation and strategy, has already worked with organisations of all sizes from across England and three other continents.

Mark said; “More and more businesses have embraced marketing their products and services online. There are still great opportunities to be taken and our mantra has been to help and support firms in making the most of the time and budget they spend online by adopting a strategic and integrated approach, whilst also cutting out the technical jargon!”

MiHi Digital has provided a particular focus on reporting and delivering results, with one client already seeing a 250% increase in turnover having worked with MiHi for just six months.

Mark explained; “As with all marketing you want to know what it is you’re getting and for that reason I’ve been keen to report on every area of online performance for our clients. It’s vital that any business fully understands the return they’re gaining when bringing in a specialist to support their activity and this is something that has proven to be particularly popular with our clients; we haven’t had one leave yet!”

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The weather is better and the nights are longer.

The majority of people will take holiday and with school also out for summer this is a period during which your customers or clients will be spending more time away from their computers and free from their phones than at any other point of the year.

So what can you do as a business now they’re back?

How do you return to their consciousness?

Social Media – Time to Get Back to Work!

You should be using social media not to endlessly promote yourself but to create contact points with people that may want to use your service or buy your products.

Now, they won’t necessarily have a need to buy at this specific time but they may well do in the future.

What does this mean?

You need a steady flow of contact points between now, when they don’t need you, and then, when they do.

If you can achieve this you’ll be one of a few suppliers in their mind when they come to make their decision to buy what you offer.

So what do you need to do?

Social media rises and falls with the weather.

If it’s sunny people will be out enjoying it.

If it’s raining they’ll be inside tweeting about it.

More and more of your customers are coming back to their Twitter and Facebook accounts after their summer siesta.

Make sure you’re there to greet them, to create contact, to engage and to promote.

If you’ve been neglecting your accounts then now’s the time to get back to your social media best!

PPC Advertising – people are searching and they’re doing it now!

Google searches for the majority of phrases spike in September.

It’s easier for any business to increase market share and enquiries during a period of higher volume than it is during low search; which is exactly what you get during the summer.

If you’re advertising on Google then reducing spend during the summer months can free up budget in September and early October.

Either way you should be looking at the search volume and crunching the numbers to see if the return is there for you and how much more you could potentially gain.

Now is very much the time to reap the rewards of PPC advertising.

Not sure how to do that? We’re here to help.

Starting a web project – Start now: Launch at the best time of the year!

Now is actually a very good time to begin a website project. Not because we build websites and have an incentive here, but because the majority or projects started now will be completed in November and December (if they’re larger sites).

This is a very good time to launch a site, unless you’re trading in online retail, when we suggest that you look at a project in January, so it’s launched before the Easter boom.

Why is December a good time to launch a site?

When you launch a site there is an element of search engine disruption to your current presence.

What do I mean by this?

Put very simply, it take Google a while to understand your new website, and how it corresponds to what used to be there.

December is the lowest traffic volume month for any site that isn’t directly selling products online. It’s therefore sensible to hide these search engine fluctuations within a period that will have the least amount of impact on your online performance.

Want to know more about when you should be timing a website project?

We’re experts in doing that.

Time to rise up the search engines

If you have someone telling you they can get you on Page 1 of Google with immediate effect, we want you to do just a few things.

Take your wallet from your pocket.

Place it safely and securely in the palm of your hand, gripping it as tightly as you can.

Proceed to run for the hills!

SEO takes time, purely because the changes you make do not result in snap ranking decisions by Google.

They don’t see a small change to your site and say that you need to skyrocket for that key phrase. They take a measured stance; they decide over time the impact that that change makes, otherwise we’d have a very erratic ranking system on our hands.

It does take time.

How much time?

For the full force of SEO actions to have come to full impact fruition you’re looking at one to three months.

So lets go back to our summer timing again; three months from now is December.

What follows December?

January – one of the busiest online months across all sectors online.

Time to get going!

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